GWID Chapter 52

That day, after court was dismissed, the star officials bowed to the figure seated on the imperial throne as they always did, saying in unison, “May His Majesty be well — your servants take their leave.”

Little Phoenix thought he could leave too, and immediately jumped up, ready to leap toward Xingyi, but before he could move, the courtiers below continued their bow. “May the Emperor and Empress both be well——”

Hundreds of gazes turned toward Little Phoenix all at once. Even with his usually thick skin, Little Phoenix found it a bit hard to bear. He wasn’t sure what the proper bearing of an empress ought to be, nor did he quite understand what Xingyi had meant by “an empress who doesn’t need to take it seriously.” After struggling with this for quite some time, he made a “poof” sound and transformed back into his little bird form.

After the transformation, the round, plump white bird seemed to find a bit of confidence. In any case, birds are covered in feathers, so no one could tell whether he was panicking or bashfully flustered. Little Phoenix stretched out his neck, squatted there roundly, and tucked his little wings primly in front of him, folding them in a composed pose. Xingyi looked at him and smiled again, then gestured to those below. “Court is dismissed. The Three Stars of Sha, Po, and Lang — the three of you, stay a moment.”

No one moved. Everyone, including Xingyi, turned their gaze once again toward Little Phoenix. Little Phoenix grew even more flustered. After thinking it over, he figured that he was now the empress Xingyi had proclaimed before all the people, and that they were to enter and exit together — did that mean he now needed to say the word of dismissal as well?

Little Phoenix, in his nervousness, forgot that he was still a little bird and that it might not look particularly dignified. He said, “Chirp chirp.”

The moment the words left his beak, he immediately felt that he should probably transform back into human form and say it again properly — but the people below seemed to have all understood his single chirp, and one by one they showed expressions of understanding, dispersing one after another.

Little Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief.

Watching as nearly everyone had left, Little Phoenix fluttered his wings and dove into Xingyi’s arms, whereupon Xingyi picked him up, gave his head a pat, and teased him. “How did you suddenly turn into such a coward? Weren’t you quite bold before?”

Little Phoenix chirped loudly with delight and told him. “Weijian, Weijian, let me tell you — just yesterday I made a wish to Little Coal Ball, and he guaranteed me his word-spirit works. Soon everyone else will know that I’m your empress! I didn’t expect that today you’d really go and tell everyone I’m your empress! It’s so effective! Weijian, Weijian, do you have any wishes? I’ll pass them along to Little Coal Ball for you.”

Xingyi cradled him in his hands and kneaded him this way and that, then thought for a moment. “I don’t have any wishes. I’ll give my share of wishes to you — make them on my behalf. I still have some matters here. Go out and play on your own, all right?”

Little Phoenix chirped happily a few times, then jumped up and flapped his little wings against Xingyi’s head. “Then I’m off to play with Little Coal Ball!”

A trace of amusement flashed in Xingyi’s eyes. “It’s still early. If you go looking for him now, I’m afraid he won’t be there. With that time, why not go to the Great Phoenix’s place for me and fetch the weapon materials I need?”

Little Phoenix skipped off merrily.

In the great hall, the Golden-Winged Bird crawled out from Tanlang’s sleeve and called out. “Boss, are you going to the Mingzun’s place? I want to go too! Wait for me!”

The Jade Rabbit also jumped out from Po Jun’s arms, flicking its short tail and bounding away. The remaining people in the hall looked at one another in bewilderment.

Tanlang teased Qisha. “It seems like you’re the only one left who hasn’t got a pet. I’m not sure what you like — one of these days we’ll get you a little fox or a kitten.”

Qisha said mildly, “Much obliged.” — which was a polite way of declining.

Tanlang snorted with a laugh and didn’t press the matter. It was Po Jun who raised his eyes to glance at Qisha, his gaze flickering for a moment. “Last time at Wangchuan, Qisha Star Lord seemed to be the most taciturn as well. Is it that you don’t particularly like the noise of little animals?”

Qisha raised his sleeve to cover his lips and gave a light cough. “It is simply my nature to be reticent. Po Jun Star Lord need not mind it — I meant no offence.”

Tanlang heard half of that and scratched his head. “Why do you two sound so strange when you talk to each other? Qisha, Po Jun had his reasons for not coming to work before — I know that every time you compiled the attendance roster, his name was absent, so you probably don’t have a great impression of him. But going forward we’ll all be working together, so let’s just start fresh. And Po Jun — I told you last time, Qisha is just naturally cool and aloof. Hundreds of years and that hasn’t changed. His manner of speaking is probably a bit blunt in ordinary conversation too, so don’t take it to heart.”

Po Jun smiled with an expression that was neither quite a smile nor not. “Oh, is that so. It seems I was overthinking things. My apologies.”

Xingyi’s voice rang out from above. “What’s this — now that you Three Stars of Sha, Po, and Lang have finally completed your triple conjunction, you’ve come to my hall to argue?”

The three denied it at once, and only then did the subject shift.

Tanlang quickly changed the topic. “Your Majesty, what is it you wished to instruct us in? When I came over just now, I heard from the azure bird that your directive was for all three of us to come without fail — has something happened with the Star Disc?”

Xingyi nodded. “Something has happened, and it is not a small matter. My power is waning day by day, and I am on the verge of losing control of the Star Disc. For now, do not let this spread, lest the demons and evil beings of the Six Realms seize the opportunity to invade. Among the star officials of the Star Disc, in terms of individual power, the Four Symbols — Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger — are the mightiest; but in terms of balancing power, the triple conjunction of your Three Stars of Sha, Po, and Lang is the greatest force. I have asked the three of you here because I wish to deliberate countermeasures together with you.”

****

By the time Little Phoenix returned to Fuli Palace, it was already very late. He had expected that coming back so late would very possibly earn him a scolding, and had already steeled himself for a good dressing-down from Xingyi — but as it turned out, Xingyi was even later than him.

Xingyi and the three stars had moved to the study to deliberate, doors and windows shut, and had not emerged for the entire day. Not until the night was nearly spent did Po Jun finally come out first, rubbing his brow, to get some air, while the other three remained inside in earnest discussion. The moment Little Phoenix stepped through the palace gate, he saw Po Jun wandering aimlessly, apparently not knowing his way around. Only when Little Phoenix flew over to him did Po Jun notice him and wave him over. “Little Phoenix that His Majesty keeps — you’re here.”

Little Phoenix ruffled his feathers and perched on the branch of a nearby dwarf pine. “You can call me Yuan Yuan, Brother Po Jun.”

Po Jun smiled. “Little Yuan Yuan, I must trouble you to show me the way. I have something to say to your palace’s fairy attendants, but I’m not very familiar with Fuli Palace and don’t know how to get there.”

Little Phoenix flew up and looked out, and seeing that the lights in the quarters where the celestial maidens lived had already gone out, he flew back and somehow produced a charcoal pencil and paper from nowhere. He said to Po Jun in a muffled tone. “Brother Po Jun, just tell me what it is — the fairy sisters have gone to sleep, and it would be inconvenient for me to bring you over.”

Po Jun looked at him with a hint of surprise, but didn’t make anything of it. Instead, he crouched down, swept aside the drifting snow beneath their feet, and following Little Phoenix’s example, picked up a black pebble and traced a position on the thin ice surface, sketching a simple diagram. “We need to clear out three side halls. Lord Tanlang, Lord Qisha, and I will be staying in Fuli Palace for a period of time. It would be best if the three of us are housed in separate locations forming a triangle, with you and His Majesty’s bedchamber at the center. It doesn’t have to be a side hall — if arrangements are difficult, a side chamber will do, but the positions must be precise. My quarters should be to the due north, Tanlang’s to the due east, and Qisha’s to the due west.”

Little Phoenix held the pencil in his beak and took note. “Understood — one triangle, with Weijian and me in the middle. Anything else?”

Po Jun continued, “We will also need someone to go to Fan Tian to retrieve the Buddha’s Spirit-Gathering Mirrors — three of them in total.”

Little Phoenix set down the small bundle on his back, took out a storage ring in his beak and held it up for Po Jun to see. “This one has them, this one has them — Weijian asked me to go fetch them today. There are also many other powerful magical artifacts that you may well be able to use.”

Po Jun smiled. “His Majesty truly does prepare for adversity before it arrives. Little Yuan Yuan — do you know what we are doing?”

Little Phoenix looked at him and nodded. “I know. Weijian’s power is fading, so you must be discussing matters regarding the Star Disc.”

Po Jun made a hushing gesture. “Then remember not to tell others. The peace of the Six Realms today was won through the ancient gods’ relentless, day-and-night fighting and sweeping clean — if someone with ulterior motives were to learn of this, one cannot be certain that someone might not try to bring about a repeat of the chaos of ancient times.”

Little Phoenix nodded quickly. “I understand, Brother Po Jun.”

Po Jun patted his little head, then rummaged around in his sleeve, apparently meaning to feed him a few pieces of fruit. After feeling around for quite a while, Po Jun seemed to recall something. “I’ve never kept a bird — I only have rabbits, a big goose, and goldfish at home. I only have a few pieces of rabbit feed left in here. Take them as you like.”

Little Phoenix took a few pieces of rabbit feed in his beak and politely gave his thanks. Po Jun then asked him for directions to the tearoom, and headed back with a pot of tea.

Little Phoenix first hopped over to the place where the celestial maidens usually played cards to have a look, confirmed that they had indeed all gone to sleep, and then quietly flew off. He did a round of inspection and happened to find three vacant side halls, whereupon he set to work putting them in order. Little Phoenix transformed into human form and got to work following Po Jun’s instructions. Carrying bedding and quilts in and out, just getting the bedchambers tidied up properly took quite some time — by the time he was more or less done, he had the vague sense that dawn was approaching.

He rubbed his eyes and walked out. When he reached the door of the study, he was just thinking up what excuse to use to slip in and urge the people inside to come out and sleep, when the door to the study opened.

All four of them wore expressions of exhaustion.

Xingyi saw him standing before the study door and was taken aback for a moment. “You haven’t slept yet?”

Little Phoenix delightedly looked to be praised. “I’ve finished setting up the three Star Lord brothers’ quarters — I couldn’t sleep anyway, so I helped out a little. I may eat a lot, but I work very fast.”

Xingyi smiled and shook his head, let out a sigh, and came over to draw him into his arms, then turned and made a gesture. “Let us stop here for today.”

The Three Stars took their leave one by one.

Little Phoenix darted out from Xingyi’s arms and led each of them to find their own quarters. He smiled a little shyly. “I only had time to get the sleeping areas ready — please make do for now. When the fairy sisters wake up tomorrow, they’ll certainly be able to set things in much better order.”

By the time he and Xingyi had settled down to sleep, it was truly already daylight. During their bath, Xingyi scooped Little Phoenix up sideways in his arms and tossed him directly into the Fuli spring water — with a great splash, waves surged up everywhere. Little Phoenix thrashed about for quite a while, and once he had finally managed to surface, glared at Xingyi with puffed-up indignation.

Xingyi wrapped his arms around Little Phoenix from behind, resting his chin on his smooth shoulder amid the warm rising steam, and asked, “Little naughty bird, what were you up to today?”

Little Phoenix was tickled by his hair and twisted and turned in his arms, laughing. “First I went to find Little Coal Ball, but he wasn’t there, so I went to find the Phoenix Mingzun to get the materials you needed. The Mingzun said I’d come too early and he hadn’t finished gathering everything yet, so I helped the Mingzun search for materials for half the day. After coming back from Fan Tian, I went to find Little Coal Ball again, but he still wasn’t there — I figured today he was probably staying cozy in his nest sleeping in because of the cold weather. Then I came back home, ran into Brother Po Jun who said they’d be staying here for a while, so I went to tidy up the rooms.”

Xingyi listened to him recite his day like a running ledger and laughed softly. “The day began and ended with looking for Coal Ball — you like him that much?”

Little Phoenix said earnestly, “Weijian, no getting jealous without cause — I was just bursting to tell him that his words had really come true.”

Xingyi pulled him in tighter, his thoughts wandering slightly as he asked, “Oh? Besides that, what other wishes did you make?”

Little Phoenix said, “I also wished for your wounds to heal faster.”

Xingyi reached out and wrapped his arm around him, holding up his right hand to show him the injury: in the span of just one short day, the wound that had been deep to the bone yesterday had already faded, returning to smooth skin, with only a pale mark remaining.

He said, “Today, the Three Stars of Sha, Po, and Lang acted as my dharma protectors, channeling the combined power of their three stars to replace part of my cultivation and suppress the Star Disc. So far, the results are promising. I also took the opportunity to let the wound heal — what a coincidence.”

Little Phoenix’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Really! I — I’m taking Little Coal Ball to bet on stones and horse racing tomorrow!”

Xingyi continued. “Part of why I can’t suppress the Star Disc is also because my cultivation has been declining. Since I cannot be away for even a day, and there is no one who can temporarily take my place, I cannot enter seclusion to cultivate, so this method is not a long-term solution. So ask your Coal Ball friend — can he think of anything? “

Little Phoenix said, puzzled. “Ask Little Coal Ball to bless your cultivation so it stops declining?”

Xingyi bit him on the side of his neck, leaving an ambiguous, glistening tooth mark. “Are you genuinely clueless or pretending? A cultivation method that increases power without requiring seclusion — as my empress, should you not know of one?”

Little Phoenix thought hard for a long time, then carefully asked, “Weijian… do you mean that you want to eat three hundred lianshi fruits a day too?”

The little bird seemed somewhat troubled. “But if you eat that many, I won’t have any left to eat.”

He appeared to rack his brains for a while, and finally said with pained resignation. “Then… then you eat them. I won’t fight you for them, Weijian. After all, I am your empress, and we are to advance and retreat together. For the sake of the greater good of all living beings, I’ll go hand over the fruit I’ve been secretly hoarding — one thousand two hundred and thirty-four pieces in total. Remember to be sparing with them.”

Xingyi: “……”