The Tale Never Ends Chapter 131 Aunt Ulan's Recovery

This is one of the two most fascinating magic used to manipulate movements, said Old Shang, with the other being Father's Autumn Decline. So this was the reason G.o.dmother would have wanted me to learn something from Zhu Mei, I reflected. Father's magic was like a fairy tale and myth from a bygone age to me; I would never be able to perform the things that he could do nor would I be able to achieve the feats that he did. Learning Zhu Mei's magic, on the other hand, seemed more realistically doable to me.

Everyone laid drunkenly sprawled on the floors of the fortress when the feast ended. Delirious and badly-stoned, Old Shang tugged on my arm, asking me to stay for a few more days. I said nothing. Aunt Ulan was still waiting for us, so was Father, who was anxious for my return.

At first light the next morning, we took our leave from Old Shang and made ready to ride back. Shang the younger saw us out the gates of the fortress and bade us farewell. We did not go to the Labyrinthian Canyon, galloping instead at full speed towards Aunt Ulan's encampment in the South. Strangely, we saw the distinct arch of the gates of Aunt Ulan's camp even before the sun was down in the evening. It cannot be, I brooded, unless... This could only be somebody's work: Zhu Mei. He had cast his magic on us to help us reach Aunt Ulan's camp quicker than was usual. The journey to the Labyrinthian Canyon took at least a few days but we were able to return the same distance with just a day's ride. Feeling grateful for his help, I stopped at the gates of the camp and gave a deep bow towards the direction of the Canyon afar. "Deepest thanks to you, Fifth Uncle..." I muttered furtively like how I once saw Zhang Zhigui did. And indeed, I could hear his recognizable sn.i.g.g.e.rs echoing from a distance before it faded quickly with the setting of the sun into the mountains beyond.

Rus.h.i.+ng into the encampment, I sprang off the saddle of my horse, leaving it to be handled by others while I rushed into the main hall with others trailing behind my heels.

But the main hall of the camp was empty. Mother was sitting on the roof of the main hall again. It was fortunate that it was a low season for the camp which occasionally provided accommodations for tourists and backpackers. I could imagine the horrified screams and gasps if anyone were to see Mother leaping around atop the main hall building.

With a somersault, Mother flung herself off the roof and landed safely on the ground. With an outstretched arm, she said to me, "Give me the Flask of Souls." I shrugged, grimacing at her childish antics as she took the flask with a playful grin before she noticed the deadpan expression of G.o.dmother behind us...

In fact, it was G.o.dmother who had specifically insisted to come back with us to Aunt Ulan's camp when she found out that Mother was helping to sustain Aunt Ulan's body by entering it. She was noticeably annoyed when she heard me speaking of Mother. But now that they have met, G.o.dmother merely wore a despondent frown despite her best efforts to remain taciturn. She said not a word. She was just too crushed to say anything, knowing that Mother possessed considerably more powers than her.

Mother, however, seemed hardly perturbed by her presence. With a gentle smile, she said to G.o.dmother, "How are you? It's been three hundred years..." The words struck deeply. So deeply that G.o.dmother was frozen on where she stood. Rings of red circled her eyes as she did her best to stifle any tears. Mother turned and walked to Aunt Ulan's cabin, allowing G.o.dmother at least to salvage some pride.

But I could almost comprehend how G.o.dmother felt. Mother has always been her greatest rival in their contest for Father's love. But meeting together again after so many years, at that very moment when their eyes met, G.o.dmother truly understood that there was no one else other than Mother who would have been more worthy of Father's affections. It was a feeling of defeat and forlornness that not even a demoness with hundreds of years of powers and experience would be impervious to.

What happened next became simpler and quicker: with the Flask of Souls, Mother restored Aunt Ulan's soul to her physical body while she departed back to Wu Zhong with a gentle whiff of wind. Aunt Ulan reopened her eyes and tears welled in the eyes of everyone present. Finally, after so long, Aunt Ulan has recovered! Her eyes opened and I was the first person they laid on. Trembling, her frail arm extended towards me and caressed my cheek. There must be so many things that she wished to speak to me about that her eyes too grew wet with motherly adoration.

Tears trickled down my cheek. There was no way I could hold them back. Crouching beside her bed, I clasped my hands around hers and said, "It's all right, Mother. Everything's fine now." Aunt Ulan nodded profusely, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g slowly with tears of joy as she grinned blissfully. Her face was pale as snow, a symptom which could only be explained by her spirit's long absence from her body. She was still too weak to move. "Rest, Mother," I said to her, "Have some sleep. I'll be around for now to accompany you." She nodded again, still beaming lovingly before she fell asleep.

As she slept, I waved to everyone to get out of her cabin quietly. We shuffled out as silently as we could while rubbing the tears off our eyes. A call came from the camp's mess halls, announcing that meals were ready. For the first time in the whole day, I felt my stomach groaning with hunger. We had been riding all day, chewing only on our rations in our haste to return that we had completely forgotten to eat.

In the harrowing pursuit to save Aunt Ulan, beginning from our struggles with Ha'ri Naohai, we have barely rested well. At long last, we could finally sit back and talk more leisurely. I introduced G.o.dmother to everyone during the dinner, much to the amazement and daze of everyone for her youthful looks. I hastily prevaricated by saying that she was skilled in disguising techniques, rather than revealing the truth that she was a more-than-three-hundred-year-old demon.

Even though she has been spending much of her time away from civilization, G.o.dmother was no stranger in dealing with humans. It did not take her long for her to mingle with the girls at Aunt Ulan's camp. In just the matter of a time during dinner, she managed to get close to them that everyone at the camp welcomed her as one of their own. But no one took her vernal girlish looks seriously; for her behavior and dispositions made her seem more like a long-lost older sister to all of them.

Her chatty verbosity kept her busy at all times, indulging with never-ending gossips with anyone who got within a meter near her and regurgitating tales after tales of her adventures that she even blurted to everyone about everything between Edelweiss and me! This was further substantiated by her notion that Aunt Ulan's ranch was like Edelweiss' family home, and to make it worse, she believed that it was time to begin discussing about marriage preparations...

With the help of G.o.dmother, the story of Edelweiss and I spread like a contagion through the entire ranch that some of the girls even began making sure that we have enough lambs for a banquet! But having been a single man for all my life, marriage life sends s.h.i.+vers down my spine. It was something that was as far away as the stars hanging above us much less contemplate seriously. Citing Aunt Ulan's health, I implored everyone that we delay any arrangements for marriage beforehand. The subject would only be broached again once she is better.

Unbeknownst to the others, it was merely a pretense to delay everything as best as I could while hoping that the fervor and enthusiasm would gradually weary. If Aunt Ulan were to indeed hear about this, she might be springing out of her bed literally with excitement. Edelweiss and I needed more time to understand more about each other. Marriage was something I viewed with utmost seriousness.

Days pa.s.sed slowly at Aunt Ulan's ranch as her health improved slowly. A week flitted by swiftly, after which I received summons from both G.o.dmother and Aunt Ulan, bidding me to meet them at the main hall of her camp. Finally, the day of reckoning, I mused, G.o.dmother must have blabbed to Aunt Ulan!

In one single week, G.o.dmother and Aunt Ulan became so unbelievably close that G.o.dmother had decided to move out of her lair to reside at the camp! It was all Aunt Ulan's idea that the two "sisters" should stay together. G.o.dmother even agreed to teach her some of her magic to change her appearance, pointing out that she, as an elder sister, should present a gift to her younger sister for such a great favor. It was a decision that Aunt Ulan came to after finding out from me everything about G.o.dmother, which I revealed truthfully, especially about her actual condition as a demoness with magical powers.

G.o.dmother must have leaked my romance with Edelweiss to Aunt Ulan, seeing as she had recovered fully. Expectedly so, Aunt Ulan was ecstatic to hear about this. To my dismay, my fears came true. Once I stepped into her main hall, she gleefully pestered me to get things going by bringing Edelweiss home with me to meet my parents.

Just when I could almost envisage the expression of my parents, Aunt Ulan quipped, "Ala is like a daughter to me! It's important that your parents and we meet together to discuss your engagement!"