Xie Qiang seemed distraught over whatever he had heard with his keen wolf's ears. YueQin was confused while MingYu had heard nothing until now. The voices on the other side of the wall grew louder until all three of them caught on what the people were arguing about.
As they sat still, an irritating, squeaky voice of a youth said, "I say, it was Da Siming who fell from Heaven, not Shao Siming!"
"In the poem of Chu Shi, it says it was the lesser master of Fate who fell. Great is 'Da', not the lesser, 'Shao'!" Said another youth, but his voice was more soothing to the ear, like rippling water of a stream.
"Storyteller, tell him I'm right! It was Da Siming, who fell!" The youth shouted, his voice breaking halfway through the sentence. They could hear a group of youths suppressing their giggles.
A deep, rumbling chuckle resounded right from behind the wall, sending goosebumps across MingYu's arms and back.
"It was Shao Siming who fell from Heaven. The two masters of Fate were equally powerful, twin brothers, but because of the other one falling, the one who stayed in Heaven got the title 'Da', while the one who fell had the title 'Shao'."
MingYu's lips parted in surprise. During his long stay in Heaven, he had never heard of there being two masters of Fate. He only knew of one, but that man lived on the floating island, tending to the tree of Fate. No one ever saw him, except for the Jade Emperor. If even a deity like him didn't know of a second master of Fate, how did the mortals know about him?
The youth with the soothing voice said, "Told you! Feeling scorned, he even went and created the plague that haunts the mortal world to this day!"
MingYu's eyes widened. From what he understood, in Heaven, a plaque referred to the first self-made immortal of the Earth Realm. The supreme sect leader. If the youths and the storyteller were referring to him, then the second master of Fate was the Divine Guide?
MingYu couldn't wrap his head around it. How did the second master of Fate end up so tortured, he was barely in the books of the living? The ragged nails hidden beneath the ropes appeared clearly in his mind and MingYu grimace.
"He didn't create the plaque. It was all Heaven's own doing." The old man said with dramatic nuance. He let the silence fall upon the youths, fuelling their curiosity, enjoying the electrifying tension in the air.
MingYu hitched his back, propping himself up straight, as he waited for the man to continue. Xie Qiang's fan had stopped on its track for a while now. His brows crinkled, giving his chiselled face a rather handsome, stern look.
YueQin was blinking, turning her gaze between the serious wolf and the wound-up MingYu. She was lost to what was going on, so she sat in expecting silence.
When the man started, his voice had dropped low, sadness underlying each word.
"A long time ago, a star of Fortune broke into six fragments. One of those fragments fell down on Earth. The Jade Emperor and his wife in Heaven made a bet. Will the stars in the sky smile upon their fallen brethren? They gathered the stardust of this fragment and created a soul with it."
"They gave Da Siming a task. Give this soul the most whirlwind life, wrought with sorrow and loneliness. Make him wish to die, but cannot, force him to live when he doesn't want to! With that, a soul was born, a star was turned mortal, and gods' experiments began."
The silence that followed was unsettling.
"But why?" One youth barely whispered, but his voice thundered in the otherwise deathly silent room. MingYu unconsciously nodded. He too wanted to know the reason behind this cruelty.
"Indeed, why? It was a little game to liven up the tedious life of the immortals. To see how fortunate can he be with such a terrible fate weaved for him."
"I don't understand." Offered another youth.
"There is no valid reason behind it." The old man said slowly, drawing out each word like a death sentence. MingYu shivered under his tone.
"They proved that even for a star that looked down on Heaven from far above, it was easily crushed and destroyed under their hands."
MingYu's frown deepened. Somehow, he had always thought of Heaven as fair in his mind, righteous and orderly. But the knowledge of Xu Guanting being cast down from Heaven for an accusation, and his soul shattered, reminded MingYu that as long as one was still in Heaven's good graces, their treatment was different.
A lump formed in MingYu's throat. He had messed up once already. If he failed again, he was going to witness Heaven's wrath first hand.
"Shao Siming took pity on the poor soul and took him under his wing." One of the youths said with force.
"Yes, but sometimes, too much suffering changes the person. He was admittedly pitiable, but his spirit was tainted with hatred. It would have been better to let his spirit dissolve out of existence." The storyteller whispered, almost to himself.
"But, then, Heaven brought this upon themselves? This plaque?" Another youth said.
"One could say so. But why call him a plaque? He had a name. Even though the world might have forgotten it, Heaven has tried to erase it, and Hell has long condoned it. His name was BiFei, the first self-made immortal."
Xie Qiang's cup cracked in his tight hold, startling both MingYu and YueQin. The wolf looked almost murderous as he jumped up, clasping his fan in an iron grip, nearly breaking the wooden frame.
"Impossible! No mortal should know of his name!"
Xie Qiang pulled the room door almost off its frame as he stepped outside. YueQin and MingYu grovelled after him. When they reached the door, the wolf had already kicked the neighbouring room's door in.
Xie Qiang stood by the opening in utter astonishment. YueQin and MingYu pushed past him and entered the empty room. The pillows on the floor were fluffed and untouched. The little podium near the wall was gathering dust. There was no one in the room, and looking at the state of it, no one had been there for a while now.
"But, we heard people talking." YueQin stammered. Her skin lost its healthy flush as she clung to MingYu's side. "Y-you don't think this place is haunted?"
MingYu shook his head as he studied the room. Some cobwebs hung from the ceiling, but the energy in the room was untouched and clean. There were no spirits or anything dirty in the area.
Another waiter was bustling past them, and Xie Qiang stopped him on his track.
"Where are the storyteller and the group of youths in this room?" Xie Qiang snarled, showing his fangs.
The waiter shrunk back as he wrung his dishtowel in his hands. His eyes shot between the three of them as he struggled to make sense of what Xie Qiang just asked him.
"Young master, I don't know what you're talking about. The only room on this level was booked by you. All the other rooms on this floor are empty."
"You-!" Xie Qiang took hold of the man's collar and shook him. "Where is the other waiter? He told us there was a storyteller in this room!"
The young waiter was in full panic mode now as he turned white as a ghost and stuttered, "Y-young master! There is no other waiter beside me today! AhYu is sick, so he didn't come in today!"
Xie Qiang's hold eased, and the waiter bolted down the stairs, out of sight.
"What is going on?" MingYu managed from between his tightly clenched teeth. He was sure not all three of them had hallucinated of the same thing. Cold shivers ran across his body, and he wanted to curl up in ZhiYi's arms at the moment.
YueQin seemed to agree with him as she clung to his healthy arm and pulled him towards the stairs.
"I want out. Now!" She whined.
Xie Qiang looked puzzled as he ushered the two to move. "You two should return to ZhiYi. I won't entertain you any further. There are some things I must take care of."
YueQin didn't wait for a repeated order as she jumped down two steps at a time, dashing outside into the bright sunlight.
MingYu threw a last glance towards the vacant room before it disappeared behind the railings. He wasn't particularly scared of ghosts, but he hated the unsettling feeling of not knowing what was going on.
----
Siming is a title for the master of Fate, not an actual name.