Shang Gu and Zhu Zi have been tagging along with Yu Chen for over a year now. The three of them went from town to town and city to city as if Yu Chen had no destination.
"where are we heading?" Shang Gu asked him
"There is no destination for me, I work for the king. It is my job to travel around his country and report my finding to him." Yu Chen said to her but she didn't know what he meant
"What do you report back to your king about?" Shang Gu asked him, Yu Chen kept his head up and away from her
"About his people and their living conditions." Yu Chen said to her
"And what does your king do with your report?" Shang Gu asked him
"His majesty would take it to court and see what the governors could do better to improve the people's living." Yu Chen said to her and she smile
"When will you return my feelings?" Shang Gu asked him this and he stopped walking but he never turn to look at her
"....I've told you not to waste your time on me." Yu Chen said to her and she sighs
"How do you feel towards me? From the beginning or even just this past year." Shang Gu said to him but he said nothing
"I will have to return home by the end of the year, please answer me." Shang Gu said to him but he said nothing, she thought that if he at least love her just a little, she would stay in the mortal realm even if she was to be hunted down by the other gods and goddesses.
But just as she was about to say something to him there was a loud scream for help from within the town, Shang Gu looked at Zhu Zi and the three of them rushed into the town.
Shang Gu notice that the town was small, it looked abandoned and there was not a soul in sight but Shang Gu could sense the aura of a weak demon. Shang Gu and Zhu Zi has come upon many other fairies, spirits, gods, and goddess but have not yet come upon any demons, even though right now the demons and the other realm are at peace but they are known to be a race that doesn't get along with the heavenly realm.
"Miss." Zhu Zi said to her and Shang Gu turned to look at Zhu Zi, Zhu Zi motioned her head towards the right side and Shang Gu turned to look that way, there was a lot of mist coming out from there and a pair of red eyes glow from behind the mist
"Who is it? Show yourself?!" Shang Gu demanded as she released her goddess aura, the person in the mist startled. Shang Gu expected Yu Chen to be knocked out from her aura but he was standing as if nothing had happened
"Please show mercy!" the voice seem to belong to a young boy, Yu Chen turned to look at the two ladies
"Stay behind me." Yu Chen said to them as he took out his sword, Shang Gu stayed behind Yu Chen and the young boy came out from the mist. Shang Gu knew right away that he is a demon yet he looked like a young human boy.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Yu Chen asked the young boy
"I live in this town." the little boy said to him and Yu Chen put away his sword that was pointed toward the young boy
"What was that noise we heard from outside?" Yu Chen asked him
"What did you hear?" the little boy asked him and Yu Chen looked around before he answered
"We heard a call for help." Shang Gu answered but Yu Chen leaned in closer
"I sense a weird aura from him, it's possible that he could be a lingering ghost." Yu Chen said to Shang Gu but she smiled at him, he wasn't wrong about the aura but this young boy is not a lingering ghost
"He's not a ghost." Shang Gu said to Yu Chen and stepped up
"Who are you and what was that voice, answer me or-" Shang Gu said but the little child answered her quickly
"I am a lower demon. The voice from earlier must've been my mother, my mother is dying and she's in a lot of pain." the young boy said to her
"What happened to everyone in the town? Was it your work?" Shang Gu asked him and he shook his head, he must've known that she was not a mortal
"If you like, you can come with me." the demon said to her and she nodded
The three of them follow the little demon behind closely and they approach a temple with a big tree
"This is my mother's temple, my mother was a low-level spirit that was worshipped but when an epidemic broke out everyone left, but because my mother live on with the power of the believer; she started dying when they left." the young boy said to her and Shang Gu nodded
"But your mother is a spirit, not a demon." Shang Gu said and he nodded
"My name is Chi Wu, my mother raised me since I just regained my form. I've been in the demon realm for a few years but while I was doing my round with guiding the spirits, I came upon a person I knew from this town they told me that the town was hit with an epidemic and so I came to see her and she was already in this state." Chi Wu said to her and Shang Gu nodded
"Then let's head inside." Shang Gu said as she walked towards the temple and the three of them walked behind her, Yu Chen has never seen a woman like her who doesn't seem to be scared and even feels a strong aura from her.
From the one year that she has been following him, at times she looked like a normal woman but other times she seemed almost like a magical creature that was full of power and mysteries but it made him fall for her even more, even though he knew that she might be out of his league.
It was one of his bad habits to be humbled and look down on himself since he had no parents, he was raised in a temple and was treated no different than a homeless person even though he was well-known as a sword master now but the past still hover over his head.
When Shang Gu stepped into the temple she could feel a certain energy, it was fresh but somehow it doesn't feel right, she walked over to the tree inside of the temple and the fairy came out from within her vessel and attacked her but Shang Gu didn't move an inch. Instead, Chi Wu stopped his mother
"Mother, this is someone from the nine-heaven realm." Chi Wu said to his mother but Shang Gu waved her hand and the fairy went unconscious; Chi Wu reached out to catch his mother.
"Bring your mother over here." Shang Gu said as she conjured up a bed and Chi Wu took his mother to lie down on the bed, with a single flick, Shang Gu checked her condition
"Who else visits your mother?" Shang Gu asked him
"There shouldn't be anyone who would visit my mother, my mother doesn't know anyone." Chi Wu said to her but Shang Gu shook her head
"Your mother isn't sick, she's poisoned by something from the mortal realm mixed in with some spiritual energy thus it is stronger than just some mere mortal poison. " Shang Gu said to him and he looked toward his mother
"There shouldn't be anyone like that around my mother." Chi Wu said to her but she shook her head as she looked at the unconscious fairy
"As she is a worshiped fairy, that must mean that she is a hard-working fairy even if she is a lower-level fairy. I will use some of my spiritual powers to heal your mother, and-." Shang Gu said as she turned to look at Yu Chen
"We shall return to the nine-heaven realm." Shang Gu said he looked like he wanted to say something to her but he didn't, she sighs and turned away from him
"Let's worship the temple right before we leave." Shang Gu said to them and as they all went to pray at the temple, Yu Chen also went to pray on his own but when he got back up the group was already gone even though he was now determined to tell her how he felt and return her love but he had never thought that it would already be too late.
"Shang Gu! Shang Gu!" Yu Chen looked for her all over the whole town but she was nowhere to be found, he fell down on the ground and he screamed out her name
SHANG GU! PLEASE COME BACK, I'M SORRY!" Yu Chen yelled towards the sky but there was no answer from above, he got up from the floor. Yu Chen never returned back to the capital but instead, he stayed in that town and cleaned the temple, soon enough people came back to the small town.
Yu Chen thought that since she belonged to the nine-heaven realm, a few days in the nine-heaven realm was but a year or so in the mortal and that she would soon return and the two of them can wander the mortal realm together and this time he would return her love and make it up to her. But she never came back, not even till the day that he took his last breath in that little town where she left him.
After he died, due to his lingering affection and attraction he couldn't go anywhere but linger between the afterlife and the life of a ghost. He still searched for her after he died but no matter what he did there was nothing left of her in the mortal realm, he searched for her for 100 million years in the mortal realm, but he was not able to find even a whisp of her and he finally gave up his search and thought that maybe he can find her in the next life.
When he opens his eyes he found out that he's actually a true god of the three realms; Yuan Feng, he felt overwhelmed with all the sadness that was fresh in his mind and the pain in his chest was something that he has never felt before his life. In his anger, he lashes blades of wind and destroyed his palace in the process.
Qing Mu rushed to meet him when he notice the presence of Yuan Feng's primordial spirit's return to the true god's body but what he found was the true god kneeling in the middle of the runes of what used to be Yuan Feng's palace
He shut himself in his own palace and refused to meet anyone.