"Your scent, it's the same." Ying Lei said as he let him go.
"And it seems you didn't lose your power," answered Jiu.
"Did you already forget? I'm the mighty Mountain God who protects Kunlun?"
"Yes, yes, sure sure." grind Jiu.
"You sure have grown up, little healer!"
"I'm not 13 years old anymore I'm going to be 22 this year."
It wasn't a secret that the life of a human was short, just a blink of an eye for a Demon.
For him these passing years were nothing. But for Bai Jiu, It was already a quarter of his lifetime.
When he was younger and dreamed often of being part of the mortal World his grandfather used to remind him not to get close to humans.
And not to have any deep affection since time was cruel towards them. He often used to hear how Demons fall in Love with mortals
or mortals fall in love with Demons even though their life wasn't meant to be forever yet they choose to lose each other rather than live in pain and not to be able with each other.
Was it a cruse or was it just another mortal Charm?
And yet Bai Jiu was sitting in front of him ... not that young Kid who had a soft heart and a weakness for sweet things.
Instead, it was a young man who knew what he was talking about.
"So you are telling me that you're old?"
"By the Terms of being old.", said Bai Jiu as they went down the Bridge. "It must be you."
"Depends how you see it!", interrupted Ying Lei. "As for God and Demon, I'm pretty much the same age as when we first met. But if it comes to you…"
"I'm a human so my life is already predictable just the ending will never be the same.
Back then I used to think, that being an immortal must be boring and sad at the same time. Imagine being stuck at the
same time while seeing people dying around you. It isn't a pleasant life."
"And you your envy since I have plenty time while you're going to die right?"
"No. Are you stupid?"
"Stupi….. what …..you didn't change at all," growled Ying Lei.
"But when I look at you, it seems like your time has stopped since the day we went our way. While mine is spinning too fast!" said Bai Jiu as his mouth curved into a smile.
For a while, they walked in silence side by side. While around them everything was loud enough to have the ears covered.
They passed some Taverns until they found a Teahouse. It was small and mostly forgotten by everyone.
It resembled that of a mortal world yet one look at the waiter and you were able to say that this wasn't the mortal world.
"After we went our ways! Did you ever look for me?" asked Jiu as he sat down.
"Look….. why should I look for you…. didn't you want to become a great Healer? I mean you were already one but …..I meant a much bigger and greater one." stumbled Ying Lei
and tried not to look into his eyes.
It was a lie. He looked for him. It was right after his health got better. He went down the mountain even to Taindu just to find any clues about him.
But there was none. He vanished it was like a dream. He was like a dream. He waited in the coldest winter in front of his home and rainy weather in front of the Demon Hunter bureau.
"What brings you here? I thought you wouldn't take a step into the Wilderness after what happened!", asked Ying Lei and took quickly a sip of his tea.
"What happened last time?"
"It's hot hot hot!" shouted Ying Lei after burning his tongue.
"This isn't wine, you should be careful not to get hurt!"
"Why should I worry, if I have the greatest Healer of all time sitting in front of me."
"Because even a healer isn't able to save a Demon.", replied Bai Jiu and took carefully a sip of his tea.
"Don't tell me you already forget what happened last time when you entered the Wilderness. It didn't take a day before you were thrown out.
I had to take care of you for three days because you lost your consciousness. Afterward, I remember you saying I'm never gonna take a step into that World anymore!"
"Did I?
"So tell me why are you here?"
"There is a Person who was very dear to me. That Person always remembered me, that being home sometimes doesn't mean to go back but instead to meet the right Person.
The day when I realized it, it was already too late and that Person was gone.
Later I found out that the Person didn't Vanished as I thought but instead was gravely ill. So I saved that Person….but it was just temporary. The only way to save a
A person is to find a special herb. So traveled everywhere but wasn't able to find it in the mortal world."
"You must love that Person?"
"Pardon?"
"I will help you!"
"You?"
"Did you already forget I am the God of the Mountain?"
"And so what?"
"It also means that I became over the years some kind of middle or mailman in Vast World of the Wilderness.
It all started with a love letter. At first, it was pretty annoying, then interesting, then stupid.
Especially when I was daydreaming about the - big question of my life. But after some time I noticed that it wasn't a bad idea …..!"
"And....!
"So just tell me what you want. And I can hire some shady guys from the Wilderness to find anything you want."
"Shady guys from the Wilderness!", sniffed Bai Jiu as there was something in the air.
"You don't believe me? I'm hurt!"
"And yet you wanted always to look better than Master Zhou!", smiled Jiu.
"Who is Master Zhou? Do ….. I know him?"
Jiu paused.
"So…. Who that Master? You know how much I hate it if you talk about stuff, that I don't know about!"
Jiu forced a smile for a moment he forgot that there were things, he wouldn't remember.
"Someone I met during my traveling
"Hmm if he was someone who you met while you were traveling, why would I compete with him?
"You won't."
"No, you just said, I would always try to look better than him."
"No."
"Yes!"
"How should you compete with someone you never met!"
"That was my question!"
"Yes, so tell me!"
"What?"
"If you let me enter the Wilderness."
"Aren't you already in the Wilderness?"
"You know what I mean."
"What do you mean…... ah ah you confusing me. Where did you learn to talk like that."
"I had a great Friend!"
"You should call it rather a bad influence!" hissed Ying Lei.
Bai Jiu laughed.
"Finally you are laughing!" said Ying Lei as he looked at him.
"What are you talking about!", replied Bai Jiu and wiped off his tear.
"Jiu, tell me. Why do you want to enter the Wilderness."
"I already told you the reason."
"No, the real reason. You were always bad at hiding things.", said Lei. No- in this he changed. The boy who wasn't able to hide was now able to choose the right words."
"Why should I hide my real intention when it comes to someone else life?" answered Jiu and looked straight into his, brown eyes.
And noticed that Ying Lei's robe wasn't the same anymore. Its bright autumn became grey and white like a Mountain covered in snow.
His way of holding his cup was different even though he was still clumsy.
His posture, his hands, his eyes, his eyes were that of a Lord, or should he call that of a God?
"So, you don't trust me? ", answered Jiu as his lips set in a hard line.