On The Self-Cultivation Of A Favored Concubine - Chapter 76

The palaces of the Upper Realm were towering and magnificent, hidden amidst auspicious clouds, appearing and disappearing fitfully.

The Peach Blossom Goddess gazed at the long-lost scenery before her and stepped toward the residence of Ba (the Goddess of Drought).

Ba stood upon the cracked, parched earth, her expression solemn. “What have you come here for?”

Ba was responsible for droughts across the land, a punishment unbearable for plants. Because of this, she knew the Peach Blossom before her would not like her.

Enduring the scorching, dry atmosphere, the Peach Blossom Goddess smiled faintly and spoke, “I have come for the heart of the Demon Realm’s Young Mistress.”

Not long ago, Ba had discovered a bloody heart in her residence. It was surrounded by black energy, throbbing like a drum, a terrifying sight. Sensing a conspiracy, she had immediately sealed the heart away without informing the outside world.

Now, the Peach Blossom Goddess had arrived the moment it happened.

“I don’t know what you, a mere blossom, are talking about,” Ba said, coldly dismissing her guest.

“If the heart of the Demon Young Mistress suddenly appears in the palace of a High God, and the Demon Realm finds out, rumors will fly that we are torturing their heir. Give the heart to me. I will handle it properly,” the Peach Blossom Goddess said, her voice calm and clear.

“How can I trust you?”

“If anything goes wrong, I will take full responsibility.”

The Peach Blossom Goddess emerged carrying a crystal box. Inside lay a heart that throbbed incessantly. As she walked, petals fell upon the transparent surface, quickly obscuring it from view.

The Little Demon Girl’s heart was warm and vibrant, yet coiled with the dark, gloomy, and terrifying energy of the Demon Realm. Sensing the hostility radiating from the heart, the Goddess momentarily dazed. But she quickly steadied her mind and rushed back to the Marsh God Realm.

The Little Demon Girl was squatting by the marsh playing with the water; her injuries were mostly healed. Seeing the Peach Blossom Goddess descend before her, she beamed. “Where did you go? What treasure are you holding?”

Looking at the radiant girl, the Goddess’s fingers tightened slightly around the box. “Jiang Shu.”

It was the first time she had called her by her name.

Jiang Shu’s expression turned serious. “Hmm?”

“After you return, you must be good. Do not be so scattered or reckless as you are here. You are no longer a child; you must learn restraint. Also, keep the kindness you found here. Do not act with malice or cruelty.” As she spoke, the Goddess handed over the box.

Jiang Shu took it and opened it. Inside lay her heart, missing for so many days. It felt as though she had been laid bare, her hidden “true face” peeked at by the other, and for a moment, Jiang Shu looked uncomfortable.

But the feeling vanished instantly. Her heart was back, and the true Young Mistress of the Demon Realm didn’t care about such things.

The Goddess watched the girl as black mist began to emanate from her. Jiang Shu’s eyes grew deeper and darker, and the expression on her face underwent a subtle transformation.

“Jiang Shu, you must remember my words.”

Jiang Shu suddenly gave her a sweet smile. “Alright.” But her eyes were full of disdain.

She didn’t agree with a word of it. The Peach Blossom Goddess hesitated, almost regretting returning the heart so soon.

Jiang Shu stretched her body, satisfied to feel whole again. “I’m leaving. Thank you for your hospitality these days. Wait for my return.”

The Goddess’s heart skipped a beat. “After you go back…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything.” As if. Jiang Shu clenched her fist. Now, she was going to settle some scores.

The Peach Blossom Goddess knew she had misjudged this demon. Her previous gentleness and softness were only because she lacked a heart. Now that she was whole, a heart steeped in years of bullying and hostility had revealed a different face entirely.

Jiang Shu was gone for a long time.

The Peach Blossom Goddess held her peach branch, weaving the marriage threads of the day. Sitting by the marsh, she thought of the time they spent together, it felt like a dream.

She lay on a giant leaf, her long legs peeking from her skirt, her hair spread out as she watched the blue sky and falling petals.

“Peach Blossom.”

A familiar voice came from above.

The Goddess’s expression remained unchanged, her eyes soft and melancholy as she watched a black shadow pounce from the sky. The Little Demon Girl, dressed in black, gave her a bear hug, her weight causing the leaf to sink.

The Goddess hastily wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist, and countless petals flew from her sleeves to cushion their fall.

Jiang Shu took the opportunity to wrap her legs around her, holding her tight. “I’ve proposed! You’re going to marry me!”

The Goddess blinked. “What?”

“I proposed to your High Gods, and they agreed to give you to me!” Jiang Shu bit a petal and winked.

The faint red mole at the corner of the Goddess’s eye grew vivid. “Impossible. Gods and Demons do not intermarry. They would never agree.”

Seeing her lie exposed, Jiang Shu felt only sweetness. “See? You only said they wouldn’t agree, which means you do, right?”

The Goddess broke free from the embrace and sat up, her hair disheveled. “You are being naughty.”

Jiang Shu nudged closer to sit side-by-side.

“There is blood on your hands.”

Jiang Shu grinned. “I killed my stepmother. I have nowhere else to go, so I can only hide here with you.”

“I told you…”

“To be restrained, to be kind, to be soft, right?” Jiang Shu leaned back on her hands, laughing disdainfully. “If I didn’t kill her, she would have killed me. That’s reality.”

“I didn’t say you shouldn’t defend yourself, but I didn’t want you to kill in such a cruel, direct way.”

Jiang Shu suddenly sat up and hugged the Goddess from behind. “Do you know why I was so ‘stupid’ and hurried to act? Because I couldn’t wait. I wanted to come find you. I didn’t want to stay in that hellhole playing mind games with that evil woman! It was a waste of time. It was faster to just destroy her spirit.”

The Little Demon Girl was strong, she held the Goddess so tightly it felt as if she might break her bones.

The Goddess’s expression grew more distant. “Go. Gods and demons are impossible.”

“You’re so heartless. I missed you so much my bones ached. I want you.”

“You aren’t being good.”

“I don’t care. I want you.”

The Peach Blossom Goddess didn’t know what had happened to her. Perhaps from the moment she caught that lock of falling hair, she had been poisoned as well, and the poison ran just as deep.

But she was naturally detached. Having lived for so long, she could bury obsession and ignore passion.

“Jiang Shu, from now on you must be good. Harbor kindness. Don’t be shrouded in hatred. Your eyes look even darker today.”

Jiang Shu replied, “I’ll definitely be good in front of you.”

“You must be so in front of others as well.”

The Little Demon Girl lost her patience. She pounced, pinning her down. “Goddess, just give in to me!”

The Goddess remained calm, reaching out to pinch her chin. “Only after marriage. It’s called binding a marriage. I have more experience in this than you, so you must listen to me.”

And so, they had that wedding night at the Ice Mirror of the Kunlun Mountains.

Looking at the flirtatious Goddess, the heat rose in the demon girl’s veins. The heavy desires in her soul turned her eyes red, like a hungry beast.

The Goddess slowly untied her belt, her snowy legs visible beneath her skirt. She looked up, her eyes full of misty longing, the mole at the corner of her eye as red as cinnabar.

A God and a Demon, binding their marriage, recorded in the Divine Registry. When the High Gods found out, they were furious. At the same time, the Demon King, having lost his wife, heard his daughter had been “abducted” by a God and was equally enraged.

The Peach Blossom Goddess slowly picked up her clothes, covering her fair body. Looking at the surging storms of the Upper Realm, she curled her lips into a smile.

A smooth arm wrapped around her. Satiated, the Little Demon Girl sniffed her sweet scent and asked, “What are you laughing at?”

“Gods, demons, spirits, humans… do you think they can bind their marriages together?”

Jiang Shu kissed the back of her neck. “Of course they can.”

The Goddess lowered her eyes. “I have witnessed it countless times. Devoted spirits kneeling under the peach tree, praying for a match. But constrained by Heavenly Law, even though I saw their love and parting, I could not help them.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have endured it for a long time, and now I don’t want to endure it anymore.” The Goddess’s eyes grew firm. “This status as a ‘God’ I don’t want it.”

The Little Demon Girl hugged her tight. “Then come be a demon with me.”

That jest never came true. The Great War of Gods and Demons began, turning the world upside down. They became the targets of everyone. The peace of the Marsh God Realm vanished.

The Little Demon Girl was carefree, she only wanted to be with her Goddess every day. She had no idea that the Peach Blossom Goddess had made her own plans.

The Goddess knew this marriage was “stolen” and could not last. From the beginning, she knew there would be a day of parting.

After the battle at Kunlun, the land was in ruins.

The Peach Blossom Goddess stood in the center. She created countless ice mirrors, infusing them with divine power to seal all their past memories within them. Then, she sat before the mirrors, watching them over and over alone.

Her divine power was dissipating. She no longer wanted to be a high and mighty Goddess, pitying the world was not her strength.

When the Little Demon Girl rushed over, she saw the pale Goddess sitting among the mirrors. Seeing her, the Goddess smiled. “You’re here.”

“Peach Blossom, what are you doing?” Jiang Shu held her weak body, devastated.

“I do not regret binding our marriage as a God. But I never held the hope that we would last forever. Please forgive me for failing you.” The red mole at the Goddess’s eye faded back to a pale pink.

“No! Peach Blossom, you love me, you clearly love me!” The girl sobbed, desperately kissing the mole, trying to wake her love.

The Goddess stroked her hair. “Little Demon… in the future, you must be kind. Let go of the malice. Don’t be so reckless. A girl’s hands shouldn’t be covered in blood.”

“Then I’ll change! I’ll change everything, okay?” The girl cried. “Don’t leave me. Where are you going?”

“You don’t understand. You don’t understand.” The Goddess sighed, her eyes soft and melancholy.

With those words, the Goddess in the girl’s arms vanished.

From that day on, the Heavens lost a peach blossom, and the Spirit Realm gained a Peach Blossom Spirit. Freed from Heavenly Law, she presided over the marriages of spirits allowing cross-species and cross-gender unions. As long as two souls loved each other, they could bind their hearts under the peach tree.

The Peach Blossom Spirit used her life’s power to fulfill one beautiful romance after another, including that of the Little Willow Spirit and the Beautiful Empress.

Many years after descending into a spirit, she rarely thought of the Little Demon Girl she had spent so many nights with. She should be back in the Demon Realm now, being a proper Young Mistress. I hope so, the spirit thought.

She smiled, though the smile held a hint of sorrow.

Until one day, she heard that the Demon Realm had declined because their Young Mistress had fled to the mortal world. She had shed her demon bones to become a common human.

“Why did she do that?”

“It was for that Goddess who took her away! To protect her from punishment, the Young Mistress agreed to shed her form and enter the cycle of reincarnation!”

The two chatting demons moved on. Behind them, peach petals covered the ground.

In the chilly autumn wind, in a small hut by a village stream, a baby’s cry rang out. The Jiang family had a daughter.

“Mrs. Jiang, look! The peach tree outside the window has bloomed!” The midwife cried out in surprise, holding the newborn. “It’s an auspicious sign!”

The peach blossoms bloomed in the cold of October, a miracle.

Mother Jiang looked at the blossoms, then at the crying baby. “These flowers seem to have bloomed for her. Let’s call her Tao Xi (Peach Joy).”

The Peach Blossom Spirit liked the name very much. She had loved her for ten thousand years without change. Now, it was her turn to guard her.