Episode 5

Chapter 9: The Celestial Council

Cai Shen knelt in a jade palace atop the Nine Heavens, clouds swirling beneath a dome of starlight. The Celestial Council surrounded him, their forms radiant—Lord Qinglong, the Azure Dragon, at their center, his eyes like twin moons. “You grow too fond of the mortal, Lin Yue,” Qinglong rumbled, his voice shaking the air. “Such bonds disrupt heaven’s balance.”

Cai Shen’s jaw tightened, his hands clenched beneath his sleeves. “She is but a fleeting light,” he said, voice steady. “I seek only to understand her.”

“Lies,” Qinglong snapped, his scales glinting. “A mortal’s love will shatter your eternity, Cai Shen. You are a xian, bound to the Jade Emperor’s will. End this now, or we will act.”

The other elders murmured, their gazes cold. Cai Shen bowed, hiding the defiance burning in his chest. “I hear your command,” he said, but his heart rebelled. He thought of Lin Yue’s laugh, her reverence for a cherry blossom’s fall, and knew he could not sever her from his soul.

As he left, the clouds parted, revealing Mount Tai’s silhouette below. The mortal world called, its rivers and groves more alive than this sterile heaven. He touched the jade pin in his hair, a token he’d kept from a mortal life long forgotten, and vowed to protect Lin Yue, whatever the cost.

Chapter 10: The Path to Mount Tai

Lin Yue and Cai Shen climbed Mount Tai’s sacred slopes, peach blossoms drifting like snow in the spring breeze. The mountain, revered as a bridge to the heavens, hummed with spiritual energy, its peaks veiled in mist. Lin Yue pointed to a cherry tree, its petals falling in a delicate dance. “Even a petal’s fall is beautiful,” she said, grinning. “Don’t you see?”

Cai Shen paused, his golden eyes softening. “I’m beginning to,” he said, plucking a petal and tucking it behind her ear. Her laugh rang like a bell, warming his eternal heart—a sensation alien yet intoxicating.

At a stone shrine, Lin Yue lit incense, its smoke curling toward the sky. “For my parents,” she said, bowing. “They taught me to honor the world’s fleeting beauty.”

Cai Shen watched, struck by her reverence. “You honor what’s gone,” he said, voice low. “I’ve forgotten how.”

“Then learn,” she teased, her hand brushing his as she handed him an incense stick. The touch lingered, a spark across their worlds. He lit the incense, his movements hesitant, and joined her prayer, the act grounding him in her mortal warmth.

As they climbed higher, the valley unfolded below, a tapestry of green and silver. “This is why I love the world,” Lin Yue said, her eyes bright. “It lives, Cai Shen. It breathes.”

He looked at her, not the valley, and felt time shift. “You make it breathe,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. The mountain’s peak loomed, a silent witness to a love that might defy the gods.

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