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Bai Fengjiu’s strength was failing. She had cut one of her nine beautiful tails to form a magical instrument to write back Dong Hua’s name on the rock of three incarnations and it was not working. Her own life was slipping away as her blood was oozing from her missing tail, and she was desperately trying to write Dong Hua’s name back where it belonged, beside her own name on that stupid rock. She hated that a rock was deciding her fate.
She was contemplating that she might try until she died from bleeding out, but the heart of a fox is determined and stronger then most hearts and in a delirious state from blood loss, her heart made a risky decision. She summoned the same blade she had used to cut her tail and plunged it into her heart.
The pain was almost as bad as the pain she felt when she learned that the man her heart chose had struck his name from the rock.
Her blood now oozed from her heart, and she coated her magical instrument with the powerful hearts’ blood of a nine-tailed fox and made her ultimate attempt at writing Dong Hua’s name beside hers. Then she went limp and lost consciousness.
Dong Hua Dijun’s heart broke when he found Bai Fengjiu by the rock of three incarnations. She was so pale and motionless. He immediately felt for her pulse and when he detected it, still there but oh so weak, he stopped her bleeding and hugged her close. He allowed himself this moment, because of her unconscious state, as she would not remember but mainly because he was not a stupid man and had acknowledge to himself that even if he could not love her, he still did love her. It was something he was still working on, but in this moment, he could not, not hold her and give her his love, she was injured so badly, and for what, something he knew was impossible.
So he held her close for a moment and worked on healing her wounds. He stabilized her enough for travel and then rose to leave. He was prone to taking her to Kunlun mountain where she could heal in peace but before leaving he succumbed to another impulse and called for her name from the rock. He knew there was no use calling for his own name and had only meant to call for her name to give him the strength to let her go once he delivered her to Kunlun but to his surprise, beside the characters for her name was countless fruitless marks he could detect but over them stood, in heart’s blood, the characters for his own name.
This little fox goddess, out of love, stubbornness, strength of heart and desperation had been successful in restoring his name to the rock, back where it belonged, right by her name... Almost... His name flickered as if asking for his approval.
He closed his eyes at the feeling of iron shackles falling from his heart and held this amazing goddess close to him. He considered all that could happen to the realms and what Jiu'er had gone through for them and made a decision. He opened his eyes and placed his hand over his name. A loud thunder resonated and he felt a burning sensation in his hand. When he took if off, his name was engraved permanently in the rock.
He phased back to Tai Chen palace and place Jiu’er on his bed. He looked a her, stunned, but only for a short moment. The next moment he was calling for Si Ming to bring him medicines and send for Zhe Yan.
Zhe Yan was properly alarmed when Si Ming showed him to Dijun’s bedchamber and he found his little niece injured badly.
– What happened? He asked.
– She did something even I could not do, but it cost her a lot, Dong Hua said.
Zhe Yan glanced at him, prompting him for more details, while channelling healing energy to his niece.
– She used one of her tails and her heart’s blood to write my name on the rock of three incarnations, he said painfully, and it worked, he added, still shocked by it.
Zhe Yan paused his healing for a second, so great the shock of the information was.
– Was that the reason for the thunder? He asked.
– No, my name was flickering, like it did when I struck it out, asking for my decision.
This time Zhe Yan stopped completely his healing and turned to Dong Hua.
– What did you do? He asked with worry.
Dong Hua smiled, a proper smile.
– I am not as heartless as people believe me to be. How could I have let her suffer all this in vain? The thunder was my change of fate, when I placed my hand on my name and accepted my place by her side.
Zhe Yan let out a sigh of relief and returned to healing his niece.
– She needs rest now, he said after doing as much as he could.
– A lot of rest, Dong Hua agreed.
– I will explain the situation to her father. I would suggest you reach out with a marriage proposal, before she wakes up.
Zhe Yan phased away before Dong Hua could reply. He did as he said and explained to Bai Yi why Dong Hua could not marry Fengjiu before but now could. Bai Yi was alarmed in learning that his only child was so injured but also humbled by the power of a determined fox’s heart.
He sent a message to Tai Chen palace, demanding regular reports on his daughter’s healing progress with a not so subtle demand for a soon to be proposal. Such proposal arrived in the Fox Den merely a day later.
It took five days of sleep for Fengjiu to heal. On the fifth day, she woke to find herself in Dijun’s bed with a pile of medicine bowl by the bed and him looking at her with wonder.
– Jiu’er, he said.
– Dijun? She asked, a little confused, while trying to sit.
He helped her and after she was upright, he held her hand.
– It worked Jiu’er. You wrote my name on the rock.
The news made her incredibly happy, but that happiness grew ten folds when he continued with him accepting the change of fate, accepting her.
The very next day, Bai Yi arrived unannounced and presented his daughter with the last marriage proposal he would ever need to present to her.