Chapter Seven: The Unfortunate Prophecy (Part Two)

The days that followed passed as usual, the baby in her belly growing larger with each passing day. Qin Xiaoya’s heart swelled with the joy of impending motherhood, her entire attention absorbed by this transformation, oblivious to the shadow gathering in Shili’s eyes.

One day, Shili asked her half-jokingly, “If someday I really left you, what would you do?”

Qin Xiaoya glared playfully at her husband. “Then I’d learn from Lady Meng Jiang, carrying our child, searching for you across a thousand miles, heaven and earth, even if I had to cry down the rest of the Great Wall to find you.”

“Heaven and earth, you say? Hehe.” Shili smiled and shook his head.

Two months later, Shili told Qin Xiaoya he had to return to the capital to handle some business matters. He promised to be gone for a week, two at most, but from that day, he never came back.

After waiting anxiously for two months with no word from her husband, Qin Xiaoya was nearly frantic. Dragging her heavily pregnant body, she took leave and went to Beijing, searching every place Shili might appear, even hospitals, but all her efforts ended in disappointment.

Desperate and out of options, Qin Xiaoya returned to her small town, clinging to the hope that her husband might suddenly appear and surprise her. That day, she went alone, her body heavy and weary, to find the fortune-teller who had read her fate.

When the old sage saw Qin Xiaoya’s pale and haggard face, he set aside his usual jesting demeanor, his expression growing grave. If his first ominous prediction had come true, what about the second? At this moment, the nondescript old man before her was almost her only lifeline. She both hated him for his near-cursed, harsh prophecies, and feared him more still.

Though she had grown up watching her grandmother devoutly worship at the temple, Qin Xiaoya herself was a staunch atheist. Yet when inexplicable events befell her, her terror and anxiety far exceeded those of true believers.

After pondering a moment, the old sage asked, “Did your husband leave any words or things with you before he left?”

Qin Xiaoya searched her memory, hesitated, and shook her head. Her eyes reddened—her husband hadn’t left anything, not even a word? Not even a chance to see his child, to name him…

“Think carefully. He must have left something.”

A sudden spark lit her mind. Qin Xiaoya quickly removed a necklace from her neck—the one her husband had placed there on their wedding night.

The old sage grabbed the necklace, scrutinized it for a long time, nodded, then shook his head.

Qin Xiaoya pressed anxiously, “Well? Please, tell me!”

“Sigh! It’s useless to say. You won’t believe me… Even if you do, what’s done can never be changed…” The old sage sighed deeply.

“No, no! I believe! Whatever you say, I believe! I must know what happened to my husband—please, speak plainly!” Qin Xiaoya was desperate, nearly kneeling before the old man.

He shook his head. “Very well. I’ll tell you. Strictly speaking, your husband—he’s not really human.” His first words stunned Qin Xiaoya. Impossible! The old sage continued, “Your husband does not belong to this world. The necklace he gave you is his identity mark. I was not supposed to tell you these things, but since you insist, I will. Revealing heavenly secrets may bring more trouble in the future!” He squinted his sharp eyes and sighed again.

---

Qin Xiaoya suddenly felt as though she had returned to childhood, playing make-believe with her friends, inventing stories and pretending to be imaginary characters. The absurdity of the old sage’s words was too much—what do you mean, not human? How could Shili not be human? She began to suspect the old man was insane, and she herself was playing along. Maybe, just maybe, Shili was already home, and would laugh at her for this!

She rose, dazed.

But the old sage kept talking, heedless. “As far as I know, your husband is one of the Grand Heavenly Demons of the Demon Realm. Why he came to the mortal world, why he married you—you wouldn’t understand. But one thing is clear: from this identity token,” he shook the tiny pendant on the necklace, “I know he has suffered a great calamity and will not return. The reason, however, I cannot disclose.”

“You’re lying! I don’t believe you.” Qin Xiaoya snatched back the necklace, murmuring, “I shouldn’t have come. I should go find him—I know I can…”

The old sage smiled bitterly and shook his head. “Why put yourself through this? Think of your unborn child…”

Child! Like a bolt of lightning, Qin Xiaoya spun around, seized the old sage, and demanded, “Who are you really? Why do you curse my whole family? You curse my husband, then my child? Tell me, who are you?”

The old sage’s face grew solemn. “If you don’t believe in demons and monsters, why say my words could be a curse? You can take me for a charlatan, a fraud after your money.”

Qin Xiaoya’s thoughts raced, her heart breaking, sweat pouring from her brow. Suddenly, pain gripped her abdomen, and she collapsed to the ground with a loud moan.

The old sage was startled; leaving his stall behind, he called for several tourists to carry Qin Xiaoya to the hospital. That night, she safely gave birth to a baby boy.

That night, something strange happened in the hospital. From then on, Qin Xiaoya gave up hope of finding her lost husband, devoting herself to raising her son. After that night, the old sage vanished, never appearing in the town again.

Twenty years passed, but time had not left much trace on Qin Xiaoya’s face. Her skin remained delicate, her figure slender. Only the lively innocence of her youth had faded. Now, near middle age, she rarely smiled, except when showing warmth to her son.

Qin Xiaoya remembered clearly that summer night over a decade ago—a sweltering evening. After enduring unbearable pain, she heard her child’s first cry and fell into a faint.

When she awoke, she vaguely heard the hospital’s clock outside toll twelve times. Moonlight slanted across the ward; the other mothers and their companions slept soundly, but she could not rest, her mouth dry and parched. As she struggled to sit up for water, the door creaked open and a figure slipped in.

It was the old sage! He carried a bundle in his arms—a newborn baby. Was it not her own child? Qin Xiaoya was terrified and shouted, “What are you doing?”

A yellow flash flickered in the old sage’s eyes. He freed a hand, flicked his fingers quickly, and, ignoring her cries, swiftly shut the door and windows, then approached her bed, silently handing over the baby.

Only then did Qin Xiaoya realize her earlier shouting hadn’t woken anyone in the ward or outside. She didn’t know what the old sage intended, but could only clutch her child tightly, her forehead and body drenched in sweat, trembling uncontrollably.

“Don’t worry, I mean no harm. This child is in danger,” said the old sage.

How could Qin Xiaoya trust him? She shrank back, holding her child closer, eyes wary.

“Uncover the baby’s clothes and you’ll see,” the old sage said, sitting by her bedside.

Qin Xiaoya didn’t move, staring at him, weighing whether to flee the ward with her child.

---

“Go on, look,” the old sage urged repeatedly.

After a moment’s hesitation, Qin Xiaoya lowered her head. It was the first time she truly examined her child. In the pale moonlight, she saw the baby’s wrinkled face, fine downy hair, the tiny mouth gently opening and closing in sleep. She was entranced.

After a while, she slowly reached out and unbuttoned the child’s thin clothes. The baby’s soft body lay helpless and trusting in her arms—such a lovely child. Qin Xiaoya gazed in wonder, feeling infinite tenderness, forgetting her fear.

“Almost forgot—put this on and see,” the old sage coughed, handing her a bracelet.

Qin Xiaoya eyed him cautiously, slowly taking the bracelet. The moment she held it, a flash of bright light blinded her, startling her.

When she looked again at her child, she was shocked.

Suddenly, it seemed her eyes could see through the baby’s body, glimpsing the tiny, rapidly beating heart, from which a thread of brilliant light emerged.

The light, about the size of a soybean, pulsed with the baby’s heartbeat, stabbing Qin Xiaoya’s eyes with pain. Instinctively, she tossed the bracelet back to the old sage. Strangely, as soon as it left her hand, the blinding light vanished.

Afraid of waking the child, Qin Xiaoya asked in a low voice, “What did you do to my baby? What are you trying to do?”

The old sage shook his head with a bitter smile, about to speak, when suddenly a strange change occurred.

* * * * * * * *

The ward’s doors and windows opened silently. A gust of wind swept in, chilling the previously stuffy room—something seemed to enter. But Qin Xiaoya looked around in panic, seeing nothing.

Just then, the old sage sprang up from his chair with surprising agility for his age, formed a spell with his left hand, and quickly pressed the bracelet into Qin Xiaoya’s palm, shouting, “Hold tight to this bracelet—it will protect you and the child!”

The jade bracelet in her hand, Qin Xiaoya immediately saw, from the doorway and window, three shadows—two men and one woman—sliding in.

The first was a tall, thin old man with a silver beard, dignified and arrogant, dressed in a white robe, hands empty. The second was a robust middle-aged man, broad and muscular, with a single horn protruding from his forehead, his expression dark, clad in dark green clothes with a gold belt. The third was a short, plump woman, yet her features were exquisite, her skin glowing with a faint silver sheen, hovering in midair, rising and falling, her long crimson hair draping over a silver cloak, billowing without wind, strange and alluring. On her back hung a long bamboo flute, which moaned an eerie, tuneless melody as she moved.

These three, their appearances odd and costumes bizarre, entered and immediately commandeered corners of Qin Xiaoya’s bed, their eyes sweeping over the child in her arms. In unison, they exclaimed, “It is indeed the Light of the Heart!” and reached for the baby.

Before Qin Xiaoya could cry out, as if struck by lightning, the three were suddenly hit by a dark blue arc, sent tumbling across the floor. The burly man fared worst, knocked straight out the window, but clearly unharmed—he leapt back in moments later. All three were startled—there was another master hidden here!