When I saw Shi, he was standing by the fountain at Mirage Sky, a clear reflection of him appeared on the water. The cherry blossom tree next to it was covered with snow, and the fallen snowflakes caused multiple ripples on his water reflection.
“Shi, your eye still can’t see anything?”
“Yes, ge. But it’s okay.” His smile was so innocent and sweet like a little kid.
“Such a beautiful eye, you bear to burn it?”
Shi looked at me without saying a word, and after a long time, he spoke slowly. “Ge, what did Xing Jiu tell you?”
“Nothing, but I want to see your eye. Now. Remove your eye patch.”
“What if I say no?”
“You don’t have a choice because I am the future king and you are not.”
“Well, maybe everything will come to an end.” Shi slowly took off his eye patch, then I saw his uninjured glistening eye, but with a fiery red iris.
“Shi, why? Why did you learn the skills of the Fire Tribe?”
“Because it’s powerful.”
“Why do you need such powerful skill for?”
“For the greatest wish in my life.”
“To be a king? Is this the greatest wish of yours?”
Shi looked at me, not saying a word.
I asked. “Shi, did you kill Fa Ta?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he stopped me from becoming a king.”
“What about Lan Sang?”
“She died because of me. Because she chose you and not me, and her decision will affect father’s judgment.”
“Shi, I didn’t expect you to become like this just because of the throne.”
“Ge, you can say that. I’ve once told you, I have a wish, and to realize this wish, I won’t hesitate to sacrifice everything. No one can stop me, no one.” Shi touched his hair and said to me. “Ge, you look at my hair. It’s so long, so no one can stop me.”
When Shi finished his sentence, I pierced his chest with the ice sword in my hand. He looked at me and said. “Ge, I never expect you to kill.” Then he leant over with a smile, and killed my brow. “Ge, after I died, please be free…”
Then he closed his eyes slowly and peacefully. Lying in my arms, he looked like a sleeping baby. His glimmering white blood flowed out from his chest, spreading on the snow ground, and red lotus started blooming. Snow fell from the sky, falling all over our bodies.
My hair grew very long all of a sudden, as if Shi’s hair was now growing on me.
I turned around and saw granny standing behind me, her smile was still as peaceful and warm like before. The way she called me was just like the past when I was still a kid, she said, “Ka Suo, my dear prince.” I walked over and hugged her tightly like a kid, crying sorrowfully.
—
At snow fog forest, I was in granny’s house, the place where I grew up and Shi’s laughter seemed to linger around on the roof. Granny was combing my hair and said. “My king, your hair is so long.” Suddenly I thought of Shi’s hair, and then I felt a burst of grief across my heart. I saw Shi’s tiny figure running in the snow. I saw the man whom I killed in the mortal world pushed Shi down. I saw myself carrying the younger Shi swaying along the road in the mortal world. I saw the trace of us growing up together in snow fog forest. I saw myself stabbing the sword into Shi’s body. I saw Shi closing his eyes slowly. I saw Shi’s blood all over the ground. I saw blooming red lotuses covering the snow ground. The place with full-bloomed red lotuses was warm like spring.
I told granny everything; she looked at me and smiled quietly. “Ka Suo, Shi left you a dream. He wanted me to give it to you.”
The dream that granny gave was more realistic than what Xing Jiu gave me, I didn’t know why, maybe because of the lengthy dream, or because Shi and I shared the same blood. In Shi’s dream, I forgot my ident.i.ty as Ka s...o...b..t only remembered myself as the young prince of Snow Empire, Ying Kong Shi.
I am the second prince of Snow Empire, my name is Ying Kong Shi. My brother and I grew up in Snow Fog Forest. My brother’s name is Ka Suo, black city. My brother and I were on a 30 years exile in the mortal world. This 30 years had been my happiest days in life. He used his limited illusion skill to maintain my living in the mortal world. The first time my brother killed someone was because of me as well. When I saw his cold solemn face, I felt exceptionally warm.
Everytime when it started to snow, my brother would always hold me in his arms, with his clothes to shield me from the snow. This was why I’d never used my magic shield to block off the snowflakes; I hope that my brother would hold me in his arms all the time. But after we returned to Ren Xue Cheng (Ren City of Snow), he no longer hugged me. We lost our freedom upon our return to the city. But I remembered my brother once said that the one he loved for the whole of his life was me, and the other was freedom.
I would always see him sitting on the roof alone watching the stars, looking at the falling snow. I felt sad everytime I saw his lonesome figure on the roof. Especially after Li Luo’s death, he had never smiled again. In the past, he always flashed his eye smile at me with his pearly white teeth and his long hair hanging down, covering my face.
Because he has to be a king so Li Luo must die, he didn’t even resist. But I knew his heart was crying. He once told me he never wanted to be a king, what he wanted to do was to live in Mystical Snow Mountain and enjoyed this freedom with wine and songs.
I made a vow; I must give Ka Suo freedom, even if it was to sacrifice everything, so I have to become the king. With the power I have, I’m able to give him the freedom he wanted. I know this is a destructive move, and even Ka Suo would never agree, but I couldn’t care less. Fa Ta, Lan Sang, my Mirage Sky palace, were just nothing to me, only Ka Suo’s happiness, was the only belief in my life. From the day I could remember thing onwards, he has become the one and only G.o.d in my heart.
When brother pierced the sword through my chest, I felt extremely dejected, not because of my dying life, but because I still couldn’t give him the freedom he yearned for. He was still imprisoned by the responsibilities of a king. The moment I fell, he hugged me once again. This was his first time hugging me ever since our return, so I smiled happily. I wanted to tell him. “Ge, please fly freely.” But I didn’t manage to finish my words. I saw his hair, shoulders and face were covered with snow, I was afraid that he may feel cold so I curled my index finger up, chanting the spell. Turning my blood in fiery red lotuses that surround him.
“Brother, please be free…”
When I woke up from the dream, tears were streaming down my face uncontrollably. I jumped up to hug granny the moment I saw her face and cried out loud.
The moment when I hugged her, I accidentally hit her hairpin and her silvery-white hair fell down, spreading all over the floor. I have never seen such long hair in my life.
“Granny, your hair…”
She just smiled, and then I heard a calm voice from behind. “She is the top illusionist of the Snow Empire. She is the mother of your great grandfather and also the top illusionist and best astrologer. This is why she can give you the best dream scenario.”
I turned around to see Xing Jiu in white. He smiled and said to me. “Come with you. I will bring you to a place and give you another Shi’s dream, which is also your dream.” He went on to say. “Before he died, he told me that if one day he were to die, you must have been the one who killed him because you are the only one who can kill him so easily. He instructed me to pa.s.s all his spiritual power to you upon his death and give you this last dream of his.”
My hand went up to touch my long hair, not speaking a word.
Xing Jiu brought me to the sh.o.r.e of the Ice Sea, and it looked so familiar to me. Black cliff, white waves, bubbling foam and the flying s...o...b..rd.
“Xing Jiu, what is this place?”
“Offsh.o.r.e. The place in my painting.”
“Why did you bring you here for?”
“To tell you about your past life.”
“What is my past life?”
“Go into this dream and see it yourself.”
I went into the dream that Xing Jiu gave me, and found myself still standing at the sh.o.r.e but Xing Jiu wasn’t there anymore. I looked around aimlessly, then I saw the huge Lian Qiu Shi, black and st.u.r.dy rock standing at the sh.o.r.e. As I went closer, I saw a person being tied to the rock. His messy hair was fluttering in the sea breeze, and he looked just like my father. On his shoulder, there stood a huge s...o...b..rd.
“Birdy, do you know what I want the most?” I heard the person said.
“Actually freedom is all I want. I want to push the rock down, even if I were to fall into the sea in pieces, I just don’t want to be imprisoned and lose my freedom.”
That person paused for a moment and laughed, he shook his head and said. “What’s the point of telling you? You won’t even understand.” He looked at the s...o...b..rd and said. “Birdy, do you know? I wish I could become the prince of the Snow Empire in my next life. I don’t want to be a king, but because of that, I can have the superior power and grant myself the freedom I yearned for. Freedom is what I wanted most in my next life.”
The s...o...b..rd soared up to the sky suddenly, then started diving towards the piece of rock and hit the rock repeatedly. In the end it died on the rock, blood splattered on the black rock, just like bright fiery red lotus blooming on the rock. And the chain that tied the man was broken; the man let out a smile and fell from the cliff, right into the fierce ocean.
Then I saw Xing Jiu again; sea breeze was blowing against his white robe.
He raised his right hand up and I followed the direction of where his finger was pointing. It was the huge black rock.
I touched the bloodstain on the rock. The blood has almost disappeared, only a little dried blood left in between the crevices that would remain there forever.
“Ka Suo, that sorcerer got imprisoned for violating a taboo and that was actually your past life.”
“Xing Jiu, you said this is a dream that Shi gave you. Then where is Shi?”
“He is also in the dream. He is the s...o...b..rd that died for your sake.”
All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain across my chest, I opened my mouth and I saw glistening white blood surging out from my mouth. Drop after drop, it hit the black sh.o.r.e and soon the black sh.o.r.e was covered by full-bloomed red lotuses. A giant s...o...b..rd flew past the sky. When I looked up, it let out a loud cry and flew up higher.
“Ge, please be free…”
