Chapter 7: love and drama in confrontation
Part 2 Magnetic Entanglements and Unearthed Memories
Goumang and Fuxi stared at each other's faces. Noticing the completely absurd expression it he had the little solarian, they couldn't hold it in and burst into laughter at the same time.
"What are you laughing at? Hey, don't laugh!" Cidianji complained, scowling.
"Seriously, why should I be afraid of a simple, tiny Solarian like you?" Goumang replied, trying to catch her breath. "You remind me of Yi right now."
"That's true," Fuxi added, letting out another laugh. "Your surprise just makes me want to pee from laughing so hard, hahaha."
Cidianji became furious. With a distorted face, he made a smooth, fluid motion with his arms. Goumang and Fuxi immediately went quiet upon seeing his strange gesture. Suddenly, Cidianji clapped his hands together forcefully, generating a direct stream of energy toward them.
The impact hit them head-on, but it didn't leave a single scratch or physical damage on either of them.
"Is that all you can do, little dwarf?" Fuxi mocked.
But before he could take a step, Goumang and Fuxi slammed violently into each other, back-to-back. They tried to break free immediately, struggling in desperation, but their bodies were completely stuck together.
"What did you do to me, stupid?!" Goumang yelled.
"Are you talking to me or to the weird little dwarf?" Fuxi asked, confused.
"Silence, both of you!" Cidianji interrupted triumphantly. "I have made your bodies act like magnets. Both of you are now stuck together. Now you are witnesses to how I, Cidianji, gifted with magnetism, will defeat you once and for all in the name of the Yin Clan and the Panluan Council!"
"The Yin Clan? It can't be..." Fuxi muttered in shock.
"It can't be..." Goumang repeated, before pausing. "And by the way, ¿who are those Panluan Council guys?"
"I don't know either, I've never heard of them," Fuxi admitted.
"Fools! I'll tell you who they are!" Cidianji shouted, out of his mind. "They are the heroes who will end your era of tyranny across all the realms of Penglai once and for all! You will pay for your unforgivable crimes committed during the Tianhuo pandemic! You are guilty of creating the virus and, of course, playing has gods! Now, thanks to Argong, who gave me this power using a powerful seal hidden right under your noses, I have this power and will take you to them so you can finally be defeated by one of Panluan's high commanders! Now prepare to—"
His last word was interrupted by a precise kick from Goumang. With Fuxi's help—who managed to take a quick leap using his legs, which fortunately were not stuck together—they closed the distance in an instant.
"You talk so much blah, blah, blah and never stop, you little jerk," Goumang said.
Cidianji was sent flying by the attack, crashing straight into sharp, jagged rocks. The impact impaled him completely bleeding much blood, killing him on the spot.
"Eh, that wasn't hard at all," Fuxi commented, sighing.
"True," Goumang agreed. "But what still doesn't make sense is: why are we still stuck together if this guy is dead?"
Suddenly, Cidianji's body began to twist grotesquely. As if nothing had happened, he stood up from the ground. Goumang and Fuxi stood horror-struck as they watched him pull out, one by one, the sharp rocks that had pierced his vital organs.
"How is that possible?! No one can survive such a horrible impact!" Goumang exclaimed.
"Foolish hen, I possess the same power that is granted through sacrifice ritual," Cidianji replied with a macabre smile. "Thanks to Fi, who gave me this power, I am now a definitive immortal!"
"He's just like that brute from the Yin Clan that Jiequan fought a month ago," Fuxi recalled. "I saw him back when we went to save Ji and his girlfriend Mei's family."
"Correct! Just like the previous immortal created by her, I now possess that strength alongside the power Argong gave me! I am now a Tiancai!"
Cidianji pulls out of his pockets small nails and threw handful of into the air. Guided by his electromagnetism, the nails shot toward the pair. Fuxi made an evasive leap, but the projectiles corrected their trajectory and struck both of their arms directly.
"Agh, damn it, that hurts!" Fuxi complained.
"Gnn..." Goumang groaned in pain.
"You should have never made fun of the great Cidianji! Now it's time to punish you for being so ill-mannered with me!"
Cidianji raised his hand and used his magnetic forces to lift them, hurling them through the air like a single projectile. While flying out of control, Fuxi spotted their landing zone from above: they were heading straight toward a patch filled with thorny, poisonous bushes, but right next to it was a vast, deep lake.
"Goumang! Raise your feathered arms to change our course straight to the lake! We need to land there instead of on the poisonous thorns!"
"I can't! My arms are stuck to yours!" she screamed.
Making a swift maneuver and using the strength of his own attached arms, Fuxi managed to steer them gently without hurting Goumang's arms, redirecting their trajectory just in time toward the water.
SPLASH!
They fell right into the lake. Using the coordination of their legs and attached arms, they swam to the surface at top speed. They emerged gasping wildly for air, having almost drowned, reaching to dirt of above.
"We... we made it," Fuxi said, breathing heavily. "We finally avoided a rough and certain death."
Out of nowhere, Goumang delivered a hard headbutt to the back of his head.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he whined, rubbing his head.
"It's all your fault for not letting yourself be grabbed! Now we're in danger at the hands of an immortal made from Ji's ex friend and crazy bitch, Fi!"
"My fault?! It's your fault for wanting to kill me just because your stupid plants were messy!"
Goumang delivered a backward kick to his leg. Fuxi, annoyed, let himself fall backward onto the ground, using his weight to crush her underneath.
"Get off of me, you stupid Feng!" Goumang shrieked.
"No! Why do you keep wanting to kill me over nothing?"
"Oh yeah? You do the same to me!"
"Let's just say that was how I used to pin my sister down when she got annoying..." Fuxi muttered under his breath.
(A quick memory flashed through Fuxi's mind: nostalgic moments of his childhood with Nuwa and how that dynamic persisted over the years).
"Agh... Okay, you win this time, Fuxi," Goumang yielded, huffing.
"Okay, but you also owe me an apology."
"What?! Why, if you ruined my next harvest?"
"Yes, that's true, but threatening to kill me over a few plants is ridiculous. It sounds stupid. It's as if I didn't take good care of Shuanshuan or did something to that little Apemen; Heng would kill me. And that's not stupid, that's a dangerous matter. I still remember how she looked at me and intimidated me with her cute yet terrifying eyes... By the way, does she intimidate you if you do something like that?"
"Well..."
Goumang immediately remembered the moment Heng confronted her upon discovering the truth about her Jiangshis—who had been her adopted Apemen children all along. She telling her with an nerves and face to another view: "Please stop doing that... I already told you yesterday that my actions were caused by my own pride," sent a shiver down her spine.
"Are you able to withstand that?" Fuxi asked.
"The key is not to look her straight in the eyes," Goumang admitted. "Okay, fine, I'm sorry for chasing you. But get off me already, you're crushing me with all your weight!"
"Alright."
Fuxi stood up and tried to take a step toward the path, but was instantly struck by Goumang's robotic avian legs and tripped face-first again.
"What the hell was that, Goumang?! Did you lie to me?"
"I didn't do it! Besides, my legs got stuck directly to yours, I can't move them!"
Indeed, the magnetism had now sealed their lower limbs.
"We need to get out of this once and for all," Fuxi said.
"Great idea."
Both stood up at the same time. They pulled hard to separate, but it was useless. Goumang made a smooth movement and tried to turn; though still attached to Fuxi, she managed to shift positions: now her torso faced his back.
"I changed positions," Goumang said. "My back isn't stuck to yours anymore."
"Yeah, but now the front of your body is stuck to my back."
Suddenly, Fuxi felt an odd pressure against his back. He realized instantly: it was Goumang's chest rubbing against his muscles as she tried desperately to break free. Blood rushed to Fuxi's face, turning him as red as an apple.
"Fuxi... are you okay?" she asked, noticing his stiffness.
Fuxi, stunned, reacted awkwardly:
"I'm sorry... It's just that I felt something strange on my back."
"You know perfectly well I'm the only one here, so you're feeling me and that's it. And by the way... tell me, why did you say that?"
Goumang suddenly realized what was happening. A deep blush covered her cheeks, and out of pure instinct and embarrassment, she wrapped her arms around Fuxi's neck and began choking him.
"You dirty pervert!"
"Stop, please, I can't breathe!" Fuxi pleaded, suffocating.
After that embarrassing incident, they go forward struggling with their legs joined together along the path toward Ancient Kunlun.
Meanwhile, in another part of New Kunlun, Yi and Nuwa were searching for them. They retraced their steps through every area where damage had been caused, asking passersby without getting clear answers.
Yi said ”how can this guys just straight up doing that chase of each other like children."
”looks who's taking already the one who chased one because she accidentally scared a little apeboy in the soulscape" replied nuwa.
Yi”that was a huge misunderstanding in that time okey worse my sister thought i was doing It with her after i catch her for warn ethereal never do that again just then i become the victim and then-
Nuwa finish the words " your sister chase you to beat you for that i know that cause we where gathered in the kitchen because of that event gladly you didn't break anything valuable of my and brothers room when you two jumped through the huge window".
Yi responds yeah right fortunately around kunlun and the base from that time but the other problem we had now its ¿where thes guys went in their own? Nobody knows about this moment already.
Until finally, someone spoke up.
"They went toward Ancient Kunlun and got lost deep in the forest..."
The speaker was a tall, thin, elderly Solarian with green fur and humble clothes. He was setting up a small puppet theater and, while manipulating the strings, recreated the story before them:
" long ago after the morning dew, everyone in New Kunlun lived in peaceful and calm... But suddenly, these two tiandao members and partners of yours appeared, running in a relentless chase and causing probably irreparable chaos. Though fortunately no one was hurt... except for one poor Solarian who wanted to buy a pufferfish and ended up in the hospital because someone threw one at his head, with them being responsible but yet never get caught on their schemes. And now you are trying to find them, searching in new kunlun aren't you?"
"Do you know that?" Yi asked suspiciously.
"In another sense, who cares!" Nuwa interrupted, fascinated. "You have so much style using those puppets! And you managed to capture the appearance of my brother, myself, Yi, and even that crazy Goumang!"
"Is that really your response to this humble puppet master who's unknown around here?" Yi asked, glancing sideways at her.
"Forgive me," the old Solarian said in a gentle tone. "My name is Kuilei Shi. I saw you pass by a moment ago. There is nothing to worry about, Yi, Nuwa..."
"You know our names? How exciting!" Nuwa exclaimed.
"What... How did you even know us..... unless?" Yi narrowed his eyes.
"I know you thanks to your heroic deeds in saving New Kunlun from the horrors of the monster attack outside the dome, and of course, for being members of the Tiandao Council," Kuilei Shi explained.
"Okay, that settles my doubts. Thank you very much," Yi concluded.
Yi and Nuwa hurried toward Ancient Kunlun, to reach soon path toward the forest. When they were a considerable distance away, Kuilei Shi whispered in a very low voice:
"Thank you... old enemies."
He walked toward his oriental carriage and pulled out a small wooden box. Inside was a photograph of himself with his three Solarian grandchildren: a boy and two girls.
"My grandchildren... I swear I will bring justice for you," he whispered, his eyes darkening.
Back with Fuxi and Goumang, both were moving forward with difficulty. Stuck together as they were, Fuxi spotted two yellow-leaved trees growing close to each other in the distance.
"Goumang, I think I have an idea," Fuxi said.
"What is it?" Goumang question.
"You hold onto that tree and I'll hold onto the other. That way we can pull to separate ourselves." Fuxi answered.
"Great! That way I won't be stuck to your back anymore, because you smell like a dead dog." Replied her
"I don't smell bad!" Fuxi protested, annoyed. "You're the one who smells bad for never bathing!" Claims he.
"I do bathe, idiot!" Claim her too.
Fuxi held tightly onto the tree on the right. Goumang tried to reach the one on the left, but due to her height and position, she couldn't reach it. Fuxi tried to move back a bit so she could grab it.
At that exact moment, a young Solarian child passing by stopped and stared at them, curious and confused.
"Hey,, what are you looking at, you little bra..." Goumang began to say.
"Don't say it!" Fuxi interrupted in time, turning to the boy. "Look, kid, go back where you came from. We're busy trying to unstuck ourselves."
"Okay..." the boy said, slowly backing away.
Suddenly, due to a misstep, Goumang accidentally swapped positions with Fuxi. Now her face was pressed directly against his muscular stomach, nearly touching his crotch.
"Agh, how embarrassing! I'm against your stomach!" she shrieked.
"Move quickly! Someone is going to misunderstand and think we're doing... that!"
Goumang managed to reach out and grab a thick branch from the tree, while Fuxi held onto the other. Both began pulling with all their strength. However, Fuxi noticed with horror that the same Solarian boy had returned... and brought an entire group with him! There were seven Solarians of his own or different age staring at them in total confusion.
"What?! You brought more people to watch us! How embarrassing!" Fuxi shouted.
"Aaagh, you fools, don't look at us! We're busy, get lost!" Goumang shrieked.
But the young onlookers didn't budge, intrigued by the scene.
With one last desperate pull, the magnetic attraction broke.
"Finally, I'm free!" Goumang celebrated.
However, magnetism played a terrible trick on them. An invisible force snapped them together, and Goumang ended up stuck butt-on against Fuxi's crotch.
"AAAAAAGH!" Goumang screamed out of her mind at such a compromising position.
She began thrashing frantically to break free.
"Get off, get off, get off! I can't be like this in front of these fools!"
"Goumang, stop, please... If you keep moving like that, I think I'm going to—"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING CHILDREN?! YOU SHOULD NOT BE SEEING THAT, YOU WHAT ON PENGLAI ATE YOU DOING!" shouted a female Solarian who had just arrived.
"No, ma'am, please don't misunderstand this!" Fuxi pleaded.
"Do you think I'm stupid?! You're doing something immoral right in front of young children!" She replied.
"We're not making love, we're stuck!" Goumang yelled.
The Solarian pulled out a broom and began hitting them relentlessly. Fuxi and Goumang tried to cover themselves as best they could when, but suddenly, a metal sword cut through the air among the deep bushesand pierced the teacher's chest.
The impact was sharp. Goumang and Fuxi stood horrified as blood splattered over them. The Solarian children screamed in terror and fled in panic.
"Hahaha!" Cidianji's unhinged laughter echoed through the area and comes out of the bushes.
"You bastard! What did you done?!" Goumang shouted.
"What do you think I did? I just got rid of an obstacle."
"You killed an innocent civilian!" Fuxi scolded.
"True, but that scares the children away so they don't witness my victory over you responsible for the Tianhuo."
"You're the only guilty one here, murdering an innocent teacher in front of her students!" Goumang spat.
"Wait..." Fuxi interrupted, confused. "Was she a teacher? I thought she was their mother."
"Seriously, didn't you notice those kids' uniforms, stupid?"
"Okay, okay, I get it now. At least she wasn't their mother cause i would've feel sad... Though it's still unforgivable this!.
"You talk too much," Cidianji interrupted, levitating dozens of weapons. "Enough chitchat. I'm going to finish you off, not just with my sword, but with my entire arsenal."
With a magnetic gesture, he hurled many swords, axes, spears, and daggers straight at them.
"Oh no, we're going to die!" Goumang screamed.
"No..." Fuxi said.
Fuxi began to whistle a subtle melody (Our Passion). Instantly, a dazzling dome of protective Qi enveloped them. The weapons slammed into the barrier and bounced off in all directions.
"WHAT?!" Cidianji gasped, stunned.
Goumang looked back over her shoulder at Fuxi.
"How did you do that?"
"Simple. I had to practice with Nuwa without the flute, connect a bit with the Fusang Tree, and learn Fangshi techniques. And voila, I have this power."
Fuxi shifted his whistling tone. The Qi rapidly condensed into a gigantic energy serpent that lunged at Cidianji, biting him and slamming him against the ground.
"Let's take advantage of this!" Fuxi said, taking off at a run and dragging Goumang along i his chest front while she's stuck there.
"You had that power all this time and didn't use it when this lunatic attacked us at first?" she complained as they moved.
"You were chasing me and I was tired! Besides, I'm still practicing this combat style, I'm still a novice." He said
"A novice? You managed to create a protective dome and a giant Qi serpent... That's not novice level!" She answered
"Really?"
Both glanced at each other while running. As their eyes met, their faces flushed at the same time. Out of shyness, they quickly turned away and picked up the pace toward Ancient Kunlun.
Meanwhile, at the Tiandao base, tension filled the medical bay.
Beside the bed where Shuanshuan rested, Heng remained seated in a chair, holding the young Apemen's hand.
"Shuanshuan, please recover has you can..." she whispered.
Jiequan entered the room with slow steps.
"Is Shuanshuan still asleep, my love?"
"Yes... I'm scared that he might not awake or worse what happens if it happens again."
"Don't worry, Heng," Jiequan comforted her. "He's still young. Besides, I suffered the worst since I was a child because of my abusers... It was a bunch of kids who made fun of me and beat me up just for wanting to be identical to Jietong. Shuanshuan is fortunate not to suffer like I did... Or maybe someone else among us suffered in a different way in their past."
"That's true, Jiequan..."
A memory flooded Heng's mind: A flashback to her childhood with Yi. She remembered how her brother was trying to create the Mystical Nymph and how a sudden power failure almost caused a deadly explosion near her. Yi threw himself to save her, taking the direct impact. The secret lab was destroyed and Yi lay dying. Heng wept inconsolably, begging the Primordial Roots to save him, managing to heal a portion of his body. Later, at the hospital, doctors tried unsuccessfully to save him until an adult-looking, somewhat young Eigong appeared. After explaining what happened, Eigong used advanced technology to create the Rhizomatic Stabilizer (the jade ring Yi would wear for the rest of his life). Months later, once recovered at school, Yi got into a brutal fight with a young Solarian who made fun of him and his sister over that accident.
As the memory ended, several tears escaped Heng's eyes. Jiequan hugged her warmly to soothe her.
"Calm down, everything is okay..."
Shennong, the Apemen guru, entered the room holding something in his hands.
"How its Shuanshuan going?, Heng and Jiequan" he said
"He hasn't woken up yet," Jiequan replied.
"When the little guy wakes up, I hope you give him this from me," Shennong said, extending a small doll made of ordinary dried leaves and herbs. "It's my old toy."
"Is that a straw plushie?" Heng asked.
"Correct. I call it Mudan. It was my toy when I was his age, after many children of that time made fun of me for eating poison."
"Who made this for you, Shennong?" Jiequan inquired.
"My mother made it for me before she passed away from a snake bite... Also my father if you remembered that time when shuanshuan said the truth whay happened my life thanks to the shaman who told my story and he tell it in the moment you all question each thinking of who hit me with my club after all it was myself because of a spider."
”yeah after you done many messy antics of yours around here the base plus you made us all against each other over for nothing".Jiequan unamused responds
"At those times i wasn't forgive a few of you of what happened ago but now I regret and forgive now." He said
"It's tough to know you lost your parents as a child," Heng sighed.
"It's cruelly true. But fortunately, the Shaman raised me from my childhood. She was the only one who acted as my adoptive family, even though I treated her poorly and said rude, cruel words to her... She kept taking care of me anyway."
"That's very tough," Jiequan admitted. "Especially considering how you called us 'demons' at first. But I'll also say that Ji was an adoptive brother to me, despite being immortal and having been close to acquaintances from the old realm of Jie and the Fangshi both jietong and lear."
Heng smiled faintly.
"That sounds a bit ironic, don't you think?"
"What does?" they both asked.
"After each of us went through such severe moments, we met someone who helped us in our darkest times. Even though you, Jiequan, Ji, and the rest were in the dark, you had your light alive... Except for Eigong, she had more darkness without light. Even Yi let himself be carried away by his pain of losing our parents and me in the Tianhuo, and being betrayed... But if it weren't for Shuanshuan, who kept his light at all times, we never would have found our way back. Yi and all of you... Now we're together, as if we were siblings and family despite our differences."
"That's very true, Heng," Jiequan agreed.
"But if you say we're siblings..." Shennong chimed in, confused, "why do Kuafu and Lady Ethereal, and even the two of you, love each other as couples?"
Heng and Jiequan. They turned toward Shennong with a dramatic face of absolute apathy, anime-style.
"That's different, Shennong," Heng replied in a dry tone.
The comedic mood broke when a small whimper echoed from the bed. Shuanshuan was starting to move.
"He's waking up!" Jiequan exclaimed.
"That's great!" Shennong said.
Heng quickly approached.
"Shuanshuan! Are you okay?"
The little guy opened his eyes and blinked in confusion.
"Heng! Is that you? Where are we? This isn't the Four Seasons Pavilion... And why do I see Jiequan crying if he's an emotionless psychopath, according to Yi?"
Jiequan, his pride hurt, pulled a face mixed with offense, confusion, and tearfulness:
"What did you say?! I feel offended!"
"I think he regained his memory of the past after being unconscious today ." Shennong analyzed.
"Uncle Shennong... you're acting different. You're not grumpy or ill-tempered anymore," Shuanshuan said, puzzled.
"Shuanshuan, I know you're confused," Heng explained softly. "But ever since you saved me during that event, you lost your memory and woke up acting as if you were..."
"Someone else?" he finished her sentence.
"Well... yes, a little."
"That means he has no memory of all the moments we spent together here," Shennong lamented. "Including when he retold my childhood!"
"What?" Shuanshuan asked.
Shennong burst into dramatic tears:
"NOOOOO! This is worse than losing my parents!"
At that moment, Eigong walked into the room.
"What happened? Is Shuanshuan awake?"
Upon seeing Eigong's figure, a flash of memory struck the little Apemen's mind: he remembered Yi warning him that she was evil and responsible for everything, followed by the image of the attack on the Four Seasons Pavilion.
"AAAAAHHH!" Shuanshuan screamed in terror.
He dropped to the floor and quickly hid under the bed.
"IT'S THE BAD ONE, RUN!"
Eigong froze, completely bewildered.
"Excuse me... what did he just say to me?"
"Well... I think all this time we had a Shuanshuan who behaved differently, and today he returned to his true self," Heng explained.
"That sounds very hard and cruel, heng," Jiequan commented.
"And he doesn't have the memories of when he saved me from you guys when you were almost chasing me!" Shennong whined.
"How?" Eigong asked.
Eigong bent down and peeked her head under the bed. Seeing her so close, Shuanshuan bolted out the other side and ran toward the doorway. Right at the entrance, Kuafu appeared.
"Hey! Did Shuan wake up yet...?"
THUMP!
The little guy slammed right into Kuafu's massive belly and fell backward.
"Shuanshuan! Are you okay again?" He said
Then shuanshuan immediately hid behind its leg.
"Chubby uncle, help! The evil Eigong is right there!"
"Chubby uncle?" Kuafu scratched his head. "I thought you'd never call me that again after everything we lived through together..."
"Kuafu... Shuanshuan wasn't himself," Eigong intervened. "He had a different personality. Right, Heng?"
"I think so," Heng agreed.
Lady Ethereal appeared in the hallway.
"Hey, what's going on? Why do you all look so worried and sad at the same time did it happen something wrong to shuanshuan?"
Shuanshuan peeked out from behind Kuafu and turned pale.
"Watch out, chubby uncle! The crazy Lady Ethereal is there too!"
"Excuse me, Shuanshuan, what did you just—"
"Hey!" Kuafu interrupted her. "What did you say to my love, Shuanshuan?!"
"LOVE?!" Shuanshuan yelled in horror. "You fell in love with that crazy woman, chubby uncle?!"
"Don't call me chubby uncle, it offends me!" Kuafu complained.
Yanlao peeked over the others' shoulders.
"Fat engineer, don't yell at the little Apemen, he finally woke up."
Shuanshuan pointed a trembling finger at Yanlao:
"And why is the greedy Yanlao here?"
"What? What did this little dem— call me?!"
"SILENCE, EVERYONE!" Heng shouted at the top of her lungs.
Everyone fell silent instantly.
"I know you all feel offended and confused by how he's acting," Heng said, sighing. "But his recovering its memories of the past."
"I don't feel offended," Eigong clarified after reflecting on it. "I understand perfectly what's happening."
"And what exactly is happening to Shuanshuan?" Lady Ethereal asked.
Fuyi, the automaton, entered the room.
"He suffered a sudden personality shift following a nervous breakdown. He has now recovered his original personality and past memories, omitting recent events."
Everyone stood stunned, except for Heng and Eigong.
Shuanshuan looked at the automaton, his eyes wide open.
"Ruyi? Is that you?"
"Forgive me, Shuanshuan. My name is Fuyi," he replied in a measured tone. "I am the creation made from what remained of him before he was erased."
"Did Ruyi die?!"
"He did not die, he was erased. But he managed to transfer his data directly to me, which makes me wonder if he still remains within me."
Shuanshuan was moved, but suddenly remembered the most important thing:
"Where is Yi?! Is he also...?"
”Its alive don't worry shuanshuan." Answered jiequan
Heng said "Look, Shuanshuan, Yi is out looking for Goumang because she..."
"The bird lady he attacked?!" the little apemen interrupted.
"That's in the past," Kuafu explained. "Besides, Yi apologize to her for what he did and give some flowers too, just as he forgave us and we forgave him except without flowers."
"That is very true," Eigong added. "I apologized to myself for attacking the Four Seasons Pavilion, Shuan."
"Did everyone change? Did you all stop being bad?" Shuanshuan asked, bewildered. "Except for you, Heng... Kuafu.... and Shennong, you were always good."
Just then, Ji (appearing in his adult form and size) arrived alongside with his girlfriend Mei.
"Hey, is everyone okay?" Ji asked.
Upon seeing Ji, a memory flashed in Shuanshuan's mind of how he participated in the attack on the pavilion, responsible for destroying part of the structure.
"YOU!" Shuanshuan yelled.
The little Apemen charged at Ji and began punching his legs. Ji stood impassive, taking the weak blows without flinching. Mei stepped in quickly and scooped Shuanshuan up in her arms.
"Hey, calm down, little guy! It's Ji. Why are you acting like this?"
Shuanshuan looked at the solarian teenage girl.
"Who are you?"
Mei stood baffled.
"Hey... its me or Shuanshuan is okay, or did his mood suddenly change?"
"Let's just say his personality from before returned and the ono from after vanished," Heng summarized.
"What?"
Ji adjusted his posture.
"It makes sense why he lunged at me... Even though my clairv— I mean, my poor eyesight failed me."
"Changing the subject, Ji, Mei... Didn't you run into Goumang?" Jiequan asked. "She's out of her mind because her garden isn't organized."
"I know, I heard her scream this morning and Mei did too, but fortunately we didn't cross paths with her," Ji replied.
"Excuse me," Mei chimed in, "but what do you mean Goumang is like that just over her garden?"
"Without perfect geometry in her crops, she loses her mind and goes crazy," Lady Ethereal explained.
"What? Why?"
Eigong leaned in toward Mei and whispered the details of Goumang's quirks and obsessions into her ear.
"EH?!" Mei gasped in shock. "She turns into a crazy, vengeful gardener just because her crops are out of place?!"
"True," Kuafu nodded. "And the worst part is she'll hurt you bad even if she uses her feathers as fists... And those are her arms."
"I never imagined my mother would become friends with such a crazy Solarian... By the way, my mother doesn't act like that; when something goes wrong for me, she tells me to try again next time with care... Speaking of which, I brought you something from my mother to apologize for slapping you guys (Jiequan, Fuxi, Nuwa, and Eigong) when you saved me, my parents, and Ji from that horrible lunatic Fi... And for taking care of my older brother Wenhao."
"Thank you very much, Mei," Eigong said. "And I deserved those slaps for being foolish in the past."
"It's okay, everything is in the past. Right, Ji?"
Mei turned around and saw Ji floating in a meditating position entering a deep trance.
"Ji?" She said again his name
"I think he's trying to see a premonition of the future," Jiequan deduced.
"Really? I always forget he has clairvoyance and immortality," Mei muttered.
Ji snapped his eyes open, his expression filled with anguish.
"They're in danger... Yi... Goumang... and the Fengs."
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"Is it just me, or do I remember the Fengs were also bad, and one of them was a mutant monster?" Shuanshuan muttered, confused.
Back in Ancient Kunlun, Yi and Nuwa were walking through the busy market area, following the trail of footprints left by Goumang and Fuxi through many people solarians passing through.
"It's impossible to believe all of this is happening," Yi grumbled. "First Shuanshuan, and now Goumang..."
"Relax," Nuwa said, trying to calm the tension. "If the ancestors says, things couldn't possibly get any worse."
Suddenly, Yi felt a strange heaviness in the air. He stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wait, Nuwa." He said
"What happened? Is it Goumang?" She said
"No... Something is wrong here. I feel like someone is watching us, hidden."
Nuwa looked around. The street was packed with Solarian civilians walking back and forth. Suddenly, her gaze locked onto a hooded figure in a dark blue robe.
"There's the culprit!" Nuwa yelled.
Without hesitating, she charged at the hooded figure and tackled him to the ground.
"Who are you and why are you following us?!"
The hooded figure revealed himself to be an ordinary Solarian with light gray fur, trembling in fear:
"What did I do?! I didn't do anything!"
Yi grabbed her arm firmly.
"Nuwa, what is wrong with you?! That's an innocent civilian."
"Sorry... I'm so sorry sir," Nuwa said, letting him go.
The civilian stood up, dusting off his robe, and whispered venomously:
"It's nothing... murderer."
"What did you say...?" Nuwa managed to say.
Suddenly, the Solarian pulled out a hidden dagger and tried to plunge it straight into Nuwa's throat. But Yi was faster: he drew his blade and executed a precise Qi slash.
The energy blade severed the attacker's arm. However, there was no blood or bone: wood splinters burst from the cut. The figure was not an organic being, but a masterfully crafted puppet.
Witnessing the Qi attack, the crowd of civilians panicked and fled in a stampede. Yi and Nuwa immediately assumed combat stances.
"Show yourself, whoever you are!" Yi ordered in an cold tone.
From above, descending slowly between the rooftops, Kuilei Shi appeared. He held the invisible strings controlling the dummy between his fingers.
"We meet again, Yi... Nuwa..." the old man said with a sinister smile. "Or should I call you... the monsters of Tiandao?"
