Chapter 354: Thread Of Fate
Inside Li Yao’s spiritual sea, little Li Yao was running around with Xiang Yu’s partition.
"Senior brother, you’re really here!" she cried with excitement. "Yeah, that’s me," he responded. "Senior brother..." she cried happily as she ran around with him.
Li Yao and the Empress sat facing each other.
[How are you feeling now?] the Empress asked with concern.
"I feel mostly fine, but I don’t think I can..." Li Yao began hesitantly.
The Empress nodded knowingly. She understood that for Li Yao, her senior brother was the most important thing - even more important than the power of the Heavenly Way. If it came down to choosing, Li Yao would simply refuse to use that power if it meant forgetting about her senior brother.
The Empress sighed quietly.
For her plan to work, Li Yao needed to be strong. From all the divinations she had performed and everything she had learned from the Asura God, their enemies would keep coming - each one stronger than the last.
In Li Yao’s current state, the Empress wasn’t sure if she could survive what was coming.
"If only there was a way to make sure they never forgot each other..." she thought to herself. "Hmm, wait... that could work."
[Wait, I have an idea,] the Empress said suddenly.
"An idea?" Li Yao asked nervously.
[Yes, a way to make sure you never forget about your senior brother,] she explained.
"Tell me, tell me!" Li Yao started chanting eagerly.
[I heard about this method from the Love Goddess back then...] the Empress began.
"The Love Goddess again? You hear an awful lot from her don’t you? Are you two good friends?" Li Yao asked curiously.
The Empress looked nervously to the side. [Yeah. I think. I believe we get along well. Sometimes. Maybe.] Her confidence dwindled with each word she spoke.
[Anyway, that’s beside the point,] the Empress said quickly.
[In the celestial realm, there’s a story that’s told to candidates for the Love God position. The story goes like this...]
Long ago, there were ten suns burning in the sky, scorching the earth and causing terrible drought and suffering. Hou Yi, a skilled archer, shot down nine of the ten suns, saving the world from destruction. As a reward, the Queen Mother of the West gave him a pill of immortality - but there was only enough for one person.
Hou Yi loved his wife Chang’e deeply and couldn’t bear the thought of living forever without her. So he gave her the pill for safekeeping while they decided what to do together.
But one day, overcome by the promise of immortality, Chang’e swallowed the pill. She began floating toward the heavens, and despite her deep regret, she couldn’t stop. Seeing her regret and moved by her desire to stay close to her husband, the Queen Mother of the West allowed her to remain on the moon where she could still watch over him - immortal but forever separated from her beloved.
From her palace on the moon, Chang’e watched the world below and saw countless couples in love. Her heart ached as she remembered her own separation from Hou Yi. She decided that no other lovers should suffer as they had. And so she became the Moon Goddess.
The Moon Goddess created a sacred ritual: when couples marry, they must wait for the full moon to consummate their marriage. On that night, they come before the moon with open hearts. If their love is true - if they are willing to sacrifice everything to be together - Chang’e herself will descend and tie a red string of fate around their ankles.
This red thread, blessed by the Moon Goddess who knows the pain of separation, can never be broken. Not by distance, not by time, not even by death or immortality. Those bound by Chang’e’s red thread will find each other in this life and every life after.
And so the Moon Goddess, through her own heartbreak, became the guardian of eternal love - ensuring that true lovers, unlike her and Hou Yi, would never be parted.
...
"So, what does this have to do with anything? Do you want us to pray to the Moon Goddess during a full moon?" Li Yao asked, confused.
[Of course not. This is just a myth,] the Empress said dismissively.
"I thought so," Li Yao said with a sigh.
[But the red string of fate is real,] the Empress continued seriously.
Li Yao’s attention snapped back immediately.
[If you get married, on the wedding night, as you consummate your marriage and open up completely to one another, you can tie both your fates together,] the Empress explained.
"How do we do that?" Li Yao asked, now very interested.
The Empress held her chin thoughtfully. [The easiest way is for either of you to learn the Law of Fate and personally tie the thread,] she said. [But this is quite difficult to do at the moment,] she added with a sigh.
"Isn’t there another way?" Li Yao asked hopefully.
[Another way is for both of you to learn the Fate Domain. You can then use it to intertwine your fates,] she explained.
"Fate Domain?" Li Yao put her finger to her chin, thinking.
[It’s actually not as difficult as it seems. The Law of Fate is somewhat similar to the Law of Heavenly Way, so you can derive from that. And for your senior brother, it’s even easier...] she began.
[The Law of Chaos has two extreme opposites - one is Fate, and the other is Order,] she said. [Since he has the Yin Yang Domain too, it should be easy for him to explore extreme opposites.]
[There’s another way too. If he’s unable to get the Fate Domain but gets the Order Domain instead, he can try upgrading his Appraisal to the immortal grade. Appraisal relies mostly on the Law of Karma. If he can get it to immortal grade, he should be able to glimpse the Law of Karma. He could then use this to combine with Order to make Fate,] the Empress explained.
Li Yao nodded along. She didn’t understand most of the last part, but she felt her senior brother should be able to figure it out.
In the real world, Xiang Yu was carrying her on his back through the forest.
"Senior brother," she called out softly.
"Yes?" he responded.
"Let’s get married," she said.
Xiang Yu stopped moving completely. He remained silent for a long time before he finally spoke up.
"Okay, let’s get married."
...
Author’s Corner
Although Xi Wangmu means queen mother of the west, she’s not the one being talked about here. Think that Xi Wangmu (the love goddess that the empress knows) was named after the one from the myth.
Quick clarification, this isnt really how the myth is irl, i changed up some stuff and combined with Yue Lao’s story.