Chapter 3 The Crimson Fairy

Dongyue looked up at the elderly dwarf who had arrived along with the crowd. On the first impression, the man appeared to be the village mayor due to the seriousness of his attire. He clasped his hands and bowed as how his mother had taught him as a child, “My sincerest greetings to Old Mister.” His companions followed suit.

The dwarf returned his bow with a friendly smile.

“Ah, introductions. My name is Long Ra’ya, and I am the mayor of the village.” 

“My name is Zhan Dongyue. I am a trading merchant, and I hail from Yilong.”

“Yilong?” the mayor repeated after him in confusion. He faced several men flanking him, who were smartly dressed in similar uniforms of varying colours, namely black, green, yellow and red. “Have any of you heard of that place?”

The men answered in unison with a ‘no’.

Dongyue’s attention was diverted was to the ice in the stream that they had drifted into the island from. Apart from the hole that the trading vessel was contained in, there was no possible way they could have been carried into the island. He briefly remembered several distinctive flashes of lightning before he witnessed the surroundings around him changing. His companions remained silent.

The ice around the vessel remained intact, befuddling him further. How could that even be possible that the vessel was now in a ‘hole’ without breaking the ice around it? Which meant… the vessel had just appeared inside the ‘hole’?

He related his knowledge of exploration and the studies he had conducted in the field of geography, but the surprise on the faces of the citizens was even more evident.

“Nobody has ever sailed up the coast of Muxue before,” a guard in a green coat murmured, to which Dongyue was able to interpret proficiently. 

“May I ask how come is this?” Dongyue retorted, the curiosity of his explorer side taking over him.

The crowd heard the jingle of bells, accompanied by a loud clatter of metal as another figure waddled up to satisfy his curiosity on the arrival of the strange travellers. The man who appeared was shockingly austere, and his wrinkled face was covered with peculiar markings. In his left hand rested several bells bound together, and he held a massive metal staff in his right hand.

“Because the island cannot simply be accessed by anyone unworthy,” the man said solemnly.

Dongyue hurriedly bowed before the man, as an act of courtesy, followed by his companions. The man disregarded his bow and just continued in a deep voice, “It goes to say that either you or one of your companions has an affinity that allowed you to enter the sacred grounds of Muxue. May I know what good merits you have all conducted to allow you to enter Muxue?”

Merits? Dongyue knew little about religion or even the beliefs of people of his own country. He just remained silent and hoped the man would eventually stop. Fortunately, the man did not press on and began to give the travellers a brief account of the island.

Nobody knew how Muxue came to exist, perhaps made by the believed giant Pan-Gu whose limbs formed the seas and the lands, or the goddess Nuwa who created humanity. Muxue was never on a seafarer’s chart, appearing to be cut off from the rest of the world. The people of Muxue lived life by their own rules, never caring about religions, culture or the laws of humanity. The island was like a planet of its own. It had eight moons, but only one sun. 

The magical island had snow all year round, yet vegetation was plentiful in the area. There were few animals, but the human population thrived. Different classes emerged other than the witches, some archers, melee fighters and protectors. But her predecessors maintained sovereignty as the first generation of citizens of Muxue. The majority lived a pescetarian lifestyle, with few resorting to hunting as a form of survival.

He identified that the island of Muxue was discovered by Muxue Yan, a wise and excellent swordsman, but every generation of women of the Muxue lineage had an affliction. Hence, Muxue Yan had sought the island as a way of hiding his family from harm. Though the generations of the Muxue was not recorded clearly in the books of history, he warned Dongyue that he should run if he encountered the last in the Muxue generation, known to be a powerful witch. Then he went on to explain about the people of Muxue and their habits, as well as what happened to be the etiquette there.

Dongyue was amazed to know that the moonlight from each of the eight moons had magical properties, and wondered what good such magic could do on a normal person like him.

“Will it make my hair black again?” he asked the man. The man took one glance at his silvery strands and shook his head.

“Your hair is silver for a reason,” the man said in a monotonous voice. “There is no way you can change that permanently.”

To Dongyue’s surprise, the man fell backwards on the snow and began to snore.

The crowd just smiled. 

“Don’t worry about A’Bu, he is like that,” the dwarf explained. “For now, you will be unable to depart the island, so why don’t I see you to the nearest inn first?”

“Thank you, Mr Long,” Dongyue said and thanked the man by clasping both his palms together in appreciation. As normal, Xiao Tian remained mute, and Ya’Xing said not a word either due to his stature as a servant to Dongyue. As it normally was in Yilong, servants were not allowed to make any noises when their masters were indulged with a conversation with others.

The inn was not far up ahead and named the Crimson Fairy, painted a light red with a brown roof and some small red lanterns hung on either side of the building. The dwarf added that the proprietress of the inn was the current generation of descendants of the Muxue family, and since she was a witch by nature, he had to steer clear from her. She had been missing for a few years but had recently resurfaced.

What was it about this woman that everyone feared? Dongyue thought assertively. If that was the case, all the more he wanted to challenge his guts by meeting the woman for himself?

“When will she show up?” he asked the mayor casually. Everyone around him looked alarmed.

“She is a cursed witch. Her curse will bring upon you bad luck,” the guard in red said.

Dongyue determined that he was resilient enough to withstand this competition. But the others didn’t need to know he was cursed as well, as the mere truth might make them anxious. 

“I bet she must be a beauty,” he said with a playful grin, as they were waiting to be served lunch at the dining area of the inn.

“Sure she is,” the guard replied. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

He sensed a gust of wind arousing him as a young woman carried a small pot and placed it on the table between the men. A fragrance equivalent to flowers in blossom lingered about her as she walked, attracting the attention of all the men in the room. But the moment she lifted her head, Dongyue realised her lower face was covered with a translucent pink veil. Was she no other than the proprietress and witch the mayor had told him about?

“I am Muxue Xiyu, owner of the Crimson Fairy,” she declared as she ladled the porridge in the pot into smaller bowls to be served. “And I suppose you are the travellers who sailed up the coast today in a mere vessel?”

“I am Zhan Dongyue, captain and owner of the vessel,” he said in a clear and articulate voice.

She glanced towards Dongyue and met his stare, enrapturing him with the particular dazzle of her eyes. He observed that the skin on the visible portion of her face appeared flawless without a single blemish, and imagined her luscious lips behind her veil. For the first time, he had felt his heart racing and an unexplained desire to find out for himself how the woman looked like.

Muxue Xiyu, such a beautiful name, he thought.