Hello, fellow disciples! We would like to present the first chapter of the story that won Favorite World and Runner-Up in our Lunar New Year contest, the Immortals' Conquest 2023.

If you enjoyed reading this first chapter, you can continue Eastern Sun by Elvira_Kamgut here. This story was inspired Prompt #12: The Mysterious Key.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Prologue

東方之日兮。
彼姝者子、在我室兮。
在我室兮、履我即兮。

***

Evening had fallen over the Imperial Palace, the peony blossoms slowly moved with the wind. The trees were almost empty now that Autumn had arrived, and under normal circumstances Xiān Chí would have been outside since the earliest morning light.

Normal circumstances. She would have wandered through the gardens, let her hands graze through the many flowers slowly descending from the sky, and stayed till the night guards had told her she truly needed to go back inside.

Now she had stayed inside as she had done for months before and would for many more. No walks outside following the traces of the peony blossom in the moonlight, her skin paler than when she was brought into the palace.

Her hand laid against the window, Xiān Chí had no strength left to hammer against the bars of her prison. All that had left her long ago, when she had still hope to leave this ruined place. Hope.

Hope had pulled her through those first few months when the pain and grieve had still laid close on her chest. It had made her believe she would be released once everything became clear. When the real perpetrators were found and prosecuted for their crime.

Hope had made her believe the key in her pocket would actually lead somewhere.

Now she knew better, it was all a lie. No one would come apart from the maids that spoke no words and pushed leftover food through a hole in the only door in the cold palace. No one would come to set her free, tell her what had happened after she was put away. No one would be found guilty as they had already someone to blame.

Motive, opportunity, and no alibi to speak of.

It had been over and done before it even began. Locked up in the Cold Palace without a single other soul, a place so far away from anyone else that even the sounds of festivities couldn't reach her in the dead of night. Only a rusted old key left within, yet no lock to use it for.

Her freedom long forgotten, withered away like the peony blossom once winter came.

***

The sun is in the east,
And that lovely girl, is in my chamber. 
She is in my chamber; she treads in my footsteps, and comes to me.

《東方之日 - Dong Fang Zhi Ri》 Odes of Qi

Chapter 1

十畝之閒兮、桑者閑閑兮。
行與子還兮。

Among their ten acres, the mulberry-planters stand idly about.
'Come,' [says one to another], 'I will return with you.'

《十畝之閒 - Shi Mu Zhi Jian》Odes of Wei

***

"One, two, three."

The softly spoken words were accompanied by the drumbeat as Xiān Chí moved through the tàolù, one movement flowing into the next with every new beat. She knew what to do, didn't even need to see where she was standing on the practise field. Everything had been branded in her mind during the years building up to this very moment.

"Eight, nine, ten and again."

Her instructor was standing to the side, watching her every movement like a hawk watching his prey from high above the clouds. He would not help her if she faltered, the steady sounds of his voice the only thing he was allowed to help with.

"Five, six, seven, eight."

The steady drum beat in time with her heart, no need to rush as she let her arms flow through the last few steps. The examiner would be watching till the very last second, she couldn't slack off now that it was almost over. Shīfu would be disappointed, he wouldn't be alone in that but Xiān Chí couldn't think about the others. It would only distract her when she needed all her concentration.

"Ten."

The drum stopped and only Xiān Chí's rapidly beating heart and blood rushing to her mind were the only things she could still hear. Adrenaline that had been rushing through her body now in need of a new outlet and with shaky hands she lowered herself to sit on the ground.

She had done it.

"Ah Chí, ah Chí! You did it, you're amazing."

Warm arms encompass her from behind, embracing her body and hiding her tears from sight.

"You did very well Xiān Chí, you are ready now."

Her face that had been previously hidden within the tresses of Jīn Sù hair, she now raised her head to look at the proud face of her teacher. Shīfu looked down on the pile of young women celebrating the fact that they would now both enter the Imperial Palace.

No one would be left behind.

"Not that I am surprised, you were and are one of my best students in years. Your Lady will be very safe with you near, no one will even dare to think about harming her with you standing guard."

The hand on her back, tracing the lines of her undershirt, wasn't unexpected, though a welcome surprise. This was what she had been working on since before she had heard of the decree that would determine their future.

"The Crown Prince will be glad."

What the Crown Prince would think of Xiān Chí's achievement was absolutely not the most important thing on her mind. It hadn't been the single driving force behind her fierce determination to finish her training before this day.

"I am glad you finished before I would travel to the Imperial Palace."

No, the Crown Prince was absolutely not the person she had trained day and night for.

"Me too, now we can go together. Wouldn't want you to be all alone in the palace waiting for the Crown Prince to become old enough to marry."

Tomorrow she would pack her bags and join the company that would travel with Jīn Sú to the Imperial Palace for the upcoming wedding. She would be the last addition to the guard and the only one who would follow Jīn Sù into the Imperial Palace.

Together they would stay there in wait for the royal wedding. After that they would still be together as the years would pass and Jīn Sù would first become Empress and later Empress Dowager with only the older Empress Xīwángmǔ above her.

They would have security and bring honour to their family.

***

"Who would have thought the road to the Imperial Palace would be this long and hot. Truly, couldn't they have asked a girl from around Kūnlún and not from the farthest away eastern province to become Crown Princess Consort? Is there something horribly wrong with the Crown Prince that they couldn't find some other father willing to give his daughter to the royal family?"

It was a lament Xiān Chí had heard several times already over the last two months they had been travelling. Jīn Sù had not been enamoured by the travel plans, nor by the fact the journey would take a considerable amount of time. But now they would arrive soon, and in another week mount Kūnlún would appear.

Once that mountain had appeared they would soon arrive in the Imperial Palace, and whisked away to the many appointments it would take for the both of them to be turned into proper residents of the Imperial Palace. Xiān Chí was not looking forward to that at all, and not only for the fact that she did not enjoy people modelling her to some unachievable standard.

Jīn Sù would have it worse though, so she would not complain. No, if someone would complain it would be Jīn Sù and Xiān Chí would support her for the entire time.

"You know that is not the reason, you are simply the best. Take the compliment for what it is and don't worry too much about all else. Surely the Crown Prince will be a pleasant enough person."

Jīn Sù should not worry about what was yet to come, it would do her, nor anyone else, any good. If someone was going to worry about how the Crown Prince would be as a person it would be Xiān Chí.

She would worry what kind of husband Jīn Sù would get. She would worry what Palace life would do to her Jīn Sù.

Jīn Sù should live her life to the fullest. Life the life of an Empress of the Heavens. It wouldn't do for her to worry about her guard.

"I know it is a compliment and I am accepting it, otherwise I would not be here. It is just..."

She trailed off and looked between the curtains of their carriage watching the trees pass by. This was not a conversation they would have with eye contact it seemed, though Xiān Chí would give a lot if Jīn Sù would look at her, if only for a moment.

"Is this really the right choice? For me, you, use."

For Jīn Sù it certainly was. It would bring her, her family and county honour. It would ensure her safety and prosperity for the rest of her life. There was very little she could wish for that would not be provided for her, by marrying the Crown Prince as his wife.

"My mind knows it is the case, it knows I made the right decision."

For Xiān Chí it was the right decision too. It would bring honour for her and her sect, her family. She would be able to practise with the best martial artists in the world. And though she would never be a day without work, long hours and never-ending duty, she would be safe. The Imperial Palace would provide for her for every day of her life in return for her service.

"But my heart."

For them.

"My heart, she weeps bitter tears."

For them this might be the worst choice either of them could have made.

***

十畝之外兮、桑者泄泄兮。
行與子逝兮。

Beyond those ten acres, the mulberry-planters move idly about.
'Come,' [says one to another], 'I will go away with you.'

《十畝之閒 - Shi Mu Zhi Jian》Odes of Wei