The Fox's Eternal Star: A Tale of Love and Fate

After the massacre at the Star-Gazing Tower, the news of Bo Yikao's death reached Ji Chang, filling him with grief and rage. That night, reinforcements arrived from beyond the borders, and amidst the chaos, Ji Chang seized the opportunity to flee back to Xiqi.

In the following years, the Shang dynasty grew increasingly unstable. King Shou executed countless officials, plunging the entire city of Chaoge into a storm of bloodshed. Ji Chang, however, bided his time, quietly recruiting soldiers and gathering talented individuals. He even managed to enlist the legendary Jiang Ziya to serve Xiqi. Compared to the turmoil in Chaoge, Xiqi became a peaceful haven, a paradise on earth. Ji Chang raised the banner of rebellion against tyranny, urging the people of the world to rise against the Shang.

Yet, the Shang emperor seemed indifferent to Xiqi's defiance. Instead, he indulged in even greater excesses, as if deliberately flaunting the inexhaustible wealth and manpower of the Shang dynasty. Two and a half years later, a grander and more magnificent palace than the Star-Gazing Tower was completed, named "Deer Terrace." To build this terrace, King Shou conscripted countless laborers, and upon its completion, many were sacrificed, fueling the people's resentment. These actions shook the foundations of the six-hundred-year-old Shang dynasty, plunging the nation into peril.

By the fifteenth year of King Shou's reign, autumn arrived, and the fog grew thick.

At night, the dew was heavy, and sleep eluded him.

In the prison, his hands were bound, and his entire body was tied to a wooden post. His limbs had long gone numb, devoid of any sensation.

Moonlight seeped in through the window, casting a harsh glare on his eyes. Though it stung, he couldn't move to shield himself, so he turned his face away.

Outside the prison, the stone streets were eerily silent. Shou had imprisoned him here for three years. Sometimes, Shou would bring Shining Li with him; other times, Shining Li would come alone.

Since that night at the Star-Gazing Tower, it seemed as though Shou had stolen Shining Li's soul. His eyes, once bright and full of life, now lay dull and lifeless, obedient to Shou's every command, moving east or west at his whim.

There was a faint rustling in the cell. He listened carefully, hearing the sound of fabric brushing against the ground, growing closer. Then, a stranger appeared outside the wooden bars.

Zheng was surprised.

It was an elderly man with wild, unkempt hair and a beard. Upon seeing Zheng, he quickly bowed and said, "Prime Minister, I've come to rescue you!" The old man pulled out a large set of keys, obtained through bribing the jailers, and with trembling hands, tried to unlock the cell.

The old man continued, "Grand Tutor Wen Zhong has returned victorious from the north. Given your friendship with him, he will surely plead with the emperor to release you from this death sentence. But rumors are spreading that the emperor plans to execute you before the grand tutor reaches Chaoge. So tonight, I risked my life to come and take you away."

"Old man, don't waste your efforts. Leave quickly! This place is too dangerous, and I don't want to drag anyone else into this!" Zheng looked at the elderly man, realizing he was at an age where he should be enjoying his grandchildren, not risking his life for a condemned man like him.

"Go back!" Zheng urged.

"The entire court knows you're innocent. You merely recommended Ji Bo Yikao to the emperor, and now you're accused of plotting rebellion. You've contributed so much to the Shang dynasty, serving as its pillar of strength. Yet the emperor wants to kill you—it's truly chilling!" The old man spoke with fervor. The people were terrified of King Shou's tyranny, unsure of how to survive. Every few days, another official was executed. The loyal ministers who dared to speak out were gone, leaving only sycophants like Fei Zhong and You Hun to flatter the emperor. How could their once-wise ruler have become such a bloodthirsty demon?

"I deserve this punishment. No matter what you say, I won't leave." Moreover, he couldn't bear to leave Shining Li behind. It had been so long since he'd seen him. Had Shou starved him again, depriving him of water for months?

The thought of Shining Li filled Zheng's heart with nothing but pain. Regret and longing intertwined, tormenting him. He had made only one mistake, but it had plunged him into an abyss from which he could never escape, destined to be shattered.

He had accepted his fate willingly, but Shining Li was innocent.

As Zheng watched the old man, he suddenly noticed something else approaching amidst the clattering of keys. On the stone floor of the cell, small pebbles were kicked and rolled, their faint sounds somehow cutting through the noise.

The pebbles rolled and rolled, hitting the old man's hemp shoes, bouncing off, and then clattering to the ground again.

Suddenly, the old man stopped trying to unlock the cell. He looked into the pitch-black darkness, where a pair of silver eyes glowed, staring back at him.

The old man shivered and took a step back.

Those strange, glowing eyes—they were human, yet no human's eyes could be silver, like those of a wild fox from the deep forests, hungry and fierce.

"What's wrong?" Zheng noticed the old man's sudden stillness, but then he began to tremble violently, causing the keys in his hand to jangle incessantly.

In an instant, a shadow pounced on the old man. A sharp cry echoed through the cell, but it was quickly silenced.

Zheng saw the shadow rise, dragging the old man's lifeless body back into the darkness.

"Shining Li!" Desperate to see him, Zheng shouted. But no matter how loudly he called, Shining Li didn't turn back, didn't even glance his way.

Shining Li's lips were stained with blood, his eyes empty, his expression blank. His steps didn't falter, not even at Zheng's desperate cries.

Zheng longed to see Shining Li so much that he had forgotten—forgotten that Shining Li could no longer hear or feel anything.

Shou had left Shining Li with only his primal instincts. He loved to imprison Shining Li for months, then release him to hunt. But Shou's actions had placed all living beings in Chaoge at Shining Li's mercy, allowing him to hunt as he pleased.

Zheng blamed himself for not being able to save Shining Li. Shou had made him feel, for the first time, what it meant to be powerless. He had turned him into a cripple, confined to this prison, watching Shining Li kill to survive, watching him become deaf and mute.

Shou had calculated everything perfectly. Zheng's heart ached only for Shining Li. Shining Li's indifference, his inability to respond, made all the pain Zheng had buried unbearable, slowly eating away at him.

Shou had calculated everything perfectly, leaving Zheng with a body that could no longer touch Shining Li.

If this endless cycle of sin brought nothing but suffering to the one he loved, perhaps it was time to let go, to submit to fate...

This pain should have taught him by now, shouldn't it?

The sound of pebbles rolling echoed as Zheng watched Shining Li's retreating figure, smiling bitterly.

Love could last an eternity, but the hardest part was staying together...

Empress Su had been ill for a long time, her mind and body weakened. King Shou summoned all the court physicians, but none could cure her. Desperate, he turned to the diviners at the ancestral temple.

The divination results shocked the entire court. It was said that only the heart of a loyal minister, boiled into medicine, could cure Empress Su's illness.

Everyone suspected a conspiracy, and the prime minister, Bi Gan, who had been imprisoned for years, was to be the victim of this cruel punishment. The plot was bizarre—who could have manipulated the divination results to so precisely target the next official King Shou wished to eliminate?

At noon, the fog was thick, shrouding the city in a misty haze.

In the grand hall, bells and drums sounded, urgently summoning all officials to court. The ministers rushed to the palace, only to realize that King Shou had already taken his seat. He sipped wine leisurely, as usual, with Empress Su lying beside him.

Empress Su's eyes were empty, devoid of any emotion, like a stagnant pool of water. She was draped in luxurious robes, her hair adorned with precious ornaments, but her regal attire only emphasized her lifelessness, like a jade statue devoid of any human vitality.

"Bring Bi Gan to the court!" the official called out, his voice echoing through the hall like a death knell.

Amid the clinking of chains, Zheng was brought forward.

"My empress is ill," Shou said, playing with his wine cup. "She needs a loyal minister's heart to cure her. I've heard that only the most loyal ministers possess a seven-aperture heart. Bi Gan, as the most loyal minister of the Shang dynasty, you surely won't hesitate to offer your heart to cure Empress Su's illness, will you?"

Zheng understood Shou's intentions. He had brought Shining Li here to witness his death. Shou had never forgotten the night Zheng had taken Bo Yikao's life. Now, Shou wanted Zheng to die before Shining Li's eyes, to make him taste the agony of a broken heart.

Zheng feared nothing, except that Shining Li might hate him for breaking his promise.

Shou took Shining Li's hand and descended the steps, approaching Zheng. Leaning close, Shou whispered, "Do you know how many people I've made him kill in these three years? You don't know, do you?" Shou laughed, his noble demeanor tinged with a chilling malevolence. "I've lost count. But what I do know is that the more sins he accumulates, the more powerful the heavenly thunder will be when it strikes. Look at him—addicted to killing, so lost and empty. He won't escape his fate—complete annihilation!"

"I won't let him die!" Zheng's gaze softened as he looked at Shining Li, but his words were firm and unyielding.

"How will you save him? Don't forget, you're a mortal now. You can't even save yourself, yet you dream of helping others?"

"My love for Shining Li is no different from your love for Bo Yikao." The same love, the same tragic end.

"Don't mention him in front of me!" Shou's smile froze, and the scar on his chest ached at the memory of Bo Yikao. The man who had betrayed him—he no longer loved him.

"It was I who used Ji Chang's name to lure Bo Yikao into killing you. He didn't know he was being manipulated. In all of this, Bo Yikao and Shining Li were innocent." After all this time, Zheng revealed the truth, hoping it would bring Shou some solace.

"Would you like to see the wound on my chest? That sword struck without mercy, aiming to take my life. And Shining Li, for your sake, turned against me. That night at the Star-Gazing Tower, he tried to kill me. And you say they're innocent? What a joke!" Shou shook his head, gently stroking Shining Li's soft hair.

The fog outside the hall drifted in, covering the floor in a white mist, as if they were standing among clouds, giving the illusion that they could soar through the skies at any moment.

To Zheng, this strange phenomenon was an omen—the heavenly soldiers were already waiting outside, ready to seize him and bring him back to the heavens for judgment once his life ended.

Zheng looked at Shining Li, reluctant to leave him alone in the mortal world.

Shou drew a dagger from his robe, its blade engraved with a blue dragon, eerily similar to the one Bo Yikao had used to stab him years ago.

He patted Shining Li's head and placed the dagger in his hand. Softly, he said, "Go on, cut open his chest and take out his heart. Don't you want to see what color it is, after all he's done to you?"

Shining Li gripped the dagger, his silver eyes blank, unable to resist Shou's command. He pressed the blade against Zheng's chest, slowly pushing it in. The sharp edge pierced through the thin fabric, and blood began to seep out, staining Zheng's robes.

Zheng felt the pain but didn't resist. Only when Shou, dissatisfied with Zheng's calm acceptance, covered Shining Li's eyes with his hand did Zheng struggle.

The blade continued to sink deeper.

Two guards stepped forward, seizing Zheng's arms and pinning him down.

"Tell me, if I let him see and hear now, how would he react? And you, how would you feel?" Shou's cruelty was on full display.

"Don't do this to him!" Zheng struggled, but the pain of the blade piercing his heart made it hard to breathe. He didn't want Shining Li to see this, didn't want him to know that he was the one taking his life. He remembered how Shining Li had protected him that night at the Star-Gazing Tower. It was because of that night that Shining Li had become like this.

Suddenly, Shou removed his hand from Shining Li's eyes, but the blade was already deep in Zheng's chest. Zheng clenched his teeth, enduring the pain.

The guards tightened their grip on his arms. Blood drained his warmth, leaving him cold.

Shining Li's eyes gradually regained their sparkle, a familiar tenderness flickering within them. The silver light danced, as clear and pure as it had been when it first captivated Zheng.

Then, Shining Li's eyes filled with sorrow. He looked down in disbelief, seeing the dagger in his hand, the blade buried in Zheng's chest.

Shining Li's lips parted, but no sound came out. He had just escaped the darkness, finally free from the suffocating silence. He didn't want to close his eyes again, to return to that nightmare. But Zheng's pained expression made him want to look away, to spare himself the agony of seeing what he had done.

"Close your eyes... don't look, Shining Li... don't look..." Zheng's voice was weak, coming in broken gasps. The last thing he wanted was to see Shining Li in pain.

Shining Li...

Shining Li opened his mouth but couldn't speak. He had just emerged from the darkness, finally free from the silence that had driven him mad. He didn't want to close his eyes again, to return to that nightmare. But Zheng's pained expression made him want to look away, to spare himself the agony of seeing what he had done.

Shou, standing behind Shining Li, pushed his hand, driving the dagger deeper into Zheng's chest. The force of the thrust broke the guards' hold, and Zheng collapsed to the ground. The dagger was pulled from his chest, and blood gushed out, staining the mist red.

Shining Li turned around in a frenzy, his furious eyes locking onto Shou. He couldn't speak—Shou had taken that from him—but he raised the dagger and lunged at Shou, wanting to end his life.

But Shou easily caught the dagger, twisted it from Shining Li's hand, and tossed it aside.

Zheng coughed up blood, the crimson liquid mixing with the mist on the floor. The clinking of chains ceased.

The ministers watched in horror, filled with anger but powerless to intervene. The man before them was the supreme emperor of the Shang dynasty. He decided who lived and who died. The loyal ministers who dared to speak out were long gone, leaving only those who had survived by keeping their heads down.

Outside the hall, a strange wind blew, stirring the mist and filling the room with an eerie haze.

"The heavenly soldiers are here!" Shou said.

Beyond the hall, in the thick mist, Shining Li saw armored soldiers approaching. But in that instant, a soft light began to rise from Zheng's body. It was a gentle glow, softer than the harsh light of the stars, warm and radiant like the light of fireflies.

Shining Li struggled to move closer, drawn to the light. It was Zheng's true form, as gentle and kind as the man himself.

He wanted to touch it, to feel if the light was as warm as Zheng, but just as he reached out, Shou grabbed him.

Then, the heavenly soldiers entered, and the light that had gathered around Zheng suddenly scattered, like fireflies dancing in the reeds by a river.

The light flickered, capturing the attention of everyone in the hall.

The soldiers cast finely woven nets into the air, capturing the fleeing lights.

The hall fell silent. The ministers knelt, not daring to look up. The heavenly soldiers had descended, and they were mere mortals, unworthy of gazing upon them.

But Shining Li struggled, desperate to reclaim what was his.

Zheng was his. His heart screamed, but no one listened, no one heard.

His only light, his only warmth—why was it being taken away?

He loved him so much...

Shou was a shackle, binding him tightly, preventing him from moving. His heart was breaking under the weight of this cruelty. If this was Shou's revenge, then it was too cruel. Shou had lost Bo Yikao, and now he wanted Shining Li to lose Zheng? Why? He had never wanted to be Shou's enemy!

As the fireflies were captured, Shining Li's heart felt hollow.

He had lived through countless years, but he couldn't escape this fate. Why had heaven allowed him to exist, only to deny him love and hope, leaving him to wander alone in despair?

Shou's hand slowly covered his eyes again, and in the narrow gap, Shining Li saw Zheng's face for the last time, his smile fading into the mist.

He wanted Zheng to smile at him again, to speak to him in that gentle voice, to say...

"I want to see you... I want to kiss you... I want to stay with you..."