A god was born on the Tree of Fate, and this story spread throughout the Heavenly Realm for quite some time.
Logically speaking, each of the gods in heaven has their own duties, so having one more or one less is not unusual.
But this one just happened to be created directly from the Tree of Fate, not from some immortal being ascending to heaven after tribulation, nor from some deity enlightening him. Just like that, a deity in charge of marriage appeared out of thin air.
The Heavenly Realm has not seen a god born naturally for a long time, which naturally aroused much discussion among the people.
When most of the fairies gathered together to chat, they all said that the newly arrived Yue Lao must be an old god with white hair.
After all, the Old Man Under the Yue Lao (Yue Lao) has the word "old" in his name, and he's in charge of marriage, a job that requires experience. You'd think he'd be a kind and gentle old man.
Holding a red thread in hand, smiling as he ties it to the destined one—just thinking about it feels heartwarming.
"Maybe it's an old man with a white beard, the kind who speaks slowly," said a fairy maid with her hair in twin buns, resting her chin on her hand.
Several people nearby nodded in agreement, all thinking that it was pretty much the same.
However, this Yue Lao has never appeared at any celestial banquet since his birth.
There are many banquets in the heavens, and one should encounter at least one or two occasions, big or small, yet no one has ever seen him.
Even the invitations sent to the Heavenly Emperor disappeared without a trace, without even a reply.
Over time, this Yue Lao became the most mysterious deity in the Heavenly Realm.
That's just how people are; the less they see something, the more curious they become.
Several daring female immortals discussed and decided to simply go to the Hall of Fate to find someone.
Since everyone's marriage is now under the care of this Yue Lao, it's perfectly legitimate and not presumptuous to seek a good marriage.
Besides, an old immortal should be easy to talk to; we might even be able to chat for a bit and find out about the origins of this mysterious Yue Lao.
The group agreed and then left.
The Hall of Fate is located in the western part of the Heavenly Realm. It's not too remote, but it's not a bustling area either.
In front of the hall stands an enormous Tree of Fate, its branches laden with red silk threads, so densely packed that they sway gently in the breeze.
However, this Tree of Fate is not the true main body; it is just a branch that was separated from the main body.
The stone steps under the tree were swept clean, and the temple door was half-closed, with light faintly shining through.
The female fairies shoved each other a couple of times, and finally a round-faced little fairy was pushed to the front.
She took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock on the door.
No one answered.
She knocked twice more, and only then did a very faint voice come from inside. "Come in."
The group pushed open the door, walked around the screen wall, and immediately saw the people inside.
The main hall was softly lit, and countless balls of red thread were neatly stacked on the shelves on all four sides, some tightly wrapped and some loosely hanging down.
In the center was a long table with an open Marriage Register spread out on it, and several bundles of red thread that had not yet been arranged piled up beside it.
A person sat at a desk, head down, sorting through threads.
Dressed in white with wide sleeves hanging down, his fingers passed through the middle of the red thread, moving slowly, smoothing each thread one by one, and then winding it onto the spool next to him.
He heard footsteps and looked up.
When they looked up, all the female immortals froze on the spot.
He's not an old man.
The person in front of him looked to be only in his early twenties, with a handsome face and a very calm expression, like the morning mist in the mountains, quietly gathering there.
His white robes made him appear somewhat aloof, yet the bright red thread he held in his hand created a striking contrast between the red and white, making him all the more eye-catching.
The round-faced fairy opened her mouth, but forgot to say anything.
The others were similar; they stood there blankly for a long time before snapping out of it, their faces flushing red in unison.
This isn't the Yue Lao (the god of marriage); this is clearly some celestial being.
"What do you want?" the man asked, his voice low and cold.
The round-faced fairy then remembered why she had come, and quickly bowed, stammering, "We... we've come to pray for a marriage."
The others nodded in agreement, but their eyes couldn't help glancing at the man's face.
The man didn't say much, but simply put the neatly arranged red thread back on the table, and casually pulled out a few new ones from the side, handing one to each person.
He barely uttered a word throughout, and his face remained expressionless.
Several female immortals accepted the red thread, wanting to stay a little longer, but the other party had already turned their attention back to the Marriage Register on the table, clearly having no intention of continuing to pay attention to them.
They couldn't very well stay any longer, so they could only leave the Hall of Fate looking back every few steps.
The palace doors closed behind them, and the female immortals exchanged glances and simultaneously took a deep breath.
"My goodness!" The round-faced fairy covered her face and squatted down.
In less than three days, the news that the Old Man of the Yue Lao was actually a very handsome immortal had spread throughout the entire Heavenly Realm.
When Qiguan Yuan gave Xiu Yun Yin this name, Xiu Yun Yin had only been in human form for a few days.
He wasn't quite used to it then, but Qiguan Yuan adapted quickly and was already able to wander around with a pair of fox ears on.
After the agreement was finalized, Qiguan Yuan patted Xiu Yun Yin on the shoulder, his eyes crinkling with a smile, and said, "From now on, you are my Moon Official. I trust you with the affairs of the Hall of Fate."
Xiu Yun Yin nodded at that time.
He thought that when Qiguan Yuan said "I'll leave it to you," he meant that the two of them would manage it together.
Subsequent events proved that he was overthinking things.
Qiguan Yuan did come to the Hall of Fate in the first few days. He looked around and touched things, flipped through a few pages of the Marriage Register, and untangled two balls of red thread. Then he said he was bored and wanted to go out for a walk.
That turn, and he never came back.
All the affairs, big and small, in the palace fell to Xiu Yun Yin's shoulders. From sorting out the red threads to registering Marriage Register, the list of names he had to check every day could be piled up and bury him.
Ten years have passed since then.
Qiguan Yuan hasn't completely disappeared.
New names appear in the Marriage Register every day. Some of them are arranged by Qiguan Yuan himself. The handwriting is messy but still legible.
Looking at those names, Xiu Yun Yin knew that Qiguan Yuan was still doing what the Yue Lao was supposed to do, just not returning to the Hall of Fate.
Since they're already doing it, let them be.
Thinking this through, Xiu Yun Yin didn't go looking for him and dutifully handled these miscellaneous tasks for Qiguan Yuan.
Only occasionally, when he was tidying up the red thread, would he think of Qiguan Yuan sitting at the desk, haphazardly winding the thread.
Qiguan Yuan's thread-wrapping skills were terrible; the resulting spools of thread were crooked and twisted, Xiu Yun Yin had to unravel them and start over every time.
Qiguan Yuan wasn't annoyed. He just sat there, resting his chin on his hand, watching. After a while, he started yawning.
He was so handsome that even though Xiu Yun Yin had only met him a few times, he still remembered him clearly.
After the news spread, the Hall of Fate became lively.
At first, a few female immortals pretended to be passing by, peeking in from the temple entrance.
Later, more and more people came. Some came openly to see it, while others peeked from behind the Tree of Fate. There were even male immortals who came specifically to ask how to use the Marriage Register.
Xiu Yun Yin knew perfectly well what he wanted to ask.
Every day when the temple doors are opened, you'll always bump into a few faces that don't have time to hide.
Xiu Yun Yin initially tried to deal with it patiently, but later he got so annoyed that he simply closed the palace door and wouldn't open it for anyone.
A barrier was set up outside the hall, and anyone who tried to approach was bounced back before even reaching the door. Although the force was not great, it was enough to deter people from trying.
The Hall of Fate fell silent.
After a few days of peace, a divine invitation was delivered to the outside of the palace.
The golden post floated outside the barrier, emitting a faint halo, and bore the mark of the Heavenly Emperor.
Xiu Yun Yin removed the barrier, reached out and took it. Unfolding it, he saw that the Heavenly Emperor was going to hold an important celestial banquet, which was clearly written at the end of the invitation.
All deities and Buddhas must be present; none may be absent.
"All must be present."
Xiu Yun Yin closed the post and remained silent for a while.
The celestial invitation is sent to the Old Man of the Yue Lao, Yue Lao is Qiguan Yuan.
It would be against propriety for Qiguan Yuan to not intervene in such a matter.
Moreover, the Heavenly Emperor's meaning is very clear: all gods must be present, Qiguan Yuan is also a god, so he cannot escape.
Xiu Yun Yin held the invitation and tried to send a divine thought to it.
The Tree of Fate and the Hall of Fate are connected by divine will, but they are not close in distance.
Xiu Yun Yin briefly explained the contents of the immortal invitation, and then waited for a reply.
I waited for ages, but nothing happened.
Just as Xiu Yun Yin was about to send the message again, there was finally a response from the other end. A voice filled with doubt came through. "Ah, who are you?"
Xiu Yun Yin fell silent.
He stood before the table, still clutching the immortal scroll in his hand, his expression unchanged, only his eyelids drooping slightly.
Then he relayed the message again, his voice calm. " Xiu Yun Yin, I am your Moon Official."
There was a few more breaths of silence on the other end.
Qiguan Yuan finally remembered.
He did indeed have a Moon Official who emerged from the Tree of Fate with him. He named the person, explained the affairs of the Hall of Fate, and then left.
The other party never contacted him first, and as time went by, he completely forgot about it.
After all, they are two people, not the same person.
Qiguan Yuan preferred solitude and felt comfortable staying under the Tree of Fate. He never bothered with the affairs of the Hall of Fate, since someone else was taking care of them anyway.
"Oh, it's you." Qiguan Yuan's voice rang out again, his tone carrying a hint of languor, as if he had just woken up. "What do you want?"
Xiu Yun Yin repeated the contents of the immortal's invitation.
Upon hearing Qiguan Yuan's voice immediately betrayed a hint of annoyance. "Can't I not go?"
"It's probably not possible," Xiu Yun Yin said.
A muffled sigh came from the other end, followed by rustling sounds, as if someone had rolled over and sat up from somewhere.
Qiguan Yuan's voice came back after a while, tinged with reluctance. "Then come find me with the Immortal Token. I'll be under the Tree of Fate."
The divine thought was severed.
Xiu Yun Yin put the immortal invitation into his sleeve, turned around and left the Hall of Fate.
The Tree of Fate is indeed quite far from the Hall of Fate.
This tree is one of the oldest spiritual roots in the Heavenly Realm, rooted in a remote valley surrounded by clouds and mist, a place that even ordinary celestial birds cannot fly to.
Qiguan Yuan's origin is this tree, so he is naturally drawn to this place.
Xiu Yun Yin remembered that Qiguan Yuan had once casually mentioned that he felt more comfortable and safer in the tree than in the palace.
Xiu Yun Yin thought at the time that this was probably similar to the nest-building behavior of foxes, Qiguan Yuan's original form was a Nine-Tailed Fox.
After walking for about half an hour, the outline of the Tree of Fate finally emerged from the clouds.
It wasn't that Xiu Yun Yin was unwilling to use magic to teleport directly, but rather that Qiguan Yuan had set up an array using the Power of Marriage to prevent others from trespassing into his territory.
I can't use magic.
The tree was enormous, its canopy spreading out to cover a small part of the valley, its branches adorned with red threads of varying shades, some new and some old, hanging down in layers.
The grass under the tree was thick and soft, with clumps of unidentified Xiaobai blooming.
Xiu Yun Yin walked to the tree and looked up at it.
Qiguan Yuan lay on the highest horizontal branch, his dark red robe hanging down, the hem swaying in the wind.
He had one hand behind his head and was holding a yellow paper package in the other, stuffing things into his mouth one by one.
Xiu Yun Yin took two steps closer and saw what was in the paper package.
It's a candy.
Qiguan Yuan ate the candy very quickly, his cheeks puffing up and then deflating, the crunching sound particularly clear under the quiet tree.
His eyes were half-closed, clearly in a good mood, and his fluffy fox ears twitched, the tips occasionally twitching as if listening to the sounds in the wind.
Xiu Yun Yin stood under the tree, just watching, for quite a while.
Qiguan Yuan finished eating one piece of candy and reached for another, he unconsciously turned his head.
His gaze swept across the ground beneath the tree and landed on Xiu Yun Yin standing there.
A person dressed in white stood quietly beside the tree roots, like a wooden stake, and it was unclear how long they had been standing there.
A mountain breeze blew by, causing the white ribbon tied around his waist to flutter gently up and down.
"Why didn't you say anything when you got here?" Qiguan Yuan stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth, mumbled something, and then jumped down from the tree.
The dark red robes unfolded and then closed in the air as Qiguan Yuan landed steadily in front of Xiu Yun Yin, a head shorter than him.
Qiguan Yuan looked up at him, a little sugar residue still on the corner of his mouth, his eyes sparkling, the shadow of Xiu Yun Yin in white reflected in his amber pupils.
"Where's the Immortal Invitation?" Qiguan Yuan held out his hand.
Xiu Yun Yin took out the immortal invitation from his sleeve and handed it over. Qiguan Yuan took it, flipped through it, and frowned, clearly still not wanting to go.
He closed the invitation and shoved it back into Xiu Yun Yin's hand, then turned to reach for the candy packets on the tree, muttering, "What kind of immortal banquet is this? Why do we have to go? It's so annoying."
He tiptoed to reach the branch, and his dark red sleeve slipped down, revealing a section of his fair wrist.
The branch was just a hair's breadth away from his fingertips. Qiguan Yuan reached for it twice but couldn't reach it, and he pressed his ears back in dissatisfaction.
Xiu Yun Yin reached out and took the candy packet down for him, then handed it to him.
Qiguan Yuan's eyes lit up. He took the candy, popped it into his mouth, and after a while, as if remembering something, he turned to look at Xiu Yun Yin and suddenly smiled, "I haven't contacted you for so long, are you angry?"
Xiu Yun Yin shook his head.
"I left you all alone in the Hall of Fate, busy with all this," Qiguan Yuan said lightly, chewing on a piece of candy. "Don't you have anything to say?"
"No," Xiu Yun Yin said. His tone was as calm and unhurried as usual, his gaze fixed on Qiguan Yuan, earnest and focused.
Qiguan Yuan is actually not a competent Yue Lao.
He pushed all the miscellaneous tasks onto Xiu Yun Yin and disappeared without a trace, so much so that he couldn't even recognize the other person's voice anymore.
Xiu Yun Yin recalled that when Qiguan Yuan asked him "Who are you?" earlier, he didn't feel anything in his heart.
But it wasn't because he was magnanimous; rather, he genuinely didn't think there was anything to fuss about.
Qiguan Yuan was just that kind of person; he knew it from the very beginning.
"It's alright," Xiu Yun Yin said.
The tone was gentle.
Qiguan Yuan paused for a moment while eating the candy, then resumed his normal eating motion.
He smiled and reached out, grabbing Xiu Yun Yin's white hair ribbon hanging at her shoulder, squeezing it in his hand and tugging at it.
The headband was made of a very soft material, and it felt cool as it slipped between his fingers.
" Yun Yin." Qiguan Yuan called his name, the last syllable rising slightly.
"Um."
"Then let's go together." Qiguan Yuan loosened his belt, tapped his shoulder with his fingertip, and smiled, his eyes crinkling. "You lead the way, I don't think I know the way."
Every time Qiguan Yuan went out to buy candy, it would take him a long time, and he would never be able to walk back. He would have to ask Dust-Settling Red Cord to bring him back.
Xiu Yun Yin looked at him and nodded.