Chapter Two: The Realm Beyond

She plunged her head fiercely into the basin, scrubbing desperately at the thick layers of powder and grease on her face. As she watched the half-basin of murky, greasy water, she nearly gagged. She yanked off the jeweled hairpins, and with wet hands brushed her hair forcefully back from her forehead. When all was done, she collapsed to the floor as though her bones had been removed.

What was happening? Why was she here? How had she become such an ugly woman? Though the face was still her own, this getup was enough to make her nauseous just thinking about it. What woman would so debase herself? And worst of all, out of nowhere, she’d acquired three extra burdens.

Is this Heaven’s punishment for me? I haven’t committed any crimes, nor done evil deeds—just complained about my marriage, and for that I’m to be chastised? She sighed heavily.

“Wife…?” The man who called himself her husband, seeing she was no longer acting crazed, spoke tentatively.

Ka Ming ignored him. He called again, “Wife… wife…” His voice, as if testing if she was deaf, grew from a whisper to an increasingly loud shout.

She could no longer endure the incessant noise. “Shut up!”

“I’m just worried about you,” the man said, releasing the two children at his side and hesitantly approaching. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” She glared up at him. “I’m not your wife, so don’t call me that.”

“My wife’s name is Ka Ming.”

She fell silent. Even this ugly woman shared her name.

“That bump on your head—are you sure you don’t need a doctor?” he said gently, pointing at her head.

She lost patience once more.

“Don’t insult my father like that!” came a boy’s voice from the corner, louder than before. The older boy stood, face flushed with rage, glaring at her.

“Shaozhi—don’t be rude!” the man barked at the boy.

Hearing that name, Ka Ming was both amused and annoyed. In this strange place, even the names were odd.

But the boy’s indignation did not fade: Why put up with this? This woman is awful to you, always mistreating me and my sister. Why don’t you send her away? We’d be fine just like before!

The man’s face changed drastically. He spoke to the boy, but his eyes darted to Ka Ming in alarm. “Shaozhi! How dare you say such rebellious things—”

He smacked the child—a hard slap that left a crimson handprint on the boy’s face. The boy held his cheek, stunned.

His younger sister burst into tears, wailing, “I want my mother! I want my mother!”

The boy silently put his arms around his sister. “If that woman won’t leave, then we will,” he whispered.

The slap seemed to land on the man himself. He gazed, dumbfounded, at his own hand, unable to recover. When he saw the two children supporting each other and heading for the door, he grew frantic, wanting to stop them, yet held back by Ka Ming’s presence. He could only spin in place, calling, “Shaozhi! Shaozhi! Are you trying to drive your father mad?”

Ka Ming watched the chaotic scene, her mind growing foggier still. What kind of absurd play was this?

Just before the children stepped outside, the man made his decision. With a stony face, he blocked their way, seized them by the collars, and forced them to kneel before Ka Ming, pleading, “Wife, for my sake, please don’t punish Shaozhi and Xiaowan. If you must beat or scold someone, let it be me alone!”

The boy struggled to rise, shouting, “At least have some dignity!”

Ka Ming stared at them, bewildered. “What are you people trying to do?”

The three, kneeling, looked up at her, each with a different expression. The man spoke with care, “Wife? Are you still feeling unwell?”

“This has nothing to do with how I feel,” Ka Ming said impatiently. “What are you all talking about? I don’t understand a word. And you—I don’t even know you.” She pointed at the man who called himself her husband, baffled. “What is this place? It’s absurd!”

The man’s face twisted into the strangest look, as if he were seeing a ghost.

Ka Ming glared at him, and he quickly swallowed whatever he’d planned to say. She wanted to laugh, but couldn’t; her face settled into a strange half-smile.

“This is the Central Palace,” he stammered. “It’s your… it’s where you live…”

“Central Palace? What’s that—a palace?” Ka Ming frowned in confusion.

“The heavens are divided into five palaces. Wherever a star descends becomes a palace,” he explained, seeing she didn’t understand. “It means the country.”

Ka Ming gave a noncommittal grunt. “Even an explanation is so complicated…”

He fell silent, not daring to speak further. Ka Ming realized they were still kneeling—it made her uncomfortable. “What are you doing? Get up and speak properly!”

All three looked at her in astonishment—even the children seemed incredulous. Ka Ming muttered to herself: I can’t be that scary, can I?

The heavens are divided into five palaces, and where a star descends, a palace is formed. The young man’s words were true: this was a realm entirely unknown to Ka Ming, a place that revered the stars, its borders defined by the Five Stellar Palaces.

The Five Palaces were the Central, Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern. Legend had it the Celestial Emperor resided in the Central Palace, surrounded by the twelve stars known as the “Purple Palace” orbiting the main star—the Celestial Pole, or Emperor Star.

The Eastern Palace was the Azure Dragon’s, where they worshipped the dragon; its main stars were the Second Constellation. The Southern Palace was the Vermilion Bird’s, venerating an unknown divine bird, also with two principal stars. The Western Palace was the Saline Pool, worshipping the White Tiger, its main star being “Heavenly Five Pools.” The Northern Palace was the Black Tortoise, worshipping a turtle-snake pair, with two chief stars.

Ka Ming’s country was the Central Palace—the most powerful of the five, worshipping the heavens themselves. The lands radiating from the Central Palace made up the other four, each ruled by a Sovereign of the Palace, their territories called Palace Domains.

Hearing all this, Ka Ming suddenly wondered: The Five Emperors—revered in her own world—could their legend have originated from this alien realm? Was this unknown land, perhaps, just another star among those we can or cannot see?

She couldn’t help but admire her own imagination. The old monk’s sorcery was truly formidable, to whisk her away to this blank-slate world—and into the body of a woman as fierce as a yaksha.

Other than sharing a face and a name, she found nothing similar between herself and this woman. What was more, why was this yaksha called Ka Ming as well? Was there some connection between them she didn’t yet know?

“Would you like to hear more?” the man asked, hesitating.

“No, I’m tired.” She eyed him lazily. “You’re quite knowledgeable. Where did you learn all this?”

Flustered by the praise, he replied bashfully, “I… I learned a little as a boy, and the rest I taught myself.”

“Oh, by the way,” Ka Ming leaned closer, her gaze intense. “Don’t call me ‘wife’ anymore. Address me by my name, understood?”

He was startled. “Alright… if you wish…”

“I’m not the emperor, what are you so afraid of?” She was irritated by his timidity. “Afraid of your wife to this degree—what sort of man are you?”

He was so taken aback he couldn’t answer. Instead, Shaozhi tugged his father’s sleeve and whispered, “Don’t you find it strange?”

His father, still dazed, replied, “What?”

“She doesn’t seem like the wicked woman you married…” Shaozhi whispered in his ear.

It was as if a light dawned on the man. He stared at the woman before him—same hair, now hanging plain and loose; the same face, now scrubbed clean and bare. They’d lived together for years, yet now she seemed a stranger.

“What’s your name?” Ka Ming asked.

“Xuan,” he replied quietly, wondering why his wife would forget her husband’s name.

“Nice name,” Ka Ming said offhandedly.

His eyes brightened. “Yes—my father said Xuan is one of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper. When my mother was pregnant with me, she dreamed one of the main stars fell into her arms, so I was named Xuan.”

Ka Ming was amused. “Is that so?”

“The Northern Dipper is part of the Purple Palace, guarding the Celestial Pole. That means I’m destined to be a soldier defending our Emperor…” he said, a flicker of pride in his voice.

Ka Ming couldn’t help but snicker—afraid of his wife as he was, yet aspiring to be the emperor’s warrior.

She teased, “So why didn’t you become one?”

“My body was too frail, and I was too old when I tried—so I missed my chance…” The more he spoke, the lower his head drooped, as if ashamed.

All talk and no action, she thought, though she said aloud, “Fate is fate. Not everyone is born to be a soldier. You’ve married and had children—you’ve done your ancestors proud enough.”

“Is that truly what you think?” Xuan looked up, almost grateful.

Ka Ming grew uncomfortable under his earnest gaze and quickly changed the subject. “Do you have anything to eat? I’m starving.”

“I’ll get something right away!” Xuan sprang up, pots and pans soon clattering in the kitchen.

Shaozhi squatted before her, tilting his head. “You’re not that woman.”

“Which woman?” Ka Ming played along.

“The ugly one who always beat me and my sister—and had affairs behind father’s back.”

“Affairs?” She suddenly remembered what Xuan had said when he first saw her: If you want to go to Hua Da, I shouldn’t stop you…

Her head buzzed. This yaksha—she even had a lover! Just her luck, to end up in such a body.

“You’re not her, are you?” Shaozhi’s bright eyes bore into her, as if trying to see through her.

Ka Ming met his gaze. This little boy had more presence than his father. Feeling mischievous, she smiled slyly, “But I still want to go find Hua Da.”

Shaozhi’s face went deathly pale, his small frame trembling. “You… you really are her…”

“Of course, I’m still your mother.” She covered her mouth, suppressing a laugh.

Shaozhi glared at her, voice bitter. “You’re not my mother. My mother’s been dead for a long time!” He turned and fled into the inner room, not coming out again.

His mother’s been dead a long time? Ka Ming’s heart skipped a beat. So Shaozhi and Xiaowan weren’t her own children after all?