Mu Feng was getting impatient. “I think you look quite healthy.”
“It… It is a hidden disease. I hope that you can examine me…” He begged very hard and went extremely close to Mu Feng.
Mu Feng suddenly smelled a familiar fragrance. He was stiff and turned to look at Master Yang. Master Yang looked slightly fatter now. He had small eyes and a little nose. In fact, he seemed rather ugly. At this moment, his small eyes were locked onto Mu Feng’s, and it was shining as though he had an idea.
Mu Feng coughed and still looked cool. “Give me your hand.”
Master Yang took out his hand and allowed Mu Feng check on his pulse.
Master Yang could feel his cold and slightly shaking fingertips.
After a moment, he slowly let go of his hand and looked at Master Yang. “You have overthought and caused yourself to worry unnecessarily. The stress has caused your heart and liver to be injured…” He continued with a bunch of technical terms.
Master Yang nodded. “Mr. Mu Feng is indeed an expert when it comes to medical knowledge. Do you have any way to heal my disease?”
Mu Feng said, “I can give you a prescription. You need to find the herbs and cook them according to my instructions.”
He got a paper from out of nowhere and wrote down a prescription. Just as he was about to give it to Master Yang, he heard a voice from behind him. “What is wrong with Master Yang?”
Everyone looked back together and saw the fake Celestial Master Zuo who was standing in the shadows. He was looking directly at them.
Master Yang smiled apologetically and told him about his symptoms. He explained to him that Mu Feng was giving him a prescription to cure his disease.
The fake Celestial Master Zuo took out his hand. “I also literate in medical knowledge. Let me examine the prescription.”
Mu Feng handed the prescription to him. The fake Celestial Master Zuo looked at it for a moment. The herbs on the prescription were not too complicated and mainly consisted of the more common ones. He read the prescription for a while and did not see any problem with it, so he passed the paper back to Master Yang. “It seems okay. Master Yang, you may cook the herbs and consume them according to the prescription.”
After Master Yang and the others had left, the fake Celestial Master Zuo glanced at Mu Feng and saw that he was still standing there and looking down. However, there was nothing unusual with him.
He slowly said, “Mu Feng, I am hungry. Go and catch a fish for me.”
“Okay.” Mu Feng answered without hesitation. He turned and jumped into the big lake next to him.
It was now very late at night. The water in the lake was quite cold, and there were numerous spirits inside the lake. They were most active during midnight.
The lake only produced one kind of fish. It was an incredibly fierce fish to eat for a living. The fish usually lived at the bottom of the lake. Its body was very slippery, and it was challenging to catch them.
The spirits and fishes that were living in the lake were terrifying and active during the middle of the night. Mu Feng, who had jumped into the lake, was undoubtedly an excellent food for the fish and the spirits. The lake started trembling like boiling water.
Mu Feng reappeared from the water 15 minutes later. His hand was holding a big fish, and his body was bitten so severely to the extent that it was bleeding. His clothes had been frozen as if he was covered with an ice armor.
The water was cold due to the Yin atmosphere. It was different from the usual coldness. The lips of Mu Feng were ashen. Just as he was about to come out from the water after he had caught a fish, the fake Celestial Master Zuo slowly said, “This fish is too small. Go and catch a bigger one.”
“Okay!” Mu Feng answered, and he immediately plunged back into the water without saying another word.
The water began trembling again, and blood started appearing on the surface of the lake. It might be the blood from Mu Feng or the fish.
“What are you doing?” The fake Celestial Master Zuo was standing beside the lake watching when he heard a voice from behind him.
He looked back and realized that it was Fairy Queen Li who stood behind him.
“The fish in this lake are very nutritious. I want to catch one and make soup with it as a supplement to my body.”
Fairy Queen Li bit her lips. “The fish in this lake are not delicious… Are you trying to test his loyalty? Don’t worry. Anyone who is affected by the mind manipulation spell will be very loyal to his master. You don’t have to do this to test him.”
The fake Celestial Master Zuo laughed and denied. “I think that the fish are delicious…”
Fairy Queen Li sounded cold. “The time whereby the spirits are most active is during the middle of the night. Even if you and I go down into the lake, we won’t be able to resurface without being hurt too. Do you want to solve your curiosity by asking him to swim around inside the lake? It seems like you are not very confident with my skill.”
The fake Celestial Master Zuo did not want to offend her. He barely smiled and said, “You have overthought. Well, I don’t feel like eating the fish anymore. Mu Feng, come out!”
After a moment, Mu Feng came out of the water. He was freezing, and his body was full of blood which made him looked a bit scary. Though he wanted to get up to shore, it seems like he had suffered significant injuries and was currently unable to do so.
The fake Celestial Master Zuo lifted his hand and his sleeve extended to help Mu Feng out from the lake.
Mu Feng was entirely frozen and could not stop shaking. However, he was still holding the fish tightly and bowed to the fake Celestial Master Zuo. “Master.”
The fake Celestial Master Zuo looked uninterested. “I don’t want to eat the fish anymore. Let the fish escape back into the water.”
“Okay!” Mu Feng looked down at the fish that he caught with a lot of effort before releasing the fish back into the water.
The fake Celestial Master Zuo carefully observed his face. Although Mu Feng looked very pale, he did not look angry after being fooled by him.
Finally, he was satisfied. He threw him a bottle of pills. “Eat the pill and meditate for six hours. It can help to cure the poison effect which is causing you to feel chilly.”
Mu Feng thanked him and took the bottle from him.
Fairy Queen Li smiled. “I never imagined that he would be as obedient to you like a dog.”
Celestial Master Zuo held her hand. “It is very windy here…”
Fairy Queen Li’s face slightly changed. She lifted her sleeve to push the fake Celestial Master Zuo away and coldly said, “Talk properly. Don’t touch me!” She then turned and walked away.
The Fake Celestial Master Zuo looked at her back, and his face changed. He slowly clenched his fist. What a prudish! You are just a banished person from the heavens. Do you think you are the master of this world? Hump!
…
Mu Feng slowly headed back to his house. Although he looked calm, his heart was pumping very fast!
My Lord! The Lord had returned!
He finally saw hope! The hard times were finally going to be over!
The Lord had acted as a wretched man to come and save them. He would never be able to recognize him if he had not smelled the unique fragrance of Celestial Master Zuo.
The moment when he recognized his master, he was excited to the extent that he almost wanted to cry! Fortunately, he had trained himself to be calm. Otherwise, his secret would have been revealed.
Although he was very excited, his face was expressionless. The fake Celestial Master Zuo was a madman as he had installed surveillance cameras everywhere in the palace. Every move that was made by him or anyone else was being watched. Therefore, after Mu Feng had reached home, he rubbed the medicine onto his face as though he was a dumb guy.
Once he was done, he started carrying out his guard duties. He was separated from his companions, and they lived separately at the four different areas inside the palace. Every night he would visit the other three places and today was no exception.
He first went to the place where Mu Lei resided. Mu Lei was practicing when he arrived. He greeted Mu Feng when he saw him and continued to practice. Mu Feng slightly nodded his head and did not say anything else. After a while, he left the place.
It was an unexpected accident that they would face such a catastrophe. There was no sign beforehand at all.
Celestial Master Zuo entered into the core array. A few of them had been worried for days and nights. They visited the dark forest almost every day and even took out the golden tablet that they used to keep in contact with Celestial Master Zuo eight times a day to check.
However, Celestial Master Zuo was gone for a very long time and never returned. Over time, a few of them became disappointed and slowly gave up one by one.
Two years ago, there was a day when Mu Yun had gone out to look for Celestial Master Zuo personally. He came back after one month, and a few of them treated him to dinner as a way to welcome him home. After they finished their dinner, they fell into a nightmare!
They saw the return of Celestial Master Zuo. Although every action of this Celestial Master Zuo was different from their master, they were somehow loyal to him and followed his orders. They would support his statement even if he said that a ball was square-shaped.
Although they clearly understood that he was a fake in their heart, they were unable to control their bodies. Besides that, their facial expressions were as usual, and no one could tell that something was wrong with them. The feeling was terrifying and horrible. It felt like even if there was a cliff in front of them, they would have to jump off it if ordered.
Fortunately, Mu Feng had a unique physique. He was only controlled for half a day, after which he was able to regain control over his body. However, his brothers were not as lucky as him. They never recovered from the situation.
The first thing Mu Feng did after he woke up was to test his brothers. He realized that they were still controlled so he could only erase their memories about Celestial Master Zuo to avoid them from leaking top secrets.
Although Mu Feng had recovered, he dared not leave as his three other brothers were still under the enemy’s control. If he escaped, his brothers would have been killed. Besides that, he had to perform the spell which erased their memories every month. Otherwise, the effect would be gone.
Moreover, the fake Celestial Master Zuo and Fairy Queen Li had a very high level of spiritual power. The four brothers were no match for both of them even if they combined their powers. Perhaps, the real Celestial Master Zuo was the only one who could face off against them.
Therefore, Mu Feng had to ensure it. He had been pretending to follow all the instructions of the fake Celestial Master Zuo while secretly studying the way to release the spell that was controlling his brothers.
However, this type of spell was remarkable. At first, Mu Feng did not even know what the spell they have gotten was. He could only slowly try to find clues in their conversation when he followed behind both of them.
After six months, he discovered that it was a very rare spell that was controlling them. There was nothing that Mu Feng could have done at that moment as he knew nothing about the venomous spell.
The fake Celestial Master Zuo was very skeptical. Although he had controlled the brothers’ minds, he was still worried and always came up with all kind of ways to test them. He even asked them to be the servants of the woman and ordered them to allow the woman to step onto their backs so that she could get onto a horse.
Therefore, the four messengers lived a miserable life over the past two years. Mu Feng forced himself to endure the suffering and humiliation that they received, waiting for an opportunity to strike back. Now the time had finally come, and their masters had returned.
Though the prescription that he gave to “Master Yang” looked normal there was a lot of hidden information. He had followed Di Fuyi for many years, and so they had their unique way to recognize each other. It was also the reason why the four of them could still find their master whenever Di Fuyi took on different disguises in the continent.
He believed that once his master had read the prescription, he should be able to understand the current situation of the four of them.
…
In a hostel within the city.
Indeed, it did not take long for Di Fuyi to decipher the prescription. There were two hidden sentences in the prescription: Three of them had been affected by the Mind Manipulation Spell and were unable to act on their own free will. Besides that, every night at around 3.45am, the Wall of Sorrows under the locust tree in the west courtyard would lose its effect for an hour.
Di Fuyi stared at the words ‘Mind Manipulation Spell’ and slightly frowned. He had little knowledge of venomous spells and was not very proficient at dealing with them.
When Mu Feng helped to check his pulse, he took the opportunity to check Mu Feng’s pulse too. There was a venomous spell in his body, but Mu Feng had successfully suppressed it, so he was able to understand what the note was saying. However, the other three were still under the spell’s control.
He had studied the symptoms that Mu Feng was facing, so he expected that the other three would be in the same condition as well. He should be able to formulate the cure during his spare time. However, they did not have much time as of now, and so he had to act faster.
“Xijiu, can you protect me while I try to find a way to break this spell?” Di Fuyi decided to start his research immediately.
Gu Xijiu frowned. “Try? Don’t you have a way to break this spell?”
“No, this is the first time that I have seen this kind of venomous spell. Therefore, I can only try several times to find a cure for it.” Di Fuyi did not hide his doubts from her.
Gu Xijiu took a short breath. “Maybe I can try.”
Di Fuyi was surprised. “You?”
Gu Xijiu nodded. “It is very similar to the love spell that I have seen in the past. I know how to break the love spell, so I am guessing that there should be some similarities between both of these spells.”
Di Fuyi heaved a sigh of relief. “Well, why don’t you try first, and I’ll protect you. What ingredients do you need?”
Gu Xijiu mentioned several herbs. Di Fuyi had a few of the herbs ready with him while the others would have to be bought at a pharmacy.
Di Fuyi immediately ordered Elder Liang to go and buy those herbs. It was a piece of cake for the people of the Anying Association to get herbs from the pharmacy. Therefore, it only took half an hour before Gu Xijiu had gotten all the required herbs to start.
The anima would leak during the refining process. To avoid the suspicion of the fake Celestial Master Zuo, Gu Xijiu and Di Fuyi went to the Fucang Hall. The hall looked the same as before. However, the number of maids and servants had been reduced by half.
The two of them stealthily entered the Fucang Hall without alerting anyone. Occasionally they met a few watchman attendants and listened to their conversation. Finally, they knew the whereabouts of the missing maids.
The fake Celestial Master Zuo had taken them to his new palace!
Gu Xijiu’s heart sank. She did not see any familiar faces when she was in the palace of the fake Celestial Master Zuo.
Supposedly, more than ten servants had been sent to the new palace. However, when she went in together with Di Fuyi, she only saw the new faces and did not see any old servants.
Based on her understanding of the fake Celestial Master Zuo, those servants should have been killed.
The servants that were chosen to be sent to the palace were some of the best servants in the hall. They were also some of the closest servants to Di Fuyi.
Although they were not as close as the four messengers, they were all very loyal to Di Fuyi. While Gu Xijiu was staying in the Fucang Hall, the attendants treated her very well and respected her a lot. In Gu Xijiu’s heart, she treated these people as her good friends. ‘What if they had been killed?’
She felt heavy-hearted, and her footsteps slowed down.