A thousand years ago, the King of Medicine, Xing Xiuguang had felt the walls of this hut was very much like a prison. High position and great wealth was never his aim, but rewarded a place to live be not his desire as well. These walls imprisoned his free will as the nature of a true unrestrained wanderer.
Bored.
Extremely bored to death.
In his temporary residence, Xing Xiuguang sighed, tearing his gaze away from the window and continued fanning one of his earthen pot on strong fire. A great big heaving how-could-I-stuck-in-this-situation. He tilted his head to the side, resting his temple on his fist.
Regret. Regret. Regret! His head went all funny as his mind kept wishing that he shouldn't have ignorantly accepted the agreement.
He should've guessed that Flame Emperor wasn't as easy as he looked like. Everything happened because of that stupid deal. Now, his freedom was at stake! Why would he be persistent about that godly herbs? How could he be burdened with all of these troubles!
Ever since the Flame Emperor ascended to heaven and became a deity of agriculture, the Heavenly Father bestowed him countless fertile lands in the Ninth Heaven. But only one land that rippling out with celestial energy—the Empyrean Dominion. Flowers, plants, and trees. Even the grass underfoot radiated waves of energy. But moving far deeper, there was a dark smoky swirled around the cavern's entrance. Inside, enchanting magical plants grew increasingly dense. It was the godly herbs, the constantly living thing, moving and breathing.
Godly herbs, the one and only divine medicinal herbs that could bring mortals back to life. It had the power to double the healing speed for curing internal injury and mending damaged cores of gods' celestial body. One of the most treasured things in the Ninth Heaven.
Since this godly herbs discovered, it had caused chaos to the Three Worlds. Not that the herb had nasty side effects, but blinding one's conscience. Even caused unnecessary bloodshed to its scarcity. Mortals consumed by their own greed which sent them to kill one another. Demons preyed on humans both to be eaten alive, or awakened as devils then taken as slaves. Gods and immortals wielded by dark spellbound to do evil and horrid deeds...
To prevent the continuous troubled times from happening, when Heavenly Father was still alive, he placed ferocious mythical beasts to guard the cavern. A strand of something thicker than smoke and heavier than fog curled the entrance, as though a powerful barrier made the place completely invisible and hard to find.
On account of the land had been put under the name of Flame Emperor's territory. That, made him the only god after Heavenly Father who could cast a spell to disband the mist and tame the mythical beasts.
And a twice-told tale spread that the godly herbs had the consequence of being possessed by the devil.
As a member of a devoted heavenly physician, Xing Xiuguang had a compassion to know all kinds of medicine and herbs. Of course, he had to carefully study this amazing medicinal herb. There was no way he would let this chance slipped away from his fingers. It was his calling and duty. The true reason he had willingly to show himself when the Flame Emperor sought for his presence.
At that time, the Flame Emperor was anxious about his youngest daughter's sickness. The little princess had been infected by unknown sickness. Sometimes her body was icy cold, sometimes sweltering hot.
When cold, the princess would be shivering in her sleep as icy magic slowly creeping to her skin. Her skin had shimmering streams of ghastly twinkled snowflakes. When hot, she would drenched in sweat, cramped by the raging hellfire inside her body. Lightning flashed across her skin, liquid and hot. Each of the symptoms enhanced the princess' senses of pain as she howled in agony. If by chance her condition got worse, she would be hacking and black blood gushing out from the corner of her mouth.
To the emperor's horror, the little princess was looking all ragged and haggard. He had never imagined that his once headstrong little girl would be lying helplessly in bed. She used to scampered around Three World and did whatever she wanted to, the emperor's untamed little princess. It was hollow, bitter experience and it ate him for years. Earlier, the princess had faced the risk of drowning to the depths of the Eastern Sea. If it weren't for that illegitimate-born demigoddess who had saved his daughter's life, the princess would probably freeze to death with her soul shattered and become a mythical bird sprite. Wandering to aimlessly around the mountains and sea.
The princess had been thrown into difficulties over difficulties. Did she deserve any of this suffering? The Flame Emperor couldn't get use of the view—barely.
Day after day, her condition worsen since she couldn't keep food down and ended vomiting. The more time lapsed, she became thinner and paler; she seemed very frail and looked malnourished. A sense of profound ache cut through the royal family members, leaving an inevitable heartbreak.
As a god who skilled in herbal medicine himself, the Flame Emperor left helplessly, with horrible results. No one seemed to know what kind of illness the princess suffering from. Or what triggered the cause. Not even divine royal physicians throughout the Sky Realm—they were only able to relieve some of her pain effects. It was really a rare disease that left no track to any slips of the Three World's medical records.
Then, one of the Flame Emperor aides reminded him the existence of a carefree god who roamed around Three Worlds—Xing Xiuguang. But it was beyond the aide's area of expertise to contact the King of Medicine, since he didn't have a permanent residence.
But who was Xing Xiuguang? He had learned a long time ago the ability to know news around Three Worlds—hear the flying rumors; an important skill to survive in the worlds of gods and demons. So, he had his ways.
The Flame Emperor allowed this King of Medicine to walk into the princess chamber. As expected from for a bird tribe's descendant, the bedroom walls set with glowing stones, decorated with rows of colorful feathers, and the crystal on the chandeliers chimed melodically as they came. The princess revealed her arms from the between the shocking red curtain drapes along the bed.
Faint flickers of thought surrounded Xing Xiuguang, an unexpected hodgepodge of stray minds. Even only a glimpse, he soon realized how different the princess' appearance was. Unlike the Flame Emperor who had not fully grown sheep-like horn on his head as though they were nodules. His hair grew unevenly which left his head bald in the middle. Big flaming amber eyes came in ways with his giant built-up body, making him looking as fearsome as ever. Meanwhile, the princess looked rather like a normal immortal without any form of ghastly outer looks.
Thanks to his advanced knowledge in both alchemy and medicine, Xing Xiuguang could tell with one glance on the girl's pale skin. But not to look too much on boasting of his intelligence, he still felt the pulse of that royal blood immortal. Sure enough, the princess' divine powers felt dull, but debilitating.
It was the ultimate beauty. An uncommon poison extracted from a purple iris that grew on a wintry weather.
Xing Xiuguang had known this poison when he bypassed that Bear-Heart Palace. He personally deprived one of the irises and tasted the incredible pain for himself—for the sake of his obsession for rare poisons. Since he had repeatedly used his own immortal body as a human cauldron for testing poison, he didn't suffer too much from it.
Luckily, the princess wasn't exposed too much by the poison. This was considered a mild one.
If she was suffering from a severe symptom, it wouldn't be as simple as hot and cold phenomenon. Let alone potential risks like losing one's five senses and damaged internal organs. Let alone made one's life a living hell.
He had heard rumors about the owner of that palace saving the life of this little princess. Did that demigoddess poison her? Surely, it would require a conscious effort to save a person and back to murder. So, no, it was definitely out of the question.
"King of Medicine, how's my little daughter's condition?" The Flame Emperor asked, laying a stress on his last words, "several physicians had come over to feel her pulse and gave prescription. But my little girl's illness has been dragging off for days now."
Xing Xiuguang sorted his robes before his gaze fixed on the emperor. "Your Majesty, the princess was suffering from a poison."
"Not a disease, but poisoned?"
Xing Xiuguang could feel the emperor's emotion that kept at bay, how raw they felt.
"As far as your servant is aware, the princess remained stable, though her health could go worse in time."
The Flame Emperor frowned. "Surely, you know a way to heal my little girl?"
Looking at the princess' current state, by constantly transferring essential Qi and his prescription, in a few days, she could get back on her feet. But Xing Xiuguang didn't want to leave that matter as simple as that. For one precious, he felt to seize the golden opportunity. The godly herbs, the sacred land of Empyrean Dominion.
"Well"—He cleared his throat—"this poison prevented the princess' divine power for rallying at the moment, she would only grow weaker in time again. If there's a remote chance that can recover the princess' health, then I suggest Your Majesty should do so, before they take another turn for the worse."
"Then what do King of Medicine propose?"
Xing Xiuguang grinned, grim and purposeful. "Perhaps that infamous godly herbs can heal the princess in no time. Hearsay, the herb has an effective cure on mending internal injury and cores. There's no harm to have a try."
"Let's do it," said the emperor immediately without a second thought.
"Your Majesty!" his right-hand aide protested. "The Empyrean Dominion must not be revealed to anyone."
"I'm the sovereign," the emperor said, his voice was as hard as a granite, his eyes as unforgiving as burning amber. "You have no rights in judging 'my' decision."
"Please Your Majesty, have a mercy on your humble servant," the aide straight away knelt and bowed before the Flame Emperor. He was visibly shuddered as if earlier nerve for talking back to the emperor had vanished to thin air.
Without concerning his aide, The Flame Emperor said to Xing Xiuguang, "I can grant you the permission to visit the Empyrean Dominion, but you have to accept one condition."
Of course, Xing Xiuguang had predicted things wouldn't be proceeding as easy as that.
He aimed for a companion smile, "Please indicate your conditions, Your Majesty."
"As the appointed by the Heavenly Father, I've given away my oath and there's no way I would go back on my words. Only the ones from imperial celestial families permitted for entry access," Flame Emperor pointed out. "After my little daughter recovers, I earnestly request you to accept her as your inner disciple. As a teacher from a royal bloodline, you're counted as a member of the imperial family. What do you say on your behalf, King of Medicine?"
Emboldened emperor, what fearsome guy, Xing Xiuguang thought but his face showed a remarkable calm expression.
"I will accept your condition, Your Majesty." He tugged his robes for kneeling, gestured a fist-and-palm salute. "This humble servant thanked Your Majesty's graciously grant."