He looked at him walking away like he was stuck by daggers and he just pouted and smiled.
" I still can't believe I did that ", he whispered to himself and he suddenly developed the crazy idea to follow him.
It's not like ZhiHuan won't want that.
" Wait, ", he called and before he realized it , ZhiHuan had already turned to look back at him with eyes filled with anticipation
" Can I ...", He struggled to speak because everyone was staring at him.
Yongsun felt akward and he faked a very smile , bowed to h before he swirled out of the room facing the direction he came in
' just say it..say you ..', he thought to himself before he too turned pitifully to carry out the task that he has been assigned by a reincarnation of perfect paradise
***
'He is so weird , always begging for attention..' XuGang exclaimed in jealousy
HyanNi moved from holding her daughter and she stormed off towards the exterior of the house..
" Mom, where are you going?", MinHee interrogated her and she tugged off her chima that was flowing like he was an upsidedown bell. The fashion sense of this woman far suppers that of all her children combined.And the confidence she has when making a statement is impeccable
" All royalty is here ,right?", She screamed and her daughter knodded in agreement after scanning the room. She wasn't really looking for anyone.
" Then where is Iseul?", HyanNi yelled and that is when it hit everyone. Iseul is literally nowhere to be seen. No one has seen him all morning except for Shejin, Dejang, some guards, maids and MeiYang
" Ma'am, you can't leave. I will go and find him ", ErYuan tried to be a gentleman and XuGang nodded the idea almost believing that no one is more capable of this task except him.
" So you can beat him too? Over my dead body.", She remarked and she stormed off towards that direction.
XuGang thought that was rude. ErYuan was only trying to help and now she just punched him in the gut . It's not fair for her to pull out such a card. ErYuan had been answering all questions and being nice all the time.
" Where is she even going to start? If she was truly concerned about Iseul she would have asked from the get-go where he was but she waited until now to act like a caring relative?", He spoke in a low voice and ErYuan heard him.
It struck him as weird how he didn't say 'mother' but then again a mother doesn't wait this long ..
***
" Eo-shi..kgmm!" , ZhiHuan called behind Shejin compelling Shejin to turn back and face to him and when Shejin did , he really wished that he had just walked on instead,this feels like it is going to be really akward.
Shejin bowed to him and he looked to ZhiHuan. ZhiHuan is really fast , he managed to catch up to Shejin without a hassle, a task that would have taken someone else a pretty long time
" The prince said to call for the royal messenger and the king wants a report", he basically summarized the events of today but that was not was not news to Shejin but he was sort of afraid to ask him what he expects Shejin to do with that information..
" One of us should work on getting the report together . I will leave first ", he spoke and went past Shejin and headed out.
" Shouldn't investigation work be done by you", Shejin whispered softly and then he proceeded towards the dungeon.
****
The dungeon is situated at the back ,near the laundromat. It's just a room and upon entering, there is nothing else aside from the lantern cages on the walls .
There is literally a staircase leading downwards and upon entering the place, there are about forty old candles on the walls and a large candle chandelier, both of which seem to be seldom lit unless the dungeon has visitors like this. Other than that is not a single plausible reason for someone to come to the dungeon that frequently . The candles are placed on holders that have been inbuilt in the walls and that particular area is coated with a sort of insulator that is also non-flammable to prevent possible fires from the candles .
After descending the stairs ,there opens a large space.The place were the cultivators are rough to now is just the assembly point after which leads to all the pipes from the water systems of the palace. It's a very old design concept of a plumbing system and this one is unexplainably humongous and surrealistically pocket-pinching.
That said , by moving atleast fifty feet from here ,there is a branching out of tunnels that lead to various pipes that originate from different places of the palace.the network of pipes all lead to one source.
Because there is refuse water and clean water, to the right is the pipes that have drinkable water and to the left is those that carry dirty water to a recycle dam about hundred kilometers from civilization in the manufacture zone. As for the clean water it comes in though a gigantic pipe germinating from over three large dams from different provinces. There is literally never a point where there isn't water in the palace,unless the pipes are being cleaned. but even that isn't just a sudden activity, reservoirs are filled first before the valves of the pipes are closed . The refuse system is as well never shut if anything it can slightly be closed if there is a blockage or a leak. However the former is seldom the case or possible because the pipes are made with heavy ultrafused aluminum sheets and are nearly a hundred inches in diameter, what could block something like that?
The palace servants came here to prepare the dungeon and make it hospitable by Yongsun s order. They have placed two tables side by side , laid some comfortable cloth and pined it underneath the table then placed a soft pillow. Furthermore they placed another table and put water and some lotus leaves . All candles and the chandelier were lit and the dark grave-like dungeon became no different from a normal room in the day. The man from earlier is being tended in a close by shed by MeiYang s brothers and HaoRan is here with MeiYang s father tending to Suyen. Wanglei is also present and there is a great possibility that HwenThiang will come in no time upon hearing that the palace was involved in such an event.
Before ZhiHuan went to the King, he had requested to inform HwenThiang about the activities but Wanglei said to delay that for some time and he would be the one to send the letter to him.
" HaoRan , check for his pulse and make sure he is stable. Check to make sure no one of his meridians are affected ", LongWei arrested placing his hands in prayer pose as he had been doing that for the past thirty minutes and Wanglei with HaoRan just stared at the silent action.
The silence was tribute to that it was a subconscious injection of good energy. It's very harmful to do it when someone is unconscious because the abrupt entry of energy can burn the highly receptive meridians as their energy is flowing slowly and the body is not on guard. As such LongWei injected slowly to just sort of give a tiny life support do that the flow doesn't become to low
" Zhao-Zong, his pulse is very weak and he seems worn out.", He explained and then LongWei sighed loudly. He already knows that and after thirty minutes of what he just did,he was sort of hopping for a different conclusion , but given Suyen s core capacity, such low transactions of energy are a drop on the ocean.
What he need is some acupuncture but cultivators don't go around carrying needles and the technique they could use would be practical for someone with low traces of bad energy. However that is confusing, as they can't feel the bad energy that could have opposed the transaction. Then why was Suyen like that?
The only two reasons why this would happen is if Suyen faked the anger or there was indeed a demon of anger and since the former is very unlikely, then he must have had the demon. And one can't say that the untraceablility is because the demon was still small because it still managed to control him .
"If we perform acupuncture on him like this, it might spread the bad energy", LongWei confessed out loud and he opted to let someone go and collect some holy water from a temple and help to paralyze the energy that might be the weakest on his body, hopefully it's the bad kind .
" The king won't be so willing if I go", HaoRan acted like a spoilt child but he was right. Its better if LongWei goes and makes a request to save one of his students who yet again attacked a subordinate in the palace, putting everyone in jeopardy thus making them doubt his decision, particularly the one where he called maniacs for help.
" Just wait here . If he becomes some particular way , find me promptly ", He told HaoRan and he turned he went away and as expected there were six guards standing on the stairway.
He exhaled in disbelief of the dramatic display plus they were so rigid as he passed them, not out of respect but fear.
" Spread the bad energy?", Wanglei stood crossed armed starring at the scene . He stood closer to the entry that leads to the staircase , not like to run but to stop those entering or catch Suyen if he suddenly wakes up.
" Oh..yeah. acupuncture relaxes muscles and stuff. If you have like a clot in your body, it will make sure that the blood flows smoothly by either opening up your veins or just relaxing your heart rate so that it doesn't pump that much blood",
" Blood thinner or muscle relaxer so body won't be able to fight the yin?", He summarized everything and HaoRan knodded .
" Why not remove the bad stuff then?", He questioned feeling they are being unnecessarily hardheaded
" Because we are not sure if there is .", He spoke almost embarrassed to announce that and then Wanglei said he should check using a different strategy. That statement confused him and thus he requested clarity
" If checking for bad energy presence was futile then check for its absence ", he answered but he knew that he just confused him even more.
It's worth stating that HaoRan is the most iron-headed of all cultivators and the most argument-addicted or defensive. He likes to be listened to but he doesn't say anything progressive and just keeps going in circles. One would feel bad for him but that is meaningless as he is not really aware of his surrounding. At the age of three, a doctor announced that he wasn't all there. It doesn't show distinctively but his actions are very questionable. It's pitiful but he is quite rude sometimes, even more than Chiang.
" If water turns paper blue, whatever doesn't turn paper blue isn't water. If your test for a demon doesn't turn positive then you should know the demon is absent ", he sounded like HaoRan beating around the bush
" That's what I said", he raised his voice at him and he did it because he felt like Wanglei is picking a fight but he is just overreacting.
Wanglei sighed and told him to just wait for the sect leader to return and while they were still there, Shejin entered and he bowed to the people in the room. They didn't even hear him coming.
He saw Wanglei looking angry as always and the proclaimed happy fool acting like the boss. It must suck to be him.
He is the one of the ten people in the novel that Shejin has an idea of what will happen to them and the result is not good . He knows that HaoRan craves attention so much that he would do anything and he at one point will try to befriend the wrong person and that will get him dragged to the hole.
" What do you want?", He barked at Shejin and Shejin just accepted that HaoRan gets intimidated very easily and instead of being mature about it he gets this way. But the question is what is there for HaoRan to be this ticked off about.
" The king wants a report for what is going on", he spoke and HaoRan smirked under his breath
" Where is ZhiHuan? ", Wanglei questioned Shejin and he felt like he was scolding at him. Can't people talk without screaming?
" He was sent for the royal messenger and me to tell that the king demands a full report ", he answered and even saying those words it didn't feel in sync since a full report takes three days to make and a day to review and approve.
" There is nothing new to report", HaoRan blurted out and Shejin wanted to swear at him.
This new raging and fearless personality feels inbuilt in him and it must have come with the body. Though he tried not to intervene and be as invisible as possible,he ends up being in spotlight.
Naturally he would not have been curious about what Yongsun was doing, he would not have dared to stay at the meeting room and when he found himself defending ZhiHuan, that was a surprise. Its like everyday he is alive, he is finding even more things to be astonished about and he is usually the sole investor in that list of surprises.
" Should I say that to the king?"he asked sarcastically and the way he arched his eyes and the boldness he exuberates when he didn't care who is looking made him really amazing let alone unrealistically attractive, not that he already isn't .
In comparison to Yongsun who is like white jade with a golden lining , Shejin is like a black diamond with a red heart. Yongsun is like the moon while Shejin is like the stars. Yongsun is like a dandelion and Shejin is a blue rose. The young prince, a delicate beauty and the chef a fiery perfection.Though unlike Yongsun, Shejin does work out much unlike his face is really shaped and sculptured. Shejin s skin clear while Yongsun is clean.Basically Shejin is far more handsome than Yongsun who is in simple terms just cute. They are similar but they are worlds apart thus no matter what he won't ever be able to get along with Yongsun. Everything will just be forced as they are opposites which simply repel
In conclusion Shejin is number one in the list of beautiful people in the palace even if he can't agree since he doesn't know that .
" Pff.. Suyen doesn't have bad energy ", he got visibly threatened like Shejin was about to win an award that wasn't for him.
" so why was Zhao-cultivator angry?", Shejin questioned
" He was possessed!",
" By good energy ?", He spewed and that surprised even himself.
Wanglei and HaoRan exchanged looks. Is that even possible? Good energy possession? All mixing of energy causes an explosive outburst like this .
" What do you mean?", Wanglei knit his eyebrows but he really was just curious. He thinks that Shejin might have a point.
" They can't find bad energy, so then ...I ... maybe they should check again?", He stammered. Honestly he doesn't know where he is going with this.
All he knows is someone among the cultivators has a lot of bad energy and he doesn't want to be the one to place a finger on Suyen , though evidence proves it, it's not Shejin s card to play.
' what have I gotten myself to?', he bowed while bitting his lips.
After he elevated, he turned to leave but Wanglei pulled his arm to him and Shejin paused.
Though that was just a mere tug, Shejin felt the need to ran his hand across Wanglei s face. He really hates it when people touch him out of the blue including people like Yongsun. Heaven knows he wanted to furiously pull his hands from Yongsun but that would have been a scene and ZhiHuan was probably going to overreact
" Don't tell the king that", he moved closer to him and whispered softly in his ear before he let go of him.
Shejin looked at him in confusion
" Let me tell one of the guards to bring some tea leaves and warm water. It might help him relax while waiting for acupuncture", he spoke and he headed towards the same direction as LongWei , leaving Wanglei and Shejin in the same room.