"What the hell is going on here? What did you do to him?" Holding Zhihao in his arms, Chen Zeon anxiously asks Rui.
"I just poisoned him a bit." Rui replied nonchalantly to Zeon's question.
"Rui, give him the antidote right now." Seeing the worsening condition of Zhihao, Chen Zeon speaks.
"Ask him to say sorry first, then I will save him," Not backing down, Rui continued. "Without any reason, he attacked me first. Why should I help him?"
"Rui, it's an order from your superior. Hand over the antidote right now." Zeon used his authority towards Rui for the first time to save Zhihao.
"I don't want your sympathy; I would prefer death more than being saved by you." Not lowering his guards down, Zhihao interrupted.
"Huh... OK, then die." Rui, who was almost about to give the antidote, takes it back.
"Rui..." Chen Zeon ignores Zhihao's words, takes the antidote from Rui's hand and forcefully feeds it to Zhihao.
"Zhan, you aren't hurt, right?" Concernedly, Rui's attention turns to Feng Zhan. Ignoring his own injuries, Rui tried to comfort Zhan, when he sees the worried expression. "I'm alright, look. Aa... Just joking, nothing happened at all." His right-hand hurts so badly, as it seemed to be broken.
Watching how Rui was treating Feng Zhan, Zhihao understood that he had misunderstood the situation. Regaining his strength, the first thing Zhihao did was use his power on Rui. All the wounds on Rui's body healed in a second.
"I shouldn't have attacked you without hearing your side. Because of some past events, I truly despise humans.
That's why I acted upon my instincts and didn't try to understand the situation clearly. So..." Zhihao couldn't bring himself to say the word 'sorry', even though that's what he truly wanted to say, like a stubborn kid. "I'm leaving." [The second sentence was indirectly meant towards Zeon.]
"Hey, wait..." Stopping Zhihao, Rui continued after handing over a small bottle of medicine. "It's the real antidote, drink it after thirty minutes."
Unbelievably, Zhihao looked at Rui. If he hadn't healed Rui first, he wondered what would have happened to him.
Rui didn't have the confidence to confront Chen Zeon and tried to leave the place, the next moment, Zhihao returns.
"Stop..." Chen Zeon's furious voice stops Rui.
Having no choice left, Rui used his last resort: confession. "I know it's against the sect rules to disobey seniors' words, but I'm not that kindhearted person to forgive someone who tried to hurt the people I like.
The fight, he started it first. I only attacked him when he was about to hurt Zhan. If you want to punish me after it all, go for it."
"I'm actually not curious about that." Making Rui confused, Chen Zeon continued. "Where is my nephew?"
"Aren't you aware? Senior Zoe is in isolated training, working hard to improve his skills to raise our sect's name." Rui lied without batting an eye.
"Oh really, isolated training... let me see it for myself, I truly want to watch him doing something on his own." Knowing it's a lie, Chen Zeon played with Rui. Because he knew his nephew wasn't someone who stays in the closed room after hearing such commotion outside.
"Uncle... You aren't allowed to enter. He is training so hardly; don't try to create any distractions." Rui tried to block Chen Zeon's path, but that wouldn't help at all.
As a second option, Rui tried to run away before Chen Zeon realized, but he was forcefully dragged inside the room with Zeon.
"Wow, it truly amazing. I can't believe my eyes. Is my nephew learning the art of invisibility? It seems like he's reached the peak; I can't see him at all. What about you Rui?" Tightening his grip on Rui's neck, Chen Zeon asked.
Finally, Rui confessed the truth to Zeon. Listening to the whole truth, he supported Zoe's actions. however, he felt betrayed by his nephew for not saying a word about the trip.
"Uncle, can I ask something?" Rui looked at Zeon curiously, indicating he had a question.
"Go ahead."
"Who is that ba... beast man who came here recently? You seem to know him well."
"He... " Zeon hesitated for a moment and then continued. "He is Zhihao, lord of the beast men in the northern region. As you see, he has a bad temper, but he is not a bad guy. So, what happened today, keep it a secret between us.
If his identity exposes, the cub's life will be in danger... Oh, I forget about the real reason to came here. Add this pendant to that collar as well, it will help him move around the sect freely."
"Huh!"
Taking the pendant from Zeon, Rui secretly checked it before adding it to the collar. Surprisingly, Feng Zhan's nine tails merged to become one, making him look like a normal fox cub.
"Wow... now I don't want to hide him from anyone anymore. Uncle, you are great... I always thought you were fooling around without doing any job in the sect in the name of doing stupid experiments, but you turn out to be a hidden gem in the dirt." Chen Zeon couldn't quite tell whether that was a compliment or an insult from Rui.
Meanwhile, in Kiachi, Ziya decided to buy the medicinal plants, so she wouldn't need to worry about them later, and Yuzhen followed her around.
"Sister..." The child from yesterday appeared out of nowhere the moment they left the inn as he was waiting for her.
"Kiddo, what are you doing here?" With a surprised expression, Ziya asked.
"My mom often says, never receive anything from others without paying. Yesterday, I didn't have any money to offer for your help, so I came today to ask if there is anything I can do for you?" With a determined face, he speaks.
"Oh, then can you show me some store that sell medicinal plants here?" She already knew the places, but Ziya asked help from the boy so he could think that he repaid the debt as he wished.
"If you show us, I will give you a silver coin as a tip." Yuzhen supported Ziya.
The boy took them to several stores and even helped carry a few plants on his own. Slowly, he got along with them and introduced himself as Li Wei.
After safely placing the plants in the room, they went to have lunch with Wei. As Yuzhen promised, he gave him a silver coin for his genuine help.
"Thank you..." Generously, he showed his gratitude by bowing his head to Yuzhen and before leaving, he brought them two fox masks as his gift. "Tomorrow is the mask festival, so take it as my gift. There are many good things to experience; don't miss the late-night celebration. You might also get a chance to taste the goddess wine.
Legends say that when the full moon arrives, if you drink the goddess wine and look at the sacred fire, you will see your soul mate. Try it out."
But that time they never knew what was waiting for them.