*****
"It has been four hours and still no response from Yan Rou or her guards. I fear they didn't notice the smoke put up. What do we do father? Shi Cou's intentions are unknown and the supposed guard I thought would keep her safe is also of the same origin as Shi Cou!" Lady Shu murmured, stress written on her face.
Two hours ago, she had consulted the divine gods on the death of Weilan's guard, Hao the man who was brought in dead and rotting by a commoner. The rot on his body was not of natural but of a magic signifying that he had been struck dead by a dark magic source.
And if Hao was badly killed, meaning that Master Ji wouldn't survive! Yan Rou was just lured like bait!
"Lady Shu, Lady Shu take some rest. Your Ying yang is unstable. This room might catch fire if you keep pacing so hard."
"If you understand this situation your mistress is in you wouldn't tell me to stop freaking out. Is father out from the ritual room?"
"Not yet! He consulted the divine gods. It doesn't seem so good. I heard lots of words and it doesn't sound good." Chu Mian cried out, holding tightly to Shu shu. The door soon opened and Lu Mo walked in with his head hung low. He dropped the wooden herbal box on the ground and took out the scroll from the gods.
"I have bad news. The devil bone has been stolen from the immortal realm by a mortal. Shi Cou and the imposter acting as Hao is being possessed by that mortal."
Lady Shu took a step back, her face blanching at the mention of the devil bone. "No... that's impossible. The immortal realm sealed the devil bone after the War of Three Suns. Not even the highest-ranking spirit callers could locate it again. How can a mortal breach such wards?"
Lu Mo shook his head gravely. "Because the mortal wasn't alone. He had help… from within our walls."
Chu Mian's eyes widened. "A traitor in the palace?"
"Yes," Lu Mo confirmed, unfurling the scroll on the sacred stone table. "The gods only gave fragments, but they spoke of a silver-eyed traitor who once served at the Eastern Gate—cast out for treason but never executed. He must've returned under a new name and new face. I suspect he's the one manipulating Shi Cou… and Hao."
Lady Shu's fists clenched at her sides. "Which means he's likely the one who sounded the trumpet, the one who led Yan Rou straight into danger."
"And worse," Lu Mo added, "he's not trying to kill her immediately. He's after something else—something the gods called Heart of Flame. Does that ring any bell?"
Shu stiffened. "The Heart of Flame... is a forbidden relic buried under the Moonhills shrine. Legend said only a royal bearer can unseal it. If that mortal uses Yan Rou's blood—"
"Then he can awaken the bone entirely and make himself a vessel. An immortal tyrant," Lu Mo said, voice barely a whisper.
Chu Mian gasped. "We have to stop him!"
"We will," Lady Shu said, eyes dark and resolute. "Prepare the crescent blade. Ready the sacred crows. And fetch me the scroll of the Flame Seals—I need to awaken the Moonstone Altar."
"But Lady Shu, that ritual hasn't been performed in decades! You'll bleed power," Chu Mian protested.
"I'll bleed if it means Yan Rou lives," she snapped, already moving. "Father, send riders. No more messages—they won't see smoke or birds with that dark magic covering the hills. We need to cut through the mist ourselves."
"Not so fast, Shu Shu! We need a plan. Whoever this mortal is, is more powerful than any of us. Centuries I have tried to get past the wards and seal fully the devil bone that the last Phoenix god couldn't finish up. We can't be too stupid to fall into their traps again."
Lu Mo rested his head on the chair, his fingers tapping coldly on his lap. "Is there a way you can find out who this mortal is?" Chu Man's inquisitiveness broke out as Lu Mo gazed at her, his mind flickering with something.
"I think I can." He nodded his head, scattering round the room to put everything out of sight. He instructed Shu shu and Chu Mian not to move an inch until he was done and then sat on the ground. Lu Mo settled on the cold marble floor, the scent of crushed lotus petals and burnt sandalwood heavy in the air.
He drew a circular glyph of golden ash—mixed from the remains of firebirds and phoenix embers—onto the ritual mat. At its center, he placed a mirror basin filled with moonwater collected under a blood eclipse, its surface eerily still.
"Do not speak," he instructed sternly. "And whatever happens—do not interrupt."
He drew a thin dagger from the folds of his robe and sliced his palm, letting a single drop of blood fall into the basin. The moonwater hissed. Black tendrils spread like ink through the silver liquid. The flames in the lamps flickered violently. Lady Shu stepped back as a sudden gust of air whooshed past her face. The room dimmed,A blinding flash exploded within the mirror basin—and then a face emerged.
It was blurred at first. Distorted. The features shifted, twisting from one form to another until they settled.
Pale skin.
Eyes of fractured silver.
And a jagged mark across his throat.
Lu Mo's breath trembled as the divine vision solidified.
"It is as Yan Rou divined," he said slowly, eyes wide, voice heavy with dread. "The mortal's name… is Li Zhenyu."
Lady Shu blinked. "Who is that?"
Chu Mian gasped, stepping forward as if struck by a memory. "Li Zhenyu… was once a servant here. Brought in when he was just eight years old. I remember him—quiet, sharp-eyed. He followed Madam Yan like a shadow."
Lu Mo's hands tightened into fists.
Chu Mian's voice dropped. "When Madam Yan was stricken with the red plague, no one could help. But Li Zhenyu did. He used a magic none of us understood. It devoured the plague overnight. Left a strange ash scar on her body. That was when the Emperor grew suspicious."
"The gods were consulted," Lady Shu said, catching on.
Chu Mian nodded, haunted. "The ritual revealed he was born under a cursed star. A soul forged in the Void. Destined to bring ruin. To burn the twelve realms into ash."
Lu Mo's voice was grim. "He was marked for death."
"I was there," Chu Mian whispered. "I watched as Yan Rou passed her blade through his skull—crying as she did. I helped wash his blood near the Cleansing Spring."
Her voice cracked. "He… he died. He couldn't have survived. He was dead."
Lu Mo's gaze remained fixed on the mirror basin, where the reflection now bled shadow and fire.
"Then either death wasn't the end for him…" he murmured, "or something darker brought him back."
Lady Shu's voice sharpened. "A reincarnation."
"No," Lu Mo whispered. "A resurrection. Someone pulled his soul back… fed him with devil bone remnants… and now he walks again, possessed and driven."
Chu Mian trembled. "If he was once powerful enough to cure the plague with darkness… what is he now?"
Lu Mo stood slowly, blood still dripping from his hand. "He is what we feared he would become. Tsk, I warned Emperor Yan not to take this boy into the palace! He was cursed right from birth!"
Lu Mo rose from the ground, wiping his fingers with a towel. "What are you waiting for? We have to get Yan Rou before Li Zhenyu meets her!"
********
"Madam Yan, you have been on your feet for hours. Lady Shu gave me this concoction to feed you when you get tired. I will have it brewed up." Shi Cou called out to the resting Yan Rou on the stone.
"Alright." Yan Rou gave her permission and only then was Shi Cou allowed to return to the carriage under full watch. She came out few minutes later with a bowl in her hands brewing hot of scented leaves.
"Have a drink Madam."
"Hm," Yan Rou squinted to get a glance of whatever might be hidden in the soup and when she found none, she had a first taste. It has this bitter herbal sting and she didn't mind either since Shu Shu was used to making very bitter herbs. "I will drink the second when we get past the moonhills. Thank you."
She gave up the last stirr of herbal liquid in the bowl to Shi Cou and rose from the ground. "We are close. It is not so far anymore." Yan Rou tapped herself internally for a job well done. At last, she could be in the arms of her husband.
She motioned a bit forward, away from the guards and Shi Cou to a lonely tree in front of her and raced her palms against the bark.
It was cold and empty.
"Lan Rui!" Yan Rou called out to the guard next to Shi Cou and when no response was heard, she turned around to find him missing alongside ten of the guards.
Hao was no longer there only Shi Cou.
"Did I miss something?"