- Chapter Start -

Fang DuoBing is relieved to see the wary approval on his parents' faces which helps loosen the tight knot between his shoulder blades. His father's steadfast loyalty has always been for the Emperor while his mother has always disdained the martial arts world after losing her younger sister to it. Seeing them play gracious hosts to Yun BiQiu of Baichuan Academy, and the JinYuan Alliance is a tiny miracle in itself.

Fang DuoBing knows it's mainly because his family owes a debt to Li LianHua for clearing their name, and his mother considers Li LianHua her saviour and good friend, but it's still a win. With a pleased smile on his lips, he turns back to the escalating argument between Guan HeMeng and the Drug Demon on the best treatment for King XunMing's injuries, while Su XiaoYong and Wu Yan try to placate both sides.

Fang DuoBing finds his smile widening. The Jinyuan Alliance doesn't seem so bad. Sure, there were a few evildoers like Jiao LiQiao, Snow Grandpa and Blood Granny, but they're dead now. The Drug Demon looks less threatening than before - possible centipedes lurking in his sleeves notwithstanding - while Wu Yan and King XunMing seem quite reasonable.

How else could they be Di FeiSheng's trusted subordinates?

How else could Fang DuoBing consider Di FeiSheng a good ally and firm friend?

And more importantly, how else could Li LianHua like Di FeiSheng so much, maybe even lo-

"Zunshang."

"Zunshang!"

Fang DuoBing is startled from his increasingly sentimental thoughts when the Jinyuan Alliance trio jump to their feet, King XunMing giving a pained grunt and pressing a hand to his chest. Turning his head, Fang DuoBing sees Di FeiSheng flying towards them with an unconscious Li LianHua in his arms, chin tucked into his chest and arms hanging limp.

"Li LianHua!" Fang DuoBing shouts, also leaping to his feet. His heart lurches a second time when he sees Li LianHua bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth in thin dark rivulets against his white skin.

As soon as Di FeiSheng lands in front of them, the others crowd around with exclamations of concern.

"Li LianHua fainted." Di FeiSheng's eyes are like burning coals in his pale face. There's a single smear of red beside his lips. "He needs the cure. Now."

For a stunned moment, no one speaks.

"Zunshang, it… it takes time to prepare the Styx Flower." The Drug Demon proves he has some measure of courage to even venture that aloud even though he looks plainly terrified.

"He needs the cure. Now!" Di FeiSheng all but snarls at him, Qi escaping in agitated waves that ruffle his hair and robes. "Or your life is forfeit!"

"We'll get started on it right away," Guan HeMeng says calmly. "Meanwhile, is there some place where Li LianHua can rest?"

Di FeiSheng blinks at him before looking down at the man in his arms. Fang DuoBing gives Guan HeMeng an approving nod and Madam He steps forward, her initial shock giving way to her usual unflappable self.

"Li-shenyi can have our largest guestroom. I already had it prepared when he first came here."

Fang DuoBing sees her hand brush his father's sleeve.

"I will show you where it is. Please follow me, Di-mengzhu." Without missing a beat, Minister Fang leads Di FeiSheng away.

"XiaoFeng," Madam He continues, "tell the healers to open our medical hall and be on standby."

"Yes, jiejie."

"YunFei, tell the librarian to open our library and assist our guests in case they need more information."

"At once, He-tangzhu!"

As the two hurry off, Madam He turns to Fang DuoBing.

"XiaoBao, I leave our guests in your hands. I need to go check on A-Fei and Li-shenyi."

"Of course, niang."

- o –

And that is how Fang DuoBing finds himself chairing a meeting for seven people. The wooden box sits in the centre of the table, safe from the Drug Demon's grabby hands.

"How much do we know about the Styx Flower?" Guan HeMeng asks. "The more information we have, the better prepared we are to produce the cure."

"I disagree. Any delay is detrimental to my life," the Drug Demon says at once. "And Li-menzhu's."

"Guan-xiong, we can't spare the time for research," Fang DuoBing protests. "You said that Li LianHua wouldn't last a week the other day."

"Let's make a list of what we do know," Su XiaoYong quickly says. "After all, there's only one such flower in the world. We mustn't waste it."

Fang DuoBing opens his mouth and closes it again, fisting his hands in his lap to avoid patting his robe front.

"XiaoYong is right. Very well, what do we know?" Guan HeMeng's tone remains calm, but the corners of his mouth look pinched.

"We are wasting time!" The Drug Demon makes a grab for the box, but fails when Yun BiQiu pulls it closer to himself. "I will do this myself. I have brewed thousands of medicines from all sorts of plants and flowers, animals and birds!"

"Including the Styx Flower?" Yun BiQiu asks, one eyebrow raised.

The Drug Demon refuses to meet his eyes.

"I was the one who created the Bicha poison," he mumbles. "Zunshang will have my head if he sees us just sitting around and doing nothing."

"We are not doing nothing," Su XiaoYong objects.

"Yes, we are while your Li-menzhu-"

"Peace." King XunMing pitches his voice loud enough that everyone falls silent. "Arguing will get us nowhere nor will it save Li-menzhu's life."

He makes eye contact with everyone and gets back subdued nods of agreement.

"Now, what do we know of the Styx Flower? I confess I know next to nothing about it aside from what it looks like."

Yun BiQiu pulls out a book from his robes and places it on the table.

"When Fang DuoBing mentioned the Styx Flower in his message to me earlier, I remembered one of my books, but it doesn't hold much."

"Please enlighten us, Yun-yuanzhu," Wu Yan urges him and adds an apologetic look when the Drug Demon snatches the book and starts leafing through it.

Paying him no mind, Yun BiQiu starts reciting from memory.

"The Styx Flower is rumoured to grow beside any of the portals to the underworld. Its properties are stable, even dormant during the daytime, but volatile at night. Once activated, it must be used before its properties deteriorate and renders the flower useless. The entirety of the flower - both Yin and Yang leaves - must be consumed at the same time."

"That's not all," the Drug Demon says. "Due to its proximity to the netherworld, its Yin leaves are far more powerful than its Yang leaves and are affected by the moon cycle. Hence-"

"So that's why the flower activated after being trampled by that horse earlier," Fang DuoBing interrupts him. "It was exposed to the moonlight!"

Everyone stares at him and then at the closed box before them.

"Trampled? But it looked fine," Guan HeMeng says.

"I repaired it using Li LianHua's Yangzhouman." Fang DuoBing tries to hide the pride he feels at his accomplishment.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," the Drug Demon says testily, "the cure must be brewed on the night of a full moon."

"Yao Mo, the full moon was two nights ago," Wu Yan points out.

"I am well aware. However, Li-menzhu is already at death's door and the Bicha poison has long since invaded his organs. To maximise our chances of success, the cure must be brewed on the night of a full moon."

A grim silence falls.

"Li LianHua is already suffering from internal bleeding," Yun BiQiu says, voice trembling. "It's likely his organs are… failing. He can't wait another day, let alone another month."

An even grimmer silence follows.

"Which means his already slim chance of survival will depend on a less than perfect cure." The Drug Demon looks up at the not completely round orb in the sky. "I have brewed enough night tonics to know the difference."

His eyes seem to reflect the moonlight, giving them an almost mirror bright shine.

"There's no way we can turn back time to have a full moon again or to make it brighter," Su XiaoYong says in exasperation.

"What's all this about the moon?" Madam He steps out onto the terrace with Minister Fang, He XiaoFeng and Zhan YunFei.

"Niang, how's Li LianHua?" Fang DuoBing asks at once.

"He's regained consciousness, but!" She holds up a hand when Fang DuoBing jumps to his feet. "No visitors, not even you, XiaoBao. Let him rest. A-Fei is with him."

Cue another set of eye twitches from the JinYuan Alliance trio.

"Now, what were you all discussing?"

Fang DuoBing gives a quick summary and feels a tiny spark of hope when Madam He gives a thoughtful nod. His mother is nothing if not an intelligent and resourceful woman.

"So you need to brew the cure under the light of a full moon?"

"Yes."

"What if we use mirrors?"

"Mirrors?" Fang DuoBing echoes.

"To reflect the moonlight, of course!"

"That might work." Yun BiQiu's thin face is alive with sudden hope. "How many mirrors do you have?"

"One in each room so we should have eight," Madam He says.

"Another in the servants' quarters," He XiaoFeng adds. "That's a total of nine mirrors."

"Not enough," the Drug Demon says, effectively destroying everyone's hopes. "The light of the full moon is significantly more potent than on any other night. We will need no less than a hundred mirrors to simulate that light."

Everyone stares at him in stunned silence.

"We'll be blinded," Su XiaoYong protests.

"And where do you propose we find that many mirrors?" Guan HeMeng asks blankly. "And at this time of night?"

"I'm just telling you what is needed," the Drug Demon huffs, his eyes going back to the wooden box under Yun BiQiu's hand.

"I will contact all my friends," Minister Fang offers and starts when Madam He claps her hands with another smile breaking out on her face.

"YunFei, XiaoFeng, come with me!" She spins around and hurries back inside. "Everyone, I'll be right back!"

Minister Fang just shrugs when the others turn to him, quite used to his wife's antics by now.

- o –

The three of them return a few minutes later with Zhan YunFei carrying a large sheet of metal about half his height.

"Niang, what's that?" Fang DuoBing asks at once.

"Listen and learn," Madam He tells him before turning to the others.

"When I bought an abandoned manor at Xiaoyuan City some time ago – XiaoBao and Li LianHua have been there - I found a room full of these bronze sheets. There's more than a hundred of them!"

She beams around at everyone.

"Mirrors!" She exclaims when the others keep quiet. "Mirrors are made from bronze. We can reflect the moonlight with these!"

"Right now, they're just bronze sheets. They don't reflect anything." Fang DuoBing waves his hand in front of the dusty metal.

"Not yet. But they will," Madam He corrects him, still smiling.

There's a round of shared glances before King XunMing clears his throat.

"He-tangzhu, I am ready to help in any way, but we are short on both time and manpower. How can the few of us polish a hundred mirrors in half a night while still leaving enough time to brew the cure?"

Madam He just tosses her head.

"I've already thought of that. Every single guard and servant who isn't on duty will help out. And we have other friends too!"

She waves at someone inside the house and moments later, a large group of women step out onto the terrace and curtsey in unison.

"XiFei-guniang!" Fang DuoBing exclaims in surprise.

"Fang-gongzi," XiFei says with a warm smile. "You, Li-shenyi and Princess ZhaoLing gave us back our freedom and our lives. Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to save Li-shenyi's life in return."

- Chapter End –

A/N: Thank you for reading! In Episode 28 min 28, Madam He bought a manor for a song and waxed lyrical to FDB about it. In Episode 22 min 16, XiFei was LLH's companion for the dinner at Red Mountain.

gongzi = young master / mister
guniang = unmarried female
jiejie = older sister (informal)
mengzhu = alliance leader
niang = mother/mom
shenyi = doctor
tangzhu = hall master
xiong = older brother (formal)
zunshang = my lord