Chapter 331: The Lonely Devil

While trouble brewed outside, Anji focused all her care on Mingshen’s health. Her golden core protested at the unstable evolution threatening to burst from the confines of the artificial core-regulated meridians. At this point, Anji’s energy control was as refined as Yan Ping’s. However, like a bottled-up volcano, the overwhelming energy accumulated in her golden core had nowhere else to go.

Not only did Song Min give her spiritual boosting recovery medicine, but the ghostly headquarters in Luoyang also mimicked enough natural energy for Anji to make a full recovery and more progress. Her second brother, who had been stuck in his cultivation progression, also made some progress. He was now at the peak of the Solid Core stage.

Speak of the devil, the man who had taken great care of them appeared with today’s medicine.

"You both seem well," he commented smugly. "Too bad your other brother does not seem as healthy."

It was the first time in months that either of them had heard news about Yihao. Immediately, Mingshen lunged forward and charged with secret weapons. Despite being weaker than Yihao physically, he was still more lethal than Anji could ever be.

Song Min saw it coming. However, he merely let the dagger and poison hit him. There was no need to dodge anything. Only mortals would die from these attacks. In this room, the only dangerous person was Anji. But even she was too unstable to harm him.

Contrary to Anji’s belief, Song Min was not ignorant. He was nourishing them deliberately at his headquarters. It was a missing ingredient for the longest time, and what better way to maintain his ghostly apparition than to balance it with the powerful yang energy of cultivators? Compared with the hundreds and thousands of regular civilians, one cultivator at the peak of the Solid Core stage was enough to replace a hundred men.

"Your hot-headed brother in the palace has been working overtime," Song Min casually continued after the poison cloud dispersed. "It’s only natural that he will weaken after being repeatedly drained of his yang energy."

It was a partial lie. Song Min kept to himself the real information his new, reliable Ghost Troupe leaders had learned. However, he did intend to soon bring Yihao to them in such a depleted state.

Although sceptical and cautious, the siblings bared their fangs, playing right into Song Min’s hands.

"Don’t worry," he laughed. "I’ll be breaking into the palace soon. He won’t have to suffer much longer toiling for such thankless people.

Mingshen glared daggers. "If you harm him, you’ll regret keeping me alive for this long."

Humming, Song Min played along.

"Will I?"

Nobody spoke as the two men fought in front of Anji, who observed something different. Song Min was lying about something else, but she could not place a finger on it. Knowing Noble Consort Liu’s character as well as the Emperor and Empress, who had genuinely grown to like her blunt brother, they would never mistreat him like this. More importantly, her shifu was presently in Chang’an. Her third brother could not be safer. Song Min and his intelligence would have gathered this much. Why would they attack the palace at its most fortified phase? Did he truly think another petty ambush would work?

After having his fill of poking at Mingshen and watching him stew in anger, Song Min left the medicine on the table and ruffled their hair almost affectionately.

"Be good," he chuckled. "I’ll be leaving for a few days to take care of business and bring your brother back. Don’t cause trouble when I’m away. Don’t even think about starting a fire in this room. I’ve removed all the candles and matches after that incident."

Oh, yes. There was a time when Mingshen attempted to work with explosives, and the room they originally resided in was badly smashed. They were actually moved to Song Min’s private quarters as the original room was being repaired. Although Song Min’s private quarters had poorer security, they had fewer means to mess around. The spells Song Min wove in his private quarters were done overnight. It was rather messy, but it served its purpose of holding the two mischievous captives inside and preventing them from causing unintentional self-harm.

If they weren’t enemies, Anji would have truly come to like Song Min. She could finally understand how Pu Jianming came to become great friends with such a horrible man. Overlooking his misdirected hate and ambition, Song Min had everything a good and charming man had. He was kind, attentive, generous, witty and carefree. His heart was in the right place, but pain twisted it. In her time spent as a captive, Anji asked herself the same question many times.

How can she stop a man from falling when he insists on throwing himself off a cliff?

As a doctor, she had no answers. As a cultivator, she had no answers. As a fallen God, she had no answers.

Even Mingshen told her there was no cure for stupidity. That aligned with Doctor He’s teachings. Yet, Anji watched as Song Min left. The view of his broad back as he left through the door gave off the vibe of a lofty but lonely mountain. It seemed as if those shoulders carried the weight of the world.

After the doors closed, Mingshen recollected his precious weapons. Without materials to forge more, his supplies were running low. Weapons without maintenance would eventually become dull and rusted. He had been trying to kill this man for a long time, but everything he tried seemed to fail. From poison to explosives, Song Min seemed to have mastered the ultimate form of martial arts to be this immune. He could not sense their captor’s cultivation level. He should be a hidden master that nobody has ever heard of. It made sense now how his Gentleman Club was never able to get anything on them until now. Even observing the mastermind up close, Mingshen could not understand what he was.

Almost as if he were a ghost.