Chapter 337

"Your name is Xihao, right?" The Third Prince, now able to sit up, asked casually. This was the boy who had helped him escape from the depths of hell.

"Yes, Your Highness," Xihao responded to the other party. He kept looking around, checking for any further dangers that might threaten the Third Prince. Seeing the boy’s demeanor, the Third Prince felt a deep sense of gratitude.

In the past, he had never had anyone truly understand him. Some people even said he was deranged. Even his father ignored him, dismissing him as mentally unsound. He was just “that person” who had brought shame to the royal family. No one believed him when he said he saw malevolent spirits trying to take his life.

Fortunately, someone finally saw what he saw and helped rid him of the evil spirits. That person was this young boy, Mu Xihao!

After his condition improved, everyone suddenly surrounded him as if they had always loved him. Seeing their pitiful display of concern, he wanted to order their execution! But he couldn’t. He had to let those scoundrels put on their show of concern in front of the Emperor, who came to visit.

It took three days before he could meet his true savior...

"Are you from the Bai Region? Where did you learn how to exorcise spirits?" The Third Prince asked curiously. He was just a child, not much older than the Crown Prince, yet he had a more mature mindset than the others, likely due to the horrors he had faced without anyone to protect him.

"A monk, Your Highness," Xihao replied. The Third Prince had heard about this. Someone had told him that Mu Xihao was a disciple of a renowned monk residing in the Bai Region. If everyone had believed him and helped him solve the problem earlier, he might have been sent to the monk in the Bai Region long ago and spared from so much suffering.

"I see. So, can you give me a protective talisman? I don’t want to face those evil spirits ever again." Hearing this request, Xihao nodded immediately.

He had learned the art of making sacred objects from a shaman in the Bai Region. Well... a shaman spirit, to be precise. Moreover, the other party had wanted a disciple before dying, but his teachings were forbidden by many. Thus, he couldn’t find a disciple before his death, and his spirit lingered due to unresolved issues. Fortunately, he met Xihao, which prevented him from becoming an evil spirit.

The teachings of the shaman encompassed both good and evil practices. Generally, people were not inclined to hire shamans for benevolent purposes. When they sought blessings or divine protection, they would go to the temples to make merit and pray. But when they wanted to harm others, using black magic or curses, they would seek out shamans.

Thus, the shaman’s reputation became that of a villain, even though he was merely fulfilling the wishes of his clients.

The use of spirits could be for two purposes: one to protect and the other to harm. Mu Xihao had talismans for protection as well. When the Third Prince asked for one, he provided it.

If Xihao claimed to be a disciple of a shaman, giving out a talisman would certainly be seen as a curse, regardless of its actual purpose. If something went wrong, the talisman would immediately be blamed.

This was unlike when he claimed to be a disciple of a revered monk. Even if he crafted a talisman of evil spirits, people wouldn’t perceive it as such! This was a normal aspect of human nature; trust and perception of a person varied greatly.

“What is this?” The Third Prince asked as he took the talisman. Mu Xihao had crafted it from yellow cloth to make it appear more sacred, even though talismans could be made from any color cloth. Black cloth would have looked too ominous.

“It’s a talisman to summon good spirits for protection,” Xihao tried to explaine. The Third Prince was taken aback upon hearing that it summoned spirits, but the young boy quickly continued his explanation.

“Try using it first. You won’t see the spirits, but you must do a lot of good deeds.” Xihao, who couldn’t speak in complete sentences without his tongue getting tied, explained slowly.

Previously, he was annoyed that he was a child and often misunderstood. However, he had grown accustomed to his own development. He knew that as he got older, he would be able to speak more clearly.

“Oh, is that so?” The Third Prince felt both brave and afraid, but in front of Mu Xihao, he felt safe. To test its power, he decided to use it as Xihao suggested.

He simply held the talisman in his hand and called upon the spirits to protect him. After making the invocation, the Third Prince squeezed his eyes shut but didn’t sense any frightening aura. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He then asked the young boy again, still hesitant.

"Um, have I activated it correctly?"

"Yes, it’s done," Xihao nodded. He glanced at a spot where a white spirit had appeared.

The spirit had a face identical to the Third Prince’s, likely the boy’s mother. This woman was beautiful, and there was kindness in her eyes. Seeing her son again seemed to bring her to the verge of tears.

From what Xihao had learned, everyone has a benevolent spirit protecting them. However, sometimes these guardian spirits are weak and don’t receive enough merit to wield their power to suppress evil. Or, the power of the karma or demonic forces is too great. The only solution is to accumulate more merit.

The talisman Xihao gave was a merit talisman, designed to awaken the protector spirit of the person. For the Third Prince, this was undoubtedly his mother.

"Don’t forget to make merit often," Xihao emphasized again. The Third Prince, relieved that he wouldn’t have to see spirits anymore, nodded. He wouldn’t forget to make merit, so that if those demons ever returned, he could use the talisman Xihao had given him to drive them away.

Although the Third Prince didn’t want to see spirits, Xihao felt that if he knew who this spirit was, he might want the gift of spiritual sight again. Of course, Xihao wouldn’t tell him this. The worlds of the living and the dead should remain separate; the living shouldn’t be burdened with concerns for the dead, nor should spirits feel lingering guilt. Each person should follow their own karmic path.

Now that the Third Prince knew him, the path leading to madness had vanished, but he wouldn’t receive the warmth of his mother’s spirit to alleviate his loneliness either.

"How are you feeling now, Your highness?" Yueqian, seeing that her son had finished speaking, asked him as a physician. The Third Prince nodded in response.

"I am fine. I feel much better, thanks to you all."

"Is that so? But Your Highness must be well aware... now that you have recovered and returned to being a normal prince, what challenges you will face."

"What do you mean?"

"Your Highness is the Third Prince, one of the Emperor’s sons, which means..."

"Haha, you mean to say I have the right to compete for the throne?" The Third Prince wasn’t foolish. Upon hearing Yueqian’s words, he laughed immediately.

"If you think that... you’ll be disappointed. I have no desire for the throne. I just want to live happily as I am now," the Third Prince narrowed his eyes. Even though Xihao was his benefactor, if Yueqian, his mother, intended to use him as a tool for power... he wouldn’t hesitate to punish her!

"I have no reason to be disappointed. Whoever gets the throne in the future is no concern of mine or my son’s. I will return to the Bai Region after this matter is resolved. However, what I want to say is for your own sake," Yueqian understood what the Third Prince meant.

He had a very negative attitude. With just a few questions, he assumed she was one of those seeking power from him. However, his negative thinking was still that of a child and lacked depth. Her duty was to warn him.

"What do you want to say?"

"What I want to say may or may not be important, but it is up to Your Highness to consider. It is true that you have a legitimate claim to the throne. Previously, you said you weren’t interested in the throne, but what you’ve experienced could also be valuable."

"In the past, no one cared about your thoughts, did they? And it will always be this way. No matter how much you reject the idea of the throne, consorts and those supporting you will push you to become a contender. Furthermore, even if your supporters don’t encourage you, the other princes’ factions will still see you as a threat first and foremost."

"This means that even if you want to avoid it, it’s impossible unless you become mentally unstable like before. Only then will they exclude you from the line of succession."

"So, what I want to say is, please be very careful. It’s not enough to simply understand your own feelings and decide you don’t want the throne and be done with it. You need to understand the thoughts of others as well. From now on, don’t trust anyone too easily. Don’t appease them by doing what they want, like today..."

Yueqian smiled sincerely at him, a kind of smile he had never received before, making the Third Prince’s eyes blur.

Perhaps... this was the first time he wondered what his deceased mother’s smile might have looked like.

"You may not yet understand the danger. First, who gave you this sachet? Moreover, you placed it right by your headboard, even though it contains a poison that, when inhaled over time, causes hallucinations," Yueqian pointed to a sachet placed on the headboard.

The Third Prince’s eyes widened slightly upon seeing it, but his surprise quickly turned to anger.

"Don’t speak nonsense. This sachet was given to me by my father himself! He would never poison me."

"Of course not, Your Majesty. It certainly wasn’t the Emperor."

"But just now you said..."

"I didn’t say the Emperor made the sachet himself. If you want it tested, they won’t find any poison, even with a silver needle. Then you’ll be seen as ungrateful."

"I don’t understand. Earlier you said it was poisoned, but now you say it’s not? Nonsense! Once you knew it was from the Emperor, you changed your expression!"

"You still don’t understand..." Yueqian tapped the table rhythmically with a contemptuous smile.

"All the ingredients are herbs, not poison. Consuming them isn’t harmful. But the person who wanted to poison you counted on you inhaling the scent of these 72 herbs often. Eventually, you’d become truly insane, beyond the help of any exorcism."

As she spoke to this point, Yueqian’s eyes darkened!

The person who devised such a sinister plan must have a truly evil heart! If the Third Prince became deranged again, it wouldn’t be seen as unusual but as a relapse of his previous condition!They didn’t care at all how the Third Prince would feel, as if he were dying while still alive! Even to a child... they could do such a thing!