“Father, say, the child Qing Ge has already been in there for three days and nights. Could anything have happened to her? Why not I go in to take a look?”
Feng Xiao said a little worriedly as he stood outside the courtyard’s doors and was stopped from going in. Hence, he started to wonder what the situation was really like inside.
The Old Patriarch glanced at him and said: “Don’t you see that even I am standing out here to wait? Little Feng has said that no one must go in to disturb her and she will come out on her own when she wants to. Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”
Although that was what he said, but his eyes would occasionally turn to look towards the courtyard.
Saying that he was not anxious, he was not worried, that was all false. It had already been three days and nights and besides having Leng Shuang deliver some food to her, the lass had not gone back to rest at all. Would it really be okay for her to slog on like that?
Thinking about it, he then looked at Leng Shuang standing guard inside the courtyard and asked: “Will you go in to see again whether she will be coming out soon?”
However, Leng Shuang remained standing in her spot and said: “Mistress ordered me to stand guard here and without her summons, I am not to go inside to disturb her.” Pausing a moment, she continued to say: “Old Master, Family Head, you should just go back first. It will be fine with me keeping guard here.”
“Sigh! Alright then! If anything happens, you must inform us immediately.” Old Patriarch Feng said and he turned around to walk away but saw Feng Xiao still standing there. He then called out: “Are we going? What are you standing there in a daze for? Is there anything to be worried about here in our own house?”
Feng Xiao looked at his father in speechlessness as he thought to himself: [He is obviously so worried himself and here is him admonishing me.]
But he did not continue to stay outside the courtyard but followed the Old Patriarch to leave.
Seeing the two men depart, Leng Shuang then retracted her gaze back and quietly kept guard, not allowing anyone to come close. After about two hours, she detected a strong scent of herbal fragrance wafting through the air. She was properly surprised as she turned to gaze towards the Alchemy Room.
[Has the Mistress succeeded?]
If it was concocting medicine, the smell of herbs would not be so thick nor tinged with such fresh fragrance. Moreover, the herbal fragrance caused one to perk up with vitality like the exhaustion was seeping out from the body completely. She was feeling very curious just what kind of effects the pill her Mistress had refinined would have.
In the Alchemy Room at that same moment, a filth covered Feng Jiu had her forehead bathed in perspiration as she held her breath to control the final moments of the flame for the elixir to form up. Although she could smell the herbal fragrance spreading into the air, she did not dare to be careless.
Until the final step after the pill took shape, did she then blew out a breath in relief, but was shocked by a sudden bolt of lightning that shot down from the sky.
‘CRACKLE!’
The first bolt of lightning struck with a loud crackle down from the sky, piercing through the roof to fall upon the Elixir Furnace, which surprised her so much she jumped back quickly, to stare in stunned shock with her eyes widened.
“This….. This….. Pill Formation Draws Lightning?”
Her heart was in shock and feeling flustered as she looked up incredulously at the hole in the roof that had been struck by lightning. Through the hole, she could see the light of day and the blue of the sky with white clouds floating past, the sound of thunder still rumbling in the distance.
“Darn it! Lightning strike under such a clear sky that created such a loud commotion, it would surely have alerted people from all over!” She mumbled to herself, her mind quickly whirring.
‘Crackle!’
At the moment the second bolt of lightning struck, it was just as Feng Jiu as said, the loud crack of lightning under such a clear sky had alerted the various powers in the Cloudy Moon City, including the ruler in the Imperial Palace who noticed it. No one sent their people out to investigate but went out on their own, summoning their Qi to leapt straight towards where the bolt of lightning had surged.
When the Old Patriarch in the Feng Residence heard the loud crack of lightning, the expression on his face had instantly changed. He was considered to be an old man who knew much about the ways of the world and he would naturally know how significant it was for something to be able to draw down lightning from the Heavens.
He immediately went striding with wide steps towards the Alchemy Room as he shouted out anxiously: “Feng Xiao! Feng Xiao! Guard the Feng Residence’s main doors! Do not hesitate to kill anyone who seeks to barge their way in!”