Defending the Nation, Part I

Hou Jingshu sat on a chair and stared at her brother. Hou Chao had not woken up at all since arriving at the castle. His eyes were wide open and he mumbled incomprehensibly, but he was not there. It was like his mind was far away. The doctor said he had been given an alchemy pill that increased his strength at the cost of his sanity. To cure him, they would need a fifth tier alchemist with a heavenly flame to refine the Mind Returning Pill, but they lacked both the ingredients and the alchemist.

“Big Sister, are we not gonna go outside?” asked Yōuměi. The large panther lay on her stomach and looked quite meek as she stared up at Hou Jingshu with her heterochromatic eyes.

She smiled down at the magical beast. “I’m sorry, but I’m not really in the mood to play right now.”

“… I understand,” Yōuměi said softly. “Master would get like this sometimes, too.”

“You mean Wu Jian?”