Volume 3: of Gods and Devils

The Fairy Doctor Zufu (named because he was created with a grandfatherly appearance) had never minded the job he'd been given upon being blessed with personhood by his Lord and Master, the Fairy Emperor (now called Lord Jin). He had an easy-going personality that adapted well to just about any circumstance, and thus anything Lord Jin could have given him to do, he would have done without complaint.

Even so, being the Doctor to the Imperial Fairy Family was both extremely boring and nerve wracking at the same time. On a day to day basis he had nothing to do. Lord Jin would never let his wife get sick and their sons were basically incapable of becoming ill. However, on those very rare times he was called upon, the pressure to succeed at all costs was intense. Failure was never an option. Often times he had to work with Lord Jin hovering over his shoulder, which made whatever the Fairy Doctor was doing 100 times more stressful.

To stave off boredom, and prevent his skills from becoming rusty, Doctor Zufu collected medical journals from around the world and practiced medicine on the animals within Lord Jin's territories. Except for the "Emperor Deer" (who Jin would also never allow to get sick), all the other intelligent animals on the mountain were subject to disease and injuries. Doctor Zufu treated any and all that came to him, though never for free.

Despite most of the fairies having been granted personhood by the Emperor and being free to think as they like, there were still certain aspects of their Creator that they adopted. These could almost be counted as a "family mottoes" or even a code of ethics. Two of those mottoes that all the fairies lived by went like this: "If a good deed is worth doing, it's worth asking for something in exchange to do it" and "The value of a stranger may be measured and weighed, but the worth of family is both countless and priceless".

There was not a single fairy on the mountain that did not hold firmly to both ways of thinking. So while they were very kind and forgiving to each other (and to the Emperor and his family by proxy), they were known for being ruthless and calculating to anyone else. Even Doctor Zufu, who was more generous and laid back than most, would never do anything for free. Not even for the smallest critter in the most desperate of situations.

Because of this, Doctor Zufu ended up being the second most respected, feared, and rich person on the mountain. The lives of every living thing were in his hands and no one dared to question him or the fee he required. If he'd been a prideful greedy sort (as some fairies ended up being), he could have very easily abused his position. But since he was technically the Physician to the Royal Family, to the Emperor's most precious person Lady Mei Hua, he never dared get too full of himself.

Rather than spend time obsessing over his prestige, he spent time studying. He'd studied thoroughly all the text related to human health (physically, mentally, and spiritually) found in the Traveler's Cave. It took him fifteen years of constantly reading, often by candle-light, but he did it. After that, he requested more materials from Jin. While the "Scholar" who had written those scrolls had been thorough, the information was old. Humans were adaptive and inventive, thinking up new cures and new methods to hurt. Since Doctor Zufu never knew what kind of hurt he'd have to heal, it was better to always be prepared.

So when the Fairy Ye came babbling about strange poison and a kidnapping, he did not panic. Instead he calmly assessed the information he'd been given and immediate began thinking of ways to deal with the problem at hand. Spirit poisoning, also known as Qi Poisoning, was rare but definitely possible from what he'd read.

The first was recorded by the "Scholar" and came from the Blue Flower Village. They had a poison which crippled two out of the three human dantians, causing any Villager who drank it to be reduced to the strength of a normal human permanently. As poisons go, it was shockingly strong and dangerous, but as far as Doctor Zufu knew the methods of making it had been lost with the destruction of Blue Flower Village.

The second place he'd heard of such was in medical journals that dealt with qi illnesses. Admittedly these journals were hard to come by, as doctors who dealt with such issues generally did not write about and sell their teachings to merchants. They were considered secrets that were passed down to their apprentices only. So what information Doctor Zufu had on them was incomplete and the cures sometimes dubious. But knowing that such things existed was useful all by itself.

While Doctor Zufu did not panic, he also was not entirely sure how he should deal with such a catastrophic problem either. Any poison that could even temporarily take down the Emperor was already obscenely powerful. And even though Ye had said the Emperor cured himself, that did not mean Lady Mei Hua was in the clear. If she managed to survive and make it back, that in and of itself would be a miracle.

Doctor Zufu packed a bag with everything he thought he might need, plus some things he thought he wouldn't but brought just in case, and followed Ye to where Lady Mei Hua had disappeared. They conversed along the way even though the trip itself would be short for both of them.

"Zufu, what do you think this poison is?" Ye asked anxiously on the way. "I had Lu Shao ask the humans we were meeting up with if they knew anything, but they seemed clueless."

"Hm…" Doctor Zufu tugged on his thin chin beard. "The knowledge and medicinal plants required for something of that sort… honestly, I really don't think men could come up with that on their own."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you know that there was a special poison the Villagers used to render them normal mortals, correct?"

"Yeah I remember that, why?"

"To make that poison, they didn't do it on their own. They had to get help."

"—ah!" Ye gave a quick nod. The Blue Flower Villagers had gotten help from Xuiying. "But that poison wouldn't kill anyone! This poison can kill a spirit, it almost got me! What spirit smart enough to know such information would be stupid enough to give it away?! There surely can't be any price humans could pay that would make it worth it. Poison of that type could be used against them."

"Yes, yes… I agree. But I've read about two groups who might have such information and give it away. The first one would do so out of benevolence, only to have their gift abused and warped by men later through no fault of their own. The second one would do so specifically to stir up trouble, knowing that the poison itself won't harm them or… possibly… they just don't care even if it did."

"What groups are you talking about?"

"Gods and devils."

Ye actually stumbled and fell flat on his face. Zufu waited for Ye to get on his feet and catch up to him.

"Are you serious?! That's all you could think of!? GODS AND DEVILS?"

"It's not so far fetched. Humans know how to kill other humans because they understand the human body. To harm a spirit of Lord Jin's caliber would require the same kind of knowledge. It can't just be theoretical or by chance. It must be from someone who has experience killing spirits that are powerful because they themselves are a powerful spirit. Therefore: gods and devils."

"Well, but couldn't there be other spirits like Jin? Why jump to the divine?"

"I've never heard of an earth-bound spirits of Lord Jin's caliber existing anywhere else in the world. Lesser spirits, yes, but never his strength or stronger. And I have studied a great deal about spirits around the world to better understand my Lord. Once you get into things stronger than Lord Jin, there are only gods and devils. Unless you know otherwise?"

Ye scowled and looked thoroughly disgruntled.

"No I haven't, but what useless information if it's true! I thought you were going to tell me something helpful!"

Zufu narrowed his eyes at Ye, annoyed.

Rather than show his irritation, he responded calmly, "I am only giving you the best answer I know. Whether it is useful or not, only time will tell."

Getting such a patient response, Ye grimaced and then sighed.

"I'm just stressed, don't take it personally. If gods and devils are involved… what can we even do about it? Even if Jin is strong, if even half the stories about those guys are true…"

"Gods are merciful."

"Yeah, but devils aren't. And if I was going to guess at which helped create a poison that could hurt even Jin…"

"I thought the same. Though I suppose the benevolence of a god may be used for evil. They say a god gave men intelligence and fire, and see what men have done with that."

"I suppose that's true." Ye acknowledged quietly, more to himself than Zufu. "Why would a Devil bother with us though? And gods never paid us any mind either. What did we do to get the attention of—"

Their conversation was cut short by arriving at their destination.

When they got there, Lu Shao was sitting a little way off from his Father. Ye and the little boy had sent the humans away to the nearest town with some money to hold them over. After Jin had lashed out at them, Ye wasn't confident they'd be safe on the mountain. The Master Musician had seemed uneasy about leaving but had agreed in the end. With nothing better to do, Lu Shao had decided on waiting with his Father for his brothers to come back.

If Ye hadn't been besides himself with worry, he might have wondered more about the Master Musician's hesitance to leave. Mortals would usually be scared at almost getting randomly killed like that and not want to hang around. As it was, he just wanted them away so he could focus on more important matters.

Jin was sitting cross-legged with his hands on his knees. At first, Ye thought he must be meditating to keep his temper, but as he got closer, he saw that Jin looked to be in pain. Sweat was pouring off him and his face would twitch periodically with a moan.

"What…?" Ye asked Lu Shao as he bounced over.

"I don't know." Lu Shao said anxiously, his face tear stained. "He was like that when I got here. I tried asking but he just got angry and told me to go away."

Ye glared at Jin. It would be nice if the man could at least pretend to care about his children! They were just as worried about MeiMei as he was!

Doctor Zufu had walked over to his Lord quietly and examined him for a long moment. He then came back over to Lu Shao and Ye.

"He's got some kind of connection going out of the mountain territory." The Elderly looking fairy explained. "And it's transmitting pain to him. He seems to be meditating to keep control of himself. Remarkable. I had no idea he could do that."

Hearing this Ye, hopped over to Jin and examined the meditating man just as Zufu had done. When he came back over, his anxiety had deepened tenfold.

"You're right and I wish you weren't."

"Why so?"

Ye hopped onto Zufu's shoulder and whispered so that the little boy couldn't hear him, "That connection goes directly to MeiMei…"

"Ah!" Doctor Zufu's eyebrows rose in understanding. Quietly, the elderly fairy whispered back, "We must stay positive. If that is the case, then she is at least alive. I can do much with a living body but nothing with a corpse."

"R-right." Ye tugged on his hair fretfully. "..positive.."

The little fairy then went back to Lu Shao, who was sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He looked thoroughly abandoned and alone.

The little fairy jumped onto the young boy's knees and forced a smile.

"She will definitely be brought back, Little Lu."

"I saw the arrow." He confessed with a sniffle. At Ye's confused look, the little boy continued with a sob. "I saw the arrow and let it hit Mommy!"

"Little Lu… even if you saw it earlier, you couldn't have stopped it. Not without putting yourself at risk."

"I could have pushed Mommy away!"

"That wouldn—"

"But I just stood there!" Tears rolled down his guilt filled face and he started hitting the side of his head with both hands. "I'm stupid! Stupid, stupid, stu—"

Ye reached out and smacked the boy's face, his hand like a tiny whip, stunning Lu Shao into silence and stopping his self induced abuse.

"Nan Lu Shao, you are not responsible for what happened to MeiMei. That guilt goes on the archer. Or do you mean to imply he's done nothing wrong and shouldn't be punished?"

"N-no…"

"Then don't take guilt from the one who deserves it. If you do, then the only one who suffers is you. And I won't let that archer hurt anyone else. So you mustn't even taken a smidgen of their guilt. Do you understand?"

"…yes."

"Good." Ye hopped on to his head and gently stroked it. "Guilt isn't the right thing to be feeling anyway Little Lu."

"It isn't?"

"En… What you should be feeling is angry."

"Angry?"

"That's right. It's not your fault someone hurt MeiMei. Without provocation, without warning, and without any mercy they went after our most precious person. Rather than guilt, you should be angry."

Lu Shao thought about this and gave a slow nod of agreement. What Ye said made sense, but he still couldn't quite shake the feeling of remorse. That he should have done something, anything, other than stand there stupidly.