QT: LAC Chapter 152: Ninth World (17)

Chapter 152: Ninth World (17)
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Edited by Sulo

Once out of the dense forest, Bai Duan bid farewell to the Miao person, then returned to the Han town where the servants stayed. They first found a clothes shop, letting Cao YuYing change back to women’s clothes, then got to the hotel where they settled down and joined the rest.

Bai Duan’s young servant had been waiting at the door. Seeing the return of the young master and the ‘young lady’, he immediately heaved a sigh of relief and welcomed them into the hotel. Cao YuYing’s maids also heard the news. They started to move quickly and prepared comfortable clothes, rich meals and hot water for the two, allowing the dusty Princess and her husband to clean themselves.

After taking care of them properly, Cao YuYing and Bai Duan had returned to their traditional royal clothes and elegant demeanor. Just as the so-called ‘people start thinking about sex after having a full stomach’, after drinking enough and eating enough, Cao YuYing watched his little lover who had just bathed, sitting at the table with flushed cheeks and drying his hair. He was quite ready to move.

He took the white towel from Bai Duan’s hand, wiped the water drops off his hair, and then picked up a comb to help him comb his long black hair. However, while combing, Cao YuYing’s actions became quite irregular.

Cao YuYing yearned to touch his lover. Bai Duan had also been left alone for some time, so he was soon moved by his partner’s teasing. His head tilted slightly as kisses were planted on his cheeks and neck. Bai Duan was held by his ‘wife’ and when he felt his hand reaching into his collar, he began breathing heavily and his body got hotter.

Just when they were so affectionate that they almost had sex on the makeup counter, there was a knock on the door of the room. Cao YuYing’s maid stood outside the door and whispered, “Your Highness, there is an old lady outside, saying she is looking for you.”

Cao YuYing cursed, intending to let the witch doctor who had interrupted at the wrong moment, wait for a long time outside. Yet, Bai Duan had already moved his hands out of his clothes and urged him to let the witch doctor in.

Cao YuYing frowned discontentedly and was a little grumpy, but seeing his lover already standing and tidying up his slightly disordered clothes, he had to give up the idea and grumble in a low voice.

Fortunately, the clothes of the two men were still quite tidy. Bai Duan quickly sat down again and put on a serious look. Cao YuYing leaned on his shoulders and covered his swollen body part with his thick robes. He used a lazy voice to let the maid bring the witch doctor in.

Bai Duan had always been educated to be a gentleman by Imperial Counsellor Bai. He was very annoyed by the lazy appearance of Cao YuYing. He couldn’t help shouting, “You’re going to see the guest soon, sit upright, what are you trying to be!?”

Cao YuYing curled his mouth without any change in his posture what-so-ever. He even glanced at Bai Duan’s white jade fingers on the table. He could not help thinking about it and raised his hand to hold it.

Bai Duan has long been used to his ‘wife’s’ hunger for skinship, looking for every opportunity to make a move on him. It was just holding hands, so he didn’t resist much.

However, Bai Duan didn’t expect that his obedience would result in the other side getting greedy. Cao YuYing held Bai Duan’s hand and rubbed it. Then he just grabbed it and placed it between his thighs.

Bai Duan was shocked. His face had just gotten rid of the redness, and now it was once again covered with a red hue. He clearly felt the hot and hard bulge under his palm. He subconsciously wanted to pull his hand away, but he was tightly held by Cao YuYing. Cao YuYing even let out a low groan as Bai Duan’s hands rubbed against the clothed hardness during the struggle.

Immediately, Bai Duan froze and didn’t dare to move at all.

Cao YuYing gave Bai Duan a weird glance, he seemed to be urging Bai Duan to move his hand. Under the gaze of his wife, Bai Duan was ashamed and angry. He just wanted to scold him, but he heard the footsteps outside the door, and swallowed the words that had almost come out of his mouth.

The next second, the door was pushed open by the maid, and behind her was the mysterious witch doctor dressed in black.

Bai Duan felt his heartbeat drum and almost jump out of his throat in fear that the maid and the witch doctor would see something.

Seeing his little lover’s face, Cao YuYing chuckled and leaned to his ear to soothe him, “Don’t worry, no one will notice.”

When Bai Duan heard Cao YuYing’s reassurance, he became angrier. He couldn’t help but look at the culprit and bite his teeth.

Fortunately, as Cao YuYing said, because he was wearing a skirt, there was nothing wrong with their movements except that they looked quite intimate in others’ eyes, so neither the maid nor the witch doctor showed a different expression — Bai Duan was a little relieved and gradually relaxed his stiff body.

After the witch doctor was sent into the room, the maid bowed once and closed the door, leaving the witch doctor standing alone at the door — she was clearly looking for the prince of the Han people, how… did he become a woman in a flash?

The witch doctor was full of doubts and hesitated whether to open her mouth. At this time, Cao YuYing had finished mumbling into his little lover’s ears. He turned to look at her, and gave her a cold and sharp look.

At once, the witch doctor was sure that she didn’t find the wrong person. This person leaning against another person’s chest, looking all obedient, was indeed the Han prince who was cold, evil, arrogant and noble. And this was a reasonable explanation for why he was the only prince who survived and grew up under the eyes of her daughter.

——He had been forced to dress up as a woman since he was a child. No wonder he had become such a menace and wanted to take revenge against society.

“Since you came here after one night’s thinking, it means that you are willing to go back to the capital with me to heal my father, the Emperor?” Cao YuYing opened his mouth carelessly, his eyes drooping. It seemed that he was paying more attention to playing with the handsome boy’s fingers than talking with the witch doctor.

Bai Duan did not dare to look at the witch doctor’s expression. He slightly rolled his eyes to one side and felt Cao YuYing playing with his fingers. Bai Duan felt his fingers being moved and rubbed against the thing that was under layers of clothing. He felt like his whole body was about to burn, but he had to hold his serious face.

——Bai Duan was almost done cursing eight generations worth of Cao YuYing’s ancestors!

It was a pity that the witch doctor didn’t know the details. In this situation, where she was completely ignored by both of them, it exacerbated her panic.

“…Yes, I would like to follow you to the capital to heal the Emperor,” The witch doctor’s hoarse voice continued, “But you also need to promise that my people will be safe.”

“I will do my best,” Cao YuYing smiled and raised his eyes in a condescending manner. “Are you ready with the items needed to treat him?”

“Ready,” The witch doctor replied, but she seemed to think of something. After a pause, she quickly added, “But it won’t be too late even if these are prepared in the capital. All of the items need to be fresh.”

Cao YuYing raised his eyebrows. He only thought that the witch doctor was really frank and did not even know how to lie. But he also knew why the witch doctor had done so, and he didn’t mind, “Okay, I will send someone to take you to prepare then.”

Even though the witch doctor breathed a sigh of relief, she felt that Cao YuYing’s eyes had seen through her, which made her not dare to do any small actions at all. She had just told a lie and her back was covered in cold sweat — although the witch doctor had gotten rid of Cao Yuying’s mental control, the feeling still lingered and was engraved in her bones, making her subconsciously feel fear while facing Cao YuYing.

“If there’s nothing else, it’s settled.” Cao YuYing’s mouth curved in a smile. “You can rest today. Tomorrow morning, we will leave for the capital.”

“…I see,” The witch doctor replied in a hoarse voice, and after a stiff salute, turned to walk out of the room, more slowly and exhausted than she had been yesterday.

Bai Duan and Cao YuYing were relieved when they finally dismissed the witch doctor.

Bai Duan endured so long that he finally couldn’t bear it. He wrenched his hand out of Cao YuYing’s control. Cao YuYing took in a breath of cold air because of his actions. It seemed to be painful and comforting at the same time. Bai Duan got even more angry.

Bai Duan was always refreshed by his wife’s shamelessness, but this was the first time he had been forced to do this in the presence of people… something more than hugging and kissing. Recalling the feeling of fear and panic just now, Bai Duan’s whole body trembled with anger. It was a pity that just as he was about to scold him, he was met with the lustful eyes of Cao YuYing. Then he was pushed onto the bed. Cao YuYing got rid of his clothes while coaxing and deceiving him — then… he had no more energy to lose his temper.

Because there had been no chance to vent for a long time in the dense forest, this time Bai Duan and Cao YuYing were extremely fierce. They tumbled all afternoon and night, then once they finally had enough and took a bath together with satisfaction, they fell asleep in the bed.

After getting up the next day, Cao YuYing and Bai Duan were in good spirits, except for the poor little lover’s strange walking posture.

After breakfast, the party reorganized their clothes and set foot on the trip back to the capital. In order to avoid any unnecessary mistakes during the night, this time they did not have the mind to travel around the mountains and rivers at all. Instead, they made their way straight to the capital.

It took Bai Duan and Cao YuYing nearly a year to get to Miao, but it took only over a month to return to the capital. Of course, along the way, Cao YuYing also used the excuse of being ‘unassured’ to get information about the insects from the witch doctor. He basically understood the breeding and function of those small things as a result.

In the eyes of outsiders, breeding of these insects was done by putting various poisonous insects into one box, starving them for several months, and picking the one that lived as the ‘Gu’. But this description was not entirely accurate. In other words, this was just the way to cultivate poisonous insects, such as the flying insect released when Shui JiuDao met the tiger. Although the insect was only the size of a rice grain, its toxicity was extremely fierce. Even if a fierce tiger was bitten by it, it would be killed in an instant. There was no room for treatment.

As for the actual ‘Gu’ insects, such as the Stringing Gu, which were not poisonous, there were many other ways to raise them. Of course, there was no lack of the step of devouring each other to survive. Just that such ‘functional’ insects needed to be locked with the same kind of insects, so as to get the one with strong vitality.

After finding out the suitable insect to cultivate, the next step was to raise them with the appropriate medicinal materials to further improve their survival ability, and at the same time enlarge their own characteristics and effects — for example, the Stringing Gu was a parasite that could live in the human brain. If a female and male insect were kept together for a long time, they would have a strong resonance with each other, and when divided, they would secrete hormones that could affect humans as they got closer to each other.

The Emperor was parasitized with the male insect in his brain, while the female insect was in the hands of the Imperial Concubine. Whenever he was near the Enchantress, he would be influenced by the hormones secreted by the male insect, and he would obey the Enchantress who had the female insect. Since the Emperor had been parasitized for a long time, once he heard the name of the Imperial Concubine, the male insect in his brain would react and further strengthen the control of the Stringing Gu.

There were two ways to get rid of the insects. One was to steal the female insect from the Imperial Concubine and then lure the male out of the Emperor’s brain to solve the problem completely, but it was easy to damage the Emperor’s brain. After all, the brain is a very delicate and fragile organ, and outsiders can’t decide the route the male would choose to climb out of the brain. The other was to let the Emperor inhale a certain gas without taking out the male. The gas would be used to anesthetize the male insect and make it lose the effect, but it would not cure him completely, and there would still be a great chance of recurrence. Once the male would wake up and find that the female is missing, it was easy for it to lose control and hurt the host. Even if it did not wake up, inhaling the anesthesia for decades would still cause damage to the human brain, resulting in thinking delay, memory decline and other consequences.

After hearing the witch doctor’s explanation, Cao YuYing had a headache. After all, either method was not perfect and harmless, and the one receiving treatment was going to be the Emperor, making it especially difficult.

Even if Cao YuYing was the Emperor’s son, he could not bear the responsibility of damaging the Emperor’s body.

Finally, after a discussion, Cao YuYing decided to bring the witch doctor into the Palace first, anaesthetize the male insect, then wake the Emperor again, and then make him choose the treatment.

After making this decision, they were almost at the capital — whether this would be a success or failure, all depended on this fight.