Kong Ze's face instantly darkened. He shot Feng Yunshu and Xiao Ling a disgruntled look. "Well, you two ungrateful little rascals. I was so worried about whether your bodies had recovered, but here you are, making fun of me at a time like this?"
"Hehe... Third Senior Brother, don't be angry. We're just joking..."
Feng Yunshu smiled, and the somewhat heavy atmosphere finally eased a bit.
"Oops, right, let's get back to business. There's something that's been bothering me."
"What is it?"
"On my way back, I happened to see Feng Manshu having a tryst with her lover. I just learned that she's been betrothed to the Crown Prince by the emperor. Is that true?"
Kong Ze nodded upon hearing this. "Yes, it's true."
"It's really happening? That's strange..."
"Little Junior Sister, you've also noticed something fishy, haven't you?"
Feng Yunshu nodded. "Yes. That Crown Prince, Dongfang Qi, was clearly killed by an arrow from the Third Prince and there was no way to save him. But how could his body be revived after being taken back to the imperial city? It's very strange."
Kong Ze nodded, his face looking somewhat solemn. "That's right. To be honest, after the Crown Prince came back, I once happened to meet him when I entered the palace. I found that there was something strange about him. Although he seemed to be just like an ordinary person, able to talk and move, I couldn't sense the aura of a living person from him."
"A living dead person?"
"That's a rather apt term."
Just as Feng Yunshu and Kong Ze were discussing vigorously, suddenly there came several sighs from nowhere. "Alas..."
The sudden sound in the room made Feng Yunshu start. Then she noticed that the temperature in the whole room dropped sharply.
"Fellow Daoist Yunxi, long time no see."
Hearing this familiar voice, Feng Yunshu looked up in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, it was the Black and White Impermanence.
"Hey, why are you here? Don't tell me you just happened to run into me this time. You came here on your own initiative."
The Black and White Impermanence stepped forward. When they saw Kong Ze was also there, they greeted him. "Fellow Daoist Kong Ze."
Kong Ze was also very surprised to see these two. "I wonder why the two ghost officers are here in broad daylight. Could it be that someone has died nearby?"
As he was speaking, Feng Yunshu noticed that the Black and White Impermanence looked very gloomy. Their brows were knitted so tightly that it seemed they were about to cry the next moment.
"You two fellow Daoists may not know. We've encountered a very thorny problem in the mortal world recently. It's almost time for the year - end business assessment. If we mess up this task at this critical moment, the King of Hell will surely fire us!"
"Don't be in a hurry, you two. How about sitting down and having a cup of tea while telling us in detail what this thorny problem is?"
"Thank you for your kindness, fellow Daoist, but there's no need for tea. This matter is really urgent. If we weren't really unable to solve it on our own, we would never have come to bother you two fellow Daoists in broad daylight."
"Tell us. What on earth has happened?"
"Well, the Crown Prince of the Dan Kingdom passed away a few days ago. We were ordered to come to the mortal world to take his soul back to the Underworld. But as soon as we arrived at the place where his soul was, the soul disappeared. Then we traced it all the way and found that the soul had appeared in the imperial palace of the Dan Kingdom."
Feng Yunshu's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Are you talking about Dongfang Qi, the Crown Prince of the Dan Kingdom?"
The Black and White Impermanence nodded. "Yes, that's right. It's him."
"Is it really true that his lifespan has ended?"
The Black and White Impermanence nodded again. "It's clearly written in the Book of Life and Death. How could it be false? As the saying goes, if the King of Hell wants you to die at the third watch, you can't live until the fifth."
Feng Yunshu nodded. "Okay, then what? Since you know it's in the imperial palace, why didn't you go and retrieve his soul but instead look so gloomy?"
"That's exactly the problem."
The Black and White Impermanence glanced at each other, and there was a deep sense of helplessness in each other's eyes. "We traced this person's soul to the imperial palace. We were going to take it back immediately, but we don't know who actually used magic to set up a formation and forced part of the Crown Prince's soul back into his body. The rest of the soul was hidden beside the emperor of the Dan Kingdom."
"Hidden beside the emperor of the Dan Kingdom?"
"Fellow Daoist Yunxi may not know. After all, the king of a country is the Son of Heaven. Unless his fate is up, we from the Underworld can't get close to the aura of the Son of Heaven. Although the emperor of the Dan Kingdom is also near the end of his life, he hasn't passed away yet."
After hearing this, Feng Yunshu finally understood the trouble the Black and White Impermanence had encountered. "According to what you're saying, the person who used magic to hide the Crown Prince's soul beside the emperor must be someone who knows some rules of the Underworld?"
The Black and White Impermanence nodded. "The King of Hell is still waiting for us to report back. We've been out for several days and haven't been able to take the Crown Prince's soul back smoothly. If we delay any longer, we're really doomed."
"So..." Feng Yunshu finally understood the purpose of the Black and White Impermanence coming to find her. "You're here to ask me to help find the Crown Prince's soul and let you take it back?"
The Black and White Impermanence clapped their hands and nodded excitedly. "Yes, yes, that's right! Fellow Daoist Yunxi is really as smart as a whip. You understand right away. We two came to ask you two fellow Daoists for help just for this matter."
Feng Yunshu thought for a while. Apart from the Red Fox, there should be no one else in the imperial palace with such skills.
But if it was really the Red Fox who did it, why did she revive the Crown Prince? Presumably, she must have reached some agreement with the queen. Otherwise, as the mistress of the palace, how could the queen tolerate a noble concubine having more power than herself?
Seeing Feng Yunshu looking solemn and not saying a word for a long time, the Black and White Impermanence thought she was going to refuse them. Immediately, they spoke again. "Fellow Daoist Yunxi, if you can really help us with this, then we'll owe you a big favor. Whenever you need us to do something in the future, we'll never say no!"
Hearing this, Feng Yunshu came back to her senses and quickly said, "You two misunderstood. I don't mean not to help. I was just thinking about some details of this matter."
Saying that, Feng Yunshu looked at Kong Ze. "Third Senior Brother, the Crown Prince was never a good person anyway. Moreover, the imperial palace of the Dan Kingdom is full of filth. It's time for a change. Since we're going to take care of this matter anyway, we might as well do them a favor."
Kong Ze nodded. "Okay, you can make the decision, Little Junior Sister. I'll surely cooperate with your plan."
Feng Yunshu nodded. "Then it's settled."
She turned to look at the Black and White Impermanence. "You can rest assured. I'll help you with this. But for now, I can't guarantee that it will definitely succeed. But rest assured, I'll surely do my best."
"Ah, Fellow Daoist Yunxi and Fellow Daoist Kong Ze are really as kind - hearted as Bodhisattvas! It's already very kind of you to be willing to help. Safety should always come first. If it really doesn't work out, we'll think of other solutions."
After they had made the decision, the Black and White Impermanence immediately left for the National Teacher's Mansion.
"Third Senior Brother, the Fifth Princess is going to be sent for a political marriage. You surely can't just sit back and do nothing. And I'll surely have to enter the palace for the matter of the Black and White Impermanence. But with our identities, it might be difficult for us to directly interfere in the affairs of the imperial palace. We may need to find someone to handle these things..."
"If I'm not wrong, the person you're talking about should be Dongfang Yuan, the Third Prince of the Dan Kingdom, right?"
Feng Yunshu nodded with a smile. "Sure enough, Third Senior Brother is Third Senior Brother. No one can match your quick wits."