Hysteria Affliction : Actually, when the Sovereign isn’t drinking mushroom soup, he’s…
“Mother?” Xu Baizhou looked at the woman before him, somewhat incredulous.
The newcomer was an exceedingly beautiful woman. Unlike the bewitching woman he had seen in the hot spring earlier, her ink-black hair was tied up in a high bun, and her fair, elegant face bore understated makeup. She wore a white robe adorned with countless streamers of gauze that fluttered gently with her steps, making her look like a deity from an ancient painting graceful, yet tinged with a certain aloofness.
A woman so utterly out of place in the entire Demonic Palace… could she really be Jia Wujie’s mother?
From the moment the woman stepped into Jia Wujie’s bedchamber, the atmosphere in the room had shifted. Xu Baizhou glanced at Jia Wujie beside him, his earlier relaxed posture was gone. Jia Wujie’s fingers tapped lightly on the table, his back ramrod straight. He looked up at the woman entering the room, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile that was amiable yet distinctly unnatural.
“Your son merely suffered a nightmare last night. Which thoughtless soul dared disturb Mother?” As he spoke, Jia Wujie angled his shoulder slightly, subtly shielding Xu Baizhou behind him.
But the woman had only given Xu Baizhou a single glance upon entering, and thereafter treated him as if he didn’t exist. She gestured for the maid behind her to set a clay pot on the table, and said with a smile, “A mother’s concern for her child is only natural. Jie’er has been unwell lately, so it is only right that I, as his mother, come to see him.”
The woman’s voice was gentle and pleasant, truly that of a loving mother. Yet Xu Baizhou sensed something off between the two of them. Why was Jia Wujie so tense?
“I heard that Jie’er suddenly suffered a Hysteria Affliction last night, so I sent someone to fetch the mushroom soup…” The woman’s brow shifted slightly, and her gaze fell upon the shattered bowl by the bed that hadn’t yet been cleared away.
Her expression changed, and a hint of warning crept into her tone as she continued, “But Jie’er, why didn’t you drink it?”
Jia Wujie’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, but Xu Baizhou saw the hand beneath the table clench tightly into a fist.
“Your son merely accidentally broke the bowl. Besides—”
Before Jia Wujie could finish, the woman cut him off. “This mushroom soup can calm the True Qi in your body. Jie’er, it’s best you drink it regularly.”
With that, she lifted the lid of the clay pot, revealing a pot of freshly simmered mushroom soup.
She stirred the soup with a ladle, ladled out a small bowl, and set it before Jia Wujie. “When I heard Jie’er had fallen ill, I rose early to personally cook this pot of soup. I hope Jie’er won’t disappoint his mother’s heartfelt care.”
Jia Wujie stared at the bowl of mushroom soup she held out to him, making no move to take it.
Seeing that he would not accept the soup, the woman gently set the bowl down in front of him and took a seat, speaking slowly. “I heard that some days ago, Jie’er fainted before everyone in the great hall. Even now, thinking of it fills me with dread. If I hadn’t intervened in time that day, Dang Ji and the others surely couldn’t have held back those rampaging madmen. Jie’er, you must take good care of your health, don’t give your mother cause for worry again.”
The woman’s words were deeply sincere, as if she truly were worried about Jia Wujie. But Jia Wujie’s expression shifted slightly. He looked at the bowl of soup still steaming before him and frowned gently.
After a moment, his furrowed brow relaxed, and the hand clenched into a fist beneath the table loosened.
Jia Wujie looked at the woman and smiled. “Mother is right. Your son will drink it now. Dang Ji!” he called.
Dang Ji seemed to be waiting outside Jia Wujie’s chambers at all times. At the call, he immediately entered and bowed. “My lord.” He paused, then bowed again to the woman. “Holy Mother.”
The Holy Mother gave no response. She simply watched Jia Wujie with a beaming smile, as if determined to see him drink the soup before him.
Jia Wujie said to Dang Ji, “Take him away.”
“Yes.”
Xu Baizhou was pulled up by Dang Ji. As they walked out the door, Xu Baizhou glanced back.
He saw Jia Wujie lift the bowl and drink the mushroom soup down, mouthful by mouthful, while the Holy Mother watched him with a satisfied smile.
Dang Ji led Xu Baizhou through the Demonic Palace. The palace was dark and terrifying, and Xu Baizhou could only follow Dang Ji closely, afraid that if he lagged even a little, he would be left behind.
The moment he was away from Jia Wujie’s side, Xu Baizhou’s chattiness kicked in again. Watching Dang Ji stride ahead without the slightest regard for him, he panted heavily and said, “Commander, buddy, can we slow down a bit?”
But just as he finished speaking, Dang Ji’s footsteps suddenly stopped. Xu Baizhou braked hard, barely avoiding crashing into him.
Dang Ji raised his head and looked upward.
An eerie sound swept overhead, as if something strange were hiding in the darkness above the Demonic Palace.
The instant Xu Baizhou heard that sound, the hairs on his body stood on end. It reminded him of those black, wriggling things that had appeared on the walls of the Demonic Palace on the day of the birthday banquet. In that moment, Xu Baizhou felt as though he were being watched.
“Follow me if you don’t want to die,” Dang Ji said.
Xu Baizhou hurried to Dang Ji’s side. He had no desire to end up like that Immortal Sect disciple, dying without even knowing how.
Soon, Dang Ji led Xu Baizhou out of the Demonic Palace. Beyond it lay the Demonic Realm, where not a blade of grass grew and even the sky was dim. Dang Ji brought Xu Baizhou to a courtyard gate and knocked.
Before long, the gate was opened by a red-haired demon with slanted eyes.
Xu Baizhou smiled and waved at Chi Xian, and the next second he was shoved into the courtyard by Dang Ji.
“My lord has drunk the mushroom soup. He’ll be staying with you for the next few days,” Dang Ji said.
Chi Xian was somewhat surprised. “My lord drank the soup again?”
Just then, with a rumble, a vast shadow swept across the sky. Xu Baizhou looked up to see an enormous black palanquin flying through the air, vanishing at the horizon within moments.
Dang Ji watched the palanquin speed across the sky thoughtfully, then said, “Keep an eye on him,” and left.
Xu Baizhou and Chi Xian stared at each other, both feeling a bit awkward.
Come to think of it, when Chi Xian and Cang Gui had kidnapped Xu Baizhou back then, he had probably been locked up in this very courtyard.
Hearing the commotion, Cang Gui came out of the room and froze at the sight of Xu Baizhou.
“He— he, why has he been sent back again?” Cang Gui stammered.
“His Excellency is out, and Lord Dang told us to keep an eye on him,” Chi Xian said.
“Then… tie, tie him up?” Cang Gui tugged at the rope in his hand.
Xu Baizhou quickly dodged the rope Cang Gui swung toward him. “No, no, no, big brothers, please.”
He really didn’t want to be tied up in the woodshed again. Looking at the pestle-and-mortar pot Chi Xian hadn’t yet put down, and the basket on Cang Gui’s back, Xu Baizhou said, “I can work with you!”
Thinking Xu Baizhou seemed to have a point, Cang Gui deliberated for a while before saying, “These, these demonic plants, you sort them, sort them properly. When, when I come back, I’ll see, see, see what else you can do.”
To prevent Xu Baizhou from escaping, Cang Gui still tied him to a pillar of the house.
After doing all this, Cang Gui went out, leaving Chi Xian and Xu Baizhou at home.
Honestly, although Cang Gui stuttered, his fierce manner was rather frightening. Compared to Cang Gui, the dim-witted Chi Xian was clearly much more endearing.
Xu Baizhou had plenty of questions about this place, and this was the perfect chance to ask.
As he picked out the plant Chi Xian had called “nethergrass” from a big pile of dried, nearly identical demonic plants, Xu Baizhou asked, “Big Brother Chi Xian, what do you all usually do here?”
“Us? Me and Cang Gui? The two of us just gather these demonic plants, make them into demonic potions, and deliver them to the Demonic Palace,” Chi Xian said.
“Demonic potions? Like the things His Excellency granted you at that birthday banquet the other day? What do those potions do?”
“They help with cultivation, of course… Why is a mortal like you asking about this? You wouldn’t understand anyway.” Chi Xian, for the seventeenth time, removed a wrongly picked plant from Xu Baizhou’s basket and said sternly, “Be more careful!”
“Haha, hahaha.” Xu Baizhou laughed drily and tossed another unidentifiable demonic plant into the basket, driving Chi Xian nearly mad, then continued asking, “Does His Excellency take these demonic potions too?”
“He does, but not these ones. Potions made from nethergrass are low-grade. His Excellency hands them out to his subordinates or gives them as rewards.”
“Oh, oh, oh,” Xu Baizhou nodded, then asked as if casually, “And the mushroom soup His Excellency drinks is that for cultivation too?”
“That’s not…” Chi Xian answered instinctively, then suddenly realized something and smacked Xu Baizhou on the head with the demonic plant in his hand. “Hey, you little rascal, don’t tell me you’re pumping me for information!”
“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare,” Xu Baizhou said with an ingratiating smile.
“As if you would dare. But it’s no secret anyway. Our Excellency has the Hysteria Affliction, and when it flares up, it’s terrifying. That mushroom soup is what treats it,” Chi Xian said.
“Hysteria Affliction?”
“That’s right. It’s horrifying!” Chi Xian glanced around sneakily, and after confirming the two of them were alone, he leaned in close and lowered his voice. “When His Excellency’s Hysteria Affliction acts up, he turns into a monster ten meters tall, the horns alone growing from his head are three meters! His eyeballs bulge out and he roars like thunder, one slap of his palm can flip the entire Demonic Realm! Absolutely terrifying!”
Xu Baizhou really couldn’t picture what Chi Xian described. “Have you seen it?”
“No, I only heard about it.”
Xu Baizhou privately thought Chi Xian wasn’t reliable either. When Jia Wujie had his episodes, aside from his eyes turning blood-red, he was really just like an ordinary person having a nightmare, in fact, he was even far weaker than usual.
“Then why did he get this illness?” Xu Baizhou asked.
“No one knows. They say it has something to do with His Lordship’s origins, but no one knows about those either and anyone who did know is dead.”
Xu Baizhou asked many more questions about Jia Wujie, but he found that this Chi Xian didn’t actually know much mostly just gossip and rumors, nothing useful to be gleaned.
Still, whenever Jia Wujie came up, Chi Xian seemed almost reverent, praising him to the skies. So the birthday toast that day was actually restrained, Xu Baizhou thought.
“Our Lordship is the strongest of the entire Demon Race in the whole Demonic Realm even looking across all of Shangyang, he has no equal. Those Immortal Sects are no match for him at all. If it weren’t for this Hysteria Affliction, His Lordship would have already unified the Three Realms!”
Chi Xian sighed and went on, “Ah! Actually, when His Lordship isn’t drinking mushroom soup, he’s fairly normal.”