At first glance, her frail frame seemed unable to bear the weight of the thick fur, making her appear as delicate as a pearl hidden within a seashell.
Following Tuoba Yan's lead through the rows of cages, A Jiu arrived before the frenzied man.
The cage was smeared with blood, and the man himself was drenched in it.
A Jiu instinctively stepped back, her mind prepared but her eyes still chilled by the sight.
His eyes held no trace of human emotion; even the sheep she kept had more feeling. He had none.
He was violently shaking the cage with his hands, emitting guttural roars and rolling his eyes upwards.
It was unclear if he was glaring at A Jiu or someone else, his gaze utterly unfocused.
Tuoba Yan immediately shielded A Jiu, fearing she might get too close and be grabbed.
A Jiu, however, was unfazed. She had spent the entire night reading, and the "Summoning Spirits and Dispatching Generals" technique of the Yinshan Sect, which had yielded no answers last night, had begun to show glimmers of hope on the way here.
If spirits could be summoned, then this person's willpower must be weak.
A Jiu pushed Tuoba Yan's hand aside and stepped forward. Tuoba Yan's pupils contracted in alarm, and Zhao Kun and the others behind him suppressed their calls to Jiu Niang.
"Do you remember your name?"
The man's bloodshot eyes finally focused due to A Jiu's words. He stared blankly at Meng Jiu'er, his face covered in dust, his forehead, the source of life, impossibly dark.
"I know you can't remember. Actually, I am your mother. I had three sons, and you are the eldest. You have two younger brothers..."
As A Jiu spoke these words.
Tuoba Yan gasped, a sharp intake of breath. What was Jiu'er doing? She had never been married.
If Zhao Kun hadn't restrained Tuoba Yan's arm, he might have gone mad:
"Boss, pay attention to the look in that man's eyes."
Upon closer observation, indeed, a sliver of human emotion returned to his eyes.
"Your eldest brother died on the battlefield for you, and your father was captured trying to protect you. You should live well."
A Jiu was fabricating everything. As she spoke, she had already silently recited the Golden Light Body Protection Incantation.
The man's gaze grew distant, and he looked at his hands sluggishly before his body went limp and he sank to the ground.
"Do you see the light? That is your eldest brother and your family giving it to you."
A Jiu tentatively continued.
Tuoba Yan was stunned. "That miraculous?"
Zhao Kun couldn't help but glance at Jiu'er's back, marveling at her effectiveness. "Boss, look at that man. He seems to have regained consciousness."
Indeed, he slowly raised his head and met Meng Jiu'er's gaze.
"Mother, your unfilial son..." he wept, kowtowing. Tears of blood streamed from his eyes.
"It's good that you remembered." Remembering who he was meant his soul had returned. The Golden Light Body Protection had been very effective.
A Jiu stood up abruptly. So it was true.
This made things much easier. The Summoning Spirits and Dispatching Generals technique was inherently demonic. This Golden Light Body Protection Incantation, however, was a pure Yang and extremely powerful force. A Jiu had found a breakthrough and hurried back to research a method of破解.
That night, A Jiu once again stayed up all night.
She began to study the talismans of the Yinshan Sect.
Xue Zhen came twice, and she remained completely oblivious. It wasn't that she didn't sense him; it was that she was so engrossed in her research that she had sealed off her five senses.
The slightest disturbance outside went unnoticed.
The season had passed from late autumn, and the biting cold made her window frame rattle.
Only when she closed the book did she notice the sound of collisions. The noise continued until the latter half of the night before A Jiu finally got up to secure the wooden latch.
Returning to her desk, she crumpled all the papers she had drawn on and threw them on the floor.
The process repeated, and her desk was surrounded by a pile of paper balls.
One paper ball rolled to Xue Zhen's feet. Knowing she was ignoring everything, he bent down, picked it up, and opened it to read.
For the first time, Xue Zhen was utterly shocked.
His eyes, against his will, fell on the paper, then slowly moved upwards as he looked coldly at Meng Jiu'er, who was bent over her studies.
He had thought Meng Jiu'er was contemplating a solution.
But all her research into techniques was for the purpose of rescuing those whose spirits had been summoned.
"..." Xue Zhen began to feel he had underestimated this girl's character. "Are you learning Zhu You?"