After leaving the mansion, it was becoming late, so Lu Feng quickly made haste to reach the mall Lady Rong opened on his behalf.
"Woah, this is all mine?" Lu Feng whispered.
The inside of the mall was astonishing: female workers, different fashions of clothing, and a lot of buyers. Mostly, the pile of cash at the counter got his attention.
Making sure no one was looking at him, Lu Feng sneaked towards the counter and stuck a pill in his pocket.
"Don't want Rong tracking how much I spend now."
"Master Lu Feng?"
Having heard his name from behind, Lu Feng shut his eyes and sighed, then raised his hands as he turned around to see it was Rong.
"Ah Rong, I came to see you about an urgent issue."
"The escaped prisoner?" asked Rong.
Knowing he hadn't said anything about what the issue was, Lu Feng was a bit perplexed that Rong already knew.
But before he could ask how she knew that, Rong held his hand and took them both to her office, slamming the door.
Inside, Lu Feng was looking outside the transparent window with his hands tucked in his pocket.
"Someone else let her out, didn't they?" asked Lu Feng with a detectable serious voice.
"Hmm, Ai Ming had told me you were coming for this issue. What did you say happened?" asked Rong.
Lu Feng sighed.
Both prisoners were chained by holy and unholy chains; these things can't be broken — it was impossible.
Even at his highest peak of power in the Heaven Realm, Lu Feng was unable to break free.
"Unholy chains can only be broken by unholy beings, so how did Goddess Mei Ling break free from hers?" asked Rong, while leaning on the door.
"At first, I thought it was Xi Wang, but then, Xi Wang was also chained by holy chains. Even her incarnations to free Mei Ling would be restrained," said Lu Feng.
Confirming his suspicions, Rong agreed with a nod.
"Someone else must have let her out — an unholy one at that too. Given the fact the unholy one couldn't free Xi Wang, Mei Ling let them be," said Rong.
Even with all these clues, Lu Feng was still trying not to believe someone in his harem sabotaged his plan.
"And Mei Ling?" asked Lu Feng.
"Her first stop was the royal house nearby. My spies have it that she's still there, and they'll be preparing for you."
Lu Feng had nothing to worry about. First, more than half of Mei Ling's powers were absorbed by the unholy chains; it would take months to start regaining them.
Just like Lu Feng, but it seemed his regeneration was slightly faster than expected, especially at night.
So there was no one in the royal house strong enough to handle the heat that comes with Lu Feng.
"Then we have business at our hands." Accompanying his words, a smile appeared on his lips.
————————
Meanwhile...
Under the city's sewer, General Gu kept walking ahead with a flame torch.
The two princesses were his responsibility. Ever since they had lost their parents, Gu was more than a guardian to them.
It didn't matter what threat the royal house had to face — as long as he was strong enough, he'd handle it.
And he had been strong enough for the past twenty-five years, until he now began to feel sick.
Gu coughed out blood as he fell to a knee, splattering the sewer water around with a little sound. He quickly regained himself and stood up.
After a series of steps, he stopped at a metallic cage now blocking his path from him and the old lady with pushed-back and tattered clothing.
"I knew you'd come again, Gu," said the old lady as she exposed those brown, cracked teeth that hadn't gotten a proper brushing for decades now.
"Skip the welcome. I believe you know what's going on at the surface. Is it true?" asked Gu.
Having heard that, the old lady began cackling in the dark, her laughter annoying Gu and testing his patience.
"Answer me, old hag," Gu growled, gripping a pole of the cage.
"Is what true? That Lu Feng has returned as a mortal? Bwahahaha! Or do you want to know your fate against him? Or if it's true that he holds unimaginable power... bahaha."
Gu stumbled backward. He had been making business with the old hag for decades, and whenever she knew something without him telling her, it was true. So Lu Feng was actually a banned god.
"You know what I need now, so give it to me," said Gu, taking a few steps forward.
"Oh oh, my my. I have given you more than I can count. Too much of it, and you know what I told you," she hissed like a cunning snake.
"Give it to me," Gu repeated himself, sounding more fierce.
"Bwehehahawehe... Gu, Gu, Gu. You want to fight a god? If it was another god, I wouldn't argue, but this one is a banned god. This god is Lu Feng — don't you think he was banned for a reason?"
"And I don't care. It's either you give me what I came for or you forget your medicines."
The old hag snarled. If she gave it to him, she knew Gu would still be less of Lu Feng's worries.
"I could give you something else, something more powerful, but you see, the chances of you losing yourself are guaranteed."
Gu didn't understand what she had said and quickly demanded it. All he knew was it was stronger than the ones she gave him before, which was the only thing he cared about right now.
"My pills first."
Having heard the old hag's demand, Gu took the pouch beside his waist and threw it deep into the dark. It made a sound of landing on the floor.
"Now where is it?"
Immediately after he said that, a huge tongue filled with slimy saliva approached him from the deep darkness.
Within the coiled tongue, a green potion sat on it. Gu hesitated for a while, but then his will to protect the princesses was stronger.
So he took it, and the old hag began laughing like a maniac as Gu gulped the bottle empty.