Ceres

24

Night came and when Orion and Guy was about to sleep, they felt something different. Currently, they rented a room in an ordinary looking inn with two beds to sleep in.

Both of them were alarmed by their instinct and sat up only to see Ceres sitting in a chair and looking amused at them. Gil was standing beside Ceres with his eyes closed.

"Let's talk about business, shall we?"

After settling down, the four people started their talk. Orion sat across Ceres while Guy was standing near him. Gil, on the other hand, stood in a corner looking as if he was not interested in anything.

"We will leave after five days."

Ceres was the one who broke the silence. Orion still has doubts about Ceres' healing abilities but honestly, he was scared when he wasn't able to feel Ceres and Gil arrived in their room.

"May we know what you are planning, sir Cerio?"

Even though Ceres looks like a kid, Guy was being polite towards her because he knows that she is still connected to Old Pang, a legendary figure. Also, Ceres is the key to the patriarch's life.

"You heard my teacher. He doesn't want anything to do with outside affairs. If he gets involved, not only you guys but I will also pay a huge price."

Orion and Guy looked at each other. They were also thinking of planning that's why they didn't leave immediately.

Ceres told them about her plans. After two days, Guy will leave the city disguised as Orion. He will hire mercenaries to accompany him throughout the journey which would make this more realistic. Also, he will bring with him various herbs believing it could help cure their patriarch. Guy must arrive in the Hunts mansion and everyone must believe that he is Orion. Guy must make a scene. No one must go near the patriarch bed chambers including the servants and guards because the disease may be contagious or something.

On the other hand, Orion will go with Ceres and Gil. Orion will disguise as a random person. Three days after Guy departs, they will follow. Only when they arrive in Moss Valley will Orion disguise as Guy so that he can go inside the Hunts mansion. When the coast is clear, Ceres and Gil will infiltrate their mansion in secret.

The last thing that Ceres reminded them is to make sure that throughout the healing process, it should appear that the disease of their patriarch seems to have gotten worse. No one should know that their patriarch can be cured not unless, everything's done.

"I will ask Gil to bring the face masks tomorrow evening. Make sure to give me a copy of your mansion's layout tomorrow."

Right after their meeting, Ceres and Gil disappeared out of thin air. Only then did Orion and Guy felt that they could finally relax. They didn't expect that aside from being a spirit healer, Ceres is someone adept at concealing her aura; just like a thief or an assassin.

---

The day that Ceres and Gil were supposed to meet the two young men in the north gates, they first went to see Old Pang and Old Na.

"Ceres, I will give you this sound transmission talisman. Old Pang's and my mark are already there. Contact us if anything happens. I will also give you this robe and necklace to protect you on your journey. Hide the necklace well. My disciple crest will be given after you returned or else, it will be troublesome if anyone knew that you have both of our crests."

Old Na gave Ceres a sound transmission talisman which is a talisman the size of a hand with different arrays drawn on it and used to contact a person as long as the person's mark is on it. However, the downgrade of this item is that it can only contact someone within 1,000 kilometers from you. One may also leave a message on the talisman and as long as the other person is within 1,000 kilometers and the talisman is not destroyed, the person will hear the message. Old Na also gave her a black magical robe. It is something imbued with a magic array containing the power of fire shield. The fire shield can be activated once an attack landed on the robe. The downgrade of this item is that, it can only use the fire shield twice but the power of the shield is that of a level 50 fire magician; enough for Ceres' journey this time. The necklace, on the other hand, was something that can help her guard against spiritual essence probing. It was something that Old Na painstakingly acquired during his younger years. Even though they all knew that Ceres' spiritual essence is higher than those of her age, it is still not enough for her to completely protect herself from anyone. Old Na was only taking precautions.

"Old Na seems to be generous to his disciple."

After witnessing Old Na's actions, Old Pang couldn't help but laugh. He knew that this is the first time the Old Na accepted a disciple and someone who could stay by his side for such a long time.

"I give you my crest. Keep it safe and do not lose it. It will be the only proof you'll have for your identity. Also, I'll give you these herbs. You might need them in healing that old man from the Hunts family. If they can provide you with the necessary herbs, don't use any of these. I still spent huge amounts of money on these herbs. Lastly, you might need this medicinal cauldron. Yours is too shabby and won't be able to refine better medicines."

The disciple crest that Old Pang and Old Na kept talking about is a small flat circular jade emblem. These things differ from other jade emblems because the disciple crests have different designs. The designs are unique to each teacher. Some of them use their names while others use symbols or drawings. Moreover, to make these crests is not an easy feat since it is made from a 10,000 year old jade wood. Aside from the rarity of the material, the difficulty of molding such thing should also be considered. This is also the reason why not many teachers have disciple crests to give to their students. Only those of high standing would acquire such thing to give to their disciples as a means of proof for identity. Also, each crest is imbued with a small amount of spiritual essence of the teacher. This spiritual essence is enough to form a mini-hologram of the teacher's crest when one injects his or her spirit essence on it and thereby, further creating a strong proof of identity. The main reason why old jade wood was used to make such crests is because it can store the spiritual essence of a person. However, only 10,000 year old and above jade woods can store such spiritual essence for years while younger jade woods can only store for minutes or hours. In addition, to prevent stealing of crests, it is also imbued with magic arrays that lets one drop a blood on it to claim it as his. In this way, not everybody who injects spiritual essence can make the mini-hologram appear.

Old Pang's disciple crest is designed as three sparks of different sizes enclosed in a circled stalk of leaves. The reason for this design is something that Ceres didn't bother asking Old Pang.

Aside from his disciple crest and some rare herbs, Old Pang gave Ceres a medicinal cauldron which she can use to concoct pills. It only needed a regular flame and it can refine much better medicines than any other cauldron out there. It was obviously one of Old Pang's treasures.

After receiving the needed items and hearing more precautions and warnings, Ceres and Gil left Old Pang's house. They didn't stop at any particular place but instead, kept on roaming the city. This looks like they're leisurely taking a break but they are truly erasing their presence and tracks from anyone who might have been following them or have eyes on them.

Laterthat evening, they met with Orion who is now disguised as a random person in acertain bar.-tbc