A Trial by Halves

Unravelling the Seal 1

The Celestial Heavens.

Moving closer to the bed until he was almost on top of it, Di Juns hand slowly ran through the energy that was swirling beneath Haodes body.  His lips had thinned out and his eyes hardened as he ordered everyone from the chamber including The Medicine King.  Haode was stable enough without him for a few minutes and no sooner had they left the chamber, then Di Jun slowly eased a little energy towards the mans body to roll him over.

And as the canopy came into view, Di Jun instantly threw a barrier around the entire chamber in order to protect everyone without.  He wasn't sure what it was, but the energy was so powerful he could feel not only Qing Cang through the essence, but the power of it was exceptionally dangerous.

And that immediately had his mind moving to Ci Hang.  He had been gone a little while, but not knowing where he was and knowing he was going to need assistance with it, he very gently and very slowly eased the canopy out from under Haodes body until it was floating in the air.  And only then did he get to see a sight he had not seen in hundreds of thousands of years.

Angry beyond words but knowing he had to move quickly and delicately due to the throbbing dark energy that was spilling out of the very centre of the canopy.  Lit up brilliant as a globe of yellowy orange ball of essence and surround completely by black as night wisps of smokey energy, he could see that there had once been a barrier around it, one that obviously hid it from view, but at that moment, whatever had kept it hidden was weakening very quickly, and that was no doubt because it was removed from where it had hung.

But having yet to figure out a way to remove it safely without it affecting himself, he gently moved it away from Haodes body and into the center of the chamber before conjuring a spell that would see it completely wrapped in an invisibility barrier strong enough that not even Haode would see it.

Then magically he sent it straight to the archives before moving back towards Haode.  His face was a mask of black anger and had Haode been capable of turning to open his eyes, he would have struggled to keep the fear at bay.  Di Jun rarely angered to that extent, and he was furious.  He knew what that energy was, and he also knew that Haode had possibly been affected by it, because not only was he visibly shaking on the bed, but the low moaning was beginning to gather in strength.

Pulling him towards him so that he was on his back again, Haodes eyes fluttered open a little before closing again.  He had seen the log white hair so understood he was home and who was with him, but for a few moments, Haode struggled to bring his head back to order again. Physically, he was very weak and there was of course an immense amount of pain, but Haode had a high tolerance to pain, so it didn't bother him too much, but his mind itself was still very sharp. 

In his mind, he could still hear the conversation he'd had with Qing Cang, and though he was a man who never made judgement calls based on the words of just one man, what he had heard was enough to know that something about Ye Huas wife needed urgent attention and that meant bringing his body under control, because at that moment, he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes.

Only, with Di Jun there and a man who was just as analytical as he was, he kept his thoughts to himself and his eyes firmly closed before delving into the pain that was raking his body to give himself something else to think about, because though he had no proof, he strongly suspected the man could mind read, which he tried his best to close down.

But no matter how hard he tried, the conversation he'd had with Qing Cang would not leave him be.  A myriad of questions raced through his mind at once and the first one he could not stop himself from asking was whether his Grandson knew his wife was really Si Yin.