Gatekeeper Festival 4

"Liquor-Flame Hex Poison?" Adrian Drake shouted, "I know this one! These gu insects are tiny as dust—they enter with wine! No wonder the Crown Prince was poisoned right after drinking!"

Lily Bai continued, "Cassie’s always been super independent, but today she immediately started rubbing against me—just so she could smear the Liquor-Flame Hex Poison onto my body. Then she washed her own feathers with wine, then rinsed off with seawater to hide any traces. But wine scent is hard to get rid of, so she still kept a faint smell on her."

"So where did the gu insects on her come from?" Tanya Quinn asked.

"That... you’ll have to ask Her Majesty the Celestial Empress!" Lily Bai said. "Liquor-Flame Hex Poison is extremely hard to cultivate. I’d love to know where Her Majesty got hers!"

The Celestial Empress smiled coldly. "Do you have any proof?"

"Of course I do!" Lily Bai suddenly clapped her hands twice.

Two bodies flew in from outside and landed sprawled on the ground.

The crowd gasped when they saw them: "Aren’t those Liam Leshan and Jenna Stormscar?"

"So they’re not dead after all!"

"Your Highness the Crown Princess, where did you find them?"

"Their physical bodies are hidden in the Underworld!" Suddenly, King Hades—Ian Yan—walked in and addressed the gods: "But their living souls... were possessing others!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Cassie and Xavier Xiao.

"Living soul possession?" Divine Lord Tanya Quinn looked at Cassie with suspicion.

She just knew something about her had felt off lately!

Ian Yan didn’t say more. He activated his supreme Yin-Yang arts, and the two possessing living souls slowly left the children’s bodies and returned to their own.

Both kids fainted at the same time.

Lily Bai rushed over to check Cassie’s pulse, circulated her power to heal her, then nodded to Tanya Quinn: "She’ll be fine."

Lord Noctis dashed forward, scooped up his beloved daughter, and tucked her into a Life-pouch for safekeeping.

As for Xavier Xiao, Eve the Side-Consort protected him and also put him into a Life-pouch.

She glanced around, then tried to quietly slip out the side door.

But before she could step out, she was forced to turn back.

Outside the door, a mass of black-armored divine soldiers blocked the way.

Bifang, Mirage, and Blood-Eye stood there, watching her with sly, half-smiling faces.

At the same time, Baxa and his crew rushed in, throwing two cages over the just-reunited bodies, stacking three Restriction Seals on top—making sure the two, whose living souls had only just returned, couldn’t escape again.

...

Lily Bai strode up to the Celestial Empress and stared her down: "Your Majesty! Do you admit to colluding with Liam Leshan and Jenna Stormscar to murder the Crown Prince?"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about!" the Celestial Empress screamed, her voice hoarse.

Lily Bai nodded, pulled out a talisman scroll, and revealed it to everyone.

It showed Princess Quinn Xiao using a Soulbinder to ask the Celestial Empress about Xuanchen’s whereabouts.

You could clearly see in the recording that the Celestial Empress knew Liam Leshan was possessing Xavier Xiao’s body.

Princess Quinn Xiao collapsed right onto the floor.

Suddenly, she realized—how could a Soulbinder just ‘happen’ to fall into her hands?

Turns out, it was all their plan from the start!

After the first Soulbinder finished playing, Lily Bai revealed another. This one showed the Celestial Empress sprinkling Liquor-Flame Hex Poison onto Cassie and directing her to stick close to Lily Bai.

Then came a third: the Celestial Empress conspiring with the previous Azure Dragon Lord on how, after convicting Lily Bai, they’d drag down the Guardian Drake Lord’s Manor, intimidate the River Drake Clan and the Drake Ancestral Clan all at once.

...

"Your Majesty, do you need me to use a Soulbinder on you too?" Lily Bai asked. "I can whip one up anytime!"