"The person who can save your father is both far away and right in front of you," Lily Xu said.
"Who is it?" Andrew Zhao asked.
"It's the Grandmaster of the Spirit Alliance, Grace!" Lily Xu said. "She has a special relationship with the Emperor. If she says the word, the Emperor will pardon Duke Zhao."
"But... why would she help me?"
"She's friends with Joanna Zuo," Lily Xu said. "If Joanna asks her, she will definitely help."
"But Joanna hates me. Why would she ask her for my sake?" Andrew Zhao shook his head.
"Why are you so stubborn?" Lily Xu said. "Listen, if you grab hold of Joanna Zuo's weakness, she'll do anything you ask!"
"Her weakness? You mean..."
"The child," Lily Xu said. "You're the child's father. Taking them away is a piece of cake."
"But... we're divorced. The child was awarded to her. Even if I bring the child back to the mansion, the authorities will help her take the child back."
"Of course you can't take the child back to Duke Zhao Mansion," Lily Xu said. "I have a countryside estate. Take the child there! If she can't find her child, she'll definitely try to save Duke Zhao Mansion."
Andrew Zhao nodded, as if grabbing onto a lifeline.
...
Grace spent half an hour in the Celestial Library and finally found a book titled with a single word: Hex.
After reading it, she realized what kind of Hex was afflicting Joanna Zuo's patient.
It was called the Love Hex, known as the king of Hex Worms, and it was extremely powerful.
It could even absorb human emotions and evolve into an immortal Love Hex.
Once it became an immortal Hex, even immortals and gods would find it impossible to escape its curse.
This Hex was fed with romantic feelings between men and women; it took ten years to refine just one Hex.
Anyone infected by this Hex, once they fell in love, would be in unbearable pain.
But if the Hex is removed, he will forget all love and affection.
The deeper the feelings, the more complete the forgetting.
That's why it's called the Love Hex.
This book did not record any method to remove the Love Hex.
Grace later consulted the Ten Wilds Herbal Codex and found a cure for the Love Hex there.
However, this Hex was so powerful that even as a Level Nine Spiritual Alchemist, she might not succeed.
So, she went to ask her mentor for help.
Her mentor was formidable, but unfamiliar with Hex techniques.
Grace explained the cure to him, and he went with her.
Joanna Zuo, of course, went along too.
The patient was surnamed Guan—Joanna Zuo called him Mr. Grant.
Last time they visited, Mr. Grant looked perfectly normal.
But this time, he was having an episode.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he howled like a wild animal, smashing his head against the brick wall as if his life depended on it.
Blood and sweat covered his face and body. When he couldn't smash his head anymore, he curled up on the ground, trembling and convulsing.
Just watching him, you could tell the torment he endured was utterly inhuman.
"Oh my god!" Grace couldn't bear to watch. "Mentor, hurry and cure his Hex!"
Jun Lionhead glanced at Grace and said, "Shouldn't we wait until he's lucid and ask for his consent?"
"Consent? He came to Joanna for treatment, of course he wants the pain to end!"
"Let's ask him anyway!" Jun Lionhead said. "After all, removing the Hex comes with side effects."
Grace thought about those side effects and stayed silent.