Liu Sisi opened her arms, and the squirrels jumped from her hands onto her shoulders.
"Sisi, we've found out that this is Black Witch Mountain in Miaonan Kingdom. If we go through a few more mountains from here, we'll reach the courtyard of the Great Witch of Miaonan Kingdom."
"However, many of the flowers, plants, and trees in the forest are poisonous, so you have to be careful not to get poisoned by them."
The three little squirrels, one after the other, described the terrain to Liu Sisi.
After saying that, he looked at the snowbird and asked, "Did you find out anything?"
The snowbird told the squirrels about its experience by showing them the two black birds.
"Alright, then let's go find where the Great Shaman lives. These two black birds are no use. Snow Wolf, Snow Leopard, White Snake, whoever wants to eat them can eat them!"
As soon as Liu Sisi said this, the snowbird immediately translated her meaning to the two blackbirds.
Upon hearing that his life was about to be in danger, the black bird said, "Don't eat me! My master is the Great Shaman. We are Black Feather Birds. I can take you to find your master."
Liu Sisi wanted to cover her ears when she heard the black bird's shrill, hoarse voice; the bird's voice was just too awful.
It seems this era is not on the same continent as China. People in China have never heard of such an ugly bird with such an unpleasant voice.
The snowbirds told Liu Sisi what they meant.
Liu Sisi nodded, indicating that they should just obediently lead the way and not try any tricks.
Meanwhile, inside the palace.
Today, Eunuch Luo came to deliver an imperial decree, saying that the morning court session will be temporarily suspended for the time being, as His Majesty has been feeling unwell these past few days, and the Second Prince will act as regent.
Once His Majesty has recovered, he will return to the court. The ministers will not know that Emperor Yong'an was assassinated, and the palace will not tell them either, in order to avoid turmoil in the court and prevent ambitious people from making trouble.
Fortunately, Gu Lingchen was quite adept at handling state affairs. Some ministers speculated that His Majesty deliberately did this to train the Second Prince, and if the training was successful, he would be made Crown Prince.
Others believe that His Majesty is truly ill, but they are unsure of his health condition.
Many ministers came to visit, but Gu Lingchen dismissed them all, citing Emperor Yong'an's poor health and the imperial physician's advice that he should rest and not see outsiders.
Only the Empress and the First Prince insisted on seeing Emperor Yong'an before they could feel at ease.
These two were still under house arrest, and they had not been informed of the assassination attempt on Emperor Yong'an. It was unclear how they learned of Emperor Yong'an's serious illness, but they insisted on going out and barging into Emperor Yong'an's palace to see him.
The eunuchs and palace maids who tried to stop him were all kicked by the eldest prince. Just as the empress and her son were about to step through the door, Gu Lingchen appeared behind them.
“Brother, what has caused you to get so angry? Father is recuperating and should not see anyone. Please, Mother and brother, move aside so as not to disturb Father’s rest.”
"Second brother, why won't you let me see Father? Are you plotting something?"
"That's right, you two vile mother and son, are you plotting to usurp the throne? Otherwise, why don't you dare let us see His Majesty?"
The Empress and the First Prince tried to provoke Gu Lingchen into proving his innocence, but Gu Lingchen completely ignored them.
"Mother, please be careful with your words. You and your elder brother are still under house arrest. What you are doing now is defying the imperial decree, do you know that? Guards, take the Empress and the eldest prince back. They are not allowed to come out without Father's permission."
As soon as Gu Lingchen finished speaking, Imperial Guards came forward to invite them back to the palace.
The Empress originally wanted to throw a tantrum, but considering that she was, after all, the mother of the nation, she couldn't make things too ugly, so she reluctantly went back.
Gu Lingchen watched the two people's backs and wondered if they were related to his father's assassination. He felt they were quite suspicious, but weren't they afraid of arousing suspicion by acting so obviously? However, it suited the foolish behavior of that mother and son.
Gu Lingchen's men still hadn't found any clues, and the matter remained shrouded in mystery.
Gu Lingchen could only send more people to keep an eye on the Empress and her son and see if they would make any further moves.
A few days later, at the Liu residence.
After reading the letter, Liu Siping and Liu Si'an realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately went to tell Liu Dashi and Wu Shi about it.
He also summoned all the Liu family guards from the training ground back to his residence and ordered them to protect the safety of the Liu family mansion.
They also arranged for Master Fang to protect Liu Dashi closely, and for No. 1 and No. 2 to protect Li Caiping and Wu Shi.
Number Six was tasked with protecting Liu Sifu. After arranging everything, they went to Medicine King Valley to pick up Liu Sixi.
Since the emperor was unconscious, they didn't know the specifics of his condition. Although there were imperial physicians present, they still trusted their fifth brother more.
The two brothers told Liu Sixi what Liu Sisi had mentioned in her letter, and also emphasized the importance of the matter, saying that it should not be easily revealed to others.
Who is Doctor Jiang? Any seasoned veteran could tell at a glance that their visit this time was definitely not simple.
He immediately told Liu Sixi to pack her things and leave, without asking her a single question from beginning to end.
Now that he's getting old, he hates trouble the most. If someone asks and he has to step in, he'll lose a lot of money. Being as shrewd as he is, he quickly sent his apprentice away to avoid getting into trouble.
Liu Sixi, who was pushed out by her master with a bundle, just smiled when she saw the bewildered expressions on her third and fourth brothers' faces.
"Let's go! Master is afraid of trouble and he's worried you'll have to ask him for help, so he quickly sent me away."
Not wanting too many people to know, they left without any servants, traveling by carriage.
Following the directions of the two black-feathered birds, Liu Sisi walked for several days and nights before finally seeing the house of the Great Shaman of Miao Nan Kingdom.
The road was really difficult to walk on, and she had to avoid poisonous weeds and flowers. Several times, Liu Sisi thought about drawing a door and crawling through it.
But she didn't know the exact location and was afraid that if she drew randomly, she would go further away. She was also afraid that the two black-feathered birds might understand her and reveal her secret. So she had no choice but to slowly follow the route they told her.
But why is this courtyard built halfway up the mountain?
"Hey, I'm asking you, how does your great shaman, who usually lives halfway up the mountain, usually get out?"
Upon hearing the snowbird's translation, the black-feathered bird instantly became arrogant.
"Hmph, we great shamans are not like you mortals! The great shaman set up a magical mechanism on the other side of the mountain, and he used it to get out."
"Normally, when people come, they write a letter and we pass it on. You can also write down what you want to do, and we'll bring it in for you."
Liu Sisi suppressed the urge to slap them to death and listened to the snowbird's translation.
How could there be birds with such an unpleasant voice? That shaman must have a very unique taste, liking to keep such birds.
Since that's their rule, Liu Sisi will respect it.
She took out ordinary paper and pen from her sleeve, wrote down that she had come to ask for the antidote to Wan Hua Luo, rolled it up, and placed it on the black-feathered bird's beak.
Only one was released to prevent them from all running back and never returning.
The released black-feathered bird flew inside, carrying Liu Sisi's letter in its beak.
It cawed a few times in mid-air, and soon flew into the small courtyard halfway up the mountain.
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