A month had gone by and Feng jiu still hadn't woken up. After what happened on the sky kingdom's borders that fateful day, the bai family had been worried for their little feng jiu. The clan had the felt so much pride in learning how valiantly feng jiu had fought with hei and defeated him but the inimitable trial afterward had left them all in deep apprehension. Resultingly, the royal family had closed the fox den to visitors. Only the immediate family and the handful of friends were allowed entry. Had it not been for the still-standing barriers of the young fox queen which had prohibited all entry and exit from sky kingdom, there might not have been friends' access to the den.

After fengjiu and dijun had fainted, zhe yan had disappeared with them for his own house before anyone could do or say anything. Following them, the disjointed group of high gods from sky kingdom and qingqui had followed him back to his peach orchard. This group of high gods was the one that had been lured away from the battle by the demons. They had hurried back when they had heard hei an's screams but by the time they had reached everything was done for. This little gathering consisted of bai zhi, bai yi, bai zhen, bai qian, ye hua and lian song. Si ming was also among the group but no one knew where he had come from.

At zhe yan's place in the peach orchard, they were greeted by another surprise. Mo yuan was currently occupying zhe yans bed and looked to be in deep sleep. Zhe yan looked at the serum bottle by his bedside and let out a loud sigh saying to himself, "what have you been doing, xaio jiu" Moving his head to the side, he conjured two beds and laid out both feng jiu and dijun on them. Standing between the two beds, he checked their vitals, cultivation, and spirit. Both of them seemed okay with healthy spirits and cultivations.

Looking at donghua's unconscious face, zhe yan reminisced the scene of feng jiu's ascension trial. The look of utter defeat and helplessness that had occupied donghua when the bolts had hit feng jiu, his cries of pain like he was the one being hit had unnerved him. And it wasn't only him that had seen it, bai zhi had also been a witness to that moment. Unlike him, though he had acted quickly and drawn a privacy shield over them to prevent others from seeing donghua in such a state. But what good had that done when ultimately, donghua had paid nary a thought to his audience and ran at the chance to take the lightning bolts for feng jiu. No one could have hidden that spectacular view even if they had wanted to. The pure devotion and love that had rolled off of him in waves as he had taken feng jiu in his arms and taken the rest of the bolts for her could never have been hidden. He had never even imagined donghua was capable of such emotions. Alas, it seemed like feng jiu had succeeded in cracking open that old rock and successfully found his heart. Now, at least he can rest assured that feng jiu's love for the old rock was definitely not one-sided.

As zhe yan moved outside, he was greeted by the whole group from the battleground. Looking at their expectant faces, he let out a chuckle.

"They are both fine. Just resting from that abnormality of a trial."

Relief flooded all their faces but before he could continue, bai yi interrupted, "so can we take feng jiu back to the fox den?"

Hearing this lian song was forced to step forward and ask for permission to take back dijun with him. He feared, he would be facing the canghe for separating dijun from the young queen but bai yi had put him in a difficult situation here. Without feng jiu here, there was no reason for zhe yan to keep dijun here. Though before his meeting would have been fixed with canghe, si ming interrupted.

"my lords, if I may be so bold to interrupt, we have a situation here."

"what is it, si ming?" Bai zhi asked.

"her majesty, bai feng jiu had placed the sky kingdom under two of her protective shields. These red shields of her are no small magic pieces that can be undone. I have encountered one of these before and these shields are vicious in nature. They swallow demons whole and feed on their power growing stronger with each one. Even though they do not harm immortals, they also do not let anything pass. It was her majesty herself that told me only one person can undo her shield beside herself and that person also fainted alongside her. So, I'm sorry to say this my lord but right now no one in all the realm can undo her barriers. With the barriers still in place no one can go to or come from the sky kingdom right now." Si ming bowed to the high gods and took a step back.

It was bai qian that spoke first, "how is that possible, star lord? That lassie is part of the bai clan, her magic stems from us. Then how is it possible that only dijun can undo her barriers?"

Zhe yan opened his mouth to answer bai qian, when a voice from behind beat him to it.

"because your powers are nothing compared to her," mo yuan appeared from the hut, shocking everyone not with his presence but with what he had said. Even shocked and confused, bai qian bowed to her master before she asked, "how is that possible, shifu?"

"I do not possess the knowledge as to the workings of the heavens and why something happens when it does. But what I can tell you is that the power she possesses is more than all of the present bai family combined. I can say this with complete assurance. And before you ask how again. Let me tell you something. While feng jiu was in the mortal realm for the past 1000 years, she had been training in sword fighting, magic, Buddhist scriptures, and military stratagems under my tutelage. And before that zhe yan had tutored her in medicine and spirit. As her teacher, it makes me extremely proud to say that she not only mastered the subjects we taught her but also succeeded in creating spells complex enough to send my mind for a tail spin. Does that answer your question, bai qian?"

"it does, shifu."

"now I do not know what happened to leave dijun and feng jiu unconscious but as to what si ming said, I can attest that. It's true that no one apart from feng jiu and dijun can undo them. Again I say this because I have tried. She had created that spell with the only exception of dijun. The most I can try to do is lock and limit the barriers' power for a little while but I cannot undo it completely."

This time before anyone could interrupt him zhe yan started, "now, listen here, all of you. No one is going anywhere without my permission. I do not care for the barriers. I will treat all three of my patients together in one place and if I hear one word against it I will lock him/her up in the black sea. Try me."

Everyone understood the sincerity of zhe yan's threat. The old phoenix was the most easy-going person but it was not to be forgotten that he was also the oldest and most powerful primordial spirit animal. In terms of age only dijun was older than him and that too because no one knew when dijun came to be; he was said to be as old as time.

"three?" Mo yuan asked, perplexed.

"yes, three. When feng jiu brought you to my house, she put you in my care. I have no idea what you were doing but it has taken a heavy toll on your spirit and cultivation. She has already stabilized them both with the serum she gave you but you are a long way off from being fine, brother. So, for now, you are not locking any barriers or going anywhere else. I am treating all my patients together and I don't want to hear another word about it."

Bai zhen knew zhe yan would not let this go so he looked at his father for permission. As bai zhi nodded at him to proceed, he turned to zhe yan and called out to him in the voice he loved the most.

"zhe yan?"

"do not fight me on this, zhen zhen."

"I won't zhe yan. I agree with what you said. And most of all, I do not want you getting sick, trying to run between three different places all the time."

"Good then."

"but I do have an idea zhe yan. Just hear me out. What if we took all your three patients to the fox den. There you all will be comfortable and you will have the whole bai family to order around. "

Bai zhen could see the idea to order around the bai family exceedingly appealed to zhe yan but he was still apprehensive about something. So he gave it another try.

"think about it, my old phoenix. All your patients would be comfortable and those around them can also rest assured that they are just a room away. Ye hua, lian song, and si ming will also be able to stay with dijun. Father already agrees with me. Think about it. Xaio jiu would also want it to be this way." Bai zhen knew, saying xaio jiu's name would work and it did. The old phoenix loved xaio jiu too much. She was the daughter he never had. He would do anything he could in his power for her. For him, xaio jiu's health and comfort were of top priority. Thus, he agreed to move everyone to the fox den.

Since then, a month has passed but neither donghua nor feng jiu has woken up. Zhe yan kept them under continuous monitoring but for two weeks after the incident, there was no change in their health at all. But two weeks earlier, things had changed and not for the good. When zhe yan was examining feng jiu that day he felt something different about feng jiu's spirit. He checked again and found everything to be alright but still he felt there was something about her spirit that was different. Over time, the difference became clear. Her spirit had started retreating into itself little by little. Unclear at what this meant, he called mo yuan. Even the old god of war clueless to what was happening. He checked again and again but no magic bound her spirit neither any medicine nor any spell. When the medicine king and the god of war were unaware of something, one usually sought the guidance of the first heavenly lord, the old master of the universe, donghua dijun. But with dijun also unconscious, zhe yan prayed for dijun to wake up soon.

While the fox den was covered under the morose clouds of worry, there was unrest in the heavenly palace at being trapped inside feng jiu's barriers. The heavenly lord, hao de was furious at being trapped by a little girl. Unaware of the power of the barriers, he had tried unsuccessfully to tear down the barriers. Armed with all his power he still couldn't put a dent on it. Moreover, he actively saw the power of the barriers when one of the demons that were still trapped inside tried to attack him, the red wall swallowed him whole and glowed even brighter. Scared, he had run from there. However, this didn't mean that he had given up; he was a very stubborn old man. Fortunately, for hao de he could still send letters outside by magic, and unfortunately, ye hua and lian song were on the receiving end of these letters. After receiving thousands of letters between the two of them with the orders to get these barriers down, they broke down by the third week and asked mo yuan for help.

Before agreeing, mo yuan wrote to hao de himself explaining the limitations of what he can do. He made sure that heavenly lord understood that he could only limit the powers of the barriers to one side and lock it for only a short period of time. Afterward, along with ye hua and lian song, mo yuan took bai qian along with them. From what he construed of the situation, the twenty or so demons that were still trapped inside needed to be dealt with extreme care and precision. Following the plan, he had made, mo yuan undid a part of the external barriers' power, pushed it towards the south side, and locked it. As soon as the barrier turned from red to golden, bai qian stepped in and swished her Kunlun purity jade fan with the full force of its power twice. First from right to left, then from left to right. These movements were specifically designed by mo yuan to make sure that none of the demons escaped. With the two swooshes from the fan, all the demons were blown back towards the interior barrier which swallowed them all as soon as they came in reach. Now with the demon's dead, he undid a part of the internal barrier, pushed it towards the south side, and locked it. Now, both the shields glowed golden instead of red allowing the immortals to pass through freely. With the pathway now open, lian song and si ming took leave from bai zhi and returned to the sky kingdom. They would visit both dijun and feng jiu daily but couldn't live in the fox den now.

It was at the end of the month when the bai family finally saw a ray of hope. That afternoon, dark grey clouds had covered the fox den. Mo yuan was outside when he saw the storm clouds rolling in, thundering along. The moment he saw them, he knew, donghua is awake and he is mad. Heavens save them all.