“What's wrong?”

“You gave me three bones from a magical creature before, right? I'm collecting ingredients now and I'm missing a blueheart blossom. We discovered it in the mountains, but we encountered a magical creature protecting it. We can't beat it.”

“We? Is Rupert with you?”

“Of course. She has a share of the magic potion too, so she can't just stand by and watch.”

“How come this has gone from an urban story to a fantasy? How come there are even protective beasts now?”

Chen Zhao squeezed his nose. “Okay, I'll come over now.”

Fali looked at Chen Zhao. “You're going out? But you don't seem well now.”

“It's okay. It's nothing except sneezing.”

Chen Zhao didn't feel any other effect on his body.

“Drive slowly,” Fali said.

“Yeah.”

Chen Zhao took two more allergy pills, cleaned up quickly, and started driving.

But he didn't get any relief from the allergy. The medicine seemed ineffective on him.

Achoo!

He shattered the car window with his sneeze.

The symptoms seemed to have gotten worse.

Chen Zhao felt his head grow a bit heavy. This didn't feel like a normal allergic reaction.

He didn't have time to think about this though.

Chen Zhao parked the car where Sienna had told him to.

Her car was parked beside the road nearby.

After getting out of the car, Chen Zhao called Sienna.

“Sienna, I'm here, achoo…”

Chen Zhao looked and saw that he'd broken his phone with his sneeze.

A while later, Sienna and Rupert found Chen Zhao.

Camilla was also there.

“Chen, you don't seem to be well today.”

“I don't know. I think I'm allergic to pollen.”

“Then, can you still fight?” Sienna asked. “That guardian beast doesn't seem easy to deal with.”

Chen Zhao's nose started itching again, but he just opened his mouth. The sneeze wouldn't come out.

“It's okay. Let me go look first.” Chen Zhao rubbed his nose.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“I'm okay. Let's go.”

“Mr. Chen, your magic seems very unstable,” Camilla said. “Did you eat something that contained magic recently?”

Chen Zhao squeezed his nose. “Just the potion Sienna gave me.”

“The magic potion is very stable,” Sienna said. “It's impossible to cause these symptoms. Don't blame everything on me. Rupert drank the potion too and she's completely fine.”

“I met a really vicious evil spirit two days ago and swallowed him,” Chen Zhao said.

“What kind of evil spirit?” Camilla asked.

“Some evil spirit called the Grandfather in New York City.”

“Grandfather? The Grandfather from the Evil Spirit Society?” Camilla was in disbelief.

“Yeah, you know him?”

“How can I not know him? That's the Grandfather.”

“Teacher, is the Grandfather really powerful?” Sienna asked curiously.

Rupert pursed her lips. “It's just an evil spirit. How powerful can it be?”

“More than 100 witches have died in the Grandfather's hands.”

When Camilla said that, Rupert and Sienna's expressions froze.

“How is that possible? How can an evil spirit kill so many witches?”

“Over 200 years, the Grandfather battled alone on and off with the largest witch organization of New York City. The Witch Society of New York is larger than all of the witches in L.A. put together. Do you understand how strong he is now?”

Rupert and Sienna both had incredulous expressions. An evil spirit who could fight against more than 100 witches?

Just how terrifying were his abilities?

“I'd faced the Grandfather once,” Camilla said. “It was 30 years ago. At that time, the Grandfather led the Evil Spirit Society in an all-out war against the Witch Society. The Witch Society called for reinforcements from the entire country. Three hundred witches gathered in New York. Both sides declared war and the Grandfather killed at least 30 witches in that battle. Both sides seemed to have had similar losses, but in actuality, the Witch Society lost. My abilities were already pretty extraordinary at that time, but I couldn't even hold off that beast for three minutes.”

Sienna and Rupert looked at Chen Zhao again. They learned how terrifying the Grandfather was from Camilla's memories.

He'd killed 30 witches on the spot and made the enormous Witch Society to ask for reinforcements from the entire country.

And he was killed by Chen Zhao?

“How did you get into a conflict with the Grandfather?”

“His son—I think his name was Addleway—he took over my hotel room, so I killed him. Then the Grandfather led the Evil Spirit Society to take revenge.”

Rupert stared at Chen Zhao.

No matter how arrogant she was, she had to admit right now that Chen Zhao was truly terrifying.

“That Grandfather is really strong, right?”

“Yeah, pretty strong.” Chen Zhao bared the Mouth of Gluttony. “But this mouth of mine swallowed his head.”

Right then, Chen Zhao felt that the Mouth of Gluttony needed to sneeze too.

But the sneeze wouldn't come out.

“Mr. Chen, you're very strong, but it's clear that you're not very knowledgeable about magic. There are many times of creatures with magical abilities, but you can't eat all of them. This is also why we need potions. Only potions can provide the user with stable magic, instead of having unstable magic waves like other sources.”

“So, right now, I'm…”

“You're allergic to magic,” Camilla said.

“What should I do? Will I die?”

“No, it's just like most allergies,” Camilla said. “You'll have an allergic reaction for a time, but it's not fatal.”

Achoo!

Chen Zhao sneezed again. Rupert and Sienna felt a gust of magic sweep towards them.

This man must be a monster, the two thought. His sneeze was like a tornado.

“Chen, how about we call it off today?” Sienna said. “You're not well today.”

“It's okay. I just need to sneeze. There are no other effects,” Chen Zhao said. He rubbed his nose. It felt like he needed to sneeze more.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

Sienna definitely had no doubts about Chen Zhao's abilities, especially after hearing Camilla talk about Chen Zhao's glorious yet horrifying achievement.

Even more, she didn't doubt whether Chen Zhao could help her defeat that guardian beast or not.

She was worried about Chen Zhao's health.

“Just don't stand in front of me when I sneeze.”

Chen Zhao tried putting the Mouth of Gluttony away but couldn't.

It seemed that the mouth had an allergic reaction too. Chen Zhao could feel its discomfort.

It seemed to need to sneeze too…