Chapter 152: A Poison Without an Antidote

"No matter how much I dislike him, this crown prince is still a shrewd character, despite looking like he doesn't know of the difficulties of the outside world after staying in the palace for so long." Yun Yang thought, "Let's see what he'll do then!"

"It would be best for him not to bother me but if he really does, I'll just go along with my plans."

...

At the Residence of Qiu, Qiu Jianhan, who had parted with Yun Yang for only a few days, had gotten considerably thinner.

It was one thing to listen to what Yun Yang had said and another to prove that the emperor had been poisoned. It was a crucial issue, after all, so the emperor and the old marshal had decided to take matters into their own hands after lengthy discussions; they could not just listen to whatever Yun Yang, as a child, said!

Is the situation critical just because you said it is? What if Yun Yang was just exaggerating to emphasize his own importance?

Both the emperor and the old marshal had thought about the possibility before. The highest merit one could receive in life was none other than saving the emperor but it was two different thing to soothe the emperor's condition and to save the emperor's life!

While Yun Yang was questioning their absence, Yutang's top-tier physician had come to the marshal's residence.

Hands of the Saint - You Tiexin.

Despite the noble title, he had another moniker. Everyone called him Three-Inch You out of respect for his exceptional skills in a particular healing art.

A golden needle of three inches dictated life and death - a person's life and death could be speculated, decided, and salvaged; all within three inches.

The old, saintly physician had spent his life working with acupuncture needles; his healing hands had saved the people of this world for almost seventy years, the toll his holy deeds took on him were evident in the silver strands within his beard and hair.

This old man was Qiu Jianhan's sworn brother, one of the few people whom Qiu Jianhan trusted the most in this world.

If it were not for Old Marshal Qiu's relationship with him, Old You might not have come. If the invitation had been from the emperor alone, it would have been even worse. He might have come, but he would have taken his time about it.

His Majesty was laying in his bed now, the old marshal looking at You Tiexin who was seated in front of the bed nervously.

You Tiexin's face was grim as he cultivated the Inquisition Way of the Heavenly Physician; a gush of unique mystical Qi that was brimming with vitality coursed through the emperor's meridians.

After a while, Old You retracted his mystical Qi and sighed softly.

With a raise of his right hand, a total of a hundred and eight golden acupuncture needles embedded themselves in the emperor from head to toe.

His Majesty had turned into a human porcupine within the blink of an eye.

You Tiexin took a deep breath. It had been but a moment but this saintly physician's face was already covered in droplets of sweat; just the action of spreading the needles had depleted more than ninety-five percent of his mystical Qi!

Logically, Old You should have meditated to readjust his breath and recover his condition first. Depleting more than a ninth of mystical Qi at once would damage any cultivator's basic Qi; it was no exception even when Old You's cultivated mystical skill was attuned to the healing arts.

Yet Saintly Physician You forced himself to breathe again as his ten fingers blurred in frenzied motion, gracefully weaving his skill.

His fingers moved deftly around the emperor's body - pressing, pulling, poking, shaking, and jerking...

The hundred and eight needles were accompanied by a hundred and eight different techniques as they went completely through His Majesty's body.

The blurring shadows of his fast motions disappeared abruptly, You Tiexin was panting harshly but he did not slow down. Another golden needle appeared in his right hand; without a sound, it pierced the tip of the emperor's left index finger with a cold, glimmering flash.

Buzz, buzz.

The hundred and eight needles that were stationary suddenly trembled on the emperor's body, buzzing loudly when the last golden needle pierced the Emperor's skin.

Immediately, a black line, visible to the eyes, coursed speedily towards the index finger following the meridians of the emperor's left hand.

Finally, a drop of black blood spurted out.

You Tiexin urgently caught it in a tiny jade bottle that was only the size of a finger pad.

The acupuncture needles were still trembling but the black line had been stopped in its tracks. It remained frozen for a short while before it slowly faded away.

A moment later, the black line was thoroughly gone while His Majesty's skin returned to its original color as if nothing had happened.

The golden needles continued to buzz, but nothing else happened to the emperor's body.

A long while later, the golden needles finally quieted down.

You Tiexin had expended all that he had, sweating profusely and puffing violently; his vision was slightly blurry from his efforts. It was an effect of forcefully performing the acupuncture despite expending most of his mystical Qi. The old saintly physician made an effort to control himself and extracted all the golden needles from His Majesty's body; before he could keep them into the box though, he collapsed onto the floor as sweat drenched his entire being, draining the color from his face.

The needles he had just extracted lay scattered all across the floor.

Qiu Jianhan was shocked, scurrying over to hold him and transferring a flow of refined mystical Qi into You Tiexin's meridians.

The mystical skill the old marshal cultivated was different from Old You's, so he could not have helped when Old You was performing the acupuncture. However, the old marshal's skills were sufficient to help Old You. Now, he could at least refill his damaged basic Qi.

After some time, You Tiexin had finally regained his calm composure.

His Majesty had sat up from his bed as well, his gaze directed at You Tiexin.

Somberness tinged his gaze. Although he had made an effort to put up an indifferent front, he could not do it - even though he was the emperor of an empire.

The fact that the poisoning attempt came from the inner court of the palace had still hit this astute emperor of magnificence with the pang of a piercing heartache!

You Tiexin finally opened his eyes; his vision brimming with a strong sense of exhaustion.

"How was it?" Qiu Jianhan was hopeful.

You Tiexin did not answer but held onto the tiny jade bottle. White fog emanated from his entire body as the unique mystical Qi of Inquisition Way of Heavenly Physician was activated once more.

After a moment, he put the jade bottle down.

As Qiu Jianhan and His Majesty directed their eyes to it, they could see that the drop of blood in the jade bottle was gone. Replacing it was various colors of mist dancing around the bottle.

Looking at the colors of the mist within the jade bottle, You Tiexin's expression grew heavier.

"There's a total of twelve colors..." You Tiexin was finally sure of the poison's composition but the first thing he had done was to sigh.

The old marshal was perplexed. "What does that mean?"

"If there is only one color in the bottle, it means that this person is not poisoned and that would be the color this person possesses. The more colors there are, it means that... the more types of poison there are in the body."

You Tiexin rubbed his temples, troubled and clearly uncomfortable. "In other words, the poison in His Majesty's body isn't just one type, it's a mixed poison. It should be medicines that are harmless when you only take one or a few types together, they can be beneficial even. However, when all twelve types of medicines are mixed together, it evolves to this present frightening lethal poison after such a long time..."

Both the old marshal and the emperor looked aghast.

"This means that Your Majesty has to go through at least eleven different procedures to be able to be poisoned. And the consumption must have been over all these years too, to achieve this state." You Tiexin shook his head. "How can something so outrageous happen in the inner court of the palace? It's ridiculous and unimaginable!"

Both the other men were speechless as the exchanged glances; their looks of consternation were precisely because of this issue and its severity.

If he was only poisoned at one place, it was still reasonable. Now though... eleven different spots!

This was beyond worrying.

It was absolutely terrifying!

"If there had been only one type, it would be nothing worth mentioning. But there are at least eleven types of medicines. The effects of the poison from combining all of them can be more petrifying than the most venomous poison in this world, the Ghostly Bane! With Your Majesty's cultivation base, even if Your Majesty had been accidentally poisoned with the Ghostly Bane, there would still be a point of return. Well, timely help and an appropriate remedy would help greatly as well. But this poison..."

You Tiexin sighed.

Qiu Jianhan immediately turned pale.

The legendary Ghostly Bane poisoned one without leaving a trace; the process was without a hint. When this poison came to its boiling point, the victim would turn into a foggy mist, entirely losing cohesion and ceasing to exist.

That was how the name Ghostly Bane came about.

It was also an immensely toxic poison that all the experts of Tianxuan Continent were wary of.

That was how the Ghostly Bane was crowned as the holder of the throne in the way of venoms in Tianxuan Continent.

However, it seemed that such an extreme poison paled in comparison to the poison within His Majesty now.

"Can it be cured?" The old marshal's voice was shaking as he asked.

The top-tier saintly physician of Yutang, who could tackle even the Ghostly Bane - was there something he could do?

A sense of helplessness surfaced on You Tiexin's face. "No."

Bam!

Qiu Jianhan dropped himself onto the chair in a senseless heap, stricken by the news.

"Not only is it incurable, there is something else..." You Tiexin said, "The complexity of this poison has gone beyond the intricate craftsmanship that excels nature. Disregarding my standpoint, even this old man would be eager to possess this poison. With that, I conclude that person who possesses this poison's recipe must not be any ordinary character!"

"Someone who can possess this recipe and can use it..." You Tiexin's facial muscles jerk. "This old man... cannot imagine... how strong of a force we are going up against."

His Majesty, true to his noble bearings, did not display any outward signs of dismay.

He stood up silently and said softly, "I am not afraid of death. It's a pity but such is my lot in life. It can only be so."

"What pains me most is the continued existence of the person who poisoned me."

A weak smile hung on His Majesty's face. "The person who can do so and is able to do so... it must be one of the people I'm the closest with and trust the most."

He took in a deep breath.

"Yutang!"

"It is now stricken with war externally and traitors internally. The thousand-mile stretch of land on the east is barren with drought, no crops can be harvested; the south is being drowned in a rainy deluge, the people there stripped of their shelters. How can I leave in relief when this country is about to be torn apart? How can I willingly shut my eyes to its plight?"

The emperor's gaze was solemn.

"Is there truly no remedy? Truly nothing that we can try?" The old marshal looked at You Tiexin hopelessly, feeling his heart trembling with fear.