Forty-five
The news of Princess Fukang's critical illness struck like a bolt from the blue, instantly shaking the entire palace. Emperor Zhao Zhen immediately set out for the princess's palace, followed closely by the Empress Dowager and the Empress, and a pall of gloom hung over the palace.
Upon hearing the news, Zhan Zhao rushed to the palace and, thanks to his status as a royal bodyguard, was able to quickly accompany the eunuch to Princess Fukang's bedroom.
When he arrived, he found the atmosphere in the hall heavy. Zhao Zhen's face was ashen, and he tightly held his daughter's cold little hand. The Empress silently wept beside him, while the Empress Dowager kept turning her prayer beads. Several imperial physicians knelt on the ground, trembling.
Xuanyuan Tianyi was already standing by the bedside, intently taking Princess Fukang's pulse. Her brows were furrowed, and her expression was more solemn than ever before.
"How is it?" Zhao Zhen asked, his voice hoarse and urgent, as he watched Zhan Zhao enter. He didn't speak, but instead looked at Xuan Yuan Tianyi.
Xuanyuan Tianyi slowly lowered the princess's wrist and said in a deep voice, "It is the poison of the withered and flourishing grass, mixed with some kind of cold Gu. The poison has penetrated deep into the internal organs, and the Gu worms have also begun to erode the heart meridian."
"Is there a solution?" Zhao Zhen's voice trembled slightly.
"The poison can be cured, but it will take time to prepare the antidote. The Gu... is more troublesome. We need to find the mother Gu, or forcibly draw it out using special methods. The princess is young and weak, and forcibly drawing out the Gu would be extremely risky." Xuan Yuan Tianyi's tone was calm, but every word carried immense weight.
"The mother Gu?" Zhao Zhen's eyes flashed with cold light. "The person who cast the Gu must be in the palace! Thoroughly investigate everyone around the princess!"
The Imperial City Guard and the palace guards immediately took action, isolating and interrogating all the maids, eunuchs, and nannies who served Princess Fukang. The princess's palace was also thoroughly searched inside and out.
However, after all the searching, nothing was found. All the palace staff claimed to know nothing about the matter, and no suspicious utensils were found in the palace.
Time passed second by second, and Princess Fukang's breathing became weaker and weaker, and an abnormal bluish-gray color began to appear on her small face.
“We can’t wait any longer,” Xuan Yuan Tianyi said decisively. “We must detoxify her first and stabilize her heart. As for the Gu worms… I tried to temporarily seal them with golden needles, but this method won’t last long.”
She quickly wrote down a prescription and handed it to the head of the Imperial Medical Academy: "Immediately prepare the medicine according to the prescription, boil three bowls of water down to one bowl, and be quick!"
The head of the Imperial Medical Academy dared not neglect the task and personally went to fetch the medicine and prepare it.
Xuanyuan Tianyi then took out the golden needles he carried with him and, with lightning speed, precisely pierced several acupoints on Princess Fukang's body. As the golden needles entered her body, the princess's painful groans seemed to lessen somewhat, but her complexion remained pale.
Zhan Zhao stood to the side, watching Xuan Yuan Tianyi's focused and composed profile. His heart was filled with trust, yet he couldn't hide his anxiety. His sharp gaze swept across every corner of the hall, observing the expressions of everyone, trying to find the hidden murderer.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on an inconspicuous palace maid in the corner of the hall. The maid had her head down and seemed no different from the other panicked palace servants, but Zhan Zhao noticed that her fingers were trembling slightly, not because of fear, but a kind of... extremely subtle, rhythmic trembling, as if she were silently tapping something.
The Gu-controlling whistle! The bone whistle that Zhao Zongji held in his hand before he died!
A thought flashed through Zhan Zhao's mind like lightning! The person who casts the Gu doesn't need to carry the mother Gu with them; they can remotely control the offspring Gu through a specific sound or frequency! This little palace maid is using her fingertips to simulate that frequency, trying to intensify the Gu worms' activity!
"Grab her!" Zhan Zhao suddenly pointed at the little palace maid, his voice booming like thunder throughout the hall!
Almost at the same moment Zhan Zhao spoke, the young palace maid's expression changed drastically. She suddenly pulled a poisoned dagger from her sleeve, not to stab anyone else, but to plunge it straight into her own heart! She was also going to commit suicide to silence him!
"Don't even think about it!" Zhan Zhao moved like lightning, closing in instantly. Before the Juque sword was even drawn, the scabbard struck the palace maid's wrist precisely!
"Clang!" The dagger fell to the ground.
Zhan Zhao moved with lightning speed, instantly subduing several acupoints on the palace maid's body, rendering her unable to move.
"Speak! Where is the mother Gu?!" Zhan Zhao demanded sharply.
A trickle of black blood escaped from the corner of the palace maid's mouth. Her eyes were filled with venom as she stared at Zhan Zhao, sneering, "It's too late... The mother Gu isn't on me... You... will never find her... The princess... is doomed..." Before she could finish speaking, her head lolled to the side, and she was dead! Another suicide by poison!
The trail has gone cold again! The mother Gu virus cannot be found, and the princess remains in grave danger!
The atmosphere inside the hall instantly plummeted to freezing point. Hope, which had just been ignited, was ruthlessly extinguished.
Xuanyuan Tianyi focused intently on Princess Fukang's pulse, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper: "The Gu worms have become even more active due to the stimulation from the previous fluctuations. The golden needles... are about to fail to seal them."
Just then, the head physician of the Imperial Medical Academy, who had gone to prepare the medicine, came running back in a panic, his hands empty and his face filled with terror: "Your Majesty! The medicine... the pharmacy has been robbed! Several key ingredients needed to prepare the antidote... especially that three-hundred-year-old Crimson Sun Ginseng... no... it's gone!"
"What?!" Zhao Zhen roared in fury. "The imperial pharmacy has been robbed? Where are the guards?!"
"The eunuch guarding the pharmacy... hanged himself..." The head of the courtyard collapsed to the ground, his face ashen.
One step leads to another! The enemy's calculations were incredibly precise, not only using poison and Gu poison, but also completely cutting off the antidote! The Crimson Sun Ginseng is the key ingredient to counteract the Yin poison of the Withered Glory Grass, and the older it is, the better the effect. A three-hundred-year-old Crimson Sun Ginseng is an extremely rare and precious item!
Without the Red Sun Ginseng, the antidote is much less effective and is simply not enough to remove toxins that have penetrated deep into the internal organs!
A sense of despair enveloped the entire palace. The Empress could no longer hold back and began to sob softly. The Buddhist prayer beads in the Empress Dowager's hand fell to the ground with a clatter. Zhao Zhen staggered, grabbing the bedpost for support before he could stand up. For the first time, a look of almost helpless pain appeared in his deep eyes.
Zhan Zhao watched all this with a heart full of anguish. He suddenly looked at Xuan Yuan Tianyi, only to see that although her expression was solemn, her eyes remained calm, as if she were pondering something.
"Tianyi," Zhan Zhao walked quickly to her side and lowered his voice, "is there any other method in the storeroom of Xiaoyao Tower?"
Xuanyuan Tianyi looked up at him, his eyes flickering slightly, and said in a low voice, "Although the Crimson Sun Ginseng is lacking, it is not without a cure. However... it needs an extremely yang and potent medicinal ingredient as a substitute. Go quickly to find Mo Yan and get a drop of his 'blood'. He knows what to do."
Although Zhan Zhao didn't understand, he believed Xuan Yuan Tianyi's words without a doubt, and knew that time was of the essence and there was no room for further questions. "I'll go right now!" He bowed slightly to Zhao Zhen, and after receiving his approval, he flashed out of the palace like an arrow, using his best lightness skill to rush straight to Xiaoyou Villa outside the palace.
Zhan Zhao sped along at breakneck speed, with only one thought in his mind—faster! Faster still!
When he burst into the villa, panting, and found Leng Moyan leisurely sipping tea in the courtyard, he didn't even have time to explain. He only said urgently, "Moyan! Tianyi needs a drop of your 'blood' to save Princess Fukang!"
Leng Moyan paused slightly in his cup, a hint of understanding flashing in his usually playful peach blossom eyes before returning to normal. He didn't ask any further questions, put down the teacup, and extended his wrist, his fingertips lightly tracing a line across his skin.
A drop of blood, faintly shimmering with a strange golden light, seeped out. Leng Moyan caught it in a small jade bottle and casually tossed it to Zhan Zhao: "Take this."
Zhan Zhao took the still-warm jade bottle and looked at the wound on Leng Moyan's wrist that had healed instantly, leaving only a faint red mark. Although he was surprised and suspicious, he couldn't care less at the moment. "Thank you!" he said solemnly, then turned around and used his lightness skill again to rush back to the palace as fast as he could.
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Zhan Zhao rushed back to Princess Fukang's palace like a gust of wind and handed the jade bottle to Xuan Yuan Tianyi.
Xuanyuan Tianyi took the jade bottle, opened it, sniffed it, and nodded. She immediately poured the previously prepared medicinal powder, which lacked the Crimson Sun Ginseng, into another empty bowl, and then dripped the drop of golden blood from the jade bottle into it. Strangely, the originally dull-colored medicinal powder immediately became crystal clear upon contact with the drop of blood, emitting a rich and peculiar medicinal fragrance.
She carefully fed the mixed medicine into Princess Fukang's mouth.
Everyone watched with bated breath.
Not long after the medicine entered her throat, Princess Fukang's ashen complexion began to regain its rosy hue at a visible speed, and her weak breathing became steady and strong. She even smacked her lips slightly, as if she were having a sweet dream.
"The toxins... are receding!" Xuan Yuantian took the pulse again, and finally a look of relief appeared on his face. "The medicinal guide is indeed miraculously effective!"
A suppressed cheer and sobs suddenly filled the hall. The Empress wept with joy, the Empress Dowager chanted Buddhist prayers, and Zhao Zhen's tense body finally relaxed. His gaze towards Xuan Yuan Tianyi and Zhan Zhao was filled with gratitude.
However, Xuan Yuan Tianyi's brows did not completely relax: "Although the poison has been neutralized, the Gu worms are still there. The medicine can suppress the Gu worms by drawing them to Yang, but it cannot draw them out. If the mother Gu is not dealt with, the Gu worms will counterattack once the medicine wears off, and the consequences will be unimaginable."
Everyone's hearts were in their throats again.
"Where exactly is the mother Gu?" Zhao Zhen asked in a deep voice.
Zhan Zhao's gaze swept across the hall again, his mind racing. The person who cast the Gu poison must be frequently near the princess to control the offspring Gu. That little palace maid was her personal attendant, giving her the opportunity to cast the Gu, but the mother Gu wasn't on her… She controlled it through a specific frequency… frequency…
He suddenly remembered the palace maid's finger movements, and then he remembered Zhao Zongji's Gu-controlling whistle!
“A sound…it’s a sound!” Zhan Zhao’s eyes flashed. “The mother Gu doesn’t necessarily need to be raised on a living person. It can also be raised near an object that can make a specific sound! For example…a bell, a chime, or…a musical instrument!”
His gaze suddenly fell upon the exquisite Western-style grandfather clock in the corner of the bedroom! It was a precious tribute from the Western Regions last year, which Princess Fukang cherished and placed in her own palace. The grandfather clock would automatically chime every fifteen minutes, emitting a clear and melodious sound!
"It's that clock!" Zhan Zhao pointed to the self-ringing clock!
Immediately, guards stepped forward and carefully disassembled the clock. Sure enough, in a hidden compartment inside the clock, they found a small jade box. Opening the box, they discovered a strange, crimson insect shaped like a silkworm pupa, wriggling slightly in rhythm with the clock's pendulum!
It is the mother Gu!
Xuanyuan Tian stepped forward, took out the mother Gu, and a wisp of white flame rose from his fingertip, instantly turning the mother Gu into ashes.
Just as the mother Gu was burned, Princess Fukang on the bed groaned and spat out a small mouthful of black blood. Then she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze clear, with a hint of confusion from just waking up.
"Father...Mother...I'm hungry..."
A child's innocent voice rang out, like heavenly music, dispelling all the gloom in the hall.
"She's awake! The princess is awake!" The hall erupted in cheers.
Zhao Zhen hugged his daughter tightly, and even this usually composed emperor couldn't help but have tears welling up in his eyes. The Empress and Empress Dowager were also overjoyed and wept.
Looking at the scene of reunion, Zhan Zhao let out a long sigh of relief, his tense nerves finally relaxing. He and Xuan Yuan Tianyi exchanged a smile, their eyes filled with relief and tacit understanding.
This palace crisis surrounding the withered grass and the cold poison was finally resolved at the last minute. Zhao Zhen ordered a generous reward for Xuan Yuan Tianyi and Zhan Zhao, and strictly ordered a thorough investigation of all suspicious persons in the palace, to find out all the spies planted by the remnants of Prince An.
However, Zhan Zhao knew that the real mastermind was still at large. He and Xuan Yuan Tianyi walked out of the palace, watching the first light of dawn in the east, and he knew in his heart that the struggle to come would be even more arduous.
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