Chapter 329: Lingering
The whole person was like a giant gecko, clinging tightly to the cold and wet rock surface.
His breath, body temperature, and even heartbeat dropped to the lowest point, completely blending into the surrounding environment and becoming part of the rock.
He is the sorcerer Yan Wujiu who has been lurking in the northern border for many days.
Even though he had reached the third level, and even though sorcerers had a natural advantage in avoiding perception and restraining their breath, he never cast his eyes towards the dense forest below the valley.
Yan Wujiu knew clearly that when facing the existence of the Shen Ce Xuanjia Army, any inquiring gaze might trigger an intuitive reaction from the other party.
But that's enough.
He didn't need to investigate carefully. The brief fluctuation in the valley and the two auras that left afterwards had already told him the most important information.
Yan Wujiu used his hands and feet, crawling silently and swiftly on the rugged cliff like a real gecko.
The movements were smooth and natural, without any hesitation, and there was no thought of losing face at all.
After climbing very far, he stood up and quickly left the valley full of deadly dangers.
…
The imperial palace of the Shuofeng Dynasty is different from the magnificent and elegant one of Dagan. It is more rough, cold and majestic.
The early autumn night wind was already bitingly cold, whistling past the black iron and gold-inlaid eaves and brackets.
The obsidian palace walls shone with a cold luster, polished to a mirror-like finish by the northern wind.
The huge stone pillars cast eerie shadows, and the palace lanterns swayed in the cold wind, cutting the cold light on the guards' iron armor into flickering.
The entire palace complex lay prostrate in the deep night, like a dormant giant beast.
Emperor Xiao Lin has been staying almost every night in the warm room of "Fengyi Palace" where the queen lives in recent days.
Even if the other concubines felt resentful, they did not dare to show it at this moment.
This was because the second princess, Xiao Yunshuo, was the queen's legitimate daughter and was currently alone in an enemy country.
The danger involved is self-evident.
The candles in the warm room had gone out, leaving only a small lamp in the corner that was keeping watch, emitting a dim and weak glow.
The queen seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, her head tilted slightly to one side, her breathing even and long.
Outside the palace, the figures of the palace maids and eunuchs on duty at night appeared a little blurry under the light.
Suddenly, a black shadow that almost blended into the night passed by silently.
The palace maids and eunuchs seemed to have their bones pulled out and were about to fall down, but at the moment before they touched the ground, they were firmly supported by those ghostly black shadows.
It is placed gently on the ground or next to the pillars, and the whole process does not make any sound, which is so eerie that it makes people's heart uneasy.
"Cough cough! Cough cough cough..."
The Emperor's Cough:
At this moment, a heart-wrenching cough came from the warm room, as if all the internal organs were coughed out.
On the bed, Emperor Xiao Lin of Shufeng curled up in pain, coughing violently incessantly, each time accompanied by a tearing pain deep in his chest.
After a long time, the horrific coughing and wheezing finally stopped, and Xiao Lin struggled to sit up.
He was gasping for breath, and every breath he took was like an old bellows being pulled with difficulty, with a hoarse sound of air leaking, as if he would never be able to take another breath.
His pale face was covered with fine beads of cold sweat, shining with a sickly coldness in the dim light.
The shadow guard waiting in the dark immediately appeared and helped him up with swift but gentle movements.
Xiao Lin's entire body weight was almost leaning on the shadow guard, his lips were bruised and purple, and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat.
The shadow guard carried Xiao Lin to the compartment inside the warm room and sat down on the wide chair covered with thick animal skins.
A figure appeared in front of him without warning, completely covered in a large cloak.
The hood was pulled down low, revealing only a pair of eyes.
Xiao Lin struggled to sit up straight. Although he was weak, his deep-set eye sockets emitted a sharp and eager light like an eagle, fixed on the man in black robe.
"Yun Shuo...has already arrived in Fengjing...where are the conditions you agreed to?"
The voice was hoarse but carried an unquestionable pressure.
The man in black robe remained silent, but slowly raised his hand which was also wrapped in black gloves.
In the palm of his hand was a square box about the size of a palm, carved entirely from thousand-year-old dark wood.
This kind of wood is extremely rare and has the natural ability to isolate smells and lock in medicinal properties.
He just moved his fingertips slightly, and the lid of the box slid open silently.
Inside the box, on the dark purple velvet lining, lay a pill half the size of a longan, its color as smooth as white jade.
An extremely faint, sparkling light flowed on the surface of the pill, and an indescribable, strange and subtle fragrance instantly spread out.
"Why... only half a pill!"
Xiao Lin's anger was instantly ignited, and his skinny hands suddenly grabbed the armrest of the seat, with veins bulging.
"It's enough to keep you alive." The black-robed man's voice was dry and flat, without any fluctuation. "When the Second Princess completes her mission, you will get the other half."
As the words fell, a suffocating feeling of oppression filled the entire small compartment, and the shadow guard's hand had quietly pressed on the hilt of the knife at his waist.
However, the man in black robe was completely unaware of the tense atmosphere, or rather, he didn't care at all.
His figure suddenly became blurred and thin like ink thrown into water, and disappeared completely the next moment, as if he had never appeared, leaving only the faint fragrance of the half pill and the emperor's heavy breathing.
Xiao Lin stared at the place where the black-robed man disappeared, and the anger in his eyes was gradually replaced by a deep fatigue and powerlessness.
He seemed to have been drained of all his strength, and slumped back against the wide chair.
Like a puddle of mud that had lost its support, only the chest was still rising and falling violently.
After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out a few words from between his teeth, his voice extremely hoarse: "Call...the head of the Imperial Hospital."
Not long after, an old man with white hair and beard was secretly led into the secret hall by the shadow guards.
He is none other than the head of the Shufeng Dynasty's Imperial Hospital, Shen Ji'an.
With lowered eyebrows and eyes, his posture was so respectful that even his breathing was extremely light.
During this period, Dean Shen has been exhausted both physically and mentally.
His Majesty's health was deteriorating rapidly, and it wasn't due to any illness or poison. No matter what methods he used to investigate, the conclusions he reached all pointed to the same cruel fact:
Vitality is about to be completely extinguished and life span is nearing its natural end.
He tried his best and used up all the precious medicines in the palace, but he could only barely keep himself alive.
He even needed special makeup to barely maintain the emperor's majestic appearance in the previous dynasty.
But today... he knew that the oil lamp was on the verge of going out.
Xiao Lin pointed at the half-filled pill on the table with trembling fingers: "Check."
Shen Ji'an carefully picked up the gloomy wooden box, and when his eyes fell on the half pill in the box, his old eyes suddenly shrank!
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and whispered, "Your Majesty, this old minister... needs a small amount of elixir to carefully examine."
After getting approval, he took out a jade knife as thin as a cicada's wing and carefully scraped off a layer of fine powder from the edge of the pill.
He placed the powder in his palm, brought it close to his nose and took a deep sniff, the shock on his face becoming even more pronounced.
Then he stretched out his tongue and carefully licked all the powder into his mouth.
"Your Majesty! This... this is..." Shen Ji'an's voice trembled uncontrollably with excitement, "Could this be the elixir of immortality?"
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