Chapter 14 Imperial Kitchen VII
He vividly remembered the person he had met in the breeding area, whose steps were unsteady, while this person was the opposite, with steady steps. Judging from this place alone, they did not seem to be from the same person.
But in this palace, could there be more than two faces that he could hardly remember? Although he couldn't open his Purple Mansion, it didn't prevent him from having a near-photographic memory. Moreover, he had met one person in the breeding area and the other at the West Horse Ranch, both of which were places he was paying close attention to.
He was more convinced than by coincidence that it was the same person.
Shinju tried his best to conceal his aura and followed closely until he discovered that the other party had entered a place he had visited a few days ago—the Imperial Hospital.
Because of the previous incident, the people in the Imperial Hospital remembered Masakatsu. Therefore, when Masakatsu said that he had come to see Physician Zhao, no one stopped him. They were even willing to take him to Zhao Kelin's desk.
While thanking him, Shinju secretly kept an eye on the suspicious person out of the corner of his eye.
Zhao Kelin was quite surprised to see Masakura arrive, and his tone rose slightly, "Ah Qing, you've come to see me?"
After exchanging a perfunctory greeting, Shinjuku quietly pointed to the location of the suspicious person and asked in a low voice, "Do you know who that person is?"
Zhao Kelin suddenly became alert, but when he looked over, his expression relaxed and he lowered his voice, replying, "That's Imperial Physician Guan. He's a dietitian, responsible for regulating dietary formulas. You asked me about food incompatibilities earlier, and he'd know the most about that."
As expected, he was from the Imperial Medical Academy. Shinju thought for a moment, then asked, "Does he also control the feed formulas for livestock and birds?"
Zhao Kelin couldn't be sure either. "So, I have indeed occasionally seen him with a sign indicating he's out, perhaps he has business elsewhere."
After Masakatsu found that he could not get any more useful information, he returned to Nishibaba and asked the servants if they had seen the food doctor come here.
The old waiter, who had spent the most time at the West Horse Ranch, replied, "I have seen him, but generally speaking, he doesn't come very often."
"Do you remember what he looked like?"
But after thinking and thinking, their faces turned red with anxiety, yet they couldn't utter a single word.
Upon seeing this, Shinju's slightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed.
The person's face was extremely unremarkable, leaving no impression whatsoever. This reminded Zhen Su of the Assassin's Camp Sect in the cultivation world. The Assassin's Camp Sect specialized in training assassins, and Zhen Su himself had fought against them before; they were exceptionally troublesome. They possessed a unique skill: the ability to invade another's inner space, shielding or even distorting their divine sense, making it impossible for the victim to remember the assassin's appearance or form. Zhen Su hadn't expected such a master to exist in the mortal realm; he wondered what methods they used.
Therefore, it can be inferred that this dietary doctor may not be someone who rarely comes, but rather someone who likely does come, yet few people recognize him. The position of dietary doctor is essentially similar to that of an advisor, and is not permanent; it's not surprising that he would be overlooked by the Ministry of Justice.
In the case of the attempted poisoning, a large number of people from upstream and downstream were temporarily detained. However, poison was still detected in the imperial cuisine, indicating that the murderer was likely someone who had escaped the net. This "fish" was probably the food doctor who had been overlooked by everyone.
So, with nothing to do during the day, Shinjuku would go to keep watch near the Imperial Hospital. After concealing his presence, he moved as if he were in an empty place, until the palace gates were locked at night and the food doctors returned to their residences outside the palace. Only then did Shinjuku head back to his servants' quarters.
Those who cultivate immortality have no sleep. Since their five senses are no longer out of control, the True Abode has been reading the "Five Ultimate Scriptures" night after night to regulate their breathing, consolidate the "toxin knots" in their bodies, and straighten the reversed blood and qi in the damaged meridians.
The book has been largely deciphered regarding the initial stages of poisoning. There are not many techniques in the early stages, but some amplify the poison, some condense the poison into a membrane, and some open the six senses to detect poison. Most of these techniques have been practiced by the True Masters. While they may not be proficient, they are not hindered at all.
Now, True Master wants to advance to the mid-stage of Poisoning. Everything is ready except for a sufficient amount of poison to store in the root chakra, so that he can advance in one fell swoop.
Shinju took out the packet of realgar, looked at the mountain of powder, and thought that eating it like this would probably cause choking, so he planned to mix it with water to drink. But just before picking up the kettle, Shinju suddenly remembered what Zhao Kelin had said: "Do not put it in your mouth, do not burn it."
He will certainly eat it, so what if it's burned?
Driven by curiosity, Masaya found firewood, located a spot where the guards wouldn't pass by, and then lit a small iron sheet containing a pinch of realgar powder.
The sheet metal was heated until it turned slightly red, and white gradually emerged from the orange powder. Even the golden eyes of Masaki, hidden in the night, were tinged with a strange light as he watched quietly and intently.
After burning it to the end, Shinjuku got a handful of white powder that had no smell and was mixed with a little orange.
"This is……"
As Shinjuku opened and closed his eyes, the scene before him was painted with bizarre and colorful blocks of light. The iron plate was pure black, as if no light could penetrate it.
Although Shinjuku didn't know that this was arsenic extracted, it didn't stop him from recognizing its potent toxicity. So Shinjuku took it back to the servants' quarters, sat cross-legged on the floor, hesitated for a moment, dipped a fingertip in the powder, and swallowed it all.
Even though he was somewhat prepared for the toxicity, Shinjuku underestimated his body's resistance to it. Nausea and dehydration were just the beginning; before long, his internal organs felt like they were being slowly sliced apart, the pain so intense he wanted to tear them out himself to end this agonizing ordeal. He thought the previous time the fake Five-Stone Powder had appeared like a revolving lantern was terrifying enough, but he hadn't expected this one to be even worse.
Don't panic.
Shinjuku's pupils were almost rolling back, but in order not to waste any, he insisted on using the amplification technique to increase the toxicity more than three times, stubbornly fighting against the poison's onslaught.
The color of her lips gradually turned into ink, and her veins changed from bluish-red to black and gold, undulating faintly beneath her snow-white skin. Ink streaks flowed down the corners of her eyes, and after an unknown amount of time, the blood that flowed out was no longer black, but turned back into streaks of vibrant red.
Shinjuku blinked his still unfocused golden eyes, feeling the heat emanating from his root chakra, a sense of fullness washing over him.
He knew that he was still nine-tenths away from breaking through to the mid-stage.
Practice makes perfect. After resting for a while, he swallowed the remaining arsenic.
The pain seemed to have lessened, and it was unclear whether he had become more resistant to arsenic or had become completely numb. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Shinju's root chakra was replenished again, and the amount of poison doubled. At this point, only eight-tenths of the way to the middle stage remained.
He still had a large amount of realgar left unused.
Shortly after, the red candle in the room burned out. As soon as the candlelight went out, the bewitching blood-red color that once appeared on Shinju's lips disappeared into the night.
.
On the third day of my stay at the Imperial Medical Academy, things began to change.
That night, Guan Shiyi did not leave the palace but stayed at the Imperial Hospital. However, according to Zhao Kelin, Shiyi should not be on night duty.
Masakatsu was on guard and came to keep watch again at night.
It was later discovered that Guan Shiyi had quietly left through the back gate of the Imperial Hospital, walked behind a huge rock, changed out of his robe embroidered with herbal patterns, and then entered a storeroom, where he did not come out for a long time.
Shinju climbed onto the eaves of the storeroom and lay down to eavesdrop, but he couldn't hear anything.
After the night watchman carrying the lantern approached and then walked away, a short man dressed in a casual hat and dark robe appeared in front of the storeroom door, pushed the door open, and slipped inside.
Then, Shinjuku finally heard voices.
"This is what your master wanted. It cannot be brewed; it must be placed in an incense burner and lit."
"I will convey your message. This is your payment, please accept it... Speaking of which, is this aphrodisiac really that miraculous?"
"Don't make me repeat myself, just take it and go."
In the short span of a hundred breaths, the person dressed in dark robes ducked out of the storeroom and disappeared into the darkness.
Masakatsu hesitated for a moment, then decided to follow.
The eunuch walked for a long time before stopping. When Zhen Su looked closely, he saw that it was a palace with a plaque that read "Yu Lan Palace".
Who lives there?
Inside Yulan Palace.
The third prince was leaning against the couch, eating dried fruit fed to him by the maids, idly touching their little hands. But when he saw his own eunuch return, he stopped touching their hands, flung them away, and the maids were so frightened that they all knelt down, thinking that they had done something wrong.
The Third Prince dismissed the crowd and only allowed the eunuch to help him into the inner room.
A short while later.
"You did a good job this time! You messed up the snake-releasing thing, but I won't hold you accountable." The Third Prince held the iron can, looking quite fond of it.
Before the eunuch could wipe the sweat from his brow, the Third Prince said, "Go and fetch a Boshan incense burner. I need it now."
The eunuch hesitated, "Your Highness, although the Emperor has not yet returned to the palace, but... she is, after all, the eldest princess, and I'm afraid she is not so benevolent..."
"Didn't you tell me back then that my mother was the most favored concubine, and that the entire royal family, even the world, would be handed over to me? That no one could replace me even if I made mistakes? What did I, the prince, have to fear!"
The eunuch felt the phantom pain of the sheep bone piercing his throat return, his throat feeling like it was choked. He mumbled, "But the eldest princess's Bixuan Palace is heavily guarded. We should at least make proper arrangements beforehand..."
The Third Prince burst into laughter, "What are you trembling about, Xiao Hengzi? How did you become so cowardly? When did I say I was going to give it to my elder sister? You saw that person in the Imperial Garden back then."
"There's only one eunuch on either side, what's wrong with me playing with him?"
The eunuch remained silent and quietly went to the shelf to take down the Boshan incense burner.
Shinju took a detour to enter the palace, having to avoid the guards, which took some effort. The palace was also very large, but despite this, after activating his six senses, Shinju's five senses were now far superior to what they used to be. Therefore, Shinju unleashed his hearing and easily covered the entire palace, immediately hearing the Third Prince and the eunuch talking.
But just as Masakatsu was listening intently to the conversation, he realized... he didn't understand.
The Third Prince and the eunuchs communicated in private using the Mei language, but Shinju only understood the Qizhou Mandarin.
Fortunately, after a little over fifteen minutes, the eunuch and the third prince slipped out through the side door, and Shinju followed them.
As he walked, Mayu realized that the direction he was heading was very familiar, and a bad feeling rose in his heart...
Meanwhile, at the Scorpion Shadow Palace.
"Your Majesty, the Third Prince has left through the side gate with his eunuchs," the head palace maid reported to the figure on the golden throne.
"What's the matter this time?" the person seated asked.
"This time, we tracked down a suspicious eunuch serving the Third Prince. He handed over a jar of incense powder to the Third Prince, but we're not yet sure what it's for or where the Third Prince is going." Given the Third Prince's usual behavior, it wasn't hard to guess what kind of incense it was, but the head palace maid, not wanting to speak ill of the prince, didn't say so directly. However, she suspected that the Emperor had already figured it out as well.
The person seated listened indifferently while teasing the giant scorpion's swaying stinger, then sneered, "You've really got guts."
"This servant has already ordered them to strengthen the defenses of Bixuan Palace, and the Copper Scorpion Guards have been closely following the Three Emperors—"
However, before the head palace maid could finish speaking, words came from the seat.
"I will go there myself."
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