Chapter 193: The Beast King is at his wit's end
As soon as Sheng Ran looked over, the man noticed it sharply.
She adjusted the large mask to cover her face, obviously unwilling to show it to others.
Sheng Ran paused and stopped spying, but her eyes couldn't help but fall on the man's wrist.
The cuffs of the cotton-padded jacket were too wide, occasionally revealing a little dark green trace, like the luster of jade.
The man took the bowl of porridge, lowered his head and said "thank you". His voice was low, but with a barely perceptible solemnity that was inconsistent with his tattered clothes.
When the man turned around, Sheng Ran subconsciously looked at Yun Ling and found that Yun Ling's phoenix feathers trembled slightly, and a hint of vigilance flashed in her eyes.
He could sense that the man had a strong aura, but it was not witchcraft, but rather a sense of majesty.
The man did not leave immediately. Although he received the subsidized hot porridge, he walked into the restaurant calmly and found a seat to sit down, just like all the diners who paid for ordering food.
Sheng Ran stood where she was, tightening her grip on the porridge spoon—these hands, this aura, this subtle majesty, definitely did not belong to an ordinary person who came by to ask for porridge.
Because he was wearing a mask, the man did not pick up the spoon immediately. He just looked at the lotus seeds in the bowl of porridge with a complicated expression.
She sat in the store all afternoon, and only stood up and walked towards the counter after the last customer left.
Her steps were light, but each one was steady. When she reached Sheng Ran, she suddenly stopped and said, "Miss Sheng, I heard you can detoxify chronic poisons?"
When I heard her speak long sentences, I realized that her voice was a little weak, as if she had been suffering from illness for many years.
Sheng Ran's heart moved, and she looked up at her hood: "How did you know?"
"I have a friend," the man paused, his voice lowered, "who has been drinking tonics for ten years. For the past three months, he's been feeling weak all over and trapped in one place. Can you... help me out?"
“——!”
Sheng Ran was shocked when she heard the words "ten years", "three months", "tonic", and "trapped". A bold guess started to surge in her mind.
Her pupils dilated instantly and she couldn't help but gasp in surprise, but she was terrified that people around her would find out, so she forced herself to remain calm.
Looking at this person again, she found that there was a jade ring pendant hidden under her tattered coat. She had seen the pattern on the ring in the ancient books of the Pei family. It was the "Taotie pattern" unique to the royal family.
"Okay." Sheng Ran nodded calmly, her voice still trembling. "But I need to know, is there any black residue in the 'tonic' your friend drank?"
The man's body visibly stiffened for a moment, then he slowly nodded: "Yes."
Sheng Ran took out a piece of paper and wrote down a few herbs: "Let your friend drink this boiled water first. It can temporarily suppress the toxicity. Once I find more clues, I will help her detoxify completely."
The man took the paper and lightly touched the surface with his fingertips, as if confirming something.
She coughed twice, turned around and walked towards the door without asking any more questions. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned back and said, "Thank you, Miss Sheng. If it is convenient, please come to the third house in the old alley in the west of the city to find me. You are welcome at any time."
After saying this, she disappeared into the night.
Sheng Ran looked at the paper covered with herbs, then looked towards the door. Her heart was still beating wildly and she couldn't calm down for a long time.
What is the third house in the old alley in the west of the city?
"It's a drugstore that has long been closed. The previous owner of that drugstore was said to have been an imperial physician." Pei Xiaoxing's voice was also filled with subtle excitement. "Wife, she is--"
He stopped talking, hesitant to speak, and turned to look at Huai Jun.
Pei Xiaoxing was considered an alien of the wolf clan since he was young. He had no chance to enter the palace to meet the emperor and had never seen the Beast King in person.
Among all the beast husbands, only Huai Jun received the hospitality of the Beast King as the prince of the Deep Sea Kingdom.
Huai Jun pursed his lips tightly, staring at the figure's back as it left, nodding with mixed emotions, "It's her, it's her...it's just that she's much shorter and thinner than before, and judging by her voice, she's not as big as before either."
Everyone was silent for a long time. Ling Rui spoke in a low voice, admiringly, "But she escaped with her own ability."
It is really sad that the Beast King was controlled by his own son and the so-called Holy Female for a full ten years.
Zhu Jiuyin said, "My dear wife, she came here this time hoping that you would save her?"
Sheng Ran raised her eyes upon hearing this. The shock in her eyes had not yet completely faded, but she had become more thoughtful: "She took the initiative to give me the address, so it must be true."
Pei Xiaoxing took a step forward, his voice hoarse, "This address isn't an ordinary pharmacy. It suddenly closed down ten years ago due to the death of the imperial physician. It was later designated as a royal forbidden area, and ordinary orcs don't dare approach."
"She chose to meet you there to avoid being seen, but also to reveal her identity—except for her, there is no one else who dares to stay in the forbidden area."
"It seems like there's no other way out."
Huai Jun lowered his eyes and stared at the palm of his hand, which seemed to still retain the warmth and coolness of the deep-sea pearl that the Beast King had handed to him when they met the emperor that year.
"She used to be very particular about her manners. Even when she was receiving foreign princes, she would always keep her back straight and would never wear such tattered clothes."
"To be able to do this, it's likely that she wasn't just poisoned, but also... her power was restricted."
Ling Rui's eyes were filled with resentment. "For the past ten years, Sheng Jieyue and Situ Yu have claimed that the Beast Emperor was cultivating in peace, but it turns out they've imprisoned her and poisoned her! No wonder there have been so many natural disasters in the Beast World over the past ten years. Without the Beast Emperor to balance the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, chaos has arisen!"
Sheng Ran took a deep breath, folded the paper with the herbs written on it and stuffed it into her lapel.
When my fingertips touched the warm fabric, I felt my heartbeat slow down a bit. "Whether she's testing me or really needs help, I have to go this time."
"I'll go with you." Pei Xiaoxing immediately responded, his wolf ears erect. "I know the area around the old alley well and can protect you."
Yun Ling also nodded: "I can lead the master to sneak in from above. Even if we encounter patrolling orcs, I can let you in quietly."
Sheng Ran shook her head and gently pressed her fingertips on Pei Xiaoxing's arm.
"Too many people would make us stand out. She only asked me out, so it's safer for me to go alone. You guys stay here and help me keep an eye on the city, especially Sheng Jieyue—she's been so quiet lately, I have a feeling something's going to happen."
The night was like a piece of velvet soaked in ink, tightly wrapping the old alleys in the west of the city.
Sheng Ran was holding an oil-paper lantern, the flame of the wick trembling in the wind, casting flickering shadows of the broken walls on both sides.
The wooden door of the old drugstore was covered with thick dust, and the verdigris on the door knocker was covered with lines.
She knocked three times as agreed, and the door creaked open. A strong smell of medicine mixed with a faint smell of blood hit her face.
"Come in." The Beast King's voice came from the inner room, weaker than when he was in the porridge shop in the afternoon, with a hint of suppressed cough.
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