Chapter 123: Magnificent as a Song
That Lord Yan stroked his beard and chuckled, "If it weren't something of great importance, I wouldn't have come personally to invite the divine physician. Scholar Qin, do you know whose efforts were behind the Emperor not pursuing the matter of you being an abandoned one?"
Qin Mu was momentarily stunned. Back then, when Yanfeng Emperor gave his impassioned speech before the Grand Academy Hall, Qin Mu had thought the Emperor was using his identity as an abandoned one from the Great Ruins to admonish the court officials. But hearing Lord Yan's words, it seemed there was also his contribution.
"I would be glad to hear the details."
"At that time, I told the Emperor that you were the divine physician who could cure that person. That's why the Emperor didn't pursue the matter of how you, an abandoned one, managed to evade the surveillance mirrors and enter Yankang."
Lord Yan smiled faintly: "Without my words, do you think you could have become a Grand Academy scholar? Grand Academy scholars, after all, hold an eighth-rank official position. How could it be casually given to a god-abandoned one who sneaked into our Yankang Kingdom from the Great Ruins? That would be a crime of blasphemy!"
Qin Mu's eyes flickered, and he sighed, "If I fail to cure that person, my head..."
Lord Yan chuckled, "It won't be saved."
Qin Mu's face darkened.
The official sedan landed, and the strongman lifted the curtain. Lord Yan smiled and gestured. Qin Mu took a deep breath and stepped out of the sedan. Lord Yan also got out and led the way, lowering his voice: "That person has an extremely high status. You must not be reckless, understand?"
Qin Mu followed closely, smiling: "Since it concerns my life and Lord Yan's future, I naturally won't be reckless."
Lord Yan smiled faintly and said leisurely, "It's good that you understand. My grandson is also in the Grand Academy, enrolled two years before you. If you cure that person, I can have my grandson look after you. That grandson of mine is also exceptionally talented, entering the academy at the Five Luminaries realm."
Qin Mu's expression turned strange: "Among the scholars I beat up today, I wonder if his grandson was among them..."
This was within the imperial palace, seemingly the rear palace area. Layers upon layers of palace gates and deep courtyards stretched ahead. Along the way, Qin Mu could only see some palace maids and men with beardless, fair faces.
"Could they be the legendary eunuchs?" Qin Mu thought to himself.
Lord Yan led him to a deep palace courtyard. Although it was resplendent and magnificent, it felt desolate and cold, lacking the warmth of human presence.
At this moment, there were twenty to thirty people inside the hall, mostly palace maids and eunuchs, along with several imperial physicians waiting outside a jade bed. The jade bed was separated by a curtain, and inside lay a person, vaguely a woman.
"Is the divine physician from Flower Lane here?"
An imperial physician swept his gaze over Qin Mu and sneered, "Lord Yan, you must be muddled. How dare you let someone who treats brothel women attend to the Empress Dowager? This is audacious beyond belief."
Lord Yan said calmly, "Imperial Physician Xiao said the same thing back then, and then Imperial Physician Xiao died. By the way, Young Master Qin, I forgot to tell you—Imperial Physician Xiao and these several physicians are all instructors from the Imperial Medical Office of the Grand Academy's Medical Hall. They will be teaching you medicine in the future."
Qin Mu bowed to these imperial physicians in greeting. The physicians sneered coldly, clasping their hands behind their backs without returning the courtesy. Imperial Physician Qu sneered, "So young and already out here peddling tricks. You haven't even fully learned your alchemy techniques, have you?"
Qin Mu revealed a sunny smile, like an innocent, cheerful big boy: "Honored teachers, Imperial Physician Xiao said the same thing back then, and then he died."
The physicians' faces turned ashen.
Qin Mu stepped forward, approached the jade couch, and sat on a jade chair, saying, "Empress Dowager."
A hand extended from behind the curtain and rested on the edge of the couch. Qin Mu took her pulse. After a moment, he turned back and asked, "Does anyone have silver needles?"
An elderly physician stepped forward and handed him his silver needles. Qin Mu took one and pricked the Empress Dowager's fingertip. Lord Yan coughed quietly and whispered, "Capital offense..."
"Lord Yan, we'll bear it together."
Qin Mu's primordial energy burst forth, suspending the drop of blood in midair as he focused his gaze.
"Open!"
He shouted softly, activating his Divine Firmament Eye, and looked into the blood. At the same time, he clenched his five fingers and suddenly spread them outward. The drop of blood expanded, turning into a large, bright red sphere.
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then shouted again, "Open!"
Countless formation patterns swirled within his pupils, forming a second layer—the Azure Firmament Eye!
Qin Mu felt his primordial energy insufficient to sustain it. He turned back and said, "Lord Yan, can I borrow your primordial energy cultivation?"
Lord Yan stepped forward, channeling his primordial energy into Qin Mu's body, and whispered, "Little divine physician, do you have confidence..."
Qin Mu's body trembled violently. With the borrowed energy surging into his eyes, layers of divine eyes opened one after another, allowing him to see the drop of blood with absolute clarity. Nothing hidden within could escape his gaze. The Blind Man had fully taught him the Nine Heavens Eye-Opening Technique, but Qin Mu's current cultivation was insufficient to open all nine layers, so he had to borrow Lord Yan's cultivation.
Divine light shone from Qin Mu's eyes, shooting out about a foot long. Suddenly, Qin Mu pulled aside the curtain, and the divine light in his eyes blazed as he shone it on the Empress Dowager lying on the bed.
The Empress Dowager had not expected him to be so audacious as to pull aside the curtain. Her eyes immediately looked toward him, her gaze like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, imposing without anger.
Qin Mu met her gaze, and the divine light in his eyes faded: "I have discerned the Empress Dowager's illness. This is poisoning."
Although the Empress Dowager lay on the sickbed, her face aged, one could still see the bearing of a mother of the nation. She was a rare beauty. Closing her eyes, she said, "My body grows weaker by the day. Some physicians in the Imperial Medical Office say it's an illness, others say it's poison, but there's no conclusion. How can you be certain I am poisoned?"
"The poison Your Highness has contracted is called Thousand Mechanisms Poison."
Qin Mu said, "This poison is refined from a thousand different toxins linked together in a chain. Once the Thousand Mechanisms Poison is formed, its toxicity changes in countless ways, and it is almost incurable. Any antidote will cause the poison to transform into another form, rendering the antidote useless. The more treatments, the deeper the poison and the greater the torment. Your Highness has been poisoned for a long time. Fortunately, your cultivation is profound, and some physicians did not treat the illness but instead used miraculous elixirs to prolong your life. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
The imperial physicians from the Medical Office were all deeply shaken. They exchanged glances and remained silent.
The Empress Dowager gasped for breath and asked, "Several physicians, does such a poison exist?"
Imperial Physician Yu bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, such a poison does exist. I have heard it was refined by the Jade-Faced Poison King, but no one has ever seen it, so..."
The Empress Dowager sighed, "You have no cure, do you?"
The physicians looked ashamed and lowered their heads without speaking.
The Empress Dowager caught her breath, her gaze falling on Qin Mu: "Little divine physician, what about you?"
"I have a way to cure it."
Qin Mu smiled and said, "However, I need to know all the medicines Your Highness has taken since being poisoned, along with the prescriptions, as soon as possible. Also, I need one thousand and twenty-three palace maids, and prepare brushes, ink, and one thousand and twenty-three plaques."
The Empress Dowager waved her hand weakly and said, "Go and arrange it quickly."
Before long, the brushes, ink, and paper were prepared. The various palaces in the rear palace bustled about, summoning palace maids from every hall and courtyard. The Imperial Medical Office also began compiling a list of all the medicines the Empress Dowager had taken during her illness.
Qin Mu picked up the brush and wrote the names of various toxins and numbers on each plaque. He worked until midnight before finishing. Outside the hall, lanterns blazed brightly, and over a thousand palace maids stood silently.
Qin Mu ordered the plaques to be distributed, each palace maid holding one with a toxin name. He had them arrange themselves in a peculiar formation according to a sequence. This formation was very complex, composed of multiple patterns. The first pattern had only one palace maid standing with her plaque; the second pattern had two palace maids; the third had four; then eight; then sixteen; thirty-two; sixty-four; one hundred twenty-eight; two hundred fifty-six; and five hundred twelve.
After the palace maids were arranged, Qin Mu examined the prescriptions the Empress Dowager had taken over the years. Starting with the first prescription, after reading it, he immediately called out numbers, instructing the palace maids to swap positions upon hearing their numbers.
The formation of a thousand people immediately changed. Then Qin Mu looked at the second prescription, called out more numbers, had the corresponding palace maids swap positions, and altered the formation again.
Qin Mu read through the prescriptions one by one, and the formation changed again and again, with the palace maids' positions shifting repeatedly.
The imperial physicians were utterly astonished. An elderly physician with white hair trembled as he said, "I never thought I would see such a method in my lifetime. Even death would be worth it!"
The other three physicians nodded repeatedly and sighed, "We originally underestimated him. We never expected him to recognize the Thousand Mechanisms Poison and use such a marvelous way to calculate how far the poison has evolved!"
The physicians were filled with emotion. Qin Mu had the thousand-plus palace maids stand with their plaques to form a structure representing the interlocking toxins of the Thousand Mechanisms Poison after it was refined. Then, based on how the medicinal properties of the Empress Dowager's medications affected the poison's structure, he changed the palace maids' positions.
These thousand-plus palace maids formed a massive, complex heteromorphic abacus. The palace maids were the beads, allowing him to calculate the current stage of the Thousand Mechanisms Poison's evolution within the Empress Dowager's body.
This method was nothing short of miraculous, earning the deep admiration of the physicians.
Qin Mu calculated until dawn, finally finishing all the prescriptions. The palace maids, who had stood holding their plaques all night, were exhausted. Qin Mu looked at their final positions, the plaques in their hands, and the formation formed by the thousand toxins. He pondered for a long time, then closed his eyes.
After another long while, Qin Mu opened his eyes and wrote down a prescription.
The physicians crowded around, looking down, nodding repeatedly, and gesticulating excitedly.
Lord Yan also leaned in to look but couldn't understand. He lowered his voice and asked, "Several physicians, how is this prescription?"
Imperial Physician Qu looked at Qin Mu with admiration and praised, "The prescription is exquisitely beautiful, magnificent as a song! The little divine physician uses a substitution method, replacing the central major toxin in the Thousand Mechanisms Poison. See that? That one! Once that one is replaced, the other one thousand and twenty-two toxins counteract each other, and the poison resolves itself! Magnificent, truly magnificent!"
Another physician, Imperial Physician You, praised, "Imperial Physician Xiao did not die unjustly. To die before the little divine physician is a worthy death!"
Lord Yan shook his head and thought to himself, "All these medical scholars are mad. What's so magnificent about this? The key is whether it works. If it doesn't, both my official position and his head will be lost!"