Chapter 124: A Stroke of Genius
Several imperial physicians hurriedly took the prescription written by Qin Mu and went to fetch the ingredients. Not long after, the medicinal herbs were brought, but the physicians stood there without making a move, instead looking at Qin Mu with eager anticipation, waiting to see him refine the medicine.
Qin Mu’s primal energy burst forth, lifting the various medicinal ingredients into the air. Without using a cauldron, he refined the medicine directly in midair. He employed various alchemical techniques and extraction methods, bypassing the need for water to boil and decoct. Instead, he directly extracted the medicinal power from the herbs, baking and fusing them with his primal energy. His fingers danced like musical notes or runic patterns, moving so fluidly that the white-haired Imperial Physician Yu was moved to tears.
“To witness such alchemical techniques once in a lifetime is more than enough!” Physician Yu sighed with emotion.
Qin Mu was completely focused, his mind undisturbed, and did not hear their words. Had he heard them, the young man would surely have curled his lip. His alchemical skills were only barely passable; at the hands of the Medicine Master in the Village of Crippled Elders, he had only just scraped by.
After a short while, the spiritual medicine was refined. The physicians watched, utterly captivated. Physician Qu said, “Little Divine Healer, earlier you used that technique to stir the water ripples and extract the medicinal power with water. Why did you suddenly switch to fire?”
Qin Mu placed the refined spiritual pill into a jade cup on a tray and replied, “That particular ingredient required the mutual assistance of water and fire, so I used water first and then fire to fully extract its medicinal power.”
Physician Yu manipulated his primal energy to bake the medicine, imitating the technique, and quickly asked, “Little Divine Healer, does my imitation of your technique look correct?”
Qin Mu observed for a moment and said, “The flow of your primal energy is a bit sluggish. The beauty of this alchemical technique lies not in the hand movements, but in the subtle use of primal energy. The primal energy must circulate twelve times before it reaches perfection.”
Physician Yu suddenly understood and said enthusiastically, “I was only focusing on the surface. Also, when you were refining the Five Fortune Seeds, was there any particular principle behind the technique you used?”
The physicians gathered around Qin Mu, discussing heatedly. The Grand Secretary Yan frowned deeply and said in a low voice, “Gentlemen, you can discuss this later. The Empress Dowager is still here!”
The physicians came to their senses, and Physician Qu quickly said, “Little Divine Healer, the Empress Dowager must take her medicine first.”
Qin Mu said, “We also need one thousand and twenty-three three-legged green-eyed toads.”
Physician Qu and the others’ eyes lit up, and they clapped their hands and laughed, praising, “A stroke of genius, a stroke of genius! I am completely convinced! Hurry, hurry, go buy the three-legged green-eyed toads!”
The palace maids and eunuchs inside the hall hurried off to the market to buy green-eyed toads. After some time, the toads were brought in, each the size of a fist and with three legs.
Qin Mu had them place the toads inside the hall and ordered all the maids and eunuchs to withdraw. He then presented the spiritual pill to the Empress Dowager and said, “In a moment, when the sovereign poison of the Thousand Mechanisms Poison is replaced by the poison in the spiritual medicine, the other toxins will collapse, and the toxicity will become extremely violent in an instant. These poisons, having combined with your primal energy inside your body, have gained a kind of sentience. The green-eyed toads feed on poison; they will take the opportunity to devour the poison within your body, and you will be healed.”
The Empress Dowager waved her hand and said, “You all withdraw, lest the poison harm you.”
Qin Mu, along with the physicians and Grand Secretary Yan, withdrew from the hall. Inside, the Empress Dowager took the spiritual pill. At first, she felt nothing unusual, but the next moment, the medicine’s effect suddenly erupted. A strange poison surged out from within the spiritual pill, instantly replacing the sovereign poison of the Thousand Mechanisms Poison.
The Empress Dowager spat out a mouthful of blood, black as pitch, splattering it all over the jade couch and the curtains.
Immediately afterward, the Empress Dowager felt the group poisons erupting throughout her limbs, bones, and even her skin and hair. With the sovereign poison replaced, the remaining one thousand and twenty-two kinds of strange poisons burst forth simultaneously, conflicting and colliding with each other, causing her immense pain, as if her very organs were being torn apart.
Just as these great poisons erupted, their toxicity merged with her primal energy. The Empress Dowager gasped for breath, her face turning completely black, her skin also darkening, on the verge of festering to death. Her primal energy was now occupied by the one thousand and twenty-two kinds of poison, coursing through her entire body and carrying the toxicity everywhere, causing her to lose control of her primal energy. She was on the brink of dying from the poison.
Suddenly, another surge of medicinal power burst forth from the spiritual pill she had taken. This power instantly penetrated every part of her body, even reaching deep into her various divine treasuries. The medicinal force was blazing, and in an instant, it forced all the primal energy out of her body, even the primal energy within her divine treasuries!
A loud boom echoed from within the hall. Although the Empress Dowager had been poisoned for decades and her cultivation was not what it once was, her primal energy was still incredibly vast. As it left her body, it transformed into over a thousand kinds of poisonous creatures, circling the jade couch in midair. There were poison scorpions, poison snakes, poison insects, poison ants, poison beetles, and other venomous beings, all formed from the combination of her primal energy and the poisons!
Croak, croak, croak.
The sound of frogs came from within the hall. The three-legged green-eyed toads all croaked in unison, opened their mouths, and shot out their long tongues, wrapping around the creatures formed from primal energy and strange poisons, swallowing them into their bellies.
In an instant, the hall became clear again. One toad, which had not caught any poisonous creatures, jumped onto the jade couch, opened its mouth, and sucked. The Empress Dowager could not help but spit out blood, expelling a poison insect. This was the strange poison that Qin Mu had hidden in the spiritual pill to replace the sovereign poison, now transformed into an insect.
This toad ate the poison insect and hopped away from the jade couch. The Empress Dowager felt refreshed and light, quickly rising from the couch. She felt that the illness that had plagued her for decades had been swept away completely, and her heart was filled with immense joy.
“Summon the attendants!”
The hall doors opened, and a group of maids and eunuchs hurried in. Seeing the jade couch and curtains splattered with poison blood, they were startled. Moreover, toads were hopping all over the palace, which was also somewhat frightening.
Qin Mu and the physicians, along with Grand Secretary Yan, also quickly entered. The Empress Dowager looked at Qin Mu and smiled, saying, “Truly a divine healer. Release these green-eyed toads into the Clear Wave Pond. They have done me a great service, so let them live there.”
The maids and eunuchs quickly acknowledged the order. Grand Secretary Yan was both surprised and delighted, and he hurried out, saying, “I will go report this good news to His Majesty!”
The Empress Dowager walked outside, saying with a smile, “Divine Healer, it is somewhat dirty in here. Let us speak outside.”
Qin Mu acknowledged and followed her out, with the physicians quickly trailing behind. The Empress Dowager looked at the sunlight outside, raised her hand to shield her eyes, and said with a smile, “It has been a long time since I last walked out of this palace. The Thousand Mechanisms Poison was created by the Jade-Faced Poison King, wasn’t it?”
Physician Qu nodded and said, “The Jade-Faced Poison King is said to have disappeared over two hundred years ago. He was ruthless and merciless, poisoning countless experts. He made too many enemies, but no one knew his true identity. It is said that he was betrayed by his disciple, the Little Poison King, who exposed his true face. Unable to maintain his position, he cut off his own face and fled.”
The Empress Dowager nodded and said, “I have heard of this matter as well. Speaking of which, I have also met that Jade-Faced Poison King. We had a few secret rendezvous, and I was once infatuated with him.”
The physicians dared not speak.
The Empress Dowager said softly, “Who would have known that the Jade Gentleman, famous throughout the land, was actually the infamous Jade-Faced Poison King? After his disciple exposed his deeds, how many young maidens’ hearts were broken! The late emperor had passed away, and I was enamored with this Jade Gentleman at the time. I met with him a few times. When he was cornered with no way out, I told him I could protect him. There were also a few other wretched women who wanted to protect him. Hmph, those little sluts couldn’t compete with me in the end, but I couldn’t compete with them either. He still left… Thinking back now, it is truly a twist of fate. The strange poison that kept me bedridden for decades, unable to leave, was actually created by my lover.”
Cold sweat beaded on the physicians’ foreheads. They felt that having heard this secret, their heads were no longer safe on their shoulders, and they inwardly regretted not leaving with Grand Secretary Yan earlier.
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. This Jade-Faced Poison King gave him a familiar feeling. “Could it be the Medicine Master?”
“Then does Your Majesty know who administered the poison?” Qin Mu asked.
“It wouldn’t be the Jade Gentleman.”
The Empress Dowager smiled faintly and said, “Then it must be the Little Poison King, Fu Yuanqing. I heard that Fu Yuanqing has allied himself with the Imperial Preceptor. For him to poison me must be on the Imperial Preceptor’s orders. The Imperial Preceptor has wanted me dead for a long time. I suppose he found some of my actions displeasing, so he wanted me dead to stop blocking his path.”
The physicians’ faces turned ashen. Suddenly, they fell to their knees with a thud, not daring to rise.
The Empress Dowager laughed and said, “The Imperial Preceptor dares to poison me, and he is not afraid. What are you afraid of? Get up and speak.”
Physician Qu and the others rose tremblingly, silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to utter a word.
The Empress Dowager looked at Qin Mu and suddenly said, “Your master is the Jade Gentleman, isn’t he? How is he?”
“The Jade Gentleman she speaks of should be the Medicine Master. He was the one who told me how to cure the Thousand Mechanisms Poison. Only the creator of the Thousand Mechanisms Poison could know it so well.”
Thinking this, Qin Mu bowed and said, “To answer Your Majesty, he is well.”
The Empress Dowager let out a sigh of relief and said softly, “Did he send you to save me? He still has me in his heart…”
Qin Mu blinked, feeling that she might be overthinking things, but he did not find it appropriate to clarify.
The Empress Dowager, having just recovered from a long illness, was also feeling tired. She waved her hand and said, “You have all worked through the night. Go back and rest early.”
Qin Mu acknowledged, and the physicians, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted, left with him. They had not gone far when they heard shouts of “Make way! Make way!” Physician Qu quickly pulled Qin Mu to the side of the road. Then they saw Yanfeng Emperor walking briskly toward them, with guards running behind him and maids carrying canopies hurrying along as well. Besides the emperor, there were also several richly dressed men and women, likely the empress, princes, or princesses.
“Cowherd!”
Suddenly, a crisp, surprised, and delighted voice came from the crowd, sounding familiar. Qin Mu looked up and saw a girl in the crowd, radiant and beautiful.
“Cowherd boy, it really is you!”
The girl exclaimed in surprise, “How did you end up here?”