Chapter 720: The Courtyard Sunlight Shines on the Window Where Medicine Is Brewed
Zhou Tong stopped, his eyes narrowing slightly.
The lamplight was dim, yet he could still clearly make out the color of the blood, because that blood was black in a way that stung the eyes.
He felt the heart beneath his palm beating faster and faster, causing his hand and arm to tremble along with it, then his shoulders began to shake, until his entire body quivered.
His complexion turned abnormally pale, as if he had fallen gravely ill in that short span of time.
He had been poisoned, and by a rare, potent toxin.
He could judge so quickly that this poison was uncommon because the Qingli Si was, by its very nature, the place in the world most skilled in the use of toxins.
He had seen with his own eyes and personally used more poisons than an ordinary person had eaten dishes in their entire lifetime.
When had he been poisoned? He didn't know. In his narrowed eyes, a faint, flickering light swept rapidly through his mind, retracing the moments just past. Though there were no clues, he quickly determined who had administered the poison and when it had taken effect. This required no evidence, only a backward calculation of time and a grasp of certain details.
His target should still be in the same place, but he did not turn around. At this moment, the first thing to consider was leaving.
He took a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the foul blood from the corner of his mouth, and continued walking forward. Soon, he vanished into the darkness.
After some time, a faint sound arose in the darkness. The lamplight on the stone walls flickered back to life, illuminating Zhe Xiu's pale face, which bore traces of dried mud and water.
He crouched down, reached out a hand to dab some of the foul blood, and brought it to his nose to sniff.
The black, foul blood on his sharp, coldly gleaming, blade-like fingers gave off a faint, fishy odor.
He was satisfied. Following the scent, he continued his pursuit forward and soon disappeared into the darkness as well.
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...
The tunnels beneath the Qingli Si's main hall were as intricate as a spider's web, extremely complex, and unimaginably long, leading directly to distant places. If possible, under normal circumstances, Zhou Tong would have stayed underground longer, taken more detours, and set up more traps to ensure absolute safety.
But not today. He was already gravely poisoned.
This poison was completely different from those commonly used by the Qingli Si. It didn't specifically target the meridians, star apertures, or the sea of consciousness. Instead, it spread through his internal organs like a handful of coarse sand, carrying a rough, even violent sensation. It even reminded him of the vast, open plains of the north.
This was something incredibly close to nature; even the Holy Light Technique might not be able to cure it. But he was one of the few people in the world most skilled in poisons, a grandmaster in this field. Even though he had never seen this poison before, he knew where to start. To counter this poison, only medicine would work, and it had to be herbal medicine. Even in Zhou Prison, such herbs were hard to find. Fortunately, he knew of a place that was quite well-stocked. Even more fortunate, that place was exactly where he had been heading.
Walking through the damp, cold, and endlessly long passageways, turning countless corners, the terrain was no longer flat but sloped upward. He continued forward until he reached the end. His hands precisely reached into a gap in the wall, deactivated the formation, then opened a mechanism. Pushing forward with slight force, he opened a door and left the darkness.
A brilliant patch of sunlight awaited him outside the door, along with a face as gentle and moving as the sunlight itself.
The sunlight came from the sky above the courtyard. The gloomy snow clouds had been swept away by the wind at some unknown time, revealing a piece of porcelain-blue sky. The warm winter sun thus appeared in his sight. That gentle and moving face belonged to a beautiful young woman.
Seeing this sunlight and the young woman's face, Zhou Tong immediately felt his body grow warm and calm. The uncontainable worry and anxiety in the woman's brows and eyes made his chest burn with heat. This emotion, completely different from fear or disgust, was what he had lacked most and needed most in his life.
The young woman helped him out of the tunnel entrance, then with some difficulty closed it and reactivated the mechanism.
This residence was not large, nor was it particularly refined, but whether it was the black-eaved spirit screen or the green bamboo fence, every detail exuded a sense of tranquility.
When Zhou Tong had personally designed this residence back then, this was exactly what he had sought. He had always believed that tranquility was what made a place feel like home.
This residence was his home, his true home. It was the place where his weary body and his heart, steeped in poison for countless years, could finally find peaceful rest.
Only by returning to this residence could his heart achieve true peace, could he truly relax.
To ensure safety, to guard this secret, and to preserve this rare tranquility and freedom from disturbance, Zhou Tong managed this residence with great caution and care.
No one knew about this place—not his most loyal subordinates in the Qingli Si, not the Eight Tigers like Cheng Jun, not even Her Holiness the Empress Dowager.
The only person who knew of this residence's connection to him was now dead.
Every time he returned to this residence, looking through the clump of green bamboo and listening to the sounds coming from the neighboring courtyard, Zhou Tong would always recall certain things.
Over the years, Xue Xingchuan had very much hoped that he would treat the Xue Mansion as his true home, but how could that be possible? Setting aside the fearful and uneasy looks in the eyes of the servants and younger generation at the Xue Mansion, just the fact that his surname was Zhou made it impossible. His elder brother had abandoned his surname, but he always wanted to keep his.
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...
Aside from the Demon Commander, Zhou Tong had probably killed more people than anyone else in this world. Perhaps because of this, he was also the most afraid of death. Besides this residence, he had several other secret hideouts in the capital, but none of them were as safe, as important, or as comfortable to him as this one.
Because this residence had a gentle and lovely woman who truly respected and loved him. More importantly, he had hidden many precious things here, such as some extremely rare medicinal herbs. A large portion of these herbs had been secretly taken from the Hundred Herb Garden by his men, while another portion had been sent to him by the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion back then.
He took the steaming hot towel and covered his face. Whether it was the steam irritating his lungs, he coughed a few muffled times.
When he took the towel off, several spots of black blood had appeared on it, looking like flowers painted in ink—unreal and somewhat terrifying.
The woman was very uneasy, but Zhou Tong appeared particularly calm and composed. He told her to first grind some ink, while he closed his eyes and meditated in his chair, as if savoring something.
He was savoring the potent poison with its wild, open-plain flavor spreading through his body.
After an unknown amount of time, he opened his eyes. Supported by the woman, he walked to the desk by the window, picked up a brush, and wrote it out in one smooth, effortless stroke, as if practicing calligraphy, extremely elegant.
The ink on the paper was dripping, but the characters were perfectly clear. It was not cursive script; it was a prescription.
Which herbs to use, how many bowls of water, how to decoct them, what kind of fire, what kind of stove, what kind of charcoal, what kind of water, how to filter the decoction, when to add the crystal—all were very clearly stated.
Seeing his expression, the woman knew he should be fine and felt relieved. She took the prescription and went to the back kitchen to brew the medicine.
Such a thing had happened several times before; she had experience.
There was no mistake in the types or amounts of the herbs. Her movements in lighting the stove were very skilled (shúliàn).
At some point, a palace-dressed beauty appeared beside the medicine stove. The stove fire reddened her face, clearly illuminating her extraordinarily beautiful brows and eyes.
This palace-dressed beauty was very beautiful.
In fact, over the past few years, she had always been considered the most beautiful woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The woman calmly brewed the medicine, her movements in dividing the herbs and filtering the dregs very steady, as if she hadn't seen the palace-dressed beauty at all.
The palace-dressed beauty added something into the medicine pot.
The woman still acted as if she hadn't seen anything.
The room was silent, with only the bubbling sound of the decoction in the pot.