Chapter 718 – The Sunlight of the Courtyard Shines upon the Brewing Medicine by the Window (1/2)
Chapter 718 – The Sunlight of the Courtyard Shines upon the Brewing Medicine by the Window
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 – January 7, 2018)
Zhou Tong stopped, his eyes narrowing.
Even in the dim light of the lanterns, he could still clearly see the color of the blood. The black blood was rather striking.
He felt that the heart underneath his palm was beating faster and faster, causing his hand and arm to tremble with it. Then his shoulders began to tremble, and then his entire body.
His face became abnormally pale, as if he had been afflicted by some grave illness in this brief span of time.
He had been poisoned, and with a fierce and very rare poison.
He had been able to conclude so quickly that this was a very rare poison because the Department for Purging Officials was the place most skilled in the use of poisons.
The poisons he personally saw and used were more numerous than the different foods a normal person ate in their entire life.
When had he been poisoned? The gloomy light in his squinted eyes continuously flickered as he recalled this past period. Although there were no clues, he very quickly determined who had poisoned him and when he had been poisoned. These did not require proof, only reverse deduction based on time and the grasp of a few details.
His poisoner was probably still there, but he did not turn around, because what he needed to prioritize was leaving.
He took a handtowel from his sleeve and wiped the foul blood from his lips, then continued walking forward, very quickly vanishing into the darkness.
After some time, a soft sound rose from the darkness. The gloomy lanterns on the stone walls revived, shining upon Zhexiu's pale face streaked with dried mud.
He crouched down and dipped a hand into the foul blood, brought it up to his nose, and sniffed.
The foul black blood exuded a faint fishy scent atop those blade-like fingers glimmering with cold light.
He was very satisfied and continued in pursuit along the trail of Qi, swiftly vanishing into the darkness.
……
……
The tunnels under the Department for Purging Officials spread out like a spider web and were extraordinarily complex. They were also longer than one might imagine, leading directly to very distant places. If possible, if this were any ordinary time, Zhou Tong would have spent much longer in the tunnels, winding through many paths, activating many more mechanisms, all to ensure his absolute safety.
This was not possible today, because a fierce poison ran through his body.
This poison was completely different from the poisons commonly used by the Department for Purging Officials. It did not particularly target the meridians, the star openings, or the sea of consciousness. Instead, it pervaded the organs like sand, imparting a coarse and rough sensation that made him think about the vast plains of the north.
This sort of poison that was so incredibly close to nature might not even be treatable using the Sacred Light technique. However, very few people in the world had his level of knowledge in poisons, and he could even be considered a grandmaster in this aspect. Even if he had not seen this type of poison before, he knew how he should set out to deal with it. In order to take care of such a poison, only medicine would do, and it had to be medicine made with herbs. Even in Zhou Prison, such herbs would be very difficult to obtain. Fortunately, he knew of a place appropriately equipped for this ask, and even more fortunately, it was the place he had intended to go to.
He walked through the cold, wet, and extremely long tunnels, taking many turns. The ground was no longer flat, but gradually inclinined upward. He continued forward, walking to the end of the tunnel. His hands accurately inserted themselves into a gap in the wall, removing an array. He activated a switch, and then his hands pushed forward, opening a door and delivering him from darkness.
A dazzling sunlight was waiting for him, and also a moving face as warm and gentle as the sunshine.
The sunlight came from the sky above the courtyard. The gloomy clouds of snow had at some point been blown away, revealing the porcelain-blue sky. Just like this, the warm light of the winter sun appeared before him. The warm and moving face belonged to a beautiful young woman.
Upon seeing this sunlight and the face of this young woman, Zhou Tong instantly felt his body warm up and his mind calm down. Moreover, the concern and anxiety evident on the woman's face made his chest turn hot. This was an emotion completely different from fear or loathing, and it was also the emotion that he most lacked and most required in his life.
The young woman supported him out of the tunnel and then closed it with great difficulty, once more activating the switch.
This courtyard was not very large, nor very refined, but every detail, whether it was the black eaves, the screen wall, or the border of green bamboo, brimmed with the word 'tranquility'.