152 A Poison Without an Antidote (1/2)

”No matter how much I dislike him, this crown prince is still a shrewd character, despite looking like he doesn’t know of the difficulties of the outside world after staying in the palace for so long.” Yun Yang thought, ”Let’s see what he’ll do then!”

”It would be best for him not to bother me but if he really does, I’ll just go along with my plans.”

…

At the Residence of Qiu, Qiu Jianhan, who had parted with Yun Yang for only a few days, had gotten considerably thinner.

It was one thing to listen to what Yun Yang had said and another to prove that the emperor had been poisoned. It was a crucial issue, after all, so the emperor and the old marshal had decided to take matters into their own hands after lengthy discussions; they could not just listen to whatever Yun Yang, as a child, said!

Is the situation critical just because you said it is? What if Yun Yang was just exaggerating to emphasize his own importance?

Both the emperor and the old marshal had thought about the possibility before. The highest merit one could receive in life was none other than saving the emperor but it was two different thing to soothe the emperor’s condition and to save the emperor’s life!

While Yun Yang was questioning their absence,Yutang’s top-tier physician had come to the marshal’s residence.

Hands of the Saint – You Tiexin.

Despite the noble title, he had another moniker. Everyone called him Three-Inch You out of respect for his exceptional skills in a particular healing art.

A golden needle of three inches dictated life and death – a person’s life and death could be speculated, decided, and salvaged; all within three inches.

The old, saintly physician had spent his life working with acupuncture needles; his healing hands had saved the people of this world for almost seventy years, the toll his holy deeds took on him were evident in the silver strands within his beard and hair.

This old man was Qiu Jianhan’s sworn brother, one of the few people whom Qiu Jianhan trusted the most in this world.

If it were not for Old Marshal Qiu’s relationship with him, Old You might not have come. If the invitation had been from the emperor alone, it would have been even worse. He might have come, but he would have taken his time about it.

His Majesty was laying in his bed now, the old marshal looking at You Tiexin who was seated in front of the bed nervously.

You Tiexin’s face was grim as he cultivated the Inquisition Way of the Heavenly Physician; a gush of unique mystical Qi that was brimming with vitality coursed through the emperor’s meridians.

After a while, Old You retracted his mystical Qi and sighed softly.

With a raise of his right hand, a total of a hundred and eight golden acupuncture needles embedded themselves in the emperor from head to toe.

His Majesty had turned into a human porcupine within the blink of an eye.

You Tiexin took a deep breath. It had been but a moment but this saintly physician’s face was already covered in droplets of sweat; just the action of spreading the needles had depleted more than ninety-five percent of his mystical Qi!

Logically, Old You should have meditated to readjust his breath and recover his condition first. Depleting more than a ninth of mystical Qi at once would damage any cultivator’s basic Qi; it was no exception even when Old You’s cultivated mystical skill was attuned to the healing arts.

Yet Saintly Physician You forced himself to breathe again as his ten fingers blurred in frenzied motion, gracefully weaving his skill.

His fingers moved deftly around the emperor’s body – pressing, pulling, poking, shaking, and jerking…

The hundred and eight needles were accompanied by a hundred and eight different techniques as they went completely through His Majesty’s body.

The blurring shadows of his fast motions disappeared abruptly, You Tiexin was panting harshly but he did not slow down. Another golden needle appeared in his right hand; without a sound, it pierced the tip of the emperor’s left index finger with a cold, glimmering flash.

Buzz, buzz.

The hundred and eight needles that were stationary suddenly trembled on the emperor’s body, buzzing loudly when the last golden needle pierced the Emperor's skin.

Immediately, a black line, visible to the eyes, coursed speedily towards the index finger following the meridians of the emperor’s left hand.

Finally, a drop of black blood spurted out.

You Tiexin urgently caught it in a tiny jade bottle that was only the size of a finger pad.

The acupuncture needles were still trembling but the black line had been stopped in its tracks. It remained frozen for a short while before it slowly faded away.

A moment later, the black line was thoroughly gone while His Majesty’s skin returned to its original color as if nothing had happened.

The golden needles continued to buzz, but nothing else happened to the emperor’s body.

A long while later, the golden needles finally quieted down.

You Tiexin had expended all that he had, sweating profusely and puffing violently; his vision was slightly blurry from his efforts. It was an effect of forcefully performing the acupuncture despite expending most of his mystical Qi. The old saintly physician made an effort to control himself and extracted all the golden needles from His Majesty’s body; before he could keep them into the box though, he collapsed onto the floor as sweat drenched his entire being, draining the color from his face.

The needles he had just extracted lay scattered all across the floor.

Qiu Jianhan was shocked, scurrying over to hold him and transferring a flow of refined mystical Qi into You Tiexin’s meridians.

The mystical skill the old marshal cultivated was different from Old You’s, so he could not have helped when Old You was performing the acupuncture. However, the old marshal’s skills were sufficient to help Old You. Now, he could at least refill his damaged basic Qi.

After some time, You Tiexin had finally regained his calm composure.

His Majesty had sat up from his bed as well, his gaze directed at You Tiexin.

Somberness tinged his gaze. Although he had made an effort to put up an indifferent front, he could not do it – even though he was the emperor of an empire.