Chapter 458: Unexpected situation (1/2)
Chapter 458: Unexpected situation
“Judging by the current situation, she seems to have incurred brain damage. As for the extent…it’s hard to tell,” Gu Beiyue replied.
The burns might have affected her cranial nerves, Han Yunxi thought. Or maybe it affected the blood vessels within her brain. It would really be hard to tell then. Even the head elder of the medical academy might not find anything out.
They had no choice but to wait…
Han Yunxi still remembered she wanted to settle things with Gu Qi Sha, but she had no choice but to deal with Su Xiaoyu first. Over the next few days, she did nothing but wait for the girl to wake up, but the girl obstinately remained asleep. Meanwhile, Long Feiye stayed home, while Chu Xifeng investigated the inn that Su Xiaoyu had mentioned, only to find it had long been emptied out. His previous leads yielded nothing as well.
“Your Highness, mistress, the other side was extremely prudent. They didn’t leave a single clue behind!” Chu Xifeng still had to admire them for their efforts.
“You didn’t find anything off of Su Xiaoyu herself?” Long Feiye asked coldly.
“We’ve longed searched her and her room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary,” Han Yunxi intoned.
“There has to be a clue somewhere. Chu Xifeng, expand your range and keep looking!” Long Feiye commanded.
Han Yunxi was about to leave, but suddenly paused to say, “Your Highness, let’s go to Pill Fiend Valley after Su Xiaoyu wakes up.”
She hadn’t brought the topic up in days, so Long Feiye assumed that she’d let it go. Instead, she remembered it clearly. This woman’s picky with her compassion. It looks like it’d be impossible for her to treat Gu Qi Sha kindly!
“Mm,” Long Feiye could only nod.
When she left the room, Chu Xifeng spoke up. “Your Highness, this girl didn’t come to the estate to kill or steal, but risked exposure to injure esteemed wangfei. It’s all too fishy!”
Long Feiye’s eyes flickered before he finally deigned to speak. “I’m worried she was specifically targeted for the infiltration. But to injure her on purpose like that is strange.”
Long Feiye didn’t say anything out loud, but Chu Xifeng understood the hints. He had no idea what Long Feiye and Mute Granny had talked about in that room, but he had a fair gauge of esteemed wangfei’s true identity. Su Xiaoyu’s odd actions may have really been targeting esteemed wangfei. Even if they couldn’t guess why she tried to hurt Han Yunxi, one thing was obvious. Someone was already knocking on their door. Whether or not it was the Seven Noble Families or the Poison Sect, they had to be on their guard.
Long Feiye still didn’t understand one thing. Back when the West Qin imperial clan switched the royal daughter for a commoner son, only the Shadow and Nether Clans knew the truth. Judging from the actions of the white-robed man from the Shadow Clan, he either had different motivations or had yet to confirm Han Yunxi’s identity. Meanwhile, there had been no sign of activity from the Nether Clan yet. Still, neither of them would resort to injuring Han Yunxi for the truth. So who’s really behind Su Xiaoyu?
What if someone else knows of the existence of the West Qin imperial orphan besides those two clans?
Of course, even if the Seven Noble Families weren’t at fault, he wouldn’t let any one of them off! When the Great Qin Empire entered into a civil war all those years ago, the two imperial clans fought fiercely against each other. After the West Qin was destroyed, the East Qin suffered heavy losses of their own. It was the Di Clan,1 loyal supporters of West Qin, that had started the final battle by allying themselves with the Black Clan and Wind Clan to thoroughly decimate East Qin.
Meanwhile, the East Qin had the Li Clan,2 whose men and soldiers they’d fed and paid for years. However, during this crucial juncture, the Li Clan had dismissed their soldiers and declared neutrality in face of the conflict. Long Feiye might have aspirations to build his own dynasty, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take revenge against those crafty, greedy clansmen who had cravenly clung to life and gone back on their promises.
“Has Jun Yixie made any moves lately?” Long Feiye asked.
“Supposedly, he’s already found a medicine to cure the pestilence in the horse farms. The Wang Clan recently sent men to the Hundred Poisons Sect as well, but we haven’t gotten any updates yet,” Chu Xifeng replied.
Long Feiye and Han Yunxi had suspected Jun Yixie’s master of rescuing him from Fishery Island thanks to using the winds to spread the poison fog. He had thus entrusted the head of the Wang Clan to send scouts to infiltrate the Hundred Poisons Sect. It would be hard for his own men to slip in compared to members of Medicine City, since the sect still needed to do some quantity of trade with their ranks.
“Be cautious above all, don’t startle the snake in the grass,” Long Feiye instructed.
He had studied the Annals of the Seven Noble Families for a long time. The page detailing the Wind Clan had only said thus: Wind Clan, experts in astronomy and geomancy. Skilled in ancient divination techniques and experts at commanding the winds to position their pieces, make traps, and move soldiers. Long Feiye had tapped his knuckles against the table as he thought over the description.
Currently, Jun Yixie and Bai Qingyan were both in Northern Li, puzzling over Baili Mingxiang’s blood sample. Because Jun Yixie had been unable to figure it out, he could only hand the sample off to his master.
“Very strange. There are high concentrations of poison in this blood, but its host is still alive,” Bai Qingyan murmured before lightly licking a drop. His expression turned doubtful from the taste. “It truly doesn’t seem to be human blood.”
“But it’s ridiculous to think that it’s fish blood! If that was the case, I would’ve long been able to tell whether the fish were poisoned!” Jun Yixie insisted.
Bai Qingyan didn’t speak, but continued to lick the blood. Jun Yixie waited before he dropped his voice to ask, “Master, could it be a technique to cultivate Gu? Might Long Feiye be making Poison Gu hosts?”
Poison Gu hosts were humans raised on poisons until they became impossible to kill and impervious to hundreds of different toxins.
“It doesn’t seem like it. At the very least, we wouldn’t use slow-acting poisons to create them,” Bai Qingyan said before storing the rest of the sample away in his sleeve. “Master will keep this for now and study it more thoroughly.”
Jun Yixie was reluctant to part with the sample because he wanted to research it too. But since master had already claimed it, what else could he say?
“Have you found out the source of the horse disease?” Bai Qingyan asked next.
“I still don’t have proof that it was man-made, but I’ve controlled the pestilence itself. It’s a shame that our cavalry have suffered serious losses in the meantime.” The news left Jun Yixie extremely depressed. Because the horses had fallen sick, his escape from Fishery Island had been delayed as well.