Chapter 1164: False, the riddle of immortality (1/2)

Gu Qishao’s undying, unaging body had to be a consequence of his unique blood, which resulted from the medicines he took in the womb. Han Yunxi handed over the list of medicine from Gu Yuntian to Gu Qishao and said, “Take a close look, see if it’s complete. If we want to figure out your body, this list will be crucial.”

“Oh,” Gu Qishao obediently accepted the item.

“Long Feiye, have Xu Donglin send a letter to the Tang Clan later so Lingr can come help,” Han Yunxi addd.

Mu Linger was a genius pharmacist, so she’d be a perfect help. Although Gu Qishao’s skills were no less inferior, adding one more assistant didn’t hurt. Maybe Mu Linger could even catch something Gu Qishao missed?

Gu Qishao pursed his lips and chuckled. “Let’s not scare that lass, alright? She’ll cry.”

Han Yunxi suddenly realized that Mu Linger didn’t know that Gu Qishao had an undying body. She hesitated--in the end, this was Gu Qishao’s own secret. Even if it was for his own good, she didn’t have the ight to publicize his condition. Finally, she said, “You make the choice.”

“Qishao, let’s study these medicines first. If we can’t figure it out, you can think about inviting Miss Linger over then. How does that sound?” Gu Beiyue compromised.

“Fine, fine, whatever you say goes,” Gu Qishao looked like he couldn’t care less.

Han Yunxi stared at the bloody seeds and was about to speak when Gu Beiyue carried over a flowerpot. “Princess, we can’t experiment on Qishao’s body, but we can test these seeds. Same for the Blood Rattan,” Gu Beiyue stated. “By planting them in soil, normal humans, or animal blood, Qishao can control them. But they won’t inherit his undying chaacteristics or be immune to poison. Seeds grown from Qishao’s blood are just about identical to himself. There’s plenty worth studying with these points.”

Han Yunxi was in silent admiration. It was no wonder that Gu Beiyue was the world’s foremost doctor. She said, “I once read about a cruel medical experiment where they extracted essences of the five elements and injected them into the human body. As the body grew, the essences eventually merged with the person to be one.”

Gu Beiyue’s gentle eyes brightened at her words, while Gu Qishao’s gaze grew complicated. Only Long Feiye furrowed his brows, completely clueless. He had never studied medicine or poisons and wasn’t starting now. As he sat to the side and heard them talk, he studied Gu Qishao’s hand. His left arm was clearly dangling by his side and even looked unnaturally stiff.

Of course, Long Feiye only kept the observation to himself.

“Let me give an example. Of the five elements, suppose we take metal. If you can extract the essense of metal from a metallic object and inject it into the human body, the blood and flesh would combine with the essence. Then the human body would become hard as metal and difficult to injure. And if the essence of water could be extracted and fed to the body, it would grow soft and limpid, even capable of reducing itself to a liquid state.”[1]

As Han Yunxi spoke, it wasn’t just Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao who looked doubtful, but Long Feiye as well. Helpless, she hastened to explain. “This is only a design for a medical experiment and nothing more than hypotheticals. At the very least, I know this experiment never came to pass. But we can’t eliminate all possibilities it offers, such as the chance of success.”

“Princess means to say...by taking in medicine frequently, Qishao managed to ingest the essence of certain plants so that his blood retained its properties, thus allowing him to grow and control thorny thistles? And because of this, Qishao’s own body was affected, turning it both human and plant? If that’s the case, it’s not strange that he can control plants nurtured from his own blood,” Gu Beiyue muttered.

Gu Qishao looked down at his body and laughed. “Haha, so this old man really wasn’t human!”

Everyone looked at him sternly, not finding his joke funny at all.

“If that’s the case, how would you explain his inability to age, die, or get poisoned?” Long Feiye asked.

Han Yunxi creased her brows and lost herself in thought. Suddenly, she looked up and exclaimed, “It’s very possible that Qishao doesn’t have an undying body at all. He just has incredible recovery rates that make it impossible to injure him. Back at the maze, I sensed poison in his body, which means he can still retain toxins. It’s just that the poison has no effects on him--probably because he has immunity!”

“Recovery rates and immunity...could it be a result of the plant essence in his blood?” Gu Beiyue wondered.

“Then what about my unaging?” Gu Qishao asked.

“Qishao, there are many plants that take longer than humans to mature and live longer lifespans. Some plants grow in the earth or underground. There are also certain types of turtles, fish, snakes, and other unknown animals that live for a long, long time, at least a few centuries or more. Some can even last for thousands of years,” Han Yunxi said serously.

“So it’s not that he doesn’t age, but that he ages extremely slowly…” Long Feiye studied Gu Qishao meaningfully as he laughed out loud again.

“Poison lass, that really does make some sense!” he chortled.