Lord Yan stroked his beard and smiled. "If it weren't something extraordinary, I wouldn't have come in person to invite the Divine Doctor. Young Master Qin, do you know who is behind the fact that the Emperor did not hold you accountable for being a castaway?"
Qin Mu was taken aback. On that day, Emperor Yanfeng had delivered an impassioned speech before the Imperial Academy, full of righteous vigor. Qin Mu had assumed the Emperor intended to use his status as a castaway from the Great Ruins to keep the officials in check. But from the tone of this Lord Yan, it seemed there was another hand at work.
"I would be glad to hear the details."
"At that time, I told the Emperor that you were the Divine Doctor capable of curing that person. That is why the Emperor did not investigate how a divine castaway from the Great Ruins managed to bypass the Seeing Mirror and enter Yan Kang."
Lord Yan smiled faintly. "Had I not said that, do you think you could have become a scholar of the Imperial Academy? An Imperial Academy scholar holds at least an eighth-rank official post. How could such a position be given to a divine castaway from the Great Ruins infiltrating our State of Yan Kang? That would be a crime of blasphemy!"
Qin Mu's gaze flickered. "If I fail to cure that person, my head..."
Lord Yan chuckled. "Won't stay on your shoulders."
Qin Mu's face darkened.
The official sedan came to a halt. The strongmen lifted the curtain, and Lord Yan gestured with a smile for Qin Mu to exit. Qin Mu took a long breath and stepped out. Lord Yan also descended and led the way, whispering, "That person is of immense background. Do not be rash—understand?"
Qin Mu kept pace and grinned. "This concerns both my life and Lord Yan's prospects. Naturally, I will not be rash."
Lord Yan smiled knowingly. "Glad you understand. My grandson also studies at the Imperial Academy, enrolled two years before you. If you cure that person, I can have my grandson look after you. My grandson is quite talented—he entered at the Five Luminaries stage."
Qin Mu looked oddly at him. "Among the scholars I fought today... I wonder if his grandson was among them."
This was the inner imperial palace, seemingly the area of the rear palaces. The gates and courtyards stretched deep and layered. Along the way, Qin Mu saw only palace maids and pale-faced men without beards.
"Could they be eunuchs?" Qin Mu thought to himself.
Lord Yan led him to a deep, grand courtyard. Though it was resplendent in gold and jade, it felt cold and desolate, lacking the warmth of mortal life.
In the hall, there were twenty or thirty people—mostly palace maids and eunuchs—along with a few Imperial Physicians attending outside a jade bed. Curtains separated the bed, and within lay someone who appeared to be a woman.
"Has the Flower Lane Divine Doctor arrived?"
One of the Imperial Physicians looked Qin Mu up and down with a sneer. "Lord Yan, you've truly lost your mind. Sending a brothel doctor to treat the Empress Dowager? How reckless."
Lord Yan replied coolly, "Physician Xiao said something similar once. Then Physician Xiao died. Oh, and Young Master Qin—I forgot to tell you. Physician Xiao and these other Imperial Physicians are all instructors at the Imperial Academy's Imperial Medical Bureau. In the future, they will teach you medicine."
Qin Mu bowed politely to the physicians. They merely sneered in return, keeping their hands clasped behind their backs without reciprocating the bow. Physician Qu sneered, "So young and already a charlatan. I bet you haven't even learned how to properly refine pills."
Qin Mu flashed a bright smile, like a sunny young lad. "Honorable teachers—Physician Xiao said the same thing once. Then he died."
The physicians' faces turned iron-gray.
Qin Mu stepped forward to the jade couch and sat on the jade chair. "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager."
A hand emerged from behind the curtain and rested on the edge of the couch. Qin Mu took her pulse. After a moment, he turned back. "Do any of you have a silver needle?"
An elderly physician stepped forward and handed over his own silver needles. Qin Mu took one and pricked the Empress Dowager's fingertip. Lord Yan coughed softly and whispered, "A capital offense..."
"Lord Yan, we'll face this together."
Qin Mu's qi erupted, lifting the droplet of blood into the air. He fixed his gaze upon it.
"Open!"
With a low shout, he activated the Divine Firmament Sky Eye, peering into the blood. At the same time, he clenched his five fingers and suddenly spread them wide. The droplet swelled instantly, becoming a large crimson sphere.
Qin Mu hesitated briefly, then called out again, "Open!"
Countless formation patterns spun within his pupils, forming a second layer of heavens—the Azure Firmament Sky Eye!
Qin Mu felt his qi running low, struggling to sustain the technique. He turned back. "Lord Yan, could you lend me some of your qi cultivation?"
Lord Yan stepped forward, channeling his qi into Qin Mu's body. "Little Divine Doctor, are you certain you can—"
Qin Mu's body shook violently as Lord Yan's qi surged into his eyes. Buzzing, buzzing, buzz—the layers of divine eyes opened one after another, allowing him to see the droplet of blood with perfect clarity. Nothing hidden within could escape his sight. The Blind One had taught him the complete Nine-Layer Sky Eye Opening Method, but Qin Mu's cultivation was insufficient to open all nine layers. He could only borrow Lord Yan's power.
Qin Mu's eyes blazed with divine radiance—two beams of light shooting out from his gaze, extending a foot long. Suddenly, he pulled back the curtain. The divine light in his eyes surged, pouring down upon the Empress Dowager on the bed.
The Empress Dowager had not expected such audacity—that he would dare pull back the curtain. Her gaze snapped toward him immediately, carrying the force of a thunderclap from a clear sky. Even in illness, her authority was commanding.
Qin Mu met her eyes, and the divine light faded from his gaze. "I have identified Your Majesty's condition. You have been poisoned."
Though the Empress Dowager lay frail on her sickbed, her aged features still hinted at the bearing of one who had once presided over the realm. She closed her eyes and said, "My body weakens with each passing day. The Imperial physicians—some say it is an illness, some say it is poison—but no conclusion has been reached. How can you be certain it is poison?"
"The poison Your Majesty has contracted is called the Thousand Mechanism Poison."
Qin Mu continued, "This poison is crafted from a thousand toxic substances, each linked in an intricate chain. Once refined, the Thousand Mechanism Poison becomes endlessly variable. Virtually no antidote can counter it. Any antidote triggers a new transformation in the toxin, rendering it useless. The more treatments administered, the deeper the poison takes root and the more vicious the suffering. Your Majesty has been poisoned for a long time. Fortunately, Your Majesty's cultivation is profound, and some physicians wisely chose to sustain your life with miraculous elixirs rather than attempt treatment—otherwise, the consequences would have been catastrophic."
The Imperial Physicians in the hall were shaken. They exchanged glances and said nothing.
The Empress Dowager gasped. "Physicians—is there truly such a poison?"
Physician Yu stepped forward and bowed. "Your Majesty, such a poison exists. I have heard it was refined by the Jade-Faced Poison King. However, no one has ever witnessed it, and therefore..."
The Empress Dowager sighed. "You have no cure?"
The physicians hung their heads in shame, silent.
The Empress Dowager caught her breath and turned her gaze upon Qin Mu. "Little Divine Doctor—what about you?"
"I have a way to cure it."
Qin Mu smiled. "But I need to know what medicines Your Majesty has taken since being poisoned—the prescriptions. Please provide them as quickly as possible. In addition, I require one thousand and twenty-three palace maids, along with ink, brushes, and one thousand and twenty-three placards."
The Empress Dowager waved a feeble hand. "Go. Quickly."
Shortly thereafter, the ink, brushes, and paper were prepared. The rear palaces buzzed with activity as palace maids were summoned from every courtyard. The Imperial Medical Bureau also began compiling the records of every medicine the Empress Dowager had taken over the years.
Qin Mu took up the brush and inscribed the names of toxic substances and numbers upon the placards one by one, working until midnight before he was finished. Outside the hall, the torches blazed bright. More than a thousand palace maids stood in silence.
Qin Mu ordered the placards distributed. Each maid held one bearing the name of a toxic substance. He then arranged them into a peculiar formation—an intricate design composed of multiple patterns. The first pattern had just one maid standing with her placard. The second had two. The third, four. Then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Then sixty-four. Then one hundred and twenty-eight. Then two hundred and fifty-six. Then five hundred and twelve.
Once the maids were in position, Qin Mu studied the prescriptions the Empress Dowager had taken over the years. Starting from the first, he read it through and immediately called out a series of numbers, instructing the maids to swap positions upon hearing theirs.
The thousand-person formation shifted instantly. Then Qin Mu read the second prescription, called out new numbers, and had those maids switch places. The formation changed again.
One prescription after another, the formation kept transforming, the maids' positions shuffling again and again.
The physicians watched in utter astonishment. A white-haired elderly physician trembled as he spoke. "To think I could witness such a technique in my lifetime! It is worth dying for!"
The other three physicians nodded repeatedly and sighed. "We had looked down on him somewhat. Who could have guessed he would recognize the Thousand Mechanism Poison—and use this wondrous method to calculate exactly which stage of transformation the poison has reached!"
The physicians marveled again and again. Qin Mu had the thousand-odd palace maids stand with their placards, forming the structural pattern of mutual restraint among the various toxins that composed the Thousand Mechanism Poison. Then, based on the medicinal properties of the prescriptions the Empress Dowager had taken and their effect on the poison's structure, he altered the maids' positions.
These thousand-odd palace maids formed a massive, complex heterogeneous abacus. Each maid was an abacus bead, enabling him to calculate precisely which stage the Thousand Mechanism Poison had reached in the Empress Dowager's body.
Such a technique was divine beyond belief—even the physicians were filled with admiration.
Qin Mu calculated until dawn, finally finishing all the prescriptions. The maids who had held their placards standing through the night were thoroughly exhausted. Qin Mu examined the final positions of the maids, the placards they held, and the final formation of the thousand poisons. He pondered at length, then closed his eyes.
After a long while, Qin Mu opened his eyes and took up the brush to write the prescription.
The physicians crowded close and looked down. One by one, they nodded, then broke into excited gestures.
Lord Yan also leaned in to look, but could not understand it. "Physicians—how is this prescription?"
Physician Qu gazed at Qin Mu with reverence and exclaimed. "The prescription is exquisite—a grandeur like song! The Little Divine Doctor employs the method of substitution—replacing the central toxin within the Thousand Mechanism Poison with a single counter-agent. See it? That one! Once this one is replaced, the other one thousand and twenty-two toxins restrain each other, and the poison dissolves itself! Magnificent—truly magnificent!"
Physician You praised, "Physician Xiao did not die in vain! To die before the Little Divine Doctor—that is a death well earned!"
Lord Yan shook his head, thinking to himself: Medicine people are all madmen. What is so grand about this? The key is whether it works. If it doesn't, both my official post and his head are gone!