Qin Mu and Little Poison King swapped prescriptions seven or eight times in rapid succession, both of them feeling flustered. After all, this was their first time working together, and there were inevitably some imperfections and awkward coordination.
Moreover, both of them were determined to outdo the other. The tonics Qin Mu had packed into the red pill for Little Poison King were not just thirty or fifty times the dose, but nearly sixty times. And the vial of poison Little Poison King had given Qin Mu was similarly boosted in potency.
They were testing each other's skills, but Emperor Yanfeng and the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor ended up bearing the brunt, tossed about by these two like playthings, utterly unable to move, struggle, or cry for help.
The Emperor's body began to shrink. Before long, it had shrunk to its normal size, but it kept going. Soon it was as small as a newborn infant.
"I really should have stationed executioners around this great hall to hack these two quack healers to pieces..." the Emperor thought, buried beneath a sea of hair.
Meanwhile, the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's body was swelling. Not only was it swelling, but he also felt something growing on his rear—a furry tail.
His armpits itched fiercely as well, and he felt extra bones sprouting from his shoulders, cracking and pushing outward, as if wings were trying to grow. If they had grown into full wings, that would have been one thing, but they only reached about a foot long before stopping.
Their bodies alternated between freezing cold and scorching hot. Sometimes it felt like plunging into the depths of hell, rolling over mountains of blades. Other times it was as if they had ascended to immortality, supremely comfortable—but that comfort was the most dangerous sign, for it meant their souls were dissolving.
At other times, pain surged from every part of their bodies, thousands of times worse than heartache. Sometimes it felt as though ten thousand needles were piercing every inch of their skin, and other times as if they had been soaked in an unbearable vat of vinegar.
In the great hall, Qin Mu sat atop the carpet of hair that covered the floor, brush in one hand, chin propped on the other, staring blankly into space.
Not far away, Little Poison King paced back and forth with a furrowed brow, anxiously calculating how to proceed with treatment.
Both had hit a wall. Several times Qin Mu raised his brush but could not bring it down. Little Poison King likewise picked up his brush several times only to set it down again.
Outside the hall, Ling Yuxiu peeked in. Seeing their troubled expressions, she whispered, "Cowherd, how are things?"
Before Qin Mu could answer, Little Poison King chuckled. "You must be the Sixth Princess."
Ling Yuxiu thought for a moment. "My brother is now the Crown Prince, so yes, I suppose I'm the sixth."
"The Crown Prince—who is now the Crown Prince Yushu," Little Poison King said stiffly. "Congratulations, Sixth Princess. With this quack's treatment, your brother will be able to ascend the throne very soon."
Ling Yuxiu jumped in alarm and turned to Qin Mu with pleading eyes, stammering tearfully, "Cowherd, are you really going to kill Father?"
"Don't worry, girl, he won't die," Qin Mu assured her with a cold sneer. "Before I kill the Emperor, this fool will have killed the Imperial Preceptor. Without the Preceptor's support, even if your brother becomes Emperor, he'll be overthrown in no time!"
Ling Yuxiu was about to cry. "You're just trying to scare me, aren't you?"
Little Poison King mocked, "The Imperial Preceptor may die at my hands, but it's your medicine that's poisoning him to death!"
Qin Mu retorted, "The Emperor may die from my treatment, but it's your poison that will kill him. You won't leave this palace alive!"
The two glared at each other, eyes blazing with fury, wishing they could poison the other on the spot.
Ling Yuxiu flew into a rage and shouted, "If you two kill Father and the Imperial Preceptor, you'll never leave this palace alive! Executioners! Where are the executioners?!"
Emperor Yanfeng and the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Yuxiu (Sixth Princess) is the sensible one after all. If these two continued their feud, we'd be dead even if we weren't killed."
Imperial guards swarmed in from the palace and stationed themselves outside the hall.
Ling Yuxiu struck a fierce pose, hands on her hips, and declared to the two, "The executioners are right outside. You both answer to me now! You can't match his tonics, and you can't control his poisons—so just swap patients! You ugly one, you treat Father. Cowherd, you treat the Imperial Preceptor!"
Qin Mu rose to his feet and looked at Little Poison King. "Swap patients," he said firmly.
Little Poison King's eyes lit up. "You take the Imperial Preceptor, and I'll take the Emperor. There might be a remarkable effect!"
They immediately exchanged patients and examined the conditions of Emperor Yanfeng and the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor.
After the examination, both let out sighs of relief and exchanged a glance.
Moments ago, Qin Mu had been on the verge of taking Dragon Qilin and fleeing to the Great Ruins to lay low. Little Poison King had likewise been ready to slip out of the palace and disappear. The imperial experts outside would have found it rather difficult to stop them—it would have been a simple matter of one vial of poison.
But after swapping patients, they each found they could clean up the other's mess, removing the need to flee over the deaths of the Emperor and the Imperial Preceptor.
Qin Mu and Little Poison King each took up their brushes and wrote out prescriptions, sending the imperial physicians in to fetch the ingredients.
They attended to the treatments with care, constantly adjusting the formulas. After two or three days, the hair on the Emperor's body fell away, and the silken cocoon on the Imperial Preceptor faded into his body.
The Preceptor's injuries gradually lessened, the residual power of the divine ability waned, and he was slowly able to muster a trickle of his cultivation again.
As for the Emperor, though his Spirit Treasures remained in ruin, Little Poison King used countless poison spiders to transport vital energy and life force to rebuild them. Combined with the powerful life force from Qin Mu's elixirs working as self-repair, there should be no major problem.
Full recovery was now just a matter of time.
Ling Yuxiu summoned a number of eunuchs to clean the palace. They loaded the fallen hair into over a dozen carts. The tail, wings, extra arms, and legs that had fallen from the Imperial Preceptor filled an entire cart.
"Basically, there's nothing to worry about now," Qin Mu said.
He looked toward Little Poison King, who happened to be looking his way as well. Each gave a cold snort. Ling Yuxiu tensed like she was facing a great enemy and hurriedly said, "No more fighting!"
Qin Mu wrote out a prescription and sent the imperial physician to prepare the medicine. He stretched and smiled. "I won't fight with him. Treating the Emperor and the Imperial Preceptor these past few days has tired me out. I'm going back to rest."
Little Poison King said ominously, "I'm exhausted too. I need to go back and catch up on sleep. The rest can be handled by those quacks at the door."
Ling Yuxiu looked at Little Poison King, then turned to Qin Mu. "Cowherd, I'll walk you back to the Imperial Academy."
Qin Mu hesitated and shook his head. "No need. You haven't rested these past two days either."
Ling Yuxiu was resolute. "I'm walking you back!"
Seeing she was determined, Qin Mu could only nod. They waited a moment while the imperial physician brought the medicine. Little Poison King sniffed the air, trying to catch the scent of the herbs, but they had used so many ingredients these past few days—hundreds of different spiritual medicines—that the hall was saturated with every fragrance mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish.
Qin Mu gathered the medicine and headed out. Ling Yuxiu hurried to follow. Little Poison King also walked out of the hall and trailed behind the two. As they passed the Jade Belt River in the palace, he suddenly splashed into the water with a plop—and did not resurface.
Ling Yuxiu peered down and gasped. "He escaped through the water! Cowherd, is he afraid of you?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "He's not afraid of me. He's afraid of the Empress Dowager."
Just then, the Jade Belt River suddenly rose into the air, a wall of water suspended overhead like a silver-white serpent. Two palace maids carrying lanterns approached and shone their lights into the river. Flames shot from the lanterns in countless streaks of sword light, slashing into the water with swift hissing sounds.
"Reporting to the Empress Dowager—there is no one in the river," the two maids said, withdrawing their lanterns and bowing toward a tall pavilion nearby.
Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu turned to look at the pavilion. There stood the Empress Dowager with several palace maids. The Empress Dowager raised one hand slightly, then lowered it gently.
The waters of the Jade Belt River cascaded down, filling the riverbed once more.
Qin Mu bowed toward the pavilion. The Empress Dowager smiled. "Little Divine Physician, is the Emperor's illness cured?"
Qin Mu replied, "He still needs to recuperate. In a few years, he should recover to his peak condition."
The Empress Dowager nodded. "Yuxiu, take these two maids and escort the Little Divine Physician on behalf of this Dowager."
Ling Yuxiu smiled. "I was just planning to head back to the Imperial Academy with him."
The Empress Dowager turned and entered the pavilion, while the two lantern-bearing maids followed behind Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu.
They left the palace. Suddenly, Qin Mu stopped and turned to the two maids. "You may go back. There's no need for you to escort us any further."
The two maids were twins, identical in appearance, both sharp and alert. They shook their heads in unison, speaking with one voice, "The Empress Dowager ordered us to escort the Divine Physician back to the Imperial Academy."
Qin Mu frowned slightly and said to Ling Yuxiu, "Sister, you should go back with them."
Ling Yuxiu shook her head. "With me by your side, Little Poison King won't dare make a move against you."
Qin Mu sighed. "For medicine masters like us, there's no one we wouldn't dare poison. Originally I only needed to protect myself, but now I have to protect you all as well. I'm afraid that might prove a bit much."
The two maids giggled. "The Little Divine Physician is quite amusing. You're only at the Five Luminaries Realm, while Little Poison King and we sisters are at the Seven Stars Realm. Besides, the Empress Dowager bestowed treasures upon us specifically to deal with Little Poison King. With us sisters here, if he dares show his face, we'll surely bring him down!"
Qin Mu shook his head and dropped the subject. "Medicine masters kill regardless of realm," he said. "You're too naive. I could poison several Celestial Being Realm powerhouses without breaking a sweat, let alone Little Poison King. If you insist on following me, stay alert. I'm worried I might not be able to watch out for all of you."
The two maids giggled on without cease.
The streets were crowded. The two maids walked one ahead, one behind, carrying their lanterns. The large lanterns were conspicuous even in daylight, but since they wore palace attire, no one came to question them.
The Imperial Academy was quite far from the palace. They walked six or seven li without incident. Qin Mu refined medicine as he walked, working on the medicines he carried. He finished the packets of herbs along the way, then slipped his hand into the Gluttonous Bag. Only his arm and shoulder could be seen trembling slightly; what techniques he was using inside the bag and what medicines he was refining were invisible to onlookers.
The two maids were on high alert. Any flies or spiders that appeared along the road were instantly cut down by the sword light from their lanterns, unable to come near.
As they walked, a sudden cool breeze swept toward them. The two maids immediately surged their vital energy, and the lantern light blazed bright, forming two great domes of light that shielded them, keeping the wind out.
One of the maids laughed, "Is this all the Little Poison King has to—" She broke off mid-sentence. Her delicate face suddenly turned black, and she toppled rigidly to the ground. The maid behind her also fell with a thud, unable to move.
Ling Yuxiu stared in shock and looked around. "Why are we okay—"
Dong.
She collapsed backward.
After the three women fell, several pitch-black tentacles covered in barbed spikes crawled up from the ground. The tentacles had pierced their calves, delivering the poison.
Qin Mu flicked his finger, and the thrashing tentacles hissed and dissolved into puddles of water. The ground trembled, as if some enormous creature was burrowing away beneath the surface.
Qin Mu took out three spiritual pills and suppressed the poison in the three women, bringing them back to consciousness.
Suddenly, a muffled grunt echoed from the distance: "You fed my precious baby tonics?!"
Boom!
The earth shook and cracked. Houses collapsed as a monstrous insect, over ten zhang tall and more than thirty zhang long, burst from the ground. Its body bristled with tentacles—it was the Insect King that Little Poison King had raised!
Little Poison King had just summoned the Insect King to his side, only for Qin Mu's tonics to swell its body to enormous proportions, ballooning so fast he couldn't even hold it down.
Now Little Poison King was clinging to the Insect King's back, looking utterly wretched.
"Still not going to strike?" Qin Mu said to the two maids beside him.
The two maids were still groggy, but at his words they channeled every ounce of their vital energy into their lanterns. The lantern light lanced out like swords toward the Insect King. Countless streaks of sword light pierced through the creature, riddling it like a sieve!
Little Poison King was struck by several blades. He abruptly dissolved into a cloud of poisonous smoke and burrowed underground.
The two maids hurriedly aimed their lanterns at the ground. Under the lantern light, the earth became transparent, the light penetrating dozens of zhang below the surface.
However, the poison in the two maids had not yet been fully cured—Qin Mu had only suppressed it. They soon felt the toxin surging again and dared not expend any more mana.
Qin Mu said, "No need to chase him. He's already suffered a loss. Push him too hard and he'll wreak havoc, poisoning everyone in the capital. I'll cure your poison as quickly as possible. Any later and it'll be too late."
Qin Mu drew a small amount of blood from each of the three. The blood had already turned black. Although only one insect had stung them, the toxins were completely different and had to be neutralized separately.
On the way back, Qin Mu treated each of them individually. By the time they reached the Scholar's Residence, the poison had been neutralized, but traces remained, leaving their heads foggy. Before they even reached Qin Mu's room, all three collapsed one after another with thuds.
Qin Mu frowned and dragged the three women to his quarters. He tossed Ling Yuxiu and the two maids onto the bed, then turned to shut the door.
At the doorway, Dragon Qilin said, "Rest assured, Master. I won't let anyone in. I understand perfectly..."
"You've done well," Qin Mu praised.
He had indeed been exhausted these past few days. He returned to the room, lay flat on his back among the three women, and fell fast asleep. Halfway through his sleep, his nose tickled—some girl's hair had drifted into his nostril. Qin Mu casually brushed it aside, not noticing which girl he had flipped off the bed.