Chapter 467 Medicine Test Subject

Chapter 467: The Medicine Vessel

Bai Yuxing withdrew his gaze and continued in a calm tone, "Those infected with this gu must rest quietly and avoid mental strain and physical exertion, lest they vomit blood or fall into a coma.

Additionally, to sustain this gu, one will eat far more than others at every meal, yet the body never fills out."

Cheng Ge's pupils constricted sharply, his throat so parched he could barely force out words.

So... it was a gu after all...

He looked at Bai Yuxing, his voice tight: "There's truly no cure?"

Bai Yuxing adjusted his sleeves and fell silent for a moment.

"There is a cure if the gu is still newly contracted." He paused, glanced at Cheng Ge, and chose his words carefully.

"That would be to... lie with multiple partners... Once a certain count is met, the gu can be dispelled.

I've heard that a princess of the Southern Frontier once fell victim to this gu and used this very method. But in the end, her years were cut short—she withered and died before turning thirty."

The color drained from Cheng Ge's face.

Bai Yuxing took a step closer: "But this method only works when the gu worm has recently lodged itself in the body as a young worm.

For those like you who have harbored it for a long time, it has long since matured into an adult worm, and this method will no longer work."

He approached and sat down beside the bed, gently parting the front of Yun Xunyu's robes.

Cheng Ge's gaze fell upon that stretch of pallid skin.

Bai Yuxing pointed to a spot just below the heart: "Do you see this?"

Cheng Ge looked. Beneath the heart, there was a faint flush of red, as if something were winding its way beneath the skin.

Bai Yuxing's voice dropped: "The gu has now crept close to the heart and lungs.

By all logic, this gu should have taken his life long ago. That he's still alive..."

He paused, lifting his head to look at Cheng Ge.

"If I'm guessing right, he must be a medicine vessel raised by the Shanyue Tribe."

Cheng Ge was stunned. Medicine vessel?

"Medicine vessel?" Cheng Ge's voice came out raspy. "What medicine vessel?"

Bai Yuxing's gaze rested on Yun Xunyu's face as he spoke:

"In the Southern Frontier, there exists an art called 'medicine rearing.' They select children of exceptional physique, force-feed them a hundred herbs, and feed them venomous insects. Over years and months, one is finally forged. Their blood can cure a hundred poisons—they are known as medicine vessels."

His voice was calm, as if speaking of the most ordinary thing.

"This is a secret art of the Shanyue Tribe. The process... is unspeakably cruel, and one in ten thousand survive."

Cheng Ge's nails dug into his palms.

Bai Yuxing continued: "A medicine vessel's blood can cure poisons, but it can't kill the gu—only suppress it somewhat.

Moreover, once their blood is used, it becomes very hard for them to regenerate. And if too much is drawn, their body will rapidly waste away."

"Look at him now—frail as paper, his hair completely white. That's from having used too much blood, compounded by this poisonous gu. That he hasn't gone straight to the underworld counts as him being lucky."

Cheng Ge's throat felt like something was stuck in it.

Bai Yuxing's voice sank even lower: "By the look of things, it's a matter of a day or two now."

Cheng Ge stood there, motionless.

A day or two.

Only a day or two remained.

His head was buzzing, as if something were ringing inside it, so loud he couldn't think, couldn't hear anything.

Just then, Yun Xunyu's lips parted just a little.

A thread of foul blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, trickling down his chin and quickly staining the pillow red.

Cheng Ge jerked back to reality. He lunged to the bedside, fumbling to pull out a handkerchief, his hands shaking as he tried to wipe the blood away.

But the more he wiped, the more blood came—he'd barely wipe the corner of his mouth before more welled up.

His tears fell in big, heavy drops, landing on Yun Xunyu's pale face, onto that harsh, glaring red.

Bai Yuxing stood to the side, watching the scene, and couldn't help sighing to himself.

It was just like the star-crossed lovers from the storybooks.

One knelt by the bed, tears streaming down his face; the other lay there, completely unaware. One wiped desperately, the other bled without end.

Bai Yuxing shook his head. How could anyone not feel heartbroken at a sight like this?

He thought for a moment, then finally spoke.

"However..."

Cheng Ge's head snapped up, tears still hanging from the tip of his nose, but his eyes seemed to suddenly light up with something.

"However what?!" He grabbed Bai Yuxing's wrist so hard that Bai Yuxing gasped. "There's another way, right?! You can save him, can't you?!"

Bai Yuxing winced and grimaced under his grip, prying his fingers off while saying: "I truly can't cure him, but my grandmaster could cure him."

Cheng Ge's grip loosened a little: "Where is your grandmaster? I'll go find him right away."

Bai Yuxing cracked a grin, held up one finger and pointed at the sky.

"My grandmaster, the old master, ascended to the heavens a hundred years ago."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Cheng Ge's expression changed.

Something in those eyes made a chill run down the back of Bai Yuxing's neck.

He quickly tried to backtrack, speaking a mile a minute: "But even though the old master is gone, my master told me that while he was alive, the grandmaster looked into this gu and even made a special pill for it!"

Cheng Ge grabbed him by the collar: "Where's the pill?"

Bai Yuxing choked by the grip, his face turning red: "I... I heard it was given to Prince Zhenbei, the founding prince of Great Zhou! It's been a hundred years since then—I have no idea where it is now!"

Cheng Ge let go and turned to rush out.

Bai Yuxing leaned against the table, gasping for breath, watching the figure disappear through the doorway, still reeling for a long moment.

---

Cui Ji was reviewing documents in the study when the door was suddenly shoved open.

Cheng Ge burst in and demanded point-blank: "Cheng Xiao, does your Cui family have a pill that can cure gu worms?"

Cui Ji set down the document in his hand, took in his state, and didn't ask any questions.

He took a wooden box down from the bookshelf and opened it, revealing a yellowed booklet.

Cheng Ge snatched it up and rifled through it frantically.

Cui Ji stood nearby, watching him turn page after page, watching him freeze on a certain page.

On that page were a few lines: In the eleventh year of Taiyuan, the divine healer Bai presented a single gu-dispelling pill. Prince Zhenbei did not use it and took it with him to the grave.

Cheng Ge looked up, meeting Cui Ji's eyes. Cui Ji held his gaze and paused for a breath.

Cheng Ge's head spun. This was... asking him to dig up the Cui family's ancestral grave?

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Cui Ji looked at his expression, yet his face was eerily calm: "The ancestor was deeply close to the Late Emperor, so he wasn't buried in the Cui family ancestral tomb."

He paused.

"To honor their closeness, he was laid to rest alongside the Late Emperor in the imperial mausoleum."

Cheng Ge: "............"

————

The early spring wind blew in from beyond the palace walls, still carrying winter's lingering chill.

Zhou Mingqi was reviewing memorials in the hall, his vermilion brush moving across the paper, finishing one memorial and picking up the next.

The hall was utterly quiet, except for the soft scratching of brush against paper.

The hall door was pushed open gently. A young eunuch slipped in and knelt, speaking in a hushed voice: "Your Majesty, Lord Cheng kneels outside the hall, asking to see you."

Zhou Mingqi's brush stopped mid-stroke. Before anyone else could react, the figure in imperial yellow had already left the hall.

Zhou Mingqi stood at the top of the steps and saw the figure kneeling at the foot of the steps from afar.

His back was straight, but he looked terribly frail.

Dried blood stained the hem of his robes, his hair bun was a mess, loose strands falling, caught by the wind and plastered against his pale cheeks.

Zhou Mingqi's face changed. He rushed down the steps.

His boots hit the stone steps, fast and urgent, unlike his usual measured pace.

He reached Cheng Ge, bent down, and grabbed his arm, pulling him up from the ground.

"What are you doing kneeling out here?" His voice sank low, carrying barely concealed concern.

Cheng Ge stumbled as he was pulled up, his legs nearly giving out.

Zhou Mingqi caught him by the shoulders, then turned to instruct the eunuch behind him: "Fetch an outer robe."

The young eunuch scurried off and soon came back with a black robe.

Zhou Mingqi took it, shook it out, and wrapped it around Cheng Ge's shoulders.

Cheng Ge stood there in a daze, his lips moving, his voice hoarse, barely a whisper: "Your Majesty..."

Zhou Mingqi looked at him—at those swollen red eyes, at the tear tracks still wet on his face, at the cracked lips.

He raised a hand, pausing mid-air for a moment, then finally let it fall gently onto Cheng Ge's back, patting it.

"Did you run into some trouble?" His voice was so soft, as if afraid of scaring something away.

Cheng Ge hung his head, then slowly looked up at that.

He looked at Zhou Mingqi, eyes red-rimmed, lips trembling, as if he had much to say but didn't know where to begin.

Zhou Mingqi's frown deepened at the sight.

"Are you unwell?" He reached out and felt Cheng Ge's forehead—it was ice cold.

Cheng Ge shook his head. He opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again.

After a long moment, he finally spoke, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible.

"Your Majesty... could you grant your subject one request... Your subject... truly has no other choice."

Those words—"no other choice"—were light as a feather, yet heavier than anything in the world.

Zhou Mingqi looked at him, at his state, his heart a mess of unspoken feelings.

"What is it? Tell me." His voice remained steady, but the hand on Cheng Ge's back tightened just a fraction.

"Your Majesty..." Cheng Ge looked at Zhou Mingqi, calling out softly.

Time and again, he still couldn't bring himself to ask to dig up the imperial tomb.

He lowered his head, secretly pinching his thigh hard enough to make tears stream down his face.

He looked up at Zhou Mingqi, nose red, eyes red, the very picture of misery.

"Your Majesty... the Iron Deed you promised to grant your subject—does it still count?"

Zhou Mingqi blinked, surprised he'd bring up the Iron Deed at a moment like this.

"It counts." His voice was gentle. "What I've said always counts."

Cheng Ge looked at Zhou Mingqi with pure sincerity: "Then... if your subject committed some great crime... would Your Majesty spare his life?"

Zhou Mingqi looked at him and actually smiled, a rare thing, his voice low: "What great crime are you planning to commit?"

Cheng Ge sniffled, his voice thick: "Your subject is just... asking in advance."

Zhou Mingqi didn't push it. He just reached out and pulled the slipping robe back up over Cheng Ge's shoulders.

"As long as it's not treason," he said, "I'll spare you."

Cheng Ge's expression flickered at these words, his eyes blazing with fervor as he looked at Zhou Mingqi.

Zhou Mingqi saw this and furrowed his brow slightly.

"Are you plotting a rebellion?"

Cheng Ge: "??!"

He was scared out of his mind, lunging forward in a flash and reaching out to cover Zhou Mingqi's mouth.

"Your Majesty, watch your words—!" His voice came out in a screech.

The eunuchs and maids around them knelt down in perfect unison, hardly daring to breathe.

Zhou Mingqi's eyes went slightly wide as his mouth was covered.

It was only then that Cheng Ge realized how stupid his move was.

His hand was still over the emperor's mouth, and he could feel the warm breath against his palm, puffing against it in steady beats.

His brain exploded with a ringing buzz.

I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead.

Did he have a death wish?

He quickly withdrew his hand, took two steps back, and knelt down again.

His knees slammed into the stone bricks with a dull thud.

"Your Majesty, I beg you to see the truth!" His voice was urgent and panicked. "Your subject's loyalty to you is absolute—heaven and earth are my witnesses!

Even if I had the guts of a lion, I'd never dare to rebel! Not in this life, the next, or the one after that would such a thought ever cross my mind!"

As he spoke, the tears started flowing again.

Not the kind you pinch your thigh to produce—these were from genuine terror.

"If I harbor even a shred of disloyalty, may heaven strike me down with lightning and may I die a horrible death!

May I get trampled by a horse when I step outside, choke on water when I drink, choke on food when I eat, and get crushed by a falling flowerpot when I walk—"

"Alright, alright." Zhou Mingqi cut him off, his voice carrying a hint of helplessness, and something else he couldn't quite place. "I get it."

Cheng Ge looked up, his face a mess of tears and sweat, looking a complete mess.

Zhou Mingqi looked at him, let out a soft sigh, bent down, reached out, and pulled him up from the ground.

"What are you kneeling for?" His voice was very gentle. "I never said you were actually planning to rebel."

Cheng Ge was pulled to his feet, his legs still like jelly, only sheer willpower keeping him from collapsing back to his knees.

"I really don't..." His voice was still trembling. "I just wanted to..."

He paused.

Zhou Mingqi looked at him. "Wanted to what?"

Cheng Ge lowered his head, his voice low and muffled: "I wanted to dig up some things from the imperial mausoleum..."

The air went still for a beat.

Zhou Mingqi raised a hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He glanced at Cheng Ge, with a look that was three parts exasperation and seven parts headache.

He thought to himself, you'd have been better off rebelling...

He swept a glance around and waved a hand.

The eunuchs and maids, as if pardoned from a death sentence, retreated silently, their footsteps as soft as cats padding on cotton.

Only the two of them were left in front of the hall.

Zhou Mingqi turned and walked toward the interior of the hall.

"Come in."

Cheng Ge froze for a moment, then quickly followed, the hall doors closing softly behind them.

Zhou Mingqi sat down behind the Imperial Desk, looking at Cheng Ge.

Cheng Ge stood in the center of the hall, not knowing what to do with his hands, not daring to look around, just keeping his head down and playing the meek fool.

Zhou Mingqi looked at him like this and let out a sigh.

His voice was very soft. "Gold, silver, jewels, rare antiques and curios—whatever you want, I'll have it sought out for you."

Cheng Ge's lips moved slightly.

"Take your pick from my private treasury," Zhou Mingqi continued. "What you want that I can't find, I'll have tributes brought from all over. Anything under heaven that exists, I can find it for you."

Cheng Ge's tears fell again. He opened his mouth, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible: "Your Majesty... I don't want those..."