NOVEL NEXT Chapter 72
Chapter 72: Reinforcement: The Emperor Arrives
Just as Ye Jiuge was prepared to fight Elderly Lady Xu with all her might, the terrified voices of the palace maids and eunuchs echoed from the entrance: “Greetings to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!”
The Emperor had arrived!
This news stunned Elderly Lady Xu, and Ye Jiuge took the opportunity to scoop Dongfang Que in her arms and ran towards the entrance. Elderly Lady Xu would not try to kill Dongfang Que in front of the Emperor and quickly returned to the Empress’s side.
The Empress glared viciously at Elderly Lady Xu before she put on a dignified and virtuous demeanor and went to welcome the Emperor.
A brilliant yellow figure appeared at the entrance. With a few long strides, Emperor Xuanwu entered the Jinxiu Palace. He was seven feet tall, and his skin was slightly dark. He had a short beard and a majestic appearance. At first glance, he appeared to be a hardline ruler. Furthermore, his cultivation had already reached the stage of Beginner Spiritual Master.
Emperor Xuanwu’s gaze swept the main hall of the Jinxiu Palace and finally landed on Ye Jiuge and Dongfang Que. He said coldly, “What is going on?”
The Empress replied indifferently, “Your Majesty, exactly what you see. Ye Jiuge has come to the Jinxiu Palace to meet privately with the Dongling Prince.”
The Crown Prince followed the Empress’ words at once, speaking in a grievous, angry tone, “Father, I found it strange that Ye Jiuge broke off our engagement for no reason. I did not expect her to have taken a fancy to Seventh Brother. To make sure that it would be too late to change the outcome, she fed him an aphrodisiac in spite of him being afflicted with a demonic poison. When we received the news, we rushed here, but Seventh Brother was already unconscious. We wanted to seize her, but she used Seventh Brother as a shield, causing him to spit up blood. Father, quickly, please save Seventh Brother!”
By the time the Crown Prince finished speaking, he was already weeping as though he had a very close relationship with Dongfang Que.
Emperor Xuanwu frowned. He looked at Ye Jiuge and said, “Is this true?”
“I am deeply impressed by the Empress and Crown Prince’s ability to distort the truth. I have nothing to say. Your Majesty, why don’t you wait for the Dongling Prince to wake up then ask him!” Ye Jiuge said.
She could not be bothered to argue with the Empress and Crown Prince—they were a family after all. No matter what she said, the Emperor would be biased in their favor. She might as well wait for Dongfang Que to wake up. A single sentence from him would be worth more than a hundred from her.
“What is wrong with Que’er?” Seeing his pale and unconscious son, Emperor Xuanwu could no longer maintain his dignified manner and shouted angrily at the others present, “Are all of you dead? Don’t you know that you should have called for the Spiritual Doctor as soon as you saw that the Dongling Prince was injured?”
“That’s right. I already ordered you to call for the Spiritual Doctor. Why is he not here yet? What is going on?” The Crown Prince also began angrily reprimanding the guard beside him.
The guard knelt and begged for mercy, “We have not done our job properly. Please, forgive us.”
“Quickly, go and investigate the situation.” The Crown Prince kicked the guard and said anxiously, “Even if you have to carry him, bring the Spiritual Doctor here.”
After seeing the Crown Prince’s clumsy performance, Ye Jiuge lifted her hands to check Dongfang Que’s pulse. She had not fed him the Millennium Snow Lotus Elixir in vain. The demonic poison inside Dongfang Que had stabilized, and the golden light around his heart had quickly recovered, forcing the demonic poison back to the nerves in his legs.
“Jiuge can conduct a medical examination by checking the pulse?” Emperor Xuanwu asked curiously.
The last time he had seen Ye Jiuge was the day that Yun Tianwei disappeared. Ye Yuxuan had brought her with him to the palace to ask for help. At the time, Ye Jiuge had only been about seven or eight years old. She had been very skinny and had no spiritual power at all. Then, she became a good-for-nothing young woman, so he did not pay any further attention to her. Now, however, he found her to be calm, but with an acute spirit. She seemed to have the graceful bearing of her grandfather, Yun Tianwei.
“Your Majesty, you must be kidding. My grandfather was the top Spiritual Elixir Alchemist in the Lei Country. No matter how useless I am, I would not dare insult his name.”
Ye Jiuge’s attitude towards Emperor Xuanwu was respectful, but also calm. She behaved as though the man in front of her was not the Emperor of the Lei Country or a Spiritual Master whose cultivation was higher than hers, but an ordinary elder.
Emperor Xuanwu found this strange. Even the Crown Prince automatically bowed his head when he saw him. He did not expect Ye Jiuge to have such courage. Indeed, she was worthy of the Yun Clan’s bloodline.
The Crown Prince, however, was agitated. “Ye Jiuge, how can you speak to the Emperor like this?”
“Using my mouth, what else?” Ye Jiuge looked at the Crown Prince as if he were an idiot.
“You…” The Crown Prince’s eyes widened, and he was about to fly into a rage.
“Crown Prince!” Emperor Xuanwu frowned and gave an annoyed look to the Crown Prince, which silenced him immediately.
Only then did Emperor Xuanwu’s demeanor improve. He asked Ye Jiuge, “Can you determine what poison has afflicted the Dongling Prince?”
“Demonic poison,” Ye Jiuge replied.
“Who in the Lei Country does not know that Seventh Brother has been infected with a demonic poison?” sneered the Crown Prince.
“That’s right, everyone in the Lei Country knows that the Dongling Prince has been infected with a demonic poison, but they do not know that this kind of demonic poison is not from the Demon Clan. It is man-made using a spiritual poison,” Ye Jiuge retorted coolly.
Both the Empress and the Crown Prince had tried to harm her, so she was obliged to repay the favor of their “kindness.”
“You are spouting nonsense!” The Crown Prince cried out involuntarily.
“How does the Crown Prince know that I am spouting nonsense? Could it be that you are a Spiritual Doctor, or do you also have a seventh-grade Spiritual Elixir Alchemist as a grandfather?” Ye Jiuge said sarcastically while glaring at the Crown Prince.
“Father has invited many Spiritual Doctors to treat Seventh Brother, and they all said that he was infected with a demonic poison,” the Crown Prince protested.
“Are these Spiritual Doctors as outstanding as my grandfather?” Ye Jiuge gave the Crown Prince a disdainful look.
“No matter how exceptional Great Master Yun may be, you are not him. On what basis have you determined that it was not a demonic poison that infected Seventh Brother?” asked the Crown Prince.
Ye Jiuge’s face was grave as she explained rationally, “the Antidote Elixir I gave him was able to suppress the toxins in his body. As everyone knows, an Antidote Elixir only works for spiritual, not demonic, poison. Since it was effective for the Dongling Prince, it means that the poison in his body has components of spiritual poison.”
The Crown Prince could not refute her because he was not a Spiritual Doctor. Furthermore, he could hardly say that he himself had personally obtained the demonic poison infecting his Seventh Brother!
Hearing Ye Jiuge’s words, Emperor Xuanwu’s eyes shone. He asked, “Do you have a way to cure the poison in the Dongling Prince’s body?”
“No,” Ye Jiuge answered bluntly.
The demonic poison in Dongfang Que was too potent, and she was not certain that she could cure it. Furthermore, she did not want to attract trouble.
“I thought that you were so capable, but it turns out that you were just shooting off your mouth.” The Crown Prince would never admit that his anxious heart had calmed down when he heard Ye Jiuge say that she could not cure the poison in Dongfang Que’s body.
Emperor Xuanwu was not disappointed to hear that Ye Jiuge could not cure the poison. If she had said that she could, he would not have believed her. From the bottom of his heart, he did not believe that Ye Jiuge was capable of such a feat.