“Coughing is just the beginning! This is only the transmission phase!” Yiqin said urgently.
“The Epidemic Poison is capable of self-replication. It will only show new symptoms after it has accumulated to a certain amount in the human body! Yet in just a few short days, Shenzhou has been infected to this extent. This means — “
“Enough. Shut your mouth. I am tired.”
Emperor Jing waved his hand impatiently.
Yiqin looked at him powerlessly.
This was not the first time she had felt despair toward ignorance. However, the people before her always seemed to take pride in their own ignorance.
“Throw this rebel into the Heavenly Jail,” Emperor Jing stood up and said lazily.
“I understand. I finally see why Qing Yi said you would beg her to return.” Yiqin stopped struggling.
She suddenly shook her head and looked at Emperor Jing with pity. “It turns out she had already anticipated your stupidity.”
“I would beg her?” Emperor Jing almost laughed out loud again.
“Fine. You can watch from your cell and see exactly who begs whom.”
“I will give you one last piece of advice, whether you care to listen or not,” Yiqin calmed down and spoke expressionlessly.
“Postpone the Shenzhou Cup Finals immediately. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable.”
“Shenzhou has no more Medical Cultivators. You are now nothing more than an ordinary prisoner. You do not need to worry about such matters. The Alchemists can handle it… The Shenzhou Cup will proceed as scheduled! Not only that, but I will increase the scale of the event to properly celebrate this victory!”
“Heh.”
Yiqin knew in her heart that asking these people — who had never even heard of an Epidemic Poison — to give up their immediate interests for its sake was harder than reaching the heavens.
At least she had done everything she could and said everything that needed to be said.
Emperor Jing would not listen now, but the day would come when he would regret his choices.
She only felt pity for the innocent people of Shenzhou.
At this critical moment, the only group of Medical Cultivators capable of suppressing the Epidemic Poison was locked away in the deep mountains.
In addition, the Cultivators of Shenzhou had zero experience in dealing with an Epidemic Poison and possessed no antibodies in their bodies.
Shenzhou was currently in a state that could only be described as a lamb led to the slaughter.
And she, as the first person to warn them of the severity of the situation, was being locked in the Heavenly Jail like a fool. The thought of it was almost laughable.
But she could not bring herself to smile.
Emperor Jing was not a fool.
Although Yiqin’s solemn warning was met with his disdain, he still sent his confidants to investigate the situation.
“What is the conclusion from the three hidden Alchemists?”
“When I saw them the night before last, they said there was nothing to worry about,” a court official replied.
“That is good.” Emperor Jing breathed a sigh of relief.
Speaking of which, after Liu Jinting sent out the message telling all the poisoned Sect Leaders to consume the Nine-Turn Hundred-Refined Pill, he received replies very quickly.
The Nine-Turn Hundred-Refined Pill was remarkably effective; the poison was cured as soon as the medicine was taken.
However, amidst the flurry of success reports that fell like raindrops, there was one discordant voice.
[Completely ineffective. Please come for a consultation immediately.]
The Alchemist Saint, Liu Jinting, set off at high speed.
On the other side, the Alchemy God, Li Zhuanming, was not idle either. He was currently lecturing the disciples of his own Sect.
“Regarding the recently popular coughing toxin, it is actually caused by air pollution. In recent years, those Tool Refinement Cultivators have paid no attention to environmental protection, recklessly refining all sorts of messy materials. This has caused this Haze Poison to become extremely severe,” Li Zhuanming said loudly.
“In this situation, it is best for everyone to travel down the mountain. Discharge the Haze Poison from your lungs at the foot of the mountain until they are completely clean before returning. That will solve the problem fundamentally!”
“So that’s how it is!”
The disciples realized the truth.
They hurriedly packed their bags, preparing to go down the mountain for a stroll.
It would be best to travel to Beiju Luzhou or Nanzhan Buzhou, where the air was clean.
Unlike the Alchemy God Li Zhuanming and the Alchemist Saint Liu Jinting, the Alchemy Immortal Huang Dahuo felt something was wrong.
Under the observation of his Microscopic Vision, he saw that the toxin particles within the Kingdom of Dasi showed no signs of decreasing over the past few days.
Instead, they had multiplied an unknown number of times.
Logically, the wind should have blown these toxin particles away and diluted them.
Combined with the detoxification abilities of the Cultivators themselves, this unknown minor poison should have disappeared on its own.
However, even though the wind had been very strong in the Kingdom of Dasi over the last few days, the toxin particles showed no signs of thinning out.
‘Could it be… that someone is secretly releasing the toxin?’
That was it. Toxins do not increase on their own.
Only if a mastermind was continuously releasing the poison in the shadows could the current situation occur!
He felt he had discovered a conspiracy and was incredibly excited.
With such a major discovery, Emperor Jing would surely reward him handsomely.
Although he did not truly respect the identity of the Emperor of Dasi — as his status as the Alchemy Immortal was not necessarily lower than that of a monarch — he did like the Emperor’s money.
To avoid being scooped by his colleagues, Huang Dahuo went to the Jiangdu Palace immediately to report the situation to Emperor Jing.
“Someone is releasing poison?” Emperor Jing stood up, his thoughts racing.
Naturally, his suspicion fell directly on Yiqin.
Releasing poison to force the Cultivators of Shenzhou to value Medical Cultivators again and force him to submit was a very likely scenario.
At this juncture, Emperor Jing was internally convinced that these toxins were the handiwork of those Medical Cultivators.
“Dispatch the Imperial Guard to conduct door-to-door investigations immediately! We must find the source of the toxin as quickly as possible!” Emperor Jing ordered decisively.
“Bring Yiqin here. I have something to say to her.”
“Yiqin? Yiqin is here?” Huang Dahuo asked in surprise. He was unaware that Yiqin had been imprisoned by Emperor Jing.
“The Alchemy Immortal need not overthink it. She is merely my prisoner now. I will only trust Alchemists,” Emperor Jing explained.
Huang Dahuo was not worried about Yiqin taking his position. In fact, he had met Yiqin a few times before.
Although there were significant conflicts of interest between them, he had always felt some respect for Yiqin’s abilities.
Of course, like all Alchemists, he did not have any favorable feelings toward her either.
Yiqin, wearing shackles, was brought before Emperor Jing and Huang Dahuo.
“The Alchemy Immortal has already seen through your conspiracy.” Emperor Jing looked at Yiqin with a triumphant gaze. In truth, he had summoned Yiqin just to spite her.
“? What conspiracy?” Yiqin naturally did not understand.
“I have already sent people to investigate door-to-door. It won’t be long before we find the hideout where you sent people to release the toxin. What else do you have to say?”
“I released the toxin?” Yiqin was stunned.
“Wait… think whatever you want. But at such a critical moment, you absolutely cannot conduct such a large-scale mobilization of personnel! By investigating door-to-door, aren’t you essentially delivering the Epidemic Poison from house to house?”
“Oh? It seems you are finally afraid. Afraid that your accomplices will be dragged out by me?” Emperor Jing laughed contemptuously.
Yiqin had completely lost hope in Emperor Jing’s perspective.
She looked at Huang Dahuo pleadingly and said urgently, “This matter is not that simple! This is an Epidemic Poison! Huang Dahuo, go to the Taiming Sect quickly. The disciples there will tell you what an Epidemic Poison is — “
“There is no poison in this world that I do not know. I do not need you to teach me,” Huang Dahuo interrupted.
Yiqin fell silent. She gave a self-deprecating smile.
“Fine. You win.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.