22. The Lost Duo
In Lan Suqin’s room in the North Courtyard, she and a few others who hadn’t participated in the duels were waiting for the physician’s diagnosis.
After a long time, the physician, with his long beard, finally stood up and said with a frown, “I’ve never seen such a strange case.”
“What do you mean, Elder?”
“Their injuries… appear to be external, but they’ve actually damaged their internal essence, causing qi stagnation and even the risk of their true essence flowing in reverse.”
“But I haven’t detected any problems with their meridians or dantians. It’s truly puzzling.”
This was exactly what Gong Yiling had said, which made Lan Suqin purse her lips. After a moment of thought, she asked, “Then do you think it’s poison, Elder?”
“Poison?”
The physician paused, then took their pulses again. “It shouldn’t be poison. If it were, I would have detected some residue.”
“And their pulses are actually quite stable, with no signs of any chaotic spiritual energy.”
Hearing this, Lan Suqin glanced at Miss Gong, who was calmly sipping her tea—the girl had been right again.
“Then please prescribe some medicine or pills to alleviate their condition, Elder. We can discuss the price later.”
“Alright. I’ll write a prescription and send it over.”
After the physician left, Lan Suqin immediately sat down in front of Gong Yiling and said, looking her in the eye, “You were right.”
“Of course.”
Gong Yiling put down her teacup and shrugged. “Lip-reading, which I learned a long time ago, occasionally comes in handy.”
Earlier, she had seen Lei Che talking to a woman and had secretly used her recording stone to try and capture their conversation.
The rest was just a logical deduction.
If they were simply injured, a wealthy young lady like Lan Suqin could easily buy some healing pills.
So… there was no point in setting up a trap like that.
The only truly effective scheme would be an undetectable one.
And among those, poison was the most common.
“But… why couldn’t even the elder detect it?” Lan Suqin frowned, puzzled. “Could it be some unique poison from the demonic sects?”
“No.” Gong Yiling shook her head. “They wouldn’t have access to such a thing, and even if they did, they wouldn’t risk it.”
After all, on their way here, Gong Yiling had given one of them a top-grade universal antidote from the Cloud Rainbow Sect, one that could cure all poisons.
But it had no effect.
Unless it was the Myriad Demons Palace’s unique mother-son poison, but that was highly unlikely.
“Then what do you think they…”
Gong Yiling waved her hand, interrupting her. “I can only figure out so much. We need a professional for the rest.”
“A professional?”
“Yes.” Miss Gong nodded. “If she were here, this would be a trivial matter. I just don’t know where she is.”
As for where Yan Chuyue was…
Early in the morning, Yan Chuyue, sensitive to even the slightest sound, was awakened by a knock on the door next to hers.
She groggily looked at the sky, then suddenly noticed someone else in her room.
And this person wasn’t just some random nobody, but a character she had written with considerable detail.
A young lady from a good family, but with a troublesome father.
Honestly, Gong Youyuan didn’t consider herself an author who enjoyed writing about stepmothers, but some settings were inevitably flawed, and Leng Yuli was one of them.
She felt a bit reluctant while writing her, but conflict was necessary for a story.
Of course…
Writing a character was one thing, meeting them in person was another.
If she were a reader, she would definitely want to help these characters change their destinies, to be as brave as Miss Lü.
—Well, she should probably be called Miss Gong now.
With this thought, when Leng Yuli left, Yan Chuyue decided to follow her and see what was happening.
However, she had overestimated her skills.
Both in tracking and in navigation.
Yes.
Embarrassingly…
She, the author, got lost in the forest outside the South Courtyard.
She spent the better part of the morning walking in circles, marking the same spot over a dozen times, only to end up back there again.
She was just a shut-in, but her sense of direction shouldn’t be this bad…
After passing the same spot for the twentieth time, she finally lost her temper, jumping up and down in frustration, cursing her own setting that only cultivators above Profound Void could fly.
If she could fly, she wouldn’t be in this mess!
“It’s all this stupid tree’s fault!”
The angrier she got, the more she wanted to kick the tree she had carved a picture on.
But to her surprise, after a single kick, the tree, which had been perfectly fine before, actually fell over, sending up a cloud of dust and scattering the birds and beasts.
And an unexpected voice cried out,
“Ouch, why did this tree break with one kick?”
Eh… was someone there?
Yan Chuyue’s eyes lit up as if she had found a lifeline, and she quickly ran towards the sound.
As the dust settled, she finally saw the woman.
She had long, unadorned black hair, a simple white Daoist robe, and a breathtakingly beautiful face.
So beautiful…
Yan Chuyue was stunned by her beauty. She couldn’t even guess her age.
But before she could say anything, the black-haired woman, seeing her, smiled even more excitedly. “Finally, a living person!”
“A living… person… huh?”
Yan Chuyue was confused.
What did she mean, a living person? Were the others she saw not living?
…Wait!
Yan Chuyue suddenly realized something and asked cautiously, “Um… are you lost?”
Then, the white-robed woman nodded happily. “Yes, I’m lost!”
