The old man had no idea there would be something called bikui in those pills!

He had merely studied some books and could write a few characters, but he knew nothing about pharmaceutical principles.

He certainly didn’t know that he… had been deceived.

But he had promised not to say that the medicine was given by someone else.

“Your Highness, this humble one truly didn’t know!”

“Didn’t know? Didn’t you say this was your ancestral medicine? Since it’s ancestral medicine, how could you not know it contains bikui?”

The old man immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing to beg for mercy: “Your Highness, please spare me! This humble one merely prepared this medicine according to the family’s inherited formula, but didn’t know it contained any bikui. Please have mercy, Your Highness.”

Na Yan’s eyes flashed with severity, half-believing and half-doubting.

Imperial Physician Jiang at his side hastily said: “Your Highness, although bikui is highly toxic, this pill also contains many other strange medicinal ingredients. What effects they have when combined together… this humble physician doesn’t know. Perhaps it truly is a miraculous medicine!”

“Since it’s poisonous, how can it be considered miraculous medicine!”

The imperial physician: “…”

Na Yan was furious, but seeing the old man trembling with fear, he didn’t seem like someone who came to harm others.

After thinking for a moment, he said: “Very well, this Prince will assume you were unaware. However, you must not bring out this medicine again.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Highness.”

“Leave quickly!”

The old man, his legs trembling, shuffled out dejectedly.

Afterward, Na Yan took the medicine bottle from the imperial physician’s hand and forcefully smashed it on the ground.

“Useless thing.”

…

After leaving the Prince’s Manor, the old man stealthily went to an alley not far away.

Bai Yin and Lian Que were waiting for him there.

“Did you deliver the medicine?”

Cold sweat beaded on the old man’s forehead, his palms trembling. He took out the silver ingot and shoved it back at Bai Yin, panting: “I don’t want this silver anymore. Helping you with this task nearly cost me my life.”

“What happened?”

“That medicine you gave me contained something called… what was it, bikui. The imperial physician said it’s a poisonous medicine that will kill people if consumed. Fortunately, the Prince was magnanimous and didn’t have me killed, otherwise how would I still have my life to come out?” The old man hunched over, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

He still felt chilled to his core.

Bai Yin didn’t know what bikui was. He pressed on: “Then what about that bottle of medicine?”

“When I came out, I saw the Prince smash the medicine on the ground.” As he spoke, the old man looked back toward the direction of the Prince’s Manor, retreating a few worried steps while waving his hands repeatedly: “Anyway, you should find someone else for this kind of thing. I don’t have the fate to take your silver.”

He hurriedly ran away.

Bai Yin chased after him a few steps, worried: “What do we do now?”

Lian Que said calmly and unhurriedly: “Now we can only proceed with step two.”

“Step two?”

“Tonight we’ll personally go to the Prince’s Manor and feed the medicine to Song Zhi ourselves.”

“But the medicine has already been smashed by the Second Prince.”

Lian Que took out the pill he had poured from the medicine bottle earlier.

Bai Yin suddenly understood: “So you thought of this long ago?”

“I told you, I always have a backup plan.”

“Then now we can only wait until dark to go in.”

“Yes.” Lian Que looked at the medicine in his palm, furrowed his brow, and asked with extreme seriousness: “But… the imperial physician said this medicine contains bikui, which is a poisonous medicinal ingredient that even animals dare not touch! Are you certain this can treat sword wounds?”

Bai Yin said with certainty: “This was made by a divine physician. In his hands, even the most poisonous ingredients can become life-saving medicine. Only a bunch of mediocre doctors would consider this poisonous.”

Muruo’s use of medicine had always been peculiar.

The medicines he developed were also unique.

It was natural that ordinary imperial physicians and doctors wouldn’t know about them.

Lian Que became increasingly curious—he had never heard of such a divine person: “Divine physician? Who exactly is he?”

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know him.”

“…”

The two planned to stealthily infiltrate the Prince’s Manor and have Song Zhi take the medicine.

So they waited outside the Prince’s Manor until nightfall.

Song Zhi still hadn’t awakened at this time. His entire face was as white as paper, and his lips were even more severely pale.

Na Yan paced back and forth in the room, anxious and worried.

Extremely concerned.

Several imperial physicians were also keeping watch by the bedside.

Not leaving for even a moment.

Tonight was the critical moment. Whether Song Zhi could survive would depend on tonight.

Na Yan asked: “A whole day has passed and he still hasn’t awakened. Are there any other methods?”

The several imperial physicians shook their heads.

Then Imperial Physician Jiang said: “This humble physician will try again, applying a few needles to Young Master Song.”

“No matter what methods you use, in any case, he is this Prince’s life-saving benefactor. This Prince cannot let him die.”

The several imperial physicians felt immense pressure.

Although they had saved countless lives, they couldn’t control life and death.

Now they could only try their utmost in treatment, hoping to let Song Zhi survive.

The imperial physician began applying needles while Na Yan waited beside him.

…

Bai Yin and Lian Que avoided the Prince’s Manor guards and quietly reached the roof of the main courtyard.

However, the room was full of people. It would be impossible to go in and feed Song Zhi the medicine.

“What do we do? The room is full of people, and the Second Prince is there too.” Bai Yin said.

Lian Que seemed to have thought of some method. He stuffed the pill into his hand and said: “Wait a bit, then you go in.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. In any case, after the people in the room leave, quickly go in, have Song Zhi take the medicine, then leave immediately.”

“Wait…”

Before Bai Yin could say anything more, Lian Que’s body lightly leaped and disappeared into the night.

Bai Yin could only continue waiting on the roof for the right moment.

The imperial physician had finished applying the needles, but Song Zhi still hadn’t awakened.

“Your Highness, we humble physicians have done our utmost. Now everything depends on Young Master Song’s fate.”

Na Yan’s voice was low.

His heart full of worry.

At this moment—

Drums and gongs suddenly sounded in the Prince’s Manor.

Causing a commotion.

As if in an instant, a hole was torn in the tranquil sky.

Na Yan turned and left the inner chamber, quickly walking to the doorway. He saw flames rising from the direction of the side courtyard.

Thick smoke billowing!

A servant boy ran over hurriedly, shouting loudly: “Your Highness, Your Highness… something terrible!”

The servant boy nearly fell at Na Yan’s feet.

Na Yan’s expression was stern as he demanded: “What exactly happened?”

“The side courtyard is on fire, and an assassin has broken in.”

“Assassin?”

“Yes!”

Na Yan swept his sleeves and hurried over.

Several imperial physicians also came out from the inner chamber, standing in the hall, worriedly looking toward where the fire was burning outside.

They looked at each other in dismay.

At the same time—

Bai Yin, who had been hiding on the roof, finally understood.

So Lian Que had used this method to draw Na Yan and the others away.

He couldn’t worry about too much. He quickly descended from the roof, hid outside the window behind the inner chamber, and lifted the window slightly open.

The inner chamber was empty!

He quickly slipped inside and walked to the bedside.

Looking at Song Zhi’s bloodless face, his eyes dimmed slightly: “You bookworm, you truly don’t value your life. You don’t even have the strength to truss a chicken, yet you ran to block a sword for someone else. You truly deserve this.”

Bai Yin never had any kind words for Song Zhi.

But even as he said this, he was still worried in his heart. Time was pressing. He quickly pried open Song Zhi’s mouth and forced the pill inside!