Before Sha Qiuzi returned, Imperial Physician Gu never once took his eyes off Jun Beiyue’s heart.

He might not have been the ideal servant in every way, but he was, without question, a deeply loyal one.

Even after the strange phenomenon in Jun Beiyue’s heart had faded before Sha Qiuzi arrived, Imperial Physician Gu kept his gaze fixed there, terrified something might still go wrong.

He’d watched this master grow up since childhood. Though it wasn’t proper by rank, in his heart he’d always cherished Jun Beiyue as if he were his own child.

Perhaps Jun Beiyue had no need of an elder like him at all — but Imperial Physician Gu remained devoted all the same, determined to give him the very best the world had to offer.

Finally, after an anxious wait, Sha Qiuzi hurried back. The moment he entered and saw Imperial Physician Gu’s shaken, disoriented state, he cried out at once, “What happened? What’s wrong?”

Sha Qiuzi knew that only something concerning Jun Beiyue could rattle Imperial Physician Gu this badly.

Imperial Physician Gu immediately recounted everything he’d seen and heard, and Sha Qiuzi listened in complete astonishment, just as reluctant as his colleague to believe it.

“I saw it with my own eyes, not a word of exaggeration. Old Sha, you have more experience and knowledge than I do — please, come look, tell me what’s going on!”

Imperial Physician Gu pulled Sha Qiuzi along, but Sha Qiuzi himself was at a loss too. By all rights, Jun Beiyue’s heart was still terribly weak — with the wound to his chest, no one dared touch it before his vital energy had fully recovered; all they could do was apply simple herbal treatments to stop the bleeding, handling even the bandaging with the utmost care — eventually they’d simply stopped bandaging it at all.

Because the heart was unlike any other part of the body — any misstep there threatened life itself.

Even now, Sha Qiuzi didn’t dare touch it himself.

“A heart this weak — how could it possibly…” Sha Qiuzi still couldn’t quite believe it, hesitating.

“Let’s just wait and see, then — I’m not confused, I saw it with my own two eyes!” Imperial Physician Gu insisted firmly.

The two of them had no choice but to keep watching, and by the middle of the night, both exhausted old men still kept their eyes fixed sharply on Jun Beiyue’s heart.

Then, just as dawn was about to break, the miracle happened again!

“Thump, thump, thump…”

In the silence, the faint sound seemed all the more forceful and powerful. Sha Qiuzi could hardly believe his own ears, listening intently, watching Jun Beiyue’s chest exactly as Imperial Physician Gu had described.

Sure enough, as the heartbeat grew louder, the pulsing of his heart-meridian became visibly apparent — right over his chest, as though some force were trapped beneath the flesh, straining to break free.

“Heavens…” Sha Qiuzi gasped. Seeing was believing, and now he finally believed it too.

Two seasoned old physicians stood staring at this sight, utterly dumbfounded, unable to explain any of it.

Only once the heartbeat gradually faded and everything returned to normal did Imperial Physician Gu sink down, defeated, staring at Sha Qiuzi in terror. “Old Sha, Prince Yao isn’t going to be in danger, is he?”

What was Sha Qiuzi supposed to make of this?

He’d never in his life encountered anything like it. The man’s vital energy was utterly depleted, his heart-meridian gravely wounded — so why would there be such a forceful, powerful heartbeat?

This kind of power was truly terrifying!

Only a body where vital energy, essence-blood, and internal cultivation had all reached their absolute peak could produce such a forceful heartbeat!

Had Prince Yao not been gravely wounded, Sha Qiuzi would have been absolutely certain he could one day cultivate to such heights — but right now, he lay gravely wounded, unconscious!

“Strange, strange… this is so strange!”

“How could this possibly be? He hasn’t taken any unusual medicine lately, this can’t be from any drug’s effect! And besides, if it were the drug’s doing, Prince Yao’s body couldn’t possibly withstand such force either!”

“This kind of constitution…”

Sha Qiuzi murmured to himself, but the moment he uttered the word “constitution,” Imperial Physician Gu, without even thinking, blurted out the truth about the Isle of Lost Immortals’ Wood-element constitution!

Sha Qiuzi was utterly stunned, snapping angrily, “You! Why didn’t you say something sooner!”

“Is it because of his constitution?” Imperial Physician Gu asked hastily.

Sha Qiuzi only shook his head. “You! Imperial Physician Gu, you and I are jointly treating Prince Yao — we’re supposed to share everything openly, and yet you’ve been keeping secrets from me!”

Imperial Physician Gu had no time to worry about the reprimand, pressing on urgently, “Is it really because of his constitution? Because Prince Yao’s constitution is so unusual, that’s why this is happening? He’ll be fine, won’t he?”

Sha Qiuzi shook his head repeatedly. “I don’t know either.”

Hearing this, Imperial Physician Gu’s last shred of hope shattered. He let Sha Qiuzi glare at him without protest, his attention entirely fixed on Jun Beiyue’s chest, muttering to himself, “What do we do! What… what is going on!”

Sha Qiuzi had no energy left to scold him further, staring at Jun Beiyue just the same, sighing over and over, muttering to himself, “Thorny. This is far too thorny!”

But Sha Qiuzi was, after all, a renowned physician, and quickly regained his composure in the face of this unprecedented condition. He let out a long breath and said calmly, “Whatever the reason, one thing is certain — this is absolutely connected to Prince Yao’s own constitution. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly withstand the force of his own heart-meridian.”

Only then did Imperial Physician Gu calm down. “Since childhood, aside from that one time the Princess Consort stabbed him, Prince Yao’s health has always been excellent — he’s never suffered a serious injury before. The reason that wound was so severe was because he had no Gu Clan internal art to protect his meridians at the time. In truth, it wasn’t even that grave a wound — not enough to alter his constitution.”

Severe injury or serious illness could certainly alter a person’s constitution — but if he’d never experienced anything of the sort, that meant this unusual constitution had to come from his family lineage.

“There’s absolutely no way the Gu Clan’s Wood-element constitution could possess this kind of resilience!” Imperial Physician Gu stated with total conviction. Setting aside where that forceful power had even come from, simply considering the body’s ability to endure such trauma and still hold on — that alone could only be explained by constitution.

“You’re saying Prince Yao’s birth mother…”

Sha Qiuzi looked at him with disbelief. Throughout Da Zhou, indeed across the entire Longyuan Continent, it was common knowledge that Prince Yao’s birth mother, Lady Wanyue, had been a lowly palace maid — otherwise, given Prince Yao’s remarkable abilities, he would surely have been named Crown Prince long ago.

That palace maid had been elevated to consort after bearing an imperial son, but had died in difficult childbirth — the title, in truth, had been granted posthumously. Records of her in the palace archives were exceedingly scarce. What could such an obscure, unremarkable woman possibly have passed on to give Jun Beiyue such an unusual constitution?

Imperial Physician Gu didn’t know much about Lady Wan either, but he did know one thing — Lady Wan hadn’t truly been a palace maid at all. She’d only schemed her way into the palace to secure a royal identity for her child, after having her heart broken by the patriarch of the Gu Clan of the Isle of Lost Immortals!

“Elder Sha, the only one who would know the truth about Consort Wan’s origins is likely the patriarch of the Gu Clan of the Isle of Lost Immortals himself!” Imperial Physician Gu said earnestly.

Setting everything else aside, Jun Beiyue’s constitution bore directly on his treatment — Imperial Physician Gu absolutely had to get to the bottom of it.

Sha Qiuzi agreed as well. “Why don’t you go there at once? We can pause the current medication here in the meantime.”

Imperial Physician Gu hesitated for a long moment, unable to think of a better plan, and finally nodded. “Let’s do that for now. Old Sha, about this matter, please…”

Sha Qiuzi understood at once, pressing a finger to his lips and nodding, gesturing for Imperial Physician Gu to hurry off.

He could only hope Imperial Physician Gu would bring back good news. Sha Qiuzi had a vague sense that Jun Beiyue’s constitution was even more formidable than it appeared on the surface!

What news Imperial Physician Gu might bring back, no one could say — but at Xuanyuan Lige’s end, good news had finally arrived!