Chapter 36

“Until three years ago, when I was poisoned.”

Zhen’s eyes narrowed.

“Poison, huh. Your mother is from the Hakutaku clan, isn’t she?”

That’s right. When the late emperor suddenly changed, the empress, a Hakutaku, immediately realized it was caused by poison. Fei Ling had never been told the truth before—until now.

“Do you know of a poison that destroys the soul? The one that was used on my father, it was that kind.”

Zhen simply narrowed his eyes, neither confirming nor denying. It was likely something that violated the taboos of poison masters.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I was saved by an assassin. I received the poison… and I thought this might be a proper way to repay him.”

With the green sleeves fluttering in the wind, she turned around and smiled faintly. Her eyelashes lowered slightly.

“I have nothing I can give you. So, all I can offer is one secret.”

That secret was one she risked her life to keep.

For this reason, Fei Ling had kept these truths locked in her heart up until now.

“…Do you know who poisoned him?”

“Who knows? There are many who would harbor resentment against the emperor. I have thought of searching for them, but I gave up. It’s all in the past now. Even if I kill the person, my father won’t return, and my mother won’t come back to life.”

Perhaps it was unexpected, but Zhen raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t resent them?”

“I do.”

Fei Ling’s voice was heavy.

“Even now, just thinking about it makes my insides burn. But that was me.”

Her voice trembled at the edges. Just recalling the deaths of the two who had burned to death made her legs go weak.

“Without ending that resentment, Feng died, and Yi Yi perished while cursing all things. I watched their final moments, and thought—’That was me.'”

If she had made one wrong choice, she too would have fallen into that blazing hell.

“I can’t die yet.”

In her eyes, resentment burned fiercely.

But that dark flame was now consuming her alone. That was the way it had to be, or else the poison would consume her.

“There is poison I must solve.”

She smiled again, brightly.

“Not for revenge?”

“How foolish. My revenge will be done with medicine, not poison.”

As she spoke, Fei Ling began walking. The bamboo leaves rustled, and fireflies were confused by the movement. She scattered green fireflies on purpose, stepping lightly through the forest.

“Do you know the term ‘heavenly poison, earthly poison’? The two poisons always appear together. But recently, only the earthly poison has been talked about, and no one speaks of the heavenly poison.”

“Heavenly poison is invisible. The very idea of what it is remains uncertain.”

Earthly poison refers to the transformation of all things into poison. But what is heavenly poison? It was barely recorded in legend.

Ahead of them, a gentle stream flowed. The water shimmered, likely due to the fireflies dancing above it. Fei Ling set her shoes aside and dipped her bare legs into the water.

“I was taught that the thing that harms fate is heavenly poison.”

She kicked the water, scattering droplets like stardust, and spoke.

“Harming fate, huh. It’s like trying to grasp at clouds.”

“Is it? There is something called the circulation of stars, the circulation of heaven. Aren’t these things respected by feng shui masters?”

“I’m a counterfeit feng shui master, though. Reading the stars is the job of astrologers.”

Zhen shrugged and pointed toward the sky. The stars, framed by the bamboo, were so bright it seemed as though they could fall at any moment. The stars twinkled like they were burning—perhaps Mars.

“The circulation of heaven affects all things. If it’s fortunate, it’s good, but if it’s ominous, things that shouldn’t meet will meet, times that should be slow will hasten, and small troubles will become great disasters… it’s been said for ages.”

Fei Ling narrowed her eyes, as though searching for something.

“The fire disaster in the mountains?”

“The fire that destroyed the Hao clan’s village was a trivial accident. If someone had acted quickly to put it out, if the rain had fallen as usual, if it hadn’t been near the Hao clan’s village, it wouldn’t have become a poisonous wildfire. But unfortunately, the worst possible combination of events occurred. Afterward, Feng was able to enter the palace… she called it luck, but it was obviously bad luck.”

Heavenly poison, unbeknownst to anyone, drips from the sky, like the steady flow of wine from a cup. The heavenly poison, after dripping for a while, could become a raging current that destroys everything.

“I want to end both heavenly and earthly poison. Even if the late emperor did not spread it, his death is certainly what caused it.”

“Is that… your responsibility as the ‘Elder of Chaos Poison’?”

“As the ‘Elder of White Medicine.'”

She proudly acknowledged her role in medicine. Perhaps desperately, as she would collapse if this pride were ever shattered.

Zhen turned his gaze to the distance.

“Still… the things that shouldn’t meet, meet, huh?”

He narrowed his purple eyes, and with a faint, poisonous smile, he spoke.

“It’s almost like our situation.”

Poison and medicine. Their connection was always tangled.

Yet, fate had tied their paths together.

In the fading twilight, the two of them stared quietly at each other. Her clear green eyes met his darkened purple ones. Purple is a color associated with poison. But in distant lands, poison is sometimes represented by green. One would consume, the other would be consumed.

Somewhere, the sound of cicadas could be heard.

Their gazes, once intertwined, loosened. Looking down, there were buds of a bird’s nest fern in the grass—still white with a hint of green.

“Ah… soon, summer will be over.”

The season of blue storms passed, and the autumn wind arrived.

The seasons advance, never looking back at the scattered flowers.

And so, the season when the girl lost everything will turn again—without even a single mourning.