It was a night when the nue cried. The unsettling cry seemed to seep into the falling snow. The heavy silence of the night was broken not by the dawn but by the desperate scream of a concubine, pounding on the door of the detached quarters.
“Help me! Please…!”
The moment Fei Ling opened the door, Consort Li Sha clung to her.
“Please, save him—save Guaran, my precious eunuch!”
“Consort Li Sha! What in the world has happened?”
Consort Li Sha was dressed only in her thin undergarments, usually worn for sleeping, without even an outer robe, and her hair was unkempt. That alone was enough to indicate something extraordinary had occurred.
On her frail back, she carried the unconscious body of a eunuch—Guaran. Looking at her scraped cheeks, it was clear she had stumbled multiple times yet desperately made her way to the detached quarters.
“Please, come inside first.”
Fei Ling helped carry him and guided them into the room.
Without his mask, Guaran’s face was grotesque, as if he had suffered terrible burns long ago. While such a sight wouldn’t faze Fei Ling, Lan Xin would surely have screamed if she had seen him. What caught Fei Ling’s attention instead was the smell. His clothes carried a stench reminiscent of melting minerals.
(Sulfur and mercury… Surely not—)
A bad feeling arose within her.
(No, don’t let your mind wander. He’s a patient right now.)
Guaran’s chest bore traces of hemoptysis, and his stiffened limbs occasionally twitched. It was evident he had been poisoned by something severe.
After laying him down on the floor, Fei Ling removed his clothing to examine his wounds.
There were scattered snake bites across his arms and legs. In addition, his skin bore linear poison marks that looked like claw scratches. The poison from his arm wounds had spread to his shoulder and flank, while the poison from his leg wounds had reached his waist.
If the poison reached his chest, it would mean death.
“You said he was attacked. Could you explain the situation in more detail?”
“I’m not sure. I was asleep when I heard noises from his room. Curious, I went to check, and he suddenly burst out. It was dark, so I couldn’t see clearly, but it felt like something akin to an arrow had struck him. However, upon closer inspection, neither his body nor his room had any arrows. Oh, but instead, I found this…”
Consort Li Sha handed over an object, and Fei Ling’s eyes widened.
“A jade pendant, isn’t it?”
Jade pendants were accessories worn by those of high rank, serving as a kind of status symbol. This particular pendant was made of purple jade, but the carved design on it was astonishing—
“I don’t understand why such a thing would be there. Doesn’t the qilin symbolize the imperial lineage?”
“It’s dangerous to speculate. It could be a counterfeit. May I hold onto this for now?”
Consort Li Sha nodded, trembling.
For now, identifying the poison was the priority.
A poison that flew like an arrow and left no trace—Fei Ling’s mind raced as she mentally flipped through the pages of The Compendium of Baize. Past the sections on snake and insect venom, she reached the chapter on man-made poisons.
The Huàshé.
Fei Ling’s breath caught.
“There’s no mistake. This is the poison of the Huàshé.”
The Huàshé was a venomous creature created by poison masters, designed specifically to kill. Known as the “invisible poison,” it left no trace of murder behind. However, the Huàshé couldn’t function far from its poison master, as it would dissolve. Moreover, it feared the sun and moonlight, meaning it could only be used at specific times. Handling it was exceedingly difficult.
Guaran let out a faint groan.
The poison of the Huàshé spread rapidly. As recorded, the toxin left no evidence behind; once the victim died, even the poison marks would vanish, leaving only small bite marks. Considering the distance between the Spring Palace and the detached quarters, the fact that Guaran was still alive suggested he had an unusually strong resistance to poison.
“He’ll survive, won’t he? If you save him, I’ll do anything… So please, I beg you…”
Consort Li Sha pleaded tearfully.
Pitiful. Even though reason told her to save him immediately, Fei Ling’s emotions froze over.
“…He’s a poison master, isn’t he?”
“…!”
Consort Li Sha visibly flinched.
The Huàshé, often called the “smoke serpent” because it burned away like incense, emitted no fragrance. The smell lingering on Guaran’s clothes was that of the poisons he regularly handled. And that scent was identical to the one emanating from the outer robe of Consort Xue Mei.
“Consort Xue Mei was poisoned last night. It was a rare toxin, one that only a poison master could prepare.”
Fei Ling spoke calmly, though a storm of emotions raged within her.
(Consort Li Sha poisoned Consort Xue Mei.)
