Chapter 733

Xi Yan's gaze softened at his words, and she whispered, "I understand, Xiaotian. I'll be fine; worst comes to worst, I'll resign myself to fate and marry Xue Daoming in five days."

Hu Xiaotian felt as if a needle had pricked his heart, painful and unpleasant; he realized Xi Yan was deliberately saying those words to provoke him, wanting to make him jealous, and he had to admit she had succeeded in stirring his jealousy. Hu Xiaotian pressed his lips: "No matter what, I will respect your choice."

Hu Xiaotian's reaction greatly exceeded Xi Yan's expectations; she had thought this guy would at least make a token attempt to detain him, and she stared at Hu Xiaotian in disbelief: "You actually aren't jealous at all?"

"What do I, a eunuch, have to be jealous about?"

Xi Yan glared angrily.

"Getting angry harms the body; with your serious injury not yet healed, it's better to relax your mind."

Xi Yan said, "Do you have any conscience?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Actually, your being alive until now is the best proof."

Xi Yan was left speechless with anger.

Hu Xiaotian stood up and said, "I'll go see; it sounds like someone is coming." His hearing was exceptional, and he had already heard footsteps approaching from outside.

Xi Yan said, "Don't forget what I said—let Huo Shengnan come in to see me."

The one who arrived was indeed Huo Shengnan. Hu Xiaotian approached her and smiled: "General Huo, your timing is perfect—Her Highness the Princess has been looking for you."

Huo Shengnan nodded, walked toward the room, took two steps, then realized Hu Xiaotian wasn't following, stopped, and asked, "You're not coming in?"

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "The Princess said to have General Huo see her alone."

After seeing Huo Shengnan enter, Hu Xiaotian gave Zhou Mo a look, using voice transmission to tell him to leave his post. The two walked together to their residence's courtyard, reached the gate, and just then encountered Shi Kuan. In that moment, Shi Kuan and his men had already searched every corner of the Qichen Palace, even pulling the two blood‑drinking sky bats killed by phosphorus fire out of the pond.

Shi Kuan stood with his hands behind his back, evidently waiting for Hu Xiaotian's arrival, and said in a deep voice: "Sir Hu!"

Hu Xiaotian stopped and said: "Commander Shi, what do you need?"

Shi Kuan said: "May we speak privately for a moment?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded, Zhou Mo clasped his fists, and Hu Xiaotian returned alone to the small courtyard. Shi Kuan asked: "Has Princess Anping been injured?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "The Princess was frightened, her mind a little confused; even toward me she is full of guard, and I don't know her physical condition, but I just saw her spit out a few mouthfuls of blood."

Shi Kuan said: "Why not call a physician?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "She wants to see General Huo alone; we should wait until he comes out before saying anything else."

Shi Kuan said: "I have already identified the three assassins; they are all disciples of the Banlan Sect. The short, fat one is Li Yishui, ranked fifth among the ten major disciples of the Northern Swamp Old Monster; the tall, thin one is Peng Yijiang, ranked third; the woman is Gu Saniang, ranked seventh."

Hu Xiaotian frowned: "I don't know much about these martial‑world affairs, and I understand even less about your country's martial world."

Shi Kuan said: "Sir Hu, did you previously have any grudge against them?"

Hu Xiaotian shook his head: "I don't even know them. Before tonight I had never even heard the name Banlan Sect." He was not lying about that.

Shi Kuan said: "I had heard that Sir Hu's swordsmanship had reached the stage of emitting sword qi outward, but I never got to see it; tonight, seeing those corpses, I realized his cultivation surpasses the rumors."

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Commander Shi overestimates me; my sword technique is hit‑or‑miss. Sometimes I unintentionally release some sword qi, but most of the time I'm just anxious and can't bring it out."

A faint smile touched Shi Kuan's lips: "Sir Hu, do you understand poison?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "I know a little." If he now insisted he didn't know, it would be tantamount to pushing all suspicion onto Xi Yan.

Shi Kuan said: "Admirable! Admirable! Sir Hu truly hides his talents."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Originally the Zajia thought we would have no chance to show our abilities here, but in the end, Her Highness the Princess still needs us to act and protect."

Shi Kuan said: "According to what I know, when Sir Hu returned from outside, he was first chased by Yang Xuan and her people into this courtyard, and they must have entangled for a while, right?"

Hu Xiaotian gave a noncommittal smile: "Just those few of them couldn't stop me."

Shi Kuan said: "Before those assassins likely infiltrated the inner garden, did Princess Anping say what she actually experienced?" As Hu Xiaotian had analyzed, anyone would suspect the Princess.

Hu Xiaotian countered: "Can you be certain their mission this time was to kill Princess Anping? Maybe they wanted a live witness…" Before he finished, a female soldier came running in panic, trembling: "Commander Shi, something's wrong—Her Highness the Princess has vomited blood, as if poisoned."

Vomiting blood was within Hu Xiaotian's expectations, but poisoning was unexpected, since Xi Yan herself is a poison expert and should not be poisoned; the remaining likelihood is deception, and Xi Yan's request for a private meeting with Huo Shengnan may be precisely for that purpose.

Shi Kuan and Hu Xiaotian hurried to the inner garden, where they saw Huo Shengnan emerge from the room; usually composed, she now looked a little flustered and said softly to both: "We must summon the imperial physician at once—Her Highness the Princess has just vomited a lot of blood, and there are bite marks from snakes or insects on her neck and shoulders; she must be poisoned."

Upon hearing this, Hu Xiaotian completely relaxed his mind—snake or insect bite marks? Those two snakes are basically her pets; it seems Xi Yan is clearly setting up a false front, trying to muddy the waters completely.

Shi Kuan said: "I'll have someone take care of it right away." As he spoke, he glanced at Hu Xiaotian—Hu Xiaotian had once performed surgery on the Emperor, solving a problem even the imperial physicians couldn't; why, then, does he not act now that Princess Anping is poisoned?

Hu Xiaotian said: "I don't know how to detoxify!"

Expertise varies, and learning has its sequence; detoxification is indeed not Hu Xiaotian's forte. While Shi Kuan sent someone to the imperial city to summon the imperial physician, Hu Xiaotian also had Xiong Tianba fetch Liu Changsheng and his son from the Shen Nong Society, since going to the capital for the physician would take at least an hour round trip; the Shen Nong Society is the capital's top medical hall, and although Liu Changsheng's leg injury hasn't healed, he will surely overcome difficulties for Hu Xiaotian's sake, given Hu Xiaotian's debt to the Shen Nong Society.

Bringing Liu Changsheng over is certainly not to detoxify Xi Yan; she doesn't need detoxing either—it's just to have another person verify that the poison affecting Xi Yan is incurable.

Although Hu Xiaotian had never communicated with Xi Yan before, he clearly understood what she intended; between them no words were needed—just a glance sufficed to know each other's thoughts.

Liu Changsheng and his son arrived at the Qichen Palace in less than half an hour; Xiong Tianba lifted Liu Changsheng from the carriage, carried him on his back while jogging into the palace's inner garden, and Liu Yucheng followed closely, bearing the medicine chest.

Hu Xiaotian and Shi Kuan both waited at the gate; Liu Changsheng enjoys great fame in the capital, a man who fears no power and noble, aloof in character—even high officials find it hard to summon him; seeing him arrive late at night, Shi Kuan inwardly marveled, never expecting Hu Xiaotian's influence to be so great.

Hu Xiaotian stepped forward, clasped his fists, and bowed: "Disturbing you so late, Mr. Liu, is unavoidable; I hope you will excuse me."

Liu Changsheng said: "Between us, do we still need such pleasantries? Sir Hu, quickly take me to see the patient."

Hu Xiaotian led Liu Changsheng and his son into the room; Shi Kuan followed inside. Although Huo Shengnan had said the Princess's condition was urgent, he had never actually seen her from start to finish.

Huo Shengnan had constantly attended the Princess by her side; hearing that Liu Changsheng had arrived, she hurried out to greet him.

Hu Xiaotian brought a chair and had Liu Changsheng sit beside the bed; because the situation was urgent, he didn't bother with the usual formalities of avoidance.

At that moment, Xi Yan lay on the bed, her face turned bluish‑black, the darkest qi gathering between her brows; Huo Shengnan pointed out the wound on Xi Yan's neck to Liu Changsheng. Liu Changsheng examined the wound carefully, then used his finger to feel the temperature of the surrounding skin, and only then took Xi Yan's pulse. After the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, he released her pulse and whispered softly: "Yucheng, fetch three Nine‑Turn Blood‑Cleansing Pills and find a way to get the Princess to take them."

Shi Kuan stood aside, watching; seeing the Princess's pallor and hearing her feeble breath, he knew her poisoning was no pretense, and feared the situation was far graver than anticipated.

Liu Changsheng wrote a prescription on the spot, handed it to Liu Yucheng, telling him to return immediately to the Shen Nong Society to gather all the medicines, then come back as quickly as possible; Hu Xiaotian had Xiong Tianba accompany Liu Yucheng on the errand. After that was done, he and Shi Kuan carried Liu Yucheng to the adjoining room, and Huo Shengnan, following Liu Changsheng's instructions, together with two assistants, checked the Princess's body for any other wounds.

Upon reaching the adjoining room, they set Liu Changsheng down at the table, and Hu Xiaotian, unable to wait, asked: "Mr. Liu, what exactly has happened to our Princess?"

Liu Changsheng sighed: "Don't blame me, Sir Hu, but Her Highness the Princess has suffered multiple bites; from her pulse I see she harbors more than one toxin, and the poison spreads extremely rapidly. All I can do now is use the Nine‑Turn Blood‑Cleansing Pill to temporarily slow the flow of her blood and retard the toxin's expansion."

Shi Kuan asked: "Mr. Liu, do you know exactly what poison she has been afflicted with?"

Liu Changsheng replied: "From the wounds, there is snake venom and also marks from poisonous insects like centipedes; exactly how many kinds, I cannot yet determine."

Hu Xiaotian feigned an expression of indignant grief: "It must be those villains of the Banlan Sect who administered the poison; if the Princess suffers any misfortune, I will tear the Banlan Sect's scoundrels to pieces, ten thousand fragments, to quell the hatred in my heart." (To be continued~^~)