Chapter 182: Medical Path Reversed

Quan Aoyu strode into the palace hall, travel-worn, his clothes still dusted with soot.

His figure remained upright, yet the haggardness and grief on his face were strikingly piercing.

Seeing the Emperor and Empress, his eyes instantly reddened, and his lips trembled slightly.

A cry of "Mother" was filled with endless longing and grievance, followed immediately by a "thud" as he knelt down.

The Empress's eyes instantly filled with tears; she stepped forward, lifted Quan Aoyu with trembling hands, and choked out:

"My child, it has been five years... let Mother look at you."

Her gaze wandered greedily over Quan Aoyu's face, as if trying to make up for all the time lost over these five years.

After finding nothing at the Jun residence, Quan Aoyu had returned straight to the palace.

Jun Zijin had rescued his mother, yet he still had not seen the face he had missed for five years.

But now that his mother had returned, she had vanished without a trace; he suppressed his grief and stood up.

He kept his head bowed, his shoulders trembling slightly, his voice hoarse:

"This son is unfilial for causing Father and Mother to worry. It is just that... Zijin has gone missing... it is this son's fault for not protecting her well, knowing full well she was in danger..."

Mentioning Jun Zijin, a flash of pain and self-reproach crossed his eyes; his fingers clenched the corners of his robe involuntarily, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

The Emperor walked over, patted Quan Aoyu on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice:

"This matter is not your fault; we will certainly find that girl."

The Emperor's palm was broad and powerful, yet the strength it conveyed could not dispel the gloom in Quan Aoyu's heart.

The Empress raised her hand to gently brush a stray lock of hair from Quan Aoyu's cheek, saying tenderly and with heartache:

"It is enough that you are back, it is enough. No matter what you encounter, Mother is by your side. That child Zijin will surely be found."

However, the worry in her eyes intertwined with the grief on Quan Aoyu's face, staining the joy of this reunion with a layer of bitterness.

Although the palace was shrouded in sorrow, the victory banquet for the great defeat of the Northern Kingdom could not be skipped; in any case, the hearts of the one hundred thousand soldiers could not be chilled.

The palace walls were towering; inside, preparations for the victory banquet for the one hundred thousand soldiers who had defeated the Northern Kingdom were proceeding in an orderly fashion.

Outside the palace, in order to find Jun Zijin, the Emperor's Dragon and Tiger Guards had scoured fifty miles inside and outside the capital.

Today, in the grand hall with its carved beams and painted pillars, the lights were brilliant, and the sound of strings and flutes was incessant.

The hall was filled with delicacies; jade plates held fresh fruits offered as tribute from various regions, and golden goblets were brimming with mellow wine.

As the victory banquet began, dancers filed in and danced gracefully in the center of the hall. Their long sleeves fluttered and their figures were lithe, but neither Quan Aoyu nor Quan Tianchen, who had rushed back from the military camp, had the heart to appreciate it.

Ministers dressed in fine robes took their seats one after another, wearing smiles that were either sincere or feigned.

But beneath this lively facade, everyone had their own private thoughts.

Quan Aoyu, the commander-in-chief of this army, had to sit at his designated seat.

Yet at this moment, his eyes revealed deep exhaustion and grief.

He had originally thought that with Flying Eagle and Flying Swallow there, plus the Emperor's Dragon and Tiger Guards, even if Jun Zijin had been abducted, there should have been some clues within a day at most.

But now that two days had passed, there was no news of her; this matter was highly suspicious!

Quan Aoyu picked up his wine cup but only took a light sip, his gaze constantly wandering outside the hall, as if expecting Jun Zijin to suddenly appear.

Prince Chen was also absent-minded, his chopsticks idly poking at the food on his plate, his heart twitching with pain.

Prince Yi's gaze kept drifting toward this side, a trace of imperceptible triumph hanging on the corner of his mouth.

"Fourth Brother, go to the Jun residence today and search that burnt-down house again; I truly cannot get away today."

Quan Aoyu's voice was hoarse and low, carrying a hint of pleading.

Prince Chen nodded firmly.

"Rest assured, Yu, I will certainly do my utmost; even if I have to turn this capital inside out, I will find Zijin."

At this very moment, Jun Zijin, who had been unconscious in the Phoenix Ring space, finally slowly regained consciousness; her vision gradually cleared, and her memories followed.

She forced herself to sit up, but her body swayed, and she nearly collapsed again.

She was not like Jun Zhidie, who had Jun Zhihao to help her detoxify; she had relied solely on her own willpower to endure it, and even upon waking, her body was extremely weak.

If she had inhaled any more of those drugs, she feared she would never have woken up from this sleep.

A single dose of such a potent aphrodisiac could have caused all the blood vessels in her body to burst and kill her.

Let alone that there seemed to be another kind... she was suddenly startled and finally remembered what that drug was—it was the Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Hellebore!

Damn it, the other poison she had been struck with was the same one the Old Lady had been poisoned with!

Such a vicious poison—one would have been enough to finish her off, yet they had dosed her with two at once; just how deep was their hatred for her?

Who on earth wanted to harm her? It seemed that the person who harmed her or provided the Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Hellebore was inextricably linked to the Old Lady's poisoning.

The Old Lady had nearly lost her life because someone had been slowly poisoning her with the Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Hellebore, and even with her medical skills, she could not completely detoxify the Old Lady, who was now confined to a wheelchair.

But that poison required Phoenix blood to cure; at this moment, other than being physically weak, she showed no signs of being poisoned by the Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Hellebore—what on earth was going on?

Jun Zijin gritted her teeth and steadied herself by holding onto the table beside her.

This time, she looked around, and at just one glance, she nearly screamed—what was this if not her laboratory from her previous life?

She looked around; all kinds of familiar instruments and equipment were neatly arranged in their original positions, as if time had never passed.

Even the notebook filled with research data from her previous life was still lying open on the table, the handwriting exactly the same as her own. It was as if she had only left for a moment.

And those barrels of purified water in the corner were still sitting quietly in their place; everything was exactly as it was in her memory.

Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to a door on the other side of the laboratory.

She gritted her teeth and walked toward that door, swaying with every step.

Every step was incredibly difficult, as if she were stepping on cotton, soft and powerless, but the curiosity and doubt in her heart drove her to keep moving forward.

When she finally passed through that door, what appeared before her was none other than the operating room from her previous life!

The familiar shadowless lamp, the operating table, the neatly arranged surgical instruments, the cleaning and disinfectant solution on the washbasin... all came into view. The air was still filled with the scent of disinfectant.

Jun Zijin's hands trembled slightly; she slowly walked into the operating room and gently brushed her fingertips over the edge of the operating table.

To verify the crazy guess in her heart, her gaze fell on the staircase at the end of the corridor.

She took a deep breath, crawled almost all the way to the stairs, reached out to grab the handrail, and climbed up bit by bit.

With every step she climbed, the soreness in her body intensified, but she did not stop. She rested many times along the way before finally reaching the top, drenched in sweat.