Things like drawing straws were completely dependent on luck. Han Yunxi's luck had always been pretty good, but this time… fine, her paper said "First," while Third Elder's had said "Later."
She was first! Now what to do?
When it rains, it pours. Han Yunxi stared at the word on her paper, her slightly pale face completely expressionless. It was hard for anyone to guess what she was thinking. When Third Elder saw her "First," his lips curled into a smile of satisfaction. He even purposely got out of the way before the bed to give Han Yunxi room.
"Qin Wangfei, please cure the poison!"
"Heheh, will Tianning's crown prince fully recover after treating the poison?" Lady Lianxin asked with a cold smile. She was waiting for Han Yunxi to admit defeat, but the latter only retorted in her face.
"Obviously, you still need to ask?"
Lady Lianxin gave a start and turned stiff, not knowing how to respond. She could only keep her grievances to herself. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi had already taken large strides to the bed.
"Third Elder, then this junior won't stand on formalities."
Both Third Elder and Lady Lianxin exchange glances at Han Yunxi's stance, finding it unbelievable. They didn't think that Han Yunxi would really do anything.
"Please proceed," Third Elder said in a loud voice.
Han Yunxi sat down by the edge of the bed and looked over Long Tianmo from head to foot. Right now, the man was completely exhausted and didn't thrash about like before. But he seemed to be on his last legs. When Third Elder and Lady Lianxin only saw Han Yunxi looking at the patient without doing a thing, both of them didn't say a word. As people with upper positions, they still had patience, but they couldn't help but disapprove of her actions. Fourth Elder didn't speak either, but stroked his beard as he observed. As for Luo Zuishan and Xi Yubo, both were stuck with their schemes in their own worlds. They didn't pay any attention to Han Yunxi, since as far as they knew, this girl wouldn't be able to find a thing.
Gu Beiyue was the closest one to Han Yunxi, but the tightly clasped hands behind his back betrayed his worry despite his serene and quiet expression. Han Yunxi's reactions just then had left him greatly worried. He knew that something had to be up with this woman. When Han Yunxi was still just sitting there looking at the patient. A while later, Lady Lianxin stopped giving her more time and began to trouble her.
"Qin Wangfei, could it be that your eyes can detoxify poisons?"
But Han Yunxi only continued looked Long Tianmo up and down before replying, "They can."
Urk…this girl was still so stubborn even when she was at Death's door.
"Fine, then detoxify as you wish!" Lady Lianxin huffed. Han Yunxi didn't even spare her a glance, but slipped her hand into her medical pouch to retrieve a set of acupuncture needles. Her soft white hand made a motion to spread out the needle cover across the edge of the bed, revealing a long row of various needles arranged in good order. There had to be at least 1,000 of them. A person's professionalism was judged first by their outer appearance, especially when the judges were internal experts. This row of acupuncture needles startled everyone present. Gu Beiyue wasn't an exception, as he never thought that Han Yunxi had such neat needles. Even the absent-minded Luo Zuishan and Xi Yubo spared a glance over. Despite this, everyone kept their shock in their hearts. None of them expressed their surprise, especially Third Elder and Lady Lianxin.
Somehow, the atmosphere had turned extremely quiet.
"Imperial Physician Gu, I'll need to trouble you to lend a hand," Han Yunxi said in a low voice.
"Mm." Gu Beiyue's heart suddenly calmed down by this point to match his peaceful face. He figured that Han Yunxi must have found a way to control the situation. Indeed, this woman never disappointed.
He assumed that Han Yunxi would have him help with the needles, but she simply said, "Help me strip off all his clothes."
Everyone present was a doctor, so it was normal for them to have a patient strip. But Han Yunxi had said, 'all his clothes.'
"This…does this need to be done for detoxifying poisons? Qin Wangfei, you're a woman!" Lady Lianxin reminded in disbelief. Han Yunxi didn't bother with her, but signaled Gu Beiyue to hurry up with her eyes. Even he had to hesitate, as this really wasn't all that appropriate.
"His 20 or so major joints and 201 minor joints have all been afflicted with poison. Expelling it quickly is paramount, so how am I supposed to get rid of the poison without taking off his clothes?" Han Yunxi asked seriously.
At her words, everyone gave in tacitly to the truth of Long Tianmo's poison. They exchanged glances in silence, but no one moved to refuse her. Now that he understood, Gu Beiyue forgoed the formalities and quickly stripped Long Tianmo, leaving only his underpants on. With that done, Han Yunxi began to search for accurate acupoints on his major joints. Of course, Third Elder couldn't resist speaking up when she picked up the first needle.
"How could you use needles directly?" Third Elder had seen his share of things, including using needles to expel poisons. But even the most common acupuncture needle had to be treated before being used on the patient so the tip could be sterilized to prevent infection. In the past, needles were sterilized by boiling them. That was a rudimentary rule that even young Medical Apprentices knew, but Han Yunxi didn't follow this rule. He had fallen for her bluff after seeing her complete set of needles, but now Third Elder had recovered his senses. There were too many jianghu liars in this day and age who tried to scare their way with tricks.
"I suppose Qin Wangfei's needles are of an uncommon variety that need no boiling," Lady Lianxin ridiculed.
But Han Yunxi's tone was no less disdainful than hers. "No need. I suppose this is the first time Fifth Elder's seen disposable needles?"
What? Disposable needles?
Such a phrase was foreign to both Lady Lianxin and everyone else present. What did it mean?
"Orthodox schools like us naturally don't understand such heretical things," Lady Lianxin quickly rebuffed. Han Yunxi lowered her head and didn't explain anything else. She only gave a small smile and went to hunt for acupoints with her needles.
At first, everyone could recognize the acupoints she found, but even Sage Doctor Third Elder was lost a few needles later. He didn't even know that those other acupoints had existed. As the number of needles stuck in the body increased, the crowd's expressions turned increasingly complicated. Just what was Han Yunxi doing? She wasn't looking for acupoints to stick in the patients, but just sticking needles in haphazardly!
If this went on, the patient would die. Third Elder couldn't hold himself back and reminded, "Qin Wangfei, you'll have to shoulder the responsibilities if you just stuck in needles as you please!"
Only then did Han Yunxi look over with a small grin. "Mm, I'll take responsibility." So speaking, she took out a long needle and actually closed her eyes before slowly sticking it into one of Long Tianmo's acupoints. And yet, as soon as this needle entered, the muscles around the acupoint slowly started seeping with black blood.
Black blood, that meant that there was poison!
"There's poison?" Third Elder couldn't help but exhale. He couldn't believe his eyes, but this was the reality. Long Tianmo's joints really did contain poison. Leaving aside whether or not he was still sick, at least Han Yunxi hadn't been wrong. He'd made the mistake, Long Tianmo was poisoned. And the pain that had overtaken his entire body came exactly from said poison.
The silence in the room was almost frightening. Lady Lianxin's face had turned ghastly white, while the rest look shocked. Only the attractive edges of Gu Beiyue's lips rose up in a curve as he smiled. As the quiet stretched on, Han Yunxi opened her eyes and allowed that acupoint to bleed. Then she moved on to the second major acupoint, which quickly began to bleed with poisoned blood as well. Meanwhile, the room sank further into stillness until even Long Tianmo's breathing had disappeared. Seniors like Third Elder and juniors like the young Medical Apprentices had all unconsciously crept closer to stare dumbstruck at Han Yunxi searching for acupoints. They only saw her movements as smooth as floating clouds and flowing water, elegant and easy. The soft, white hands rose and fell with their own unique grace as she moved.
Long Tianmo's major and minor joints combined made up 200 separate locations, but Han Yunxi didn't spare a single spot. Each and every joint was attended to and expelled of the Bone Poison with her needles. By the time she reached the last major acupoint, her forehead was covered in sweat. Gu Beiyue brought over a handkerchief to lightly wipe her forehead. Accustomed to the professional motion, Han Yunxi didn't refuse him nor was she distracted. She kept her head down and her eyes steady, continuing with her acupuncture work.
Instead, it was a certain somebody on the roof who'd narrowed his eyes until they turned cold and terrifying.
Time passed quickly in the stillness. Half a day had gone by when Long Tianmo was completely covered in needles and bleeding poisoned blood onto the sheets. Finally, Han Yunxi put in the last needle and finished. By now, Third Elder had watched himself into a daze with her work as he hovered by her side. Han Yunxi loosened up her neck and fingers before pointedly shooting him a look. Immediately, Third Elder avoided her eyes. Seeing this, Han Yunxi was amused and grinned. Then she began to remove the needles from Long Tianmo, since all the poison she could expel with them had basically come out. If she had been natural and spontaneous while inserting the needles then, she was even smoother while taking them out. Her hands were so quick that others couldn't even see her movements clearly. Despite this, they tried their best to look on carefully, afraid to miss even a single detail. Of the 200 or more acupoints used, each sported at least five separate needles. One could imagine how many needles there were — nearly 1,000. Han Yunxi didn't put these needles back in their sheath, but threw them aside as soon as she took them out. Soon enough, she had a large pile. When all the needles were gone, Han Yunxi twirled the last one in her fingers and stood up with a smile to face Lady Lianxin.
"Hey, this isn't some heretical thing. Disposable needles means that I throw away the needles after using them once!" After saying so, she tossed the final needle into the pile, her movements natural and graceful.
A complete set of acupuncture needles numbering close to 1,000, thrown away just like that? What a reckless waste of resources! Could it be that she had plenty of sets on hand?
Lady Lianxin looked at the pile of needles covered in black blood, then at Han Yunxi. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. Third Elder was still staring at the black blood, even more speechless than she was. Han Yunxi had long walked to the side to wash her hands, her movements thorough and careful. It seemed like nothing had happened to her at all.
After that, she looked towards Qinwang Rong. "Qinwang Rong, I'll have to trouble you to clean up His Highness Crown Prince and change his clothes. I'll reexamine him in two days."
Qinwang Rong had long been floored by what he'd seen. Emperor Tianhui hadn't mentioned a single redeeming feature about this woman, but today had proved him otherwise!
Han Yunxi left the room full of stunned spectators behind her as she arranged her clothes and went out the door. Gu Beiyue followed after her and only spoke up after they left the courtyard. "Esteemed wangfei, just then you…hehe, here I thought that there was no way to cure the poison at all." He really had broken out in cold sweat from the struggle beforehand.
But Han Yunxi stilled her steps with a helpless look on her face. "There really isn't a way to cure it. I could only expel the poison temporarily."
Hearing this, Gu Beiyue was finally just as stunned as the people they'd left behind. Han Yunxi shrugged her shoulders and kept walking forward. Just because there wasn't an antidote, did it mean that the poison couldn't be cured? She'd never admit it!
Even if they beat her to death!
Fine, she could admit that she'd shed her morals, but she never said that she cured the poison so it shouldn't count as a lie, right? There were still two days' time, so what else could be done?