The crowd that was surrounding them left running once the mysterious men appeared. Meilian's heart was racing. She realized she messed up and thought she was going to lose her life because of her stupidity. Meilian concluded that she had to do something fast.
Jun Zhi was panicking and didn't know what to do to save his love. The young master of the Heaven's Sword Sect didn't look pleased with all. He had the situation under control and was close to arresting the man, but the course changed.
"Not so brave now huh!" the man keeping Meilian hostage taunted. "What will the great young Master Zhong Jian Sheng do!!"
The evil man started laughing, thinking he had the upper hand. Meilian looked at young master Zhong in embarrassment. Luckily, he wasn't aware that Meilian was the person he saw at the sect. Dressing up as a man saved her but she was still a dead person if she didn't get herself out of this scenario.
"Young man," young master Zhong said. "I hope you realize that you have to sacrifice your life for this country"
Meilian looked at him, mortified. She wasn't ready to die yet. On the side, Jun Zhi wasn't sure what to do. He had promised her father to keep Meilian safe and sound, and now it looked like his skin was in danger too.
"Mei- Master Xihuan hang on!" Jun Zhi yelled.
That's when she remembers something. Before she left the cottage she brought some papers with poisons in them. They weren't deadly poisons but if someone inhaled it would take that person months to recover without the proper medication. Without alerting her captor, she slowly reaches into her pockets inside her clothes, trying to pull out the paper with the poison that will paralyze upon inhalation.
Jun Zhi notices what Meilian is up to and slowly walks closer to young Master Zhong. Meilian and Jun Zhi are good friends, so he realized right away what chaos was about to happen. Before he could get to the young master, the men clad in black went into action, causing the young master to fight with them. Jun Zhi lost his chance to warn young Master Zhong and prayed that he would not be affected by the poison.
Meilian was struggling to reach the little paper, almost sighing and alerting the evil man. Jun Zhi couldn't rely on the young master to help him save his friend, so he tried to distract the evil man so he would catch wind of what Meilian was trying to do.
"Sir, let my good friend go," Jun Zhi asked. "What good will it do if you kill an innocent person?"
The evil man just laughed. He didn't seem like the type of person that cared if he took a life. His body language indicated that he didn't plan on letting Meilian go alive. Of course, Meilian had no plans to die there, but time was ticking.
Young Master Zhong was almost done with the evil men and that's when Meilian gets hold of the poison. She stares at her friend, hoping he would notice her signal. Both lock eyes and nod slightly. Jun Zhi wants to warn the young master but the evil man notices and yells.
"Where do you think you are going?!" he said as he dug the knife deeper into Meilikan's throat.
He managed to cut her a little, and blood started to come out of the wound. It started to sting and she bit her lip to deal with the pain.
"I'll hurt him if you move!" the evil man screams. "If you don't want anything to happen to your friend stay where you are!?"
Jun Zhi was getting annoyed by the situation. He was wondering why Meilian was taking her time. The wind was suddenly blowing violently. Everything went flying and people were struggling to keep their balance. Meilian was waiting for this moment. The wind was blowing in the direction of the men clad in black.
She holds her breath and in a swift motion pulls out the paper and lets the contents spread in the air, green smoke surrounds the area. The evil man holding her captive lets her go, pushing Meilian to the ground and he starts coughing badly. The people with his started coughing too all of them falling to the ground. She looks over to her friend hoping he got away. He has his hands covering his face. The young master caught onto the situation and had already covered his face as well.
Unfortunately, Meilian gets trapped in the smoke. She is immune to her own poisons but it still didn't stop her from coughing too. She was struggling to get up. Young Master Zhong sees what's going on and rushes into the poisonous cloud and helps Meilian up and gets out of the smoke.
Both struggle and cough for a bit before they force themselves out of the smoke and they grasp for fresh air. After a few coughs, Meilian feels okay but young Master Zhong is still coughing. She quickly pulls out the antidote and runs up to him.
"Sir, take it!" she urges him.
Young Master Zhong doesn't take it. Instead, he looks at the pill in her hand and is reluctant to determine whether this is a ploy or if this young man is really trying to save him. Jun Zhi walks up to them and sees that the young master hasn't taken the antidote.
"Master Zhong please take this antidote my friend is giving you," Jun Zhi says. "It won't do you any harm, I give you my word"
Young Master Zhong thinks for a bit then takes the pill in Meilians hands and quickly swallows it. It doesn't take long before the effects of the pill start working. Jun Zhi checks on Meilian to see how she is handling the poison. Meilian smiles and he is relieved.
It doesn't take long before the disciples of the Heaven's Sword Sect to arrive. They greet the young master as soon as they see him.
"Seems like their whole group came out," Master Zhong tells the eldest disciple. "But make sure to cover your faces and don't let any smoke into your system"
The eldest disciple seems confused but then when he looks in the direction where the bloodied men laying on the ground coughing, he understands what the young master meant. All disciples use a special cloth to cover their faces and walk into the poisonous smoke and arrest the evil men.
"Sir Xihuan how long will the effect of the poison last?" Master Zhong asks Meilian.
"Without medication," she said. "It will take them a month to recover with the right care. However, if they use the antidote it should take them a few days to recover to full health"
"Do you have more of the antidote to give to them?" Master Zhong asks her.
"Unfortunately, you took the last pill," she says while she smacks the fan in her hand on her palm. "I can make more and bring them to you"
"Why not come with us?" Master Zhong says. "I'm sure our head pharmacist has everything you will need to make the antidote there. We can't risk these men getting sick until they are given the antidote"
Meilian is reluctant. She was only allowed by her father to venture outside with the company of Jun Zhi. If she didn't return home now, her father would worry sick. However, she had gotten some people poisoned and although they won't die from it, there are no guarantees that someone was allergic to the ingredients used to make it.
"I'll come with you," she says and Jun Zhi is shocked.
He pulls her to the side and whispers, "Are you crazy? Your father will kill me if we don't return before night"
"Jun Zhi, we will be back before father notices anything!" she assures him. "This way, I can repay my debt to him"
"Debt?" he asks.
"I'll tell you about it later," she tells him and returns to young Master Zhong.
"When are we leaving?" Meilian asks him.
"We are leaving now," he says as the last man is thrown into the carriage.
Meilian is led to the head pharmacist hall by young Master Zhong. They get greeted by an elderly man.
"This is elder Xia," Master Zhong introduced.
Meilian shows her respect to Elder Xia.
"This is Master Xihuan," Master Zhong introduces Meilian to Elder Xia. "He is here to make an antidote to his poison so he can cure our convicts"
Elder Xia looks Meilian up and down as if he is unsure whether this young man really knows how to make poisons. Meilian on the other hand, tenses up, scared this elderly would unravel her disguise and shame her for dressing as a man. Luckily, as soon as he finished inspecting her, he gave off a big smile and warmly welcomed Meilian into the hall.