Chapter 649: A True Heart

The eunuch took a deep breath.

The Emperor had just been infuriated by Helian Lin and the imposter Miss Shen, yet he had no choice but to let them go. Now, was the Ding'an Marquis going to accuse them?

The eunuch shook his head. You can't save those who are determined to die. He had advised as much as he could, but the Ding'an Marquis insisted on entering.

As soon as the Ding'an Marquis entered the hall, he hurried to the emperor's bed: "Your Majesty..."

Seeing Emperor Xuanming indeed lying on the bed, appearing unwell, the Ding'an Marquis hesitated for a moment.

Emperor Xuanming massaged his forehead, clearly exhausted, but still patiently asked, "What urgent matter brings you here, my dear minister?"

The Ding'an Marquis was a long-serving minister, and now that his only son was dead and the heir to Ding'an was gone, Emperor Xuanming naturally showed him more patience.

Hearing this concerned tone, the Ding'an Marquis was on the verge of tears. He, a dignified Marquis, was nearly driven to death by a reckless girl.

"Your Majesty, I have identified the true murderer of Ziyu. I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice for me!"

Emperor Xuanming sat up slightly: "Found the true murderer? Who is it?"

He could tell that this person must be of significant status, otherwise, the Ding'an Marquis wouldn't have come to seek his justice.

No matter how high and mighty this person was, daring to murder the heir to Ding'an was a grave offense and must not be lightly forgiven!

The Ding'an Marquis uttered the name indignantly: "Your Majesty, the murderer is the imposter Shen Nan from the Shen family!"

"Who did you say?"

Emperor Xuanming suddenly propped himself up.

The Ding'an Marquis, in his anger, didn't notice Emperor Xuanming's reaction and continued indignantly: "It's the imposter Young Miss Shen Nan who was taken in by the Shen family. I was initially planning to arrest her with the Dali Temple officials, but Your Majesty, Helian, the Third Young Master, intervened!"

"We wanted to arrest her directly, but Helian, the Third Young Master actually clashed with us and even attempted to kill!"

"Your Majesty, you must grant me justice!"

After finishing his furious speech, the Ding'an Marquis awaited the Emperor's command to act immediately.

But for a long while, there was no response from the Emperor.

He looked up in confusion and saw Emperor Xuanming grasping his chest, gasping for breath.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Now the Ding'an Marquis couldn't concern himself with anything else and rushed forward.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Xuanming shoved him aside: "Do not mention that name in front of me."

"..." The Ding'an Marquis's expression stiffened, and he stood still, "Your Majesty?"

Emperor Xuanming frowned: "If you want to arrest her, it's no surprise that Helian Lin would stop you."

"Your Majesty, but..."

That woman killed his son!

The Ding'an Marquis was filled with anger. Was it because of Helian Lin that the Emperor wanted to protect her?

Emperor Xuanming seemed to see through his thoughts and impatiently flung a memorial to the ground: "If you have the ability to snatch her from Helian Lin's hands, then go ahead. Even I can't do anything about them now, what can you do!"

"Your Majesty, why do you say that? You are the Son of Heaven, how could they possibly disrespect you?" The Ding'an Marquis was baffled, unable to comprehend why Emperor Xuanming would say such a thing.

Emperor Xuanming let out three cold laughs: "I am the Son of Heaven, but they act like they’re the gods themselves! Now, if I say one wrong word, they’ll poison the entire capital!"

The Ding'an Marquis widened his eyes, as if he were hearing a wild tale.

What kind of influence do these two wield, to dare threaten the Emperor like this!

He even started to wonder if the Emperor was pulling his leg, unwilling to believe that this was true.

If this is true, are those two out of their minds? Are they really ready to take on all of Dongrong?

Emperor Xuanming’s chest tightened with pain when he mentioned those two: "Now, even I have been poisoned by them, as well as every official of the third rank or higher in the court... and so on..."

As he spoke, Emperor Xuanming's gaze swept over the Ding'an Marquis.

The Ding'an Marquis was slow to catch on.

A moment later, he suddenly grabbed his chest.

"Poisoned? Your Majesty, am I poisoned too?"

"What do you think?" Emperor Xuanming reclined again.

After three seconds of silence, the Ding'an Marquis nearly gasped for air: "Your Majesty, I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my chest..."

When he realized he’d been poisoned, the Ding'an Marquis was terrified, feeling like his whole body was off. As much as avenging his son mattered, his own life came first!

Emperor Xuanming sighed and analyzed: "If the Houfu has enemies, then more than just you should be poisoned. You’d better go home and take it easy for a while, don’t let your temper flare up. I have already summoned all the doctors in Dongrong to develop an antidote."

"..."

What?

There’s still no antidote for this poison?

The Ding'an Marquis felt like death was knocking at his door.

"Your Majesty..." He wanted to say more.

That scoundrel, pulling off such a monstrous act, can they just get away with it?

"Don’t push me to my limit." Emperor Xuanming threw out a sentence, then closed his eyes, lying quietly, inhaling and exhaling.

He just wanted to rest well, calmly and peacefully, throwing that couple out of his mind.

"..."

The Ding'an Marquis was completely out of it, unaware of how he walked out.

The eunuch outside saw him coming out unharmed and was somewhat surprised.

Did the Emperor not lose his temper?

But seeing the Ding'an Marquis's despondent appearance, he knew that he must not have gotten his wish.

The eunuch watched the Ding'an Marquis.

After walking a few steps, the Ding'an Marquis suddenly bolted for the palace gates.

He needed to find a physician urgently; he still didn’t know what kind of poison he had been poisoned with!

A day passed, and all officials above the third rank in the Holy Capital learned about their poisoning and that the poison came from the Sacred Sect. Despite their frantic anxiety, they were powerless against this poison, which had no known antidote.

Thus, each of them took the task of finding someone to develop a sacred antidote extremely seriously. By the next morning, cities thousands of miles from the Holy Capital had already received the imperial decree to gather doctors to develop the sacred antidote.

Almost all Dongrong doctors were being sent to the Holy Capital by local officials.

Su Youyue, of course, received the news.

And this was exactly his plan.

If they were going to die, they’d die together—why should her man be the only one to perish?

Since it was the Dongrong people who poisoned Xie Yuan, then let all these Dongrong doctors come to neutralize the poison.

At the same time, she also received news of the upheaval in Tian Valley.

"Xiao Zi and Hua Qingyun have arrived in the Holy Capital?"

Upon hearing the two were safe, Su Youyue let out a sigh of relief.

Zhe Jing nodded: "Yes, my lady, and Tuoba Xiao, who was accidentally injured yesterday, had returned to General Tuoba’s estate to recover. Upon hearing the news, the Emperor of Dongrong suddenly spat up blood, and now the entire palace is in chaos."

"The emperor spat up blood?"

Su Youyue fell silent.

She was well aware of the effects of the sacred poison.

If emotions ran too high, the sacred poison would activate.

In other words.

The Emperor of Dongrong’s concern for Tuoba Xiao, as he had always shown, was genuine.

In fact, it might even have been genuine!