Chapter 314 Crimson Elixir

Chapter 314: Crimson Dawn Pill

— Heshan County, Xi Wu Prefecture

Before Meng Wan left, he settled Nie Zhiyao and his son near Songyun Academy in Heshan County, as neighbors of Teacher Nie so they could look after each other, and it would be convenient for Fei Geer to attend the academy during the day.

"Father, when can we go home? Dad said he would come to pick us up." Fei Geer pulled the blanket up to his nose, leaving only his eyes exposed, gazing at Nie Zhiyao with pleading eyes.

Nie Zhiyao had heard his son say this countless times already. He blew out the oil lamp and lay down under the blanket, soothing him with practiced familiarity: "Soon. Your dad always keeps his promises. Go to sleep now—classes start tomorrow morning, don't be late."

Fei Geer was very obedient and soon closed his eyes to sleep. The father and son drifted off to sleep thinking of Lezheng Qi, completely unaware of the bodies lying scattered outside the small courtyard.

Ge Quan had cut down a ring of attackers as easily as slaughtering chickens, without making a single sound throughout the entire process.

The Crown Prince and Qin Xiaoyun had joined the fight too, but compared to Ge Quan, they fell short.

The Crown Prince looked at Ge Quan with an appreciative gaze, while Qin Xiaoyun crouched on the ground and pulled back the collar of one of the assassins. On the inside of the garment was a three-clawed silver dragon embroidered with silver thread, a mark of supreme imperial honor—but one that couldn't see the light of day.

"Your Highness, they are Dragon Shadow Guard, not the Emperor's personal Golden Dragon Guard—these are Silver Dragon." Qin Xiaoyun knew palace guards well. Although no one from the Qin family had ever been selected for the Dragon Shadow Guard, he'd heard that every emperor had a secret personal guard.

The Crown Prince didn't seem all that surprised by what had happened. "Looks like Lezheng Qi's already made his move."

A shrewd glint flashed in Qin Xiaoyun's eyes. "So can we head back to the capital?"

The Crown Prince chuckled lightly. "Time for my dear imperial brother to find me. Hope I bring him a pleasant surprise, not a scare."

Shengjing Imperial Palace—

"Your Majesty, all 6,893 people, servants, and livestock of the Lezheng clan have been put to death. Aside from Lezheng Qi's immediate family, not a single member of the Lezheng clan remains alive."

Duke Dingxiang stood in the great hall, a heavy steel blade at his waist, his imposing figure like an unshakable mountain. The squad leader beside him knelt, reporting on the execution of the Lezheng family's nine branches.

The emperor on the dais wore an unreadable expression. "Is Lezheng Qi in the Ministry of Justice's jail?"

Vice Minister of Justice Zeng Shiqi stepped forward. "Your Majesty, Lezheng Qi has been held in the Ministry of Justice."

The emperor said three words, almost casually: "Beat him to death."

Zeng Shiqi's expression did not change as he bowed. "As Your Majesty commands."

Duke Dingxiang, who'd stayed silent the whole time, stepped forward. The emperor's pupils narrowed, and his grip on the dragon throne tightened without him realizing.

The head eunuch, clutching his horsetail whisk, stepped half a pace in front of the emperor. "Does the Duke have something to report?"

Duke Dingxiang acted like he hadn't seen him. With a wave of his hand, men outside the hall hauled in a heavy black wooden chest. "Your Majesty, during the confiscation of the Lezheng estate, my men discovered a secret chamber in the Lezheng ancestral hall. Countless treasures were found within, and one wooden chest contained rare and precious jewels. I didn't dare touch them carelessly, so I've brought them straight to Your Majesty."

The emperor stayed on guard. "Zheng Rui, open the chest and examine it for me."

Grand Eunuch Zheng Rui came down from the dais, used the wooden handle of his whisk to open the chest, picked out three items and tucked them into his robes, then returned to the emperor's side. "Your Majesty, please look. The Duke speaks truly—the items in this chest are no ordinary trinkets."

Zheng Rui was the emperor's personal seal-holding eunuch, having served him since childhood. He was the most powerful eunuch in the palace and could even weigh in on state affairs. In all these years, what priceless thing hadn't he seen? If he said they were special, they were worth a fortune.

The three items Zheng Rui had tucked away were all exquisite boxes. When the golden box was opened, it revealed a jade seal carved from Hetian jade, a Tubo specialty, bearing Tuyuhun script. The jade's quality and color could even rival the Yu Dynasty's imperial heirloom seal.

The emperor barely glanced at it and said flatly: "Destroy it."

Zheng Rui instantly got the emperor's meaning and handed the seal to Eunuch Xi, the errand-running attendant. "Take it away."

Eunuch Xi took the order and left the hall with the jade seal.

The next wooden box held a top-grade incense sealed in beeswax, with a faint mark of use at the tip. Given its Tuyuhun origins and local specialties, everyone figured it was the region's famous styrax incense.

"Have the head of the Imperial Medical Academy examine it. If it's clean, split it in two and send it to the Empress and Consort Nie."

The emperor had mostly lost interest by now. He rose from the dragon throne, his fingers idly tapping the last gem-studded box Zheng Rui had set on the table's corner. Enjoying the feel of the uneven, variously sized gems, he picked it up and fiddled with it.

The whole box was covered in tightly packed jewels, each one valuable, the craftsmanship exquisite.

But oddly, there wasn't a single seam to be seen. It was called a box because you could tell it was hollow, but holding it, you couldn't find any way to open it just by looking.

The emperor picked up the jade box, turning it over in his hands, studying its odd features closely. This box seemed to have been stored for a very long time—the jade had begun to cloud, and the gems at the edges showed signs of wear.

The palace was never short of jewelry, and the emperor had initially only been admiring it in passing without deeper thought. But then he suddenly recalled a certain rumor about the Lezheng family, and his steady breathing hitched. "Open this box for me!"

Eunuchs and guards in the hall took turns trying—hacking with blades and axes, melting with fire—but no method could leave even a trace on the box.

"Huh?" A young eunuch suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

Zheng Rui scolded him. "How dare you show impropriety before the throne!"

The young eunuch hurriedly knelt and begged for mercy. The emperor called him to his side. "Have you noticed something unusual?"

The young eunuch was terrified, his teeth chattering slightly as he spoke, his voice thin and trembling as if someone were squeezing his throat, even his breathing quivering. "R-re... reporting to Your Majesty, this servant believes that one of the gems on this treasure box is too sharp, and the red on it seems to have been truly stained by blood."

At his words, the emperor followed where his finger pointed and indeed noticed a grain-of-rice-sized red gem at the corner, its tip indeed rather sharp. But it was too small, squeezed into the corner by more dazzling gems on either side—one would hardly notice it without looking carefully.

That touch of red, as the young eunuch had said, did appear to be stained by blood.

"Go intercept the Ministry of Justice's men. Convey my oral decree: bring Lezheng Qi to the Imperial Study." A hint of fervent emotion seemed to flash in the emperor's eyes, but mindful of Duke Dingxiang's presence, he forcibly suppressed it.

He did not believe Nie Chuan, but he believed in the bloodline of Tuyuhun!

The emperor hurriedly left the great hall. The young eunuch lying on the ground was silently kicked by Duke Dingxiang, scrambled to his feet without daring to look around, and trailed far behind Zheng Rui.

By the time Lezheng Qi was carried into the Imperial Study, he was already unconscious, a slice of aged ginseng held in his mouth, barely clinging to life by a thread.

The emperor was reading an old historical text. Zheng Rui glanced at it from the corner of his eye—the first line read: Ancient Tuyuhun, the last reigning king, lived to the age of two hundred and one.

This was actually a very old rumor, but nearly every monarch, upon reaching old age, would rush to the former territory of Tuyuhun to turn it upside down in search. Even the fall of Tuyuhun itself was greatly connected to this long-lived king.

Countless nations had fought over it back then, washing Tuyuhun in blood again and again, yet only obtaining fragments of clues.

Tuyuhun possessed a treasure called the Crimson Dawn Pill.

Its color was like morning glow reflecting on snow. Taking one pill could restore a common person's vitality; taking two could cure all lingering ailments; taking three could extend one's life by ten years.

Its king obtained it and regularly consumed this pill, living over two hundred years before passing away.

On the day of his death, red-crowned cranes sang at the horizon, and Buddhist chants resounded, as if celestial music guided him.

The king left behind one furnace of Crimson Dawn Pills, sealed within a national treasure of a mutton-fat jade box, embedded with spirit stones, their crimson light flowing within to preserve its spiritual essence.

Later generations who obtained it by chance and shared it all lived to great ages, and so it was passed down as a celestial treasure.

No emperor could resist the temptation of immortality. Having truly ascended to that position above all others, with the power to control life and death, what they feared most was not their descendants seizing the throne, but their own gradual aging while their offspring grew ever stronger.

Former subjects once loyal to them would eagerly turn to support someone else, wishing nothing more than for the old master to step aside immediately, to claim merit for helping the new ruler ascend.

The emperor thought of the two successive governors of the capital who had met untimely ends, his gaze turning exceptionally vicious as he personally pressed the gem-studded box hard against Lezheng Qi's wound.

There wasn't a single outsider in the imperial study at the moment. The guards who had carried Lezheng Qi in had also retreated outside the door, leaving only the emperor's trusted confidant, Zheng Rui, watching nervously, scared Lezheng Qi might die on the spot.

"It actually opened! I didn't think a descendant of the Tuyuhun with mixed foreign blood would work just as well—could it be because his mother was of royal blood?" The emperor stared at the box, now cracked into six pieces in his hands, his eyes full of shock and wild excitement.

The priceless gem-encrusted jade box was destroyed, revealing from within a palm-sized, exquisite jade alchemy furnace. It was also made without a single seam, the entire miniature furnace delicate and refined, like it wasn't from this world.

Without a second thought, the emperor slammed the jade furnace on the ground, and sure enough, three red pills popped out.

As Zheng Rui picked up the pills one by one and placed them before the emperor, the most respected man in the land had shaking hands. He couldn't wait to pop those pills in his mouth right then.

His heavy breathing echoed through the empty study. It took a while before the emperor got up and sat back down at his desk, rolling the three peanut-sized pills between his fingers to calm his breathing.

The living corpse on the floor was starting to get on his nerves. It seemed the emperor just now remembered that Lezheng Qi had some connection to the imperial family. "He is, after all, the son of my imperial uncle. Though my uncle is no longer with us, he still counts as half imperial blood. Have the imperial doctors patch him up, then send him home."

Zheng Rui nodded, called the guards to carry Lezheng Qi home, and told Eunuch Xi to get doctors from the imperial medical academy to attend to Lezheng Qi at his residence.

After everyone was sent off, he shut the study doors himself.

As the emperor's right-hand man, he clearly knew what was coming.

Fifteen minutes later, a palace maid coming from the side hall to refill the tea was dragged into the study by a pale, bony hand. Her shrill, desperate screams echoed through the study, mixed with the eunuch's high-pitched, excited yells.

The emperor laughed out loud, while the guards at the door felt sick, disgusted and in disbelief as they glanced at each other.

The other guard's face was just as grim, but he kept his head down, not daring to make a peep.

Wasn't there already enough sick stuff going on in this palace?

—

Meng Wan had promised to take everyone to Muquan Manor for a visit. Once the first month of the new year was over, the weather warmed up a bit, the snow melted away, and the ground was half-dry—so he got the trip organized right away.

When he said no children, he meant no children. Leaving a sulking A Yan at home, Meng Wan hopped on the carriage without a second thought.

Purchasing Muquan Manor had been something of a coincidence. Last year, when he first arrived in the capital, he was in a rush to buy a place and had hit up several real estate brokers. In the end, no suitable house turned up, but he did end up eyeing this estate outside town with hot springs.

Back then, the place was in high demand, and Meng Wan had to pay top dollar to get it. He'd been busy moving ever since and hadn't gotten around to it.

This trip was for fun, but also to go over the old books and figure out what crops and fruit trees to plant—that was the real work.

Meng Wan brought Huang Ye, Zhifan, and Gui Qian along. Huang Ye had been with him for years and could size up a small estate in no time. All the household staff had learned to read and do math, and Gui Qian was one of the best. He came along to learn, so he could handle things on his own down the road.

Muquan Manor was a small-to-medium estate. Not counting the little hill with the hot springs, it was about six hundred mu, of which roughly four hundred mu were arable land. The rest, next to the hill, had the main family's courtyard.

In the middle of the estate was the granary and threshing ground, a big open area. When Chi Yu drove the carriage in, he saw kids playing there and adults leaning against woodpiles, soaking up the sun.

Song Tingzhou had gone back to work at the Shuntian Prefecture after the fifteenth of the first month. Knowing Meng Wan was heading to the estate today, he'd sent Tao Shi and a squad of constables to escort him.

Three carriages, plus a bunch of constables on horseback, rolled in, catching the tenant farmers' attention.

"Where are you fine folks from?" The estate head, a short, dark, shriveled old man in his fifties, came shuffling over with a bow.

Chi Yu pulled the horses to a stop. "Your master." When Chi Yu had come a few days before, it was late at night and he'd worn a mask the whole time. Good thing Song Tingzhou had told him to grab the deed from the house first before going to get the guy—otherwise, the folks at the estate might not have listened to him.

"I bought this place before the new year and never got around to bringing anyone out. You're the estate head?" Meng Wan got out of the carriage, deed and property papers in hand, determined to make sure the estate head knew who he was dealing with.

"So it's Meng Fulang himself. When you bought Muquan Manor, the broker came by to fill us in." The estate head, apparently guessing who Meng Wan was, knelt down and got ready to give a big bow.

"No need for all that—get up." Meng Wan told him to get up, his tone neither warm nor cold. "I brought guests to enjoy the hot springs. You all go about your business as usual; no need to fuss over us."

The estate head hurried to reply, all eager and fawning: "The rooms halfway up the hill have been empty for a while. I'll have my wife go clean them out right away, so the young master and his guests can rest."