Upon receiving the response, the eunuch quickly returned to the palace in high spirits to report to Long Yin. Receiving the news, Long Yin and the Lin Family immediately heaved a long sigh of relief and the terrified looks on their faces had mostly subsided, as if nothing was impossible if the Southern Empire Clan personally set out to help.
The medicine expert was clearly in the Tian Long City yet his visit was postponed, that they would only come tomorrow. For ordinary people, this was a great disrespect to the Royal Family, yet they had no complaints with the decision of the Southern Empire Clan. For them to be willing to help was already a great honor. How could they dare to be resentful?
The next morning, the medicine expert, Shui Nanhe, arrived at the Tian Long Imperial Court as was agreed upon. In his mind, he still remembered what Shui Mengchan had told him yesterday, “Investigating the status and cause of the illness will do, to cure or not is up to you.”
Long Yin personally went to the palace gates to meet him, giving the Southern Empire Clan excessive respect. The way that Shui Nanhe spoke was as amiable as the wind and his face wore a faint smile, but he did not kneel down to show courtesy, nor did he show any changes in his mood when the Emperor personally came to meet him. To get right to the matter at hand, he requested to directly see the patient.
The appearance of Shui Nanhe had brought calmness to the minds of Long Yin and the Lin Family. This seemingly courteous old man looked like an immortal compared to the all the physicians who came yesterday, they were as different as the earth and sky. In front of him, even the most powerful Lin Zhan and Lin Kuang involuntarily displayed a respectful attitude. For a man who had already detached himself from the mundane world,, the inelegance of his body had naturally decreased and the extraordinary air of confidence had increased.
Lin Xiu still lay half dead on the bed. From yesterday afternoon until now, she had not even moved her little finger and just laid on the bed like a corpse. Only her eyes are slightly half-opened, didn’t sleep the whole night. The feeling of wishing she could move but was unable to do so was even more painful than death, but she did not even have the strength to commit suicide.
When Shui Nanhe saw Lin Xiu for the first time, his white brows unconsciously wrinkled. There were several methods to make the body gradually turn black, but this type was clearly being slowly spread outwards from within, perhaps she was simply poisoned.
“Immortal, you must help save my mother.” Long Zhengyue said anxiously. The whole afternoon plus the whole night, they had invited almost all the famous physicians throughout the entire Tian Long City, and the answers they got were repetitive. This was already their last hope. If in case even the medicine expert from the Clan of Southern Empire was still helpless, then Lin Xiu will only wait to die.
“Don’t be anxious, we will wait and see, do not disturb our elder. His medical expertise has already reached its peak; he will certainly heal our mother.” Long Zhengyang patted Long Zhengyue’s shoulder, his heart filled with hope.
Long Zhengyue nodded his head, nervously looking at Shui Nanhe as he approached Lin Xiu’s bedside, fearing to hear the words “impotent” once more.
The room became completely silent; nobody dared to make a sound. With Long Yin and the Lin Family present, in addition to the room full of imperial physicians, Shui Nanhe had no intention to have them leave. His eyes seriously observed her face for a moment, then he pressed fingers to her wrist. Closing his old eyes, without saying a word, his facial expression did not change, but then almost immediately, he withdrew his hand, exposing a pondering face.
“Immortal, what kind of illness does my mother have?” Long Zhengyue could not resist any longer and finally asked.
Shui Nanhe gestured for silence. Long Zhengyue obediently sealed his lips immediately, the hope inside his heart somewhat increased. He did not say that there was nothing more he could do like those imperial physicians did.
After quite a long time, the contemplating Shui Nanhe was finally in motion. He stood up straight and both hands sparkled with a dazzling white light.
“Such a powerful light enchantment!” Long Yin said in a low voice. Even the most powerful wizard of light in the palace would not be able to muster such a strong light element in just a short amount of time. The light element was only applicable to quickly heal physical wounds and what Lin Xiu had was clearly not physical. What was the significance of his actions?
Shui Nanhe waved his hands to slowly transfer the light element into Lin Xiu’s body. The surface of Lin Xiu’s body was bathed in a layer of white light. When Shui Nanhe retracted his hands, his expression was still gravely serious. The layer of white light stayed on Lin Xiu’s body for a few seconds, then gradually became weak, until it eventually disappeared. The greyish color of her body weaken a little bit, as if it had been rinsed off by the light element.
Happiness was on the faces of the members of the Lin Family, while Long Zhengyue and Long Zhengyang let out a deep breath in succession. Indeed he was the medicine expert. The strange illness that numerous imperial physicians were unable to cure was a very easy task for him and the Empress’ condition had greatly improved.
For them, lightening up the strange dark air was, without a doubt, an improvement.
Long Yin was watching every expression on Shui Nanhe’s face, and his heart sank as he said, “Immortal, what kind of illness does the Empress have?”
Shui Nanhe sighed and said, “This reminds me of a terrible plague which had happened before in a small village of the Kui Shui Nation ten years ago. The body will turn black for those who are affected by the plague. The outcome is death, and no one had survived this plague. The Empress’ current condition and the effects of the plague from at that time… are exactly the same.”
“Plague?” Long Zhengyue softly repeated the word. His whole face transformed and he said alarmingly, “Since it is a plague, then those who have come into contact with my mother these past two days, wouldn’t they all get infected?”
The comment caused a great panic, even the usually calm Long Yin’s eyes violently contracted.
“No, princes. Please don’t be anxious. In fact, it is not really a plague.” Shui Nanhe said while shaking his head.
“Because a large number of people died from this illness, the people outside the village thought it was some kind of terrible plague. One by one, they went to somewhere far away to avoid it, until now nobody dares to go near that place. In the recent years, those who went near the village had all caught the same illness and died. The ground in that area had a terrible greyish color, incomparably desolate. When I first approached that place, I felt a terrible force rush through my whole body that quickly nibbled away my vital energy. I immediately left, then used my powers to expel the terrible breath from my body. In the meantime, I realized that this was not some kind of plague, but a kind of toxic air similar to… poison! Once a person approached it, this ‘poison’ will invade the body.”
Shui Nanhe was indeed correct. That “poison” was the air of death, but as opposed to the air of death found in front of the Devil’s Trap Pagoda, which did not invade the body, this air of death Shui Nanhe called “poison” had similar characteristic, but was no doubt more frightening.
Based on the current knowledge of the Heavenly Star Continent, people still did not know of the three elements of fate: life, death, and spirit. No one had the power of the these elements inside their body yet, so Shui Nanhe could only call it poison instead of the the element of death.
What Ye Wuchen had injected inside the body of Lin Xiu was exactly that kind of “poison”.
Having heard that it was not a plague, the people calmed their anxious nerves. Long Zhengyang asked, “Elder Medicine Expert, does it also mean that my mother was affected by this kind of ‘poison’?”
“That’s right. A while ago, I tested it using my power. Now it is completely confirmed.” Shui Nanhe said, his face was still serious.
“Since, Medicine Expert, you were able to remove this ‘poison’ from your body, you must already know the right method to remove it. Please help save my mother. Our Long Family will be forever grateful!” Long Zhengyang said respectfully.
“That’s correct! The immortal was able to expel the poison out of his body, and a while ago he was able to control mother’s illness, mother should be all right.” Long Zhengyue said excitedly.
“Ai!” Shui Nanhe heaved a very long sigh, as he sadly said, “It’s not good. I’m unable to cure this poison.”
These words were just like some muffling thunder crushing their final hope. Long Zhengyue said urgently, “But, immortal, you were obviously able to treat the poison in your own body, why can’t you treat the same from my mother? Also… did you not just treat a great part of my mother’s illness a few moments ago?”
“Ai, you are wrong.” Shui Nanhe sighed again, and helplessly said, “This is a very peculiar type of poison. If a person has inner strength or some magical powers, they would be able to expel this poison out of their body little by little. But based on the intense level of poison found in the Empress’ body, the Empress would need to have at least a third level of cultivation so that she will be able to expel it. If she was to make use of another person’s powers, no matter how strong it is, it will be of no use. For me to be able to temporarily alleviate the Empress’ illness, is because the light element is able to inhibit this kind of poison, but I can only control it. Barely much time will pass before it will be back to its previous condition again.
Light was the nemesis of darkness, and also the nemesis of death, but only in part. Death was an element of fate, and so it controlled fate. A person who was unable to control this element, even if they were very powerful, they would still not able to interfere with the elements of fate.
Long Yin shook his head, sighed and said, “You are right, immortal. Elder Li and Elder Liu also suspected yesterday that the Empress was being poisoned. They used their powers to check her body and discovered a peculiar air inside her. Even though the two elders had used all their strength they were still unable to expel this peculiar air out of her body.”
“This……”
Lin Zhan and Lin Kuang were silent, Long Zhengyue and Long Zhengyang also went silent. Shui Nanhe’s words and Long Zhengyang’s explanation had undoubtedly pronounced Lin Xiu’s death.
“Immortal, do you know under what kind of circumstances does this poison grow?” Long Yin asked. Even the Medicine Expert of the Southern Empire Clan could do nothing about to to save Lin Xiu. He had already lost all hope. What he could do now, was to investigate the facts of this illness, so that this kind of poison occurred in another person’s body, it would not cause great chaos in the palace.
“I don’t know. This is my second time to seeing it. According to the situation that I have witnessed on the grounds of Kui Shui Nation ten years ago, this kind of poison formed naturally. Did the Empress go to any desolated places recently?”
Naturally formed? When Shui Nanhe uttered these words, he simply could not believe himself. He had been specially summoned here to diagnose and find out the cause of the Empress’ illness, because this illness had something to do with that person…