After looking around, Zero realized that this wasn't his own home, but a simply furnished, rather untidy room.
From the herbal smell in the air, he could tell this place was Alchemy Commission.
Just as Zero was about to sit up and throw off the three blankets covering him, Jingliu pressed his shoulder and pushed him back into bed.
The white-haired beauty spoke sternly, "Don't move around. You've been poisoned."
Jingliu's brows knitted slightly, her eyes lowered. She raised her hand to touch Zero's forehead, brushed aside his bangs, and tested the temperature with the back of her hand.
Feeling the heat on her hand, Jingliu frowned deeper, her face turning colder.
"Wait here, I'll go find Dan Feng."
After throwing down those words, Jingliu turned and left, her speed so fast it was startling. Zero didn't even have time to stop her.
Zero, "..."
He was completely confused, having no idea what was going on.
How did he end up in Alchemy Commission the moment he opened his eyes? Who brought him here?
Exactly what kind of poison had he been hit with?
And why was he covered with three layers of blankets? Don't tell him this poison could only be flushed out by sweating?
The heat was making his head spin. He couldn't help but push his bangs up and throw off the extra two blankets.
But before he could enjoy the coolness, Jingliu returned to the room and said coldly, "Don't move. Cover yourself properly."
Dan Feng, who had been rushed along the way by Jingliu, who was even about to use combat skills to hurry the trip, "..."
With that tone, anyone who didn't know better would think you two had some bitter blood feud.
Zero knew Jingliu was just worried about him, so he didn't mind her tone. He patiently explained, "It's too hot. Three blankets are too thick."
Jingliu froze for a barely noticeable instant.
Three layers? She clearly only put on one.
Dan Feng only felt like he was wearing himself out worrying for his friend. He was only good at making the Dragon Master furious, not smoothing things over.
The Dragon Lord racked his brains and squeezed out, "Jingliu is just worried and losing her composure."
Which only earned him one of Jingliu's deadly looks.
Dan Feng, "..."
The Dragon Lord was speechless. He walked to the bedside and suggested checking Zero's pulse.
Zero cooperated, holding out his hand, his tone gentle, "I'll trouble Lord Dragon for this."
Dan Feng placed his hand on Zero's wrist, but his gaze was irresistibly drawn to the other's face.
He had never paid attention before, but now, with Zero's bangs pushed aside, revealing his whole face, he noticed something unusual.
He felt that this face was very, very familiar.
In the memories of Yubie and several other Dragon Lords, he had seen a face resembling Zero's. But their eyes and personalities were worlds apart.
That man's eyes were dead still, as if everything he looked at was lifeless.
As for his personality… Dan Feng hadn't interacted with him, so it was hard to say. At the very least, no one would dare scold that man the way Jingliu scolded Zero.
It was just that their appearances happened to be similar.
Dan Feng withdrew his hand and turned to Jingliu, "Don't worry. The remaining poison in his body has already cleared. There's no real harm. If you're still uneasy, I'll prescribe another three days of medicine."
Before the patient himself could say anything, Jingliu straightforwardly made the decision for Zero, and began asking Dan Feng about relevant precautions.
Zero opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing that their conversation had already shifted to dietary restrictions, he could only stay quiet and listen.
Dan Feng, recalling the strategy guide he and two other friends had painstakingly crafted for Jingliu, gave her a very approving look.
The strategy said, when asking her out, you must be firm and strong, best not to leave room for refusal.
It seemed Jingliu was good at fully absorbing the lesson, applying the guide to all aspects of daily life. Surely, his friend would one day get what he wanted.
Seeing their talk gradually winding down, Zero cut in to ask, "Excuse me, may I ask what kind of poison I was struck with?"
Hearing this, Dan Feng's expression froze for a moment.
As a Dragon Lord, he had never imagined that a gift prepared by a previous Dragon Lord but never delivered could cause trouble hundreds of years later.
It had been chosen on his behalf by the Dragon Master, a thousand-year ginseng root.
The gift wasn't particularly expensive.
Neither the Dragon Lord at the time nor the former Marshal were the sort to care about such trivial details. But unexpectedly, that left an opening for someone with ill intent.
Someone had swapped part of the ginseng root for pokeweed, a highly toxic plant with a similar appearance, splicing the two together. At a glance, it was nearly impossible to notice.
An ordinary person might have thoroughly examined such a valuable ginseng root.
But to the Dragon Lord back then, it was nothing special. Since the previous Dragon Lord hadn't sent it out, he simply tossed it into his private storehouse.
Dan Feng, head of Alchemy Commission, knew medicinal herbs inside and out. Naturally, he could tell the difference between ginseng and pokeweed. But who would have thought of something like that? Who would imagine ginseng could even be spliced together?
So it wasn't that Yingxing had ruined the ginseng by washing it, it had been tampered with from the start.
Dan Feng, accustomed to luxury and with countless rare herbs of centuries and millennia stored in his vault, simply couldn't comprehend it.
If not for the chance situation where General Tengxiao, unwilling to accept an overly costly gift, had drawn it out, this malicious thing capable of taking lives would've kept lying forgotten in the vault.
A mere thousand-year ginseng, what was its price really worth? And yet it nearly harmed the former Marshal, as well as the current General of Luofu.
In the end, it was eaten by Dan Feng, his friends, and one friend's beloved.
All five were poisoned on the spot. Luckily, Dan Feng's personal attendant discovered it in time, or who knows what might have happened.
When Dan Feng woke up, he was furious. Not trusting anyone else, he first treated his friends himself. Only after they awoke did he go storming to the Dragon Masters.
For the first time ever, the Dragon Lord flew into such a rage that the usually nitpicking Dragon Masters were too terrified to make a sound.
Right there, Dan Feng punished several Dragon Masters, then ordered his subordinates to investigate thoroughly, to dig three feet into the ground, no, not just three feet, even if it meant tearing up the roots of the Ambrosial Arber itself, they had to uncover the truth.
If this matter hadn't involved his friends and others, Dan Feng would never have spoken of it.
Even saying it aloud was humiliating.
He, the head of Alchemy Commission, taken down by a pokeweed root.
Like a hunter pecked blind by his own geese.
Dan Feng's emotions were a tangled mess. For the first time, he felt the pain of being rich. In the end, it was all because he was too wealthy.
If only he had been like an ordinary person, treasuring that ginseng and examining it daily, he surely would have discovered the problem.
Considering his friends' special identities, Dan Feng had even reported the poisoning to General Tengxiao directly, bluntly admitting that his own supervision had been lax and vowing to severely punish the culprit.
At first, Tengxiao, having only heard that five people had been poisoned, was startled by the Dragon Lord's relentless posture.
Tengxiao, 'I think you're being a bit extreme.'
He tried to brush it off. But once he heard the full list of victims, his heart leapt into his throat. He immediately shifted tone, "This matter is of great importance."
"Not only does it involve the former Marshal, but it also implicates some of the most exceptional talents in all of Luofu, no, talents rare even in a thousand years. This absolutely cannot be lightly brushed aside. It must be strictly punished."
"I'll lend you manpower from the Ten Kings Division."
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