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Chapter 272 The Price Is Quite High
Zhu Yu's attention was focused on her fingertips, and she didn't really pay much attention to Jia Hui's palm.

Now, reminded by Yan Daoxin, her gaze also turned to that direction, and she saw that Jia Jun's palm was pale with a strange faint bluish-green tinge, as if a layer of light blue mist had floated on his palm, making even the lines on his palm unclear.

"What's going on?" Zhu Yu asked in surprise. She had seen corpses that turned green from decay, but she had never seen a green shadow appear only on the palm of a hand when everything else was fine.

“Jade Snowbird.” Yan Daoxin remained silent for a moment before uttering a name.

"What kind of bird is this?" Zhu Yu had never heard of this kind of bird before. The name sounded quite nice, but judging from Yan Daoxin's expression, it was probably not a good thing.

Lu Qing had also never heard of such a thing before, and looked at Yan Daoxin, waiting for him to explain it to her personally.

"The Emerald Snowbird is a strange bird that likes to live on high mountains and builds its nest on the treetops. Its feathers are all emerald green, almost the same color as the leaves, except for its white head," Yan Daoxin explained to them. "This bird flies very fast, and only the most accurate archers and the fastest arrows can hit it, but you can't shoot it with arrows."

"Why is this?" Zhu Yu quickly examined Jia Jun's other organs, and after confirming that there were no other abnormalities, he began to sew the incision back up.

"Because the blood of the Jade Snowbird is highly poisonous." Yan Daoxin looked at Lu Qing with a serious expression. "So its original name was actually Jade Bloodbird. Later, because it sounded too scary, the word 'blood' was changed to 'snow' because of its white head."

Most people wouldn't want to catch it, since it requires climbing steep mountains and venturing into dense forests, which is quite dangerous.

Those with ulterior motives who want to make a fortune using the Jade Snowbird on the black market naturally can't shoot it with arrows, otherwise the blood will drain out and congeal, making it unusable.

Therefore, the only option is to first find the Emerald Snowbird's nest, and then, when the adult birds leave the nest to forage, climb to the treetop and steal the newly hatched, flightless chicks.

Seeing that Zhu Yu's reaction was not significant, Yan Daoxin added, "It doesn't sound too outrageous, does it?"

"What if I told you that this bird has exceptionally sharp claws and a pointed, hard beak, making it extremely fierce? If it detects anyone approaching its nest, it will peck and bite relentlessly. And at that time, the person trying to steal the chicks is hanging high in the treetops on the edge of a cliff."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu immediately understood that this was yet another rare item that could only be obtained by risking one's life.

Moreover, a fledgling bird that can't yet fly won't have much blood in its body even if it's drained, which explains why it's so expensive on the black market.

Blood……

In an instant, Zhu Yu suddenly understood, and she hurriedly asked Yan Daoxin, "If wine is added to the blood of this Jade Snowbird, will it affect its effects?"

"It has an effect, of course it does." Yan Daoxin nodded with a straight face. "With alcohol, the toxicity doubles."

"Then I know where the blood in his stomach came from." Zhu Yu relaxed his brow. "Deer blood wine!"
Many men in our Shuo region believe that drinking deer blood wine can strengthen the body, so many people drink a little bit every day.

It seems that someone secretly added the blood of the Jade Snowbird to the deer blood wine. In this way, the bloody smell of the deer blood wine would mask the smell of the Jade Snowbird's blood and not arouse any suspicion.

Does this stuff work quickly?

"It's incredibly fast. After drinking it, you can feel a burning sensation from your mouth to your stomach in an instant. The abdominal pain is unbearable, and you die after only a few tumblings." Yan Daoxin nodded. This was the worst he had looked in so many days, and his eyes were fixed on Lu Qing.

Hearing his words, Zhu Yu looked up and saw Yan Daoxin looking at Lu Qing with worry. Lu Qing's expression was no longer as relaxed as before; beneath the calm surface, there seemed to be turbulent emotions. "What's wrong? Why do you two look like that..." she asked, puzzled. But before she could finish, it suddenly dawned on her, "Was Lu Qing poisoned with this kind of poison back then?!"

"No, that's not it." Yan Daoxin saw that her face had changed and quickly waved his hand. "If he had been poisoned by the Jade Snowbird's blood, there would be no need to send him to Shanqing Temple."

The master said that someone must have mixed the meat of the Jade Snowbird into the chicken soup and fed it to him. Although it was still poisonous, it was much weaker. In addition, this guy was really tough, which allowed him to survive until he was sent to Shanqing Temple.

Zhu Yu nodded, lowered her eyes, and continued to carefully sew up the wound, but her heart remained heavy, as if someone had slipped a large piece of black iron ore into her when she wasn't paying attention.

She had never even heard of this jade snowbird before, and judging from Yan Daoxin's words, it was clear that this was not because she was ignorant, but because this thing was indeed very rare.

As for why Jia Jun, the supervisor of the weapons bureau, died, they should all know the root cause.

But that bowl of chicken soup back then was served to Lu Qing by Consort Zhao.

Although this stuff is hard to get, Zhu Yu doesn't believe that even Consort Zhao couldn't get bird blood and could only get a little bird meat.

If you can get meat, you must have a way to get blood.

As for why he didn't use the deadly poison blood directly, but instead used bird meat which was much less toxic, Zhu Yu thought it was because the blood was too poisonous, the process was painful, and the death would be gruesome, which would easily arouse suspicion in the palace.

It's no wonder that even the most skilled physician in the palace couldn't find a way to cure him.

Now, this unfortunate Jia Jun has died again from the blood of the Jade Snowbird. This rare and potent poison has reappeared. Does this mean...?

She silently tightened the string in her hand.

It's good that Lu Qing is no longer that fragile and helpless child. The reappearance of the Jade Snowbird's poisonous blood at this time is actually a good thing for them.

Otherwise, they would be worried that the old grudges from back then have been forgotten for too long, and there is nowhere to find new clues.

Zhu Yu tied a knot in the thread, cut the end, and looked at the result of her sewing. It was clean, neat, and as always, leaving only a long crease on the skin surface, with no trace of needle holes or stitches.

Lu Qing helped Jia Jun put his undergarments back on, making him look neat and tidy. From the outside, there was indeed no sign of anything amiss.

“Then let’s go out. We shouldn’t linger here too long,” he said to Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu looked at Yan Daoxin: "What will you say after we get out?"

"I'm here, you don't need to worry about this." Yan Daoxin dusted off his clothes and straightened his back.

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