Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 214 Palace Change
"What will happen if you take too much?" The Emperor was very concerned, after all, it concerned his life.

Imperial Physician Zhuang glanced at the Emperor, a plan forming in his mind. Having spent his life as a physician, he could deduce seven or eight tenths of a person's condition simply by observing their complexion. Considering Lin Yunze's situation, he was almost certain he was right: "Your Majesty, prolonged use will cause insomnia and weakness, and in more severe cases, skin ulceration, with the poison attacking the heart and leading to death! Yunze is a case in point; his illness has reached its terminal stage, and his days are numbered..."

"Ah! Is it really that serious?" The Emperor, still shaken, took a step back and asked, "Do you really know the antidote?"

"I have made some progress..." Physician Zhuang said with a slightly guilty look in his eyes, "In the past few days, I have used acupuncture combined with detoxifying decoctions to stabilize the toxicity a little."

"Excellent! Excellent!" The Emperor stood up straight, his back ramrod straight. "Quickly! Bring him up, let me see him!"

Lin Yun was carried up, and sure enough, his skin had several egg-sized ulcers and patches of bruising, especially on his legs, which were a truly horrific sight.

The Emperor knew very well that if these bruises were not treated, they would turn into ulcers, because they were already present on his own legs!
The Emperor gasped, turned around, and glared at the Sixth Prince: "This is the medicine you spoke of for immortality and rejuvenation! You're trying to poison me!"

"Your Majesty, the matter concerning the Crown Prince and the Second Prince..." Yan Mingzhang reminded him. Clearly, the Emperor was only concerned about the poison in his body at the moment, but the truth about the Crown Prince and the Second Prince also needed to be revealed!

"Oh, right, right, where were we?" the Emperor said, snapping out of his reverie.

"Ephedra, the Sixth Prince fed ephedra to the Crown Prince's prized horse, causing the horse to convulse, which led to the Crown Prince falling off and ultimately dying!" Yan Mingzhang said firmly, then picked up another booklet. "And the Second Prince, the autopsy results are here. The coroner can testify that the Second Prince was poisoned before being hung from the roof beam, not that he committed suicide! But the Sixth Prince reported to you that it should be suicide!"

"You...you really did this?" The Emperor pointed at the Sixth Prince and roared, "Those are all your brothers!"

"Father!" The sixth prince knelt down with a thud. "You'd rather believe them than me? I'm your son! I'm your blood relative! My elder brother, the Crown Prince, and my second brother are my closest relatives. How could I do such a thing? There's no evidence for any of these things!"

"Is that so?" A young man in a Taoist robe helped the Empress in. The young man in the Taoist robe was none other than the Third Prince.

"Sixth Brother, I saw you feed that horse ephedra with my own eyes back then, and I can testify that you poisoned it," the Third Prince said. "Back then, just as I was about to tell the Empress about this, you actually poisoned my mother, blinding her, to threaten me. Have you forgotten?"

"It's all your side of the story. Now you're all ganging up on me to frame me. I don't admit it, I don't admit it, I'm innocent!" the Sixth Prince shouted.

The Empress staggered to the Sixth Prince's side, her face contorted with rage. She raised her hand and slapped him hard: "You...you beast, you monster! You actually killed my Cong'er! I'll kill you! Kill you!"

The sixth prince covered his swollen cheek, remaining silent, his eyes gradually turning cold: "Mother, ever since my mother passed away, I have truly regarded you as my mother from the bottom of my heart, but... how could you hit me?"

"You did something wrong and you won't admit it. You keep calling me Mother, but you don't respect me at all," the Empress said, tears streaming down her face.

"Mother, I always thought I treated you sincerely, and you treated me sincerely too. It turns out it was all a lie. I was deceiving myself—how could someone like me deserve to be loved? I was just deluding myself." The Sixth Prince closed his eyes and suddenly burst into laughter. "Guards! Help me purge the court of corrupt officials!" He opened his eyes abruptly and shouted the order, and his personal guards instantly surrounded the hall.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel?" The Emperor slammed his fist on the dragon throne and roared, but these guards were all the Sixth Prince's confidants. Even when the Emperor was angry, they remained expressionless, brandishing their swords and surrounding everyone in the hall.

"Rebellion is a capital offense! Lay down your swords now, and I will pardon you!" the Emperor roared. However, the guards not only did not lay down their weapons, but instead tightened their encirclement.

"Rebellion! Utter rebellion!" the Emperor roared, but his voice grew increasingly weak.

Just then, the four attendants who had been carrying the evidence suddenly pulled out daggers from under the trays and protected the emperor and his ministers in the center.

"General Rong? Rong girl?" The Emperor was astonished. "How come it's you two?"

It turned out that the four attendants were actually Rong Junye, Rong Wanyin, Mo Yun, and Chang Feng in disguise. At this moment, they no longer cared about concealing their identities and drew their daggers to confront the guards.

Rong Junye stepped aside to block the Emperor, the dagger making a sharp sound as it sliced ​​through the air. Three guards, each wielding a longsword, rushed forward, their coordination impeccable, wielding their swords with deadly precision.

Weapons have always been about being more powerful the longer they are. Rong Junye, in his attempt to infiltrate the palace, only carried this easily concealable dagger, putting him at a disadvantage in terms of weaponry. He couldn't afford a direct confrontation; he had to use a clever tactic!

Rong Junye deliberately slashed the dagger toward the rightmost guard. While the three men were focused on the right, he kicked the leftmost guard to the ground with a side kick, snatched the long sword, and was instantly empowered. By the time the other two reacted, it was too late. The three men collapsed to the ground, groaning.

Meanwhile, Rong Wanyin was forced to retreat step by step, her back slamming into the dragon pillar, leaving her with nowhere to go. A guard struck swiftly, and Rong Wanyin couldn't dodge in time; the hem of her clothes was instantly ripped by the blade. Another guard appeared behind Rong Wanyin, raising his sword to slash at her, the sound of the blade cutting through the air filling the air.

"Miss Rong, be careful!" Yan Mingzhang exclaimed.

Miss Rong raised her dagger to parry, but the dagger was violently knocked away by the longsword, tracing a bright silver arc in the air before spinning rapidly. With a "thud," the tip of the dagger embedded itself deeply into the dragon-carved pillar closest to the Emperor, the hilt still trembling within the pillar. Rong Wanyin raised her hand and pulled out the hairpin from her hair, her hair falling loose like ink. The base of the hairpin was extremely sharp, perfect for use as a weapon.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rong Wanyin saw a guard raise his knife to slash at Yan Mingzhang. Without thinking, she threw her last remaining hairpin at the guard.

The hairpin pierced the soldier's shoulder. The soldier felt pain in his arm, his hand loosened, the knife fell to the ground, and he fell to the ground.

Mo Yun pushed Yan Mingzhang behind a pillar, then spun around and parried with her dagger. The guard's blade grazed his shoulder, the sound of tearing fabric particularly jarring. The knife pierced his shoulder. Blood spurted out immediately. He endured the pain, hooked the knife with his toe, caught it in his other hand, and tossed it forward: "Miss Rong, catch!"