Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

"The imperial physician! Where is the imperial physician?!"

Li Shimin's heart-wrenching roar nearly shattered the glazed tiles of the Taiji Hall.

The court, which had just been filled with shouts of war and fervent passion, instantly descended into chaos.

A group of elderly doctors, carrying medicine boxes, ran so fast their hats were askew, and they tumbled and crawled into the crowd.

Qin Qiong lay in Li Shimin's arms, his eyes closed, his face ashen. His armor was soaked with black blood, a horrifying sight.

His once mighty hand, which had wielded double maces and was invincible, now hung limply at his sides, like a withered old tree branch.

"His Majesty……"

The Imperial Physician tremblingly reached out and placed his hand on Qin Qiong's pulse.

Only three breaths had passed.

The old doctor's hand trembled violently, and he collapsed to the ground as if his bones had been removed.

"How is it? Speak up!" Li Shimin's eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed the imperial physician by the collar.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

The old doctor was in tears, his forehead hitting the ground heavily, his voice filled with despair that chilled the heart.

"The Duke of Yi... his life is over!"

"In his early years of war, Duke Yi lost too much blood, which depleted his vital energy. Coupled with his old ailments, his internal organs were already overburdened. Just now... that impassioned speech just now exhausted his last bit of energy."

"Prepare...for the aftermath."

boom--!

These words struck Li Shimin like a bolt from the blue.

"Quack doctor! Utter nonsense!"

Li Shimin roared, shoving the imperial physician aside and tightly embracing Qin Qiong's gradually cooling body, "Shubao! Wake up! I won't let you die!"

"You promised me you would see all nations of the Tang Dynasty pay tribute! You promised me you would witness my Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai!"

"We're supposed to fight the Turks together, we're supposed to drink and eat meat together! How could you leave us first?!"

This iron-fisted emperor was now crying like a helpless child.

Even ruthless men like Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong had tears in their eyes and turned their heads away, unable to look.

A somber atmosphere permeated the Taiji Hall.

Heroes grow old, beauties turn gray; these are the things of life that cannot be kept forever.

"Um... could you please move aside?"

At this tragic moment of life and death, an extremely untimely, even somewhat impatient, voice suddenly rang out.

Everyone turned around in astonishment.

Suddenly, Li Chengqian walked over, carrying a strangely shaped silver-white box.

He frowned, looking at the weeping emperor and his ministers with disdain.

"What are you crying about? The person isn't even completely dead yet, and you're already in such a hurry to hold a funeral?"

"Chengqian!"

Li Shimin abruptly looked up, his eyes bloodshot and filled with anger. "What kind of time is this? You're still making a scene! This is your Uncle Qin! A meritorious official of the Tang Dynasty!"

"I know he's a hero."

Li Chengqian rolled his eyes and shoved Cheng Yaojin aside, saying, "It's precisely because he's a meritorious official that I'm bringing him back. If it were that old man Wang Gui, I would have had someone play the suona long ago."

"Retrieve...retrieve it?"

Li Shimin was stunned. "You mean... there's still hope for Shubao?"

"nonsense."

Li Chengqian placed the silver-white box on the ground and opened it with a "click".

"As long as the King of Hell hasn't stamped his name on his Book of Life and Death, I can tear this page off."

Upon hearing this, the head of the Imperial Medical Bureau was so angry that his beard twisted in disbelief.

"Your Highness! Is medicine really a game? The Duke of Yi's life force is exhausted, and his pulse is completely gone. This is fate! How can human effort reverse it?"

"Destiny?"

Li Chengqian chuckled, took out a gleaming pair of surgical scissors from the box, and twirled them in his hand.

"For me, my rule is destiny."

"Why did Uncle Qin collapse? Wasn't it just because he bled to death? Wasn't it just because his internal organs were worn out?"

"If he's out of health, heal him; if a part is broken, fix it."

"It's such a small thing, why are you making such a fuss?"

These words left all the officials in the court dumbfounded.

Heal? Repair parts?

Do you think this is repairing a horse-drawn carriage? This is a person!

Li Chengqian was too lazy to explain. This was a [God-level First Aid Kit] that the system had specially given him to save Qin Qiong, and it was full of groundbreaking black technology.

"Old Xu, hold him down."

Li Chengqian gave an order.

Xu Xiao stepped forward, placing his withered hand on Qin Qiong's shoulder, as steady as Mount Tai.

Next, Li Chengqian took out a transparent, graduated glass bottle from the box, which contained bright red liquid (blood plasma substitute) and was connected to a thin tube.

At the end of the tube was a long, hollow needle that gleamed with a cold light.

He then pulled out a gleaming scalpel and gestured at Qin Qiong's chest.

"hiss--!"

A collective gasp of astonishment rippled through the crowd.

That needle...it looks painful!

And that knife, it's even faster than a butcher's knife!

Is the Crown Prince going to save someone, or is he going to dissect the Duke of Tang in public?!

"Stop! Stop right now!"

The Imperial Physician was terrified and rushed forward to stop him, crying, "Your Highness, you mustn't! Are they going to poke holes in the Duke of Yi's body? This is murder! This is killing!"

"Your Majesty! Stop the Crown Prince! Duke Yi is already on his last breath; if this continues, he might not even leave behind a complete corpse!"

Li Shimin panicked and instinctively tried to reach out to block.

"Chengqian, what... what are you trying to do?"

Li Chengqian held the needle steadily above Qin Qiong's arm vein. He looked up, and his usually lazy eyes now revealed a reassuring calmness and focus.

"Father, do you believe in destiny, or do you believe in me?"

"If Uncle Qin's health can't be saved, who will lead the charge against the Turks? Are we going to send your old bones to fight?"

"I saved him not for any grand cause."

Li Chengqian's lips curled into a "fallacious and heretical" smile.

"I'm doing this so I can continue to slack off in the future."

"Only when the fist of the Tang Dynasty is strong can its principles be justified. Uncle Qin is one of the strongest fists of the Tang Dynasty; it would be such a pity if he were to be destroyed."

After saying that, he ignored the gasps of the crowd and precisely inserted the needle into Qin Qiong's vein.

Blood return, connection, drip.

The movements were fluid and professional, so much so that it gave one goosebumps.

Then, he raised the scalpel, pointed it at the old wound on Qin Qiong's chest, and said coldly:

"Anyone who doesn't want him to die, shut up!"

"The scene is about to get a bit bloody, so anyone who's squeamish about blood should get out of here!"

The Imperial Physician looked at the tube embedded in his flesh, then at the knife about to fall, his eyes rolled back, and he truly fainted.

"He's gone mad...he's gone mad..."

"The Crown Prince is going to... kill the Duke of Yi right here in the Taiji Hall?!"