“My life is only for you.”

Of course Myrna knew what chi yan was. 

But what should she say?

Should she tell the truth that chi yan is a unique poison only to the Liang Empire and all the ingredients are specialties of the Liang Empire?

Wouldn’t this invite difficulties? Taking the suspicion onto herself?

Now that she revealed the poison, if she appeared to be covering the information up, it would only look more suspicious. 

Neither saying it or not saying it would do her any good. She was stuck in a dilemma. 

Myrna was so regretful that her intestines were turning blue悔得腸子都青 Only regret after the deed was done. Like eating something you should not and you ended up dying, because the human intestine only turns blue after a human is dead.
. She should have listened to Aslan’s advice and kept her mouth shut.

Unfortunately, the Saintess’s appearance is charmingly enchanting, so much as it was as if she was born with an exquisite heart with seven orifices七竅玲瓏心 Extremely smart and clever., but in fact, she is a careless character, speaking without thinking twice.

Before this trip, Lao Lao warned them to know their place and not do any superfluous actions. The Emperor also requested them to complete the tribute without any so-called secret mission. 

She really did not expect the Liang Empire would do something like this.

Did she ruin this major undertaking because of her impulsiveness and brought great trouble to the Liang Empire?

When Myrna hesitated, there was a subtle change in everyone’s eyes. 

Aslan’s eyes were cold. He stepped forward and protected Myrna behind him. “Chi yan is a highly toxic poison. As long as it makes contact with the human skin, the person will die. If the poison is ingested, then death is even more inevitable.” 

This was the only information he shared before shutting up. 

Wei Lian listened quietly without saying a word. 

Aslan hid two things. 

First, chi yan is a unique poison of the Liang Empire. 

Second, chi yan is extremely toxic. It will kill after being in contact with it, however, the activation time varies. If it was by skin contact, the poisoning will be delayed for two days. If it was taken orally, it would be instant death. 

No matter the method, the outcome all led to death, but the acting time was either before or after, that was why it was named chi yan.

These two pieces of information were very important. If Li Chonghua was poisoned with the latter and was poisoned an hour ago, then everyone present at the horse course would have an alibi. 

Although the task did not require the killer to do it in person, right now, they could be cleared of suspicion. 

But if it was through skin contact…then Li Chonghua had been poisoned two days ago, which resulted in her death today. 

As long as Wei Lian could go examine the corpse himself, he would know how chi yan got in contact with the Princess. Unfortunately, he was in public and could not expose his medical skills. 

Assuming the former possibility, all the people she had been in contact with the past two days were suspects. 

But no one could prove where Li Chonghua had been these two days. In order to play the lost girl to encounter the Qin Emperor, she would often wander around the palace without any maid. Now the person was dead, only ghosts would know where she had been, what things she had done and who she had seen. 

Now Aslan was the most suspicious in Wei Lian’s eyes, but he lacked evidence. 

It was normal for Aslan to conceal certain information, As anyone with some brains knew, he should not share information that put him at a disadvantage. Bluntly speaking, that would not be being honest, that would be called being stupid. 

He was not inclined to believe that Li Chonghua’s death was caused by the Liang Empire. The Liang Empire has tens of millions of poisons, many of which are shared with the seven empires. There was no need to use poisons with limited characteristics such as chi yan. 

It was more like badly framed up to shift the blame. 

Of course, it did not rule out that the Liang Empire did not take advantage of this psychological method, but winning trust to prove their innocence, thereby covering their misdeeds by shifting the blame. 

It was useless to speculate, facts were still needed to back up the evidence. 

Since Aslan did not share that chi yan could be delayed, what Wei Lian could do as an ‘ignorant bystander’ was to handle the situation according to the information shared. 

Viewing the situation like this…Li Chonghua ate something that was poisoned which caused her immediate death within an hour. 

Although the investigation in this direction had an eighty percent chance of coming up empty-handed, he had to follow the process. 

It was no big deal to investigate in secret another way. 

* * *

“How are you so informed?” There was obvious hostility in Huyan Kemu’s eyes. 

As if in this room, the person he hated the most was definitely not Wei Lian, but Aslan. 

The Chen Empire and the Yan Empire are feuding. They did not start fighting mainly because they were on Qin Empire territory. 

Myrna is a beauty, so she could be forgiven. As for Aslan, it was an unforgivable crime. 

Myrna rolled her eyes. “Playing with poison is our ancestors’ pastime, all right?”

Aslan could not bear it. “Could you shut up.”

Was it such a great honor to admit her expertise in the art of poison?!

Wei Lian, the real expert in the art of poison, raised his eyebrow and did not speak. 

He quietly moved to Ji Yue’s side with ‘I am so scared’ written all over his face.

There was a real corpse on the ground, that is too scary!

Ji Yue quietly interlocked their hands under the cover of their sleeves. 

Which was caught in a glimpse by Xie Chen, who flattened his lips and turned his head silently. 

Qiao Hongfei, who had been paying close attention to Qi Gongzi: “...”

Why did it feel like he worried for nothing? 

One of the Chen Empire envoys suddenly whispered something in Huyan Kume’s ear. 

Huyan Kemu’s expression changed after hearing this. Before his eyes were locked on Wei Lian without moving, now that focus was directed to Aslan. 

He sneered, “Oh, that’s right. Of course you know, you should know the best. I almost forgot that this chi yan is from the Liang Empire! After this huge mess, it was you killers acting like physicians!”

“Your Majesty.” Huyan Kemu was furious and asked, “It was during the battle of the north field that these southern barbarians poisoned their weapons. My ancestors were injured and treated it as common injuries. Then when they returned to the tribe to celebrate two days later, all of them died from the poison! Only because my great-grandfather survived could we have the current Huyan line.”

“I did not remember at first, but now that I think about it, isn’t that poison called chi yan!?” Huyan Kemu turned his head and glared at Aslan. “What is your intention in hiding this? From what I see, Princess Chonghua’s killer must be you!”

“You speak a bloody lie!” Myrna was enraged, as if real flame was ignited in her beautiful eyes. “Do you even have the face to mention the battle of the north field? A hundred thousand of our people died a horrible death under your armoured horses. Why didn’t we poison every last one of you? To leave a scourge like you behind!”

Both parties were separated by the hatred between their empires that ran deep in their bones. Seeing that things might turn for the worse, Ji Yue said indifferently, “Silence.”

“The Qin Empire cannot tolerate your insolence.”

If you want to fight, then fight when you return. Don’t do it in front of us and Wei Lian. So annoying. 

“Your Majesty.” Myrna saluted. “Don’t listen to this biting mad dog瘋狗亂咬人 Someone who is mad and spilling absurd words. I think it’s more like an unreasonable person jumping to the conclusion and would not listen to reason. . He first slandered Wei Gongzi and then splashed dirty water潑髒水 Maliciously destroy someone’s image by spreading rumours. Hurling something at someone, especially in an attempt to damage their reputation. on the Liang Empire. This one can no longer stand it. Chi yan is indeed a poison of the Liang Empire, but the people of Liang Empire are not the only ones who could get their hands on the poison. Huyan Kemu is just hopping madly and misleading about what is important since the beginning. Who is Princess Chonghua to him that is worthy for him to be outraged by an injustice? I think this is another agenda of another.”

Imperial Physician Wang keenly grasped certain key points. “May this old subject say a word? Prince Huyan said that the death occurred only two days after his ancestors were injured…then doesn’t that mean the poison has an incubation period if the poison was not ingested through the stomach, but through skin and blood?”

The good doctor’s extremely skilled reputation preceded him. Myrna and Huyan Kemu quarreled for a long time, and all Imperial Physician Wang heard was this information. 

“...Yes.” At this point, Myrna had nothing to hide. “Whenever chi yan comes in contact with the skin, the infected place will appear green after death. If you want to know whether she came into contact or ingested the poison, just take off her clothes and check her skin for the green spot.”

The Yan Empire envoys were the first to object. “This is downright outrageous! Our Princess died innocently, and now she could not even protect her last dignity?!’

This was an empire’s princess they were talking about. 

How could a princess who remained pure till death be defiled? 

Myrna mocked, “It is fine if you do not take off her clothes. Just cut open her stomach to see what she ate.”

The message was clear: Take off clothes or cut open her stomach. Choose one. 

The Yan Empire’s envoys: “...”

Taking clothes off sounded way better. 

Ji Yue ordered, “Summon two female medical officers.”

The two female medical officers arrived soon. Seeing the circle of people standing in the room, they greeted everyone with trembling knees before being driven to work by Ji Yue. 

The rest stepped back to let them work. 

Ji Yue and Wei Lian also came out of the Ningyue Tower. They avoided the crowd and took a stroll on a path with pink blossoms and swaying willow trees

After breathing the fresh air, Wei Lian finally showed a trace of relief. “The room was suffocating.”

Ji Yue instantly replied, “Then you don’t have to go back. Just return to Zhongling Palace and rest.”

Wei Lian was not him, who was numbed to death. It might be too difficult for the younger man to remain calm seeing the corpse in front of everyone. 

In Ji Yue’s eyes, Wei Lian was weak, piteous and helpless. Someone who needed his protection.

Wei Lian glanced at him, “How could I? This subject cannot neglect his duty as the holder of the Luan Seal.”

Ji Yue uttered, “...We thought it was an idle job.”

He did not expect something like this would happen in the Qin Empire palace. 

“It’s no matter, for the time being, let me share your worries.” Wei Lian sighed and mentioned the matter, “Who do you think is the most suspicious?”

Ji Yue replied, “They all are.”

“Then do you have a clue?”

“None for the time being.”

Wei Lian: “...”

Where is that smart man from before? 

This is different from what he thought. 

Shouldn’t it be by the time he brought up the question, Ji Yue would already have the answer and everything under control?

Ji Yue looked at him and smiled. “What are you looking at us for? Do you regard us as immortal?”

“Everything requires attention to details and evidence. Without sufficient inference, we would have a thousand kinds of guesses and could list them down one by one. As to that, it is best for us not to list them. A ruler should seek truth from facts and not rule the empire by speculation.” Ji Yue solemnly recited.

Wei Lian huffed, “Speak normally.”

Ji Yue simplified, “We think they all want to harm us.”

Princess Chonghua was just a victim of politics. 

Motivation was not hard to guess. The Yan Empire’s Princess died during this critical juncture. The Qin Empire has to explain themselves regardless of reason or feelings, otherwise, what would the other empires think? It turned out that the life of vassal empires were cheap in the Qin Empire’s eyes. 

If a thorough investigation was to be conducted, it was not guaranteed if they would not offend the other five empires or maybe detaining all the envoys was required. 

Although the Qin Empire had already offended all six empires. 

But if the Qin Empire forced the other six to join hands, it would be a big war for the Qin Empire. 

The people behind the scenes must have vicious and extreme intentions. 

But who wanted to cause chaos in this world and wanted to put the Qin Empire in a dilemma?

Anyone was a possible suspect. 

Wei Lian patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. “Such a sad life you have.”

The Qin Emperor proved himself as the number one target on all of the assassins reward lists from seven lands. 

Ji Yue said in grievance, “Wei Xiao Lian, they all want our lives.”

Wei Lian hugged him. “It’s all right. I don’t want yours.”

“No, you have to.” Ji Yue instantly changed into three-years-old Ji Yue as even his tone became childish. 

He hugged the man and whispered, “My life is only for you.”

The world would be in chaos if the Qin Emperor died, so we cannot give you our lives. 

But my life is fine, I can give you my life. 

Ji Xiao Yue can love Wei Xiao Lian with his life.