Chapter 50

"Master, I'm here!" Meng Bai ran in very cooperatively, standing beside Li Yunxiao with a timid appearance.

Li Yunxiao sneered, "8527, work hard for our Li family; this is your senior."

Meng Bai obediently called out to Li Yi, "Senior!"

Li Yi was so angry that his head spun, almost falling over. Fang Zhen caught him. The other officials all watched the two with smiles, each harboring their own schemes. The Li family's affairs were finally starting to get chaotic.

Li Yunxiao said, "Little Eight, drip some blood on this pill."

Meng Bai stared with wide eyes, pretending to be afraid, "Why my blood? Can't you cut yourself?"

Li Yunxiao angrily slapped him, scolding, "As a servant, you must act like one! Do what your master tells you, no questions! Learn from your senior!"

Meng Bai, feeling wronged, took a small knife for cutting roast meat from a nearby table, cut his finger, and squeezed out a drop of blood the size of a mung bean, dripping it onto the Bishui Longjing Pill. "Is that enough? It's already a lot of blood."

Li Yunxiao kicked him away, "Get lost, you don't even act like a servant!" He glanced coldly at the pill and said calmly, "Once it comes into contact with blood, it will produce a lethal toxicity. Even a small drop is enough to kill a Wu Wang expert."

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. With Meng Bai's blood on it, Li Yi would be unable to escape the charge of poisoning. The poison from the Heavenly Poison Body was the origin of all poisons, and even as a Ninth-Rank Alchemist in his previous life, he couldn't neutralize it; he could only try to expel it from the body.

Soon, palace guards brought in a large wolf dog.

Li Yunxiao picked up the blood-stained pill, about to feed it to the dog. Suddenly, Li Yi shouted, "Wait!"

He looked at Li Yunxiao warily and said coldly, "Move away, let these guards feed it!"

Li Yunxiao acted indifferent and placed the pill on the table.

Li Yi then instructed a guard to step forward and force the pill down the wolf dog's throat.

After the wolf dog swallowed the pill, it didn't seem to have much of a reaction, still barking loudly, as if it was still hungry. The guard who trained the dog listened for a moment and reported to everyone, "Your Majesty, it says it's delicious and wants more."

Emperor Qin Zheng's face changed, his eyes blazing with fury as he stared at Li Yunxiao.

Qin Ruxue's face turned pale, and she sat down in a chair, feeling drained. She was crying inside, determined to save Li Yunxiao's life no matter what, even if she had to agree to the marriage.

"Ha ha ha!"

Li Yi burst out laughing, pointing at Li Yunxiao, "Little brat, you dared to deceive the emperor! How will you die today? Ha ha ha!"

The pent-up frustration he had felt all evening seemed to be released, and he laughed without restraint. But after a few laughs, he suddenly felt cold, as if the temperature in the hall was dropping sharply, and a chill ran through his body.

He noticed Li Yunxiao looking at him coldly, with a gaze that treated him like a clown, like a dead man.

Anger!

Li Yi became furious again, a dead man daring to look at him like that. He thought he would definitely gouge out Li Yunxiao's eyes! But he suddenly felt something was wrong, as he noticed everyone around him was looking at him the same way as Li Yunxiao...

A sense of impending death washed over him, and his heart sank. He turned around sharply and saw the wolf dog, which had just been barking, now completely black, green, yellow, red, and other colors, a dead dog, dead as could be!

"Ahh!" Li Yi screamed, his legs giving out, and he fell to the ground, pointing at the dog and trembling, "That, that's a colorful dead dog! Where did it come from?"

Emperor Qin Zheng emitted a fierce killing aura and said, word by word, "What do you think?"

Li Yi screamed in despair, "How? How is that possible?" He pointed at Li Yunxiao, shouting, "It's you, it must be you! You must have hidden the healthy dog and replaced it with this dead one! Bring out the healthy dog, take this dead one back!"

The entire banquet hall fell silent, everyone staring in shock at Li Yi, who was rolling on the ground like a clown. The Li family members all looked excited, their eyes gleaming. Li Yi's attempt to poison with the pill meant certain death! They couldn't believe such a long-standing problem had been solved so easily! Everyone in the family now looked at Li Yunxiao with respect and awe.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Li Yunxiao hid the healthy dog, you must exterminate his entire clan!" Li Yi seemed to be going mad. He had worked so hard to achieve his current status, and he couldn't bear to see it all collapse in an instant. He was losing his mind, babbling incoherently.

Emperor Qin Zheng was also seething with anger. He had finally cultivated a puppet to suppress the Li family, but now this major incident had occurred! If he didn't kill him, how could he explain it to Prince Xiao Qing? But if he did kill him, how could he control the Li family?

He was furious and roared, "Guards, drag Li Yi and Fang Zhen away and lock them in the Heavenly Prison!"

Li Yi and Fang Zhen were dragged out amidst the gazes of the crowd, both shouting their innocence, but no one paid attention.

However, Emperor Qin Zheng's attitude made everyone slightly suspicious.

A joke, to dare plot against the Grand Commander of the National Guard, even a prince or noble would face certain death. How much more so for a mere favored servant? Such a crime should be punished by death, not by imprisonment in the Heavenly Prison. It seemed the emperor had other plans.

Prince Xiao Qing's eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure, and he stood up, saying, "Your Majesty, my old injury has flared up; I must take my leave." Without waiting for Qin Zheng's approval, he walked out.

Qin Zheng knew he was dissatisfied with his handling of the situation and quickly said, "Prince Xiao, you have served the country well and are a pillar of the state. You must take care of your health. I will send a hundred Nourishing Essence Pills to your residence."

Prince Xiao Qing didn't even turn his head, just lightly saying, "Mm."

In the entire Tian Shui Kingdom, perhaps only a handful of people could act with such arrogance.

"Prince Xiao, wait!"

Li Yunxiao suddenly called out, "Can I examine your internal injuries?"

Prince Xiao Qing's steps finally stopped, and Qin Zheng said happily, "Yes, Yunxiao knows acupuncture and has even cured Ruxue's Five Yin Meridians. Perhaps he can help."

Qin Ruxue's heart was touched. At that moment, she looked at Qin Zheng, and the kind and doting father she once knew was gone, replaced by the emperor of the country. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and disgust.

"Since that's the case, Yunxiao, please take a look," Prince Xiao Qing agreed, though he didn't have much hope, just treating it as a last resort.

Li Yunxiao stepped forward, gently placing his fingers on Prince Xiao Qing's wrist, pretending to diagnose. His divine sense traveled along the main meridians, investigating.

The entire banquet hall was abnormally quiet, no one daring to disturb. After a moment, Li Yunxiao withdrew his hand and sighed lightly.

Prince Xiao Qing frowned and asked, "Brat, what's the diagnosis?"

Li Yunxiao's brow twitched, and he said coldly, "Brat?"

Prince Xiao Qing said dismissively, "What? Li Chunyang is a brat to me, what are you if not a brat?"

Li Yunxiao remained silent, then nodded slightly and said, "Do you feel as if ants are biting your humerus, ulna, and radius three times a day, but you can't catch them?"

Prince Xiao Qing's eyes lit up, and he said quickly, "Yes!"

"Do you feel as if your Fengmen and Shendao acupoints are covered in ice, causing a chill, at noon and midnight?"

"Yes!"

"Did your qi sea show signs of dissipation at the hours of Yin and Mao a year ago, and has it now spread to the hours of Chen and Si?"

"Yes!"

"When you channel your qi through the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian and the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, do you feel a tingling sensation like an electric shock?"

"Yes!"

"Ah, I see."

"Huh? Brat, you're amazing, you hit the nail on the head. Do you know how to solve it?" Prince Xiao Qing's eyes shone with excitement, "Huh? Brat, where are you going?"

Li Yunxiao walked straight out of the main hall, sat back at his seat, and started gnawing on a lamb leg, mumbling, "Eating, the brat doesn't have any good solutions. I was just asking some questions, didn't expect you to take it so seriously. Forget it, let's pretend I didn't ask."

The entire hall was stunned, and Qin Ruxue let out a "pfft" and covered her mouth to laugh, the first sign of happiness since the incident.

Prince Xiao Qing was also dazed, no one had ever dared to act so boldly in front of him. "Brat... ah, I call your grandfather Li Chunyang 'Old Ghost' and your father Li Changfeng 'Brat.' If I don't call you 'Brat,' what should I call you? Little Brat?"

Li Yunxiao took a sip of fine wine and said seriously, "Call me Yun Shao."

"Spit!"

The wine in Han Bai's mouth spewed out, his eyes full of fear.

Yun Shao...

Everyone's foreheads were drenched in cold sweat. To dare make Prince Xiao Qing call him "Young Master," was this boy out of his mind, did he want to die?

Prince Xiao Qing's face darkened, and he said coldly, "Brat, do you know who you're talking to? No one dares to call themselves 'Young Master' in front of me."

"Slam!"

Li Yunxiao slammed the bronze wine cup heavily on the table, saying coldly, "Call me or don't, no one is forcing you. If you find it troublesome, there's plenty of lamb on the table to stuff your mouth."

The entire hall was drenched in cold sweat. To defy Prince Xiao Qing like this, even the emperor of Tian Shui Kingdom wouldn't dare. Qin Zheng also wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Prince Xiao Qing was stunned, then burst into a rage, his aura surging as he strode toward Li Yunxiao, each step shattering the stone tiles on the ground.

"Yun Shao, Yun Shao! Quickly apologize to Prince Xiao, do you want to die?" Han Bai urgently pushed