Chapter 8  : Courting Death

Translator: celefoata_  Editor: RegiusProfessorIn the alchemy room at the east side of Ye Hang’s manor.

Lu-er stared wide-eyed, amazed at the smooth black medicinal pill in Ye Yuan’s hands.

“Wah! Young Master, when did you become so amazing?”

Ye Yuan smiled and pinched Lu-er’s delicate pink nose. He then grumpily replied, “Since when your young master isn’t amazing?”

Originally intended as a joke, who knew Lu-er actually seriously pondered awhile before nodding. “Oh, in the past, people always talked bad about Young Master. I don’t know why, but I’ve always thought of Young Master as a good person. It’s just that now Young Master is even more impressive. Right, what does this pill do?”

One day after transmigrating, Lu-er already became the closest person to Ye Yuan. Without hiding anything, Ye Yuan explained, “It’s poison, a very potent one.”

Lu-er seemingly frightened by this and asked, “Ah? Why did Young Master refine something like this?”

Ye Yuan smiled and said, “Naturally for a person to eat.”

Lu-er mused over this explanation, before replying with a straight face, “I understand. Young Master definitely refined this poison for bad guys to eat.”

Ye Yuan laughed out loud and said, “Let’s go. The bad guy is almost here. We will wait for him in the parlor.”

The two just stepped into the parlor, and a servant came to report that a person with a bloodied face was at the front entrance of the manor seeking for an audience. Ye Yuan commanded him to bring that person over.

Momentarily, the servant brought a pitiful looking Liu An to the parlor.

Upon seeing Ye Yuan, Liu An sprinted over. Hugging Ye Yuan’s leg and crying, he said, “Young Master Ye, I beg you to be magnanimous and save me, please. We don’t have any grudges between us. Why do you want to put me to death?!”

Ye Yuan gave a look of disdain and then sent Liu An flying with a kick before squatting down and said, “Don’t have any grudges? Do you really take me for a fool? No matter how many Heart Protecting Pills my Ye Family has, we wouldn’t take it out to feed dogs. Make your choice now. Do you want to confess in exchange for the antidote or die due to the poison?”

Even after being sent flying with a kick, Liu An did not have any complaints and nearly tripped over himself while crawling back. Only this time he did not dare to hug Ye Yuan’s legs again. However, Ye Yuan was just at the First Level Essence Qi Realm; even if the kick was packed with true essence, it was unable to cause any substantial harm to Liu An.

As to the risk for Liu An retaliating like a desperate dog leaping over a wall, Ye Yuan was not concerned at all. That was because Liu An’s true essence scattered all over in his body, and he was unable to gather them together.

“Young Master Ye, I truly don’t know what you meant by that! I only came to Fragrant Medicine Pavilion to get treated. Even if I’d offended you, it isn’t deserving of death. I am only a small figure. I beg of you, Young Master Ye. Just treat me like a fart and let me go,” Liu An said as he cried without even trying to maintain his dignity.

Ye Yuan did not speak and only looked at Liu An’s alarmed face until the latter became flustered.

At this point, Liu An still held onto one last trace of possibility that Ye Yuan’s wastrel disease struck and that this was a practical joke. He hoped that by letting go of his dignity, he could coax Ye Yuan into giving him the antidote. If people found out about his shady identity, he would be hunted down by demonic beast hunters.

However, after Ye Yuan stared at him for a long time with that same gaze, Liu An’s heart hit rock bottom.

Ye Yuan looked at Liu An and suddenly smiled. A smile which made his heart went cold.

“Yo-Young Master Ye.”

“Hahaha. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk, I have plenty of time, but you don’t. Right now, do you feel your organs burning up, and your entire body as if it’s about to ablaze? This is merely the beginning. After a while, your skin wouldn’t be able to withstand it and start to crack open, bit by bit. Eventually, your entire body will go pah!  And explode like a watermelon.”

As Ye Yuan spoke, he even made an explosion gesture with his hands. Liu An’s entire body quaked as if following Ye Yuan’s hand movements and exploded.

At this point, Liu An knew he was out of luck. Ye Yuan definitely saw through something.

Analyzing everything up to this point, Liu An’s heart swiftly calmed down. This was an ability developed through countless years of hunting demonic beasts; he became an extraordinarily sinister and cunning person. His mind calculated everything, and a scheme developed.

It was already impossible to return to the past with the situation that was happening right now. Liu An decided to go all out. As long as he managed to swindle the antidote from Ye Yuan’s hands, he would immediately kill Ye Yuan and this little girl before leaving for a distant place.

Liu An was a decisive man. Now that the scheme was in place, there was no need to delay things any longer. Naturally, he would not reveal his inner thoughts. Instead, he continued to maintain a pitiful and helpless appearance in order to deceive Ye Yuan.

Liu An repeatedly kowtowed and babbled nonstop, “Young Master Ye, I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. I can’t hide anything from your keen sight. I’m willing to tell Young Master Ye everything. I only beg Young Master Ye to spare my worthless life.”

Ye Yuan looked as if he was delighted with Liu An’s performance. He smiled and said, “That will depend on whether the information you are going to reveal is valuable or not. If it is, this Young Master naturally will not make things difficult for a small fry like you.”

Liu An became thrilled upon hearing this. He thought to himself, this punk is indeed a pampered child, baited with just a little bit of honey. Liu An no longer hesitated and spilled everything out.

The truth did not deviate much from Ye Yuan’s conjecture. That brawny man initially went to several medicinal pill stores. Occasionally, there would be physicians who could recognize the Seven Evils Flowing Cloud Python’s poison. But they were helpless against it.

Do not look down on Qian Miao just because he was nothing in front of Ye Yuan. When put in the entire Qin Country, he was a top-ranked individual. He could identify and treat the Seven Evils Flowing Cloud Python’s poison, but this does not mean that others could do the same. Luckily they could not handle it; otherwise, the brawny man would have long succumbed to the poison.

Left without any choice, the brawny man then went to the Drunken Star Manor first. Coincidentally, the Drunken Star Manor’s Manor Lord, Wan Donghai, happened to be there and saw the brawny man.

The diagnosis of a Drunken Star Manor’s physician was actually the same as Qian Miao’s. However, Wan Donghai saw that something was not quite right, and requested the brawny man to seek a more capable expert.

Within the State of Qin, other than the Drunken Star Manor, there was only the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion. What could the brawny man do, other than to go try his luck at the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion? Wan Donghai could feel that something was wrong, but like Ye Hang, he was helpless against the poison.

Your enemy would be the person who understood you the most. Wan Dong Hai was confident that Ye Hang could not neutralize this poison. Hence, he sent Liu An to blend with the crowd and wait for an opportunity to fan the flames in order to ruin the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion’s reputation. If the situation went out of control, it would be best to incite the demonic beast hunters to smash up the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion.

That way, even if the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion was not destroyed, it would result in a considerable loss of reputation, leaving them unable to compete with the Drunken Star Manor any longer.

Liu An who was wounded earlier had just returned to the capital of the State of Qin. Furthermore, he was quick-witted which made him the most suitable candidate.

Initially, everything had been going along as planned by Wan Donghai. But who knew halfway through, something unexpected would happen. Ye Yuan unexpectedly actually managed to resolve this poison, leaving Liu An unable to do anything.

“Hehehe. It really was Wan Donghai. What a great trick to manipulate this incident.” Ye Yuan smiled coldly.

This Wan Donghai had always viewed Ye Yuan’s father as an enemy. Both were Alchemy Grandmaster with prominent status within the state. Yet, Wan Donghai was an insidious, unscrupulous person, completely different than Ye Hang.

Ye Yuan was naturally familiar with this Wan Donghai. Although his predecessor was far from being a match for Wan Donghai, his son Wan Yuan, was his nemesis at the Dan Wu Academy.

Naturally, although they are rivals, it was actually Wan Yuan one-sidedly bullying Ye Yuan. Ye Yuan thoroughly could not retaliate at all. Although Wan Yuan was also another silkpants like him, he was still outstanding among the students at the Dan Wu Academy. Apart from reaching the Sixth Level Essence Qi Realm, he even became an Alchemy Apprentice of the Dao of Alchemy.

Even among the talents in the Dan Wu Academy, Wan Yuan was an exceptional genius who was well-favored. In comparison, Ye Yuan was not even fit to hold his shoes up.

In fact, the matter regarding Ye Yuan’s poisoning, after analyzing his predecessor’s memories, there was an 80% likelihood that Wan Yuan being the mastermind behind the incident.

Good! Excellent! The old grievances have yet to fade, and new grudges were formed already. This father and son pair from the Wan Family . . . This feud, we will never reconcile!  Ye Yuan thought and laughed coldly in his heart.

“Yo-Young Master Ye, I’ve said what I should say, as well as what I shouldn’t have. Don’t you think . . .?” Liu An said weakly.

Just now, he even revealed that he was a spy for the Drunken Star Manor; all just to obtain Ye Yuan’s trust and swindle that antidote from him.

Feeling satisfied, Ye Yuan nodded. Taking out the newly refined poison pill, he threw it to Liu An and said, “Not bad. You’ve performed well. This antidote is your reward.”

Liu An received the pill and was feeling elated. Without even being skeptical, he swallowed it and immediately meditated to absorb the medicinal effects.

Indeed, the moment the pill reached his abdomen and was being absorbed, his originally stagnant true essence started circulating immediately. His eyes suddenly snapped open, and he flew forward like a cheetah with clawed hands, moving towards Ye Yuan’s throat.

“Ah! Young Master!” Lu-er at the side gave a shrill scream. Without even thinking, she jumped in front of Ye Yuan.

This claw attack was abnormally vicious, bringing with it an imposing aura tempered by the life-and death-situations he encountered daily as a demonic beast hunter. Against a little rookie like Ye Yuan, it was impossible to fail.

And yet, this claw suddenly stopped three inches away from Lu-er’s throat. Following this, Liu An collapsed to the ground and started convulsing; his face distorted in pain.

Ye Yuan pulled Lu-er aside from the back. Looking with pity at Liu An who was on the ground, he smiled coldly and said, “Disasters from the heavens can be withstood, but the evil we bring upon ourselves is the hardest to bear. If you didn’t have any devious ideas, this Heart Inch Fissure Poison wouldn’t activate this early. Yet, because you had vicious thoughts, you have to suffer more.”

“W-Why . . .” Liu An twitched as he squeezed out the word between his teeth.

Ye Yuan smiled lightly and said, “You thought the Heart Protecting Pill I gave you back at the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion was actually poison. In reality, that was really a Heart Protecting Pill. It’s just that the medicinal pill had been refined several times. Consequently, the medicinal effects became several times more violent. You are bleeding from the seven orifices and unable to gather true essence was merely some side effects. There was actually no serious problem with your body. Once the medicinal effects passed, not only would you be completely fine, you might have experienced improvement.”

“But the pill you just ate was a real poison pill, the Heart Inch Fissure Pill. Furthermore, the effects are extremely violent. After consuming it, you will suffer from the pain of your intestines rupturing for six hours each day. Moreover, each time it happens, it will become even stronger. All the way until you die.”

Ye Yuan’s words clearly reached Liu An’s ears. This seemed to make him convulsed even more violently.