Chapter 7 - Expelling the poison

At breakfast, she discovered Gu Liu Yue had added a catalyst to the soup. To others, it was a harmless ingredient used for nourishing the body but when consumed by someone who had been poisoned by the Eternal Dream it was fatal. It would accelerate the poison by a few months and the victim would die in a matter of days.

Unfortunately for her aunt, Li Ling was no longer the naive manipulable child. She knocked the soup over when she fake stumbled as she tried to sit and Gu Liu Yue's plan was ruined - again.

Her aunt was getting restless and Li Ling needed to work faster in getting rid of her.

Li Ling knew the first thing she had to do was start to strengthen herself. To do that she had to get rid of the poison in her bones and then nourish her body. Good thing she was a poison expert and the hair of the Yue family. She had access to all their knowledge.

After lunch, Li Ling had to take a nap, during this time she went back to her space. She skipped down the path and entered the mansion, only to find it empty. Pushing thoughts of her master to the back of her mind, she went into the study and the shelf that was clear of the white mist. She scanned the spines of the books. Now that she could have a closer at them, she noticed number 7 stamped at the top of the spine. Under the number was the character 'Ling' meaning 'Spirit' and then was the title of the book. As she searched for the book on poison, she saw that the books on the shelves ranged from 5 - 7. There were no books below 5.

She finally found the poison-related books on the 3rd row of the second shelf. There were books on poisonous herbs, poison decoction, breeding poisonous insects, immunity to poison, and expelling poison. She found a wooden stool and took down the books related to poisonous herbs, insects, and expelling poison. She took the medical herb books as well. Taking them to the table, she moved the writing materials on the surface and placed the books to the right.

Thanks to her photographic memory, it did not take long to memorize all the books. She managed to find the tonic that would neutralize the Eternal Dream. She was sure she could find the common herbs and tools required. The only problem was obtaining the ten-joint shell of the blood cicada. It was listed as a rare ingredient in the book of herbs. She would have to ask master. Since he wasn't around, it was best she went back home and collected the available ingredients.

Coming back to her bed, she slowly slid off. Checking the hallways for servants she sneaked out of her courtyard.

Since Chu Li Fen was proficient in medicine, she was bound to have several sets of needles and herbs in the storehouse. She remembered the last time she had accompanied her mother and followed the map in her mind to get to the medical courtyard of the house. This courtyard was specifically designed by her father for her mother to do all alchemy related work so everything from the storehouse to the operating room was located in the courtyard itself.

She used her assassin's skills and managed to get into the herb storehouse unnoticed. There were lots of shelves with drawers inside. Each drawer had names of the herbs and other ingredients written on it and everything was sorted in alphabetical order. Taking cloth pouches from the box by the door Li Ling quickly filled the with the herbs she needed. She couldn't use her mother's medicine boiling chamber or she would be caught so she decided to use the resources of her space. She remembered master had told her that the rooms in the mansion would have everything she needed. She quickly ducked into the tools storage and grabbed a set of gold and silver needles.

She left the medical courtyard and managed to enter her own Jasmine courtyard just as she heard footsteps approaching her door. She hid the pouches in her hand under the bed and got under the covers, pretending to be asleep. Her maid Xi'er came to stand beside her and tapped her arms lightly.

"Miss, it's time to wake up."

Li Ling shifted and acted as if she went back to sleep.

"Miss...", Xi'er called again softly, while shaking Li Ling's arm.

Li Ling woke up rubbing her eyes and yawned. Xi'er wiped her face with a warm towel and then holding her hand took her to the table laden with snacks and tea. When Xi'er looked the other way, Li Ling tested the osmanthus cakes and tea with a silver needle. She wasn't suspecting Xi'er but, she couldn't trust the kitchen maids who would easily become puppets in Gu Liu Yue's hands at the right price or threat.

After finding nothing wrong with the food, she ate the snacks and sent Xi'er away. There were a few hours till sunset so she couldn't go to the mental space in case someone came to visit. She could only wait till it was time to sleep and then go to her master.

Night fell and Li Ling scarfed down her dinner as if she had been starved and yawned, acting tired. Gu Liu Yue hadn't messed with the food this time so it saved her a lot of energy and time. After receiving a good amount of cuddles from her parents, she went back to her courtyard to sleep. The moment Xi'er left after tucking her in, Li Ling took the herb-filled pouches from under her bed and went to her mental space.

When she entered the mansion, she found her master painting in the study. For a few minutes, she stood at the door to the study, mesmerized as she watched the brush glide across the paper. Soon the paper was filled with color and a beauty's face appeared. She was the kind of beauty that could cause the downfall of kingdoms. Now, Li Ling was curious if she was a real person or just her master's creation.

"You've been standing there for so long, aren't you done gawking?", her master said as he added the finishing touches to the painting.

"Li Ling greets master.", she said as she bowed with her hands clasped together. Her master waved for her to sit so settled down in the chair in front of the table.

"Master, Ling'er is getting ready to expel the poison in her body. I am only missing one ingredient. Master do you think I can search for it in the mansion's storehouse?", she asked tentatively.

Her master finally looked up.

"Which ingredient do you need?", he asked.

"The shell of the ten joint blood cicada."

"Hm. There is one in the storage. You may take it from the sandalwood box with the gold border."

Li Ling opened her mouth to ask to use the decocting room but, her master spoke first.

"You can use the mansion's facilities to make the antidote."

"Thank you, master. Ling'er will go make the antidote now."

She hurried to the storehouse and took the sandalwood box to the decocting room. Taking the herbs out of their pouches she separated them into three batches. The first batch needed to be roasted, the second needed to be shredded and the third had to be dissected and sliced. She prepared the herbs according to the instructions given in the antidote recipe.

She powdered the roasted herbs and mixed them with the ones that had been dissected and the parts of others that had been sliced. Finally, she opened the sandalwood box and took out the blood cicada shell. She crushed it into a fine powder and mixed it with the herbs. The antidote was ready.

Li Ling boiled some water and poured it into a bowl. She added two spoons of the antidote into the water and stirred. When the tonic had cooled down enough to not burn her mouth, she slowly drank it. As soon as she emptied the bowl, she could feel heat traveling from her dantain to the top of her head and the ends of her limbs.

Being a genius, she had not only made the antidote successfully but, had also added herbs that would nourish her body to the peak of health. She would have to drink this concoction for a month and she would be completely detoxified and in the future immune to long-term poisons.

Soon she could start cultivating and then she could take care of all her enemies.

With that thought, she cleared up the mess she had created and with the antidote in hand went back to the study where her master was sipping tea. Sensing her presence, her master opened his eyes.

"The antidote is ready?", he asked.

"Yes, master. Ling'er will take her leave now.", she bowed and left the mental space.