Greetings, Ninth Uncle

Chapter 144 - Finale

The servant girl did not expect this question. She pondered for a while, then shook her head, "This servant does not know."

An inexplicable uneasiness crept into Cheng Yujin. When one of the Emperor's personal servants came with a summon, one would normally depart with no delay, having no time to think more about it. Cheng Yujin immediately called the eunuch in charge of gathering information for the Eastern Palace and asked, "Who entered the palace today?"

The eunuch thought for a while and said, "Replying to Your Highness, Taoist Chongxu appeared just after noon today. And yes, there is also Shou Wang."

"Taoist Chongxu, Shou Wang..." Cheng Yujin's intuition told her that this combination was bad news. Recently, these two had gotten very close and often worked together to confuse the Emperor. The Emperor was already a bit confused when he started to become obsessed with immortality, but after being controlled by Taoist Chongxu and Shou Wang, he increasingly separated himself from the outside world. It was to the point that no one could contact him save for Taoist Chongxu, Shou Wang, and their cronies.

According to their previous visits, after Shou Wang and Taoist Chongxu entered the palace, they would always stay with the Emperor for several hours. They had only entered the palace after noon today, which was not too long ago. Both of them should haven't left yet. The summon that Li Chengjing received, the one that told him to go to Qianqing Palace... did it really come from the Emperor?

Cheng Yujin asked, "What's the reason for them coming to the palace today?"

The eunuch scratched his head, hesitated, "It seems for the immortality pill. Ten days ago, Taoist Chongxu received a big reward for his merit of refining the immortality pill for the Emperor. Today seems to be the delivery day. Shou Wang entered the palace most likely for the same reason."

"Immortality pill?" Cheng Yujin had never heard of this kind of pill before, so she asked, "Where did this pill come from? Has it been presented to His Majesty before?"

The eunuch shook his head: "No. The pill is a mystical formula that the immortals bestowed to Taoist Chongxu via his dream not long ago. Today is the first time he is presenting the pills to His Majesty."

Cheng Yujin sat for a while, then suddenly stood up: "No!"

The servants around were taken aback, "Crown Princess, what's wrong?"

Cheng Yujin didn't even have time to stop and explain. She hurriedly ran out, ignoring the hem of her skirt dragged behind her, and shouted loudly, "Quickly prepare the sedan chair. I am going to Qianqing Palace!"

Cheng Yujin's heart was beating intensely. If she guessed correctly... the Emperor should be dead by now.

Alchemy had always been a matter of luck. The practitioners, usually Taoist priests, poured all kinds of materials into the alchemy furnace, producing something dubious at best. Still, this kind of practice persisted precisely because there were demands. Throughout history, countless prominent figures consumed alchemy pills and died of poisoning as a result. Most alchemy poisonings were chronic ones, which happened slowly through repeated uses. Since the Emperor had only received the pills today, it was hard to say if he was already dead.

That's why Li Chengjing was called to the Qianqing Palace, not the Yinghua Palace. If Cheng Yujin's guess was correct, Shou Wang and Taoist Chongxu had accidentally poisoned the Emperor. Afraid of being held accountable, they sent the Emperor to Qianqing Palace and falsified his oral edict to call Li Chengjing over. Li Chengjing came to Qianqing Palace unprepared — if the Emperor was pronounced dead right when he was visiting, how could he prove his innocence?