AUBTN -Chapter 141 Escape

Every one of them was emaciated, little more than skin and bones. Transparent glass tubes were inserted into their arms, and dark red blood was continuously being drawn out, flowing into a massive bronze cauldron.

On the other side, someone was holding that pink Bliss Incense, forcefully pouring it into their mouths and noses.

“Sa… save me…”

On the bed closest to the door, a pale-faced young boy weakly raised his hand.

Lu Yan’s pupils shrank.

That was the young son of the Assistant Minister of Works!

Yet now he was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, treated as the “medicine catalyst” for alchemy.

“This madwoman is actually using living people to refine medicine!” Shen Jue looked at the hellish scene before him, killing intent flashing in his eyes. “Is she trying to create an army of dead soldiers who feel no pain and possess monstrous strength?”

“More than that.” Lu Yan reached out and felt the temperature beneath the bronze cauldron, his voice as cold as ice.

“She’s cultivating the Longevity Gu. This is a forbidden palace technique from the previous dynasty. It’s raised using the vital blood of young boys and aided by Bliss Incense to numb their minds. Once it succeeds, these people will become the most useful killing tools.”

“Let’s go! Time to meet that so-called ‘immortal’!”

A stick of incense later.

Su Hewan was still sparring verbally with the Painting Immortal. Their conversation seemed pleasant on the surface, but every sentence was a veiled test.

Just as the Painting Immortal was about to probe deeper into Su Hewan’s background—

A gust of fierce wind suddenly swept in!

Bang!

The skylight on the top level of the pleasure boat shattered instantly as two figures descended from above.

Panic erupted throughout the boat. Everyone scattered in terror.

Lu Yan’s Xiuchun blade flashed from its sheath, carrying a sharp wave of blade energy that shot straight toward the Painting Immortal’s face.

Meanwhile, Shen Jue moved in a blur, landing precisely beside Su Hewan and shielding her behind him.

“Ah—!”

The Painting Immortal let out a startled cry. Her body bent backward in an eerie, unnatural angle, barely avoiding the strike.

But the mask on her face was shattered by the blade’s force and fell to the floor.

A face covered in burned scars, hideous and terrifying, was exposed to the air.

Nearly half of that face was ruined, yet the unscarred side still revealed traces of the breathtaking beauty it once possessed.

“So it really is you.”

Shen Jue looked at that face and froze for a moment.

Then he chuckled, suddenly enlightened.

“So it’s Consort Zhao. Looks like you didn’t die in that fire in the Cold Palace after all. Instead, you’ve been hiding in the gutter doing this kind of business.”

Consort Zhao!

The moment those words were spoken, streams of information flashed through Su Hewan’s mind.

A favored concubine of the late emperor.
Gifted in music.
Born into the Zhao family, a renowned medical clan.

Because of a witchcraft scandal, she had been thrown into the Cold Palace. Three years ago, it was said she died in a fire there, leaving no remains.

With her identity exposed, Consort Zhao stopped pretending.

She slowly straightened her back. Her once graceful figure twisted into a hunched, grotesque shape, and her eyes filled with venom as she stared fixedly at Shen Jue.

“Shen Jue… I knew it was you! Even if you turned to ashes, I’d recognize that disgusting eunuch stench on you!”

She shrieked hysterically.

“If it weren’t for you eunuch lackeys framing us back then, how could my Zhao family have been exterminated! If it weren’t for you, how could I have ended up like this—neither human nor ghost!”

“Framed?” Shen Jue sneered.

“The Zhao family used forbidden drugs to control court officials and imperial concubines, attempting to overturn the court and seize imperial power. The evidence was irrefutable. I merely carried out justice on behalf of heaven.”

“Shut up!”

Consort Zhao suddenly flicked her sleeve.

The floor beneath the zither platform flipped open, and several drug men, their bodies tinged with a dark bluish-black hue, crawled out while letting out savage roars.

“Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving! Perfect timing—my medicine still needs a few more capable catalysts!”

“Everyone, attack!”

The situation spiraled out of control in an instant.

Yu Qing had already been scared out of her wits and was hiding behind a pillar, clutching a specially made handful of chili powder. She trembled violently, yet still couldn’t help complaining in her mind:【This is way too intense! What kind of palace drama is this? It just jumped straight into Train to Busan*! Director! I want to go home!】

Lu Yan stood firm with his blade drawn, positioning himself in front of the others as protection. Turning his head slightly, he said to Su Hewan in a low voice, “You all go first. Leave this place to me.”

But Su Hewan didn’t move. Watching those red-eyed “medicine men” who had clearly lost their sense of pain, she spoke rapidly:

“Physical attacks won’t work. The drugs have blocked their pain nerves. Attack the Fengchi acupoint at the back of their necks—that’s the control center for the drug!”

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Yan’s eyes.

“Got it.”

“Governor Shen,” Lu Yan rarely tilted his chin toward Shen Jue, the corner of his lips curling into a bloodthirsty smile.

“How about a contest? Let’s see who kills more.”

Shen Jue shot him a look of disdain, yet a gleaming soft sword had already appeared in his hand.

“Who wants to compete with a brute like you? I’m only here to take that demon woman’s life.”

Before the words even finished, the two figures had already shot forward like arrows released from a bow.

Standing in the chaotic center, Su Hewan watched their backs and felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

【One civil, one martial. One in the light, one in the shadows.】

【If they truly joined forces… perhaps the Great Wei empire might still be saved.】

【But right now, the most urgent task was dealing with the mastermind.】

Su Hewan’s gaze passed through the crowd and locked onto Consort Zhao, who was about to trigger a mechanism and escape.

She pulled a delicate little porcelain bottle from her sleeve. It was a high-concentration anti-wolf spray Yu Qing had made earlier—but Su Hewan had added a little extra to it.

“Yu Qing!” she shouted.

“Throw it!”

Yu Qing, though cowardly, was obedient. Hearing the order, she squeezed her eyes shut and used all her strength to fling the chili powder toward Consort Zhao!

At the same moment, the porcelain bottle in Su Hewan’s hand was thrown with precise accuracy.

Bang!

Powder exploded into the air.

Consort Zhao let out a shrill scream, clutching her eyes as she leapt into the secret tunnel and fled!

The Jinyiwei sealed off the entire Jinshui River.

The Wangyou Pleasure Boat was plastered with crossed official seals.

Standing on the deck, Lu Yan sheathed his Xiuchun blade, which snapped shut with a crisp click.

“She escaped.”

Looking at the secret tunnel leading down into the riverbed, his face darkened like a brewing storm.

“The tunnel leads straight to an abandoned canal outside the city. That madwoman Zhao Jieyu prepared her escape route three years ago.”

Shen Jue sat on the railing nearby, holding a fragment of a mask he had picked up from the ground.

His fingers rubbed the scorched marks on its surface, a cold chill lingering in his eyes.

“I’m not surprised,” he said casually, flicking the fragment into the river where it splashed with an insignificant ripple.

“The Zhao family climbed to power years ago with just a few medicinal formulas. But it certainly wasn’t because they had the benevolent heart of healers. That woman is ruthless—she could even treat her own father as a disposable pawn, let alone a face.”

“It’s not just revenge.”

Su Hewan crouched beside the massive bronze cauldron and dipped her handkerchief into a bit of the remaining medicinal liquid.

Under the moonlight, the liquid emitted a strange purple glow, releasing a sickly sweet stench that made people nauseous.

“She’s refining something purer,” Su Hewan said as she stood up, scanning the bottles and jars that hadn’t yet been destroyed.

“Bliss Incense is only a primary product—used to amass wealth and control people’s minds. But these medicine men…”

She recalled the monsters from moments ago—impervious to blades and spears, with terrifying strength.