Rebirth: Phoenix Riding the Ninth Heaven

"Wait!" Just as the tense atmosphere was like a taut bowstring, Chen Jingsheng's slightly hunched figure suddenly stumbled over from the side, his steps weak and urgent, as if he had exhausted all his strength. With lightning speed, he snatched the pill and put it into his mouth without hesitation. Li Ruoyue's nerves, already tense from the situation, tensed up instantly. She wanted to intervene, but it was too late. The old man's teeth mechanically chewed twice, his already weathered face twisted in pain, and then he coughed violently, as if coughing up all his internal organs. With the cough, the medicine residue mixed with crimson blood foam splashed out, splashing onto the yellowed pages of "Qianjin Fang". The shocking bloodstains looked like the hideous mark left by the god of death.

"Master!" Lu Zixuan and Lin Feng cried out at the same time, their voices filled with fear and worry. Like arrows shot from a bow, they rushed towards Chen Jingsheng. Li Ruoyue's expression was also extremely anxious. She quickly stretched out her slender fingertips and quickly placed them on Chen Jingsheng's wrist. However, the moment her fingertips touched the pulse, her heart sank instantly. The pulse suddenly became large and hollow, like a candle that was about to go out, weak and disordered. She didn't have time to think about it. She suddenly reached out and tore open the old man's clothes. She saw a bluish purple color on his sternum. The color was so rich that it seemed as if it had been hit hard by a heavy hammer, and it was deeply imprinted on the skin, which was shocking.

"This is..." Chen Xiuyuan subconsciously took a half step back. His polished official boots inadvertently rolled over the medicine residue on the ground, making a slight "crunching" sound. There was a hint of doubt in his voice. "Shazhang?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Ruoyue quickly turned around and took out a three-edged needle from the medicine cabinet. Her movements were clean and neat, like flowing water. She expertly bled Chen Jingsheng from his Shixuan acupoint. Dark red blood slowly oozed out, dripping drop by drop onto the cyan brick surface. In the sunlight, it gradually solidified into a purple-black color, as if it were a sin frozen in time. At this moment, Luzhu came running over, panting, holding Bingpeng Powder, but Li Ruoyue reached out and held her hand. Her voice was calm and urgent: "Go and boil Tongguan Powder, using soap bean powder and asarum powder."

"Miss Li, do you know what this is..." Chen Xiuyuan's voice suddenly trembled violently for some reason, as if fear was slowly eating away at his heart. Li Ruoyue didn't even raise her head, concentrating on bleeding, her voice firm and steady, "Yes, it's colic." Just then, she suddenly noticed that Chen Jingsheng's nails were faintly blue. She thought to herself, "Oh no!" and hurriedly shouted to Luzhu, "Luzhu, quickly bring some salt soup!"

Just as everyone was bustling with activity, Lu Zixuan suddenly seemed to have seen something horrifying. Pointing out the window, his face filled with horror, he exclaimed, "Senior Sister, look!" Everyone instinctively turned to look, only to see the once bustling street suddenly deserted, like an abandoned, empty city. Sprawled across the bluestone slabs were several sparrows, twitching, their tiny bodies struggling in their final moments, their legs kicking relentlessly as if issuing a final protest to the world. Chen Xiuyuan's mount suddenly let out a tragic wail, a shrill, ear-piercing sound that seemed to pierce everyone's eardrums. Then, it reared up its front hooves, and with immense force, it toppled its master to the ground. Chen Xiuyuan fell to the ground in a heap, raising a cloud of dust.

"Not good!" Li Ruoyue stood up abruptly. Her keen intuition told her that things were far from simple. "This isn't ordinary measles. It's..." However, before she could finish her words, a dense and chaotic sound of footsteps suddenly rang out from outside the door. The sound was like the drumbeat of death, approaching step by step. Then, twenty or so yamen runners in black robes rushed into the courtyard like a tide, their expressions solemn, their weapons flashing with a cold light. The one in the lead held high the token of the Ministry of Justice and spoke in a loud and majestic voice: "By imperial decree, the Qihuang Pavilion is sealed. Everyone..."

"Wait a minute!" Li Ruoyue's eyes flashed with determination. Without hesitation, she suddenly stood in front of the medicine cabinet and looked at Chen Xiuyuan with a firm gaze. "Does Court Judge Chen know the root cause of this colic?" As she spoke, she reached out and grabbed the scorched hawthorn pills on the table, her voice rising a few degrees. "This is not an epidemic at all. Someone poisoned the herbs!"

Chen Xiuyuan struggled to his feet. His once-straight uniform was now stained with horse manure, leaving him in a state of disgrace. His eyes widened, and he roared in anger, "Poisoning? What evidence do you have?"

"The evidence is in Mr. Chen's pulse diagnosis." Li Ruoyue quickly pulled out the Treatise on Febrile Diseases. As she flipped through the pages, half a black-spotted forsythia leaf fell out. She picked it up and said solemnly, "This is freshly picked this morning. There are traces of arsenic erosion on the roots." Suddenly, her finger flashed like lightning, pointing to the sachet on Chen Xiuyuan's waist, her gaze piercing. "And this scent, mixed with the benzoin in Chen Yuanpan's sachet, is exactly..."

"Shut up!" Chen Xiuyuan seemed to be hit in a sore spot, and suddenly he jumped up, his eyes were red, and he drew the sword at his waist, the blade reflecting a cold light. Li Ruoyue reacted very quickly, and in a flash, shot the three-edged needle in her hand towards his throat. Chen Xiuyuan dodged instinctively, but the sharp sword still cut through Lu Zixuan's sleeve. Lu Zixuan screamed, lost his balance, and knocked over the medicine cabinet beside him when he fell. There was a "clattering" sound, and hundreds of medicine buckets poured down like dominoes, and all kinds of medicinal materials were scattered all over the ground. The air was filled with the rich aroma of medicine, but it was also mixed with a hint of tension and danger.

At that moment, Luzhu suddenly rushed out from the back hall, clutching a celadon jar. She cried out in a tearful voice, "Miss, look!" Everyone's eyes turned to the jar, where several koi fish floated. Their once vibrant gills now glowed an eerie purple-black, as if eroded by some sinister force. Li Ruoyue's pupils constricted, and a sense of foreboding welled up in her heart. She hurriedly asked, "Is this the fresh water delivered this morning?"

"That's right." Lu Zhu's voice was trembling violently, as if she would burst into tears at any moment. "The water carrier..." Before she could finish her words, there was a sudden thud of something heavy falling to the ground outside the window. Everyone looked over and saw the yamen runners stumbling to the ground, black blood oozing from the corners of their mouths. Their bodies twitched on the ground, as if controlled by an invisible demon.

Chen Xiuyuan stumbled back, knocking over the medicine mortar in his panic. Disbelief was written all over his face, and he muttered to himself: "Impossible... This hospital has personally tested the water..."

"You're testing the surface." Li Ruoyue picked up half a piece of medicine residue from the rubble and glared at Chen Xiuyuan with a sharp gaze. "They wrapped the arsenic in wax pills, which will only dissolve when exposed to hot water." As she spoke, she suddenly noticed Chen Jingsheng's medicine bag. With a thought, she quickly squatted down and asked softly, "Master, what did you drink this morning?"

Chen Jingsheng raised his hand with difficulty. His hand trembled like a dead branch. He pointed at the pottery pot in the corner and said in a voice as weak as a gossamer: "Mung bean soup cooked by Lin Ge'er..."

Li Ruoyue hurried over and opened the pottery jar, only to see a layer of oil floating on the surface of the soup, gleaming strangely in the sunlight. She quickly took out a silver needle and tested it. The originally silver-white tip instantly turned black. Her voice was filled with anger and anxiety: "It's tung oil!" She turned sharply to look at Lin Feng, only to find him huddled in the corner, his body trembling, white foam flowing from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes unfocused.

"Antidote!" Lu Zixuan seemed to suddenly remember something, and struggled to crawl towards the medicine cabinet, muttering, "Master said that arsenic poisoning should be treated with Fangfeng..."

"It's too late." Li Ruoyue tore open Lin Feng's clothes and saw a black spot the size of a copper coin on his chest. The black spot was like the mark of a demon, deeply hurting her heart. Her mind was working rapidly. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of the scorched hawthorn pills on the desk, and a glimmer of hope ignited in her eyes. "Maybe there is still hope!"

At that moment, Chen Xiuyuan suddenly burst into a wild laugh, a shrill, frantic laugh that shook the dust from the rafters. He roared, seemingly in a frenzy, "Li Ruoyue, Li Ruoyue, you think you can save people by using buffalo horns? I'll let you save as much as you can!" He suddenly bit down hard on the venom sac in his mouth, black blood dripping down his chin. His voice gradually faded, "Tell the Emperor, I..." Before he could finish his words, he collapsed to the ground with a thud, sending up a cloud of dust.

Li Ruoyue had no time to pay attention to him at this moment. She quickly crushed the pill and carefully fed it to Lin Feng. Lin Feng vomited violently, and the vomit was mixed with wax pill fragments. However, at this moment, Lu Zixuan suddenly pointed out the window and exclaimed in horror: "Senior Sister, look!"

Everyone looked in the direction of his finger and saw the street had suddenly filled with people. They all clutched their chests, faces etched with pain, their skin a bluish-purple hue, as if shrouded in a haze. The elderly woman in the lead trembled as she raised the medicine bowl in her hand and pleaded in a tearful voice, "Miss Li, help us! We drank the medicine from Qihuang Pavilion..."

Li Ruoyue stood up abruptly, her eyes sweeping over the scattered medicinal herbs. Suddenly, she saw a half-crust of unground cinnabar in a stone mortar in the corner, glowing an eerie red in the morning light. That red glow seemed like some mysterious and dangerous signal, foreshadowing that the crisis was far from over...