Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

The high fever was like smoldering wet charcoal, turning his entire body an ominous waxy yellow.

A few steps away, Liu Yueli was wrapped in a thick fire blanket, like a puppet licked by flames.

The deep purple sunken branded area behind the shoulder was pinned firmly by several golden needles as thin as cow hairs, and the tails of the needles trembled slightly.

The skin around the golden needle was a strange bluish-gray color, like frozen dead flesh, but at the edges there were faint black lines that were slowly wriggling, as if they were alive.

Every time it squirmed, more black blood, as thick as ink and emitting a foul smell, seeped out from the edge of the dead flesh.

The body under the blanket stopped twitching, leaving only a kind of deathly stiffness. Only a faint breath occasionally escaping from the throat proved the remaining vitality.

The solemn atmosphere froze like ice. Sun Miao's withered fingers once again placed on Chang Baishan's icy wrist, his cloudy old eyes fixed on the almost silent pulse.

Another imperial physician carefully used silver tweezers to pick up a cotton ball soaked in liquor and wiped the black blood oozing from around the golden needle on Liu Yueli's shoulder. Every touch made the black line under the bluish-gray skin wriggle more intensely, which made people's scalp tingle.

Qin Ming still stood like a black iron statue, and the blood ice on his Panlong heavy armor glowed dimly under the bleak sky.

Under the visor, those bottomless eyes swept across the lifeless ointment on Chang Baishan's shoulder blade, and across the mark on Liu Yueli's shoulder that was locked by golden needles but still exuded an ominous aura, and finally fell back on Sun Miao's face that was as solemn as a stone.

"How?" The voice was still cold, but with a barely perceptible hint of oppression, like an undercurrent beneath the ice.

Sun Miao slowly withdrew his hand, raised his bloodshot eyes, and spoke in a dry voice like sandpaper:

"Your Majesty... General Chang... has removed the poison from the wound, but his vital energy is exhausted. His pulse... is like a gossamer hanging in a cold pond, which can break at any time! Lord Liu... has locked the pulse with golden needles, and forcibly blocked the poison line. However, the poison has taken root deeply and has penetrated into his life. This is... a sign of a last gasp of life!" He suddenly stopped, and a trace of almost desperate madness flashed in his turbid eyes.

"Unless... unless we find the fundamental solution to this evil plague! Otherwise... even if we have an elixir, it will be difficult to restore the remaining soul!"

"A fundamental solution?" Qin Ming's voice was emotionless under his covered face. Only the scaly claws of the coiled dragon relief on the hilt of the giant black iron sword hanging at his side seemed to tighten slightly.

"Yes!" Sun Miao suddenly pointed at the jagged rusty iron piece discarded on the frozen soil, stained with filthy flesh and blood, and then pointed at the blue-gray mark on the back of Liu Yueli's shoulder.

"This thing! This seal! It's the root of the poison! The source of the plague! Judging from its shape, the rust, the toxicity... this is definitely not an ordinary weapon! This is... the 'Bone-Eroding Plague Seal', forged by Toruhan Shadow Pharmacist using secret methods and fed with corpse poison and insect poison! Those infected will feel like a carbuncle attached to the bone, the poison will spread through the blood, eating away at the bones and burning the marrow! Without his unique antidote or completely destroying the source of this 'mother poison', it will be impossible to eradicate it!"

"Mother Gu?" Qin Ming's gaze was like a solid ice cone, nailing Sun Miao's face.

"Your Excellency... Your Excellency is just speculating!" Cold sweat broke out on Sun Miao's forehead.

"This kind of sinister and evil magic must have a 'Mother Gu' at its core, either stored within the caster or hidden somewhere secret! The poison in these two people's bodies is all affected by it! If we can find the 'Mother Gu' and destroy it, we may be able to eradicate the poison at its root! Otherwise... even if there are magical elixirs to prolong their lives, it will only delay... the end of their life!"

Qin Ming was silent. The wind from the icy valley blew up dust from the frozen earth, swirling across his cold armor. His gaze slowly shifted to the hideous piece of iron on the ground, then to the deadly mark on Liu Yueli's shoulder. Bone-eating plague mark... Mother Gu...

"Shadow Seven." Qin Ming's voice was not loud, but it was like the collision of cold iron.

A dark shadow emerged from the frozen earth and knelt silently behind Qin Ming: "Your Majesty."

"This thing," Qin Ming pointed his armored finger at the rusty iron piece on the ground.

"Take down the image of the brand on Liu Qing's shoulder. Order all the master craftsmen of the Tiangong Academy and all the judges of the Imperial Hospital to give me an explanation within three days: where did this object come from? What does this mark mean? Where is the 'Mother Gu'?"

His voice paused, like a knife blade hidden under the ice.

"Tell them that if Chang Baishan and Liu Yueli can't survive three days, they... will be buried with them."

"Here!" Ying Qi's voice was calm. With a flash of his body, he had already picked up the piece of iron in his hand. With the other hand, he had already taken out a special rubbing clay board and walked towards Liu Yueli's stretcher.

Qin Ming's gaze once again descended into the depths of the canyon, toward the dark, ominous shadows shrouding Jackdaw Valley. The tip of the black iron giant sword clung lightly to the frozen ground, making a dull sound.

"Meng Zhi."

Meng Zhi is a young leader trained by Qin Ming's War School. After Qin Ming assigned all his generals to guard the border of Daqian, he took him with him.

"I'm here!" The giant man like an iron tower took a step forward, his armor clanging.

"Convey my order." Qin Ming's voice was like ice, and every word fell on the frozen ground.

"The Shenmu Kingdom's envoy, Toruhan Shadow Pharmacist Kaligon, plotted to assassinate a Daqian border general and spread the plague. The evidence is irrefutable. War has been declared on his actions."

A bloodthirsty gleam flashed in Meng Zhi's eyes!

"Order! General Han De, the Northern Frontier Guard, immediately withdraw camp! Lead one hundred thousand cavalry and deploy a hundred miles outside the Shenmu border! Maintain beacon fires for twelve hours! Order! The Shenmu Royal Court, within ten days, surrender all royal families involved, the leader of the Shadow Pharmacists, the secret recipe and antidote for the plague, and cede the three cities north of Jackdaw Valley as hostages!"

Qin Ming slowly raised his veil, his deep eyes piercing the void, as if he had seen the trembling of the Shenmu Royal Court. "If you are overdue... one day, I will massacre a whole city. If you don't arrive within three days, my cavalry will flatten the Shenmu Royal Capital!"

"I obey your command!" Meng Zhi's roar was like rolling thunder, shaking the valley! He turned suddenly, like a tiger out of the cage, and roared fiercely: "Messenger! Urgent! Send a signal for eight hundred miles! Send a signal by beacon fire! Northern border troops! Move out immediately!"

Woo-woo-woo!!!

The desolate and majestic sound of the horn instantly tore through the silence of the ice valley!

Like a sleeping dragon awakened, it let out a deafening roar! Immediately afterwards, countless smoke columns shot up from the mountaintops surrounding the Ice Ridge Valley like giant black pillars, piercing the sky!

Thick smoke billowed and spread under the pale sky, like a flag announcing death!

A torrent of black armor began to surge! Like black steel lava, carrying a murderous aura that crushed everything, it rolled towards the canyon exit! The horses' hooves crushed the frozen ground, and the friction of armor was like thunder!

In the solemn and murderous military formation, only the dark dragon-patterned battle flag fluttered wildly in the cold wind, like the emperor's icy will, pointing to the heart of the Shenmu Kingdom!

Qin Ming slowly turned around, and his eyes from under his mask swept over the two dying people on the stretcher for the last time.