The whole family was brutally murdered? The ruthless heiress's eldest daughter went berserk aft

"Brother Yuxuan?" Murong Xuewei called out weakly.

Murong Yuxuan, dressed in a blue robe, strode over. Seeing Gu Ye standing there, he first breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Majesty, it seems that Valley Master Zhang's antidote has taken effect."

But when he turned his head and saw Murong Xuewei's pale face, he froze instantly. In the moonlight, Murong Xuewei's lips were bloodless, her cheeks were deeply sunken, and she was so thin that she was almost unrecognizable.

"Xue...Xue Wei?" Murong Yuxuan's voice trembled. He reached out to touch his sister's face, but stopped in mid-air, as if afraid that this touch would shatter his sister.

"Brother Yuxuan..." Murong Xuewei wanted to say something, but suddenly coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Xuewei!" Murong Yuxuan finally woke up and caught his sister. His trembling fingers reached for her pulse, but he could barely feel it.

“Her condition is very bad,” Gu Ye said in a deep voice, “We must act quickly…”

Before he could finish speaking, Murong Yuxuan suddenly turned around and punched Gu Ye hard in the face.

"You promised me!" Murong Yuxuan's voice was hoarse, tears welling in his eyes. "You said you would protect her!" He grabbed Gu Ye's collar, his voice nearly breaking. "You said...you wouldn't let her get hurt at all...you said it!"

Gu Ye didn't flinch, letting the blood trickle from the corner of his mouth. He knew how terrified Murong Yuxuan was at that moment—from childhood to adulthood, these two siblings were the closest in the Murong family.

"I'm sorry..." Gu Ye said softly.

"I'm sorry?" Murong Yuxuan smiled, a smile more painful than tears. "You know, she's always been terrified of pain, terrified of needles... Now... now she..." His voice choked, his eyes filled with heartache and self-reproach as he looked at his sister. "It's all my fault. I should have sent someone to pick you up sooner..."

“Brother Yu Xuan,” Murong Xuewei suddenly spoke, her voice soft but firm, “It’s not Gu Ye’s fault, it was my insistence on going to the far north…it was me…”

She fainted before she could finish speaking.

"Xuewei!" Murong Yuxuan hugged his sister tightly, tears finally falling. He remembered how, whenever his sister was sick when they were little, he would stay by her bedside until she recovered. But now...

"Set off back to the capital immediately!" Murong Yuxuan picked up his sister, his voice carrying an unquestionable command. "Have all the doctors in the Murong family prepare!"

Looking at Murong Yuxuan's trembling back, everyone could feel the fear and anxiety in his heart. He couldn't imagine how he would go on living if he lost his younger sister, whom he had doted on since childhood.

The group sped through the night. Inside the carriage, Murong Xuewei lay in Murong Yuxuan's arms, while Gu Ye and Zhang Jing sat opposite her. With each bump, Murong Yuxuan would instinctively pull his sister closer.

"Her pulse is getting weaker and weaker." Zhang Jing frowned. "We must return to the capital as soon as possible."

"How much longer?" Murong Yuxuan's voice was hoarse. He hadn't looked away from his sister for two hours.

"Soon," Gu Ye said, looking out the window, "we'll see the city gate in another hour."

Just then, Murong Xuewei suddenly coughed violently, spitting out another mouthful of blood. Murong Yuxuan's hands trembled as he clumsily wiped the blood from his sister's mouth.

"Xuewei," he called softly, his voice trembling with tears, "Hang in there, we'll be home soon... I'll have the kitchen make you red bean cakes, just like when you were little..."

Seeing this, Gu Ye felt as if his heart was being torn apart. He knew what Murong Yuxuan was referring to—every time Murong Xuewei was sick, Murong Yuxuan would have someone make red bean cakes to comfort her.

"Giddy up!" Lan'er's voice came from outside, and the carriage sped up a few more paces.

Zhang Jing took out the last packet of medicine powder and carefully fed it to Murong Xuewei: "This will temporarily stabilize her condition."

"Thank you." Murong Yuxuan's voice choked with emotion. At this moment, he was no longer the composed and strategic man he usually was; he was simply an older brother who was afraid of losing his sister.

Finally, the distant horizon began to lighten with the first light of dawn. The city gates of the capital gradually came into view.

"Open the city gates immediately!" Gu Ye ordered in a deep voice. "Summon everyone from the Imperial Medical Academy to the Hall of Mental Cultivation at once!"

The carriage entered the city and headed straight for the palace. News had been sent along the way, and the imperial physicians were already waiting in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. When they saw Murong Yuxuan carrying Murong Xuewei in, everyone gasped – they had never seen the Empress so weak.

"Quickly!" Zhang Jing disregarded everything else and immediately began making arrangements. "Prepare silver needles, boil water, and gather all available medicines!"

Murong Yuxuan carefully placed his younger sister on the bed, but hesitated to let go. It wasn't until Gu Ye softly said, "Let the doctors treat her," that things changed.

He slowly released his grip, but his gaze never left his sister. While standing guard outside the hall, everyone could hear his soft prayers:

"Xuewei, you must wake up...you must..."

"How is she?" Murong Yuxuan stood by the bed, his voice hoarse beyond recognition. He stayed by her side almost every step of the way, afraid of missing any sound from his sister.

Zhang Jing suddenly remembered something and pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from his pocket: "This is a fragment of a prescription left by my master. He said it could cure severe illnesses caused by damage to the heart meridian, but..."

"But what?" Murong Yuxuan asked eagerly.

“But this prescription is incomplete, and several of the main ingredients mentioned are extremely rare,” Zhang Jing said, pointing to the blurred writing on the paper. “Right now, we can only identify ‘purple Ganoderma lucidum’ and ‘black lotus flower’; the names of the other herbs are completely illegible.”

Murong Yuxuan swayed, and almost fell if Gu Ye hadn't caught him. He looked at his sister on the bed, her pale face still flushed with a sickly blush.

Suddenly, Murong Xuewei started coughing violently again, this time coughing up even more blood than before.

"Xuewei!" Murong Yuxuan grabbed his sister's hand, only to find it was already ice-cold. "Please...you can't die..."

Zhang Jing quickly checked her pulse, his expression changing drastically: "This is bad! Her heart meridian is ruptured!"

Gu Ye stared at the incomplete square, a resolute glint in his eyes: "Where is the other half of this incomplete square?"

“It should be in the Scripture Pavilion of Medicine King Valley,” Zhang Jing said, “but given Her Majesty’s current condition, she simply doesn’t have the time…”

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Ye had already turned around and strode out of the hall.

"Your Majesty!" Lan'er followed him out. "Where are you going?"

"Split up," Gu Ye said firmly. "I'll go find those two herbs, and Liu Li will take some men to Medicine King Valley to find the other half of the prescription."

"But your injury..."

"Enough!" Gu Ye suddenly turned around, a hint of red in his eyes. "Do you know, back in the far north, she risked her life to save me from the snow lotus... If... if she died because of it, I will never forgive myself for the rest of my life!"

Inside the hall, Murong Yuxuan looked up abruptly upon hearing this. He finally understood why his sister was so badly injured.

“Gu Ye,” his voice was hoarse but firm, “I’ll go to Medicine King Valley. You focus on finding the medicinal herbs. I have the sect’s seal with me; perhaps that will help us find the remaining prescription sooner.”

Zhang Jing looked at the two of them and sighed, "Time is of the essence. Even if we find the remaining prescription and the medicinal herbs, it will still take a day to prepare this medicine. And Her Majesty... I'm afraid she won't last much longer."