Women disguised as men went to the battlefield and the emperor bowed down in submission.

Lin Ruoshui, who had fled, arrived at the hot spring pool. She thought about what Xuan Yuan Yu had said, and it was truly terrifying. She was still young and did not want to experience it too deeply, much less die, mainly because the way to die was too gruesome.

Yingyi appeared and said to Lin Ruoshui, "Your Majesty, everything has been arranged."

"Alright, send two more people to the Imperial Medical Bureau to protect the physicians and tell them to work on developing the antidote as soon as possible. Do we have any people from the martial arts world among our available personnel?" Lin Ruoshui asked.

Ying Yi replied, "Yes, Ying Jiushi comes from the Jianghu. He was once saved by the late emperor, and he has stayed in the Dark Guard to repay the debt of gratitude."

"Send Ying Jiushi to see me," Lin Ruoshui said.

"Yes," Yingyi said, and vanished in a flash.

A moment later, Ying Jiushi appeared behind Lin Ruoshui, knelt on one knee, clasped his hands and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor!"

Lin Ruoshui lowered her eyes to examine Ying Jiushi, who was kneeling on the ground. He was tall and burly, with solid muscles, as if he possessed boundless power. His face was resolute and decisive, and his sharp eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.

At first glance, Lin Ruoshui had a good impression of Ying Jiushi and intuitively judged that this person was usable.

Lin Ruoshui said kindly, "Rise, I have something to ask you."

"Your Majesty, please speak!" Ying Jiushi stood up and replied.

"Are there any martial arts masters who can use both poison and beast taming, and they are all middle-aged men around forty years old?" Lin Ruoshui asked.

Ying Jiushi replied, "Yes, Your Majesty is referring to today's assassins, right?"

Lin Ruoshui said, "Oh? You've heard about it?"

Shadow Ninety replied, "Shadow One has already told me. Although I wasn't there, I guessed who it was just from Shadow One's description. These two are known in the martial arts world as the Poisonous Elders. They are very skilled at using poison and can make it invisible, making it impossible for people to guard against. They are currently ranked tenth on the Ghost Shadow Tower's assassin ranking list. Using poison to assassinate is a practice that is despised by the righteous path of the martial arts world."

Lin Ruoshui's expression was solemn. Such a master of poison was impossible to guard against, and getting involved with him would be extremely troublesome.

Lin Ruoshui walked into Shadow Studio 90 and asked curiously, "Does Ghost Shadow Studio kill people if you pay them?"

Ying Jiushi smelled the incense on Lin Ruoshui and thought it smelled very nice. He said, "Ghost Shadow Tower only cares about money. If you can afford it, they will send someone to assassinate you until the mission is completed."

Lin Ruoshui was delighted and said with a smile, "How much do you think we should offer for these two people?"

Looking at Lin Ruoshui's smiling face, Ying Jiushi's ears turned red, and he said, "Ten thousand taels of silver is enough."

Lin Ruoshui's face fell, and she tentatively asked, "Isn't one hundred taels enough?"

Ying Jiushi's face darkened as he said, "The Ghost Shadow Pavilion's starting price for murder is five thousand taels."

Lin Ruoshui pouted, gritted her teeth in pain, and said, "For my life, ten thousand taels it is. I'll leave this matter to you. While you're at it, find out who the owner of Ghost Shadow Tower is, and if you can meet him."

Ying Jiushi bowed respectfully and then slipped away.

Lin Ruoshui said to Zhang Quan, "Summon Minister Qian of the Ministry of Revenue."

Half an hour later, Lord Qian arrived at the Imperial Study, and Lin Ruoshui asked, "How much silver is in the national treasury?"

Qian was startled, wondering why the emperor would suddenly ask this question. He quickly replied, "Currently, the national treasury has 24,500 taels of silver reserves and 5,230 taels of gold reserves."

Lin Ruoshui had only recently transmigrated and her concept of money was still not very clear. She continued to ask, "How many steamed buns can one copper coin buy?"

Lord Qian patiently explained: "Currently, one copper coin can buy a steamed bun."

Lin Ruoshui thought to herself, "Now a steamed bun costs about 1.5 yuan, so one string of copper coins is equivalent to 1500 yuan. One string of copper coins is equal to one tael of silver, which means 10,000 taels of silver is equivalent to 1,500 yuan."

Lin Ruoshui slammed her hand on the table and stood up, thinking fiercely, "Fifteen million to kill two people, that's too painful. Since killing is so profitable, why not start my own assassin organization?"

When Lord Qian saw Lin Ruoshui slam her hand on the table, he knelt heavily on the ground with a thud.

Lin Ruoshui stepped forward to help Lord Qian up, and said with a smile, "It has nothing to do with you. I was a little out of line. Lord Qian, please go back to your residence and rest."

Lord Qian came out of nowhere and left completely bewildered.

Lin Ruoshui arrived at the Imperial Medical Bureau, extremely worried that the poison would take effect. She felt that if the poison took effect the next morning when she switched identities with Xuan Yuanyu, it would be a catastrophe.

Some of the imperial physicians were searching through medical books, while others were conducting repeated experiments. Physician Li, however, was sitting at his desk in a daze, unaware that Lin Ruoshui had entered.

Lin Ruoshui waved her hand in front of Physician Li's eyes a few times, and Physician Li came to his senses and knelt down to pay his respects to Lin Ruoshui.

Lin Ruoshui pouted and said, "Imperial Physician Li, aren't you afraid that I will be poisoned again? Why don't you work with the other imperial physicians to study the antidote?"

Physician Li said, “Your Majesty, I have a prescription that can prevent this aphrodisiac from taking effect for a short period of time, up to a month. After a month, the poison will take effect over twelve months, once a month. Each time the poison takes effect, the toxicity will be weaker. However, if sexual intercourse is not performed or the duration is not long enough, the person poisoned may still explode and die.”

"Because there are too many uncertainties, I am hesitant and dare not let His Majesty try it," said Physician Li.

Lin Ruoshui did not want to adopt this method after hearing it. She believed that a short pain was better than a long one, and this method of tormenting people every month was really disgusting. Lin Ruoshui hated being indecisive and dragging things out.

Lin Ruoshui shook her head at Physician Li and said, "You can prepare the medicine first, but you must not use this method unless absolutely necessary. Now, let's focus on researching the antidote."

Physician Li replied, "Yes."

Lin Ruoshui returned to her bedchamber and saw Xuanyuan Yu resting on the dragon bed with his eyes closed.

She walked closer and noticed that Xuan Yuan Yu's face was flushed. She thought to herself, "Could Xuan Yuan Yu have been poisoned?"

Lin Ruoshui shook Xuan Yuanyu with both hands and found that his body was burning hot.

Lin Ruoshui hurriedly called Zhang Quan and asked Physician Li to come and take a look.

When Physician Li arrived, he discovered that Xuan Yuan Yu was not suffering from poisoning, but rather from a fever. He had an injury on his back that had not been treated, and the wound was now inflamed and swollen, which caused the fever.

Lin Ruoshui felt uneasy, realizing that Xuan Yuan Yu's injuries were caused by protecting her, and felt guilty towards him. After examining Xuan Yuan Yu, Physician Li went to the Imperial Medical Bureau to prepare the medicine.

Zhang Quanlai reported: "Your Majesty, the Empress, the Noble Consort, the Virtuous Consort, the Wise Consort, and the Wise Consort have arrived and request to see Your Majesty."

Lin Ruoshui thought to herself, "It's because all the spies in the palaces have been arrested. They can't stay hidden, so they've resorted to open attacks."

"I won't see you!" Lin Ruoshui said decisively.

Zhang Quan went out to deliver a message, saying, "Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress and all the ladies. His Majesty has important matters to attend to and is not at liberty to see you now."

The Empress interrupted Zhang Quan, saying, "What urgent matter does Your Majesty have?"

Zhang Quan replied, "It is a matter of state."

The Empress was speechless after being rebuked. Zhang Quan was reminding her: "The women of the inner palace must not interfere in politics."

Consort Chen said haughtily, "Eunuch Zhang, you used to be just a third-rank eunuch in charge of affairs. It was the Empress who promoted you to the current first-rank chief eunuch. You must not forget your roots."

Zhang Quan bowed and greeted the Empress and Consort Chen, saying, "I will never forget the Empress's great kindness and virtue."

Zhang Quan thought to himself, "It was the Emperor who promoted this old servant; the Emperor is my master. The Empress merely stamped the official documents I was in charge of, and now she's trying to take advantage of my kindness?"

The empress said imperiously, "Since we can't forget it, we now demand to see the emperor. Don't stop us. We must see the emperor today."

Zhang Quan lowered his head even further and said, "Your Majesty, the imperial decree is difficult to disobey, and this old servant dares not defy it."

With a loud slap, Zhang Quan's face was turned to the side. The one who struck him was Granny Gui, who served the Empress. Granny Gui was strong and healthy, with a large body capable of crushing two Zhang Quans.

Zhang Quan, covering his burning face, knelt on the ground with a thud and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

The Empress said, "Go and report to the Emperor that we sisters must see him today, or we will kneel here outside the palace forever."

After he finished speaking, the women all knelt down.

Zhang Quan accepted the order and walked into the hall, thinking to himself, "In all my years, I have never seen a woman go to such lengths to gain favor. I wonder what kind of trouble she will cause in a moment. It's impossible to get through today peacefully."