Chapter 16: Promise me a condition

“Huh?” The little girl glanced at Song Qingshu in surprise, “The world only knows the Poison King, and very few people know about Master Wu’ao. You have such deep knowledge at such a young age, not bad, not bad…”

Seeing her pretending to be old, Song Qingshu suppressed his smile, “I think the experience of this junior is not as good as the lady, so I need to ask the lady for advice.”

The little girl’s eyes turned slits, and she smiled sweetly, “Although I know you are flattering, it still made me happy. Well, if you want to meet the Poison King, follow me.”

Song Qingshu was overjoyed, and hurriedly pulled Madame Hu’s hands to follow. Madame Hu tried to retract her hand in a hurry, but she couldn’t, and felt angry and anxious in her heart, ‘I wonder if my brother-in-law did it on purpose…’

“This one below is Song Qingshu, and this is my sister-in-law, Madame Hu. May I know the lady’s name?” Song Qingshu knowingly asked.

“I don’t know that way of polite greetings, but my surname is Cheng, and my name is Lingsu.” The little girl quickly said, apparently a little embarrassed.

“‘Lingshu’… and ‘Cheng’, is it possible that the young lady is the disciple of the Poison King?” Song Qingshu asked, pretending to be surprised.

“You are dishonest. You obviously guessed it from the beginning, but you are now just pretending to be surprised.” Cheng Lingsu coldly snorted.

Song Qingshu smiled wryly. He didn’t expect that, although Cheng Lingsu was still so young, but, her mind was so sharp.

“Here.” Cheng Lingsu threw over two blue flowers. “Blood Chestnuts are planted all around the manor. They are extremely poisonous. This blue flower happens to be its nemesis.”

When the two hurriedly pinned the blue flowers to their chests, Cheng Lingsu spoke again, “Wait a moment, my master is busy dealing with a tough opponent. After you enter the house, don’t talk or ask anything no matter what you see.”

“That’s natural.” Madame Hu said softly.

Cheng Lingsu glanced at her in surprise, then looked down at her own shriveled chest, her mouth pouted, and became a little irritated for no reason. Song Qingshu looked aside and laughed a little, thinking that Cheng Lingsu was actually feeling jealous of her future mother-in-law. 

“Master, I’m back.” Cheng Lingsu put down the medicine basket and bounced through the door.

“Fei’er!” Madame Hu looked at the hall and suddenly became excited. Hu Fei stared at the two with opened eyes and he was sitting in the middle of the hall like a statue. Beside him was the Scholar. Sitting before them was a Monk with a white beard and hair.

“Hehe, you guys found this place unscathed,” the Scholar glanced at the two of them, as if a little surprised, and saw Madame Hu’s anxious expression, “I advise you not to move, your son is already poisoned, even if you want to save him. You can’t.”

Madame Hu’s body shook as if it was struck by thunder. She was about to rush up to fight him. But, Cheng Lingsu quickly grabbed her, “Auntie, they are comparing drugs, and this little brother will be fine in a while.”

Having been living in the Wulin for so many years, Madame Hu knew that when two poison masters compared their poison skills, one poisoned, while the other detoxified, and then change the order until a winner was determined.

Thinking that Hu Fei was going to suffer so much, Madame Hu suddenly felt desperate, but she didn’t dare to rush forward to cause trouble. If the poison in Hu Fei’s body was not cured, then he would definitely die.

“Don’t worry, my master will not harm this little brother.” Cheng Lingsu quickly comforted her.

“Master, this is the personal disciple you accepted… she looks really ugly.” The scholar paused for a moment, but his words made Cheng Lingsu a bit angry.

“I think you old man should give me the Poison God-King Chapter.” The scholar threatened impatiently, “Your martial arts skills are no longer my match. Is there any need for bloodshed between a master and apprentice?”

The white-haired old monk smiled slightly and faintly said, “Since when did the Poison King rely on martial arts to protect himself?”

The Scholar’s face changed slightly. This obviously hurt his ego a lot, and he coldly snorted, “You don’t need to be proud. I have come to challenge you once a year during the past few years. Although you have been able to detoxify my poisons before, but this time I don’t think you can cure the poison.”

Seeing that the Poison King was carefully examining Hu Fei’s body, the Scholar smiled, “Master, you see how nice I am to you. I originally planned to use the poison on your beloved disciple, but I was worried that Master, you would not be able to cure the poison. Then junior sister would lose her life, and you would be so furious that you will refuse to give it to me, so I deliberately found an irrelevant child.”

Madame Hu felt cold in her heart, thinking that after Fei’er was fine, she would chase him to the ends of the world.

“It’s a really treacherous poison. What you have used on this child is the ‘Seven Insects and Seven Flowers Ointment.’” The Poison King frowned, and upon seeing that Madame Hu and Song Qingshu’s hearts trembled.

“In the past, I looked for some rare poisons, but those have never proved difficult for you. This time I changed my strategy. This poison is not difficult to solve. The key is to know which seven insects and which seven flowers have been used. Hey, if I don’t tell you, and when you try them out one by one, this child will have been poisoned to death. I think you should hand in “Poison God-King Chapter” earlier so that you can save this child’s life.” He seemed very proud, with thousands of combinations, no one could solve this poison in a short time.

The Poison King hesitated for a moment, then he took out two things and fed them to Hu Fei. The Scholar’s pupils shrank and exclaimed, “Crane Innards and Peacock Gallbladder!”

Madame Hu was also taken aback. These two were highly toxic. Seeing the two things entering her son’s throat, she was about to step forward but was caught by Song Qingshu. He shook his head, “I believe in the Poison King.”

The Poison King quickly put dozens of needles on Hu Fei, and finally heaved a sigh of relief. The Scholer’s face turned ugly, “Using poison to fight poison, I didn’t expect you to detoxify by conventional methods. Well, I accept defeat, but I don’t understand why you used two kinds of poison instead of one kind of poison.”

The Poison King smiled slightly, “It is possible to achieve a balance between the two toxins in this little child’s body. Although it is possible in theory, it is too risky in practice. If it deviates slightly, he will die. But the three poisons check and balance each other. It is for control.”

The Scholar suddenly realized something, he let out a cold snort and disappeared into the distance. His voice came from far away: “I will come back to challenge you again next year.”

Madame Hu cried with joy and hurriedly ran over to Hu Fei, giving him a hug. Then she repeatedly thanked the Poison King.

“Don’t thank me too early,” the Poison King frowned, “Although I temporarily used two other highly toxic substances to suppress the toxicity of the seven insects and seven flowers ointment in his body, this balance is destined to wane over time. If it is broken and is not treated, I am afraid he will not survive more than three years.”

“I hope that the old master will help us.” Song Qingshu also went forward and asked.

“You two…you usually look smart and clever. Why are you so stupid now? Since my master said so, he will definitely be saved.” Cheng Lingsu flashed out from behind the Poison King, revealing a pair of bright black eyes.

The Poison King looked at her with a smile and said, “It may take three to five years to deal with the poison on his body. It takes so much effort from me, so you must promise me one condition.”   

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