My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

Chapter 149, Flashback 16 – The Truth About the Poison

Three years later--

"hiss--"

Xie Yan gasped, her face contorting for a moment as cold sweat trickled down her cheeks.

"Cough, cough! Could you be a little gentler?"

"I'm already light enough."

Hearing this, Jiang Mu, who was standing behind Xie Yan, rolled his eyes in annoyance. "If you didn't want to be in pain, you shouldn't have been punished in the first place!"

Xie Yan's lips twitched, and she said speechlessly, "Is this something I can avoid just because I don't want to?"

"Is not it?"

Jiang Mu's hands didn't stop; with gentle movements, he slowly peeled off a piece of clothing, still covered in blood and flesh, from Xie Yan's blood-soaked back.

"Who told you to let those orphans you brought back escape again?"

"Not only did you not follow the instructions of the host to poison them and let them escape, but you also let the mission targets go free time and time again. No wonder the host is furious. Who else should he punish if not you?"

The tattered clothes were peeled off piece by piece, revealing crisscrossing bloodstains of varying depths underneath.

Jiang Mu frowned deeply, took the wet wipe Du Chanyi handed him, and gently wiped the blood around the wound.

But he had far too many wounds on his body.

Not only are there whip marks from this punishment, but also knife and sword wounds from the attack a while ago...

Each wound was shocking; the densely packed wounds were squeezed together, almost covering half of his back, making him look extremely horrific.

Before those wounds had healed, new ones were inflicted, and blood was still flowing out, splattering even the ground beneath their feet.

For a moment, Jiang Mu was at a loss as to where to begin.

But Du Chanyi showed no mercy. Her movements were clean and efficient. Amidst Xie Yan's muffled groans, she quickly cleaned every wound thoroughly.

Then Jiang Mu opened the medicine bottle and poured it all over the medicine without hesitation.

Xie Yan gasped again, her muscles tensing involuntarily, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

"...Are you deliberately retaliating against me?"

"You deserve it."

Jiang Mu snorted coldly, "This is top-quality wound medicine. A little pain is no better than a festering wound."

But his hand movements slowed down.

"Stop shaking it, or you'll spill the powder and I'll have to give you another bottle."

"..."

Xie Yan closed her eyes helplessly and gritted her teeth in resignation.

Du Chanyi looked at him and sighed softly, "...Can't you control your temper a little?"

"Not only rebellious, but also too impulsive."

"Back then, if we hadn't arrived in time, even if you had drugged him, I'm afraid Number One would have fought to the last breath to take you down with him."

"You've been promoted one after another in just a few years. The taller you grow, the more the wind blows. Not only are there people above you who are dissatisfied with you, but people below you are also eyeing you covetously."

"You might be able to get away with it once or twice, but after that, it might be a different story when there are more people around."

Although Jiang Mu used a bit too much force, the medicine powder quickly seeped into the wound, and the bleeding was temporarily stopped.

Xie Yan's face was pale, her thin lips were tightly pressed together, and her dark eyes stared at the ceiling. Her eyelashes, damp with sweat, trembled slightly in the flickering candlelight.

As Jiang Mu moved, layers of gauze were gradually wrapped around Xie Yan's body, firmly covering up those hideous wounds.

While bandaging his wounds, he earnestly advised, "With your current abilities, it's probably too early to completely get rid of Fengyunlou. Right now, you should calm down and plan slowly."

But Xie Yan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up after hearing his words, saying in a low voice, "I can't wait any longer."

"……What does it mean?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mu abruptly stopped what he was doing, frowned, and exchanged a glance with Du Chanyi.

Xie Yan closed her eyes. "Haven't you noticed that in Fengyun Tower, assassins like us who were brought back and trained from childhood basically don't live past twenty-five?"

Upon hearing this, both of their pupils contracted slightly. "...What did you say?"

Even after uttering such astonishing words, Xie Yan's expression remained remarkably calm.

He lifted his eyelids, wearily pinched the bridge of his nose, and said, "Because of the poison that Fengyunlou gave us."

Jiang Mu opened his mouth, "Isn't the poison something that's harmless as long as you take the antidote regularly every month?"

"Heh, the antidote given once a month may seem to alleviate the poison in the body, but in reality it only makes the poison more potent."

A cold smile appeared on Xie Yan's pale lips. "Because that's not the real antidote, but just another kind of poison that can temporarily suppress the toxins in the body."

"These two toxins have accumulated in the body for a long time. If they are not eradicated completely, they will slowly invade the entire body over time."

As Xie Yan continued her story, both of their faces gradually turned deathly pale.

"Those like Yan Bao who joined Fengyun Tower halfway through, and who already had true qi protecting their bodies, were able to live longer."

“But we are different, because we have been taking those poisons since childhood, so the damage to us is greater. If we don’t get a real antidote soon, we will probably die from the poison.”

"Fengyunlou never intended for us to live; they only used us as tools for killing and plundering."

Xie Yan chuckled and added, "And it's the kind that's disposable and non-recyclable."

Jiang Mu and Du Chanyi exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

Jiang Mu asked in disbelief, "Is that so?"

After a moment of silence, Du Chanyi turned to Xie Yan, her voice strained: "We've never heard of these things before, so how did you find out?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Yan gave a cold smirk: "After all, the number one in the Heavenly Rank has quite a lot of authority."

"Not only can I learn a lot of things, but I can even enter the file room inside Fengyun Tower, which is not allowed to be entered by low-level assassins."

"Over the past few years, I have thoroughly investigated that place before I finally discovered these few clues."

After speaking, Xie Yan relaxed her tense muscles and slowly exhaled.

For a moment, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Time passed in this suffocating silence, so long that even the candles in the room were about to burn out.

Jiang Mu then spoke, breaking the uncomfortable silence, and said, "Now that things have come to this, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Du Chanyi took a deep breath, a resolute glint in her eyes, "What can we do? Now that we know the truth, we have to find a way to get the real antidote."

Jiang Mu clenched his fist and agreed without hesitation: "That's right, we can't just sit here and wait to die."

"But the antidote is definitely under tight guard, and finding it is no easy task for us."

"Too……"

But just as the two were looking at each other in bewilderment, Xie Yan's calm voice rang out again: "I know where the antidote is."