381: Chapter 381 King Haoyue

King Xibei slowly opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon, as if piercing through layers of clouds and returning to the battlefields of centuries past. The answer he uttered struck Feng Ming like lightning, leaving him utterly stunned.

"It was His Majesty—King Haoyue."

"Your Majesty?" Feng Ming's body trembled, his face filled with shock.

According to his previous deductions, very few people knew that King Xibei had been afflicted with the Child-Swapping Poison.

The Master Gu was the most suspicious, but he was only responsible for monitoring. The poisoner was either King Haoyue, who sent the Master Gu, or the evil cultivators that the Master Gu was colluding with behind the scenes.

But now, King Xibei said that King Haoyue told him personally!

If that were the case, wouldn't King Haoyue's suspicion be dispelled without a fight? Could the poisoner really be the evil cultivators behind the Master Gu? Could it be that King Haoyue also didn't know that the Master Gu had already been subverted by evil cultivators?

Feng Ming suppressed the tumultuous waves in his heart and said in a deep voice, "Lord Xun, could you please tell me the details of what happened back then?"

He had to verify it step by step, to peel away the layers of mist.

King Xibei pondered for a long time, then slowly began to speak, his voice carrying the weight of years: "That was an old story from centuries ago. Back then, this king still followed King Haoyue on various campaigns, and the world was not yet settled. During one expedition to conquer an ancient Sect, this king suffered severe injuries, his life force cut off, certain to die."

"Brother Yue, to save my life, did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles, brave dangerous lands, and seek Spirit Medicine, all just to give me a glimmer of hope. That Medicinal Pill indeed saved my life, but he also spoke frankly at the time, saying that although this pill could prolong my life, it would permanently damage my fertility, leaving me without an heir in this life."

"This king was grateful for his kindness in saving his brother from a thousand miles away, and he also knew that in a chaotic world, only death could repay such a debt. Therefore, he swallowed the Medicinal Pill without hesitation. Since then, he has fought for him his entire life, guarding Xun Prefecture."

Feng Ming was speechless for a moment after hearing this. King Haoyue's explanation was logical, deeply heartfelt, and without any flaws.

More crucially, he couldn't immediately determine whether the Child-Swapping Poison could be incorporated into a Medicinal Pill. If it truly could, then King Haoyue's words would be unassailable.

Just as he hesitated, unable to decide, Wanyan Lin's voice suddenly rang out from within his storage ring, clear and firm: "King Haoyue is lying!"

"Child-Swapping Poison absolutely cannot be made into a Medicinal Pill! It cannot be used in either Alchemy or Toxicology! This poison has an insidious nature; once incorporated into a pill, the pill will be destroyed and the medicine dispersed, rendering it completely ineffective for treatment! My father personally experimented no less than a hundred thousand times to break this poison back then, there's no way he could be wrong! I'm willing to make a Blood Oath with my life!"

Wanyan Lin's tone was resolute and beyond doubt.

Feng Ming's heart tensed. He immediately made up his mind, looked at King Xibei again, and asked in a deep voice, "Lord Xun, setting aside that Medicinal Pill from back then, you yourself know best: has your reproductive function ever shown any abnormality?"

King Xibei's face stiffened slightly, looking a bit awkward, but he still slowly nodded.

"Good." Feng Ming took a deep breath, his gaze firm. "This Junior now understands, Lord Xun, you were deceived by King Haoyue back then. Your inability to have children was not due to the Medicinal Pill, but because you were poisoned with the Child-Swapping Poison!"

"This poison absolutely cannot be incorporated into medicine, nor can it be refined into a pill or a poison! The Medicinal Pill he gave you back then might indeed have saved your life, but it's impossible for it to have contained the Child-Swapping Poison. Yet he deliberately told you that the pill would damage your reproductive ability; in reality, he secretly administered the Child-Swapping Poison to you while feeding you the Medicinal Pill!"

"Child-Swapping Poison?" Xun Yu's face drastically changed, and he asked in alarm, "What is Child-Swapping Poison? How could Master be afflicted with such a strange poison?"

Fang Zhao also stepped forward excitedly, grabbing Feng Ming's arm: "Brother Feng, explain clearly! What is so insidious about this poison?"

King Xibei sat on the couch, his expression shifting between clear and cloudy, his gaze complex as he stared at Feng Ming, clearly not yet fully convinced.

Feng Ming did not answer directly but looked at Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan understood, immediately stepped forward, knelt on both knees, and solemnly kowtowed to King Xibei: "Father! What Feng Ming said is true, every word! He once cured a friend of a rare poison, and his attainments in the Poison Dao are extremely profound."

"Yesterday, he already sensed the Child-Swapping Poison lurking in your body. It was precisely to confirm this that he asked me about my background. Moreover, he also told me that the Master Gu who has always been guarding the manor... is actually an evil cultivator!"

"What?!"

Xun Yu and Fang Zhao trembled all over, their faces filled with disbelief.

"That's impossible! The Master Gu has lived in seclusion for years, only refining Medicinal Pills for Father, never leaving the manor to harm anyone. How could he be an evil cultivator?"

Luo Yuan said coldly, "He indeed never harmed anyone, but the Medicinal Pills he refined for Father were all perfunctory and had no medicinal effect, merely a cover-up!"

"He stayed behind closed doors all day, insisting on setting up an isolation array, not to diligently refine pills, but to Cultivate evil cultivation methods in the manor using poisonous insects and resentful thoughts, trying to prolong his existence and increase his Lifespan. Feng Ming and I snuck into his residence yesterday and saw it with our own eyes, perfectly clear!"

Xun Yu recalled sensing the two disappearing near the Master Gu's residence yesterday and suddenly realized: "No wonder... you two vanished yesterday. So you went to investigate the Master Gu's residence!"

King Xibei took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and said in a deep voice, "Even if the Master Gu is an evil cultivator, it doesn't prove that this king has been afflicted with some Child-Swapping Poison! How could this king be poisoned with such a potent venom without noticing?"

Feng Ming sighed softly: "This is precisely the most terrifying aspect of the Child-Swapping Poison! Those afflicted with this poison, other than being unable to conceive, show no symptoms whatsoever in their daily lives, no pain or itchiness."

"It's just that the body will gradually decline, and one's Lifespan will be secretly diminished. You've probably just attributed your gradual weakening over the years to old age and recurring old injuries, haven't you? Think about Prince Zhenwei, a hero of your generation; although he is also old now, he is still vigorous and far from the point of exhaustion."

"Compared to him, can you still not see the abnormality? If Lord Xun doesn't believe it, I can now force out a trace of the Child-Swapping Poison from your body, allowing you to witness it with your own eyes!"

King Xibei was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

Feng Ming said no more, immediately sat cross-legged, formed a hand seal with his fingertips, and activated the Ten Thousand Poisons Scripture within his body. A strange poison Dao power silently spread, imperceptibly enveloping King Xibei.

In just a moment, a nearly transparent liquid, the size of a soybean, slowly drifted out from King Xibei's fingertip. Feng Ming raised his hand, took out a jade bottle, and steadily collected the drop of poison liquid into it.

"This is the Child-Swapping Poison. This is merely one-billionth of what's in your body; the toxins lurking throughout your body are enough to fill an entire bottle."

King Xibei stared at the inconspicuous drop of liquid in the jade bottle, his brows tightly furrowed: "Just this one drop, with no apparent abnormality, how can it prove to be a potent poison?"

Feng Ming smiled bitterly and helplessly. Ordinary potent poisons cause instant death upon contact with blood, or emit Lingering smoke, making them easy to identify. However, this Child-Swapping Poison is extremely insidious, leaving no trace, making it indeed difficult to prove on the spot.