The Valley Master and Dr. Marcus Guile successfully extracted the Gu worms from the Emperor. Although the Emperor suffered a knife wound, it was not fatal—he simply couldn’t speak. Thanks to the Valley Master’s potent medicine, he woke up that very night.
The moment he awoke, the Emperor was briefly dazed: "Ninth Royal Uncle really didn’t make any moves at all?"
His eyes widened in disbelief. He summoned imperial physicians to examine him, and only after confirming everything was fine did he let them go.
Was he just projecting his own petty suspicions onto a true gentleman?
No! The Emperor shook his head rapidly. Nolan Dongling is not someone to be underestimated. There’s no way he’d do nothing, no way he’d be so kind as to let him live peacefully—especially after Serena Feng’s assassination attempt.
So is it that Ninth Royal Uncle was afraid? Afraid that if the Emperor died, he’d be doomed too?
That’s not unreasonable. The Emperor’s summoning of the Grand Protector was secretive, but Nolan could easily guess at least part of it. He definitely wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
After turning it over in his mind, the Emperor could only settle on this explanation. To confirm his suspicion, he not only called imperial physicians, but also invited respected civilian doctors into the palace to examine him.
No matter how many times he checked, the Emperor couldn’t find any problems with his body. Thinking it over, he kept coming back to that one possibility. As for other reasons, he couldn’t think of any for now...
"Your Majesty, you’ve just recovered. Divine Doctor Guile said you must rest and avoid stress for now." The Chief Eunuch, seeing how troubled the Emperor looked, quietly advised, "Your Majesty, whatever happens, your health comes first."
The Emperor nodded, just about to lie down when a young eunuch arrived with a report: "Your Majesty, Consort Renee requests an audience."
"No..." The Emperor refused without a second thought, but then reconsidered and allowed Consort Renee in. No matter what, he had to give her family some face.
The consorts of the inner palace are tightly bound to the front court. Recently, many palace concubines suffered at the hands of the Hsieh Clan—those who were pregnant either miscarried mysteriously or gave birth to stillborns. Consort Renee was one of them.
The Emperor still needed to rely on the fathers and brothers of these consorts, so he had to show them respect.
Consort Renee stayed in the Emperor’s sleeping quarters all night, caring for him. She didn’t do much, but it was enough to make the other consorts jealous.
Consort Renee was the first to seek an audience, but definitely not the last. The palace consorts seemed to have made a pact—every day someone came to see the Emperor, sometimes staying most of the day, or even the whole night.
At first it was fine; the consorts knew the Emperor was still recovering and couldn’t do much. But as his complexion improved, they grew restless. One bold consort even directly seduced the Emperor...
The Emperor’s wound was in his throat—aside from temporarily being unable to speak, he was otherwise normal, even more energetic than most. After just a few teasing moves, the Emperor responded, pulling the consort straight onto the imperial dragon bed.
The Emperor was no longer young. In the past, handling these young consorts was always more than he could manage. But whether it was pent-up desire or something else, that night he was unstoppable—the young consort was worn out, but the Emperor wasn’t tired at all.
The next morning, the Emperor was full of energy, while the consort had to be carried out, limp and exhausted. The Emperor was in great spirits, glowing as he went to handle state affairs, looking years younger.
The Chief Eunuch felt a vague sense of unease. When the imperial physician came to take the Emperor's pulse, he quietly mentioned his concerns, but after a careful diagnosis, the physician found nothing wrong—he even said the Emperor's health was much better than last year.
No one knows a body better than its owner. The Emperor himself felt it most keenly: that day he worked through memorials from dawn till dusk. In the past, such a workload would have left him exhausted, barely able to eat, but today he only felt a little tired.
This continued for several days. With the imperial physicians' confirmation, the Emperor became certain—his body had recovered, and his energy was no less than that of a young man.
Every night, the Emperor summoned consorts to his bed—sometimes several in one night. Strangely enough, while he'd always enjoyed their company, he used to feel drained afterward. But recently, not only was he not tired, he felt even more vigorous than before.
Could it be that after suffering Gu poisoning, he could actually draw yin to nourish yang?
News of the Emperor's nightly exploits quickly reached Ninth Royal Uncle Nolan Dongling and Serena Feng. Seeing the Emperor courting death, Serena shook her head and muttered, "Three women in one night—each one is at least once, that's three times. Our Emperor is truly impressive. He's not afraid of dying on a woman's belly."
To be fair, when the Valley Master treated the Emperor, he genuinely aimed to restore him. The medicine was just a bit too potent. If the Emperor had focused on rest and self-cultivation, he could have lived another thirty healthy years. But he simply refuses to behave—he's courting death himself.
"That's not something you should say." Nolan rapped Serena lightly on the head.
"I told you not to hit my head—I'll get stupid," Serena grumbled, rubbing her scalp and shooting Nolan a glare. "Why shouldn't I say it? I'm speaking as a doctor. If the Emperor keeps overindulging, sooner or later he'll die in bed. When the whole world finds out that the Eastlyn Emperor died on a woman's belly, that'll be the biggest joke ever."
"The imperial physicians are monitoring him every day. The Emperor won't die that easily." Nolan was speechless at Serena's bluntness. She didn't act like a woman at all, so he just pretended not to hear her.
Serena shook her head and sighed. Having a professional medical team really makes a difference—even with all this reckless behavior, the Emperor won't die easily.
"At this rate, how much longer can the Emperor keep going?" Serena asked.
"A month at most." Nolan had seen all the tricks the harem women used to win favor. He doubted any man could resist them now.
Before, when the Emperor lacked the strength, facing a crowd of beauties was pure torture. But now, he was finally enjoying himself.
"A month? Then we need to get the Valley Master and Dr. Marcus Guile out of here fast, before the Emperor takes out his anger on them." The Valley Master's medicine for the Emperor included top-grade Jade-Flora Orchid. Even if the Emperor wanted to die, it wouldn't be easy—at worst, he'd have a seizure or end up paralyzed, but he'd still have the strength to issue arrest orders.
"In a few days, once the Emperor's throat heals and he can speak, let them take their leave. By then, he'll have no reason to refuse."
Even if Valley Master and Dr. Marcus Guile couldn't stay in Eastlyn to serve the Emperor, they really did cure his illness. To maintain good relations, the Emperor wouldn't kill them.
Serena nodded. She was relieved that the Valley Master and his team could leave this man-eating place—staying in Jiangnan would be much safer and freer than the capital.
"By the way, what's the Emperor's stance on the Prince of Jiangnan? He only recalled the Hsieh commander but didn't rescind the decree. He's not really going to kill the Prince, is he?" If the Prince of Jiangnan died, the whole region would be thrown into chaos. After all the work they'd put in, Serena couldn't bear to see it destroyed.
"Don't worry. The Emperor won't kill the Prince of Jiangnan. Now that he's recovered, he'll soon move against the Hsieh Clan and pin the blame on them. If the Emperor had died, the Prince of Jiangnan would have become heir and that decree would have been void." The Emperor had tolerated the Hsiehs long enough—he'd reached his limit.
If it weren't for his injured throat, the Emperor would have already appeared before the court and struck at the Hsieh Clan and the officials again.