"I remember," Sam Summers said. "Why are you here?"
"I heard about Elder Conrad, so I came to see him." Grace replied.
"Come in." Sam Summers said gloomily as he let her inside.
Elder Conrad lay on the bed, his face flushed dark red, nails blood-colored, unconscious.
Grace's eyes changed instantly when she saw him. "Sevenfold Venom?"
"Yeah," Sam Summers replied. "We've been using all sorts of spirit medicines to keep him going, but he's almost at his limit!"
"I heard from the Spirit Alliance that he was poisoned by an enemy on his way back?"
"Maybe," Sam Summers said.
"Maybe?"
"We were eating buns at a shop not far from Yan City at the time," Sam Summers said. "Elder Conrad loves the buns from that place—every time we pass by, he has to stop for some."
"So you ran into this enemy then?" Grace asked.
"I wouldn't really call him an enemy! He's just an old acquaintance of my master, and they never really got along," Sam Summers explained. "We exchanged a few words, and then he left. After he was gone, Elder Conrad was poisoned!"
"So you didn't actually see him poison Elder Conrad?"
Sam Summers shook his head. "If I had seen it, my master wouldn't have gotten poisoned! The poison was put in his tea."
Grace frowned. "And what about that old acquaintance? Did you find him?"
"The Spirit Alliance sent people out, and the authorities have been searching everywhere for him these past few days, but no luck. He's probably hiding out!" Sam Summers said.
Grace didn't ask any more questions. She took Elder Conrad's hand and checked his pulse, her mood heavy.
His body... If the poison isn't cured soon, he'll only last another day or two.
But the Sevenfold Venom is made from seven kinds of poisonous insects and seven kinds of toxic flowers.
Different combinations of ingredients create different types of toxicity, and each requires a unique antidote.
If you don't know exactly which poison he was given, guessing the order of fourteen ingredients is basically impossible.
"Miss Lawrence, you must've gotten your Spirit Alliance token by now, right?" Sam Summers asked. "Elder Conrad always told me you're a rare genius!"
Grace glanced at him and shook her head.
Sam Summers was only Elder Conrad's apprentice, not a member of the Spirit Alliance.
After Elder Conrad fell ill, he couldn't go up Spirit Alliance Mountain at all, so he had no idea what was happening inside.
"You haven't gotten it yet? It's been so long—you should've been given it by now!" Sam Summers said, puzzled.
"Only Zachary Stone got one, not me," Grace said. "That's why I came to Yan City—to ask Elder Conrad about it."
"How could that happen? Unless..." Sam Summers frowned, hesitating.
"Lily Xu and I have a bit of a history—you know, back at the Blue Moon Spirit Alliance, she did everything she could to trip me up," Grace said. "So she probably took advantage of Elder Conrad being out of it and messed with things."
Sam Summers sighed. "Miss Lawrence, I'm really sorry about my master... And I'm not even a member of the Spirit Alliance, so my words don't carry much weight. I can't really help you..."
Grace fell silent, her expression dark.
"We still have to keep trying to make medicine for my master. You should head back," Sam Summers said. "Sorry I can't walk you out."
Grace nodded and turned to leave.
After a few steps, something occurred to her. She turned and asked, "Sam, just now you said... you were eating buns at a bun shop?"
"That's right!"
"Which bun shop? What's it called?"
"Uh... it's just a little stall, no name," Sam Summers said.
"Then where is it located?"