"Someone's been poisoned in the Imperial Medical Hall!"
Several scholars passing outside immediately noticed something wrong in the Imperial Medical Hall. One rushed out, shouting, "I'll go call the Imperial Supervisors—you hurry inside and save them!"
The other two scholars dashed into the hall, but as soon as they smelled a sweet fragrance, they collapsed stiffly to the ground.
Soon after, Monk Faxing from Azure Sun Hall arrived with several monks, charging into the hall and shouting, "Quick, save—"
Thud. Thud.
The monks all fell to the ground. Monk Faxing, whose cultivation was much stronger, managed to turn and head for the door, but just as he reached the threshold, he too collapsed outside the hall.
"Monk Faxing has been poisoned too!"
The scholars outside hurried forward to rescue Monk Faxing, but as soon as they caught a whiff of the fragrance, they collapsed as well. Seeing this, more scholars rushed over, calling for help as they ran—only to topple to the ground one after another before they even reached the hall.
Scholars from the Scholars’ Quarters, Divine-Ability Compound, and Royal Courtyard also heard the news and hurried over. Imperial Supervisors from other halls rushed out to help. At the mountain gate, some scholars who were still fighting with the Buddha-Child abandoned the confrontation and raced up the mountain to rescue their fellows.
Libationer Barrett also got the news and raced to the Imperial Medical Hall, only to find hundreds of scholars and Imperial Supervisors already lying unconscious out front.
—The scent of Lost-Mind Incense was already wafting out from the Imperial Medical Hall, curling beyond its doors.
Daoist Rowan and the other Imperial Supervisors stood nearby, faces drained of color. Suddenly, Daoist Northwind from the Formation Hall swept forward, sleeves billowing like sails. He intoned, "This poison is fierce—best blow the fumes away if we want to save anyone!"
Whoosh—
He blasted out twin gusts from his sleeves, sending a torrent of wind surging into the Medical Hall. Libationer Barrett’s face went ashen—he shouted, "Don’t blow!"
Daoist Northwind barely had time to register what he'd done before the thick, fragrant vapor inside was hurled out of the hall, billowing everywhere. Libationer Barrett barked, "Hold your breath!"
But it was already too late. The Lost-Mind Incense rolled out in all directions; scholars toppled one after another with muffled thuds, bodies stiffening. The Imperial Supervisors, with deeper cultivation, felt their limbs go numb, legs turn to jelly, and their yuanqi grow sluggish—they couldn’t budge.
Libationer Barrett, quick-witted and boasting formidable cultivation, had only inhaled a wisp; he instantly forced it out with thick true essence. When he looked around, scholars were dropping in waves.
"Hell, is this a massacre?"
A chill ran through him. The strange fragrance would soon engulf the whole Imperial Academy; only a handful—maybe a couple dozen—would stay standing, those with Heaven-Man Realm cultivation able to force out the scent.
The Imperial Academy, the greatest holy land of learning in the world, was about to be wiped out by this bizarre incense. If not a total massacre, it was close enough.