Ninth Royal Uncle and Serena still needed Old Gray alive to lure Hundred Ghost Palace into investigating Jason Lan. Now was absolutely not the time for Old Gray to die. As soon as Nolan learned something had happened to Old Gray, he immediately ordered the column to halt and rest.
Just as Nolan approached, he heard Serena’s furious voice: “Senior, what did you feed him this time? I’ve told you again and again—don’t touch him, don’t give him random medicine. Are you even listening?”
Serena was both furious and exasperated. If this old man weren’t her elder, she would have slapped him already. In all her years, she’d never met anyone so utterly lacking in restraint—he never listened, always did as he pleased, and when trouble came, he couldn’t fix it himself but made others clean up his mess.
“I didn’t feed him any poison! I just added a single ingredient—a detoxifying one,” the old doctor protested, looking wronged. “This time I thought the medicine would help his condition, maybe even cure him. But the effects clashed, so… his symptoms got worse.”
“Added medicine? What were you thinking, adding anything at all? The toxins in his body are holding each other in check—he can only take mild drugs to keep that balance. You just ruined it, and that can kill him!” Serena was so angry she could kill someone. The Valley Master’s junior brother was frighteningly stubborn; once he decided on something, no one could talk sense into him.
“I don’t have any grudge against him—why would I want him dead? I just used him to test some medicine. You know how rare it is to find someone so full of poison and still alive. It’d be a shame not to experiment.” The old doctor didn’t think he’d done anything wrong; his only mistake was misjudging the dosage and nearly causing a fatality.
Still, thinking of his results, the old doctor felt it was all worth it. “Qingchen, let me tell you, the ingredient I added made him…”
“Made him almost die,” Serena cut him off coldly, quickly injecting Old Gray with an antidote. “Senior, I don’t have time to discuss pharmacology with you right now. Please step outside—I need to save him.”
Serena’s face was dark, her eyes practically blazing. She couldn’t believe someone who’d spent decades in the army could be so reckless—acting purely on his own whims. She’d already cleaned up his messes more than once.
If she’d known he was like this, she would never have agreed to bring him along, no matter how useful he was.
The medicine wouldn’t work that quickly—Old Gray’s face was still ashen, his heart racing. Serena ignored the Valley Master’s junior brother and focused on emergency care, administering a potent drug to force Old Gray’s heartbeat back down.
The old doctor sneaked a glance at Serena, realizing she was truly furious this time. He obediently stood aside, already pondering how he might placate her later.
He really hadn’t meant for this to happen. All these years hiding in the army, every soldier was strictly accounted for—if anyone went missing, someone would investigate. He couldn’t find anyone to test his medicine on, so he’d had to stash away his experiments.
Now, with such a perfect test subject in front of him, he was eager to try every formula he’d developed over the years. It was pure excitement that made him slip up this time.
“So… he’s fine now, right?” The Valley Master’s junior brother watched Serena stop her treatment, forcing a smile onto his stern face.
“He’s fine this time, but what about next time? His body really can’t take this abuse. Senior, I’m begging you—don’t go using those strange medicines on people. It’s too easy to kill someone.” Serena was nearly in tears. This old man was too senior for her to hit or curse, and even when she scolded him, she had to watch her tone. The anger just kept building up inside with nowhere to go.
“That’s why you’re here. My senior brother said your medical skills are excellent—as long as there’s one breath left, you can save anyone.” He tried to flatter Serena, but she was immune to his sweet talk: “My skills aren’t even a tenth of the Valley Master’s. Even if I can save someone, so what? I studied medicine to heal, not to clean up your disasters.”
Realizing she was being too harsh, Serena took a breath and softened her tone. “Senior, I’m begging you—please don’t use random drugs again. Medicine is meant to save lives, not harm them. I managed to save him this time, but what about next time? Do you really have to wait until someone dies before you’ll stop?”
If he weren’t the Valley Master’s junior brother, she honestly… honestly would have locked him up.
“I test medicine to save people too. If I don’t try it, how will I know which works best? If I don’t experiment, how can I invent new prescriptions?” The Valley Master’s junior brother was utterly unapologetic. Serena was completely defeated: “Fine, Senior, you win. I’ll tell Ninth Royal Uncle to have someone send you south to Jiangnan, where the Valley Master is.”
She couldn't deal with him, but at least she could avoid him. With a madman like this, there was no way she could afford to go crazy along with him.
“Send me to my senior brother? At a time like this?” The old man nearly jumped up. “How much do you hate me, to want me dead? Others might not know, but you must realize how much trouble my senior brother is in right now. That brat Jason in Liancastle keeps pressuring him—if I go to Jiangnan now and get caught, they’ll use me as a hostage to force my brother’s hand!”
“Senior, watch your words.” Serena quickly tried to hush him, but the old man brushed her off: “What’s there to watch? It’s not like I’m talking about anything shady. Besides, there’s no one else around, and Old Gray’s barely hanging on—if we tore the roof off, he still wouldn’t hear.”
“Even if he can’t hear, you still shouldn’t say such things. And you shouldn’t use random drugs, either.” Serena gritted her teeth, giving the old doctor a final warning: “Senior, this is the last time. If you experiment on Old Gray again, I will absolutely tell Ninth Royal Uncle…”
“Tell me what?” Ninth Royal Uncle entered just then. Serena and the old doctor immediately straightened up, shaking their heads in perfect synchrony: “Nothing.”
“Really? Qingchen, what were you going to tell me?” Nolan’s gaze swept over Old Gray before returning to them. The old doctor quietly edged away, terrified Nolan would discover his mistake.
“I… I was just about to tell you Old Gray is all right now.” As soon as Serena said it, the old doctor breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he’d dodged disaster once again. Eager to escape the scene, he put on a casual air: “Qingchen, he’s fine now, so I’ll go rest.”
But after just a few steps, the old doctor paused and turned back, speaking with heavy emphasis: “Qingchen, be careful with your medicines in the future. If you’re not sure of the properties, don’t use them at random. I won’t always be around to help in time—if someone dies, that would be terrible.”
His voice was low and drawn out, full of teacherly authority. Serena was left speechless, pointing at the Valley Master’s junior brother’s retreating back, unable to get the words out: “He—what does he mean by that?”
He actually pushed the blame onto her—how thick-skinned could anyone possibly be!