Murim's Weakest Princess

Chapter 304: Conspiracy Theory

By the time Anji returned with news, Yihao already heard about it. How did he know? Anji had no idea. The influence of the Vermillion Bird Sect was terrifying as usual. That was until she noticed another person hiding behind him."Brother Mingshen!" Anji forgot about Noble Consort Liu and ran towards her second brother. Things suddenly made sense.

"I’m back," Mingshen smiled as Anji sneakily prodded at his meridians. Thankfully, everything seemed fine, and he was not hurt while chasing the lead for the brainwashing hairpin supplier.

"How did it go?"

Yihao grimaced. He must have already heard it from Mingshen while waiting for her to return.

Seeing there was no place for her to intervene with the three siblings, Noble Consort announced that she was leaving to guard the royal couple for the night so they could discuss the new developments. Anji and Mingshen bade her goodnight, embarrassed. In their haste to exchange information, they had forgotten all about her. Thankfully, Liu Guiya did not seem to mind.

After her departure, they could finally chat with ease. Anji had many things to do after knowing it was Soul Wither Poison. There were many countermeasures to take while she developed a cure against the miasma and brainwashing hairpin curse. More importantly, she needed to know whether Mingshen had located Pu Jianming during his chase.

"No," Mingshen shook his head. "I didn’t catch the traitor from your sect. But I caught someone who knows him. It took a while because they were passing hands several times to hide their supply trail all the way to Luoyang. We don’t have as much influence in Luoyang as we do here in Chang’an. As it is, we are still interrogating him for information. Yihao’s Extreme Yang energy is surprisingly useful. Although we could not break the soul-binding, cursed oath they took, we can still get information. It’s just more of a hassle, but when I get any information about Pu Jianming, you’d be the first to know."

Turning to look at her third brother in surprise, Anji had no idea the two were colluding without telling her.

"Don’t you think I would be better at helping to break the curse?" she raised a brow. "Although soul-affecting spells are very rare and a forbidden knowledge, the Mystical Qilin Sect knows the most."

Indeed. Even if they do not have all the information, Anji could understand the basics enough to take precautions and mitigate the risks. She might not know the cure yet, but she could most definitely reverse-engineer a few things to understand more. After all, the one thing every Mystical Qilin sect member learned on their acceptance is the importance of research.

Yihao looked very uncomfortable at Anji’s offer.

"You should not help with such things even if you can," he told her directly. "Sister, you are a doctor. So leave the fighting and killing to us. Compared to this, don’t you have the most important role? The Emperor was poisoned. Surely developing an antidote for that is more important."

He had a point. Anji hated to admit it, but her brothers were right this time. Even if she were capable of helping, there were some roles that must be adhered to strictly. As the younger sister and a doctor, Anji should not hastily offer such assistance. They were not in immediate danger to require her help. Instead, she should focus on what they cannot handle.

"In that case, can you buy some time for me?" Anji untied the heavy pouch tied to her waist from earlier. Thankfully, her suppressed cultivation level made carrying it possible.

Yihao received the bag and untied the rope. Inside, he saw many dull but colourful stones.

"What are these?" he raised a brow.

Beside him, Mingshen’s eyes widened as he shot her a questioning look. Anji only smiled.

"It’s both a request from me and a personal one from my Godmother. Sect Leader Hong is loaning me these yang energy-storing gems from her personal collection to help seal soul-withering poison in the ancestral hall. I’m going to design an immunity talisman to counter the effects of that dangerous poison, to investigate which object is being affected. My shifu told me to contain it until they can develop a real solution, but in that time, I’ll need your help to charge as many stones as possible."

Yihao thought about it for a while, then pointed at himself.

"Why charge the stones when you can just bring me along?" he asked. "I’m the best source of Yang Energy, am I not? I can help to purify the poison."

Anji paused. That was right. She had never considered it. Was it because she had been alone for too long? However, she hesitated. Yihao might be strong. He was also an Enlightened Core cultivator now. However, part of Anji was afraid. Soul Wither Poison affected the soul. Should anything go wrong, Yihao would not only suffer injury, but he might also die with no chance of reincarnation. She could not take this risk.

According to her theory, which Yan Ping also suspected, Soul Wither Poison only affected higher-level cultivators more severely because they were closer to becoming immortals. However, this raised a point of suspicion. Why use soul wither poison in a place full of non-cultivators? They could not possibly be targeting Hong Nian Niang or Liu Guiya. The imperial ancestral hall was a sacred place and heavily guarded by the imperial guards who did not have cultivation. The only person allowed entry besides monks and maids who clean the place is the Emperor.

The more Anji pondered over this, the less sense it made. The Emperor, although a frequent target of assassination, did not seem to be the true target. It was as if they were making a huge distraction. Why else would Liu Guiya be able to dispose of these assassins so quickly? Moreover, there were many other cases of nuisance hanging around the imperial palace from time to time, like the brainwashing hairpin.

Something did not add up.

"Did I say something wrong?" Yihao blinked after a long stretch of silence and no reply from Anji. Even Mingshen could not help but wonder what his sister was thinking about.

"No, you are not wrong. However, I just don’t understand some things," Anji explained and poured her thoughts out.

As she spoke, both brothers seemed to be confused at first. However, the longer Anji explained her doubts, the deeper one brother’s frown became while the bigger another brother’s eyes became.

"I’m sorry," she apologised. "I think I’ve become too paranoid."

Yihao’s eyes were spinning. His head was hurting physically from thinking too much. However, Mingshen sat as still as a statue. The words were still sinking in, but somehow, he knew Anji must be right.

"I’ll have to investigate the patterns based on what you said to confirm if your suspicions are unfounded. In the best-case scenario, we were merely paranoid. However, if you are right..."

Neither of them wanted to think of the dire consequences of this wild conspiracy theory.