Chapter 61

Three days consist of seventy-two hours. It had been less than two days since the emperor issued the decree the day before. However, if the date was calculated from the beginning of detoxification in the afternoon two days before, Lingxiao had less one day to finish his task.

At night, Lingxiao walked out of the ‘ward’, looking exhausted, but his eyes shining like stars. Not only was he proud of his excellent medical skills, but he was also overjoyed that he was going to leave here and enjoy his life with the one he loved. Everything was going as he had planned. Nangong Du would wake up in three hours, so if he took Xiuxiu away before that, the government department, the Prince Mu’s Mansion, the poison, and the assassination would have nothing to do with them anymore! If his father didn’t forgive him, he would wander far with Xiuxiu and never return to the Valley of Fallen Blossoms!

As he had done the day before, he left Lianshan in the bedroom of Prince Mu before he went back to the guest room. While Lianshan was busy feeling pulse, acupuncturing, and decocting medicine for Nangong Du, Lingxiao had freshened himself up, had his dinner, and now he was lying in bed to rest, waiting for the night to fall.

“Help from the heavens!” It was windy and pitch-dark outside, perfect for running away.

At midnight, Lingxiao had packed up all his belongings and was ready to go. Holding the fan, he stood in the yard in fine fettle with his hands clasped behind his back. His white robe flapped in the wind when he looked up at the sky, making him have the demeanor of a transcendent being. After a while, with a smile on his lips, he leaped onto the roof covered with green glazed tiles with the help of the wind. By his feet were two men in black lying on their backs. The hypnotics he developed in his spare time had worked and now the two martial artists who were spying on him on the roof were fast asleep.

As a hotshot in martial arts, Lingxiao could move freely around the mansion without being noticed. He leaped forward swiftly and before those guards and servants could sense anything wrong, he had disappeared from their sight!

Skimming the lake, he leaped into the princess’s bedroom without making a sound.

In the dim candlelight, he tiptoed to Zixiu’s bed. However, to his surprise, he saw nobody in the messy bed!

Lingxiao turned pale in an instant and his hand started trembling slightly. “It seems strange that no one noticed me on my way here just now. Did I underestimate my opponent? Maybe those people already moved Xiuxiu to some other place!”

At the thought of this, Lingxiao instantly lost his composure. When he was burning with anxiety, he suddenly heard the faint sounds of water in fits and bursts from behind. “Is someone taking a bath?” he wondered.

Growing more cautious, he turned quietly, holding his fan tight. When he followed the sounds, he saw the mist steaming behind the screen while a heady fragrance rushed into his nostrils.

That was the smell of ‘Swirling Clouds’, especially strong tonight…

In a daze, Lingxiao walked to the screen without knowing it. His heart pounded like drumbeats and it took him quite a while to calm himself down. To avoid looking in, he forced himself to fix his gaze on the screen. However, he could no longer resist the urge to look behind the screen as he watched the sculpted mandarin ducks carved on it playing intimately as if they were about to fly. Holding the fan with his trembling hand, Lingxiao lifted a corner of the translucent curtain and peeped into the room.

Zixiu had just gotten out of the bathing pool and his jade-white body was completely exposed to his sight!

Shivering all over, Lingxiao felt his blood boiling. “Rumble!” With his head buzzing, two streams of blood rushed out of the nostrils of this talented young physician!