Wolf King And His Fox Consort [BL]

While Chu Yun was open to letting Chu Hean try to get Ru Long to show himself, he wanted to try it his way first.

If his brother thought that had anything to do with Chu Yun not trusting him enough, was another matter altogether.

Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.

Once burned twice shy.

The next day Xiao Zai still hadn't woken up. His condition didn't seem to be getting worse but neither was it improving.

That was the final straw. Chu Yun was taking things into his own hands.

He called all of the royal physicians, as well as the physicians who had examined him after he discovered his pregnancy, into the King's quarters.

A group of ten or so of them all surrounded their bed, looking in fear from Xiao Zai to Chu Yun.

"His Majesty has been unconscious for over a week, and there has been no change in his awareness." He turned to the pale-faced men and women with a scowl, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. "I want to know why Zui's best, most competent, doctors haven't found a cure yet."

He narrowed his eyes as he paced back and forth in front of the bed, like a tiger stalking its prey and seizing it up before pouncing. Some of the physicians visibly shrunk into their robes.

Good. Chu Yun wanted to impress upon them the severity of the situation.

It was good that Xiao Zai was stable, but he needed to wake up.

"It makes one wonder if perhaps someone is paying all of you to keep his Majesty in this state."

As expected, they all fell to their knees, even the three physicians who Chu Yun had just called.

All kinds of platitudes flew from their lips, apologies for overall incompetence and ignorance and assurances that their loyalty to Xiao Zai and Zui was unparalleled.

Chu Yun had heard it all before, and knew how little weight those loaded words actually carried.

"I want to know why the esteemed physicians think his Majesty still hasn't woken up." He paused. "And I want solutions."

All of them looked among themselves, afraid of speaking up first. Finally, it was the extremely religious physician who thought Chu Yun's pregnancy was a sign of the Heavens favour who took a step forward.

"I haven't yet examined his Majesty, but from what I can see there might be some other factors at play." He took a step forward Xiao Zai, and seeing as Chu Yun did nothing to stop him, lifted one corner of his sheet and peered at the bandage visible under the fold of his inner robe. "Where did the arrow hit his Majesty?"

Chu Yun grit his teeth. It always pained him to remember just how close he had come to losing Xiao Zai. How just a few scant cun to the side could have meant the arrow hit his heart and he didn't survive.

"To the left of his heart," Chu Yun said, and then glared at the other physicians. "But I'm sure your colleagues will be able to come up with much more specific description."

At least they had the dignity of looking aggrieved. Chu Yun wasn't overly impressed with their meekness.

The physician rubbed at his chin. "Were any tests conducted for poisons?"

At that one of the senior royal physicians, a woman with a shock of iron grey hair nodded. "Of course, no poisons were found either on the arrow, or his Majesty's blood."

That was the part Chu Yun couldn't make sense of. Xiao Zai's injury was healing as expected, he was accepting food and water -- there was no reason why he shouldn't have woken up.

"What about for corpse powder?"

All heads turned towards the other extremely religious physician. The one who believed Chu Yun's pregnancy was a curse.

Chu Yun had no idea what corpse powder was, but the name sounded fucking ominous. A chill ran down his spine. He supported himself on the headboard of Xiao Zai's bead, hoping the physicians hadn't noticed.

"That's impossible," one of the royal physicians said, his lined face pinched in consternation. "There is no corpse powder in Zui! The practice of grounding up remains to make medicine and poison has been outlawed centuries ago. The punishments for defacing a grave are so severe, who would dare do such a thing?"

His discomfort was met with equal waves of shocked assent.

Chu Yun really hadn't heard of corpse power, so he assumed it was about as uncommon in Xin.

He gave the physician an appraising look. How had he jumped to the conclusion of corpse powder if it was that hard to find?

"Corpse powder is indeed uncommon in Zui, and even in Xin, but not so in Su," he said.

Chu Yun went very still. "How so? How do you know that?" His fingers tightened on the wooden headboard, his breath coming in anxious puffs.

Su.

It all circled back to Ru Long.

"The first time I came into contact with corpse powder and its debilitating effects was when I was called to assist a group of Su merchants who had just crossed into Zui territory and were showing very unusual symptoms." He paused.

"It wasn't apparently obvious what was wrong with them, and nothing I did worked, until one of them stopped screaming in pain enough to mutter the words 'corpse powder'."

Chu Yun shot another desperate look at Xiao Zai. He wasn't in pain. At least he didn't look like it. His expression was as tranquil as if he had fallen into a restful sleep.

Chu Yun swallowed around the knot in his throat. He didn't want to believe Xiao Zai could be in pain.

The physician dabbed at the sweat prickling his temples. "At the time I wasn't very familiar with corpse powder, but my master knew of its effects, and so was able to treat the victims. They all survived."

Before Chu Yun could even feel the relief of that statement, another of the physicians spoke up. "It's obvious his Majesty hasn't been afflicted by corpse powder. You said so yourself: the victims were screaming in pain. His Majesty is asleep.

Corpse powder causes a burning sensation in the victim's blood, that will make them scratch at their own skin almost madly, sometimes ripping off their own flesh in the process."

Chu Yun closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. He was going to kill Ru Long. Death by a thousand cuts wasn't bad enough for him, Chu Yun would have to come up with something worse.

"That's true, however, as far as we know that only happens if the poison is inhaled or ingested, which is how it's traditionally administered. Those merchants' carriage suffered an accident, and they ended up being doused with the corpse powder they were carrying.

However, if his Majesty was struck by an arrow dipped in the poison, or coated in a diluted solution of the poison, its effects would naturally be different."

There were no more questions from the other physicians after that.

All eyes turned to Xiao Zai.

They too knew the explanation made sense.

"My best guess was that the arrow was meant for his Majesty's heart, and the corpse powder was supposed to ensure his death, in case the archer missed."

It made sense. A single arrow, a single try, was all they had before the guards and everyone else descended on Xiao Zai to protect him. Of course Ru Long, or whoever he had enlisted to kill Xiao Zai, had to ensure that one arrow got the job done.

What better way than to use a hard to trace, rare poison?

"But he's not dead," Chu Yun said, trying to make his voice steady. "He is going to survive this. Their plan failed."

The physician nodded slowly, not yet ready to give Chu Yun hope. "It's possible they didn't know how the diluted form of the poison would react, or even what effects it would have if not inhaled or ingested." The man rubbed at his chin. "Either way, his Majesty is very lucky to be alive."

Cold sweat had already made Chu Yun's inner robes stick unpleasantly to his arms and back. He thought he had been prepared for the worse, but hearing that Xiao Zai was lucky to be comatose instead of dead wasn't making him feel all that optimistic.

"But there is an antidote. You and your master saved those people."

The physician nodded again, but turned to look into Chu Yun's eyes. "There is an antidote, and I can even find the ingredients soon, but there is a problem. The antidote is lethal for everyone not afflicted by corpse poison."

Chu Yun sucked on a sharp breath, feeling his knees threatening to buckle under him. He walked unsteadily to the end of Xiao Zai's bed, and took a seat, gripping the edge of the mattress tightly.

So his two options were keeping Xiao Zai in this bizarre statis state, hoping he would wake up one day, or risking his life using an antidote for a poison that might or not be affecting him.

"Everyone leave, I need to think," he said, gesturing towards the door, his gaze fixed on Xiao Zai's pale face.