Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 489 - 488: The True Target

"Are there others?" Lu Qing paused for a moment before asking again.

"All those women had cloud-shaped patches on their bodies, seemingly related to the poison," Zhu Yu replied.

"Hmm, you mentioned it correctly," Yan Daoxin said, having just assigned those eunuchs tasks, now waiting for them to bring what he wanted. He could finally share his recent findings with them, "King Fan’s not suffering from some strange illness; he’s been poisoned to the point that it’s deep in his marrow.

This poison is particularly peculiar. In each elixir pill, the amount added is not much. Initially, there won’t be any anomalies. It takes years of gradual accumulation in the body for symptoms to manifest.

Moreover, during the early stages of consumption, the trace amount of poison won’t have any impact. Instead, some of the rare and precious herbs in the elixir can make the user feel robust and energetic in a short time. This lulls them into a false sense of security, eliminating any concerns about the substance.

At this stage, even if someone took his pulse, it would be challenging to detect anything unusual.

By the time the poison starts to erode him bit by bit, it’s usually too late when one realizes something is wrong."

"Did those women also take some medicine? Why did they die during the process?" Zhu Yu was astounded by the death of the two women earlier. She couldn’t comprehend why King Fan, who directly consumed the slow-acting poison, still clung to life, while the women who served him died swiftly or slowly.

"This is the most bizarre aspect of the poison; it manifests differently in men and women," Yan Daoxin explained, "In a man’s body, the poison creates an illusion of strength while the body weakens. Under the elixir’s influence, the body deteriorates, but outwardly he appears healthy and vigorous."

"Yet, in women, the same poison when transmitted, is as potent as arsenic, unmatched even by lethal substances like red-crowned crane blood."

Zhu Yu, hearing this, roughly understood: "So, initially, those women could survive for over half a year because King Fan himself hadn’t accumulated much poison. Each transmission contained only a small amount, not enough to kill instantly, but eroded their bodies slowly until it couldn’t be sustained anymore, causing their demise.

Eventually, when King Fan’s poison levels rose significantly, it became lethal for the unfortunate women."

"Exactly! That’s the logic," Yan Daoxin nodded, "These women weren’t even worth considering as King Fan’s discarded substances; they were purely unlucky.

The lust-inducing effects, even when crafting the elixir, were quite immoral. The person who concocted it added Toad Palace Flower to stir desires, combined with supplement herbs meant to mask the poison, turning even the physically frail into someone robust."

"Those cloud-shaped deep purplish-brown patches on their bodies... are they signs of poisoning?

If so, does this imply that if a woman is mildly poisoned, she may also show similar cloud-shaped patches, but fewer and lighter in color?" Zhu Yu asked.

"Naturally, if otherwise, merely favoring once wouldn’t kill the woman. Yet, those patches would appear on her skin, and even if the served ignored it, they themselves would realize something’s amiss early on." Yan Daoxin confirmed.

He then turned towards Lu Qing, wearing a veiled hat: "Although these elixirs are painstakingly crafted, upon careful scrutiny, flaws are quite obvious.

At the very outset, King Fan’s favorite concubines died within months of serving him.

Not just one, others too passed away after similar periods with different concubines!

This was fortunate only because King Fan didn’t seem to care much about his sleeping partners. Their deaths weren’t investigated deeply, allowing him to continue taking the elixir until reaching this troubling stage.

Should he have been more suspicious, or these women held positions beyond mere favorites, holding some noble status, sudden deaths would raise alarms, inevitably leading to investigations and potentially uncovering the cause."

With this said, Zhu Yu realized.

Such an elixir, rare in ingredients and unusually potent, intricately fused effects to ensure users recognized illness too late, leaving others helpless, is likely not merely targeting King Fan.

Considering King Fan’s situation, having consumed for years with only recent sign of discrepancy, the poison indeed worked subtly, achieving gradual intoxication.

But his beloved beauties barely survived half a year after he started consuming the elixir.

If King Fan didn’t seem to disregard everyone but himself, suspicion would’ve arisen earlier.

Unlike her father Zhu Cheng, who wouldn’t overlook as concubines passed within months at a time.

Consider if such incidents weren’t in Prince Mansion but occurred within the palace?

Concubines there, holding noble status unlike common folks outside, supported by powerful houses, except for Princess Consort Duan, each one had influential connections.

Within the palace, they could easily reach Emperor Jin, even lowest beauties, sudden unexplained deaths bearing cloud-shaped bruises and spasms would ring many alarms, demanding thorough investigation and conclusions.

Clearly, Yan Daoxin couldn’t openly state it, but his meaning was clear—the true target of Yishaen, the High Priest who concocted the elixir, was not King Fan.

Evidenced by the calm passing years in the palace, adjustments were made to the elixir even after using King Fan for trial."