Just after the two disciples had walked away, a night breeze suddenly swept past. A strange medicinal scent, faint and elusive, drifted from the direction of the forbidden grounds.
The smell was very faint, with a fishy sweetness to it, appearing and disappearing in the night breeze.
Qin Jue frowned.
In his previous life, he had been a Sword Dao Grandmaster, but he had also known a thing or two about poisons. There was something wrong with this smell.
Following the scent, he approached, swiftly weaving through the darkness.
Before long, he saw a scene that sent a jolt through him.
In a secluded corner on the outskirts of the forbidden grounds, a steward from the Second Branch was exchanging something with a suspicious figure in black robes.
By the faint moonlight, he made out one man's profile. It was a manager from the Second Branch whom he had seen beside Yao Qingsong during the day. The other man was shrouded from head to toe in black, his face hidden, but a strong herbal smell clung to him.
"Did you bring it?" the Second Branch manager asked in a low voice, sounding anxious.
"I did."
The black-robed man pulled a palm-sized paper packet from inside his robes and handed it over. "This is one course of Calming Spirit Powder. Remember, you must control the dosage. If you use too much, that old geezer will drop dead on the spot, and we'll all be finished. Make it look like he's gravely ill and slowly wasting away until his essence runs dry."
The Second Branch manager carefully took the packet, his hand trembling slightly. "Don't worry. We've been doing this for half a year without a hitch. We just have to drag it out another ten days or half a month. Once