Chapter 55 This Illness Cannot Be Cured by the Imperial Physicians

Xie Ning rode in the Grand Princess's carriage and entered the imperial palace without a single obstruction.

The guards at the gate, upon seeing the crest of the Grand Princess's estate, spared even the usual questioning and respectfully waved him through.

Xie Ning knew well that this was all thanks to Li Qingning's influence.

His current status as the prospective prince consort carried considerable weight within the palace walls.

Before long, Xie Ning arrived outside the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility.

Even before stepping inside, he sensed that the atmosphere was wrong.

The entire Palace of Compassionate Tranquility, both inside and out, was enveloped in a heavy, lifeless oppression.

Palace maids and eunuchs knelt all over the ground, every single one of them with their heads bowed, breathing so cautiously that they feared making the slightest sound.

The air was thick with a pungent medicinal odor, mingled with an indescribable, eerie presence.

A familiar young eunuch caught sight of Xie Ning and, as if seeing his savior, scrambled over in a flurry.

"Lord Xie, you have finally arrived. Her Royal Highness the Princess and His Majesty are both waiting for you inside."

Xie Ning nodded without wasting words and headed straight for the inner bedchamber.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, the oppressive atmosphere grew even heavier.

More than a dozen imperial physicians in official robes knelt on the floor like frost-bitten eggplants, their heads buried almost into the earth.

Among them was a familiar face—the imperial physician who had previously visited the Marquis's estate to treat him.

He had not expected even him to be summoned.

Young Emperor Li Qingzhi's eyes were red-rimmed, his handsome face etched with deep anxiety.

Upon seeing Xie Ning enter, he immediately rushed over.

"Brother-in-law!"

The title rolled off his tongue with complete naturalness and heartfelt sincerity.

Li Qingzhi truly regarded Xie Ning as one of his own family.

"Brother-in-law, please go and examine the Empress Mother. These imperial physicians are all useless; they can't figure out a thing."

Li Qingning stood beside the imperial couch as well, her expression equally grim.

It was only upon seeing Xie Ning that the worry in her eyes receded slightly, replaced by a trace of reliance.

"You're here."

"Mn."

Xie Ning acknowledged with a soft hum, first giving Li Qingzhi's shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Don't panic just yet, let me take a look first."

He walked over to the bedside, his gaze falling upon the Empress Dowager lying motionless on the bed.

At just a single glance, Xie Ning's brow furrowed tightly.

The Empress Dowager's eyes were tightly closed, her complexion ashen and lifeless, her lips chapped. The entire person resembled a piece of withered wood, devoid of the slightest vitality.

Yet, bizarrely, her chest rose and fell in a regular rhythm; though weak, her breathing was relatively steady.

This appearance certainly did not resemble ordinary critical illness.

"Speak, all of you. What is the situation?"

Xie Ning's gaze swept over the group of kneeling imperial physicians. His voice was not loud, but it caused everyone to instinctively look up.

Named explicitly, Head Physician Wang of the Imperial Hospital raised his head with a solemn expression.

After glancing at Li Qingning and the Emperor, he spoke in a deep voice: "Reporting to the Marquis. Yesterday, after Her Majesty the Empress Dowager returned from the Imperial Garden, she repeatedly complained of chest tightness and shortness of breath, and sent someone to summon me for an examination."

"At first, everything seemed fine, but the moment I arrived, the Empress Dowager suddenly lost consciousness. When I took her pulse, I found her pulse condition to be bizarre in the extreme."

A deep perplexity laced Head Physician Wang's voice.

"At times it surged like booming bells and great drums, strong and powerful, yet at other times it turned as fine as a gossamer thread, barely perceptible. This completely defies medical principles. In all my decades of practicing medicine, I have simply never heard of nor seen such a thing."

Another imperial physician quickly chimed in, "Indeed! We have exhausted every conceivable method—using ginseng to sustain her last breath, and golden needles to secure her vital essence—yet none of it has had any effect."

"Her Majesty's life force seems to be enveloped and sealed away by something; the medicinal potency we administer simply cannot penetrate inside!"

Listening to their accounts, Xie Ning already had a clear assessment in mind.

It seemed to match his initial guess.

This was not an illness at all.

"You may all withdraw."

Xie Ning waved a hand.

The cluster of imperial physicians acted as if granted a grand amnesty; they kowtowed and hurried out of the bedchamber.

They were truly terrified.

If they failed to cure the Empress Dowager and the Emperor flew into a rage, their little lives would be forfeit.

Now that Xie Ning had arrived, they could cleanly discard this blazing hot potato.

The imperial physicians cleared out swiftly, leaving only Xie Ning and the imperial siblings, Li Qingning and Li Qingzhi, inside the bedchamber.

Li Qingzhi looked at Xie Ning with hopeful eyes.

"Brother-in-law, how is it? Do you have a way?"

Li Qingning watched him anxiously as well, her palms slick with sweat.

Xie Ning did not reply immediately.

He reached out, gently lifted the Empress Dowager's wrist, and pressed two fingers against her pulse.

Simultaneously, he silently circulated the Innate Diagram of the Eight Trigrams, channeling an imperceptible sliver of golden light through his fingertips into the Empress Dowager's body.

The very moment that light entered, Xie Ning's expression changed instantly.

He finally understood why those imperial physicians had called her pulse condition bizarre.

Inside the Empress Dowager's body, two completely opposing forces were engaged in a frenzied collision.

One was the Empress Dowager's own majestic and regal aura, representing the imperial fortune of ruling the realm. Though powerful, this aura appeared somewhat chaotic.

The other force was frigid, venomous, and fraught with deathly stillness.

This malevolent qi resembled a massive net, tightly shrouding the Empress Dowager's own fortune, constantly devouring and consuming it.

Yet it was not as tyrannical as the Four Yin Destitute Formation previously used against Li Qingning, which could directly claim a person's life.

This malevolent qi acted more like a chronic poison.

It did not kill outright; instead, it eroded one's vitality, letting a person's vital energy and spirit drain away bit by bit until they ultimately became a living corpse capable of nothing more than breathing.

What a vicious method.

The perpetrator intended to keep the Empress Dowager in this perpetual state of illness—neither recovering nor dying, neither well nor dead.

The purpose of doing this was to bog Li Qingning down!

As long as the Empress Dowager remained unwell, Li Qingning, as a dutiful daughter, could never find peace of mind to handle other matters, let alone proceed with her marriage.

"It really matches my prior prediction down to the very last detail."

Xie Ning sneered inwardly, then withdrew his hand, his expression turning grave.

"Your Highness, Brother-in-law, how is Her Majesty the Empress Dowager actually doing?"

Seeing him remain silent for so long, Li Qingzhi was anxious enough to cry.

Xie Ning raised his head and looked at the worried imperial siblings.

He spoke in a deep voice: "This is not an illness. Her Majesty has been afflicted by an exceptionally sophisticated dark sorcery. Someone is using malevolent arts to continuously drain her vitality and imperial fortune."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingning swayed slightly, her beautiful face turning instantly deathly pale.

Although she had already suspected as much, hearing it confirmed directly from Xie Ning's lips still delivered a shock too heavy for her to bear.

"Then what should be done? Will the Empress Mother be alright?"

Xie Ning shook his head.

"She won't die for now."

His blunt delivery nevertheless allowed Li Qingning and Li Qingzhi to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"The perpetrator's goal is not to take Her Majesty's life, but to keep her perpetually bedridden. This sorcery has been crafted with extreme ingenuity, entangling itself deeply with the Empress Dowager's own fortune to form a bizarre equilibrium."

"To forcefully shatter it would very easily injure Her Majesty's fundamental foundation."