Chapter 303: Plotting Against Qian Renxue, Yu Tianlin's Plan
"Yu Yuanzhen?" Hearing Yu Tianlin mention Yu Yuanzhen, Dugu Bo shook his head and said, "I admit his cultivation is higher than mine, and he is better at fighting than I am, but this matter truly cannot be solved just by having strong combat power. Yu Yuanzhen can't do it, but you can."
"Oh?" Yu Tianlin put on a puzzled look. "Since Senior is so confident in me, then please tell me what this is about."
Dugu Bo slowly explained, "Starting about a year ago, Emperor Xue Ye's physical condition began to deteriorate for no apparent reason. His younger brother, Prince Xue Xing, realized these were signs of poisoning, so he invited me to treat him. However, I couldn't figure out what poison Emperor Xue Ye had been afflicted with."
Yu Tianlin immediately understood.
Although Dugu Bo specialized in poison, that was mainly because of the Green Phosphorus Snake poison carried by his Martial Soul. If the matter truly involved deep knowledge of pharmacology, he was only slightly better than the average person. So it was perfectly normal that he could not identify it.
Even so, Yu Tianlin did not interrupt and simply continued listening quietly.
"You must not assume that just because I couldn't identify the poison means Emperor Xue Ye wasn't poisoned." Dugu Bo's expression grew solemn. "Very few people know that Emperor Xue Ye himself possesses Spirit Saint level cultivation. With the body of a Spirit Saint, it is impossible for his condition to decline for no reason. There must be a cause."
"Previously, the Second Prince and Third Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire both died young from poisoning, and the symptoms they showed at death were exactly the same. Clearly, they were killed by the same poison. Connecting those incidents to Emperor Xue Ye's current state, we can basically confirm that he, too, has been poisoned. And the one behind it is naturally..."
"Naturally Xue Qinghe, right?" Yu Tianlin spoke first. "Although Xue Qinghe has been extremely careful and left no evidence, no one here is stupid. If Emperor Xue Ye, the Second Prince, and the Third Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire all die, then as Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe becomes the greatest beneficiary. So even without evidence, it can only be him."
"That's right, it must be Xue Qinghe." Seeing that Yu Tianlin had grasped the key point immediately, Dugu Bo nodded and continued, "If this had really been the work of an outside force targeting the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, then why would they not poison Crown Prince Xue Qinghe as well? Everyone else is poisoned, but Xue Qinghe alone is fine. That suspicion alone is almost enough to confirm it was him."
In the end, Qian Renxue was still a Spirit Master. Although her disguise as Xue Qinghe was nearly flawless, the way she thought was still closer to that of a Spirit Master, not someone deeply versed in politics. That was why she had not gone far enough.
She should have either poisoned the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng, as well, leaving the Heaven Dou Empire with no other heir. At that point, even if everyone knew she was behind it, there would still be no one else but Xue Qinghe to inherit the throne.
Or she should have been even more ruthless and poisoned herself as well. That way, Xue Beng, as the only surviving prince left untouched, would immediately become the most suspicious person. All the blame could then be shifted onto him, allowing Xue Qinghe to benefit from the chaos and ascend the throne smoothly.
But Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, had chosen neither of those methods. In order to avoid making things too obvious, she left Xue Beng alive. And she had not considered poisoning herself to clear suspicion either. That left a huge flaw.
Even so, at present, everyone only believed Xue Qinghe had become impatient to take the throne. No one had yet realized that the real Xue Qinghe was already dead, and that the current one was an impostor.
These thoughts flashed through Yu Tianlin's mind. After roughly sorting out the situation, he looked at Dugu Bo and asked, "I more or less understand the situation now. Then, Senior, what exactly do you want me to do?"
"Help me identify the poison Emperor Xue Ye has been afflicted with," Dugu Bo said directly. "You were able to recognize all those medicinal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and you even helped Yan Yan and me resolve the poison issues in our bodies. Though I hate to admit it, in matters involving poison, you are indeed better than me. If it's you, then you should be able to figure out the source of Emperor Xue Ye's poisoning and help him recover."
Dugu Bo spoke extremely earnestly, but Yu Tianlin found this rather absurd.
Senior Dugu, you really think too highly of me. I don't actually understand any of this.
It seemed that the impression left on Dugu Bo after helping him resolve the poison in his body had truly been too deep.
Although Yu Tianlin himself did not understand this sort of poison problem, he did know someone who definitely would.
Yes, the person Yu Tianlin was thinking of was naturally Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan.
As far as Yu Tianlin knew, the poison Emperor Xue Ye was suffering from now should be a mixed poison, and that mixed poison just so happened to come from the Breaking Clan.
Back when the Clear Sky Clan sealed itself away, the Breaking Clan, as one of its affiliated clans, was attacked by Spirit Hall. During that period, Yang Wudi's younger brother was abducted by Spirit Hall, and for some unknown reason later became a traitor. This mixed poison had most likely been provided by Yang Wudi's younger brother.
In other words, Emperor Xue Ye was currently suffering from a poison originating from the Breaking Clan, and Yang Wudi, as the Clan Chief of the Breaking Clan, definitely had a way to neutralize it.
However, although Yu Tianlin knew Yang Wudi could help Emperor Xue Ye recover, should he really tell Dugu Bo?
Yu Tianlin fell into thought.
To Yu Tianlin, things were already very clear. Now that he knew he was the inheritor of the Thunder God, Qian Renxue, the future inheritor of the Angel God, would naturally become his competitor. Qian Renxue had her grandfather backing her, so her speed in inheriting godhood would definitely be extremely fast. Yu Tianlin, on the other hand, had to reforge the shattered Thunder God God Position himself, which was much more troublesome by comparison.
Fortunately, Yu Tianlin knew Qian Renxue's background, while Qian Renxue knew nothing about his.
Since that was the case, Yu Tianlin naturally had to start scheming against Qian Renxue and find a way to delay her progress toward godhood. This current poisoning incident was an excellent point of intervention.
Didn't Qian Renxue need to infiltrate the Heaven Dou Imperial Family? Then he had to find a way to prolong the amount of time she remained in disguise. That meant her identity absolutely could not be exposed too early.
To achieve that, he obviously could not push Qian Renxue too hard. He had to make her constantly feel that success was just within reach, that she was getting closer and closer to taking the throne.
Just like in the original story, when Emperor Xue Ye was already close to death, Dugu Bo suddenly brought Tang San and Yang Wudi to treat him. That made Qian Renxue uneasy enough that she personally appeared and tried to stop them. In the end, she failed, her identity was exposed, and she could only return to Spirit Hall and begin accepting the Angel God's inheritance.
If she could not continue working to seize the throne of the Heaven Dou Empire, then she could only go home and inherit the Angel God position. That outcome would be far too absurd...
Therefore, Yu Tianlin could neither allow Qian Renxue's identity to be exposed and force her into failure, nor could he allow her to smoothly seize the throne of the Heaven Dou Empire. The balance between those two outcomes was extremely delicate, and Yu Tianlin needed to plan it very carefully.
Speaking of it this way, Yu Tianlin was actually even more worried about this matter than Qian Renxue herself…
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