A four-year-old medical prodigy descended to the mortal realm, and the entire capital sought her tre

Zhao Jinzhong led Zhou Ruo closer to the window of the house and peered into the room through the crack in the window.

An Chang kept his eyes on the petals on Zhao Jinzhong's body the whole way, and followed wherever the petals moved.

Zhou Ruo saw the person inside the room clearly and recognized him.

She excitedly patted Zhao Jinzhong's head and said, "Brother, it's that stinky guy's father!"

It seems that Zhou Ruo has a deep impression of Ling San and the Duke of Ling.

After all, the first time in his life he was imprisoned was thanks to the Duke of Ling.

If it weren't for the Dowager Princess's intervention, Zhao Jinzhong and Zhou Ruo would have faced who knows what.

An Chang sighed softly, "My God, it really is the Duke of Ling!"

Inside the room, Duke Ling and Lü Qingchen were talking.

Lu Qingchen: "Your Majesty, your complexion has been getting better and better recently. The longevity potion you are currently taking has not yet achieved the effect of granting you immortality."

Once the yang energy of forty-nine boys has been gathered, the Duke's health will be assured! He will surely regain his youthful vigor and prowess!

Duke Ling waved his hand and said, "I don't want to regain my virility. I'll be grateful as long as I'm not troubled by this honey-drain syndrome!"

"However, Master Lü, you need to speed up the refining of this Elixir of Immortality. Consort Ling has already spoken to the Emperor."

Lü Qingchen: "As long as the Duke has enough male offspring, the Elixir of Immortality will be refined in no time!"

Duke Ling looked slightly displeased, feeling that Lü Qingchen was holding him back.

"Now, two to three boys are sent to you every day. The male orphans in Tonggu County are almost all gone."

Lü Qingchen: "Your Excellency is too kind. With your extraordinary abilities, a few dozen boys are nothing to you."

The Duke of Ling's face instantly fell.

Not long after his son Lingyu died suddenly from syphilis, his honeydew syndrome worsened.

He considered asking Zhou Ruo for treatment, but then he remembered that he had already fallen out with her.

The Dowager Consort never actually pursued the matter of his wrongdoing in confining Zhao Jinzhong and his sister.

He simply couldn't bring himself to go to the then-General's Mansion, now the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion, to ask for help again.

Just when he was in unbearable pain, he returned to Tonggu County and unexpectedly met Lü Qingchen.

Lu Qingchen could tell at a glance that the Duke of Ling was of noble birth, but suffered from an illness.

Upon further inquiry, it was learned that Duke Ling was suffering from honeydew syndrome, and Lü Qingchen immediately gave Duke Ling a medicine to take.

After it took effect, Duke Ling went back to find Lü Qingchen.

After a few visits, the two gradually became acquainted.

After learning of Duke Ling's identity as a duke, Lü Qingchen added another ingredient to Duke Ling's medicine.

Duke Ling gradually became dependent on Lü Qingchen's medicine.

One day, the Duke of Ling asked Lü Qingchen if there was any medicine that could cure honeydew syndrome and eliminate the problem forever.

Lu Qingchen then briefly recounted the matter of the Longevity Water to the Duke of Ling.

Unexpectedly, the Duke of Ling was greatly encouraged and very interested after hearing this.

He also said that he was willing to spend a lot of money to buy Lü Qingchen's Longevity Water.

Lu Qingchen felt the time was right and told Duke Ling that the refining of the Longevity Water required the assistance of a virgin's energy.

He said that he was currently stuck because he did not have enough virgin energy to refine his technique.

Duke Ling immediately thought of the orphanage in Tonggu County, where a cousin of his was the head of the orphanage.

At first, he thought that Lü Qingchen was just using the yang energy of a virgin to practice his skills, and he didn't pay much attention to it.

Furthermore, Lü Qingchen also stated that the boy was "borrowed" and would be returned immediately after use.

Duke Ling also brought children out from other orphanages through his connections with the head of the ancestral hall and the various orphanages.

He received ten in total.

However, two months passed, and none of the children who had been borrowed were returned.

When the Duke of Ling's cousin, the head of the hall, visited the Duke's mansion to inquire about the child's whereabouts, the Duke of Ling remembered that he had borrowed the child.

When asked, Lü Qingchen told him that once the boy was used, he was done and abandoned.

Duke Ling was furious: "Abandoned? Daoist Lü, this is a human life!"

"You casually said 'abandoned,' and ten children are gone? How am I supposed to explain this to those gang leaders?"

Lu Qingchen disagreed, "Your Excellency, you are right! They are all orphans, without fathers or mothers, who cares?"

As long as those hall masters keep quiet, these children can be considered as having come to this world, and I will perform a ritual to help them pass on to the afterlife!

Although Duke Ling felt it was inappropriate, he did not want to give up halfway since things had already come to this point.

After all, the allure of the Elixir of Immortality was immense for him.

Moreover, so many children have already died. If we just give up like this, wouldn't those children have died in vain?

Two months later, the Duke of Ling heard from somewhere that the elixir of immortality given to the Emperor by the Imperial Preceptor was about to lose its effect.

Duke Ling was overjoyed, thinking that Heaven had opened its eyes and that it was truly divine assistance!

He conspired with Lü Qingchen to refine the Elixir of Immortality and present it to the Emperor.

At this point, Lü Qingchen felt that the longevity technique he had painstakingly created over half his life was finally about to see the light of day!

He finally had the opportunity to present his elixir of immortality to the emperor.

The Duke of Ling, however, wanted to use the Elixir of Immortality to ensure that Consort Ling's position in the harem would be unshakeable.

In this way, his brother-in-law, this "meritorious official," would naturally be promoted as well.

Duke Ling and Lü Qingchen hit it off, with one responsible for providing more boys and the other for refining the longevity elixir as soon as possible.

As a result, more and more boys are going missing in various orphanages.

Until the Grand Preceptor met with misfortune and Consort Yu was executed, the Duke of Ling believed that the Longevity Water could become a substitute for the elixir of immortality.

He even told Lü Qingchen that once the Longevity Water was successfully refined, Lü Qingchen would have the potential to become the next Imperial Preceptor.

At this point, Lü Qingchen's desire to refine the Longevity Water reached its peak.

The number of missing boys has increased from one every few days to two or three a day.

There will probably be more to come.

After confirming the crimes of Duke Ling and Lü Qingchen, Zhao Jinzhong resolved to bring them to justice.

Let's also settle the score with Duke Ling for imprisoning him and Zhou Ruo back then!

However, his power alone, the power of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, and even the power of the Prince of An's mansion were not enough to destroy these two treacherous people.

It has to be the Crown Prince, it has to be the Emperor.

Lu Qingchen and Duke Ling came out of the house and headed straight for the backyard, followed by Zhao Jinzhong and An Chang.

Finally, Lü Ling and his companion arrived at the alchemy room where Lü Qingchen was refining the art of immortality.

Zhao Jinzhong and An Chang followed the two directly into the alchemy room.

In a corner of the alchemy room, seven or eight boys huddled together, shivering.

The child that Yu Zhong stole from the orphanage last night was among them, even though the head of the orphanage had prepared him mentally.

However, he still seemed very scared in such an environment.

Three or four children were already on the verge of death, lying motionless on the ground.

It's estimated that after today, they'll be sent to the gate of Yunxu Temple.

Zhou Ruo sat on Zhao Jinzhong's shoulders, looking at those pitiful children, feeling very sad.

Some of them were even younger than her.

Just then, a gentle breeze came from nowhere and made the blade of grass on Zhou Ruo's clothes flutter.

The fine grass brushed just past the tip of Zhou Ruo's nose.

"Achoo!" Zhou Ruo couldn't help but sneeze, startling the dozen or so people in the pill room at the same time.