coobybook Chapter 117 The Duke Blocks the Way
Chapter 117 The Duke Blocks the Way
He turned his head to look at Duke Liu, and pursed his lips slightly.
"You want to use her to threaten me?" Gu Liang said coldly. "Speak, what do you want from me?"
"I love dealing with intelligent people." Duke Liu's smile held a hint of provocation. "Even the cold-hearted Prince Liang would bend over for a woman. Prince Liang already has the White Tiger Army under his command, so why not give up the Iron Pagoda?"
"If you are willing to give up, I will tell you everything and guarantee that I will not pose any threat to your queen, nor will I do anything to the Jiang family."
"Your Excellency is far too arrogant," Gu Liang scoffed. "Are you... courting death?"
He suddenly reached out and grabbed Duke Liu by the neck.
Before he could react, Duke Liu's throat tightened, and he managed to utter the words "King of Liang" before his face turned red.
Gu Liang raised an eyebrow and smiled.
The men in black around them all wanted to step forward.
Gu Liang tightened her grip on his wrist, and Duke Liu was almost unable to breathe.
He glanced at the men in black around him and let out a mocking snort.
"If you want him dead, come forward. I will give him a satisfactory death."
Duke Liu's brows were tightly furrowed, and his face was deathly pale. He struggled violently, "Are you... threatening me...?"
Gu Liang loosened her grip slightly, raised her chin slightly, and remained calm and composed.
In those dark eyes, there seemed to be an abyss, a light capable of swallowing everything.
The Duke of Liu was so frightened by his gaze that a chill ran down his spine.
"Don't you want to know about your mother's death? Haven't you ever suspected her?"
Gu Liang's lips curled into a playful smile.
"What a joke." Gu Liang gripped Duke Liu's hand tightly, bowing slightly. "My lord, have I ever threatened you?"
His words were like sharp blades plunged into icy water, inspiring awe and fear.
Before Duke Liu could react, Gu Liang roughly shoved a pill into his mouth.
The sour and bitter taste spread in his mouth, and Duke Liu's expression suddenly changed.
"You...!" Duke Liu coughed a few times, "What did you feed me?!"
"Don't worry, Your Highness," Gu Liang raised an eyebrow, "The pain from the poison is temporary."
The moment he turned his head, a smile appeared on his lips, but it vanished in an instant.
"If you dare to lay a finger on Jiang Zhi, or touch the Jiang family, I guarantee you will soon suffer a fate worse than death. If the Duke doesn't believe me, you are welcome to try. You will come to me in person to beg for my forgiveness."
Suddenly Gu Liang stretched out his foot, and Duke Liu felt a pain in his foot, and his knees went weak.
With a splash, Duke Liu bent down and looked down to find himself lying in the rain, water splashing and wetting his hair.
His knees were throbbing with pain, but he struggled to support himself as the men in black caught up from behind.
A guard in black approached him and asked, "Lord Duke, what should we do now?"
Duke Liu clutched his chest with one hand and rubbed his knee with the other, gritting his teeth as he watched Gu Liang disappear into the distance, and cursed angrily, "Chase after him! You piece of trash!"
"Yes."
Before he could finish speaking, his face turned deathly pale with pain. An unbearable agony overwhelmed his thoughts, and only one scream echoed in his head, "It hurts so much!"
He felt as if every inch of his skin was being torn into a million pieces. "Quick, go and call a doctor for me!"
"Ah—! What on earth did Gu Liang feed me?!"
Gu Liang turned and left, and the men in black following behind her were all dealt with by Gu Liang's bodyguards.
After a clap of thunder, the rain poured down again, and the pond in the Prince's Palace was covered with thousands of ripples of all sizes, interlocking and overlapping.
At noon, a new meal was prepared and served to Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi stared blankly, as if he was thinking about something.
"Your Highness?" Wu Shi reminded her, "Your Highness, this is something I just made, please try it."
Jiang Zhi, regaining his senses, responded.
The Duke used Gu Liang's mother as a threat? She remembered her cousin telling her that Gu Liang's mother died in despair, so it seemed that this matter was not so simple.
Could it be the work of the Imperial Noble Consort? Jealous of Gu Liang's mother? She's definitely not that simple.
What does the Duke want? The Duke and the Imperial Noble Consort are definitely connected. Since he threatens Gu Liang, she can threaten him too.
Night falls.
In the Duke's private room, the man tossed and turned on the bed, weakly saying, "Quickly...quickly go find a doctor..."
Hearing the commotion, Madam Liu rushed over and saw that Duke Liu was covered in sweat. She hurriedly went to him. "Master, Master, what's wrong?"
"Go quickly...go quickly and summon the imperial physician."
"Yes, Madam." The guard received the order and hurriedly went to fetch the royal physician.
Duke Liu was still cursing, "It was the Prince of Liang who poisoned me! He wanted me dead!"
"The Prince of Liang?" Madam Liu frowned. "Why would he poison you for no reason? Oh dear, sir, how did you end up offending the Prince of Liang?"
Seeing Liu's foolishness, Duke Liu didn't bother to explain.
Before long, the Duke's physician rushed over.
The physician first took his pulse, and then used silver needles to test for poison.
Duke Liu's face was ashen, and blood trickled from the corner of his lips. He gripped the physician's hand tightly, "Have you been able to determine what poison I have been poisoned with?"
The color of the silver needle in his hand changed, and the physician immediately knelt down.
"Master, this poison is called the Hundred Calamities Pill. It takes effect every three days and is extremely potent, causing excruciating pain. Only an antidote can relieve the pain."
Upon hearing this, the Duke nearly fainted and asked again, "What if we don't use the antidote? Do you have a way to detoxify?"
The physician shook his head repeatedly, "This poison is difficult to cure."
"The antidote is usually in the hands of the person who administered the drug. If it is not administered on time, the person will likely die with a ferocious expression and blood flowing from all seven orifices."
Duke Liu could hardly believe what he was hearing.
However, Gu Liang is indeed the kind of person who would do such a thing.
He knew his mother's death had nothing to do with the Jiang family; he just wanted to use her to threaten him and see if he would give in. He never expected that the Jiang family would poison him, and with such a terrible poison at that.
He looked at the doctor kneeling on the ground, his voice trembling, "What will happen if we don't use the antidote?"
"The antidote for this poison is hard to find; even if it were prepared, it would take ten or twenty years."
Upon receiving the answer, Duke Liu trembled all over, enduring the pain, and said, "No matter what method you use, I want you to concoct it as soon as possible, or I will slaughter your entire family."
"Master, please calm down. It's not that I'm unwilling, but the antidote for this is something even the people of Yaogui Valley might not be able to produce immediately. This is the first time you've been poisoned; if you don't get the antidote within three days, I'm afraid..."
Duke Liu was not only angry, but also afraid.
"A bunch of useless trash! What use are you to my household?"
Liu, who was standing to the side, was also frightened by the doctor's words. She had never heard of such a poison in the world.
She carefully wiped the sweat from Duke Liu's brow with a handkerchief, her face full of worry as she asked, "Could it be... that we should beg the Prince of Liang for the antidote? But will he really give it to us?"
Duke Liu was in so much pain that he was paralyzed on the bed, muttering a name under his breath.
"Gu Liang!"