The Shining Star Above The Heaven

Chapter 260: Treating Hector

The cleanup operation in capital city was still ongoing, with Emperor Durand overseeing it. Suddenly, he sensed a presence in Aldrian’s mansion and turned to look in that direction. His eyes widened as he saw Aldrian appear with two other people. The individuals with Aldrian were unconscious, showing signs of depleted energy. Emperor Durand immediately recognized them—they were Master Dan of the Alchemist Association and Grand Duke Gouvard.

Emperor Durand immediately approached Aldrian and asked,

"Young Aldrian, are you okay? I heard you faced the Envy Devil. He is a truly troublesome opponent, and to think he came to your place!"

Aldrian simply smiled and nodded at Emperor Durand.

"I’m okay, Your Majesty. The Envy Devil has already been taken care of, he will not disturb us anymore. Anyway, I brought a gift for you. These men are one of the main reasons the chaos in the Doria Empire happened. I will leave them in Your Majesty’s hands, as it is your right to judge them. I will also share the information I obtained from them, which may greatly assist with the investigation," Aldrian said.

Emperor Durand frowned but nodded in response.

"Alright, I will take care of it. I will surely punish those truly behind all this chaos," he said, looking at Grand Duke Gouvard and Master Dan. "Now, can you check on Hector? His condition is critical."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Now that the problem here has been taken care of, I can check His Highness’s condition."

After that, they moved toward the imperial palace at their fastest speed.

---------------------------------

Inside one of the main bedrooms of the imperial palace, Lewis paced anxiously, biting his thumbnail. His face showed an angry expression, and his hair was disheveled from how many times he had scratched it. His mind was in turmoil, overwhelmed by how the situation had deteriorated so quickly.

"What could be wrong? What happened? Why has the situation turned so much worse?" he thought.

He had followed the plan to poison the emperor at the decided time, but he was initially shocked by the sudden change in plans. However, when he heard the emperor’s curse break, he finally realized that this action had to be taken. They needed to act more brazenly and simply wait for the emperor to die before the coup could begin.

Tonight, the combined forces of the nobles under Grand Duke Gouvard will take control of the capital and the imperial palace. By the next day, he will claim the throne as the new emperor. They have already secured many important positions, and with the help of the devils, it should be easy and simple.

But everything was spiraling out of control. The poison wasn’t working on the emperor, the underground base had been discovered, and the infiltrating troops of the nobles were being captured one by one. He had also lost contact with the devils who were supposed to provide backup, leaving him essentially on his own.

Even if he had successfully poisoned his elder brother, it wouldn’t affect anything in the short term, as the plan was in disarray. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his treacherous act would be discovered, and he would have to face the consequences.

Knock, knock!

He heard the door of his room was knocked, followed by the sound of a maid’s voice.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has asked the entire imperial family to gather in the First Prince’s room."

Hearing that his father had called everyone together, his heartbeat quickened. Did his father already catch wind of his cooperation with the devils? No, it couldn’t be confirmed. It was too soon to conclude that his father knew about his actions. If his father questioned him about it, he could simply brush it off. After all, his act as the useless prince had worked on everyone, including his own family.

Not long after, he finally emerged from his room, but his expression had already returned to what his family was used to—the timid, weak look they were familiar with. Inwardly, his mind remained focused on the future, so he tried to calm himself.

After he arrived at Hector’s room, he found his mother imperial consort Veronica, Empress Claudia, his elder brother Alderia, and his father already there. However, there was also one unfamiliar face among them, someone who seemed to be treating Hector. He was a young man, and although he didn’t know who he was, when the man turned to meet his gaze, he suddenly saw him smile.

He didn’t know why he felt uneasy when he saw that smile, so he brushed it off and remained silent like the others. It seemed that the young man was just another physician trying to save his elder brother. He was confident that there was nothing the young man could do—the poison had already reached its fatal phase, and since Hector was only at the King stage, the poison would kill him more quickly.

He could only hope that the young man wouldn’t find anything that pointed back to him.

The young man seemed to continue concentrating on treating Hector, but Aldrian, who knew how Lewis was feeling and what he was thinking, found it amusing. From the memories of the people he had just defeated, Aldrian had finally uncovered the identity of an important collaborator within the imperial family—someone many wouldn’t expect to be an actual snake. He would expose this bastard’s true nature, but first, he needed to address Hector’s condition.

After checking Hector’s entire body, Aldrian finally realized just how fatal the poison was. It had already spread throughout Hector’s body, severely damaging his dantian and meridians. Some of his internal organs had begun to rot, and his energy was dissipating little by little. The poison’s effect was brutal, and if Hector weren’t a King stage cultivator, he would have been dead earlier.

After finishing his examination of Hector’s body, Aldrian began to inject his energy into him. His fight with Wei Zhi—well, if it could even be called a fight—had given him new insight into his body and golden energy. He realized that his energy was potent enough to neutralize even the most powerful poison, like Wei Zhi’s.

That devil had unleashed all kinds of poison attacks on him, and Aldrian had even allowed some of them to enter his body to feel their effects. However, once the poison entered his orifices or pores, the energy inside his body instantly purified it. No poison, no matter what kind, could withstand his energy.

Because of this, he was now confident that no poison could affect him, and his energy could detoxify any poison, even if it wasn’t inside his body.

He continued injecting his golden energy and could sense the poison in various parts of Hector’s body starting to disappear. It began from the wrist where he touched, flowing across Hector’s body. Each time his golden energy passed over a broken meridian or inner organ, that part seemed like a dried land being nourished by water and nutrients after a long time.

They rejuvenated and began mending themselves as the poison couldn’t resist his powerful golden energy. Hector’s expression also started to ease, the pain that had been present since he was poisoned slowly fading. His breathing became more stable, and his heartbeat began to return to normal. Everyone watched this development with joy and relief—well, except for one person.

His eyes trembled as he watched this ridiculous development. Who is this man? How can someone like him detoxify a poison that even the best physicians in the imperial family couldn’t cure? He had never known someone like this existed. Where did his father find him? Why hadn’t he been told about this person? And why didn’t the devils seem to know about him? He couldn’t believe that such a person existed without the devils knowing. If someone like this were on his father’s side, they would surely be planning something else.

After two minutes of silence, Aldrian finally released his grip from Hector’s wrist and looked at his countenance, which was now showing a healthy hue. Not long after, Hector’s closed eyes trembled, and slowly, he opened them.

Empress Claudia, seeing her son finally open his eyes, immediately approached him with tears in her eyes. Aldrian, noticing this, gave her space so she could be with Hector and then stood near Emperor Durand.

"My son!"

She said, while grabbing Hector’s hand. Hector, still feeling as if he were dreaming, felt confused but tried to rise from his lying position. It felt like he had been in a long fight against himself after suddenly experiencing tremendous pain in his heart and dantian, which almost made him faint in the dining room. He tried to fight the pain that slowly took over his body, but he felt weaker and weaker, eventually losing consciousness.

He felt as though he had almost died, but suddenly a warm sensation flowed throughout his body. He felt comfortable and wished he could bask in this feeling forever, but just as quickly, the sensation stopped, and he opened his eyes. He was now in his own room, leaving him confused about what had just happened.

Seeing Hector finally in good condition, Aldrian glanced at Lewis and inwardly smiled. It was time to clean up the imperial family!