Venerated Venomous Consort

The emperor stood up immediately, ”Good! Very good! Very good! Little Xijiu, you did not disappoint me; proving my doubts wrong!”

He turned to Celestial Master You and Tian Jiyue, ”Celestial master, how was it? This time, little Xijiu has won, right?”

Tian Jiyue shifted his focus on Gu Xijiu for a moment before he slightly nodded his head, ”An unalloyed victory for Miss Gu!”

The people upstairs were still steady as most of them were court officials. They congratulated and clapped their hands when Gu Xijiu won the match.

In contrast, the people downstairs consisted of mostly the general public. Therefore, when the news of Gu Xijiu winning the game had spread, there was an outburst of cheers. Some even set off firecrackers along the street to celebrate her success.

Meanwhile, Gu Xixi was very pale and she could not say anything but stare blankly at Gu Xijiu putting the alchemy furnace into her bag.

Furthermore, she was feeling ashamed to stay any longer. She then whistled to beckon her crane and flew away in dejection.

Gu Xietian grunted coldly, ”She got away so easily, without bearing the brunt yet!”

Gu Xijiu sipped on her cup of tea, but did not say anything.

Did she really not face the consequences?

Even if Gu Xixi had lost the match, it seemed like she did not lose anything because that prize was given by the fourth prince, Rong Chu.

However, what she lost was her reputation as an expert and she could no longer act like she was a professional in this kingdom anymore…

Coming from this perspective, she had lost a lot indeed!

As the method of Gu Xijiu in saving the two brothers were too miraculous, Imperial Physician Zhou could not help but ask Gu Xijiu for advice, ”Miss Gu, what was the poison that the two children were actually suffering from?”

Gu Xijiu shook her head, ”They weren’t poisoned and were not even sick. They were actually under a curse.”

The people were surprised. The emperor continued, ”What curse was it?”

Gu Xijiu laughed, ”It was actually a psychological curse. The two children could have bumped into a strange person or something in the woods that put a Dead Curse on them…”

As they were confused, Gu Xijiu explained, ”The Dead Curse is actually a type of psychological curse. The cursed victim will be first forced to eat an Illusory Poison so that he could see himself dying in the illusion. Then, the enchanter will put the same curse on him again after he wakes up from the illusion. Though this Illusory Poison is not fatal, it can cause the victim to be mute for three days and unable to feel his own hands - the feeling of being handicapped. The effects of this Illusory Poison can last for three days only but under the strong psychological influence, the victim strongly believes that this curse will kill him and he is unable to say anything about this till he dies. Through this self-influence, he will gradually lose his body function…and end up losing his life on the specified date of this curse.”

(Note from author: This type of curse is not entirely a work of fiction by the author himself, as it also exists in this real world. It’s a very complex psychological influence…)

Because the victim will be psychologically influenced to think that he is already on his deathbed , this curse was therefore, extremely difficult to be lifted.

Unless the person trying to break the curse was a professional and an expert in utilizing poisons and psychology warfare.

She could also gain complete trust from the cursed victim before going through a series of guidance to achieve the corresponding effect.

The symptoms caused by this Illusory Poison was very similar to the Jipin Poison and thus, could not be differentiated easily.

Therefore, Gu Xixi thought that these brothers were poisoned with the Jipin Poison. The antidote she used was also another type of poison; one that would cure them perfectly if the two brothers were truly poisoned with the Jipin Poison.