Chapter 1074, All Poisoned

Translator: Silavin

 

As the cries of several Elders rang out, the gazes of the many Elves within the great hall swept towards the table where Fiery sat.

 

At that moment, nearly all of the Elf Deacons present had collapsed from the poison, yet Fiery and his companions appeared entirely unaffected, as though the poison had not so much as grazed them.

 

Naturally, this stirred deep suspicion within the hearts of all who saw this scene.

 

“Fiery, have you drunk the Jade Spirit Brew?”

 

An elderly member of the Elf Royal Family furrowed his brow, posing the question in a measured tone.

 

Fiery and his companions were notorious for their insatiable love of alcohol. This was a reputation that carried weight even within the Elf Race. Yet their loyalty to the Elf Race had always been considered beyond question, so the Elf Queen had not immediately moved to have them seized.

 

“Sir, we, we drank just a little.”

 

Fiery and his companions exchanged a glance, unease etched plainly across their faces as they spoke with trembling voices. There was a mixture of guilt and dread coiling beneath their words.

 

Only now, in this moment, did understanding begin to dawn upon them. It seemed something had gone wrong with the Jade Spirit Brew.

 

“Just a little?”

 

Those words drew a flicker of suspicion across the faces of the Elders who were still holding themselves upright through sheer force of Will.

 

The drinking habits of Fiery and his companions were no less voracious than their own. Faced with the Jade Spirit Brew, how could they possibly have held back?

 

Of everyone present at the banquet, who had not partaken of that poisoned wine?

 

Unless, they had known all along that something was wrong with the Jade Spirit Brew…

 

A sweep of the great hall said it all. Only the table where Fiery sat remained untouched by the poison. Every other person present, Deacon and Elder alike, members of the Elf Royal Family, and even the Elf Queen herself, had all consumed that Jade Spirit Brew laced with Blood Devouring Poison.

 

“Fiery, what is the meaning of this!?” The Elf Queen sat upon her crystal throne, her voice crisp and clear. However, there was unmistakable fury in it.

 

All those who had come to this banquet represented the innermost circle of the Elf Race. And now, except for Fiery and his companions, not a single one had escaped this trap.

 

Even accounting for the few Royal Family members and core High Rank Elves who had not attended and thus been spared by fortune, those afflicted by the Blood Devouring Poison had been harmed to the point where they might have no future! After all, they still had no cure for this poison!

 

“Your Majesty, we really do not know what has happened!”

 

Beneath the Elf Queen’s sharp words, Fiery and the three other old men collapsed to their knees in a panic, their faces drained of all colour.

 

Nearby, Qin Yichen held Little Ling’er close, his brow creased into a deep furrow. He knew full well that Fiery and the others were not the ones who had administered the poison in secret.

 

The reason they had not drunk the Jade Spirit Brew was simply because compared to the Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication, that level of wine was just difficult to stomach.

 

Moreover, even though Fiery and his companions held the rank of Deacon, their position was not high enough to grant them access to the management of the Jade Spirit Brew.

 

Whoever had poisoned the wine in secret must have held a rank within the Elf Race that exceeded even that of Fiery. Yet now, with the entire upper echelon of the Elf Race having been swept up in one fell swoop, who among them could have possessed such capability?

 

Qin Yichen believes that the one pulling the strings behind all of this was very likely connected to the attack Avril had suffered at the outer perimeter of the Elf Forest.

 

It was even possible that the failure to kidnap Avril had driven that hidden figure to resort to these desperate and ruthless methods.

 

Watching the expressions play across Fiery and the others’ faces, the Elf Queen and those around her pressed their brows into troubled lines.

 

From what they knew of Fiery, it seemed unlikely that he would be capable of such a betrayal. Yet with the entire great hall before them, only these four had escaped the poison. This was a fact that made suspicion nearly impossible to fall on them.

 

As gaze after gaze settled upon them, laden with doubt, the four men were consumed by desperation.

 

“Your Majesty…”

 

Abruptly, a look of absolute resolve surged across Fiery’s face. He bowed with deep respect towards the Elf Queen upon her crystal throne, and then, beneath a gallery of stunned expressions, seized the Jade Spirit Brew from the banquet table and directly drank it.

 

“Fiery!” The other three old men cried out, but it was already too late.

 

“Your Majesty, I, Fiery, have lived an ordinary and busy life, and this time, I even acted out of selfish intent by bringing a Junior Foreigner to attend this banquet.”

 

Fiery drank several great mouthfuls of the Jade Spirit Brew before finally setting the cup down. His voice was earnest and unhurried. “But I, Fiery, would never betray the Elf Race, and I am even less capable of conducting myself like a bastard traitor.”

 

With those words spoken, Fiery knelt in respectful prostration and said nothing more.

 

The sight of it brought a visible shift across the Elf Queen’s face. The Elves had always been a people who kept themselves apart from worldly strife. They had not truly experienced or exposed themselves to scheming and hidden machinations of this level.

 

The three old men, witnessing this, steeled themselves with a clench of their jaws and reached for the Jade Spirit Brew on the banquet table.

 

As they saw it, this had become the only means left to them to prove their innocence.

 

“Enough.”

 

In the very next instant, they felt their bodies locked in place by an invisible force, and simultaneously, the voice of the Elf Queen rang out across the hall.

 

“Your Majesty, it really was not us!”

 

The moment the restraining force released them, the old men and their companions collapsed to their knees once more, their voices low and strained.

 

To be suspected by their own kin was a torment far worse than death itself. They would rather succumb to the poison alongside the others, allow the Blood Devouring Poison to consume their Blood Essence, than be branded as traitors to the Elf Race.

 

“I understand.”

 

Yet, to the surprise of the old men and those with them, the Elf Queen did not press her suspicion further. She spoke with composure.

 

“Your Majesty…”

 

At that, the Elders and Royal Family members who were suppressing the poison within their bodies through sheer force of Will felt their expressions shift.

 

They were reluctant to believe that Fiery and the others were responsible. However, at this moment, in front of this scene, they were the most likely the culprits.

 

Perhaps this was merely a ploy, a ruse of self-inflicted suffering to deflect the blame.

 

“Say no more. Eileen, go at once to the Tree of Life.” The Elf Queen swept her jade arm with cool authority.

 

“Yes!” At her word, a middle-aged female Elf at the banquet table below the crystal throne gave a nod, channelled her Power of Life to suppress the poison raging within her body, and moved to depart the hall.

 

“Ha! Your Majesty, I think there is no need to visit the Ancestor Tree!”

 

Yet just at that moment, a rasping and aged laugh erupted through the great hall, wild and unconstrained.

 

Immediately after, three figures emerged from the corridor behind the great hall, that passage reserved exclusively for members of the Elf Royal Family, stepping out with unhurried strides.

 

All three were cloaked in black robes, and what drew the eye most sharply was the brown hair atop their heads, so utterly unlike that of the High Rank Elves.

 

When Qin Yichen’s gaze settled upon the figure at the centre of the three, his pupils contracted a little.

 

Where all other Elves radiated vitality and the vigour of life, this person was wreathed in a dense and pervasive Death Energy, one so pronounced it was no less formidable than that of the Saints Heavenly Manor Master.

 

It was plain to see, this person’s life had already reached its end.

 

“Insolence! Felletin, know where you stand!” The moment the three appeared, a member of the Elf Royal Family furiously roared.