Chapter 273: The End of the Bloodline
Translated and hosted on BCatranslation
“My Lord, do you often experience needle-like stabbing pains in your abdomen, which vanish as quickly as they come?”
“Furthermore, do you find yourself completely uninterested in women? Unable to… muster any desire?” The imperial physician’s words caused Lu Yuan Ze’s face to darken with embarrassment.
He immediately refuted, “A past trauma left me with lingering effects, but I have long since recovered.”
These symptoms had plagued him ever since his affliction with Horse-Riding Wind. He had taken medicine for two years and was now fully healed.
The Head of the Imperial Medical Bureau stepped forward, nodding slightly at Lord Lu. “Forgive my impertinence, but allow this old man to examine your lower eyelids.”
He carefully lifted Lu Yuan Ze’s eyelid, revealing a deep red hue beneath, with darkened sockets surrounding his eyes.
“Lord Lu, this is not caused by past trauma.”
“You have been poisoned.” The Head of the Bureau declared without hesitation.
“Impossible! I can clearly feel warmth in my abdomen, the fiery sensation growing stronger—my symptoms have lessened!” Had the physician not held such a position, Lu Yuan Ze might have struck him on the spot.
The old physician’s expression turned grave. “If my diagnosis is correct, My Lord was already poisoned before the Horse-Riding Wind incident.”
“The affliction merely accelerated the effects of the poison.”
“You have consumed countless potent tonics and continued to nourish your body, only strengthening the toxin within.”
“In recent months, have you experienced surging blood, coughing up blood multiple times?”
Lu Yuan Ze’s entire body went cold. A chill rose from his feet, shooting up to the top of his head.
The physician’s meaning was clear.
“It was not only emotional turmoil that worsened your condition, but the poison itself. My Lord, the poison has already seeped deep within… I fear…” The physician hesitated, but Lu Yuan Ze immediately grabbed his arm in desperation.
“Physician, please, you must save me! Head of the Bureau, please—” His voice was laced with fear.
The old physician sighed. “My Lord has taken medicine for too long. I fear that no cure exists. This poison will not shorten your lifespan… however—”
He cast a somber glance at Lu Yuan Ze.
“However, My Lord shall never again father a child.”
Never again have a child.
Lu Yuan Ze’s world collapsed.
His body fell backward in utter despair.
“Bang!”
He struck the stone pavement, his stiffened body smashing against the ground, head cracking open with blood flowing freely.
“Lord Lu!!” The physicians gasped in horror.
They were only here to watch the drama unfold—they never expected Lord Lu to die from sheer shock!
A flurry of panic erupted as they rushed to lift Lu Yuan Ze. Blood streamed down his forehead, and his eyes burned with the fury of a vengeful ghost.
“Never… have a child again?!!” His voice trembled with rage.
He clutched the physician’s arm tightly, enunciating each word. “You say… the poison requires long-term administration?”
The physician hesitated before nodding. “Yes.”
“Judging from the symptoms, My Lord has been poisoned for approximately three years.”
Three years?
Lu Yuan Ze snapped his head toward Madam Pei, his gaze sharp as a blade.
Madam Pei’s face turned deathly pale. She shook her head repeatedly, backing away in terror, unable to meet his eyes.
Lu Yuan Ze thought back carefully. Lu Jing Yao was two and a half years old. Ever since the abbot had prophesied that this child’s future was extraordinary, and since Lu Jing Huai’s reputation began to soar, he had rarely returned to the marquis estate.
At that time, Madam Pei frequently made nourishing soups for him while bearing his child.
He used to sigh, thinking her gentle and considerate, serving him even while pregnant.
Now, in hindsight…
Lu Yuan Ze realized the horrifying truth. In his frenzy, he lunged at Madam Pei, only to be held back by the clan leader.
“Wretched woman! It’s one thing to cuckold me, but you dared to poison me?!”
“How dare you poison me?!”
“Have I ever wronged you? Yet you seek to end the Lu bloodline!!”
“Let me go! I will strangle this venomous woman with my own hands! Not only did she cuckold me, but she also poisoned me! To harm a court official—she deserves to die!” Lu Yuan Ze spat blood as he cursed, his teeth clenched in fury.
Lu Yuan Ze was utterly deranged. The clan leader bellowed, “She must not be killed!”
“Absurd, utterly absurd!” The clan leader cursed internally.
A catastrophe.
He then shot a furious glare at Li Yuan Xi—how dare he make his legitimate brother raise his bastard child?
Yet, after thinking carefully, he could only sigh.
A wretched hand had been dealt, yet somehow, Li Yuan Xi had played it to perfection.
“Why should she not die?! She must die! Li Yuan Xi, Lu Jing Yao, Lu Jing Huai—they all must die! Every single one of them!!”
The clan leader roared, “The Lu family name is in ruins because of you! If you publicly kill your wife, how will we show our faces? The Old Marquis’s lifelong honor was destroyed by his own foolish son—his title stripped, his legitimate grandson and granddaughter cast out, even the daughter-in-law he cherished is gone!!”
The clan leader lost his composure and shouted.
“Even if she must die, it cannot be by your hands!” If Lu Yuan Ze were to commit murder publicly, his position would be forfeit.
The Lu family had struggled to climb from obscurity—only for him to destroy everything!
Lu Yuan Ze’s expression turned wild. “What face do we have left? The Lu family is already the laughingstock of the capital!” Ever since his divorce, he had been nothing but a joke!
The clan leader’s gaze was cold.
“You have no more heirs. Your legitimate son and daughter have been expelled from the family registry. You are barren!”
“Since Li Yuan Xi is of the Old Marquis’s bloodline, he will be brought into the family. Lu Jing Huai and Lu Jing Yao will be recorded under his name. At least this way, the Lu bloodline will not perish entirely!”
The clan leader had already decided.
“You dare!” Lu Yuan Ze coughed up blood in fury.
A bastard and his offspring entering the ancestral line?
While he, the rightful heir, was cast aside?
No! Never!
This was worse than betrayal—it was humiliation beyond measure!
“He stole from me! He cuckolded me! He poisoned me, making me barren! And now, he is to inherit my family name?! I refuse! I refuse!!”
“What does your refusal matter? Should the Lu name die out entirely? Would you have the Old Marquis’s legacy vanish into dust?!” The clan leader struck his cane against the ground, his voice booming.
Lu Yuan Ze snapped, shoving the old leader aside. He lunged at Madam Pei, hands tightening around her throat, his face twisted like a demon from the underworld.
“You deserve to die! You all deserve to die!!”
“I have nothing! NOTHING! You should just die!!”
Madam Pei’s once-radiant face darkened into a ghastly blue as she struggled desperately for air. Her fingers clawed at his hands, but her strength waned.
Her warm tears fell upon his bloodstained hands.
“Separate them—quickly!” The clan leader roared. If Lu Yuan Ze publicly strangled his wife, the Lu family would be utterly destroyed.
“We can’t! He’s too strong!!” The clan members panicked.
Suddenly…
A clear bell rang from outside the city gates.
Heads turned as a vast flock of birds filled the sky, circling in eerie patterns. At the forefront of the approaching procession stood a towering Ferocious Beast, leading the way with an air of dread and majesty.
“What is that?” murmured the gathered citizens.
“It’s the envoy from the Southern Kingdom! The Southern Kingdom has arrived!”
All eyes turned toward the city gates, but Lu Yuan Ze remained deranged, his grip around Madam Pei’s throat unyielding.
She barely clung to life.