Deep within the Bazhou Governor's Yamen, a secret chamber was hidden behind the artificial rockery. Only a single green lamp burned inside, its wick soaked in corpse oil to cast a ghostly greenish flame.
Governor Mu stood with his hands behind his back before a scroll depicting the *Nine-Turn Golden Elixir*. On it, a boy held an elixir in a bizarre posture—the pill was clearly a bloody infant heart.
"The Eleventh Imperial Prince has been simple-minded for three years, and the Empress Dowager cannot sleep at night." Governor Mu's fingertips glided across the neck of the boy in the painting. "If we still cannot brew the 'Heavenly Mystery Pill', my career as governor comes to an end here..." He turned abruptly, the hem of his official robe sweeping over the lamp and sending the green flame hissing onto Assistant Prefect Chen's boots.
Chapter 142