He was about to prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and with a grand gesture began to write the prescription. But halfway through, Ethan Cooper sensed something was wrong. Although the Empress’s illness was abrupt—one could even call it filthy—it was not incurable. So why were all the imperial physicians at a complete loss?

Were all the imperial physicians nothing but useless drunkards and gluttons, utterly incompetent quacks?

That seemed unlikely! At most, there might be one or two frauds among them, but if every single one was, then what was the point of the whole charade?

Thinking it over carefully, the exceptionally clever Ethan Cooper suddenly realized the truth. Who was the Empress? She was the mother of the nation, a woman of the highest status. Yet, of all possible ailments, she had contracted a venereal disease. What did that prove? It proved the Empress’s private life was unclean, that she had committed adultery, possibly with more than one lover.

But that wasn’t even the most terrifying part. The most terrifying thing was that this fact confirmed another: if the Empress had been unfaithful, then the Emperor had been cuckolded!

Who was the Emperor? He was the Son of Heaven, the supreme ruler—not someone who could simply tolerate this or divorce his wife to resolve the matter. If he flew into a rage, a bloody purge would surely follow.

This was a rotten affair beyond repair. Anyone who got involved could lose their head at any moment!

The shrewd imperial physicians had clearly seen the gravity of the Empress’s illness. None of them wanted to risk their lives to treat her, so each claimed ignorance. After a while, the story became that the Empress had contracted a strange, incurable disease.

Once he understood the ins and outs, cold sweat broke out on Ethan Cooper’s forehead. He had thought he could finally make a name for himself and live a good life, but who would have guessed that one careless step would land him on the executioner’s block? In his heart, he cried out in anguish, “Oh heavens! Why am I so unlucky?”

Should he treat her? With his medical skills, just three doses would cure the Empress. But if he cured her, it might also mean his own death. Whether it was the Emperor, the Empress, the imperial uncles, princes, princesses, dowager empress, or even those cunning imperial physicians, none would let him leave the palace with this secret.

Who is best at keeping secrets? Naturally, only the dead!

If he didn’t treat her, the prescription was already half-written. If he now claimed he couldn’t treat her, wouldn’t that be suspicious and contradictory? Wouldn’t that be courting death?

Whether he treated her or not, it was a dilemma. If he didn’t, he could be charged with deceiving the Emperor and executed on the spot. If he did, he might live a few more days, but only a few.

In the end, Ethan Cooper could only helplessly finish writing the prescription, but he kept silent about the cause of the Empress’s illness. No matter who asked, he only called it “rheumatism penetrating the bones.”

As for the reward of gold and fertile land, Ethan Cooper no longer dared to dream of it. To save his own life, the best strategy was to run away. He endured until nightfall, and as thunder roared, lightning flashed, and a violent storm raged, Ethan Cooper fled for his life. Yet in the end, he was still surrounded by the Empress’s elite guards in the wild mountains.

Who was the Empress? She was the mistress of the harem. If she could have an affair without being discovered, she was clearly cunning and shrewd!

She was well aware of her own illness and knew exactly why the imperial physicians were all shirking responsibility. After taking the first dose prescribed by Ethan Cooper, she already felt much better. Believing that two more doses would cure her, she prepared to summon this folk miracle doctor, reward him with poisoned wine to silence him, and then secretly find an excuse to have all the imperial physicians killed as well!

But when she learned that Ethan Cooper had left without permission, she immediately sneered. “Is there any land in Great Liao that isn’t under imperial control? You may escape the monk, but you can’t escape the temple.” She immediately gave a death order to her secret guards: “Alive, bring me the man; dead, bring me the corpse.”

The Empress calculated every step carefully, but her only mistake was that the prescription Ethan Cooper gave was not meant to be taken as three identical doses. The first dose was mainly to attack the poison, the second to assist in detoxification, and the third to gently nourish the body.

The Empress took three doses of the poison-attacking medicine in a row—the consequences were easy to imagine.

In the wild mountains, Ethan Cooper was surrounded by the Empress’s elite guards. After a fierce battle, he finally used his superb martial arts to defeat them all. He clapped his hands, ready to leave, but didn’t expect that one man was not quite dead yet. With his dying breath, the man shot a long sword at him!

Caught off guard, Ethan Cooper was about to be run through the heart!

Suddenly, the earth shook and thunder roared. Before the sound faded, lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the world. A bolt of lightning struck Ethan Cooper squarely.

To be struck dead by lightning—that was the fate of villains. Ethan Cooper believed he had never done anything evil in his life, so it seemed terribly unfair. Yet after the lightning, not only did he miraculously survive, but he was even luckier: he traveled through time and space, arriving safe and sound in modern Deep City!

This explains why, when Megan Brooks first saw Ethan Cooper, he was standing in the middle of the road with a dazed, sleepwalking expression.

While Ethan Cooper was lost in thought with his eyes closed, Megan Brooks had already driven the car off Shennan Avenue.

As the car entered this unfamiliar city, neon lights he had never seen before were everywhere!