Chapter 63: TASTE OF DEATH?

Fu Hanzheng reached toward the nearby herbs and carefully plucked several leaves from different plants. He gathered them together in his palm before turning toward Li Yan, who was still trying to remember everything he had been taught about identifying medicinal materials through his senses.

"Since you have already learned to observe their appearance, smell, and texture, we will move on to taste. I will give you several leaves, and you will tell me what each one tastes like. I have already selected these for the lesson, so you do not need to worry about eating something dangerous."

Li Yan accepted the leaves without hesitation because he trusted his master. Fu Hanzheng had no reason to deliberately poison his own disciple, especially after spending so much time explaining the importance of proper herb identification. If there was a problem, his master would naturally be there to deal with it.

He placed the first leaf into his mouth and chewed slowly, allowing the flavour to spread across his tongue before swallowing. A mild sweetness lingered afterward, and he looked toward Fu Hanzheng as he tried to determine whether there was anything else hidden beneath the initial taste.

"It tastes sweet."

Fu Hanzheng nodded and immediately explained the herb’s properties so Li Yan could associate its taste with its uses.

"This is Sweet Dew Leaf. It can be used in cooking because of its natural sweetness, but it can also be refined into certain medicines. It is not particularly rare, although its flavour makes it useful when an Apothecary needs to balance the bitterness of other medicinal ingredients."

Li Yan nodded and carefully committed the information to memory before reaching for the second leaf. He examined it briefly and placed it into his mouth, chewing several times while paying attention to every sensation.

There was almost no flavour.

He continued chewing for a few moments, hoping that something would emerge, but his tongue detected nothing beyond the faint freshness of the leaf. After swallowing, he looked at his master with a slightly puzzled expression.

"There is no particular taste."

Fu Hanzheng nodded because that was precisely what he had expected Li Yan to discover.

"That is correct. Not every medicinal herb has a distinctive flavour. Some are almost tasteless while possessing valuable medicinal properties, which is why an Apothecary should never rely on taste alone when identifying a plant."

Li Yan accepted the explanation and picked up the third leaf. He repeated the process carefully, examining it before placing it into his mouth and chewing slowly. Once again, there was no distinct flavour to identify, and even after swallowing, nothing remained on his tongue.

"This one is also tasteless."

"That is correct. Its medicinal properties are not connected to its flavour, so you would need to combine what you learn from taste with the plant’s appearance, texture, fragrance, and other characteristics."

Li Yan nodded as he listened, then reached for the fourth leaf. Nothing about it appeared unusual, and he could not detect any particularly strong fragrance when he brought it closer to his nose.

He placed it into his mouth and chewed.

There was no particular taste.

Li Yan was about to swallow when his vision suddenly blurred. The garden seemed to tilt around him, and before he could understand what was happening, an intense tightness seized his throat and made it difficult to draw breath.

He instinctively raised his hand toward his neck, but his fingers barely reached his throat before the muscles in his arms began stiffening. He tried to inhale again, only to find that the air refused to pass properly through his constricted throat.

Li Yan staggered backward and attempted to steady himself, but his legs had already begun losing their strength. His body became increasingly rigid, and within moments he collapsed onto the ground as he struggled desperately to breathe.

The frightening thing was that the leaf had not tasted strange at all. There had been no bitterness, sweetness, sourness, or burning sensation to warn him that something was wrong, yet the effects had appeared almost immediately after he consumed it.

His blurred vision made the surrounding garden difficult to see, but his mind remained clear enough to understand what was happening. His throat was tightening, his breathing was becoming increasingly difficult, and his arms and legs were stiffening as the toxin spread through his body.

This is one ruthless herb.

Li Yan continued struggling for several breaths, but his strength gradually began to disappear. Realizing that frantic movement was only making his breathing more difficult, he finally stopped struggling and remained still on the ground.

Was this really how he was going to die?

The thought crossed his mind as he tried to conserve whatever strength remained. Perhaps remaining still would allow him to breathe more easily, although even that small hope seemed unreasonable when his throat felt as though it had been sealed shut.

Yet the death he expected never came.

Instead, a sharp sting suddenly struck his side, followed by a warm sensation that quickly spread throughout his body. The tightness around his throat began to loosen, and the stiffness in his limbs gradually disappeared as his breathing returned to normal.

Li Yan remained on the ground for several moments, drawing deep breaths as his vision slowly cleared. The garden stopped spinning around him, and the familiar greenery gradually came back into focus.

Fu Hanzheng was already beside him, his expression carrying genuine concern as he reached down and helped Li Yan sit upright. His usual relaxed demeanour had disappeared, replaced by the worried expression of a master who had just watched his disciple nearly poison himself during his first practical lesson.

"Yan Yan, are you alright? That was a mistake on my part. I thought I had moved the dangerous herbs away before we started."

Li Yan took another careful breath before moving his arms and legs to make sure the stiffness had completely disappeared. His breathing had returned to normal, and although his throat still felt slightly uncomfortable, the terrible pressure that had nearly suffocated him was gone.

Fu Hanzheng watched his movements closely before finally relaxing. He reached into his robes and brought out a small vial filled with dark green liquid, holding it where Li Yan could see it clearly.

"Are you still feeling strange anywhere? The antidote should have cleared every trace of the herb’s toxin from your body, but I want to make sure you are completely fine before we continue."

Li Yan checked himself carefully and found that the strange sensations were already fading. Whatever Fu Hanzheng had given him had worked quickly, and the fact that he could breathe normally again was enough to reassure him.

Fu Hanzheng returned the vial to his robes and glanced toward the section of the garden where the dangerous herb had been growing. His expression became more serious as he explained exactly what Li Yan had just experienced.

"The herb you consumed was called Three-Breath Deathleaf. It has a killing rate of three moments. Once it enters the body, it causes the throat to tighten and eventually leaves the victim unable to breathe. Without an antidote, the victim will die from suffocation."