Yet even though every face had gone pale, no one dared raise any objection. Better to die tomorrow than to die now—and besides, tomorrow they probably would not die at all! If Yang Ce had wanted these people dead, he would never have bothered giving them a slow-acting poison. Would it not have been simpler to just kill them outright? So even though this so-called gu poison was rather frightening, everyone's hearts settled, and they listened quietly as Yang Ce went on.

"Wang Renping, hand out one of the suppression pills each of you will need for tomorrow to every person here!" As Yang Yanzhou spoke, he drew another small box from his pocket—the pills Zhang Zhishen had made to suppress the gu poison.

"Yes, sir!" Wang Renping took the small box and began distributing the pills to each person. Those who received one tucked it carefully away close to their bodies; this was a life-saving thing, and on no account could it be lost! "If all goes smoothly, I will cure you of the poison. You needn't worry about that—after all, the running of the whole organization still needs the lot of you!" Yang Ce dangled before these people a pie in the sky that could never be baked. Who among them could not talk a good game? At Yang Juehuan's words, their faces lit up with delight. They did not know whether Yang Yanzhou could make good on it, but a promise was better than none.

Once the antidotes for suppressing the gu poison had all been handed out, Wang Renping kept one for himself and returned the rest to Yang Ce. Yang Ce had, in fact, been watching Wang Renping's movements all along out of the corner of his eye, curious whether he would pocket a few extra pills to suppress the gu. But Wang Renping proved honest enough, keeping only a single pill for himself! This pleased Yang Ce greatly. In truth, Wang Renping understood the matter clearly as well: these suppression pills could only ever suppress, never fully cure. What would be the point of keeping a few extra for himself?