But Meng Qi couldn’t shake the feeling that they had missed something here—falling into hallucinations and being driven to mutual slaughter were different matters. She lowered her head slightly and, with a thought, directed her spiritual sense towards her spiritual sea. Despite the absence of the Five-Spirit Cauldron, the medical notes provided by Lin Yan floated serenely above the sea, gently moving with the ebb and flow of the spiritual aura emanating from her inner core. With a slight motion of Meng Qi’s spiritual sense, the medical note emitted a ring of light and began to sway gently.
She still couldn’t access all the contents of the medical notes. At present, only a few volumes are currently accessible. Reading the notes within her spiritual sea using spiritual senses was much faster than using her eyes, so in just a moment, she had finished reading everything she could, finding nothing that could provide a clue.
The light from the medical notes slowly faded away. The medical cultivators around her were still engrossed in discussion while Qiao Ran’s natal sword continued to slash against the unseen enemy in the air.
What exactly could it be? Meng Qi squinted her eyes and instinctively turned to look at Yun Qingyan. Ever since they heard the sound of the “Thousand Emperor Bell,” Yun Qingyan had been standing still. The handsome man in white stood against the wind, an unchanging faint smile on his face.
He seemed to sense Meng Qi’s gaze and looked back at her.
One stood behind the city wall, the other below, separated by some distance. Fortunately, cultivators had excellent eyesight, and Meng Qi could still see Yun Qingyan’s smile. Her face heated up uncontrollably, but her previously anxious heart suddenly calmed down.
Meng Qi collected her thoughts and slowly turned her gaze back. Sovereign Qingyan was still there, within her sight—this sense of security made her feel there was nothing to worry about.
“…There’s another problem,” said one medical cultivator. “There are so many hallucinogenic substances—are we going to test each one? Some, as far as I know, have no antidote and will wear off naturally in three to five days. Besides, do we have that much time and the necessary antidotes?”
“Brother Lu is right!” someone else responded, “Some hallucinogenic herbs aren’t even considered poisons. Even if we used medicines or healing spells that work against multiple poisons, they might not work.”
“But if the fighting continues like this, people will soon die.”
“So, does this still count as a challenge? If they are defeated and lose their life, will they be sent out of the Ten Absolutes Mountain as that person said, or…” The person paused, his tone heavy, “die directly?”
A trace of fear and reluctance crossed the faces of the medical cultivators, and silence suddenly engulfed them. Among cultivators, medical cultivators were known for their high regard for life, and none of them dared to take this gamble.
Most of the spells medical cultivators practiced were healing spells, and they also had a deep affinity with spiritual plants and other medicinal ingredients. In the event of poisoning, while spell cultivators and sword cultivators may become unconscious, medical cultivators would be able to stay awake and detoxify themselves. Testing poison on themselves was something medical cultivators were used to, but experimenting on so many substances was something they couldn’t bring themselves to do.
For a moment, no one spoke. Li Che couldn’t help but look around at everyone, then turned to glance at Meng Qi.
“Xue Chengxuan,” Meng Qi called slowly.
“Huh?” Li Che was taken aback.
Meng Qi decisively walked over to Xue Chengxuan, who maintained a vigilant gaze into the distance.
“You…” Li Che was stunned for a moment. The other medical cultivators mostly remained silent. Xue Chengxuan was also a medical cultivator, and among them, he was also known as the most talented. Among the current generation, no one could surpass Xue Chengxuan, including his fellow Feng Alliance members. In simpler terms, while most medical cultivators could experiment with poisons on their own bodies, Xue Chengxuan should possess even greater resilience!
Moreover, he hailed from the Feng Alliance, an ancient sect with a history spanning millennia, and surely possessed knowledge and legacy beyond any medical cultivators here.
Most importantly, Xue Chengxuan was evidently seeing some illusions now, and no one knew if he would encounter any issues if this continued. By all means, he seemed to be a perfect test subject.
“Well…” Chen Yu scratched his head. Among the young medical cultivators, Xue Chengxuan was a target of admiration and respect, a peerless talent they aspired to surpass, and the Feng Alliance he came from was revered as the leading medical sect. Using him for testing… sounded bold, but why did it also feel a bit exciting?
Meng Qi had already stopped beside Xue Chengxuan. “Did you notice?” She said softly, “Those who were injured and saved by us, the redness in their eyes temporarily faded.”
“Yes!” Li Che, who followed her to Xue Chengxuan, responded. “But it’s not completely cleared.” He pointed to the spell cultivator who had tried to ambush Meng Qi and steal her Stardust Stone, “Once they have greed, like that person, the bloodshot returns.”
“Right.” A medical cultivator nodded, “Which means this effect is not constant.” He recalled what he saw when he was affected, “I heard someone telling me, ‘You’re obviously stronger than the spell and sword cultivators, why don’t they respect you!’”
The medical cultivator openly shared his experience, “So I picked up my knife and went at it.” He smiled sheepishly, “I sometimes feel that the Three Thousand Worlds overlook us medical cultivators. The illusion certainly targeted my discontent.”
“I was fighting the guy who took my junior sister!” Chen Yu said. Seeing the puzzled looks from everyone, he quickly added, “I don’t mind my junior sister falling for him, but then he…“ Chen Yu frowned and turned away, not wanting to continue, but everyone had already guessed what he meant.
Li Che patted Chen Yu on the shoulder.
“I wanted to teach a lesson to the bastards who robbed our sect’s spiritual planting ground!” Another medical cultivator spoke up, “In the Northern Realm, though the status of medical cultivators is slightly higher than in the Southern Realm, it’s still far below that of sword and spell sects. Although we are blessed with some rare variety, the harsh weather in the Northern Realm also makes it difficult for common spiritual plants to grow naturally, so most sects grow whatever they need on their own, including us. As such, it’s common for medical sects to have several spiritual planting grounds filled with rich aura.”
The speaker was a female medical cultivator in pale yellow clothing, her appearance delicate and beautiful. After a slight pause, she continued, “Our sect had a spiritual planting ground where some of the herbs and flowers had been cultivated for a hundred years, but they forcibly took it from us. We were angry but didn’t dare to speak out. We only begged them to give us three months to find a new planting ground so we could move the herbs and flowers and then hand the place over to them.”
The more the female medical cultivator spoke, the angrier she became. Her previously gentle, almond-shaped eyes now seemed to blaze with fury. “My master pleaded with them humbly, almost to the point of kneeling, yet they still refused. They forcibly took the place and drove us all away. The spiritual herbs and flowers in the planting ground, some cultivated for a hundred years, were all uprooted and taken away… but they have no idea how to handle medicinal herbs…”
Her voice rose, her eyes reddening with anger, “Our sect’s thousand-year-old planting ground was destroyed in an instant!”
“That’s outrageous!”
“Too outrageous!”
“Damn them!”
“Which sect did this?! Tell us!”
“Are they part of the ten top sects? This isn’t just wrong; it’s outright robbery!”
The medical cultivators were instantly furious. In the Three Thousand Worlds, sword cultivators and spell cultivators dominated, and medical cultivators, with their relatively weaker combat abilities, sometimes indeed felt inferior to them.
With the exception of the prestigious Feng Alliance, most medical sects were indeed not as powerful as the sword and spell sects. Many had faced some degree of oppression in their daily lives, but such excessive behavior was rare.
“Fellow Daoist, please tell us their names. From now on, we won’t treat anyone from their sect!” someone immediately shouted.
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