"A Tier Three pill?"
"She used so many precious materials just to refine a single Tier Three pill? What a waste of resources! Utterly wasteful!"
...
Due to the animosity between the Divine Revelation Academy and the West Music Sect, and given that the refining materials Bai Shengyi produced were all extraordinary, many people had been watching her closely as she refined her pill. As soon as the pill was completed, sighs and murmurs filled the air.
Mo Hanshuang gloated, laughing, "So that's all you're capable of. I thought you'd be able to refine some sort of poison pill!"
This Tier Three pill was something he could decipher the formula for without even batting an eye.
Bai Shengyi remained unfazed. She simply stated, "This pill is named the Seven Ancient Punishments Pill, crafted to mimic the seven great tortures of the mortal realm. One moment after consumption, it inflicts the pain of dismemberment by chariots; two moments, the agony of Lingchi..."
"This isn't a poison pill at all, it's a medicinal pill!" Mo Hanshuang couldn't help but interrupt.
If he couldn't decipher the pill formula within the first moment, wouldn't he be in too much pain to even refine anything?
Bai Shengyi smiled slightly. "I haven't finished speaking. If there is no antidote after seven moments, one will be utterly annihilated, leaving no trace behind."
As soon as she finished speaking, a clamor erupted from below.
Could a mere Tier Three pill truly be this terrifying?
Was this female cultivator perhaps boasting?
Not only the watching cultivators below, but even Mo Hanshuang on the fish platform thought the same.
"Keep boasting!"
Mo Hanshuang concealed his inner panic and replied with feigned disdain, then accelerated his movements.
It was a shame that he had already finished processing the medicinal ingredients, and had wasted considerable time previously by changing the formula. Otherwise, he would have wanted to change it again.
The symptoms Bai Shengyi had just described had instilled a degree of fear in him.
Soon, Mo Hanshuang's pill was refined. He coughed lightly, one hand behind his back, the other stroking his beard. "This pill of mine is called the Spirit Burning Pill, a top-grade Tier Seven spiritual pill. Once consumed, all spiritual power will vanish. If un-antidoted within a day, the spiritual roots will collapse, turning one into a cripple."
"As expected of Alchemist Mo from the West Music Sect! Once he makes a move, the experts know what they're seeing!"
"A top-grade Tier Seven! This poison pill is quite potent, and it targets the spiritual roots. That young lady is in danger!"
The crowd below offered praise, but Mo Hanshuang ignored them. After speaking, he looked at Bai Shengyi, expecting to see fear or the like in her eyes. Instead, he met Bai Shengyi's seemingly amused gaze.
How could she remain so calm?
Bai Shengyi was, of course, calm. She even felt like laughing.
If it had been something like a Nine Worm Pill, she might have found it a little tricky. After all, when it came to insect venom, even she would need to study it carefully. But if it targeted spiritual power, she had to say that Mo Hanshuang had truly miscalculated.
The two exchanged pills. Bai Shengyi, without any pause, consumed her pill.
The pill dissolved upon entering her mouth, and her spiritual consciousness followed, keenly capturing every minute change within her body.
Initially, Bai Shengyi did indeed notice her internal spiritual power rapidly decreasing, and her dantian unable to circulate it. However, this change was soon brought under control.
"Huh?"
"It's the black mist in your dantian," the Reincarnation Brush exclaimed. "It seems to have mistaken the pill's medicinal properties for an enemy and devoured them."
It couldn't help but click its tongue. Was its master lucky or unlucky? If you said she was lucky, she always encountered strange things. If you said she was unlucky, she always managed to turn danger into safety.
Bai Shengyi looked inward at her dantian and saw the black mist, which had been quiet for a long time, emit a "wow-woo" sound as it drifted slowly around the dantian.
"Eat, I'll eat."
A question mark slowly formed in Bai Shengyi's mind.
"Little Reincarnation, did you hear something?"
If the Reincarnation Brush had a face, it would be one of indescribable complexity.
"I heard it. It said 'eat'. Shengyi, you still need to find a way to deal with this black mist as soon as possible. I feel its intelligence is growing."
Did Bai Shengyi not want to?
Unfortunately, no matter what method she used, this thing seemed to have taken root in her dantian and refused to leave.
If it weren't for the Reincarnation Brush's ability to suppress it, Bai Shengyi would have rather crippled her own dantian to eliminate this uncertain hidden danger first.
There was one more thing Bai Shengyi hadn't mentioned: ever since she learned that there were continents beyond the Divine Revelation Continent, she had suspected the black mist came from an outer continent. She had searched many ancient texts to uncover its true nature, but had found nothing so far.
While Bai Shengyi, with the help of the black mist, first consumed a Spirit Locking Pill she had previously refined, feigning it as her own to temporarily control the collapse of her spiritual power, and then leisurely began refining the antidote, Mo Hanshuang on the other side was already sweating profusely with panic.
The dark, blueish pill looked ominous, like something ill-intentioned. More so, the words Bai Shengyi had spoken were drilling into his ears one by one.
Mo Hanshuang held the Seven Ancient Punishments Pill, hesitating.
"Hey there, old man, are you scared? Afraid to eat it?"
Feng Wuya, standing right behind him, had clearly seen Mo Hanshuang's hesitation and was amused.
His eyes darted around, and he chuckled, "If you're scared, just admit defeat. Our captain has always been magnanimous and benevolent, and won't hold it against you. Oh my, it's natural to be scared, isn't it? Who isn't afraid of death... Ack! You ate it?"
Mo Hanshuang stared at his own hands, which had just fed the pill into his mouth.
His heart trembled, and his hands trembled too.
How had he eaten it?
Why hadn't he carefully studied the method to break it before eating it?
"Old man, hurry up and refine your pill! Half of the first moment has already passed!" Feng Wuya reminded him with another laugh, his voice so "obnoxiously" that Dong Wuyu, standing nearby, found it quite irritating.
"Shut up!"
Mo Hanshuang could already feel a faint ache spreading through his body.
At this moment, most of the alchemists on the stage had reached the stage of detoxification.
As they all needed to consume the poison, these alchemists were in various states. For example, Feng Wuya and Dong Wuyu were refining Tickle Pills, and he was currently laughing "Hahaha" while refining. Or, an alchemist to Bai Shengyi's front left, whose teammate had refined a highly poisonous pill, was kneeling on the ground with pus and blood flowing from his face as he processed medicinal ingredients...
It was both amusing and starkly cruel.
A living hell, nothing less.
"I don't understand the point of these Poison Duel Pills."
Suddenly, someone in the watching crowd spoke up.
"You wouldn't know this, but toxicity is a form of medicinal property. Only with a thorough understanding of medicinal ingredients..." A cultivator beside him, who was an alchemist, was about to take this opportunity to flaunt his knowledge. As he spoke, he turned his head and was instantly silenced. "Young Master Yue..."
Yue Yangui nodded coldly at him, his gaze tightly fixed on the red-clothed girl in front.
She looked so similar.
Truly so similar.
"Young Master Yue, is someone from Yueqingshan also participating in the alchemy competition?"
A young nobleman walked over, following Yue Yangui's gaze. He let out a sneer.
"Or perhaps, Young Master Yue is feeling pity for the beauty, and that's why you're dissatisfied with the Poison Duel Pills proposed by our Wushang Sect?"