Falling in Love to Escape the Original Book Plot [BL]-Chapter 418: Alchemist Challenge 6
’Why did everything go so wrong?’ Xuanyuan Yan wondered as she looked at the elders.
The person she arranged for the third task was not Murong Ling but another female disciple.
Like Tang Bin, that female disciple was a trick patient with superficial corpse flower poisoning and a hidden, unsolvable poison. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
However, for some reason, Murong Ling replaced the arranged person, and everything went downhill from there.
When she first saw Murong Ling, Xuanyuan Yan decided to make the best of a bad situation and strive for high points.
This way, even if she couldn’t compete with Shen Xu for pill grade, she could at least earn high points for diagnosis and treatment.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.
Instead of the ordinary corpse flower poison, Murong Ling was poisoned with the obscure death yin corpse flower poison.
As a result, Xuanyuan Yan lost all points and no longer had a chance of counterattacking.
Most importantly, Shen Xu drove the elders to discover the soul-eroding worm, and if the matter was not properly handled, she and her mother would soon end up in trouble.
"Disciple Tang has a superficial soul injury, but the main issue is a soul-eroding worm." Elder Meng announced with a solemn expression.
"Disciple Xuanyuan caught the soul injury but did not diagnose the soul-eroding worm, while disciple Shen successfully diagnosed both issues." He continued.
Hearing this, the spectators immediately became excited.
"Soul-eroding worm? How could fellow Daoist Tang be infected with a soul-eroding worm?" A spectator asked with a frightened expression.
"What is a soul-eroding worm?" Another asked.
"It’s a worm that latches on the soul and doesn’t let go until it devours a cultivator’s soul and soul power."
"Is there such a vicious thing in our Tianxuan continent?" A female cultivator asked and subconsciously trembled.
She hated worms, and the thought of one latching onto her soul was enough to give her nightmares for a long time.
"I have read about soul-eroding worms. They are not only rare but also hard to catch. Most importantly, they are forbidden."
"Forbidden? What do you mean?"
"Soul-eroding worms are indiscriminate. They latch on to whichever soul they come across and jump to the next after devouring their original victim. Can you imagine what would happen if many soul-eroding worms were wiggling around?"
"Anyone who is caught raising soul-eroding worms should be put to death." A male cultivator declared in a righteous voice.
"I think so too."
"Soul-eroding worms are a menace that cultivators can’t hope to control. Raising them is endangering all living things."
"If soul-eroding worms are so rare, how did senior brother Tang get infected?" Someone asked, returning the surrounding people’s focus to the issue at hand.
"Fellow Daoist Tang hasn’t left the sect in recent years." A female cultivator said, and the surrounding people turned to look at her.
"Sister, do you know fellow Daoist Tang?" Someone asked, and the female cultivator nodded before speaking.
"He is a disciple of the fourth mountain."
"Fourth mountain..., he is a weapons refiner?"
The female cultivator nodded when she heard the question and began explaining.
"He visited the wishing stone fifty years ago and received a large piece of mysterious purple iron." She said and quickly continued.
"After getting the treasure, he hurried back and has been hiding in the sect for the past fifty years."
Hearing this, some of the surrounding cultivators were shocked, while others were confused.
"Hiding? Why?" Someone asked.
"Mysterious purple iron is among the top ten most precious refining materials. Even loose immortals would covet it, let alone lower realm cultivators." A male cultivator explained and sighed before continuing.
"Is fellow Daoist Tang from a powerful family?" He asked, and the female cultivator nodded in response.
"He is from the hidden weapons Tang family. Unfortunately, the Tang family recently encountered a disaster and can no longer protect fellow Daoist Tang."
"What do you mean? What disaster did they encounter?"
"The tribulation transcending realm ancestor of the Tang family fell a few days ago. The clan is now scrambling to protect itself."
Hearing this, the surrounding cultivators understood and couldn’t help but look at Tang Bin with pitying eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Tang is out of luck. He probably can’t keep the mysterious purple iron."
"Could it be that someone wants to kill him for the mysterious purple iron?"
"Wait..., it’s been fifty years since he got the iron. Does he still have it?" Someone asked, and the surrounding people turned to the female cultivator.
After all, she seemed to know a lot about fellow Daoist Tang and his situation.
"He still has it." The female cultivator affirmed.
"How can you be so sure?"
"The mysterious purple iron is not the kind of treasure that someone can refine just because they want to." She started and quickly continued.
"First, the refiner must at least be a level nine master and a tribulation transcending realm cultivator."
"Second, ordinary fires can’t refine the mysterious purple iron. The refiner needs a strange fire at the very least."
"A strange fire?" Someone exclaimed with a shocked expression.
"As far as I know, there is no strange fire in the Tianxuan continent." Another said, and several cultivators nodded in agreement.
However, the female cultivator sneered and looked at the people with mocking eyes.
"Would you expose yourself if you contracted a strange fire?" She asked, and the others immediately shook their heads.
"Exactly." She said and quickly continued.
"It’s possible that some people have contracted strange fires but don’t dare to expose themselves."
"What you mean to say is that fellow Daoist Tang doesn’t have the conditions to refine the mysterious purple iron?" Someone asked, and the female cultivator nodded in response.
"He could have transferred it to someone else." A male cultivator suggested, but the female cultivator sighed and shook her head.
"He probably wanted to, but didn’t have a chance." She said and continued.
"Fellow Daoist Tang hasn’t dared to leave the sect or get close to people since he got the mysterious purple iron. He probably worried about implicating innocent people."
The surrounding cultivators sighed when they heard this.
"How unfortunate." Someone said and quickly continued.
"Fellow Daoist Tang did his best to protect himself, but couldn’t escape the hidden hand. If he can’t survive the soul-eroding worm, his mysterious purple iron will soon become an ownerless treasure that capable people can vie for."
While the spectators were speculating, Elder Meng continued talking.
"Present your pills." He said, and the two did as asked.
However, seeing Xuanyuan Yan’s pills, Shen Xu narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything.
’Let’s wait.’ He thought.
Xuanyuan Yan only presented the soul healing pill, while Shen Xu presented a plate of soul healing pills and another of his self-created soul worm dissolving pill.
"Both of you have successfully refined pills to treat the superficial soul injury." Elder Meng said after the judges examined the pills.
"Since you each have a high-grade soul healing pill, this aspect is a tie." He continued, and the double almost rolled his eyes but still didn’t say anything.
"Disciple Tang can choose one pill to take." He said, and Shen Xu immediately stepped forward.
"Why doesn’t senior brother Tang take fellow Daoist Xuanyuan’s pill?" He suggested and quickly continued.
"I would like to see the effect of the blue ring grass in fellow Daoist Xuanyuan’s soul healing pill." He said, and the elders couldn’t help but be surprised.
"Blue ring grass?" Jiang Shan muttered and picked up a pill to examine it.
A moment later, she gasped and narrowed her eyes.
"There is indeed blue ring grass in this pill." She said.
"The refining materials for the soul healing pill were missing one grass, but the blue ring grass doesn’t seem appropriate." Another elder said, and the others nodded.
No matter how they looked at it, blue ring grass had nothing to do with healing the soul.
Considering that, they were also curious why Xuanyuan Yan included it in her pill for no discernible reason.
"Disciple Xuanyuan, can you explain your pill?" Elder Meng asked, and Xuanyuan Yan subconsciously clenched her hands but soon relaxed.
"In fact, I also noticed the soul-eroding worm." She started with a melancholic expression.
"I didn’t include the discovery in my treatment plan because I planned to speak to senior brother Tang privately after the challenge."
"Then, the blue ring grass..." Shen Xu started, but his eyes suddenly widened.
"I get it." He said and quickly continued.
"You planned to temporarily trap the soul-eroding worm within a wall of soul power?" The double asked, feigning curiosity, but his eyes were filled with disgust.
If Tang Bin took Xuanyuan Yan’s pill, the blue ring grass in the soul healing pill would form a soul power wall around the soul-eroding worm.
That way, Tang Bin would temporarily feel better, creating the illusion that his soul was healed.
However, after the soul-eroding worm devoured the soul power wall, it would bite into Tang Bin’s soul, and the person would once again fall into despair.
’What a vicious trick.’ Shen Xu thought.
Because she wanted to win, Xuanyuan Yan lost her bottom line and didn’t even care what happened to Tang Bin after the challenge.
