She glanced up at the Sect Master, and after the crowd dispersed, she quickly hurried after them.

Not long after, Song Wanning heard the news that Ye Chuxue would also be refining Elixir Pills in the camp.

However, her skills were currently limited, so she could only refine some common Elixir Pills.

Besides her, several other disciples skilled in Alchemy had also joined. Song Wanning herself only needed to ensure the supply of some High Rank Elixir Pills.

"Junior Sister Ye requested this herself, of course. For the sake of the Sect’s disciples, she was willing to give up the opportunity to go out!"

Lu Nanfeng’s eyes filled with emotion. As soon as the words left his mouth, he remembered he was in front of Song Wanning and quickly snapped his mouth shut in a panic.

Song Wanning shot him a look, her face devoid of expression.

This beast tide was also an opportunity.

An opportunity to destroy Lu Nanfeng.

Lu Nanfeng’s admonishments from her past life still echoed in her ears.

"Master, as a Cultivator of the Human Clan, how can you stand by and allow yourself to fall to Demonic Qi?"

"Master, if I were you, I would have ended my own life long ago!"

"You are a dignified Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Heavenly Inquiry Sect, and the successor to the Song Family! Shouldn’t you have this kind of resolve?"

"How could we Cultivators do something that harms everyone just because we cling to the mortal world?"

"This disciple believes that Master can let go of everything and face death calmly!"

"Master, you should just surrender!"

"..."

’Face death calmly?’

’Hah, easy for him to say!’

’She had cultivated diligently for over a hundred years, all for the sake of longevity, or even ascension!’

’With a single flippant remark, Lu Nanfeng had told her to go die. It’s easy to say when you’re not the one bearing the burden.’

After her rebirth, Song Wanning had long since devised a plan to deal with Lu Nanfeng.

Her plan wasn’t to kill him in a simple and brutal fashion, but to return everything to him.

’Song Wanning wanted to see if Lu Nanfeng could still act righteously and face death calmly when it was his turn!’

A hundred thoughts spun through her mind in an instant. She stared at Lu Nanfeng and smiled.

Lu Nanfeng immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet Song Wanning’s gaze out of guilt.

Bai Yang stood to the side, somewhat lost in thought.

’Ye Chuxue was an extremely competitive person who valued her own strength greatly. For her to be willing to perform Alchemy in the camp this time was truly unexpected.’

’He didn’t think Ye Chuxue was a coward who clung to life. On the contrary, she was a very adventurous person.’

’Her willingness to stay behind must be for the disciples of the Heavenly Inquiry Sect.’

Bai Yang lowered his head, his expression complicated.

’Junior Sister Ye is kind after all...’

*

"Junior Sister Ye, here are the materials for Alchemy. I’ll leave them here for you!"

The disciple placed the materials in the Alchemy Room.

"Alright."

Ye Chuxue smiled at the disciple. After seeing him off, she began processing the medicinal herbs with a smile.

She hummed a tune, in an excellent mood.

’Volunteering to handle the Alchemy this time really kills several birds with one stone.’

’One, she could get some inner cores as a reward. Two, she could practice her Alchemy skills. Three, she could raise her status in the Sect and regain everyone’s approval!’ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’As for adventuring outside, she had plenty of time for that.’

’After all, her Alchemy was learned from the Medicine King Sect, and her pill-yield rate was astonishing.’

A strange glint flashed through Ye Chuxue’s eyes.

’In truth, she also intended to compete with Song Wanning this time.’

’She wouldn’t just refine Elixir Pills; she would refine many High Rank Elixir Pills. She wanted everyone to know that Song Wanning wasn’t the only Alchemy Grandmaster!’

’She wanted to make Song Wanning miserable. She wanted to make her experience the feeling of being scorned by everyone!’

No sooner said than done, Ye Chuxue was filled with motivation.

This was her chance to rise again.

...

The demon beasts attacked with renewed frenzy. All the disciples of the Heavenly Inquiry Sect mobilized, rushing to the borderline to suppress them.

Every disciple wore a solemn expression, their fighting spirit soaring to the heavens as they advanced with indomitable resolve.

Bai Yang and Lu Nanfeng were also among the disciples.

Soon, only the injured garrison and the few disciples in charge of Alchemy were left in the camp.

Song Wanning sat in the Alchemy Room, not in a hurry to begin Alchemy, but waiting.

Waiting for news of the Song Family’s arrival.

Finally, an hour later, she received news that the Song Family had arrived and immediately left the camp.

Her flying carpet, hidden in the clouds, sped along the borderline. In no time, she arrived at the Song Family’s encampment.

"Greetings, Young Miss!"

"Hello, Young Miss!"

"Young Miss!"

The moment she appeared in the camp, the eyes of the Song Family disciples lit up as they looked at her.

Song Wanning had always been the idol of the younger generation, the person they strived to catch up to.

They rarely had the chance to see her on a normal day, so seeing her now naturally made them excited.

Song Wanning smiled and nodded to each of them in response, but her heart was extremely heavy.

Striding quickly through the camp, she lifted the flap and entered a tent.

Song Qingyun was observing a sand table. Seeing her arrive, he quickly waved her over.

"Wan Ning, I just got a general understanding of the situation. This area of the borderline is considered relatively safe. The garrison here has suffered the fewest casualties these past few days."

"I heard them say that the strongest demon beast leading the attacks is only at the fourth rank."

Aside from the top-tier sects assigned to the densest parts of the beast tide, the families and sects responsible for guarding the other areas were decided by drawing lots.

In her past life, even though the Heavenly Inquiry Sect had not yet fallen into decline, the Song Family still drew a lot for a location near the Sect.

It was indeed like this at the beginning. The demon beasts attacking this area had low Cultivation, their numbers were small, and it was much safer compared to other places.

The Song Family disciples quickly went on a killing spree. They were all full of fighting spirit, winning battles every day, and the number of disciples they lost could be counted on one hand.

Everyone, including her, thought the Song Family had gotten lucky and drawn an easy lot.

Until that day. She had been on the front lines slaying demon beasts when she suddenly heard the terrible news: the Song Family’s forces had been ambushed by a beast tide, losing three hundred disciples in the span of just half an hour.

Everyone was forced to retreat to the camp.

The Heavenly Inquiry Sect, as a neighboring force, sent people to provide support.

Song Wanning rushed over, overcome with worry. When she arrived, she saw more than ten Half-transformed Beasts leading several hundred demon beasts in a siege against the camp.

What was even more terrifying was that these demon beasts had frenzied expressions; their state was completely abnormal.

In the end, through everyone’s combined efforts, the demon beasts retreated beyond the borderline, but the Song Family’s losses could never be recovered.

All those who participated in the beast tide were core family disciples. Almost the entire younger generation was lost here, marking the beginning of the Song Family’s decline.

For a family to develop in the long term, it couldn’t rely solely on abundant financial resources; more importantly, it needed talented descendants.

If a family went too long without producing outstanding descendants, it would inevitably go into decline.

The Song Family declined step by step in this way, until they were finally besieged and slaughtered.

At this thought, the qi and blood in Song Wanning’s body churned, and the Demonic Qi in her Sea of Consciousness began to stir restlessly.

The Golden Small Sword quickly moved to suppress it, somewhat worried about its master’s condition.

"Wan Ning?"

Seeing that something was wrong with his daughter, Song Qingyun quickly walked over and grabbed her arm.

"I’m fine."

Song Wanning exhaled a breath of turbid air, and her gaze, filled with Evil Qi, swept over the sand table.

The tragic state of the disciples who had died was still vivid in her mind. This time, she absolutely could not repeat the same mistake.

She grabbed Song Qingyun’s hand.

"Father, something isn’t right about this!"