I courted death and then tried to escape, so the whole sect wants to get rid of me.

The Myriad Bones Forest Secret Realm is primarily for trials.

Rather than competing with each other for precedence, the most important thing is to give the younger generation of disciples an opportunity to gain experience, and incidentally, to allow capable cultivators to show their talents.

Therefore, there is no conventional ranking.

But after they come out, they still have to go through a process and show off what they have received.

Not only did Song Yao kill the contestant with a single Lotus Bird Grass, but she also took out a Spirit Stone and a Golden Scale Snake Grass.

The more smug Sect Master Feng Qing and Elder Huai Sang were before the secret realm opened, the darker their faces became now.

The original purpose of removing the Heavenly Curtain was to allow the disciples to manipulate things, ideally causing the Nine Saints Hall to lose a disciple with a Heavenly-level spiritual root.

This can be seen as a warning to the Nine Saints Hall.

To their surprise, the show of force failed, and their own sect's disciples ended up in a sorry state, failing to obtain any spiritual herbs or opportunities.

In contrast, the Ninth Elder was beaming with pride, his face rosy, clapping his hands and laughing: "Oh dear, our sect's children are so young, and with a pill cultivator among them, I never expected them to be so far ahead of these senior brothers and sisters! You flatter me, you flatter me!"

Several leaders of minor sects close to the Nine Saints Hall congratulated them with smiles, saying, "The Nine Saints Hall truly lives up to its reputation as the number one sect. How could our disciples of this age possess such abilities?"

"I heard that the Lotus Bird Grass was obtained by Little Pill Cultivator from a bunch of snake demons? Impressive, truly impressive!"

"Next time, we must invite Elder Yun to our sect to give our disciples some pointers."

The Ninth Elder, unable to suppress his smile, chuckled and said, "Of course, of course!"

The conversation below grew increasingly lively. Sect Leader Feng Qing sat in the seat of honor, his brocade robe embroidered with gold phoenixes hanging down, the gold threads gleaming coldly in the candlelight of the hall.

She suppressed her anger and added a compliment, drawing everyone's attention: "These children have indeed performed well, quite like Brother Yun back in the day."

"but--"

She stood up, the soft rustling of her clothes standing out clearly in the suddenly quiet hall, and walked step by step toward Song Yao.

The spiritual pressure around him slowly descended like a bottomless abyss, and even the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

The Ninth Elder frowned slightly as she stopped in front of Song Yao, her voice deep and resonant: "This Miss Lin, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

Song Yao was eating grapes when she heard this and looked up in confusion.

In her past life, there were plenty of people who demanded an explanation from her.

Why do I have to ask for this in this lifetime?

How could she possibly give so many explanations?

Perhaps because her eyes were too blank, Feng Qing paused for a moment before speaking in a cold tone, enunciating each word clearly: "I heard that my disciple suffered a sudden onset of hysteria in the secret realm after taking the pills you gave her."

Her voice suddenly rose, her face turning fierce: "You, a mere alchemist, resort to such underhanded methods to harm your opponents. How are you any different from those ruthless demonic cultivators?"

The oppressive aura of the superior surged, and the disciples from various sects below, who had been watching the show, were suddenly overwhelmed by the pressure, breaking out in a cold sweat and barely able to lift their heads.

Song Yao frowned slightly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable as well.

The next second, the Ninth Elder suddenly waved his sleeve, and his powerful spiritual energy condensed into an invisible barrier, firmly blocking Song Yao's path.

Feng Qing's oppressive aura was forcefully repelled, and the wildly flickering candlelight in the hall finally stabilized.

His face was as cold as iron: "Words are not enough. How can you conclude that Lin Mu poisoned them? The Ten Thousand Bone Forest is filled with strange and sinister miasma. Who knows if they were bewitched by the miasma and lost their minds? Sect Leader Feng, in front of all the sects, you must not slander the disciples of my Nine Saints Hall with empty words."

Feng Qing's beautiful eyes curved into a mocking smile: "Heh, what's there to slander about me? Maybe this child is secretly reading some heretical alchemical texts."

The Ninth Elder sneered, "Absolutely impossible!"

Song Yao's eyes immediately lit up.

The Ninth Elder actually trusts her that much?

I wish I hadn't replaced his sword manual with a pornographic book in my past life.

"Oh?"

Feng Qing raised an eyebrow, her tone light and casual, yet every word was piercing: "Are you so sure? The Nine Saints Hall produced one Song Yao back then, just because there can't be a second one doesn't mean there can't be one."

The Ninth Elder snorted again, quite certain: "Lin Mu can't concentrate on her studies at all. She even has to burn out three cauldrons to refine a Qi-replenishing pill. Poison pills are so difficult to refine, there's absolutely no way she could learn it!"

Feng Qing: "?"

Song Yao: "?"

It sounds like he's cursing at her.

uncertain.

Listen again.

Chen He's worldview crumbled: "It took me three furnaces to learn it? How... how did I even get to the main peak?!"

Feng Qing was clearly still suspicious. She flicked her sleeve and sat back down in her seat, saying sarcastically, "You wouldn't be saying that the child fed them Qi-boosting pills, would you?"

Song Yao nodded this time: "Yes, it's a Qi-replenishing pill, but it has some side effects."

This time, not only Feng Qing, but also everyone else in the hall twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Does the Qi-boosting pill have side effects?

How could such a simple elixir have side effects?

That's utter nonsense.

"Since Brother Yun insists on protecting her, then I'll show you what kind of Qi-replenishing pill can harm someone like this!"

Feng Qing's eyebrows shot up, and she slammed her hand on the armrest. "Bring them up."

She was clearly prepared.

Before the words were finished, several disciples of the Fengqing Sect entered from outside the hall, carrying five stretchers on which the young men were bound with thick ropes.

Her complexion was not as withered and insane as she had described; instead, it had a strange rosy glow, though her eyes were somewhat vacant.

The stretcher was placed in the hall. Feng Qing gestured to his disciples to untie the ropes: "Brother Yun, take a good look! Look at what your sect's disciples have done to our disciples!"

However, when the rope hit the ground, the imagined chaotic scene did not occur.

The five disciples of the Northern Shaking Sect sat up blankly, stretched their arms and legs, and looked bewildered.

After a few seconds of silence, their faces lit up with surprise: "Hey? Why doesn't my chest wound hurt anymore?"

"How come all my internal injuries have disappeared?!"

"Wait, my spiritual power... my spiritual power seems to have increased a lot?!"

The five of them chatted amongst themselves, showing no trace of their inner demons causing them to go crazy and kill each other. Their faces were rosy and their auras were calm, clearly indicating that their injuries in the secret realm had been completely healed.

Song Yao hurriedly took out her notebook and wrote it down.

Taking too much Qi-boosting pills can lead to a combination of side effects and cumulative effects.

The others in the hall also realized what was happening and couldn't help but whisper among themselves, "This can't be the effect of an ordinary Qi-replenishing pill! It can heal injuries, strengthen the body's foundation, and even increase spiritual power. It must be at least a Spirit-grade pill, right?"

"Indeed! The spirit-grade healing pills I took last time didn't work this quickly! How come this junior disciple of the Nine Saints Hall can refine pills that are even better than those of the sect elders?"

"But the side effects are really scary. If it's causing such infighting, I wouldn't dare to take it."

"..."

After their initial surprise, the five disciples of the Northern Shaking Sect suddenly remembered something and turned to Feng Qing abruptly: "Sect Master..."