Chapter 033 Chapter 33 (Second update)

Xia Muqing scared Xu Ling.

Having known her for so long, Xia Muqing has never seen her cry except for the last time when she was swept away by a space rift in another dimension and almost died.

What’s going on? Is there a problem with Mingyueying’s evolution?

Xia Muqing suddenly lost interest in wandering around outside. She hung up the phone and hurried to the hotel. As soon as she entered, she saw the entire team standing in the lobby, their faces pale, anxious, and at a loss.

"What's going on?" Xia Muqing grabbed Xu Ling's hand. "Where's Mingyueying? Did she fail to evolve?"

Xu Ling murmured: "No, the evolution was successful, but..."

She pointed at the others, her face pale. "Jiang Li, Ding Ling's mystical beasts, and Lu Wenzhen's Yu Luan, all collapsed for some unknown reason. Teacher Ni just called a doctor, who said it was food poisoning!"

Xia Muqing: “!!!”

The bodies of mysterious beasts are far stronger than humans, and ordinary poisons have no effect on them. Xia Muqing asked in disbelief, "What kind of poison was it?"

Lu Wenzhen raised his head, his face tense, and uttered a few words coldly: "Xuanli Pill."

Xia Muqing: "..."

Strictly speaking, Xuanli Pills cannot be considered a poison. It is a medicine made by extracting and refining various special materials picked from another dimension.

This potion is very effective and is often used as a backup potion for evolution. Once the evolution shows signs of failure, the Xuanli Pill is given to the Xuan beast to swallow. There is a chance that it will help the Xuan beast unleash its potential and break through the bottleneck in one fell swoop.

However, precisely because of its potent medicinal properties, unevolved profound beasts would experience a surge of profound energy after consuming it, losing control of their power and falling into a period of confusion that could last for several days.

During this period, they must not participate in the battle, otherwise there will be a risk of damaging the foundation.

In other words, after accidentally eating the Xuanli Pill, Ding Ling, Jiang Li, and Lu Wenshen's Yu Luan were all useless.

Xia Muqing's face also turned paler and paler.

She finally understood why Xu Ling cried on the phone. Half of their team's mysterious beasts were destroyed in an instant. How could they fight tomorrow?

"How did you get poisoned?"

Jiang Li and others immediately looked at Ding Ling.

In the corner, Ding Ling, looking gloomy, froze for a moment, then said in a tearful voice, "I, I don't know either. I was just sharing the dried sweet potatoes I brought from home with everyone to try, and I don't know how..."

"It's you!" Jiang Li shouted angrily, "It's because we ate your food that everyone is like this!"

Ding Ling's eyes were red and swollen, and she raised her head excitedly: "It's not me, I didn't do it!"

"Okay Jiang Li, Ding Ling probably didn't mean it," Xia Muqing said calmly, "Her profound beast has also been affected. This won't do her any good."

"I guess there's only one possibility. The strength we revealed today scared the other teams. They're afraid they can't beat us, so they want to use this underhanded method to reduce our numbers."

As she spoke, Xia Muqing immediately thought of the "Winner Takes All Team".

The dark, sinister gaze of the man in the navy blue vest during the day, and the strange look Zhao Lu gave him when he left, lingered in her mind. If she had to suspect anyone, Xia Muqing would have been most suspicious of them.

Unfortunately, no matter how much Xia Muqing suspected, she had no evidence.

She took a deep breath. "Don't think too much for now. Let the Chinese medicine beast rest well. The rest of you should think about tomorrow's game. Although we are missing five beasts, fortunately we still have substitutes..."

No, substitute?

An idea suddenly flashed through Xia Muqing's mind. At the same time, Jiang Li and others also reacted suddenly and looked at Peng Li at the back of the team.

Peng Li's face looked a little strange, and his eyes were evasive.

Being stared at by everyone, he was startled and stuttered a little when he spoke: "W-what's wrong? It's okay for me to go on stage, right?"

Jiang Li looked at him suspiciously: "Where did you go in the evening? How come the rest of us were affected, but you were the only one who was fine?"

Peng Li's cheeks flushed instantly, his eyes flickering. "Can't I just go out for a walk? You can't just frame others when you're bringing bad luck upon yourself!"

"No, it's not a false accusation," Ding Ling suddenly said. "My dried sweet potatoes were in my bag and left on the bus. How could the other teams know about it?"

"Only our own people can have access to it!"

Peng Li: "...You're slandering me! Where did I get the Xuanli Pills? They're so expensive, and I don't have that much money!"

The two of them started arguing on the spot, and their shouts echoed throughout the hall. Xia Muqing had to raise her voice and shout several times before she could finally make them shut up.

Holding her forehead with a headache, Xia Muqing looked at Peng Li and carefully considered her words: "...Peng Li, if you have any clues, please tell me as soon as possible."

Peng Li stared at her with an unpleasant expression: "Why, do you also think it was me?"

Xia Muqing: "No, I just want to remind you that there are cameras on the bus."

"Although it's a bit hidden and not easy to be discovered...but isn't there anyone who doesn't know this common sense?"

Peng Li: “…”

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Peng Li's face turned pale.

Seeing his expression, Ding Ling immediately understood everything. She rushed forward in a rage, clenching her right fist and saying, "It's really you!"

Peng Li raised his hands to cover his head, his face turning from pale to blue: "What's wrong with me? Xuanli Pills are not poison!"

Seeing that he had been discovered by everyone, he simply threw the can and shouted: "I just sprinkled it on your dried sweet potatoes, so what? I didn't ask you to share it with everyone!"

"It's all your fault. It's your fault. You could have eaten all the food yourself, but you insisted on sharing it with others, which is why the team is in this situation!"

"The team is short of people now, and I have to play in the game tomorrow. Do you dare to hit me?"

Ding Ling: “……!”

Ding Ling was so angry that her face turned red. She glared at Peng Li with gritted teeth, wishing she could bite him.

Upon hearing this, the others looked at Peng Li with increasingly cold eyes.

Peng Li straightened his neck, looking like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. "I, I just want to play in the game. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"I finally made it to the competition team, and you're still making me sit on the bench, running around all day collecting information for you. Is this fair to me?"

"My strength is not bad at all. I lost to Ding Ling before because of carelessness!"

"You all only care about yourselves and no one cares about me at all!"

Lu Wenzhen's voice was slightly cold: "Why didn't we think about you? This evening, Xia Muqing discussed with me -"

Xia Muqing suddenly interrupted him: "Student Lu, stop talking."

She raised her head and looked at Peng Li: "Where did you get the Xuanli Pill?"

Peng Li straightened his neck and pursed his lips, like a goose with a stiff mouth.

"You don't want to talk about it, or you don't have any evidence?" Xia Muqing whispered. "Peng Li, let me be frank. They gave you the Xuanli Pills to reduce the number of our team members. If that's the case, how could they give the substitutes a chance to play?"

"Even if we don't expose you, won't they report you to the organizers?"

Peng Li's expression changed again and again.

Just then, the hotel door was pushed open and a staff member from the competition walked in. He looked Peng Li over and asked, "Are you Peng Li from City S?"

"Excuse me, someone reported you for poisoning the food. Please come with us."

Peng Li: “…”

Behind him, Xu Ling wailed and covered his face.

Xia Muqing was right about everything. Before they could report it, the team that gave Peng Lixuan the power pills was the first to complain.

Although she also hated what Peng Li did, but...

Their team was already short of people, and now that Peng Li was taken away, there were only 3 people and 5 mysterious beasts left in the team!

…

No one in the team slept well that night.

As a result, when everyone woke up the next morning, they had messy hair and big dark circles under their eyes.

Last night, after Peng Li was taken away, Xia Muqing and others had a long and tense discussion, but until late at night, they still couldn't come up with any good solution.

Finally, Xia Muqing said, "We can only give it our all."

Before the competition begins, all teams gather in front of the venue and prepare to draw lots.

Xia Muqing noticed that the Royal Salute team members looked a little strange, as if they hadn't rested well yesterday. However, the other team's main force remained intact; only one of the substitutes from yesterday was absent today.

The "Winner Takes All Team" was quite rude, strutting across the field. Zhao Lu even made a face at Xia Muqing and asked jokingly, "Why are there so few of you here today? Where's that big guy?"

She was talking about Peng Li.

“Woo—”

Feeling the other party's malice, the Gale Dog lowered its head slightly and bared its fangs at Zhao Lu.

Xia Muqing patted the head of the Swift Dog, looked up at Zhao Lu and said, "Don't be complacent. The rest of us are enough to defeat you."

"You better pray you don't run into me too early today."

Zhao Lu said with a smile: "Okay, let's wait and see."

After the Winner Takes All team left, Xu Ling curled her lips at them and said "Pooh" several times: "Mu Qing, they were the ones who tricked Peng Li into drugging me, weren't they?"

"What the hell? If you can't win, you resort to underhanded tactics. I really despise people like this."

"Besides, they're already taking action before the fight even begins. Are they so unsure of their own abilities? I used to think Zhao Si was pretty strong, but now it seems he's not much better than that bastard Liu Pan."

"It's okay. If an enemy comes, we'll fight him. If a flood comes, we'll block it with earth." Xia Muqing pursed her lips. "Let's go and draw lots."

…

There were 14 teams in total, divided into 7 groups. Xia Muqing drew a team from City Z.

City Z was remote, with weak teaching staff and not very strong team members. This was undoubtedly good news for Xia Muqing and the others. After seeing the other team's members and rankings, Xu Ling and Lu Wenshen both breathed a sigh of relief.

"How do we fight?"

Xia Muqing thought for a moment and said, "Xu Ling goes first, Lu, you go second, and I'll go last."

Xu Ling and Lu Wenshen nodded.

The match began immediately. The Z City team paled a bit when they saw their opponent was the "Front High Energy Team." But when they saw there were only three of them, they felt strange and stared at them curiously.

In the first game, Xu Ling came on stage.

As soon as the evolved Starry Sky Warbler appeared, its crimson beak, wings shining with brilliant light, and the mysterious light that seemed to be lingering around the Ganges immediately attracted many people's attention.

In the judging room, many teachers were also amazed.

"Is this the Moon Warbler from yesterday?"

"After one night of not seeing you, you've already evolved?"

"This first-level evolved profound beast... is very similar to the Starry Sky Oriole, but upon closer inspection, it seems a little different..."

Amidst the discussions, the match began. The boy who was facing her said with a sad face: "You, you should be gentle, my Fire Wind Fox can't take a beating."

Xu Ling was so angry that he had no place to vent his anger, and his face looked a little ferocious for a moment.

"Stop talking nonsense. Little Yingzi, use 'Yinluo'!"