Pu Erge could be said to have run all the way to the competition venue, but by the time he returned, the competition was already over, and everyone had left. Pu Erge turned and left, wanting to go to the library to find the Fifth Elder, but he couldn't even find where the library was. At this moment, the disciples had either returned to their own courtyards or gone to the affairs hall to collect their rewards from the competition.

Pu Erge was so anxious that he was completely unable to think straight, which caused him to be at a loss and confused. When Xu Yuehuai was on his way back to the sect leader's mountain after delivering the pills, he saw Pu Erge running around like a headless fly not far away.

She stood still, wanting to see what Second Brother Pu was up to. As she watched, she wondered if something had happened to Ji Yuanchi. But that shouldn't be the case; she had glanced at Ji Yuanchi when she left and it was just a simple case of fainting due to exhaustion of spiritual energy.

While she was pondering, her thoughts wandered, and she had long forgotten about seeing Brother Pu.

After wandering around for a while, Pu Erge suddenly saw a familiar figure behind him. He immediately rushed to Xu Yuehuai and pleaded, "Yueyue! Please save my little sister."

Xu Yuehuai maintained her expression unchanged and calmly asked, "What's wrong? Tell me in detail."

Pu Erge told Xu Yuehuai about Ji Yuanchi's poisoning. Xu Yuehuai was very generous and immediately gave him two bottles of pills. "Considering that we knew each other before, these two bottles of pills are for you. The red one can cure all poisons, and the white one is for healing. Your injuries will improve after taking them."

Seeing that Xu Yuehuai had no intention of going with him, Pu Erge took the two bottles of medicine, but this time he didn't call out to Yueyue, "Thank you for your help, Senior Sister. This disciple will take his leave now."

After saying that, Brother Pu turned and left.

Xu Yuehuai didn't say anything, but stared at his back for a while after he left, until the person completely disappeared from sight. Only then did Xu Yuehuai come back to her senses and turn around to leave the place.

Pu Erge hurriedly returned to the house with the things Xu Yuehuai had given him. Ji Yuanchi had already closed her eyes again and was in a coma. Pu Erge struggled to put the pill into her mouth.

After Ji Yuanchi took the antidote pill, the color of her lips gradually returned to normal, and the heavy weight that had been hanging over Pu Erge's heart slowly eased.

After Ji Yuanchi opened her eyes again and regained consciousness, Pu Erge fed her the remaining healing pills.

As an alchemist, how could Ji Yuanchi not know who made the pill in her mouth? She wasn't fully awake yet, but her brain was already excited, and she turned her head to look at the bedside.

Looking over, all that could be seen was Brother Pu, his clothes disheveled and travel-worn; Xu Yuehuai was nowhere to be seen.

"I met her on the road. After I told her about your situation, she gave me two bottles of pills." Brother Pu recounted what had just happened, his head bowed, seemingly lost in thought.

...

Xu Yuehuai was absent-minded on the sect leader's mountain peak, and her mind wandered several times. Zisangyi, who was standing next to her, could no longer bear it. "Can't you just say what you want to say? Look at you with that worried look on your face. What's wrong?"

Xu Yuehuai snapped out of her reverie, shook her head, and said, "It's nothing important. Let's continue. This is how you form the hand seals, right?"

Xu Yuehuai copied the hand seal and made one, while Zisangyi was teaching her how to activate the sect's protective magic.

Zisang noticed that he was unwilling to talk about it, so she didn't press him further and continued her teaching. The atmosphere on the sect leader's mountain was peaceful, but others might not be like that.

After the matter was over, the Second Elder went straight down the mountain to see how Yu Ze, who had been thrown out of the sect, was doing.

Yu Ze lay sprawled on the steps, covered in mud and grime. He was a far cry from his former glamorous self, now looking like a disheveled figure.

Hearing the noise of someone approaching, Yu Ze opened his eyes with difficulty. When he saw that it was the Second Elder, he laughed self-deprecatingly, turned himself over, and changed from face down to face up.

The Second Elder's brows furrowed deeply, his eyes filled with incomprehension. "As the Second Elder's personal disciple, you have received far more than others. Why are you still not satisfied? Why do you resort to such despicable means?"

The Second Elder usually focuses on cultivation, aiming to catch up with Wei Shengliu's cultivation level, so he dares not slack off for a moment. Now that Wei Shengliu is promoting his travels around the world, he has not relaxed, but instead has worked even harder to cultivate.

The result of his diligent cultivation was that he neglected the feelings of those around him. He admitted that he hadn't taken good care of Yu Ze, but he had given Yu Ze extremely generous conditions that others could never enjoy in their entire lives.

Yu Ze sneered, his eyes as still as water. "Father."

The Second Elder's heart trembled at the shout. He had always asked Yu Ze to call him Master Second Elder within the sect, and he rarely heard this title, at least not in recent years.

“You are the second elder of the sect. My growth is accompanied by all kinds of expectations. Because your cultivation is high, my cultivation cannot be poor. I cannot slack off in my cultivation.” Yu Ze spoke slowly, without any tone, and stated it in a straightforward manner. “But my cultivation talent is really just average. I can’t keep up with you. They will criticize me. Gradually, I began to hate cultivation. I felt that it was an extremely meaningless thing.”

"It wasn't until I discovered that I almost lost to him when I brought Fu Ziyi and the others to the sect that I knew I would suffer a crushing defeat in this sect competition if I didn't do something. So I took medicine. I want to become stronger so that I can live up to my identity as the Second Elder's son," Yu Ze said slowly.

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.

He could accept the failure of his scheme and being expelled from the sect, but he could not accept that the one who would punish him was the Second Elder, the target he had always wanted to pursue.

The second elder remained silent, listening quietly to his son's account. At that moment, he felt that he had never truly understood his son, and had never had a conversation with him like this before.

The Second Elder regretted it.

In fact, Yu Ze is not his biological child.

When the Second Elder was young, he fell in love with a girl. The girl treated him as a good friend, but he was too shy to express his true feelings until the girl told him that she had someone she liked.

The Second Elder was heartbroken and filled with remorse. He hated his own weakness, wondering if he had acted sooner and that man wouldn't have had a chance. But reality is often cruel.