As he spoke, he clicked his tongue with a look of amazement: "I'm different. It's like God is chasing after me to feed me. No matter how bad the spiritual root is, once it's in my body, you see, it comes to life, hahaha!"

Once this wave of mental attack was unleashed, even the Heavenly Army's attempts to stop her were futile. Her eyes were bloodshot, and black energy emanated from her body. She raised her soft whip, let out a loud shout, and lashed it down at Shi Xuan's head.

"Ouch!" Shi Xuan exclaimed in feigned surprise, but without any hesitation, he raised his sword and slashed at Fan Mingzhu!

The senior officers on the highest platform were already paying close attention to Fan Mingzhu's situation. Now, they had noticed her unusual behavior; the black aura faintly emanating from her body was none other than demonic energy! Fan Mingzhu was indeed a demonic cultivator!

At this moment, the most important thing was no longer the competition itself, but the return of the demonic cultivators!

Shi Mingxiu was the first to leap down from the platform. The ones fighting the demonic cultivators right now were disciples of their Lianfeng Sword Sect! He certainly couldn't stand idly by. Fan Mingzhu was incredibly audacious! They should capture her alive and interrogate her to find out if she had any other accomplices!

Seeing Shi Mingxiu move, Fan Hongde immediately followed, wanting to stop Shi Mingxiu from harming his daughter. Several Nascent Soul stage sect leaders, peak masters, and elders also rose from their seats and rushed towards the dueling platform.

The situation was already extremely critical for Fan Mingzhu. She was already struggling to deal with Shi Xuan, and if a few more Nascent Soul cultivators came, she wouldn't be able to escape even if she tried.

Tianjun sighed in her mind. He would never choose Fan Mingzhu if there were a better option. Shi Xuan was right. Wild boars can't eat fine chaff, so Fan Mingzhu will never amount to anything.

She was about to die here! At the critical moment, the Heavenly Army recklessly activated the Demon Seed. Instantly, a black mist enveloped Fan Mingzhu. The thick black mist blocked the divine senses of others. When the black mist dissipated, Fan Mingzhu had already disappeared from the spot, her whereabouts unknown.

At the same time, Shi Mingxiu and Fan Hongde arrived at the fighting platform almost simultaneously.

Fan Mingzhu disappeared, and Shi Mingxiu instantly spread his divine sense to search for her whereabouts.

Fan Hongde, who was also on stage, blocked Shi Mingxiu's path, but sternly stopped him, saying, "Shi Mingshi! What are you doing!"

Shi Mingxiu turned and exchanged a glance with Feng Hanmo, who then flew off, taking Quan Xing with him. The two went to find Fan Mingzhu. One was a weapon cultivator and the other a talisman array cultivator, so they were naturally more skilled at finding people. It would be much more convenient for them to go and search for Fan Mingzhu than for Shi Mingxiu to do it himself.

Seeing that the two sect leaders had already left, Shi Mingxiu turned to look at Fan Hongde, his face ashen, his usually amiable expression devoid of any smile.

His eyes were dark and deep as he stared straight at Fan Hongde and said, "Fan Hongde! I never imagined that the Divine Cauldron Sect, which has been passed down for thousands of years, has now degenerated into a demonic sect!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Fan Hongde retorted righteously, "Our sect has always been upright and strict, and we have extremely high requirements for the conduct of our disciples. As the head of a sect, how can you make baseless accusations without any evidence!"

"Heh," Shi Mingxiu sneered, "Upright and strict? The kind of uprightness and strictness that comes with swapping spiritual roots!"

These words immediately sparked a buzz of discussion throughout the venue.

"Damn, no wonder I accepted the fact that Fan Mingzhu is a demonic cultivator so easily. It turns out that when she changed her spiritual root, I had already categorized her as a heretic!"

"The Divine Cauldron Sect, it's not surprising when you think about it. In recent years, their people have become increasingly unruly."

"I knew it! How could someone with such a flawed character possibly maintain their Dao heart? Their Divine Cauldron Sect is probably rotten to the core!"

"Tsk tsk, their Divine Cauldron Sect Master is leading the way in using forbidden techniques to exchange people's spiritual roots, who would want to go to the Divine Cauldron Sect if they were good people!"

"That's right, who would go to the Divine Cauldron Sect if they were a good person!"

...

Many of the disciples who said this were probably the kind who couldn't even get into the Divine Cauldron Sect back then. Now that the Divine Cauldron Sect has become the target of everyone's criticism, their sense of superiority has arisen, and they look down on the disciples of the Divine Cauldron Sect.

The disciples of the Divine Cauldron Sect dared not speak out against their anger. In this situation, they had become the adversaries of the other five sects, and it was really not appropriate for them to be too arrogant at this time.

The disciples from other sects were right about at least one thing: they only found out during the last Six Sects Alchemy Competition that Junior Sister Shi Xuan had betrayed her sect because her spiritual root had been replaced... No, it can't be called betrayal, it's more like she was thrown off the mountain.

The sect leader's actions were indeed unlike those of righteous people, leaving them unable to even find a reason to refute him.

This is probably the first time in the Western Region of Qian Yuan that the people of the Divine Cauldron Sect have been mocked by others without saying a word.

On the dueling platform, Fan Hongde appeared ready to fight Shi Mingxiu, but the other side outnumbered him, so he dared not make a rash move. He could only argue his case: "If you say my sect is a demonic sect, you have to provide some evidence. Right now, I, the sect leader, and all the disciples of my sect are here, and none of them have any demonic energy on them! We, the disciples of the Divine Cauldron Sect, are here, and we can check them at will, but we cannot slander them at will!"

"Hmph," Shi Mingxiu sneered, "Those with demonic energy escaped, so you came out to stop them. Those without demonic energy are left here for you to inspect. Fan Hongde, you've got a good plan!"

"How can you prove that my daughter has demonic energy?"

"Do I need to prove anything? Everyone here with eyes saw it. She released demonic energy to obstruct the flow of spiritual power, feared the Ice Soul Sword, and finally released tangible demonic energy. Everyone here saw all of this. Any further attempts to deny it will only make you a laughingstock! Get out of the way!"

Fan Hongde's eyes flickered, and he took a small half-step back, but he still did not admit it.

“Fan Mingzhu usually doesn’t show any unusual behavior. If you want to say she’s a demonic cultivator, you can’t just make things up. You have to produce evidence,” Fan Hongde said. He kept insisting on providing evidence, determined to deny it until he could produce it.

Shi Xuan, hiding behind Shi Mingxiu, peeked out and laughed, "Sect Leader Fan, are you even a man? Do you have any evidence? Is Fan Mingzhu your biological daughter? Do you have any evidence? Now, you're the ones who should be producing evidence. How can you prove that Fan Mingzhu isn't a demonic cultivator? After all, we've all seen evidence that she is a demonic cultivator."

"Yes, Fan Mingzhu must be a demonic cultivator!"

“I also think she’s a demonic cultivator, otherwise so many things can’t be explained.”

"What explanation do you need? Didn't you see what happened before she ran away? Her eyes were bloodshot, and her whole body was emitting black smoke. It was terrifying!"

"Sect Leader Fan's words are so weak and unconvincing, who would believe him nowadays?"

"Judging from his behavior, he must know that Fan Mingzhu is a demonic cultivator. Maybe there are other demonic cultivators in their Divine Cauldron Sect...maybe the sect leader is a demonic cultivator...a demonic cultivator sect..."

...

The disciples of the six sects were now clearly divided, isolating the disciples of the Divine Cauldron Sect.