Poisoning
"I know, didn't the sect leader receive orders from His Excellency to eliminate Wen Zheng?" Shi Xin said in a low voice, "Why don't we leave her and Mu Qing together at the Changsheng Sect?"
Both of them are thorns in His Majesty's side, and he wishes he could get rid of them as soon as possible.
Mentioning the elimination of Mu Qing and Wen Zheng made Xu Ximing even angrier. "Li Ruyue is already dead. Who else in the Changsheng Sect can kill them?"
How much effort it took to cultivate Li Ruyue! Such a powerful weapon was lost to the demon race. Every time Xu Ximing thought about it, his heart bled.
Xu Ximing was breathing heavily, his emotions extremely unstable, as if he wanted to devour someone.
Shi Xin quickly offered a suggestion: "Whether Li Ruyue is there or not doesn't really make much difference. Even if we can't beat them in terms of martial arts, don't we still have the Soul-Separating Powder given by the Venerable One?"
The Soul-Separating Powder is something even the people of Medicine Immortal Valley can't find a way to counteract, so dealing with Mu Qing and Wen Zheng would be a piece of cake.
Xu Ximing's anger subsided, and he asked, "Hasn't the Soul-Separating Powder been used up?"
Shi Xin took out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve: "I kept a little bit."
Xu Ximing took the porcelain bottle and weighed it in his hand, feeling that it was quite heavy. He glared at Shi Xin.
He secretly left behind so much Soul-Separating Powder; his intentions are sinister.
“Since you have an idea, I won’t stop you. After knocking them out, lock them in the dungeon and send them to His Majesty when everyone is here,” Xu Ximing said, throwing the Soul-Separating Powder into Shi Xin’s arms.
After saying that, he turned and left, the flame in his palm falling into the house and slowly igniting the wooden pillars inside.
Shi Xin stood in the fire, clutching the porcelain bottle in his hand, and breathed a sigh of relief.
His intentions in leaving behind the Soul-Separating Powder were indeed impure. He's only bringing it out now to curry favor with the sect leader, so he can show off his face when he goes to "deliver goods."
Little did he know that Li Ruyue's remarkable achievements were solely due to her collaboration with the sect leader in delivering "goods," which earned her the Venerable One's favor.
Shi Xin believed that his talent was no less than Li Ruyue's, and that as long as he met the Venerable One, he would definitely be able to tell that the other party had become even stronger than Li Ruyue.
The flames gradually reached his feet, licking at the hem of his clothes. He impatiently brushed away the sparks and stepped out of the house.
On the roof beam, Wen Zheng was half-squatting, holding a letter in one hand and grabbing Mu Qing's arm with the other. The fire burning below produced thick black smoke that made it impossible for people to open their eyes.
"Shall we go?" Wen Zheng rubbed her eyes, the letter in her hand covered with a lot of rising ash.
"Come on, hold on tight to me." Mu Qing's expression was not good. He reached out and put his arm around Wen Zheng's waist, leading her back to his courtyard quickly.
After returning, the two cleaned themselves off before sitting down to discuss what had just happened.
"It seems something's not quite right within the Changsheng Sect," Wen Zheng said as she opened the letter.
Based solely on the conversation between Sect Leader Xu and Shi Xin, it's highly likely that the Changsheng Sect is a henchman of some mysterious organization, and everything the sect does serves that organization.
Even a powerful figure like Li Ruyue was trained by a mysterious organization, which shows the strength of this organization.
But so many years have passed in the cultivation world, and there has never been any chaos or mysterious organization. So who exactly does the Longevity Sect serve?
Mu Qing thought of the people who had tried to dig out his sword bone. Could those people be related to the Longevity Sect?
Instead of bringing it up with Wen Zheng, he asked, "Shi Xin said that His Majesty wants your life. What comes to mind?"
Wen Zheng lost her memory and came to the Zhuxian Sect. Her meridians were destroyed and her sword bone was dug out. Despite such a tragic end, who still wanted to kill her?
"No." Wen Zheng twirled the wooden bracelet in her hand.
She had a vague guess in her mind, but she hadn't verified it yet. She would tell Mu Qing after she was sure.
Wen Zheng avoided Mu Qing's gaze, lowering her eyes to examine the letters on the table. After opening more than a dozen letters, there were only about twenty sheets of paper inside, and most of the letters contained very brief content.
Wen Zheng looked through them carefully, then took out a few problematic ones and handed them to Mu Qing: "Take a look at these, don't they have some big problems?"
The letter contained only one sentence, and all of them were identical:
The fusion is complete; we can proceed to the next step.
"Fusion? Fusion of what?" Wen Zheng thought for a moment, then couldn't help but think of the sword bone that had been taken from her. "Shall we go to the demon race now and retrieve Li Ruyue's body?"
If Li Ruyue has indeed fused with someone else's spiritual root or sword bone, a physician should be able to find clues by examining her.
"I'm afraid that won't work," Mu Qing said. "When I came back, I heard the Lord of Vermilion Bird City say that Li Ruyue was used to quell the chaotic anger of the demon race."
They're probably long gone by now, their remains gone.
Wen Zheng sighed and leaned against the table, flipping through the letters. Apart from a few that she had pointed out as problematic, the others were all normal. They were all letters written by the same person to Li Ruyue, signed as Shu Mo.
The name Shumo sounds like a woman's name, and she is very likely a member of that mysterious organization.
Wen Zheng flipped through the pages several times, but finding no clues, she collapsed onto the table and closed her eyes.
Mu Qing took the letters and looked them over one by one. After confirming that she had not found anything useful, she said, "Shi Xin wants to poison us. Why don't we play along?"
Wen Zheng lay slumped on the table, not looking up, her voice muffled as she said, "We don't know when he'll poison us. What if we accidentally drink the poison?"
Shi Xin's confidence that the poison would definitely kill them both proves that it's no ordinary poison; if they even get a little bit on it, they're doomed.
"Let them poison us willingly, so we can respond accordingly," Mu Qing said.
Wen Zheng suddenly looked up at him, "You mean..."
"It's just as you think." Mu Qing took out the communication jade slip of the Zhuxian Sect, pressed something, and an urgent message to return to the sect appeared on the jade slip. "This way, Xu Ximing will have no reason to keep us here."
The sect acted swiftly; as long as Xu Ximing wanted to maintain his identity, they could not force him to stay.
Wen Zheng glanced at the text message, took out a pill, and said, "Add this to your list." Before Mu Qing could even react, she swallowed the pill, and a rash immediately broke out on her face.
Mu Qing hurriedly took out antidote pills from her storage bag to feed to Wen Zheng, but Wen Zheng stopped her.
"Don't worry, the red rashes on your face are fake." Wen Zheng touched her face, which was still smooth and fair. "These are pranks that Qu Hong made up and gave me some."
When Qu Hong was harassed by her fellow disciples, she concocted this prank pill to sever their intentions.
Mu Qing breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but said in a somewhat stern tone, "Next time, discuss it with me first before you do it."
This sudden attack startled him so much that his heart started racing.
"Understood." Wen Zheng took out her veil and added, "You talk to Headmaster Xu first tomorrow. If he doesn't agree, I'll do it."
She was asked to "persuade" Xu Ximing through unreasonable behavior.
"Okay." Mu Qing smiled as he looked at her high spirits.
The next day.
Mu Qing and Wen Zheng went out early to see Xu Ximing and tell him about their plans to leave.
Xu Ximing was busy with "delivery" matters when he heard this and asked, "Won't Immortal Venerable Mu stay a little longer?"
He glanced at Mu Qing suspiciously, wondering if he had discovered something.
Mu Qing took out a text message: "The sect has given orders, I have no choice but to return."
Using the sect as an excuse, Xu Ximing was reluctant to stop them and was about to let them leave when Shi Xin walked in.
"Sect Leader, I've discovered something unusual about the deaths of those disciples..." He said, then pretended to see Mu Qing and quickly stopped.
Xu Ximing's eyes flickered, knowing that this was a play put on by Shi Xin to keep Mu Qing, and he cooperated by asking, "Steward Shi, just say what you have to say. What kind of behavior is this, stammering like this?"
After saying that, he looked at Mu Qing apologetically, "Immortal Mu, please forgive me."
Mu Qing shook her head to indicate that she was fine, and then quietly exchanged a glance with Wen Zheng.
Although Shi Xin was kneeling, his eyes kept glancing at Mu Qing, as if he was hinting at something.
The main hall was silent, each of the four people having their own thoughts. Xu Ximing and Shi Xin wanted to use the unusual circumstances surrounding their disciple's death to keep Mu Qing and Wen Zheng there, while Mu Qing and Wen Zheng wanted to use leaving as an excuse to force the other to poison them.
At this moment, the thoughts of both sides reached a complete consensus.
Why haven't they made a move yet?
Shi Xin waited for a while, but no one asked him anything. He almost couldn't keep up his ferocious expression.
How can he sing this play all by himself?
Wen Zheng glanced at the silent Mu Qing, then looked at the kneeling Shi Xin, and took the initiative to ask, "What do you mean? Do you suspect my senior brother?"
Her unreasonable tone perfectly portrayed the image of a brainless junior sister.
Shi Xin lowered his head and hurriedly said he dared not, but his eyes kept glancing at Mu Qing, as if to tell others that this matter was related to Mu Qing.
Wen Zheng continued to play her part: "You dare to doubt my senior brother? Do you have any evidence?"
Shi Xin immediately took out a recording stone from his pocket and handed it over. Xu Ximing quickly took it and opened it. The scene inside showed Mu Qing killing a man in white robes, and it looked like it was secretly recorded.
After the image ended, Xu Ximing put down the recording stone and looked at Mu Qing: "What does Immortal Venerable Mu think?"
Mu Qing smashed the recording stone and said indifferently, "Nonsense, recording stones are not impossible to fake."
With the photographic stone destroyed, Xu Ximing's face darkened as he looked at Shi Xin: "Do you have any other evidence?"
Shi Xin shook his head with a grim expression. He thought that Mu Qing was at least called a Celestial Venerable. Even if he said he didn't do it, as long as the recording stone was there, he still had a way to smear the accusations.
Who would have thought that Mu Qing would destroy the recording stone? He hadn't prepared anything else. Was he just going to let these two leave?
Shi Xin was still not entirely satisfied and suggested, "The circumstances surrounding the disciples who died in the demon race are unusual. I hope Immortal Venerable Mu can stay for a couple more days to help the Longevity Sect investigate."
Now that things have come to this point, if Mu Qing still wants to mention leaving again, she can only turn her gaze to Wen Zheng, signaling that she can speak now.
Wen Zheng nodded slightly, lifted a corner of her veil to reveal her face covered in red rashes, "My face is like this, I don't care, I want to go back to the Immortal Chasing Sect."
The glimpse of her exposed skin made Xu Ximing and Shi Xin's already unpleasant expressions even worse.
Mu Qing also spoke up at the right time: "The sect has important matters to attend to, and my junior sister has developed so many red rashes on her face because she doesn't know what she ate. I'm afraid she'll be disfigured."
Having said that, Xu Ximing felt it wouldn't be right to keep them any longer, and said, "In that case, I won't keep you any longer."
Mu Qing nodded and turned to leave.
Shi Xin knelt on the ground, gritting his teeth, his mind racing as he thought of a solution. Suddenly, he spoke up, "Immortal Venerable Mu, since you wish to leave, I will not stop you. I have two cups of dew I picked from the sect's divine tree. I hope Immortal Venerable Mu will not find them offensive."
He had two glasses of water brought over and placed in front of the two of them.
Wen Zheng and Mu Qing exchanged a glance, both knowing that the water had been poisoned, but they pretended to be in a hurry to return to their sect and drank it down in one gulp.
Seeing that they had all drunk the medicine, Shi Xin's eyes gleamed and a sinister smile appeared on his face: "After drinking the Soul-Separating Powder, let's see how long you can stay sober."
As soon as she finished speaking, Wen Zheng and Mu Qing both collapsed to the ground.
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