Translation: Aerial Rain Translation (aerialrain.com) by koffeam
“Go, go, why not!” Su Junmo waved his hand helplessly. The disciple sent by Xue Chengxuan lowered his gaze and didn’t dare to say anything.
Sikong Xing took Meng Qi’s arm, and the two followed Su Junmo. Xue Clan was one of the great four clans of Feng Alliance, and Xingluo Pavilion naturally arranged their temporary residence. It was an inn located at Xingluo City’s eastern district, only two streets away from the Ruyi Inn where Meng Qi and the others lived.
They arrived there in no time.
Two Xingluo Pavilion’s disciples were guarding outside the inn’s gate. When passing by, Meng Qi’s eyes slightly swept over their hands. The disciples, wearing a brown uniform, stood upright on their post. They were a bit like Pei Mufeng, reminding people of a sword. Seeing them standing there gave quite a bit sense of security.
“Have they touched Miss Xue?” Meng Qi asked suddenly.
“Huh?” Su Junmo paused.
The two disciples looked at Meng Qi imploringly, and one of them said: “We found Miss Xue just outside the city gate and sent her here. The pavilion master is currently dealing with other things and still not arriving yet, so we are on standby here.”
“No wonder…” Meng Qi nodded.
“What’s wrong?” Su Junmo asked curiously, “Is there something wrong with them?” His line of sight followed Meng Qi’s eyes and fell on the two disciples’ hands.
Meng Qi took out a porcelain bottle from her storage space, took out two pills, and gave one to each disciple: “Eat this.”
The two looked at each other, but did not immediately put the pill into their mouths.
Meng Qi took out a white glove from the storage space. This glove was made from an unknown material that resembled silk and was just fit on Meng Qi’s right hand. She bought this glove, which was fire-resistant and water-resistant, after earning a lot of spirit stones.
Meng Qi reached out to grasp one of the disciples’ wrist, then lifted his hand up.
Su Junmo and Sikong Xing stood curiously next to her. They stared at the hand carefully, feeling quite confused.
“Although I don’t know the exact poison being used to attack Miss Xue, however…” Meng Qi paused and used a spell with her left hand.
A soft light enveloped the disciple’s palm.
“What is this?” Sikong Xing asked in surprise.
The spell’s soft light revealed a dark green line on the disciple’s fingertips. The line was very thin. Even under the light, it was difficult to see unless someone looked carefully.
Xingluo Pavilion’s two disciples naturally also saw it. Their complexion changed suddenly, and they looked at the dark green line in horror. The thin line continued from the fingertips up to the wrist and beyond.
“What is this?!” The disciple quickly rolled up his sleeve.
Meng Qi carefully traced the line upwards, inch by inch. The dark green line went up the wrist and disappeared just before reaching the elbow.
“You two must be contaminated when you sent Miss Xue.” Meng Qi let go of the disciple’s hand and explained calmly.
“Do you know what this is?” Su Junmo quickly asked.
Meng Qi shook her head, “When he moved his hand, I saw a dark green light flashed from his fingertips. But I don’t know what it is.”
Su Junmo stopped speaking. He took a deep look at Meng Qi for a while before finally saying with a heavy tone: “Let’s go in first.”
He then turned to instruct the Xue Clan’s disciple who came with them: “I will find Brother Xue by myself. You take these two in, and let someone from Xue Clan take a look at them.”
“Yes.” The disciple answered quickly.
The expression of the two Xingluo Pavilion’s disciples changed slightly, but they were still calm enough. After all, this was during the Medical Cultivators Conference. Almost all the best medical cultivators in Three Thousand Worlds were gathering in Xingluo City during this period. No matter what kind of poison it was, there wouldn’t be a problem.
The two thanked Su Junmo and Meng Qi, then followed Xue Clan’s disciple into the inn.
“Let’s go.” Su Junmo walked into the inn, followed by Meng Qi and Sikong Xing. Su Junmo hastened his pace and said to Meng Qi. “I have a hunch that this matter is not simple. You…be careful.”
“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded. But her mind was busy trying to identify the dark green line she just saw.
The three soon arrived at Xue Chengxuan’s individual courtyard. The building inside the courtyard was brightly lit, and several disciples were guarding outside the gate. Seeing Su Junmo, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and then respectfully led them inside.
“Has Miss Xue been awake?” Su Junmo asked.
“Not yet.” The disciple who led them in shook his head and sighed bitterly, “Eldest young master is very anxious. Miss’ poison is a bit strange. Otherwise, our young master wouldn’t ask young master Su to come so late at night.”
“Brother Su.” Right after the disciple finished speaking, the door into the main building in the courtyard opened. Xue Chengxuan, who heard the movement outside, came out and greeted Su Junmo. He cupped his hand politely before quickly sweeping his eyes across Meng Qi and Sikong Xing. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he said nothing. He nodded towards Meng Qi, then gestured them in: “Brother Su, please.”
Xue Chengxuan turned around and walked into the room first. This room was specially prepared by Xingluo Pavilion for him and was a bit more spacious than the other rooms. Besides Xue Chengxuan, three other cultivators sat in the room. One was an elderly male cultivator with white hair and a white beard, and the other two were a male and female in their forty.
“This is our clan elder.” Xue Chengxuan made a quick introduction. “First Elder is the one who asked me to invite Brother Su over to ask for your insight.”
“Elder Xue.” Su Junmo cupped his hand and greeted the white-haired old man. Su Junmo traveled around the Western Realm for a long time and was quite familiar with the Xue Clan. He had met this First Elder twice before. He knew that this person was Xue Chengxuan’s granduncle and had a very high status in Xue Clan.
The old man nodded slowly. His half-squinted eyes opened, and he looked at Su Junmo and the others: “We have troubled Young Daoist Su.”
Meng Qi’s eyes quickly scanned the room. Next to the wall, there was a large canopied bed with a curtain hung down to hide the inner side. The room was filled with medicinal scent, and there was a small incense burner next to the bed, with a faint smoke rising slowly.
Across the curtain, she vaguely saw a person lying on the bed.
Is that Miss Xue? Meng Qi thought silently.
All Meng Qi’s impressions about Xue Clan came from Xue Jinwen. What was Xue Jinwen’s relationship with Xue Chengxuan? She heard people called Xue Jinwen ‘third Miss Xue,’ and also heard that she came from a large medical sect of the Western Realm.
So, was it Xue Jinwen lying on the bed?
“Brother Su, wait a minute.” Xue Chengxuan called softly. “I also sent someone to invite Xingluo Pavilion Master. He should be here soon.”
“What’s going on?” Su Junmo asked back, “You don’t know how to detoxify Lingfeng’s poison?”
Lingfeng?
Not Xue Jinwen.
Meng Qi sighed in relief.
Xue Chengxuan laughed bitterly: “That’s not it, but…alas!”
The elegant and handsome man let out a sigh and said in a heavy tone: “The enemy is well prepared. The poison in Lingfeng’s body is actually not so powerful that it made our Xue Clan powerless.”
“Then why is she still unconscious now?” Su Junmo was confused, “What’s make it so tricky?”
Xue Chengxuan sighed again. Before he could explain, another sound of footsteps came from outside.
Meng Qi turned her head. Pei Mufeng opened the door and walked in quickly, followed by a Xue Clan’s disciple.
“Pavilion Master Pei.” Xue Chengxuan greeted him hurriedly, “Please excuse us for disturbing you so late at night.”
“It’s okay.” Pei Mufeng nodded. His indifferent gaze swept at Meng Qi first before returned to Xue Chengxuan again: “What happened? Fellow Daoist Xue, please tell me.”
“My younger sister Xue Lingfeng was poisoned on the way to Xingluo City. Luckily, two disciples of Xingluo Pavilion found her just outside the city and brought her to us. Many thanks for Pavilion Master Pei.”
Pei Mufeng frowned. He looked at the bed separated by the curtain and said: “I already knew about this. I was dealing with another matter outside the city and couldn’t arrive in time. I hope fellow Daoist Xue doesn’t blame me. Afterward, what happens?”
Xue Chengxuan nodded. “To make a long story short, my younger sister is poisoned. The poison is from a fifth-rank devil beast, and although our Xue Clan knows how to detoxify this poison, the preparator is obviously prepared. Except for poison, they also put an unknown array on my sister’s body.”
Hearing the last sentence, Meng Qi was startled and became even more curious.
“Although the array doesn’t put my sister’s life in danger, it’s still very tricky. The array is a prohibition that made it impossible for cultivators from Golden Core and above to detoxify my sister.”
Another trace of surprise flashed in Meng Qi’s eyes. Such prohibition was very tricky and didn’t seem to be in line with Three Thousand World’s style. To create such a prohibition, a special array was needed. However, arrays in Three Thousand Worlds were mostly used for tools or weapon refinery.
Meng Qi’s Master was proficient in array and formation. Although she didn’t learn it systematically, Meng Qi still understood the general knowledge. Knowledge about arrays was scattered across the Three Realms. Most of the refinery cultivators of Three Thousand Worlds used arrays to refine weapons or tools, or drew them on rune papers to be used as defensive items. There weren’t many offensive arrays. As for prohibition arrays…this was indeed more like a devil cultivator’s doing.
Plus, there was the devil beast poison on Xue Lingfeng, which made it even more evident.
Could it be that Xingluo City was being infiltrated by devil cultivators?
After a pause, Xue Chengxuan continued, “So, all the Xue Clan’s disciples who currently are in Xingluo City cannot do anything to detoxify my sister.” His voice became colder. “The perpetrator certainly planned it very well. The prohibition only works on the Golden Core cultivators and above. Xingluo City certainly has healers with cultivation bases below that, but they won’t be able to detoxify the poison from a fifth-rank devil beast!”
All people present raised their eyebrows with a grave expression.
Pei Mufeng’s face sank instantly. He slowly said: “Just now, there was another cultivator outside the east city gate who was also poisoned. The situation is similar to fellow Daoist Xue’s sister. On top of devil beast poison, there is also a prohibition on his body, which make it impossible for cultivators of Golden Core and above to detoxify him.”
Xue Chengxuan: “What? There is another victim?”
Meng Qi’s heart skipped. Was it the one they just see outside the city earlier? So it wasn’t a friendly exchange, but someone was really injured and even got poisoned. Meng Qi subconsciously raised her head to look at Pei Mufeng, who was still looking at Xue Chengxuan.
“Does fellow Daoist Xue has a counter method?”
“For the time being, Lingfeng’s life is not in danger. When my father arrives tomorrow, he must have away.” Xue Chengxuan sighed helplessly.
“It seems that this attack is aimed at Medical Cultivator Conference. The perpetrator’s approach is undoubtedly slapping the face of our medical society.”
“Indeed.” Pei Mufeng nodded, “Since the Medical Cultivator Conference is being held in Xingluo City, our Xingluo Pavilion is responsible for the attendees’ safety.” He added: “If fellow Daoist Xue has any request, please state it.”