Chapter 32

Zhang Yizhen instantly moved in front of Zhang He, scanning him with his divine sense, but found no traces of poisoning.

He found it strange. Zhang He was a well-known Foundation Establishment cultivator; ordinary poisons could be expelled with spiritual energy. Moreover, he had not found any poison inside his body. Could it be that he was affected by some spell?

The sudden incident made everyone turn their attention to Lu Yaohang and Lu Dan. The two had already stopped arguing. Seeing everyone looking at them, Lu Dan defended, "Seniors, we didn't even touch him. Perhaps he has some illness."

Lu Yaohang didn't bother to explain, just coldly meeting everyone's gaze. Since it wasn't her doing, why should she care about their looks?

Then she retracted her gaze and glanced at Lu Xiaodeng with the corner of her eye. Seeing her staring blankly at Zhang He, looking completely clueless, she seemed to be a good actor.

She knew it must have been Lu Xiaodeng. Earlier, she had patted the needle point on Zhang He's hand, which would have been the perfect time to poison him. However, even Lu Yaohang didn't know what kind of poison Lu Xiaodeng had used this time.

Zhang He's condition was not good. He began to tremble and started vomiting blood, rapidly deteriorating.

"If my nephew dies here, your Cloud Sword Sect must give an explanation!" Zhang Yizhen, ignoring that Lian Jing's cultivation was higher than his, angrily said. He quickly infused spiritual energy into Zhang He's body, trying to suppress his abnormal condition.

But there was nothing inside Zhang He's body. The spiritual energy he infused just ran through the spirit meridians without any effect. The vomiting of blood worsened, and the spiritual energy ran rampant inside Zhang He's body, causing the spirit meridians to become abnormal.

Lian Jing saw the situation and knew it would be troublesome if someone died here. He wanted to go over and take a look. He had never seen anyone in such a state, but he could guess that someone must have tampered with him, not that it was a natural condition.

Just as he was about to go over, Yu Xiudan, who was in the alchemy room trying to make a showy pill for everyone to see, received the news and rushed over. Seeing Zhang He's condition, he immediately said, "True Lord Zhang, don't infuse any more spiritual energy into him. His spirit meridians can't handle it and will break."

Zhang Yizhen immediately stopped the infusion of spiritual energy. If the spirit meridians were to break, Zhang He would become a cripple. His face turned particularly dark as he glared at Yu Xiudan and said, "What's wrong with him? Your Cloud Sword Sect doesn't use swords but resorts to underhanded tactics!"

Lian Jing's brows slightly furrowed. The Cloud Sword Sect couldn't bear such an insult, but he didn't immediately get angry. He first let Yu Xiudan examine why the person was in such a state.

"True Lord, this has nothing to do with our Cloud Sword Sect. Your nephew ingested the flower core of the Floating Grass, which caused this condition. Don't worry, I will treat him immediately," Yu Xiudan said after examining Zhang He with his divine sense. He then took out a jade bottle from his sleeve and poured out a drop of white, gel-like medicinal liquid.

He waved his hand in the air, and the medicinal liquid accurately landed on Zhang He's forehead, instantly seeping into his body. Yu Xiudan controlled the medicinal liquid with his divine sense, guiding it through Zhang He's spirit meridians. As the white medicinal liquid passed through the spirit meridians, it immediately turned gray.

After he had gone through all the spirit meridians, he suddenly waved his hand in the air, and the drop of medicinal liquid flew out of Zhang He's forehead. The originally pure white medicinal liquid had now turned black, and it seemed to have grown a layer of black hair, making it look quite disgusting.

"True Lord, please look. These gray particles are the flower cores of the Floating Grass. They are originally light gray, but because there are so many, they have turned black. I estimate there are no fewer than a million flower cores. It seems your nephew ate quite a lot," Yu Xiudan showed the medicinal liquid to Zhang Yizhen, who, feeling nauseated, waved his sleeve, and a flame immediately appeared on the medicinal liquid, burning it completely.

Zhang He had stopped vomiting blood and trembling, but his spirit meridians continued to spasm inside his body, leaving him unable to exert any strength.

Seeing his pitiful state, Zhang Yizhen glared at Lu Dan, "You not only injured him with a sword but also used such a vicious poison."

Lu Dan immediately objected, bowing and saying, "Senior, I don't even know what Floating Grass looks like. How could I use it? The competition was a last-minute proposal, and I wasn't deliberately looking for trouble. How can you blame me without investigating the cause?"

"Your master knows about Floating Grass, so how could you, as a disciple, not know? My nephew has always been fine and has never come into contact with Floating Grass. If it wasn't you, how could he have come into contact with it?" Zhang Yizhen was convinced that the Cloud Sword Sect was responsible, and he didn't rule out the possibility that it was someone from the Heavenly Pill Peak, as they were the ones who dealt with plants.

Seeing his disciple being wronged, Yu Xiudan explained, "True Lord, Floating Grass has no medicinal use; it's just a wild grass that grows in the mountains. This grass steals the spiritual energy of other herbs and often scatters its flower cores in the wind, landing on other herbs to feed on their spiritual energy. It always appears near herb fields, and every herb garden has this wild grass. It can be found anywhere, but it is usually cleared by the herb apprentices before it causes any harm."

"This only proves that you did it. You're still trying to argue!" The Heavenly Pill Peak is a large herb garden, and now they even have the evidence, which they admitted themselves. Zhang Yizhen sneered.

Yu Xiudan smiled, "True Lord, your statement is incorrect. The flowers of Floating Grass are like fruit; once one is broken, the flower cores will scatter everywhere. With your high cultivation, even ordinary people can see the flower cores. If my apprentice used them to cause trouble, how could it go unnoticed?"

"Words are just words. Who knows what the flowers of Floating Grass look like? My nephew suffered here today, and your Cloud Sword Sect must give an explanation." Zhang Yizhen didn't care what Floating Grass looked like; it was the Cloud Sword Sect's responsibility. Moreover, the Floating Grass in the herb garden should have been dug up, so they couldn't have obtained it.

This was truly unreasonable. Everyone in the Cloud Sword Sect felt he was being too extreme, blaming them for his nephew's ingestion of Floating Grass. Could it be that he was trying to sabotage them because they had an alchemist and the sect was growing?

Not only the Cloud Sword Sect thought this way, but even people from other sects had the same idea. Otherwise, it would be too coincidental. You just happen to have a grudge with a Cloud Sword Sect disciple, and then you get affected by the flower cores in public, as if it was planned.

Zhang Yizhen was indeed looking for trouble, taking advantage of the situation. One mountain cannot have two tigers. Previously, the two sects had similar strength, and their relationship was balanced. Now that the Cloud Sword Sect wanted to develop independently, the Void Sect felt a great sense of crisis.

Just as he was secretly pleased, thinking he had caught the Cloud Sword Sect in such a big predicament, a plant suddenly appeared in front of him, "Senior, this is the flower you want."

Lu Xiaodeng, who had run to Zhang Yizhen's front, was holding a plant with two fruit-like flowers, almost touching his nose.

"Xiaodeng, where did you get the flowering Floating Grass from!" Yu Xiudan saw that she had a plant, and the flowers looked like red fruits, which were particularly large.

Such a dangerous thing was right in front of him, but what made Zhang Yizhen's heart chill was not the Floating Grass, but the fact that Lu Xiaodeng had approached him without being detected by his divine sense. Instinctively, the spiritual energy in his body burst out, directly attacking the Lu Xiaodeng in front of him.

"Come back." Lian Jing reached out, and Zhang Yizhen's spiritual energy hit a wall. Lu Xiaodeng also rose into the air, flying out dozens of feet. But Zhang Yizhen's spiritual energy still scattered, causing a spiritual wind to blow on the Heavenly Pill Peak.

At the same time, the Floating Grass in Lu Xiaodeng's hand was hit by the spiritual energy. The spiritual wind blew, and the two red fruits exploded. Light gray flower cores flew into the air, like a light snowfall, with flower cores everywhere.

"Bad!" Yu Xiudan immediately formed a spiritual shield to block the flying flower cores. The other cultivators also formed shields, not wanting to end up like Zhang He, trembling on the ground.

Poor Zhang He, whose spirit meridians were already damaged and not recovered, lay on the ground and inhaled more Floating Grass, causing him to tremble again.

This time, it was confirmed that his previous condition was caused by the Floating Grass. The crowd had not seen anything with such a wide range of attack, clearly showing that it wasn't the Cloud Sword Sect's doing.

Seeing this, Yu Xiudan had no choice but to go over and treat Zhang He again, using the medicinal liquid to extract the flower cores.

Looking at the sky full of Floating Grass flower cores, Lian Jing said to everyone, "This grass is indeed a menace. Two flowers can scatter so many flower cores. We must eliminate it completely. Otherwise, if a disciple accidentally inhales the flower cores, it will be troublesome."

Everyone agreed. This grass was indeed terrible. Suddenly, they saw that Lu Xiaodeng was not using a spiritual shield and was running around, catching the floating flower cores. Her hair was covered with flower cores, but she was fine.

At this moment, she put down the tripod on her back, opened the lid, and took out another Floating Grass plant. She bit into the fruit-like flower, crunching it in her mouth.

Zhang Yizhen pointed at her and roared, "Why is she fine and even eating that thing!"

Lu Xiaodeng waved the Floating Grass in her hand, saying, "This is my snack. The taste of Floating Grass flowers is better than ordinary fruits. Do you want to try, Senior?"

"I mean, why aren't you like him!" Zhang Yizhen glared at Zhang He and shouted.

At this moment, Lu Xiaodeng bit another flower, eating it while saying, "Because I don't have spirit meridians. Eating the flower cores of Floating Grass doesn't affect me, and I don't tremble or vomit blood."

No spirit meridians?

At this moment, everyone realized that this herb apprentice not only had no spirit meridians but also lacked a soul, making her a fool!

When everyone was silent, Lu Xiaodeng ran to Zhang He, watching him suffer as Yu Xiudan cleaned the flower cores from his body. She offered the Floating Grass flower to his face, asking considerately, "Do you want to eat one? Maybe if you eat more, you'll be fine, and you won't be afraid of Floating Grass like me."

Whether it was because of her words or the treatment, Zhang He fainted after hearing her. Lu Xiaodeng pouted in disappointment and ate the delicious snack herself.