Poisonous Elixirs

(To be revised after posting)

Wen Le was an outer disciple of Zhican Valley, currently serving as a steward in the dining hall.

Since Zhican Valley issued the recruitment order, he... along with other steward disciples had been distributing medicinal pills to disciples from other sects.

If asked about his opinion of those visiting disciples from other sects, his view aligned with most members of Zhican Valley:

What kind of country bumpkins were these? Coming to beg at their Zhican Valley!

...They were just some lower-ranked sects trying their utmost to flatter and curry favor with Zhican Valley.

On May 28th, Wen Le awoke from his meditation. He got up and looked out the window, seeing the sky was gloomy, appearing as if heavy rain was imminent.

He thought this weather quite fitting for the Dao Sword Sect's current mood.

The announcement had come down yesterday, stating that they had gathered sufficient cultivators and would soon launch the campaign against the Dao Sword Sect.

Although those disciples from rural sects were crude, barbaric, and ignorant...

Now Zhican Valley indeed had over a thousand Golden Core cultivators within its grounds.

Over a thousand Golden Core cultivators! How could the Dao Sword Sect possibly resist such mighty force?

Looking at the gloomy sky outside, Wen Le felt rather pleased and satisfied.

He tidied himself up a bit before leaving his residence, heading toward the dining hall building he was responsible for.

It was still early, the sun hadn't risen yet, with just a hint of light showing at the mountain horizon.

Walking along the stone path with fresh air and lush flowers and grass, Wen Le looked at those country bumpkins from other sects and felt a surge of pride and honor.

What defined a holy land of pill refinement?

What made them the number one sect in this land of immortal legacy?

This was his sect. How could he not love and take pride in it?

He had always known Zhican Valley commanded respect, but without other sects as contrast, he hadn't realized just how prestigious they were.

Even though he was merely a humble outer disciple.

As Wen Le walked, a cultivator suddenly approached from ahead, looking completely unsophisticated - clearly a disciple from another sect.

Sure enough, the person came over holding a medicinal pill and asked, "Excuse me, are you a disciple of Zhican Valley?"

"Yes!" Though he looked down on disciples from other sects, the sect had instructed them to treat outside disciples courteously, so Wen Le nodded with a smile and warmly asked, "Which... sect are you from? What can I help you with?"

"I am Zhang Xiaofan from Xuanqin Spirit Gate," the outside disciple respectfully said. "I received this pill from the dining hall yesterday, but there seems to be an issue. After taking it, not only did my cultivation not improve, but my dantian started hurting. Could you help me check what might be wrong?"

"No improvement in cultivation?" Wen Le thought to himself, it must be that your aptitude is too poor and you've taken too many pills, developing resistance - that's why it had no effect!

But remembering to be courteous to outside disciples, he didn't say this directly. He reached out to take the pill, intending to pretend to examine it.

Why pretend?

If he could actually understand medicinal pills, he wouldn't be just an outer disciple steward, let alone one managing the dining hall.

He was just planning to fake examining it before making up some explanation to brush off this country bumpkin from another sect.

But something strange happened.

As soon as Wen Le took the pill, what appeared to be a Qi Replenishing Pill melted in his hand.

"?" He didn't understand why it suddenly melted.

However, the melting was just the beginning. Next, the melted pill directly seeped into his palm, completely disappearing.

"This..." Wen Le, a disciple of the holy land of pill refinement, hadn't yet realized the danger. He looked puzzledly at the outside disciple called Zhang Xiaofan and asked, "Your pill... how did it... the pill must be... exp...ired..."

As he spoke, his head began to feel dizzy, and before he could finish speaking, drowsiness overcame him, causing his eyes to close as he fell asleep.

"Senior Brother? Senior Brother?" Zhang Xiaofan anxiously stepped forward, smoothly supporting him while putting on an act, saying loudly, "Ah, I told you this pill's effects were very powerful! You wouldn't believe me, and now look what's happened!"

While shaking his head and sighing, he supported Wen Le like a fellow disciple would, carrying him back to Wen Le's residence.

To be safe, he didn't kill Wen Le outright, worried about triggering identity tokens or similar items. He just placed Wen Le in his meditation spot and administered another pill for deep sleep, ensuring he wouldn't wake for ten to fifteen days.

After dealing with Wen Le, Zhang Xiaofan stood up and walked out, his appearance changing as he moved. By the time he opened the door, he had completely transformed into Wen Le's appearance.

Wen Le was just an outer disciple steward, and his job at the dining hall was simple - essentially a cafeteria server.

Qin Ran had been observing him for several days, and now impersonating Wen Le was, if not effortless, at least smooth sailing. No one would notice any discrepancies.

Zhican Valley's process for distributing pills to other sects worked like this: dedicated elders would lead inner disciples to retrieve pills from storage, then escort them to the dining hall where dining hall disciples would distribute them. Though accidents were impossible within Zhican Valley, the elder still needed to watch the entire distribution process until completion.

Previously, when regular outer disciples distributed pills, this process couldn't go wrong, but now Qin Ran was handling the distribution. He didn't do anything elaborate - he simply added some of his own refined pills to the ones being distributed. His pills were identical-looking poison pills. He added them randomly without causing other trouble, so even with the supervising elder right beside him, nothing would seem amiss.

As one of the first sects to aid Zhican Valley, the Cangjiang Sect had been here for over ten days. Their initial confidence and enthusiasm, swearing to follow Zhican Valley's lead and charge forward to repay their kindness, had now changed to... considering whether to leave directly.

They watched as more and more people filled Zhican Valley, as the Hengduan Mountain Alliance's strength gradually grew; they experienced the arrogance of Zhican Valley's disciples who held their noses high, and felt the complex emotions within the Hengduan Mountain Alliance.

This alliance, in their straightforward minds as body cultivators, was simply a powerful but chaotic force.

Li Yi had initially been most loyal to Zhican Valley, coming with the intention of dedicating his remaining life to repay their kindness. But when met with cold shoulders despite his warm approaches, the warmer his attitude, the colder their response felt.

These past ten-plus days, he had swallowed plenty of anger.

This morning, as he was practicing in the courtyard, Lin Han, a disciple favored by the sect leader, came over and asked, "Senior Brother, are you going to collect today's pills?"

"Collect?" Li Yi snorted coldly, "Collect what?! They're distributing pills like feeding beggars. Are you so poor you need to be a beggar?!"

Lin Han paused, then said, "But... we really need the pills."

"'Here, eat this!' Li Yi said, "Feeding us like dogs, and you still want it? Have you no self-respect?!"

"But..." Lin Han thought for a moment and asked, "Senior Brother, when the fighting starts later, are you going to join the battle?"

"Of course I will," Li Yi replied. "But I came to repay kindness, not to eat handouts and be treated like a dog!"

"You'll be fighting for them later, so taking their pills now is just receiving military provisions," Lin Han said. "It's like a transaction - we provide the effort, they provide the pills. Why think so much about it, Senior Brother?"

"I came for righteousness!" Li Yi emphasized.

"Even if it's for righteousness, you still need to cultivate," Lin Han said. "Besides, you haven't collected pills for three days. Zhican Valley is stingy and records every pill distributed. Your behavior might make them suspicious."

Only then did Li Yi stop his practice and look at Lin Han, saying: "I just can't stand seeing Zhican Valley's disgusting attitude!"

"Then don't look at it that way," Lin Han said. "They're using pills to employ us - you get what you pay for. We're equals in this exchange. That's all you need to think about, Senior Brother."

At Lin Han's persuasion, Li Yi put on his clothes and followed him to the dining hall of Zhican Valley.

The dining hall was incredibly crowded, packed with people pushing forward, all eager to receive their daily portion of medicinal pills.

Not everyone valued honor and self-respect as Li Yi did. In fact, many sects came to Zhican Valley solely attracted by their promise of never-ending supply of medicinal pills.

"Hah!" Seeing this scene, Li Yi sneered with obvious contempt, "Like dogs and chickens!"

"Senior Brother, watch your words!" Lin Han hurriedly advised, then grabbed Li Yi's shoulder, preparing to squeeze through the crowd.

Truth be told, as body cultivators, they had an overwhelming physical advantage in such situations.

But Li Yi shrugged his shoulder, causing Lin Han to stumble. He coldly asked Lin Han, "We're here already, but why must you make me act like a dog fighting for food?"

Lin Han steadied himself and looked at Li Yi with a complicated expression. Then he sighed, saying, "Fine, we'll wait slowly. After everyone gets theirs, there will still be pills for us."

So the two tall men stood at the outskirts of the crowd, planning to follow behind everyone else to receive their qi-cultivation and body-strengthening pills.

However, they hadn't waited long, not even reaching the dining hall's entrance, when trouble erupted.

"Dead!!" The crowd suddenly burst into chaos, voices clamoring, "Someone died! Poisoned to death!"

"Zhican Valley's pills are poisoned!" someone shouted.

"I saw it with my own eyes - he took Zhican Valley's pill and then died!"

"It's Zhican Valley's conspiracy!" someone cried in terror, "Zhican Valley wants to kill us all!"

"Ahhhhh... another person died!"

"The pills, the pills are poisoned! Death comes to all who take them!"

"Zhican Valley is trying to kill us! They want to poison us all to death!!"

"Zhican Valley gave us poison pills!!"

"Zhican Valley... Zhican Valley..."

Lin Han and Li Yi understood the reason for the crowd's chaos. Li Yi looked at Lin Han with a cold smile: "No wonder! How could such a petty sect give away free pills? So they were poison pills - that explains everything!"

Having endured many contemptuous looks from Zhican Valley disciples that day, Li Yi wasn't surprised at all by what was happening.

"No, that's not right!" But Lin Han keenly sensed something wrong, shaking his head, "Zhican Valley has no reason, no need to do this. They wouldn't dare! This is inside Zhican Valley - they absolutely couldn't bear the consequences if all these sects erupted in anger."

"People have already been poisoned to death! What wouldn't they dare?" Li Yi challenged.

Lin Han opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. He truly couldn't make sense of it.

Zhican Valley's leadership quickly arrived, clearing people out of the dining hall. They discovered seventeen people had been poisoned - ten Foundation Building cultivators had died instantly, while seven Golden Core cultivators still clung to life.

They attempted to treat the Golden Core cultivators, but they couldn't understand the poison's nature. They could only quickly recall all the pills distributed that day.

They also sealed away the pills that hadn't yet been distributed.

However, their action of recalling distributed pills... in this generally selfish cultivation world, it only sowed unknown amounts of resentment.

Moreover, their announcement that they would suspend free pill distribution until they found the cause of this incident...

This triggered a new wave of public opinion. Some believed this was Zhican Valley's conspiracy to stop distributing pills; others were disgusted by Zhican Valley's high-handed attitude in handling the incident, refusing to admit their own fault, neither acknowledging problems with pill refinement nor management issues.

For a time, Zhican Valley was in turmoil... or rather, in this cultivation world that lacked social morality, Zhican Valley had become like a powder keg ready to explode.

To manage ten thousand people without incident makes one a qualified general; to lead ten thousand people on an expedition and bring them back intact makes one an excellent general; to lead ten thousand people into battle makes one a famous general of the era; to lead ten thousand people with absolute command, wielding them like one's own arm, and achieve victory in battle makes one a legendary general. As for those who can command hundreds of thousands of soldiers and say "the more the better," there have only been a handful in all of human history.

Obviously, Zhican Valley had no such person.

Before inviting over ten thousand cultivators from other sects to Zhican Valley, they had considered potential problems, but they hadn't thought deeply enough, hadn't anticipated the problems would be so severe.

Thus, the current situation in Zhican Valley was even more serious than Qin Ran had predicted.