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Xiao Yan recognized the Frost Wolf; it was Xiao Hun's mount, which he had seen two years prior.
He hadn't expected it to be a terrifying Rank 8 Magical Beast! So, what was Xiao Hun's strength? Xiao Yan glanced at her, secretly shocked.
The cold air spread outwards, condensing in the distance to form a massive ice crystal barrier that enveloped the entire mountaintop.
This caused Song Qing and the others' expressions to change, "Damn it, this beast wants to keep all of us here."
Someone retreated to the barrier and found that the thin ice crystal wall was exceptionally sturdy; no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't break it.
Upon entering the Pill Realm, all participants had received a spatial stone. If they encountered irresistible danger, they could crush the spatial stone to exit early.
Although this would mean forfeiting their competition qualifications, it was better than losing their lives. Someone quietly used it, but within this ice crystal barrier, it seemed to have lost its effect.
"Oh no, the spatial stone is Invalidation."
A'Xiao's eyes, tinged with a hint of crimson, watched them with a trace of mockery, then he bared his teeth, revealing two rows of stark white fangs.
He launched an attack, pouncing towards the crowd. In the blink of an eye, several people lost their lives beneath his sharp claws.
"Don't panic, let's work together against the enemy. That's the only way we'll have a chance to survive," Song Qing tried to stabilize morale.
Had there been any other choice, he wouldn't have stepped forward at such a time, but the current situation was that everyone was trapped like turtles in a jar. If they didn't unite now, they would only be defeated one by one.
Xiao Yan subtly moved to Hun Xiao's side and quietly asked, "What are you doing?"
Hun Xiao swallowed the last bite of the pork hock, discarded the bone, wiped her greasy mouth, and said with a smile, "Of course, I'm reducing the competition."
Only the top ten of the Pill Gathering would qualify to go to the Star Region to attempt to subdue the Three Thousand Yan Flame Fire. She wanted this opportunity but couldn't refine medicine. So, she came up with a good idea, a good idea that would guarantee her a spot in the top ten...
"As long as everyone is killed, I'll be the champion of the Pill Gathering!"
Hun Xiao said proudly, with her hands on her hips.
Xiao Yan's mouth twitched, and his expression became very unnatural, "Am I also one of your targets to eliminate?"
Hun Xiao raised her eyebrows, pondered for a moment, and whispered, "I don't want to kill you yet. Why don't you just concede?"
Xiao Yan couldn't help but shift his feet. He felt that this seemingly neurotic girl might really suddenly attack him.
"Alright, alright, no need to be so serious. Actually, I only need to be in the top ten, so I won't let A'Xiao attack you."
Xiao Yan's face twitched slightly, "You're a bit too extreme."
Hun Xiao shrugged, "I learned it from others."
Cao Ying, who had been observing Xiao Yan, noticed his abnormality the moment he called out "A'Xiao." She secretly stayed not far from him and noticed that the Frost Wolf seemed to intentionally avoid this area.
Hun Xiao looked at Cao Ying, who was slowly approaching, raised an eyebrow, and a mass of black Dou Qi continuously surged in her hand.
Xiao Yan subtly stepped sideways, blocking between them. Hun Xiao let out a "Tch," and the Dou Qi in her hand subsided.
She strode grandly into the stone hall.
Such an abrupt action naturally attracted the attention of the other participants, who realized there was some connection between the Rank 8 Frost Wolf and her.
"Damn it, you demoness, this is your trap, isn't it?" someone roared in anger.
"Demoness? Are you talking about me?" Hun Xiao turned her head, a smile playing on her lips, "You guessed right. As a reward, you can reincarnate early."
A sharp wolf claw pierced through the man's abdomen, tearing him in two.
Xiao Yan did not comment much on Hun Xiao's actions.
He helped Cao Ying because her teacher was Xuan Kongzi. Earlier, when Xuan Yi was refining the Bone-Melding Blood Pill, there was a medicinal ingredient that was temporarily unavailable. Xuan Kongzi had taken it from his own collection and gifted it. Although Yao Chen didn't end up using that pill, Xiao Yan still owed him this favor.
Furthermore, Xuan Kongzi was also considered the overt leader of the Pill Tower and an enemy of the Soul Hall, making him Xiao Yan's potential ally.
Hun Xiao didn't mind the addition of Cao Ying and entered the cave dwelling that originally belonged to the Earth Dragon Bear, beginning to pick and choose.
"You can take what you need for your task," she said to Xiao Yan.
"Thank you," Xiao Yan cupped his hands.
Cao Ying opened her mouth, then closed it, hesitating for a long time before finally plucking up the courage to say, "Can I exchange the medicinal ingredients on my task list for items of equivalent value?"
A person could only participate in the Pill Gathering once in their lifetime. She didn't want to be eliminated like this, as it would not only make her lose an opportunity but also bring shame to her teacher.
"You can," Hun Xiao didn't mind one more competitor, "but if you dare to speak of what happened here, I will make sure your Cao Family is wiped out, every last chicken and dog."
"Yes, yes..." Cao Ying quickly nodded, fearing that if she was late, her life would be in danger.
"If someone asks, how do we respond?" Xiao Yan asked.
With so many participants dying in the Pill Realm, it would be somewhat unbelievable if those inside didn't notice any abnormalities.
Hun Xiao said with a grin, "That's simple. Just say it was done by people from the Soul Hall. A group of Soul Hall members infiltrated the participants and began hunting others down. They even sealed off space, rendering the spatial stones, originally meant for escaping danger, useless."
Xiao Yan felt this reason was quite reasonable.
The three of them selected their items and left the cave dwelling. By this time, the plaza outside the stone hall had calmed down, with no one left alive.
"A'Xiao, I'm leaving first. I'll leave the Pill Realm to you. I don't want too many people to come out successfully, understand?" Hun Xiao instructed.
"Ow!" A'Xiao wagged his tail and let out a wolf howl.
They left through the northern exit of the Pill Realm, and A'Xiao also rushed to the vicinity of the exit to intercept anyone who might pass through.
After Xiao Yan and the two others exited, they found that they weren't the first ones out; Dan Chen of the Dan Family had emerged even earlier.
After a slight nod to Dan Chen, Xiao Yan casually found a stone platform in the plaza and sat down.
Two days later, a gray-haired old man stumbled out of the exit in a very disheveled state. Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and his hair was disheveled, clearly indicating he was in poor condition.
Hun Xiao raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. She felt A'Xiao's Dou Qi fluctuations from this old man...
Hmph… To be able to escape from A'Xiao's grasp, he's got some skills...
"Old Monster Qing Hua? What happened to him, to make him so disheveled?" Xuan Kongzi noticed his appearance, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
"Who knows? Maybe he tried to challenge the overlord of the Myriad Medicine Mountain Range and got beaten up," replied Tian Leizi, another one of the Pill Tower Three Giants.
As time passed, five more people emerged one after another, and then no one else came out.
The spectators outside the arena began to discuss animatedly, and the expressions of the Pill Tower Three Giants also turned grim.
"Why are there so few people?"
"Is this year's Pill Gathering examination particularly difficult?"
"Could something have happened in the Pill Realm?"
...
Xuan Kongzi's face was solemn, and he asked in a low voice to the ten participants on the high platform in the plaza, "What exactly happened inside?"
Cao Ying glanced at Xuan Yi, her expression hesitant, debating whether to reveal Hun Xiao's actions. Xiao Yan slightly frowned, quietly awaiting Cao Ying's choice.
He couldn't stand by and watch Cao Ying die before, but if she revealed Hun Xiao's actions and caused the Pill Tower to act against Hun Xiao, he would do his best to help Hun Xiao.
Cao Ying glanced at Hun Xiao and, seeing her smiling at herself, felt a chill in her heart and tightly closed her mouth. Her intuition told her that this mysterious woman named Xiao Hun must have something to rely on.
'If Teacher directly asks me, I'll answer with the solution the three of us agreed upon earlier. If Teacher doesn't ask me, I'll pretend it's none of my business and say nothing...' she thought.
"It's the Soul Hall. Those guys from the Soul Hall infiltrated and attacked other participants on a large scale. They even sealed off space, rendering the spatial stones, originally used to escape danger, useless."
Hearing this voice, Cao Ying was slightly taken aback... 'Teacher and the others didn't ask you, so why are you standing out and using this excuse to prevaricate?'
She initially thought it was Xiao Yan speaking, but when she looked back, she found it was Old Monster Qing Hua.
Then her expression became even more surprised... 'Wait, you weren't in cahoots with us, were you? Could there really be people from the Soul Hall?'
Xiao Yan was slightly startled, then looked at Hun Xiao. The first time they met, she took him to an abandoned Soul Hall, and now she was connected to the Soul Hall again, making him even more certain that she was from the Xiao Clan.
However, was this Xiao Clan perhaps too ruthless? Their style of action was not much different from the Soul Hall. Just for the top ten of the Pill Gathering, an opportunity to refine the Three Thousand Yan Flame Fire, they massacred on such a large scale...
Xiao Yan wasn't a particularly good person. He would also compete, seize, and kill for what he needed. But in his heart, there was a scale between morality and self-interest. Unless necessary, he wouldn't do anything too immoral. And Hun Xiao's massacre had clearly somewhat crossed his bottom line.
"Soul Hall..." Xuan Kongzi's face was grim as he looked at the last five people who had emerged... There must be someone from the Soul Hall among them, but he didn't know who.
The other party was too well disguised; he couldn't distinguish who it was for a while, and it was inconvenient to pause the Pill Gathering because of this now.
"Hehehe... Old Monster Qing Hua, don't just slander people. Our Soul Hall indeed sent people, and we did kill some, but don't dump all the blame on us.
"We all followed the Pill Tower's rules... A considerable number of people were clearly overestimating themselves, challenging the overlord of the Myriad Medicine Mountain Range, and were killed by magical beasts. Their deaths have nothing to do with my Soul Hall," Elder Mu Gu voluntarily spoke, revealing his identity.
Tian Leizi asked, "What should we do?"
"Proceed as usual," Xuan Kongzi took a deep breath, suppressing the killing intent in his heart.
"But are we just going to let the people from the Soul Hall act so brazenly here?"
Xuan Kongzi shook his head and said, "The rules don't restrict people from the Soul Hall from participating in the Pill Gathering. Since they're here, they'll be treated equally. However, I will keep a close eye on Elder Mu Gu. If he dares to make any more small moves, I'll directly kill him."
The Pill Gathering proceeded smoothly without any further incidents. The participants on the high platform each refined their pills, first Rank 6, then Rank 7... One after another, high-grade pills, rarely seen in ordinary times, were produced.
Dan Chen of the Dan Family refined the first Rank 8 pill, instantly making the atmosphere on site enthusiastic, and the previous gloom was slightly dispersed.
Cao Ying immediately followed, refining a Rank 8 pill with two-colored pill lightning, and the atmosphere finally became lively.
In the sky, dark clouds obscured the sun, and thunder rumbled. The momentum did not diminish at all as each Alchemist finished refining, clearly indicating that even higher quality pills were about to be born.
Old Monster Qing Hua refined a Rank 8 pill with two-colored pill lightning, one rank lower than in the original work. This was related to his being slightly injured and in poor condition. Elder Mu Gu refined a pill with four-colored pill lightning, surpassing the other participants.
Only Xiao Yan and Hun Xiao had yet to produce results.
The Pill Tower Three Giants had clouded expressions. Even if Xiao Yan was Yao Chen's disciple, he didn't give them much confidence. To refine a pill above five-colored pill lightning at such a young age was too difficult.
For hundreds of years, only a certain traitor of a small Pill Tower was known to have such talent; even Yao Chen was far behind.
Xiao Yan challenged himself a little at this Pill Gathering... He refined a Rank 6 pill with six-colored pill lightning, astonishing everyone and making them unable to look away.
Only Hun Xiao remained. She hadn't even taken out a pill cauldron, instead using a table and a pile of bottles and jars, clumsily fiddling with something.
Two hours after Xiao Yan finished refining, she finally completed her work, proudly placing it on the table.
The entire audience cast astonished gazes at her. The surprise revealed in their expressions was even greater than when Xiao Yan had just refined the six-colored pill lightning pill.
She had concocted a bottle of "Rejuvenation Powder"!
It was the same kind that Liu Xi had used in Wu Tan City to attack the Xiao Family, almost pushing the Xiao Family to a desperate situation!
It didn't even have the shape of a pill, barely qualifying as a Rank 1 item.
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