A confident smile appeared on the corner of her lips. A moment later, she carefully picked out a white herb in her medical chest.

When this herb was displayed in front of everyone, even Xu Qi, the Alchemy Class elder, couldn’t help boasting: “This spiritual material is hard to find. It’s called rolling stone herb, and it only grows on cliffs that are thousands of feet high. Finding it is as hard as finding a needle in a haystack.”

Ji Qingzhou, however, knew that Qiu Mingxue entrusted collecting this batch of rolling stone herb to the Ze Kingdom. In terms of resources, she was already far ahead of her peers. This was the benefit of her background.

With this in mind, she turned her head and took a peek at Shen Rongyu. Everyone in Xuanyun Sect knew that he was the only descendant left of the Dongshan royal family. Given this scenario, would his life be as peaceful and smooth sailing as Qiu Mingxue’s until the Desolation Erosion or whatnot strikes and destroys his home?

Suddenly, her brow furrowed, and she remembered the scars on Shen Rongyu’s back. Where did they come from?

Her eyes drifted sideways as she sneaked peeks at Shen Rongyu, until a scream came from the alchemy field. The scream was all too familiar. It was none other than Qiu Mingxue.

Ji Qingzhou immediately turned her gaze away, and saw raging flames from the cauldron in front of Qiu Mingxue gushing out. They were no longer bright red as in the beginning but evil purple-black that were blazing with malevolent radiance.

The raging flames turned into countless phantoms and pounced on Qiu Mingxue. All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

When Qiu Mingxue put the rolling stone herb into the cauldron, the flames she was using to refine underwent a mutation. They slowly changed and approached Qiu Mingxue quietly. When she was not paying attention, the flames directly rushed towards her.

At the same time, images flashed one after another in the phantoms of the purple-black flames. There was a hand that tried to reach for the rolling stone herb, and this hand was wrapped with a red rope on which a safety bracelet was tied.

However, just when the hand was about to touch the rolling stone herb, it suddenly lost strength and fell downwards.The hands tied with red ropes and peace clasps took the child from his mother’s arms and kept whispering and coaxing.

“Bam——” With a thud, blood splattered everywhere. Ji Qingzhou tightly closed her eyes. The herb picker fell down.

It was followed by the cry of a baby, which was terribly ear-piercing in the silent medicine hall. The hand tied with the red rope and the safety bracelet took the child from his mother’s arms, coaxing him in a whisper.

Then there were many more “Boom—” and “Thud—”. Many pairs of hands kept trying to reach for the rolling stone herb but they all plunged to the bottom of the cliff. The sound of weeping continued, piercing the eardrums of all the cultivators present.

Ji Qingzhou closed her eyes and didn’t look any further. Her hands helplessly hung down on her sides. Shen Rongyu watched all this calmly, then leaned over and covered Ji Qingzhou’s ears with both hands.

The moment he covered Ji Qingzhou’s ears, a shrill screech echoed. The sticky and malevolent flames wrapped around Qiu Mingxue, while Xu Qi, the Alchemy Class elder, who was standing guard, took a shot. He summoned ice-cold spring water, but still couldn’t extinguish the flames.

The other cultivators around Qiu Mingxue fled in fright. They couldn’t care less about the assessment. The flames caused by the rolling stone herb were evil, and no one dared to approach it. Only Ying Xiu looked up at the flame and calmly continued refining her pill.

Shen Rongyu watched the strange phenomenon in the medicine hall, but he didn’t make a move either because Ye Duanhong who was beside them already jumped into action. He also meant to help stop the evil phantoms that sprang up all of a sudden.

Ji Qingzhou’s hearing and vision were blocked and she didn’t dare to open her eyes. Even though Shen Rongyu covered her ears, she could still hear the thuds of the broken bodies hitting the ground. It was as if the earth and the cliffs were pounding their bodies. The scene must be bloody, and she wasn’t inclined to watch it.

Shen Rongyu, on the other hand, looked at Ying Xiu. Her hand that was cutting a spirit herb seemed to be stable from a distance, but looking closely, he found that she was shaking from head to toe. This reaction was caused by excessive pain.

However, there was no danger around Ying Xiu. The one surrounded by evil flames was Qiu Mingxue. The moment the purple-black flames crept up to Qiu Mingxue’s face, Ying Xiu frowned. She clenched her jaw and tried to act normally.

Everyone should be paying attention to Qiu Mingxue now and no one noticed her, right? Ying Xiu thought so, but when she raised her eyes, she noticed Shen Rongyu’s gaze.

Frightened, the plate of herbs in her hand was knocked over. She lowered her head to pick them up, and the silver bracelet on her wrists jingled in her panic.

At this juncture, Ye Duanhong entered the hall. He made a gesture, and a long cutlass stretched out of nowhere from his waist. It was as dark as the night. The long cutlass came out of its sheath and stirred a heavy black qi current, which extinguished the flames.

The purple-black evil flames entangled him, but they couldn’t touch his body at all. Ye Duanhong swung the cutlass once more and the flames were firmly nailed to the ground. Meanwhile, Qiu Mingxue was already unconscious on the ground, covered in burns. There was no telling whether she was alive or not.

It wasn’t until the flames were subdued and Ji Qingzhou could no longer hear the terrifying thuds that she opened her eyes. Only then did she take in the situation in the medicine hall.

She saw that Ying Xiu was calmly putting her last medicinal material into her cauldron, as if nothing had happened.

Ying Xiu… Did she write that letter just to invite her to see this?

Ji Qingzhou breathed heavily, like a drowning fish. She was so terrified of the current scene that she shivered.

Shen Rongyu held her shoulders and his gentle palm stabilized her figure.

“Zhouzhou, don’t be afraid.” He said to her, “Elder Ye has subdued that flame.”

——————–