Yunxi had already formed new suspicions while reviewing Medicine King Valley's jade slips on Ye Yuchen and Ye Yirui. A prodigy like Ye Yuchen, born with an innate Dao body, would certainly sit high on the evil cultivators' kill list.
His accident had happened within the last century. Before that, many geniuses had perished without a sound, some even "replaced." Although the Hive's collected intel concluded that a member of the Ye clan had struck at Ye Yuchen, Yunxi felt sure there were evil cultivators' fingerprints on the deed.
If she were an evil cultivator, she would incite discontented clansmen to act against the siblings. Even if the day came when the plot was exposed, it would look like internal strife, unrelated to evil cultivators and unworthy of broader attention. Sowing discord like that was a game evil cultivators played very well.
Lacking solid proof, Yunxi shelved the thought. But when she received Ye Yirui's special message before the Five Region Grand Tournament, she resolved to visit Medicine King Valley after the tournament and test her hypothesis.
The sudden appearance of Ye Chengbi, however, told Yunxi that Ye Yirui's situation at Medicine King Valley was probably poor. Ye Chengbi's persistent questions about Yixian Gate's secret method to repair a dantian clearly hid his own agenda. All the more reason to see Ye Yirui as soon as the tournament ended.
——
An hour later, the pill room's formation opened. Xiang Sizi and Yunxi stepped out one after the other, drawing every gaze in the hall.
Xiang Sizi flicked a new pill bottle to Xun Kun and said, "Try the newly configured detox pill."
"Yes."
Xun Kun took the bottle with a crisp answer, though his eyes slid toward Yunxi.
She noticed and gave the slightest nod. At once, the knot in his chest loosened. He flashed into the formation. A Kunmo Sect disciple had already collapsed, vitality draining fast, life about to gutter out.
Xun Kun wasted no time. He reached the late Foundation Establishment disciple, pried open his mouth, slipped the pill in, then pressed his palm to the youth's back to speed the absorption.
Every eye fixed on the disciple. Before them, the youth's vitality rallied. Wrinkles smoothed. White hair darkened to sleek black. A quarter of an hour later, the disciple's eyes opened.
"Xiao Xun'er, how do you feel now?"
Xun Kun withdrew his hand and asked.
Sitting up straight, Xiao Xun'er looked at her palms and exclaimed with delight, "Zhēnjūn, my vitality is back."
Joy sparkled in her eyes. The next heartbeat, demonic qi rippled within the formation. She barely had time to tell Xun Kun, "Disciple seems about to break through," before closing her eyes to draw in the array's demonic qi.
Seeing this, Xun Kun swept his sleeve and moved her out of the formation. Sun Yan took over the duty of guarding her breakthrough with practiced ease.
Xiang Sizi nodded and said to Yunxi at her side, "Your neutralizer works."
Yunxi answered modestly, "It only works because Senior refined the corresponding detox pills. Without those, any neutralizing agent I refine would be useless."
At last, a smile reached Wu Tong Zūnzhě's face. He cupped his hands to thank Xiang Sizi and, in passing, Yunxi as well. Yunxi, versed in courtesy, placed all credit on Xiang Sizi Zūnzhě, and the tense air at Kunmo Sect's station eased at once.
Xiang Sizi tossed the newly adjusted detox formula to Xun Kun. The rest was no longer her concern.
Yunxi handed Xun Kun a jade box containing fresh powder she had collected from Fei Xia's wings. Fei Xia was most displeased, convinced that with less powder its wings were less beautiful.
Yunxi soothed it with a voice transmission: "Once we return to the space, you can pick a spirit plant from the garden to replenish yourself. Let us make you even prettier."
With that promise, Fei Xia preened and slipped back into the space.
With their task complete, Xiang Sizi and Yunxi left Kunmo Sect's station alongside Hao Qing. Ye Chengbi's eyes flickered, and at length he, too, took his leave of Huaxian Gate.
The next day, Yunxi received word that Huaxian Gate had refined detox pills based on Xiang Sizi's formula. The Kunmo Sect disciples poisoned that day had all returned to normal.
The Foundation Establishment matches proceeded as usual on day two. But news of Kunmo Sect disciples being poisoned had spread among the five regions' cultivators. Contestants whispered, yet the leading powerhouses of the five regions remained unusually calm, offering no comment, as if it were the most ordinary of occurrences.
On the fourth day of the Grand Tournament, Xun Kun came to visit Yunxi again, this time to deliver spirit stones.
Yunxi accepted them without fuss and asked, "How are those disciples recovering?"
"Senior Xiang Sizi's detox pills match the case well. They are out of danger, and their future cultivation will not be affected. A few even turned misfortune to advantage and broke through."
Yunxi nodded and continued, "Have you identified who administered the second round of poison?"
At that, the air around Xun Kun sank. His voice turned cold. "Ye Chengbi of Medicine King Valley."
Yunxi did not so much as blink. A soft, mirthless laugh escaped her. "So it was him. Who discovered it?"
Xun Kun explained, "Wu Tong Zūnzhě traced back the formation's events and found that Ye Chengbi used his chance to examine the poisoned disciples to administer a second toxin."
"How do you plan to handle it?"
"It is still the tournament. Kunmo Sect does not wish to be used by those with ulterior motives. We will not pursue Ye Chengbi for now. After the tournament, Kunmo Sect will go to Medicine King Valley for an accounting."
Yunxi thought a moment and reminded, "I do not know exactly what role Ye Chengbi plays, but I am convinced he has threads tied to evil cultivators. Otherwise he would not have chosen that exact day to 'visit' me, with such a convenient pretext to appear at Kunmo Sect's station."
Xun Kun's agreement was grave. "I have the same suspicion. He was also the one who first pointed out that the toxin came from Yixian Gate."
He broke off, looked up at Yunxi, and changed his next words. "Ye Chengbi came for you."
Yunxi's expression said plainly that he had only just caught up. She answered levelly, "Of course he did. It was always about me. Jin Can did something foolish and happened to be useful.
So you had best spare some attention to those who were poisoned before. If the evil cultivators aim to frame me, the deaths of Kunmo Sect disciples would make the perfect evidence."
Xun Kun drew a deep breath. "Thank you for the warning."
He vanished in a flash, heading back to Kunmo Sect's station. His urge to swat Jin Can to death grew by another degree.
That night, the Southern Region's Kunmo Sect station was shrouded in black demonic qi until dawn. It startled the great figures on the nearby guest peaks and roused Huaxian Gate's high-ranking cultivators as well.
Yunxi, cradling Cong Shan, hovered in the air and watched the spectacle until morning.