?The immediate anger from the First Elder brought upon Alex a feeling of suffocation as he was trapped by a violent aura on all sides.

Golden energy encircled the woman’s fists, slowly coalescing to take some form. Before it could fully take form, however, the power vanished.

The golden energy disappeared and all that was left in the silent room was Alex who tried his best to not pant in front of all the Elders.

The First Elder turned toward the sect masters and slowly moved back, not daring to utter a single word.

Alex looked toward the sect masters too, who seemed not pleased with what had just happened.

“Talking back to an Elder, that’s room for punishment,” one of the sect masters said.

Alex nodded, accepting that he needed to be punished. But he didn’t apologize. He had no wish to say sorry to the woman who had tried to kill him and then had managed to kill his friend.

“First Elder shall not talk during this meeting from now on. She had a history with this young man, and that seems to have made her quite biased in the decision we will need to make. For now, it will just be us 5,” another one of the sect masters said.

The other two elders nodded in agreement.

“Now, disciple Dawnblade, you say that you can prove that you did not cheat. Do you still stand by that claim?” the man asked.

“I do,” Alex said.

The man reached for his chin and rubbed it in curiosity. “If I’m not wrong, it hasn’t even been 5 years since you joined this sect. And in that time, you have managed to rise all the way up to the top 3000s.”

“Given today’s event, you will become rank 1 if you manage to prove that you didn’t cheat,” another sect master said.

“I can prove it,” Alex said.

“Very well, here is what I want you to drink.”

The sect master brought out a tiny vial of poison and handed it over to Alex. Alex took the vial, seeing a blue scintillating liquid swirling inside of it. He opened the vial and smelled it directly.

Immediately, he felt his mouth water up, his nose begin flowing, and tears filled his sight.

“Ocean Twilight Dehydration poison,” Alex said softly. He could recognize the poison once he got its scent and felt its effects.

“Do you recognize it?” the sect master asked. “Then you must know what it does.”

“Forcefully activates every organ in my body to produce what they produce. Saliva, snot, tears, blood, piss, bile, and anything else that contains water in it, forcing my body to dehydrate within half a minute.”

Alex looked up. “This is way stronger than the Nether Ice Immortal Poison I ate before.”

“And it doesn’t have an easily available antidote,” the sect master said. “So you must understand how dangerous this poison is.”

“You are trying to check if I cheated on Nether Ice Immortal poison by feeding me something that is thrice as strong as that?”

The sect master shrugged. “You’re the one who said that I could bring out any poison,” he said.

Alex looked at the poison in his hand. He had indeed said that, but to bring out this poison, the sect master wasn’t giving him a fair chance.

“You’re trying to kill me,” Alex whispered.

“I’m just trying to test you,” the sect master said.

Alex looked up at the man, staring him directly into his eyes. He didn’t know which one of the three brothers this one was —Zhengmian, Zhongjian, or Houmain— but that did not matter at the moment.

He saw the First Elder snicker to herself from the side, happy that he was going to die.

Alex smirked back, more mocking than he had ever been. Then, he drank the blue poison without hesitation.

Without missing a beat, the water poison began drawing water out of his body by forcing his body to produce all sorts of fluids inside of him.

Alex showed signs of struggling, letting his mouth drool a little, and his eyes tear up. He needed to show them that the poison was indeed taking effect.

But, before it could get dangerous for him, Alex’s body shut it all down. Yang energy flooded his system, destroying the energy he had consumed at every turn, turning it all into harmless Qi that he could then use to cultivate right then if he wanted to.

Poison, after all, was also made up of Qi, and as such, one could use it to improve themselves under special circumstances.

Alex didn’t have the time to cultivate that energy, so he let it slowly dissipate throughout his body. It was a lot of energy he was letting go of, but this was not the time to be sad about it.

He took a long, deep breath and quickly wiped his face to remove any fluid he may have leaked. Then, he looked at the sect masters and asked, “Is that proof enough?”

All he could see in their faces was shock.

“How… how did you do it?” the new elder asked. “You shouldn’t have been capable of reaching this level with the Poison Fighting physique in the time you have been in the sect.”

“I didn’t,” Alex said truthfully. “I have a natural body that is poison-resistant. I’m not immune to poison, but my body can protect me from most poisons of immortal rank. Which is to say that I never cheated during the assembly. Unless you count being born with it a cheat as well.”

The room was silent for a while before one of the sect masters spoke.

“Incredible,” he said. “Absolutely incredible.”

“Wait… so you haven’t learned the physique at all?” another one asked.

“No, I have not,” Alex said. “I did not see the reason to.”

“But the rule claims that one must learn it,” the new elder said. “What does that mean for him?

Alex looked around. “Am I getting expelled?” he asked.

“No,” one of the sect masters said. “You won’t be expelled.”

The First Elder interjected. “But the rules—”

“We made the rules. We can change it if we want,” another sect master said.

“Bai Ganzhou, you will remain silent as you have been ordered to already,” the last one said.

“My… my apologies,” the First Elder said and moved to the back.

The sect masters turned back to Alex. “Obviously, you have caused a bit of an issue here. We won’t be expelling you, and you will remain a disciple. As for what exactly is to be done regarding your ranking, we will have to think about it.”

“We shall discuss it among ourselves and tell you later. We will also discuss what punishment you must receive earlier, so we will be needing some time.”

Alex nodded.

“So, be on your way. Go back to your place and wait. By tomorrow morning, you will know what your position is in the sect.”

Alex slowly stood up. “So… I am done here?” he asked.

“Yes, be on your way now. We will see you tomorrow.”

Alex nodded, but he didn’t leave immediately. “If I may, I have a request if you are willing to hear it.”