Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

As fate energy from all over the world converged and grew increasingly stronger, the lotuses in front of the pharmacists also started to slowly bloom.

One by one… the petals gradually unfolded.

They were brimming with the essence of life.

But…

Humans were just not meant to be compared to each other. The size of the nine pharmacists’ lotuses was as large as a regular lotus, but the radius of Chu Yang’s lotus was already easily more than ten meters wide, and it wasn’t even in full bloom yet!

Comparing theirs to Chu Yang’s was like comparing fluorescent light to the sun!

The next moment.

Something unexpected happened.

The high priest watched in disbelief as the Ye Clan pharmacist suddenly let out a muffled grunt, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. Then, the skin on his face started to turn dry and wrinkly, his entire self becoming languished and wasted.

His eyes were wide open and bulging as he emitted strangled sounds from his throat. In a mere instant, he had already stopped breathing!

The lotus in front of him also started to wither, its petals falling off one by one. Once fallen, the petals disintegrated and turned into a wisp of smoke before dispersing into the wind. Not long after, the lotus wilted completely, drooping lifelessly. The stem then followed suit, drooping and turning into smoke and vanishing without a trace…

“What’s going on?” The high priest was aghast, his face pale. He wanted to go forward to take a look…

…only to discover that the pharmacists from the other clans were also displaying the same symptoms one by one — First a grunt, then the loss of all signs of life, followed by their lotus dispersing.

Out of the ten pharmacists in the finals, nine were dead… Leaving behind only Chu Yang, the lone one standing!

What was there to compete anymore? Even if he wasn’t the champion, he would be now.

But just what exactly was going on?

The dumbfounded high priest smacked himself on the head and rubbed his eyes. “I must be seeing things, I-i… I’m turning mad… My god… What the hell is going on?!”

The poor old fellow! Stupefied and at a loss, he stared at the nine pharmacists who had died an unnatural death and their nine lotuses which had been reduced to nothing!

A long while later, he finally regained his senses. He quickly ascended into the sky and brought the nine of them down, lining them up in a row in front of him. He hurriedly checked on them, his face deathly pale.

“What went wrong… what went wrong…”

He then discovered that the skin on the faces of these people was all dry and wrinkly, completely different from their rosiness and supple feeling beforehand. He touched their faces tentatively, not expecting that the contact would actually tear off the skin on their faces!

The high priest got a huge shock, his heart pumping fast as he held a human skin mask in his hand.

He looked over at the person whom he had torn the mask off of, only to see that where the face was supposed to be was a mess of blood and flesh…

Stunned, the high priest hastily grabbed at the faces of the others too. As expected, the results were the same.

He continued to inspect…

At last, the high priest raised his head, cursing and swearing in abject grief and rage, “It’s the Soul Transfer Technique! You motherf*cking Nine Super Clans! F*ck you and all your ancestors! Goddamn motherf*ckers… To actually use the Soul Transfer Technique and fool around in the Medicine Banquet! You goddamn motherf*ckers…”

This elderly pharmacist with a head full of white hair and his face covered with wrinkles swore and cursed furiously with no regard for his image whatsoever! He spewed profanity and vulgarities, whatever sounded vicious was whatever that came out of his mouth…

Just how much hatred did he feel toward this…

In an instant, the high priest also realized what was going on.

In order to win the position of champion in the Medicine Banquet and get their hands on the Heaven Nourishing Jade, the Nine Super Clans and the law-enforcement officer had swapped out their original competition candidates with experienced ones who had taken part in the Medicine Banquet before!

They had used the Soul Transfer Technique to let the experienced pharmacists become eligible to join the competition, as well as temporarily gain the fate energy required.

And then they entered the finals…

However, this final generation of the Medicine Banquet was different from all the previous generations because it directly harvested the pharmacists’ fate energy. Therefore, within the ferocious surge of fate energy, the nine pharmacists’ true forms were revealed, causing their original and newly gained fate energy to clash, and yet they couldn’t retreat from the Heavens-Reversing platforms… This caused the aftereffects of the Soul Transfer Technique taking effect in advance, leading to their deaths…

When he figured out the ploy, the high priest felt weak all over, wishing that he could just smash his head against the wall and die on the spot!

He wasn’t even in the mood to swear anymore.

He could give them the position of champion.

He could give them the Heaven Nourishing Jade.

But how could they treat this Medicine Banquet that affected the future of the entire Nine Heavens like a joke! And the most crucial generation at that! Weren’t they just being… complete bastards…

It’s all over…

There were only three words in the high priest’s mind!

Only when fate energy split into the ten lotuses and the fate energy of these ten lotuses subsequently merge back into one could it transform into the final form of fate energy by using the number one pharmacist as a medium! And only this final form of fate energy would be able to act as a catalyst in the Great Heavens-Reversing Array and engulf the tens of thousands of elixirs to open the passage into the Heavens, and attract the power of the universe used to refine the Heaven Nourishing Jade!

But now, nine of them were dead! Wasn’t this all over now?

The high priest raised his head despondently, gazing into the sky.

But the next moment, he was stunned into yet another daze, his mouth agape as he stared in disbelief!

This poor old fellow, receiving shock after shock in this short period of time alone…

The lotus above Chu Yang was expanding yet again!

Those nine waves of fate energy that had already disappeared formed into wisps once more, as though dying embers rising from the ashes, and surged into that gigantic lotus of Chu Yang!

The high priest was so dumbstruck that he almost lost the ability to think!

H-he could actually support the entire Medicine Banquet with his fate energy alone!

He couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with tears, dropping to his knees and praying fervently…

Dear heavens, please let us finish this banquet… Chu Yang, you have to hang in there… you’re the only hope now!

…

On a mountain peak far away.

Wu Jue Cheng, dressed in robes of white, had an indifferent smile on his face as he stretched out his arm. He did a simple action, closing and then opening his palm.

A mass of multi-colored mist sat in the middle of his palm.

It floated densely above his palm.

“Disperse!” With a passive smile, Wu Jue Cheng closed his palm once more.

The mass of multi-colored mist suddenly dispersed with a loud pop!

The smile on Wu Jue Cheng’s face widened.

…

Chu Yang observed intently and tried to sense to what degree the lotus above him had bloomed. Just another three petals and it would be in full bloom…

Elation arose in his heart.

It looked like his wish was going to come true!

Right at this moment, an indescribable feeling suddenly spread throughout his body. Then, he could only feel half of his body going numb…

Wu Jue Cheng’s seven deadly poisons were finally taking effect in this critical moment!

Chu Yang let out a muffled grunt.

…

Full of confidence and joy, the high priest watched Chu Yang nervously. He desperately begged the gods in his heart, praying fervently and incessantly.

But…

Chu Yang’s body suddenly jerked, causing his heart to almost jump out of his throat.

My god, it couldn’t be that this one was also a fake created by the Soul Transfer Technique? If that was the case… then we’re truly done for.

He stared anxiously at Chu Yang, thinking that the moment wrinkles appeared on his face, that would signify the complete failure of the Medicine Banquet this time…

When he discovered that no wrinkles were appearing on Chu Yang’s face, he wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. However, a colorful mix of seven different colors started to show on Chu Yang’s face instead.

And his body subsequently became somewhat stiff…

“The Seven Poisons of the Netherworld!” The high priest’s eyes turned wide and round. With a voice full of grief and indignation, he bellowed, “Wu Jue Cheng! F*ck you and your ancestors Chen Feng and Liuyun!”

He didn’t expect that just as he was left with the last glimmer of hope, this Wu Jue Cheng who had disappeared for several tens of thousands of years would actually appear to mess things up for him.

The Seven Poisons of the Netherworld.

Wu Jue Cheng was the only one capable of using it in this whole world!

The high priest’s heart was filled with a cold dread.

However, the lotus above Chu Yang had only paused in its blooming. It did not dissipate, only remaining in stasis.

Then, he saw Chu Yang, with trembling hands, take out a Purple Crystal core bottle with some difficulty. He opened the cap and gulped down two mouthfuls of the liquid within.

With an audible sigh, he exhaled a colorful toxic mist.

Though traces of the Seven Poisons of the Netherworld still remained, his face had already regained its normal color for the time being.

The high priest craned his neck, his eyeballs almost falling out.

What… what did he drink? It could actually nullify… no, suppress the Seven Poisons of the Netherworld? So amazing?

And then he saw Chu Yang straighten his back with some ‘difficulty’ before returning to an upright sitting position. After a moment, the gigantic lotus on top of him started to expand once more, slowly continuing to bloom…

The high priest was brimming with hot tears.

He almost had the urge to worship Chu Yang right now!

Such determination! Such spirit! Such selflessness and fearlessness! He was in mortal danger but he was still putting so much effort into the Medicine Banquet…

In the endless anticipation of the high priest and Chu Yang, that gigantic lotus finally reached full bloom! It easily boasted an impressive radius of beyond three kilometers!

Lighting up the entire dimension with a holy glow!

At the same time, Chu Yang felt like there were countless fairies in colorful robes filling up the endless expanse of the sky before him. Flower baskets in their hands, they danced and sang, their holy singing that filled the heavens and earth seemingly echoing in his heart and soul…

An incomparable sense of serenity filled his heart.

Within the lotus, the fate energy split into ten thick pillars, its intended direction unknown…

The voice of the Sword Spirit rang out. “Now’s the time, intercept the fate energy! The array has reached the pinnacle of its operation… As long as the fairies are still singing, every name that you say will effectively intercept fate energy!”

With his eyes closed, Chu Yang silently recited in his heart, “Gu Duxing!”

One of the fate energy pillars suddenly changed its direction…

“Dong Wushang!”

“Mo Tianji!”

“Ji Mo!”

“Ao Xieyun!”

“Luo Kedi!”

“Rui Butong!”

“Xie Danqiong!”

There were already eight names. “Who would he choose to be the sword embellishment?” wondered the Sword Spirit.

And then he heard Chu Yang say, “Mo Qingwu!”

The Sword Spirit tried to stop him in a panic. “That won’t do; the same family name cannot appear twice within the Nine Tribulations!”

Only to hear Chu Yang go on…

“Tan Tan…” Chu Yang’s voice was firm.

“Tan Tan may not work…” The Sword Spirit was in a frenzy.

“Young Master Yu.”

“Zi Xieqing.”

“Meng Chaoran.”

Chu Yang continued to call out names.

“Too many, too many… Too many!” The Sword Spirit was jumping about in panic. “There are only nine slots, how many have you named already… You’re going to empty the Nine Super Clans if you continue like this…”

Chu Yang ignored him and continued to recite names. “Chu Feiling, Yang Ruolan, Chu Le’er, Mo Lei’er, Wu Qianqian, Tie Butian, Huyan Aobo, Jun Xizhu, Feng Yurou, Yue Lingxue, Bu Liuqing, Ning Tianya…”

In this limited period of holy singing, those who were related to him, those whom he had a good impression of, those whom he was on friendly terms with… this fellow named them all!

The Sword Spirit was flabbergasted. He fell onto his bottom in the Nine Tribulations Space, his body stiff as cold sweat drenched his back!

You… I’ve never seen anyone as brutal as you…