Outside the camp where the disciples of Qingfeng Valley and Fentian Palace rested, Elder Yan Mingfeng sat cross-legged on a large rock. His eyes were closed, and his spiritual consciousness seemed to be fully immersed in his cultivation. Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader walked to him, but Yan Mingfeng still did not open his eyes.

“Meng Qi hasn’t come back yet.” The sect leader stood beside Yan Mingfeng for a moment, “This is already the sixth day.” She looked at the endless mountains and forests in the distance: “The injured disciples become more and more anxious. If they aren’t back soon, I’m afraid it will cause everyone’s panic.”

“Who? What kind of panic?” Yan Mingfeng finally opened his eyes.

Before the sect leader could answer, a loud noise came from behind.

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan stumbled forward. Her eyes were red, and tears rolled down uncontrollably as she ran. “Sect leader…” She hurriedly rolled up her left sleeves, revealing her white wrists, “I…this…!”

Lan Zhuxuan was followed by two other injured female disciples from Qingfeng Valley. Their eyes were also wide open, and their face was as white as paper. A few steps behind, the injured male disciples of Qingfeng Valley and Fentian Palace were also standing. All of them looked at Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader with visible anxiety and worry.

“What happens?” The sect leader’s expression instantly turned grave, and she quickly walked up to Lan Zhuxuan. A small sprout of delicate green vine was grown on her white wrist, with two tender little leaves. If it didn’t grow on Lan Zhuxuan’s wrist, it actually looked pretty cute. But now, the sprout only made people felt extreme disgust and terror.

The sect leader walked quickly to the other injured disciples. Regardless of which part of their body was hit by the immortal devouring vine, all of them had a similar sprout grew on their wrist.

“This…” The sect leader was surprised. She raised her eyes to Elder Xun Yan, who sighed helplessly and shook his head. He was strong enough, but there was a specialty in everything. He seemed to have heard the name of immortal devouring vine before, but its usage, origin, and effect…all of it, Xun Yan only heard from Meng Qi for the first time.

“The vine cannot be pulled out, nor can it be cut off.” Xun Yan said in a grave tone. It has, as Meng Qi said, completely integrated with the disciples’ flesh and blood. They had tried to pull and cut it off. With just a single touch, however, even the toughest disciple of Fentian Palace instantly passed out in pain. And the thin vine sprout—or even its leaves—that looked so tender and fragile did not get harmed in the slightest.

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan cried so much that she could hardly breathe, “This disciple is so scared! This disciple is so scared! Ju-junior sister Meng…Meng Qi hasn’t come back yet?”

“This disciple is so scared! Wuuuuu…” Lan Zhuxuan’s cries became louder and louder. The other two Qingfeng Valley female disciples who were already panicked also affected by her and began to cry silently.

Even the male disciples turned pale. They might not be afraid of death. But that day, Meng Qi said that even if they die, their body would be occupied by this disgusting and terrifying monster who used their flesh, blood, and residual aura as nourishment, then utilizing the rest of their body as a flower pot to nurture new vines. Just thinking about it made their blood run cold.

“Sect leader…wuuuu…” Lan Zhuxuan cried even louder, “Why hasn’t junior sister Meng Qi come back? Didn’t she say that she will be back soon? This thing has already grown, will it useless even if she comes back now? Wuuuu…” She sobbed, “Is junior sister Meng Qi not coming back?”

“Meng Qi, she…” The sect leader hesitated. Meng Qi has only joined Qingfeng Valley for around half a year, so she didn’t have a deep impression of this relatively new disciple. However, she had heard Elder Yan mentioned that there was a talented young disciple who might not even be lost to her favored personal disciple Lu Qingran. The sect leader subconsciously turned her head to look at Elder Yan, seeking an answer from the man.

“Meng Qi will be back.”

“But…but junior sister Meng Qi has been away for seven days. She is with young palace master Chu, maybe…maybe they…” Lan Zhuxuan lightly bit down her lip. She stopped midway, but everyone could guess her unfinished words.

“Senior sister Lan.” At this moment, one of the tents opened, and Lu Qingran quickly walked from inside. She held a bamboo slip in her hand, and talked in a soft, relaxing tone: “I have looked up almost all the books I can find, and this one mentions the immortal devouring vine.”

Lu Qingran looked around. Although she was speaking to Lan Zhuxuan, she also smiled soothingly to the other injured disciples: “Although it doesn’t record the name ‘immortal devouring vine,’ but it wrote about a plant that grew in the Demon Realm, which gave the same symptoms like those described by junior sister Meng. It should be the same thing.”

“Really?” Lan Zhuxuan suddenly stretched out her hand to grip Lu Qingran’s wrist. Her power was too strong, and it was somewhat painful. But Lu Qingran just frowned slightly and didn’t fend off Lan Zhuxuan’s grip. “If this book is correct, as long as junior sister Meng Qi can come back within half a month after you got the injury, you can still be saved.”

“Then, does it say how to treat it?” Lan Zhuxuan asked quickly. At this time, even Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader and Elder Xun Yan have walked over them.

Lu Qingran shook her head regretfully. “No. The person who wrote this book has only heard about the rumors of the immortal devouring vine from others and has never really seen it, so he doesn’t know how to treat it.”

“That…” Lan Zhuxuan’s lips moved lightly, “Then Meng Qi… does she really know how to treat it?”

Not only Lan Zhuxuan, everyone here wanted to ask the same question. The vine was something that even the sect leader and elders of Qingfeng Valley have never heard of. Even the ancient books Lu Qingran found only wrote about some rumors. A Qi Condensation cultivator who has only started learning medical cultivation half a year ago, could she really cure it?

“Junior sister Meng, she actually won’t come back, right?” Another female disciple of Qingfeng Valley slowly lowered her head, looked at her sprouting vine in horror, and muttered.

“Junior sister… was she lying to us before?” Another male disciple said quietly. His voice trembled, and he looked at the small vine on his wrist in disgust and fear: “Did she know that it can’t be cured, and deliberately tricked us into waiting for death here?”

“Yes, maybe junior sister Meng doesn’t have the slightest idea how to treat the immortal devouring vine, but just tricked us into waiting for her here.” Another male disciple chimed in. His lips were chapped, obviously had been hungry and thirsty for days. But whenever he remembered Meng Qi’s words, he could not touch any food or water even a little. Now, he was standing weakly, and his whole figure seemed to be in a trance.

“Yeah! Meng Qi lied to us!” Lan Zhuxuan suddenly raised her voice, screaming: “She lied to us! She lied to let us die here! Let us be swallowed by this fearful thing and become disgusting monsters!”

“She lied to us!” Lan Zhuxuan screamed with a high-pitch voice, as to vent her fear and desperation. Fear was an emotion that infected others the easiest. Other injured disciples had also spent the last several days in fear and uncertainty. Hearing Lan Zhuxuan’s hysterical scream aroused their deepest fear.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” One female disciple of Qingfeng Valley crouched down and crazily grabbed the vine on her hand and screamed: “Monster, get away! I’ll kill you!” But after pulling the vine twice, her body suddenly shook, and she collapsed on the ground.

“Senior sister.” Lu Qingran hurriedly came to the fainted female disciple and carefully helped her lie flat. “Master.” She turned to the sect leader, “Senior sister passed out.”

The sect leader sighed lightly. Before she became thirty, she successfully formed her golden core, and her age growth had been slowed down. In the last few days, however, she had become somewhat tired, as if she suddenly has grown ten years in just a few days.

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan’s face completely red, “Meng Qi lied to us! I beg sect leader to punish Meng Qi severely, and oversee the justice for us disciples!” Lan Zhuxuan’s face was full of tears. Her nose and eyes were red and looked very pitiful.

“Meng Qi, she shouldn’t be…”

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan shrieked and impolitely interrupted the sect leader.

She is going to die, what else does she care!

All is Meng Qi’s fault! She harmed them!

Meng Qi lied to them!

Meng Qi deserves to die!

Lan Zhuxuan screamed: “Meng Qi deceived us, deceived the sect leader and elders, and harmed us! She also deceived Elder Xun and the young palace master of Fentian Palace, and harmed her fellow disciples to death! Sect leader, please punish Meng Qi severely and oversee the justice for us!”

“Shut up!” Xun Yan finally couldn’t stand it anymore! This Qingfeng Valley, from top to bottom, except for Yan Mingfeng, no one was able to calm down. At this critical time, they only knew how to be confused and panic.

Xun Yan looked at the sect leader of Qingfeng Valley with disappointment. Many of the top ten sects that stood at the pinnacle of the Three Thousand Worlds were originated from small, unknown sects. Sometimes, it took thousands of years of hard work for a sect to gradually grow and become stronger. During this process, a decisive, far-sighted, and firm leader was particularly important.

Xun Yan was utterly disappointed with this sect leader. When he came here after receiving Chu Tianfeng’s request for help, he had a brief understanding of Qingfeng Valley. Nearly a thousand years had passed since its inception, and the sect had produced one or two outstanding disciples. But in recent years, it was indeed declining very quickly.

Looking at the indecisive sect leader who couldn’t even hold her own authority, Xun Yan now knew why this sect has fallen to the present level. Xun Yan raised his eyes to Yan Mingfeng. He would find a way to bring Elder Yan and Meng Qi into Fentian Palace and no longer be influenced by these people.

After making up his mind, Xun Yan walked over to the disciples. He frowned and looked at Lan Zhuxuan: “If Meng Qi never told you, do any of you know that you were injured by the immortal devouring vine?”

Lan Zhuxuan was taken aback and looked at Xun Yan in surprise.

“If Meng Qi is really ignoring your life and death, she just has to avoid mentioning the immortal devouring vine. Your sect leader personally inspected and treated your injuries, yet didn’t notice the effect of the immortal devouring vine. Even if in the future all of you really dead, no one would blame Meng Qi.”

Xun Yan was really disappointed. He initially felt that this was the internal affairs of another sect, and he shouldn’t interfere carelessly. But looking at the unreasonable disciples, and then at their spineless sect leader, he couldn’t bear it anymore.

“You said Meng Qi harmed you? How did she harm you?” Xun Yan said bluntly, “Did she injured you with the immortal devouring vine? You are harmed by the demons who used the vine as a weapon. You can blame those demon cultivators! You can also blame your sect leader and me for failing to protect you.” He paused for a moment before continued: “You can even blame your sect leader incompetent, Fentian Palace incompetent, me incompetent. None of us have found out how frightening the immortal devouring vine is, and we can’t cure you. But Meng Qi, she is the most innocent here!”

A faint light flashed in Xun Yan’s eyes: “As a cultivator, you don’t cultivate your mind, never have a self-awareness. Instead, when something does happen, you immediately blame your innocent junior sister indiscriminately.”

Lan Zhuxuan was stunned. Even their sect leader had never scolded them so harshly.