"Tell me! What did the herb look like?!" Shi Jin stepped forward aggressively. But after a second, he collected himself and calmed down. "You have to tell me everything so I can vouch for the overseer. He does not care whether you have gotten rid of the Gu. All he cares about is the truth."

"Come on, Shen Yuan, help me help you." Seeing the frown on Shen Yuan’s face, he thought Shen Yuan was having doubts, but he failed to notice Shen Yuan waving his fingers in the air.

"The herb..." Shen Yuan lowered his head as though trying to recall every detail from his memory.

"It wasn’t very big."

"About the length of my palm."

"The stem was black."

"The leaves were crimson."

"There were seven of them."

"Golden veins ran through every leaf."

"The roots were almost transparent."

"And..."

"When I accidentally snapped the stem while trying to pull it out..."

"...silver-colored sap flowed from inside."

Shen Yuan frowned, like he was trying very hard to remember it.

"It gave off a strange fragrance. It smelled..."

"...almost metallic."

"I had never seen anything like it before. I searched every herb book I owned after that, but I couldn’t find a single record about it."

Shi Jin didn’t interrupt him once.

He quietly listened until Shen Yuan finished every last word.

"...Interesting." He slowly turned around and walked back toward the torture table. The knife in his hand gently tapped against the wooden surface.

Clink.

He carefully placed it back among the other torture instruments before resting both hands upon the table.

For several breaths...

The cave became completely silent. Then Shi Jin suddenly laughed.

"Hahaha!!! You know, I believe you." He glanced back over his shoulder. "Everything I told you was the truth."

"The Gu."

"The sect."

"The yearly tests."

"Everything."

He paused. "But for your cooperation, I suppose I can tell you one more truth before we part ways."

Shen Yuan quietly watched Shi Jin as he slowly raised two fingers.

"You’ve been unconscious..."

"...for four days."

Shen Yuan’s pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

"The sun will rise in roughly two hours." Shi Jin’s smile widened. "And if I remember correctly, today happens to be a very important day."

"You know how overseer Jiang is. If you are even a second late, your head will roll on the ground." He watched Shen Yuan’s face morph into the horror of realization with a sadistic smirk on his face.

"And if you don’t come at all, Sect will think you have deserted them. And deserters are executed."

"I thought you’d appreciate knowing." He casually adjusted his sleeves before walking toward the cave entrance.

The moment he stepped near the entrance, Shi Lui appeared out of nowhere, ready to guide him back.

"Wait."

Shen Yuan slowly stood up from the broken chair. His shoulder continued dripping blood onto the stone floor.

"You promised me the antidote. " Shi Jin stopped at the entrance.

"...Ah." He slowly turned his head, and a faint smirk appeared on his face. "I suppose... I did lie about one thing."

"I never intended to let you leave alive." He stepped outside without another glance.

As Shi Lui walked past him, Shi Jin spoke calmly.

"Shi Lui."

"Yes?"

"Have everyone come and kill him. Tell them to not let Shen Yuan come out of the cave alive; if they did... tell them to not bother returning." Saying this, he disappeared from the entrance, and several figures appeared one after another.

Shi Lui silently watched Shi Jin disappear into the darkness outside the cave.

Only after his footsteps could no longer be heard did she slowly turn around.

The coldness in her eyes contained no emotion whatsoever.

She raised one hand.

Without saying a single word—

Every servant inside the cave immediately stepped forward.

More figures emerged from the shadows hidden deeper inside the cave until nearly twenty people surrounded Shen Yuan from every direction.

The only path leading toward the entrance had already been blocked.

They all watched as Shen Yuan silently stood there with a dazed look on his face as he stared at the ground.

[Name: Shen Yuan]

Age: 16

Level: 10/10 (Late Stage of body Tempering ) XP: 65,650/50,000

[Do You want to Break Through The Next Major Realm?]

[Techniques Comprehended: Expand>]

[Strength (STR): 97

Agility (AGI): 98

Dexterity (DEX): 100

Physique (PHY): 100 ]

[Notifications: 2]

[Open]

[Congratulations on comprehending the basic knowledge about herbs and pills.]

[Hidden achievement detected.]

[Reward: You have gained the knowledge of herbs and pills—Earth Grade Entry.]

[From 1-star to 3-star herbs and pills, it has everything.]

Shen Yuan had not lied when he told Shi Jin about the appearance of the herb.

Right after the notification sounded, his brain was flooded with lots of information about these herbs and pills he had not even heard about. There was also the knowledge of poison and Gu within this knowledge.

Although the reward was so generous, Shen Yuan almost lost consciousness from the influx of knowledge into his brain.

"Why was there no exp reward this time? What was different?’ Shen Yuan could not help but wonder.

But while he was thinking, the other servants finally made a move.

Shi Lui had signaled two of the servants to rush in and test Shen Yuan’s strength.

One of them was wielding a mace, and the other was waving the blade of a Kusarigama (Chain-sickle) in the air while the rest of the chains were wrapped around her body.

Kusarigama was a weapon that was made from the combination of two weapons; one of them was a sickle and the other was a chain. The end of the sharp sickle’s handle was attached to the chain.

Shen Yuan had opened the second notification when he heard the sound of metal cutting through the air.

From the corner of his eyes, he glanced as the servant with the mace charged right at him while the woman with the Kusarigama kept her distance.

Even though the two of them were qi gathering realm servants just like the rest of them, Shen Yuan did not even spare them another glance and focused on the system screen.

[Current Main Mission: Allure of Deceit.]

[Mission Objective: Find out who poisoned you and their motives.]

[Status: Complete]

[Reward: Legacy of the Deceitful One.]

[Would you like to check the rewards?]

[Open]