THDP Ch 121 Part 3 – To Crush One’s Belief (III)

Qin Xiumo scanned the group and asked, “Does anyone have any objections?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Xue Chengxuan gazed silently at Qin Xiumo. This man was a decisive and skilled fighter, and despite his reserved demeanor, he had proven himself to be a capable leader through the battles they had faced since entering the Starfallen Sea.

Aware of Ji Wujiong’s hostility, Qin Xiumo gave him another cold look before turning to Xu Zijun and asked, “If the final decision is not to enter the forest, will you follow it, Xu Zijun?”

“…” Xu Zijun gritted his teeth and nodded heavily, “Okay.”

“Alright,” Qin Xiumo didn’t ask Xue Chengxuan the same question, but raised his hand and distributed several empty bamboo slips, “Let’s vote.”

Writing on bamboo slips through aura was a foolproof method of ensuring anonymity, as long as the writer did not intentionally leave any distinctive marks, so this approach was indeed very fair. After all, entering the forest carried a high risk of death, and the two individuals in need of rescue were not closely related to everyone present.

But the furious Ji Wujiong saw what Qin Xiumo was actually doing and did not share this view. This brat ruined his plan! Compared to the immature successor of Fentian Palace, Qin Xiumo’s scheming and decisiveness were far beyond his young age.

Ji Wujiong snorted coldly. When he and Qin Xiumo glared at each other just now, they both knew that the other party had seen what they were planning. And now, it seemed that Qin Xiumo considered him a pest, as he had not given him a voting slip.

“Huh?” Sikong Xing finished first, “Why does Ji Wujiong not have a bamboo slip?”

“Oh.” Qin Xiumo said lightly, “He’s hired by Meng Qiqi and doesn’t need to vote.”

“…” Ji Wujiong stared gloomily at Qin Xiumo, regretting that he had shown mercy at their first meeting. He should have been ruthless back then and let this damned brat lie bedridden for half a year!

“Oh.” Sikong Xing nodded lightly. She stopped thinking about this matter and threw her bamboo slip ahead, leaving it suspended in the air.

Soon, the rest also finished casting their votes. With a flick of Qin Xiumo’s fingers, the eight floating bamboo slips quickly started to rotate around. With this, no one would know who had written on which bamboo slip, unless the writer had intentionally left a mark on it.

Qin Xiumo waved his sleeves, and the eight bamboo slips lit up at the same time. The aura radiated outwards, projecting the words written inside each slip.

Enter, Enter, Enter… the same word floated seven times in the air, with only a single ‘Leave’ at the end.

No one asked who elected to leave.

Seeing this result, Xu Zijun sighed in relief. His relationship with Pei Mufeng was exceptionally close, and he naturally did not want to leave after knowing that his fellow disciple was trapped inside a deadly forest. He was not afraid of death, but if he left now, his Dao heart would surely be affected, greatly diminishing his path of future cultivation.

As for Ji Wujiong, he simply snorted softly and threw his eyes aside.

“In this case.” Qin Xiumo said decisively: “We should get ready. Those who need to meditate should meditate and adjust their conditions. As for the medicine… Meng Qi, Li Che, Xue Chengxuan, can we leave it to you?”

The three nodded quickly.

“We need medicines with detoxification effects and those that can nullify miasma, plus pills that can save lives instantly. ” Qin Xiumo detailed, “Alright guys, we have two hours. After two hours, we will enter the forest, so do prepare our best.”

After a pause, he added: “Please take out all the defensive magic weapons you have. We may need to redistribute them.”

“Okay.” Everyone nodded. There were no traces of other creatures around the forest, so it was quite safe.

Meng Qi raised her hand and summoned the five spirits cauldron. Li Che followed suit with his own natal cauldron. As for Xue Chengxuan, his natal weapon was a silver needle, but he also owned a somewhat unusual cauldron, which was not lost to Li Che.

Medicine was the specialty of medical cultivators. Knowing that he couldn’t help, Qin Xiumo let the three work on their own and did not interfere.

“Let’s take out the materials we each brought.” Xue Chengxuan said, “Then we can redistribute them… by the way, Meng Qi, what is your medical cultivation level?”

“The peak of the fourth rank.” Meng Qi replied.

“You are still at the Golden Core, but your medical cultivation has almost reached the fifth rank?” Li Che was taken aback.

“Yeah.” Meng Qi nodded.

Li Che scratched his head embarrassingly: “I’m only in the fourth realm of the fifth rank.”

Xue Chengxuan said: “I am at the first realm of the sixth rank.”

“Amazing!” Li Che praised sincerely. Xue Chengxuan was barely a few years older than him, but his medical cultivation had already reached the sixth rank. As expected, he was worthy of the name of Xue Clan’s heir.

Xue Chengxuan shook his head, feeling nothing to be proud of. As a large medical clan with a long heritage, the Xue clan had its own method of cultivating the heir, so his achievements were naturally better than many of his peers. Yet, he was often busy with many affairs on normal days and had no time to fully concentrate on his cultivation. Otherwise, with his talent and family resource, he should be at least two or three realms above his current level.

“Then let’s split the task.” Xue Chengxuan said. “I will refine the Qingfeng Pill. Li Che, you know much about poisonous miasma in the Southern Realm, so I will leave this to you. Meng Qi…” He gave Meng Qi a glance, “The little red fruit I saw you eat before, could it be…”

“Phoenix fruit.” Meng Qi said.

“Wha—” Li Che gasped, “Phoenix fruits?! The same phoenix fruits used to make Nirvana Pill?!”

Nirvana Pill was a legendary-class life-saving medicine.

“Yeah.” Meng Qi said, “But I only have phoenix fruits.”