"Yi Jin Suo Gu Gong"

These past few days, he had focused all his attention on treating her injuries, leaving him mentally exhausted. Though true qi could ease fatigue, he had transferred all of his true qi to Hua Menghan, not keeping even a trace for himself.

"Thank you," Hua Menghan said weakly. She checked herself and found that her clothes had not been disturbed. Ye Xiwen's true qi still lingered within her body; it must have been left behind when he treated her injuries and purged the poison. He was not a bad person.

"There should be an antidote in Luo Tian's Storage Ring," Hua Menghan said haltingly.

"Which one?" Ye Xiwen poured a heap of bottles and jars out of Luo Tian's Storage Ring. There were all kinds of pills within, each far superior in quality to those Zhao Qiyan and An Yunpeng had possessed.

Hua Menghan identified them one by one before finally finding the antidote. From her words, Ye Xiwen learned that this poison was called Seven Star Begonia. It was colorless and odorless, yet its toxicity was incomparably fierce. Acquired warriors would die upon contact, and even Xiantian Experts could not escape its venomous claws. If Hua Menghan had not possessed other means, she likely would not have lasted until Ye Xiwen arrived.

After taking the antidote, Hua Menghan began using all her strength to neutralize and expel the poison. Her complexion gradually improved, and life slowly returned to her face, no longer shrouded in the deathly aura it had held before.

Ye Xiwen knew that Hua Menghan was out of danger. With his mind finally relaxing, he fell into a deep sleep.

He did not know how long had passed before Ye Xiwen awoke. Only then did he suddenly discover that Hua Menghan had already left, leaving behind only a note. In essence, it thanked Ye Xiwen for saving her this time, but said that she had matters to attend to today and had to leave first. If he ever needed anything in the future, he could take her jade pendant to the Yi Yuan Sect's Main Sect and find her.

Ye Xiwen picked up the jade pendant beside him. It felt icy cold to the touch, and a phoenix was carved upon it with exquisite workmanship, so lifelike it seemed ready to take flight. The instant he picked it up, Ye Xiwen felt a cool current rush straight to his head, leaving his mind utterly clear.

This was an extraordinary treasure. If one wore this jade pendant while cultivating, cultivation would surely yield twice the result with half the effort, and there would be no fear of qi deviation.

Such an item was countless times more precious than inner armor. What cultivators feared most was qi deviation, but if one wore this jade pendant, there would be no need to fear it.

This extraordinary treasure was naturally immensely valuable. Ye Xiwen knew that this was likely Hua Menghan's repayment for saving her life. Otherwise, if it were merely a token, anything would have sufficed—why use such a precious treasure?

Since Hua Menghan had already left, there was no point dwelling on it. But since she was a disciple of the Yi Yuan Sect, they would meet again sooner or later. They definitely would!

After this Core Disciple Competition, Ye Xiwen would also head to the Yi Yuan Sect's Main Sect to report in.

Sooner or later, they would meet again!

Ye Xiwen finally had time to inspect Luo Tian's Storage Ring. As expected of a Xiantian Expert, compared with Zhao Qiyan and An Yunpeng, who had only been in the Acquired Realm, Luo Tian was not merely wealthy—he was lavish beyond measure. There were no Low-Grade Spirit Stones in Luo Tian's Storage Ring, only five hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. At the sight of so many Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, Ye Xiwen could not help secretly clicking his tongue. These were not Low-Grade Spirit Stones, but Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. A single Mid-Grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for a thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Converted into Low-Grade Spirit Stones, these five hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones amounted to a full five hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones. That number was absolutely astronomical! Even ordinary Xiantian Experts did not possess such abundant wealth. It was only because Luo Tian was the young master of the Luo Family that his fortune far surpassed that of ordinary Xiantian Experts.

Only Xiantian Experts generally had use for Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. Though they could be exchanged for Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Ye Xiwen was not foolish enough to do that.

Exchanging Mid-Grade Spirit Stones for Low-Grade Spirit Stones was easy, but exchanging Low-Grade Spirit Stones for Mid-Grade Spirit Stones was far from easy.

As long as Ye Xiwen had not lost his mind, he would never do such a thing.

It could be said that Ye Xiwen had struck a massive windfall this time. Apart from these Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, the rest consisted of various pills, from those that replenished vital essence to those that restored true qi. There was every kind, and their quality was quite good.

However, what Ye Xiwen valued most was a cultivation technique called "Yi Jin Suo Gu Gong." The greatest use of this technique was that it could alter a person's appearance—in other words, disguise. Once cultivated to a profound level, it could even change one's bones, height, and more, completely transforming one into another person.

Of course, the transformation would not last forever. It required a constant supply of true qi to maintain. But once he broke through to the Xiantian Realm in the future, with true qi flowing without end, such consumption would be nothing to a Xiantian Expert.

Even if one was not a Xiantian Expert, one could still maintain it by taking pills that replenished true qi from time to time. Of course, what ordinary Acquired warriors would have so many true qi-replenishing pills to waste? To martial artists, the true qi restored by such pills could even save their lives at a critical moment. But Ye Xiwen did not lack them. Although he had already used up the pills seized from Zhao Qiyan and An Yunpeng, he had obtained another batch from Luo Tian, so he was in no shortage at all.

However, Ye Xiwen currently had no time to cultivate this "Yi Jin Suo Gu Gong." The Core Disciple Competition would begin in less than two days.

More than two hours later, Ye Xiwen finally returned to the Yi Yuan Sect. Compared with three months ago, it was even livelier. Because of the Core Disciple Competition, many Core Disciples who had not shown their faces for years, elusive as divine dragons whose heads could be seen but never their tails, had returned to the sect to prepare for the competition.

Normally, Inner Disciples were the highest-ranking disciples in the sect, but at this time, even they had no choice but to keep their tails tucked between their legs. The Core Disciples had all returned, and these Core Disciples had been the cream of the crop among the Inner Disciples back then. None of them could afford to provoke them.

When Ye Xiwen returned to the sect, quite a few Inner Disciples recognized him from afar. Along the way, they stepped forward to greet him with respectful salutes. Ye Xiwen was now a Core Disciple, and his status was naturally different from theirs. What was more, he had risen as a dark horse, turning the tables all the way before ultimately defeating Dongfang Bai and claiming the championship, establishing his prestige.

Ye Xiwen did not act arrogantly, merely nodding to them all.

As he made his way into the Yi Yuan Sect and was about to return home, a wild burst of laughter suddenly rang out.

"Dongfang Bai, I had heard your name before. You were said to be a renowned genius of the Yi Yuan Sect, but now that I see you, you are nothing much after all!" A frivolous young voice rang out. "It seems the standard of this generation of Core Disciples from the Yi Yuan Sect is only so-so!"

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