Sudden Uprising

"Qin Leyan" had not expected this damned Phoenix to come out and make trouble. Bing Ling had failed to stand steady on the blanket just now and had rolled all the way to the inner side of the bed, so "Qin Leyan" had not seen him there.

Bing Ling had not actually found anything wrong with this medicine, but he trusted Feng Wuhen, so he found an excuse to stop "Qin Leyan."

"Qin Leyan" thought that Phoenixes possessed inherited knowledge. This damned Phoenix might really have discovered something wrong, and for a moment, she panicked badly.

But she quickly steadied herself. Frowning, she put on the aggrieved look of someone falsely accused. Tears welled in her large eyes, hanging there without falling, making her look especially pitiful.

"Bing Ling, you misunderstood me. He is my biological older brother. How could I possibly put something in his medicine?

"And if it were poisonous, why would I touch it with my own hand?"

Although Bing Ling was over a hundred years old, the Demon Race grew very slowly. By Demon Race standards, he was still only a child.

Moreover, he had always followed Chu Moqing. Before this, he had cultivated on Nine Heavens Peak and had never gone out, never having seen the treachery of human hearts!

He was immediately left speechless. Just as Bing Ling did not know how to answer and was at a loss, Feng Wuhen reached out, pulled "Qin Leyan" away, and stepped in front of Bing Ling and Qin Xiaoran. He coldly watched "Qin Leyan," whose sudden loss of composure at his actions had shattered her carefully maintained persona, leaving her furious and her expression twisted.

"What does it prove that you touched it yourself? There are countless poisons under heaven. Some kill with the slightest touch, some only take effect upon touching a wound, and others must be swallowed. Your explanation proves nothing.

"Unless you dare to cut a wound on your hand and use the medicine on your hand to treat it. But do you dare?"

The tears that had been lingering in "Qin Leyan's" eyes finally rolled down. Through misty, tear-filled eyes, she looked toward Qin Xiaoran on the bed. "Brother, look at them bullying me. You will not help me? Are you just going to watch them bully me?"

After what had happened with Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts, Qin Xiaoran had already grown suspicious of her. Thus, he said, "Leyan, Bing Ling and Junior Brother Feng are only worried about me. But Junior Brother Feng's words were too severe. How can we make you cut yourself?"

Hearing him defend her, "Qin Leyan's" lips curved slightly upward. Yet the next second, she heard him say, "How about using your beast-taming companion in your place? Cut a wound on him, then apply the medicine.

"After all, if there is nothing wrong with the medicine, your beast-taming companion will be fine too."

Qin Xiaoran's words made "Qin Leyan" snap. Her gaze turned chilling as she looked at Qin Xiaoran, as well as Feng Wuhen and the others who were obstructing her. "Hmph. You refuse the wine of respect only to drink the wine of punishment. I originally only wanted Qin Xiaoran's life. Since you are courting death yourselves, I will not stand on ceremony."

Seeing that she had dropped the act and even intended to attack them, Feng Wuhen and the others stood together in front of Qin Xiaoran. Though they were weak, they were still in better shape than the severely injured Qin Xiaoran.

Furthermore, as the young valley master and the sect master's daughter, Shen Ziheng and Meng Hongying both carried protective artifacts.

Although "Qin Leyan's" soul belonged to a Spirit Transformation Realm devil woman, due to the limitations of her body, she currently possessed only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation.

Thus, though Feng Wuhen and the others were shocked by her sudden uprising, they were not panicked.

Relying on the protective artifact she carried, Meng Hongying sternly shouted at "Qin Leyan," "You really are a bad woman! I saw it just now—your face and your eyes kept changing faster than flipping the pages of a book. As expected, you were harboring wicked intentions. You actually poisoned your own older brother's medicine. You have utterly lost all conscience!"

"Qin Leyan" knew why they were so fearless. Was it not simply because they were relying on the protective artifacts they carried?

"Do you think that just because you carry protective artifacts, I cannot touch you?"

Hearing this, Feng Wuhen understood that she had another trick up her sleeve—and it was probably no ordinary trick.

"Qin Leyan" took out a pitch-black token carved with a skull. The moment the token appeared, the temperature in the entire room dropped.

Bursts of sinister wind blew the room into disarray. The teapot and cups on the table were all swept onto the ground and shattered to pieces, while the folding screen was also blown down.

The sounds of wailing ghosts and howling wolves made everyone restless. Seeing the gusts of sinister wind in the room and hearing the cries of ten thousand ghosts beside her ears, Meng Hongying fearfully clutched the arm of the person beside her.

Shen Ziheng was also somewhat uneasy, but when she grabbed him like that, he could only force himself to keep calm. He patted the hand clutching his arm and comforted her.

Feng Wuhen did not know what this thing was, but he saw thick bloodlight on the token, so dense it had turned black. He also saw heaps of white bones piled into mountains, and countless indistinct ghosts drifting around those mountains of bones.

"What is this thing? Why are its Sha Qi and blood aura so heavy? It also feels as though I can hear countless yin souls wailing beside my ears, and I feel a little dizzy."

What Feng Wuhen wanted to say even more was that he felt as if his soul were being dragged out of its shell.

Qin Xiaoran recognized the token. It was the Myriad Ghost Bone Token.

As its name implied, it was forged by slaughtering ten thousand people—or perhaps even more—then mixing their bones with their blood and other materials.

A token forged in such a manner sealed within it all the wronged souls who had died for its creation. It possessed the ability to seize souls and strip spirits, and it could likewise seal the souls it seized within the token. From then on, they could never emerge for all eternity. Even destroying the token could not save those wronged souls; they could only vanish into ashes along with it.

It could be called an exceptionally evil artifact, one that the Cultivation World had expressly forbidden anyone from refining.

Even evil cultivators and the Devil Race would not refine this artifact, because they found it too troublesome, and its power was only so-so. The effort and reward were utterly disproportionate—unless one was some kind of lunatic.

Qin Xiaoran did not know where "Qin Leyan" had obtained this Myriad Ghost Bone Token. Judging from her appearance, she intended to use it against them. If so, the protective artifacts on them likely would not be able to block it.

Protective artifacts could block damage, but they had limits to what they could withstand. Once that limit was exceeded, they would shatter, and then they would still be in danger.

Had Qin Xiaoran been at full strength, he would still have been confident in protecting Feng Wuhen and the others. But now that he was seriously injured, he could only crush a cyan jade token, informing his father that there was danger here and urging him to come as quickly as possible.

Then he would have to stall for time until Qin Che arrived. But he could not do it alone, and Feng Wuhen and the others had only just entered the Qi Refining Realm. They simply could not hold them off.

Thus, he looked at Bing Ling, the only Golden Core Realm cultivator present. "Bing Ling, I have already crushed the jade token to notify my father. But he will need time to get here, so the two of us must join forces and hold out for half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

Bing Ling nodded. He also knew that the situation was urgent. In a flash of blue light, he transformed into the appearance of a young man, and a blue fan emitting frigid air appeared in his hand.