In that instant, Sheng Ruoyu's concentration faltered. Qiao Ranran seized the opening, turned Spiritual Qi into needles, and struck several of Sheng Ruoyu's Acupoints. The Broken Sword fell from Sheng Ruoyu's hand with a clang.
Under ordinary circumstances, Sheng Ruoyu would no longer have had the composure to keep fighting. But Qiao Ranran stood before her. Sheng Ruoyu had always made a habit of putting herself at a disadvantage, yet now she found that she did not want to admit defeat. She did not want to lose to Qiao Ranran.
Sheng Ruoyu's knees buckled, but she stubbornly straightened again. She did not want to fall, not in front of Qiao Ranran.
But Qiao Ranran gave her no chance to hold out. The moment Sheng Ruoyu looked up and glared at her, Qiao Ranran flicked an Elixir whose color was impossible to make out against her lips. As Sheng Ruoyu opened her mouth to speak, it slipped inside and dissolved the instant it touched her throat.
Sheng Ruoyu shrieked, "Qiao Ranran! What did you make me swallow?!"
Qiao Ranran rubbed her fingers together, tilted her head at Sheng Ruoyu, and said with a smile, "A Poison Pill, obviously. What else would it be, a piece of candy?"
Sheng Ruoyu's face turned livid. "Qiao Ranran, do you remember that you're a Medicine Cultivator? You actually used a Poison Pill! Have you become one of those despised Poison Cultivators?"
Poison Cultivators had a dreadful reputation among so-called Righteous Cultivators. While everyone else was competing with Spell Techniques and Spiritual Qi, they secretly used Poison Pills to harm people. It hardly sounded like something an honorable person would do. So even when Medicine Cultivators and Pill Cultivators developed Poison Pills, they generally did so to find antidotes to their Toxicity. They did not dare