The tonic effect was too strong...
When they heard the elder say this, the disciples first breathed a sigh of relief, then turned puzzled gazes toward their eldest Senior Brother, Shen Fei.
But Shen Fei was just as puzzled. He had clearly used nothing but ordinary ingredients in his cooking.
How could this have happened?
He was about to ask the elder for guidance, but before he could finish putting his question into words, he suddenly saw a crimson trickle run from Elder Yun's right nostril...
"E-Elder, you..."
Shen Fei stared in astonishment.
Elder Yun froze.
"Hmm?"
Then he raised his right hand, lightly rubbed beneath his nose, and held his fingers before his eyes. There was a smear of scarlet on them.
However, unlike the other disciples, Elder Yun did not keep bleeding.
Only that single drop came out.
Elder Yun held the drop of blood beneath his nose and sniffed it.
Then he circulated a wisp of true qi.
His eyes lit up.
"So that's it."
A smile slowly spread across Elder Yun's face.
"The culprit behind your nosebleeds is an unusual poison. The tonics were merely there to counterbalance its effects and prevent it from harming your bodies."
"This poison is extremely well concealed, and its effects are mild. An ordinary person might well fail to detect its presence."
"Interesting, interesting."
Elder Yun said "interesting" twice in succession.
Beside him, the disciples' expressions changed when they heard that they had been poisoned after all.
Upon hearing the elder say that someone had combined poison with tonics, Shen Fei immediately realized that this was not something he had done by accident. Someone had done it deliberately.
He instinctively turned to look at the Junior Brother and Junior Sister who had arrived today.
*Could it have been one of