She coughed violently twice and said slowly, “I can only delay the poison, but cannot cure it. This is not our Wen family's dark poison.”
The Third Elder was furious. He pointed at Hall Master Ming beside him, his voice trembling. “These are clearly the symptoms of dark poison flare-up! Do you think I'm blind?!”
On the bed, Hall Master Ming lay flat, his face pale and his lips dark. Black veins wound down both sides of his neck like tree roots, spreading from behind his ears to his collarbones in a shocking display.
Madam Ming lay on the bed next to him, her face just as paper-white. The black veins on her neck were even denser than those on Hall Master Ming.
Wen Meijue remained unhurried. “The symptoms are similar, but it is not. This is much more vicious than dark poison.”
Zhu Zhao sneered, “Who else but your Wen family could refine such a poison?”
Wen Meijue: “...”
She took a deep breath, her expression turning slightly colder. “If you do not believe me, you are welcome to find a poison cultivator to examine them and see if the poison in their bodies is indeed the same as our Wen family's dark poison.”
Since she had put it that way, her words carried some weight of credibility.
The Third Elder glanced at the cultivator behind him. “Have the Sixth Elder come. She knows a bit about this.”
Cultivator: “Yes.”
Seeing this, Wen Meijue let out another cold sneer. “In that case, I still have matters to attend to. Please make yourselves at home.”
“Wait.”
A voice from outside stopped her in her tracks.
She raised her eyes gloomily, her muddy, sanpaku eyes staring at Song Yao, who had spoken. “Coming to the Wen family and bringing such a young girl... Is Nine Saints Hall not afraid she might touch something she shouldn't and get poisoned, only for you to blame it on our Wen family again?”
As she spoke, she flashed a grim smile and turned to leave once more.
Song Yao had once heard Wen Tang say that their family's Great Elder had an exceptionally venomous tongue, and seeing her today, she certainly lived up to her reputation.
Ignoring her, Song Yao stopped Wen Meijue once more. “Family Head Wen, if the poison on Hall Master Ming and Daoist Huachao is not your family's dark poison, then what about the poison on my Second Senior Sister?”
These words instantly woke everyone to the realization.
The Third Elder turned his head abruptly, his brows furrowing into a tight knot. “Right! What about the poison on Ah Zhao?!”
Wen Meijue's hand gripping her bone staff tightened instinctively, her knuckles turning white.
With her back to the crowd, she did not turn around. Her voice was several degrees colder than before. “What difference could there be? Our Wen family has never acted against anyone from Nine Saints Hall. There is no need to look.”
Leaning against the doorframe, Song Yao smiled and said, “Is Family Head Wen refusing to look at my Second Senior Sister because of a guilty conscience?”
Wen Meijue's footsteps abruptly halted. After a long pause, she slowly turned around, her yellowed eyes staring intently at Song Yao.
The next instant, her line of sight was cut off by Zhu Zhao.
Zhu Zhao sat down by the table and said to Wen Meijue, “Please.”
Wen Meijue: “...”
This time, her steps were visibly heavier. She walked over, stood in front of Zhu Zhao, leaned her bone staff against the edge of the table, and reached out with her withered fingers to grasp Zhu Zhao's pulse.
The front hall was so quiet that the crackling of the charcoal fire could be heard clearly.
With her eyes closed, a faint, eerie light shimmered at Wen Meijue's fingertips as she probed Zhu Zhao's meridians.
Since it was taking quite a while and Song Yao felt too weak to stand, she sat down on the threshold.
After waiting a bit longer, she couldn't help but mutter, “She isn't just stalling for time, is she?”
Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the front hall heard her clearly. Wen Meijue's expression shifted, and her temples throbbed.
The Third Elder's eyelids twitched, and he wanted nothing more than to cover her mouth.
This young girl really had no regard for her life, constantly provoking the other party with every word.
If she incurred Wen Meijue's resentment, it would be no laughing matter.
He shook his head helplessly and quickly spoke up. “Family Head Wen, have you not figured it out yet?”
Wen Meijue finally withdrew her hand and opened her eyes, her pupils shifting slightly.
Before she could even speak, Song Yao tilted her head against the doorframe and added a step ahead of her, “Our Sixth Elder will be arriving later, so lying won't work.”
Wen Meijue: “...”
The Third Elder: “...”
Still provoking.
Wen Wumian was clearly quite angered. He closed his eyes for a moment before saying, “The poison on Miss Zhu...”
Just as he spoke, the back door burst open with a bang.
A man scrambled inside, throwing himself to his knees before everyone with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly. “It's me! It's all my fault!”
“Senior Sister Zhu's poison was my doing! It's all my fault, all my fault! I lost my mind! I... I didn't want the Wen family to always be controlled by Nine Saints Hall, so I broke into Nine Saints Hall to cause trouble!”
He kowtowed harder and harder, leaving a smear of crisscrossing bloodstains on the floor. “I didn't expect to be discovered by Senior Sister Zhu. In my panic, I poisoned her! I didn't mean to, I really didn't mean to!”
“If you want to blame someone, blame me alone! The Family Head knew nothing about this! I... I am willing to pay with my life to atone for my sins...”
As he spoke, he suddenly pulled a small porcelain vial from his sleeve, uncorked it, and prepared to pour it into his mouth.
No one had expected this sudden turn of events, and for a moment, they failed to react.
Only Song Yao's eyes darkened.
With a flick of her hand, a pill flew from her fingertips, accurately striking the man's wrist.
The force wasn't great, but the angle was incredibly precise, hitting the numb spot on the inner side of his wrist bone.
The man cried out in pain and was forced to loosen his grip. The porcelain vial slipped from his hand, bouncing twice on the ground as powder spilled everywhere, emitting a pungent, bitter smell.
His face instantly turned deathly pale. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his wrist, he scrambled forward to grab the vial.
Just as his fingertips touched the vial, a talisman descended from above, landing lightly on the back of his hand. It felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, stopping his movement dead in its tracks.
Just as Song Yao breathed a sigh of relief, she caught sight of Wen Meijue flicking her wrist out of the corner of her eye.
A silver needle shot out from her sleeve like a bolt of lightning, flying straight toward the forehead of the man on the ground.
Xie Zhou immediately threw out two talismans, but he was still a step too late.
Wen Meijue was too close, and her sudden move caught everyone guard. They could only watch helplessly as the silver needle sank into the man's forehead.
The man's eyes flew wide, his pupils dilating to their absolute limit. His mouth fell open, but before he could make a sound, a mouthful of black blood surged from his throat, trickling down the corner of his mouth and leaving a gruesome stain on the floor.
His body stiffened for a fraction of a second, and in the next moment, he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
He was dead.
Silence fell over the front hall once more.
The Third Elder's face was as white as paper, his lips trembling. He pointed a finger at Wen Meijue, unable to contain his rage. “You... how could you...”
He was an artifact cultivator and had no time to act before the man had already fallen.
Wen Meijue withdrew her hand, picked up her bone staff from the edge of the table, and leisurely adjusted her sleeves. “Nine Saints Hall and the Wen family have long signed a covenant, yet this person acted behind our backs to strike at Nine Saints Hall and poison its personal disciple. I naturally had to punish him severely. He deserved his death.”
“The Wen family has always maintained strict rules. It is due to my lack of discipline that such a degenerate emerged, making us a laughingstock before you all.”
Having said that, she looked at Zhu Zhao, her voice softening slightly. “Miss Zhu indeed carries our dark poison. Since it was done by someone of our Wen family, I will not stand by and do nothing. I shall cure Miss Zhu's poison today.”
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