Chapter 261: Surrounded by Crises (Third Update)

The timing of the Heavenly Physician competition was the same as the Mystic Master competition; both lasted one day.

However, for the crowd watching from the sidelines, the Heavenly Physician competition was far more interesting.

In the Mystic Master competition, each master had to decipher a mystic formation on a chessboard placed before them, sitting motionless for several hours at a time. Since most people did not understand mystic formations, the competition appeared rather dull.

But the Heavenly Physician competition was different.

Everyone had a medicinal tripod before them, using it to refine various medicinal ingredients and finally fuse them together, which provided plenty of highlights. During this process, many could intuitively see the skill level of the competitors—who was strong and who was weak.

Thus, most of the spectators were watching with great interest.

However, among these people, Chu Liuyue was not one of them.

Among these students, only five people had chosen to submit a "high-level" prescription. In other words, only a handful possessed the strength to form a pill. Furthermore, it wasn't even guaranteed that all five could actually succeed in pill formation.

As for the rest, there was no need to mention them. For a Heavenly Physician, if one cannot form a pill, they are all more or less the same. Some people spend their entire lives unable to form a pill, meaning they can only ever be mere healers, unable to step into the realm of a Heavenly Physician.

After carefully observing the medicinal ingredients they were using, Chu Liuyue had already roughly guessed their prescriptions. The competition had become even more tedious.

Tuanzi was on her shoulder, its head nodding up and down as if it were dozing off. Chu Liuyue pulled it into her arms, and it comfortably curled into a ball and fell asleep.

"Hey, Liuyue, this Blood Mink of yours is quite something! Where did you get it?" Si Yang asked curiously from beside her. "So many people have been trying to buy Blood Minks these past few days; the supply in the entire Imperial Capital is almost exhausted! But from what I see, none of them can compare to yours!"

As the weakest Tier 3 magical beast, Blood Minks had never been in high demand, usually only purchased by daughters of noble families to serve as pets. However, Blood Minks were rare and expensive, making them a poor investment, so only a few did so. Tuanzi’s sudden fame had instantly made the Blood Mink a highly sought-after creature.

Chu Liuyue raised an eyebrow, her palm gently stroking Tuanzi’s tail. It was a fluffy little ball, incredibly cute. Looking at it this way, Tuanzi seemed no different from any other Blood Mink. Yet, it was precisely the most special one of them all!

"I picked it up in the Wanling Mountains."

"What?" Si Yang was stunned. He had actually picked up such a treasure for free!? "Your luck is just too heaven-defying!" His face scrunched up. "Why didn't this kind of good fortune fall to me!?"

Chu Liuyue gave him a cool look. "The incident where you were surrounded and attacked by magical beasts didn't fall to you either; your luck is quite good."

Si Yang: "..."

"Liuyue, Liuyue?"

As the two were talking, a familiar voice suddenly came from beside them. Chu Liuyue turned her head to see that Zuo Rong had arrived by their side at some unknown point.

"Teacher Zuo Rong, did you need something from me?"

Zuo Rong beckoned to her. Chu Liuyue stood up and followed him to the side. Seeing that no one around was paying attention, Zuo Rong lowered his voice and asked, "Liuyue, are you truly not participating in this Heavenly Physician competition?"

Seeing Zuo Rong's cautious yet expectant expression, Chu Liuyue couldn't help but smile. "You came to find me just for this? I didn't sign up, so naturally, I won't be competing."

Zuo Rong most likely held some expectations for her because of the prescription she had provided to the Heavenly Medicine Pavilion previously. Unfortunately, she had no interest in it. Seeing her calm expression, which suggested she had truly made up her mind, Zuo Rong couldn't help but feel a sense of regret.

"If you were to compete..."

He believed that Chu Liuyue's talent in Heavenly Medicine was undoubtedly outstanding. However, she had always been very low-profile in this regard. He tried to persuade her a few more times, but seeing that Chu Liuyue truly had no intention, he had no choice but to give up.

"...Fine! Since you don't want to, I cannot force you. If you need any medicinal ingredients in the future, feel free to go to the Heavenly Medicine Pavilion!"

Chu Liuyue smiled and thanked him, but she thought to herself that while ordinary ingredients could be obtained from the Heavenly Medicine Pavilion, it would be more convenient to go to the Treasure Pavilion for specialized ones.

After taking her leave from Zuo Rong, she turned around, intending to return to her seat, but suddenly froze.

Just now, a gaze of extreme danger had swept over her!

Chu Liuyue immediately became alert! Her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings! However, that chilling, dangerous aura vanished just as quickly. She watched for a long while but detected nothing unusual.

"Liuyue, what's wrong?" Zuo Rong asked, unable to help himself when he saw Chu Liuyue turn to leave only to suddenly stop in her tracks. Could it be that this girl had changed her mind at the last minute?

Chu Liuyue turned back and smiled at him. "It's nothing."

With that, she returned to her seat. From beginning to end, her expression appeared perfectly normal. This small interlude did not attract anyone's attention.

However, once seated, Chu Liuyue's body remained tense, and her gaze gradually turned cold. Her intuition would not be wrong; that terrifying killing intent just now was indeed aimed at her!

According to her estimation, the opponent's strength must be extremely high! That kind of pressure that almost made it impossible to breathe... they were at least a Tier 6 Martial Artist!

But who could it be?

Although she had offended many people during this period, one must realize that in the entire Yao Chen Kingdom, a Tier 6 Martial Artist had never appeared!

As Chu Liuyue slowly stroked Tuanzi, a flash of realization suddenly crossed her mind!

Wait! She had forgotten she had another enemy hiding in the shadows!

—The person who poisoned Liao Zhongshu!

Chu Liuyue had never known when she had provoked such a mysterious and powerful figure. It was as if the opponent had laid a trap in the dark, merely waiting for her to take a single wrong step before completely crushing her!

Could it be that the person behind the scenes had also come to this Qingjiao Assembly?

Thinking of this, her gaze shifted slightly toward Chu Xianmin.

Chu Xianmin was not sitting with Rong Jin; instead, she remained with the Tianlu Academy side. Even though she had married into the Crown Prince's manor and had been attending to Rong Jin personally, as a noble concubine, she was not qualified to sit beside Rong Jin in such an occasion.

Chu Xianmin seemed to sense something and looked up. Their eyes met.

Chu Xianmin involuntarily shuddered. For some reason, she always felt as if Chu Liuyue's eyes could see through everything. She almost unconsciously touched her own neck. The wound left by the dagger had already scabbed over and felt very rough, constantly reminding her of how terrifying a person Chu Liuyue was.

She turned her gaze away in a panic.

Chu Liuyue narrowed her eyes slightly. Seeing Chu Xianmin's reaction... there seemed to be something fishy going on indeed.

She pretended to look around casually, but still found nothing.

At that moment, a muffled sound suddenly erupted from the field.

*Puff!*

(End of Chapter)