61: Chapter 61 First Signs of Poison and Night Infiltration of Enemy Camp

He could feel countless gazes—some curious, some jealous, some cold—projecting from all directions, pricking his back like needles.

This was the glory of being the front-runner, and also the fate of being a target.

Lin Chen's expression did not change in the slightest; he merely steadied his grip on Su Qingyao's arm, using his own body to shield her from those malicious prying eyes.

The silhouette of the tent area looked somewhat desolate under the cover of night.

Passing through the noise and returning to this small world that belonged only to them felt like stepping from a boiling pot of oil into a cool stream.

"Sit down first, don't think about anything." Lin Chen helped Su Qingyao sit on the wooden couch covered with soft cushions. As he touched her, the skin beneath her clothes was still icy cold—a sign of excessive exhaustion of her Qi.

He took a small white jade bottle from his Storage Pouch and poured out a Medicinal Pill that emitted a gentle, herbal fragrance.

This was a "Qi-Returning and Foundation-Nurturing Pill" he had refined himself; its medicinal properties were mild, making it most suitable for nourishing one's Foundation.

Su Qingyao did not decline; she obediently took the Medicinal Pill, closed her eyes, and began to regulate her breathing.

A moment later, her paper-white complexion finally warmed up, gaining a faint flush of color, and her breathing became much steadier and more rhythmic.

Lin Chen stood guard silently by her side, only letting out a sigh of relief once he confirmed that her aura had completely stabilized.

It was a bit stuffy inside the tent; the tension and exertion during the Alchemy competition had left his throat dry.

He turned and walked toward a low table in the corner, where a ceramic kettle and two cups were placed—drinking water that the competition servants had delivered during the Shen hour.

He picked up the kettle, tilted his wrist slightly, and prepared to pour some water.

In that very instant, deep within his brow, his Divine Soul—bound to the System—suddenly felt a faint, stinging sensation, like a mosquito bite.

This feeling was fleeting; had his Divine Sense not far exceeded those of his peers, he would have been unable to catch it.

[Alchemical Poison Warning Mark]… Was it triggered passively?

Lin Chen's action of pouring water paused in mid-air, his eyes suddenly turning sharp.

This mark was a new feature the System unlocked after his Foundation Establishment, specifically designed to provide vague warnings about insidious Alchemical Poisons targeting a Cultivator's Meridians and Divine Soul.

The sensation was so weak that it meant the poison was either present in an extremely small amount or was of an extremely subtle nature.

His gaze fell upon the kettle in his hand.

Under the night, the surface of the ceramic kettle was covered in naturally condensed droplets of water vapor, but on the very edge of the spout, there was a small area of dampness that looked completely different from the water stains that had already beaded up nearby.

The water stain there looked as if it had just been touched, not yet completely dry, and the blurred edges were "fresher."

It was as if… someone had used a wet finger to inadvertently wipe the spout.

Lin Chen slowly leveled his wrist and silently placed the kettle back on the low table, as if his previous pause had only been because his arm felt a bit numb.

He casually wiped his fingertips against the body of the kettle, then raised his hand, using the motion of adjusting his collar to bring his fingertips to his nose.

There was not the slightest scent. No herbal fragrance, nor any strange odor.

This, instead, made his heart sink.

The more sophisticated the poison, the more it returned to simplicity—colorless, odorless, and capable of killing without a trace.

He remained calm, not even glancing at the kettle again, but simply turned around and walked slowly to the entrance of the tent area, gazing at the thickening night outside.

An imperceptible ripple of Divine Sense spread out like a spiderweb, precisely touching Liu Yuan, who was keeping watch in the shadows.

"Mr. Liu, come here. The drinking water might be compromised."

Almost the instant the Divine Sense transmission landed, Liu Yuan's figure slid out from the shadows on the side of the tent area like a ghost. The usual laziness on his face had long since vanished, replaced by the alertness of a hunting dog.

"Family Head?"

Lin Chen did not turn back; he simply gestured with his chin toward the low table inside the tent, briefly explaining his suspicions and the System's faint warning.

Liu Yuan's expression turned solemn.

He knew Lin Chen's caution well; he would never make accusations without cause.

He did not touch the kettle, but instead pulled a palm-sized bronze Formation Plate covered in complex patterns from his robes.

"A Spirit Trace Retracing Formation, a miniaturized version I refined. It can track any foreign Qi traces left here within the last hour." Liu Yuan lowered his voice, his fingertips flashing with spiritual light as he quickly set up an invisible Formation on the ground outside the tent area.

As he placed the Formation Plate at the center of the Formation, a faint green light lit up from it, rippling outward like water waves.

The brilliance of the Formation flowed through the Void Realm, outlining a few bright trajectories belonging to Lin Chen and Su Qingyao.

Beyond these trajectories, a faint, gray, thread-like line that was on the verge of dissipating stubbornly appeared.

The source of this gray trajectory was dozens of zhang away outside the tent area. It extended carefully to this point, ending exactly at the low table where the kettle was, and then returned almost along the same path, finally pointing toward the servant living quarters in the distance, where the lights were sparse.

"Found it." Liu Yuan's eyes turned cold. "Family Head, wait a moment. I'll be back shortly."

Before his words had even faded, his figure had once again merged into the night, like a drop of water falling into an ink pool, leaving no trace.

Lin Chen returned to the tent; Su Qingyao had already finished her first round of regulating her breathing and opened her eyes.

Although she still felt weak, an Alchemist's keen instinct for the external environment remained.

Seeing Lin Chen's grave expression and the kettle of water on the table that hadn't been moved, she frowned slightly.

"What happened?"

"The water. Don't touch it." Lin Chen was concise.

Su Qingyao's gaze immediately fell upon the kettle of water.

She was well-versed in pharmacology and possessed a vigilance toward anything she ingested that surpassed that of ordinary people.

She pulled a long, thin silver needle from her hair bun. She had polished it herself from the core of a "Cold Iron Wood," then soaked it in the juices of dozens of detoxifying Spiritual Plants for forty-nine days; it reacted to hundreds of common poisons.

She dipped the silver needle into the water and held her breath, observing.

Several breaths passed, but the silver needle remained unchanged, still as clean and bright as new.

"It's not an ordinary poison." Su Qingyao's expression became even more grave.

She poured a small amount of water onto her fair palm; the water droplet was clear, showing no abnormalities.

She closed her eyes, mobilized the last trace of pure wood-attribute Qi in her body, and carefully wrapped it around the water droplet, perceiving it carefully with an Alchemist's "Medicine Identification" secret technique.

A moment later, Su Qingyao's fingertips trembled violently, and the water droplet instantly evaporated.

"There is… something in the water." Her voice carried a trace of lingering fear and suppressed anger. "It's not a common poison, but a kind of… insidious energy specifically targeting the Meridians. The amount is extremely minute, almost perfectly blended into the water's spiritual nature, making it extremely difficult to detect. If I hadn't just experienced being tempered by ice and fire, and if my Meridians weren't currently hypersensitive to any foreign energy, I'm afraid… I wouldn't have discovered it either."

She looked up at Lin Chen.

In those cold, clear eyes, lingering fear and fury were intertwined.

She knew very well that once this water was consumed, there would be no abnormalities in the short term.

But once she or Lin Chen fully circulated their Qi while Cultivating or fighting, this latent, insidious energy would erupt instantly, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Just then, Liu Yuan's aura appeared outside the tent area again.

He transmitted his voice inside: "Family Head, I found it. It's a servant, at the second level of Qi Refining. His eyes are dull, and his movements have an imperceptible stiffness, as if his mind has been influenced by a mind-control technique. I didn't alert him; I only left a bit of 'Soul-Guiding Dust' on him."

All the clues converged into a clear line in Lin Chen's mind.

The Ge Family… they truly wouldn't let this go.

They lost on the stage, so they wanted to resort to lethal measures off the stage, and with such insidious methods that left no trace of the source.

When the poison took effect, people would only assume it was due to excessive exhaustion from the Alchemy competition or an old injury flaring up.

What a "Medicine King Pavilion"!

Lin Chen's right fingertips subconsciously rubbed the stone ring on his thumb. The rough texture allowed his boiling killing intent to slowly settle, turning into cold rationality.

His eyes were deep as he looked toward the direction where Liu Yuan was hiding, and he asked via Divine Sense transmission: "Mr. Liu, is it possible to track the person who ordered this? Or find clues to the source of this poison or an antidote?"

"It's difficult." Liu Yuan's voice held a trace of helplessness. "The servant's Divine Sense is chaotic, as if a Restriction has been placed on him. Forcibly searching his soul would only cause him to experience Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. The 'Soul-Guiding Dust' I left can track him, but the aura of the people he has contacted in the short term is mixed—mostly other servants—making it hard to pinpoint the person behind the scenes. However… such an insidious and hidden poison is definitely not common goods. If the Ge Family intends to use it, they very likely carry spare powder, or even… the antidote."

The antidote.

Lin Chen's eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing and vanishing.

"Since that's the case, we shall 'help' them confirm it."

A bold plan quickly took shape in his mind.

He did not want to passively wait for the opponent's next move, and he certainly didn't want to count on the Alchemist Association to find anything.

Evidence must be obtained by oneself.

The initiative must be held in one's own hands.

He transmitted to Liu Yuan: "Mr. Liu, how much do you know about the Formation layout of the Ge Family's encampment?"

"When they searched us with the Formation Plate during the day, I noted the Qi fluctuation frequency of their Formation and several key nodes. Their protective Formation is the 'Green Wood Spirit-Locking Formation,' a standard Formation of the Medicine King Pavilion. It focuses on defense and has few flaws, but I can create a momentary 'Qi blind spot' during the gap when the guards change shifts. However… Family Head, a night raid carries great risk."

"It's not a direct confrontation." Lin Chen's voice was terrifyingly calm. "I need to go retrieve something. You are responsible for providing support from the outside, and after I enter, try to stir up a small commotion on the east side of their encampment to distract the guards."

At the hour of Zi, the night was at its thickest.

Lin Chen changed into the most inconspicuous dark-colored casual clothes and suppressed his aura to the extreme, like a shadow gliding along the ground.

The low-level invisibility talisman Liu Yuan gave him could only blur his figure; the real key was his precise control over his own Qi fluctuations, aided by the System's faint perception of the environment.

He could sense the turning of the patrolling guards' auras half a breath in advance, thereby perfectly blending into the gaps of the shadows.

The Ge Family's temporary residence in Liuyun Market was a three-courtyard compound. The guard force was indeed as Liu Yuan had expected: tight on the outside but loose on the inside. Most of the Foundation Establishment Cultivators were concentrated in the main courtyard, where core figures like Ge Yuan and Steward Yan Song lived.

Lin Chen's target was a storeroom in a side courtyard in the back, which appeared to store miscellaneous items.

He vaulted over the courtyard wall like a civet cat, avoided two patrol squads, and silently snuck into the storeroom.

A smell of medicinal herbs mixed with dust rushed toward him.

Following the vague structure Liu Yuan had glimpsed during the day through "Qi refraction," Lin Chen stopped behind a row of wooden shelves piled high with discarded medicinal dregs.

He reached out and tapped three times in a specific rhythm on an inconspicuous brick seam on the wall.

"Click."

With a soft sound, the wall behind the wooden shelf slid inward silently, revealing a pitch-black entrance that could only accommodate one person.

A secret chamber.

Lin Chen slipped inside, and the hidden door closed quietly behind him.

There were no Spirit Stones or treasures in the secret chamber, only a simple wooden table on which a few exquisite jade boxes and a bottle of Medicinal Pill were placed.

He first opened one of the jade boxes; a scent that was extremely faint, yet originating from the same source as that insidious energy in the kettle, rushed toward him.

Inside the jade box was a small pinch of dark gray powder.

pulse-corroding powder.

In another jade box were several slips of paper recording information about different Alchemists. Su Qingyao's name was prominently listed, followed by detailed notes on her wood-attribute Qi characteristics, the method for activating the Ice Crystal Flame, and the comment: "Heart-Nature is resilient, easily swayed by emotional bonds."

Lin Chen's gaze finally landed on that porcelain bottle.

A label was affixed to the bottle, on which three characters were written in elegant small regular script—meridian clearing pill.

The name didn't sound like a deadly poison.

He pulled out the cork, and a cool, medicinal fragrance spilled out, capable of clearing and smoothing the Meridians.

This was not a complete antidote, but it was definitely a palliative for the "pulse-corroding powder" that could significantly delay the onset of the poison.

Found it.

The coldness in Lin Chen's eyes grew even more intense.

He did not touch the box of pulse-corroding powder or the papers; alerting the enemy was meaningless.

He carefully tucked the bottle of "meridian clearing pill" into his robes.

But he didn't intend to leave just like that without a sound.

He took a blank talisman paper he had prepared in advance from his Storage Pouch.

This talisman paper had been infused by Liu Yuan using a special technique with a trace of extremely subtle "Soul-Guiding Dust" aura—colorless and odorless, yet capable of manifesting under a specific Formation.

Lin Chen folded this blank slip of paper neatly and placed it in the spot where the "meridian clearing pill" jade bottle had originally been.

There wasn't a single word written on it, but its appearance was, in itself, a silent warning.

I know what you have done, and I can come in at any time.

Having done all this, he quickly retreated from the secret chamber along the original path.

Just as he was about to leave the Ge Family's encampment, a slight burst of Qi explosion suddenly came from outside the east courtyard wall, followed by the shouts and chasing sounds of the guards.

Liu Yuan had made his move.

Taking advantage of this momentary Chaos, Lin Chen's figure completely vanished into the night.

Returning to the tent area, Su Qingyao was still waiting for him.

Lin Chen handed the bottle of "meridian clearing pill" over to her.

Su Qingyao only took one look, then brought it to her nose to smell it, and nodded affirmatively: "It is a palliative medicine, made primarily with Qingling Spiritual Plant, supplemented by several neutralizing medicinal herbs. Although it cannot eradicate the poison, it is enough to suppress the toxicity for over a month."

Lin Chen, however, did not intend for her to take it; instead, he recapped the medicine bottle and carefully put it away.

"No rush." His voice was low and powerful. "Stolen medicine can only solve an urgent need for a moment. The real antidote must be… personally presented by them."

There was only one day left for the awards ceremony and closing of the Alchemy competition, but for the Lin Family, the real storm had perhaps only just begun.