Ye Qin stood among the throng of children, quietly observing the Head Steward on the platform. The man looked vaguely familiar. Upon closer inspection, Ye Qin realized it was none other than Steward Zhang, the very one he had seen yesterday receiving a purse of money from the old gentry member near the side gate of the Herb Gathering Hall residence!

Ye Qin glanced again, from a distance, at the little fatty, wondering inwardly how Steward Zhang would treat him during this process.

Ye Qin deeply desired to become an Herb Gathering Apprentice, securing a life free from want, but he wasn't foolish enough to step forward and sign that Life and Death Contract. He needed to see exactly what this medicine trial entailed.

The other children showed varying degrees of suspicion, hesitant to step forward and try.

The little fatty, however, was remarkably bold, rushing forward first. "I'll do it, I’ll test the medicine first." Relying on the bribe his father had given Steward Zhang, he felt no fear of the trial.

Soon, the children of several other gentry families also ran out, eager to be among the first batch of medicine testers.

Steward Zhang noticed that only a few had responded, still short by more than half. He wasn't worried, merely smiling broadly as he announced loudly, "Anyone who enters the wooden cabin first to test the medicine will be directly rewarded with a fragrant, large chicken leg afterward."

This promise immediately spurred dozens of children forward, scrambling to be tested. For these children of poor backgrounds, a single chicken leg was enough to drive them toward the risk.

Steward Zhang selected five or six of them, instructing them, along with the gentry children, to first press their handprints onto the Life and Death Contract before being sent into the small wooden cabins for the trial.

The small cabins were semi-closed, each containing a middle-aged supervisor overseeing the testing.

Ten children entered the small wooden structures and, under the watchful eyes of the supervisors, consumed something placed in their mouths.

Hundreds of children outside watched from afar. They could discern vague shapes within the cabins, though the details were far from clear. They stretched their necks, waiting with bated breath.

The process of testing proved rather prolonged.

For the initial quarter of an hour, there was no reaction from within any of the ten cabins, sparking growing anxiety.

It wasn't until after that quarter of an hour that a piercing shriek suddenly erupted from one of the cabins. The child inside bolted out wildly, foaming at the mouth, his body faintly swelling and turning red. He screamed hoarsely, "Help! Someone save me—!"

Yet, the expressions of the surrounding youths were cold; not a single one made a move to help.

The hundreds of children watched in stunned silence, turning their gazes toward Steward Zhang high on the platform, silently pleading for him to intervene.

Steward Zhang remained seated serenely, puffing smoke from a delicate bamboo pipe, and stated calmly, "The medicine trial is purely voluntary; life or death concerns no one else! Those poisoned by fewer than nine herbs do not qualify as Herb Gathering Apprentices for this sect. Even if they die, no one will offer aid. Only by enduring nine herbs or more, thereby becoming an Apprentice, do they earn the right to be saved."

The child vomiting foam collapsed onto the ground with a thud right before everyone’s eyes. He didn't die immediately but convulsed violently.

Every child on the grounds, even the boldest boys, felt a chill run through them, their body hair standing on end from shock. The young girls grew even paler, some breaking into tears. They now understood: this trial meant death, and a terrifying one at that.

In less than an hour, children from four more testing cabins burst out in sheer terror, collapsing onto the ground. The poisons affecting them were varied. Some showed no visible external signs, only suffering from such intense, relentless itching that they clawed at their skin until it nearly tore away. Others broke out in red pustules that festered, ulcerated, and emitted an unbearable stench. One little girl walked unsteadily out of her cabin, spoke not a word, spat out a mouthful of black blood, and collapsed, her breath gone.

Ye Qin looked up in bewilderment. At least half of the several hundred children present were howling in fear, another smaller portion were terrified into wetting themselves, and the remaining dozen or so bolder ones, like him, were simply stunned and at a loss. A few children attempted to flee but were seized by the surrounding Jin Yi youths monitoring them, beaten publicly until they cried out for their mothers and fathers.

By morning, the first batch of ten testing children had all emerged.

One child from the poor community died from a virulent poison and was ordered by Steward Zhang to be carried away immediately to the mass grave mound over ten li outside the county town. Four others were poisoned but survived; they were driven from the residence, with the faint chance that if they found a doctor in time, they might narrowly escape death. Three others suffered minor poisoning; while not severely affected, they had forfeited their eligibility to join the Herb Gathering Hall and were also sent away.

The little fatty was left with his face mottled and spotted, so terrified he wet his pants on the spot. His gaze was vacant, his mouth opening to shout incoherently, "Da~ddy, where are you, Daddy?" It seemed he was perilously close to losing his senses completely from the fright.

Ye Qin noticed Steward Zhang suddenly intervene, stuffing a small pill into the fatty’s mouth before ordering several Jin Yi youths to escort him away. It seemed the bag of silver leaves given by the old gentry member had indeed carried some weight.

Ye Qin felt a pang of regret. He had been anticipating how he might viciously pummel this little fatty who had spat on him later on, only to see him chased away so swiftly.

The rejected children who were expelled were all given strict gag orders by the Jin Yi youths: if they dared mention the Herb Gathering Hall trial to any outsider, the youths would personally "visit" their entire families and "add some color" to their lives. These expelled children remained silent as cicadas in winter, daring not refuse, nodding only to promise they would never speak of the medicine trials within the Herb Gathering Hall to anyone.

Of the initial ten, only one passed. This was a commoner boy, twelve years old, who barely survived the trial after consuming ten herbs. He was officially enrolled among the Herb Gathering Apprentices and rewarded with a chicken leg. This successful boy’s face was pale, his legs weak, and his whole body trembled—not from poison, but from overwhelming shock.

In the afternoon, the testing resumed. This time, not a single child was willing to step forward. Everyone knew this was a gamble with death; not even a whole fat chicken would suffice, let alone a single leg. They began crying and clamoring to leave.

Steward Zhang sneered. The doors of the Herb Gathering Hall were easy to enter, but difficult to exit.

He subtly signaled the youths.

The Jin Yi youths understood immediately, surging into the crowd of children, swiftly seizing ten boys, dragging them to the platform, forcibly pressing their hands onto the bright red Life and Death Contract seal, and shoving them into the testing cabins.

Ye Qin, having spent over half a year begging on the streets across the county town, had long experienced the malice of human nature and learned to read facial expressions. He had been intently watching the faces of Steward Zhang and the youths. The moment things turned sour, he instantly shrank back, hiding deep within the throng of hundreds of children, successfully evading the grasping youths.

His face was pale. In terms of courage, he was among the bolder minority of the hundreds of children present. But facing these martial-skilled Jin Yi youths, he could only stare dumbfounded, forced to find ways to hide in the depths of the crowd, striving his utmost to avoid capture.