At that moment, regardless of whether the surrounding crowd wished for Nie Kong’s medicine trial to succeed or fail, they watched with bated breath. If Nie Kong truly died from the poison, the news that an Apothecary had publicly tested a medicine at the Hall of Pharmacists and succumbed to its effects would surely spread throughout Lingyu City within a day.

However, before they could even voice their inner shock, they were stunned into silence by something even more bizarre: the layer of pale green on Nie Kong’s skin began to fade. In just an instant, the ghostly green color vanished completely, and Nie Kong’s skin returned to normal.

Immediately after, Nie Kong opened his eyes as if nothing had happened, picked up another sheet of paper to use as a cushion for his knee, and then began writing down the results of the trial with blazing speed.

That was it?

The onlookers exchanged bewildered glances, completely mystified. This trial hadn't taken much longer than the previous two, and they hadn't even understood how Nie Kong neutralized the toxicity before the test concluded. The speed left their minds struggling to process the events.

After a long pause, the crowd finally came to its senses.

“Could it be that this fruit isn't poisonous, or its toxicity is very low?” muttered a short, thin young man, pinching his chin and pursing his lips.

His words voiced the very question lingering in everyone’s minds.

Seeing Nie Kong’s relaxed and unharmed demeanor, the crowd was filled with suspicion. Could that little green fruit only have a foul odor, with its poison not being nearly as potent as they imagined? Otherwise, why would this fellow not even need a single antidote spirit medicine?

“Why don’t you try it yourself and find out? Half the fruit is left anyway, and you’re a disciple of the Hall of Medicinal Hearts.” Someone glanced at the thin man’s waist token and chuckled. Seeing the man’s evasive eyes, they deliberately goaded him, “When I accepted my mission, I heard this brother here is only a Second-Grade Spirit Apothecary, yet he didn't even frown while testing the medicine. Brother, judging by your appearance, you must be at least a Third-Grade Spirit Apothecary, right?”

“Isn’t that Huaisong? He used to be quite formidable at medicine testing; he’d often take on over a dozen trials in a single day,” someone recognized the thin man’s identity and joined the heckling from the periphery. This remark caused quite a stir among the growing crowd.

“No way, he’s the ‘Testing Maniac’ from the Hall of Medicinal Hearts?”

“I’ve heard of him too. Right, a friend of mine posted a testing mission a year ago, and I think he took it, completing it remarkably well.”

“Yeah, you used to see him here at the Hall of Pharmacists frequently. He was quite frantic with his testing back then, but he’s rarely shown up in recent years.”

“It has been a long time since I saw him; I thought he had already left Lingyu City.”

“……”

Taking in the surrounding chatter, the thin man named Huaisong managed a smug smile, though inwardly he was suffering. The reason he hadn't appeared at the Hall of Pharmacists to accept testing missions was that a year ago, he had nearly lost his life during a trial and needed half a year to recover. For the past six months, he had been diligently cultivating in Lingyu City, completely avoiding any further medicine testing.

Today, on a whim, he decided to wander into the Hall of Pharmacists. Upon seeing someone conducting tests even more wildly than he used to, he joined the onlookers, never expecting to be recognized. Now, he inwardly cursed the person who identified him.

If no one knew he was Huaisong, he could simply slip away. But if he retreated now, all the reputation he had built up would be shattered. He absolutely could not accept such a loss, especially since he still intended to use his past fame to gain leverage for entering Lingyu City’s inner district!

It seemed he had no choice but to consume this remaining half of the fruit! Fortunately, he was already a Third-Grade Spirit Apothecary, and his cultivation had reached the Seventh Grade of Spirit Fusion, far superior to this Second-Grade Apothecary. Surely, eating it wouldn't cause him any harm, would it? Huaisong snorted inwardly.

“Haha, I’m surprised so many friends still remember me after a year away. Since that is the case, I shall sample this fruit for everyone to see what it tastes like.” With that thought, Huaisong laughed heartily, cupped his hands toward the crowd, and bent down to pick up the remaining green segment from the medicine box, placing it in his mouth.

Huaisong had been cornered by the crowd and forced to perform the test, but he wasn't brainless. Even if he could confirm the fruit wasn't overly dangerous, the caution ingrained from years of testing made him mobilize all his spiritual energy within his body a split second before the green fruit touched his lips.

Then, Huaisong began to chew slowly.

Moments later, the crowd witnessed the exact scene that had just unfolded with Nie Kong: an intense, ghostly green instantly coated Huaisong’s slender face and rapidly spread to other parts of his body. The surroundings fell deathly silent, everyone staring intently at Huaisong.

“It smells terrible, but it tastes quite sweet—hmm, the taste isn’t…”

Huaisong chuckled as he savored it, but the trailing word, “wrong,” was abruptly replaced by a severely suppressed groan of pain.

In the next instant, Huaisong’s face began to contort and twitch, sweat beads erupting from his pores at a visibly rapid rate. Then, with a thump, Huaisong collapsed onto the ground, doubled over, convulsing violently, his entire body resembling a boiled shrimp.

“Hhha… hha…”

Struggling gasps sounded intermittently. Huaisong opened his mouth wide but couldn't utter a single coherent word, his eyes fixed open. His eyeballs, seeming ready to pop from their sockets, had already turned a ghostly green, and a faint, hazy green aura vaguely emanated from his whole body.

Silence still reigned. The crowd was utterly paralyzed by this sudden turn of events!

The Second-Grade Spirit Apothecary had been completely fine after eating it, yet Huaisong, the Third-Grade Apothecary dubbed the ‘Testing Maniac,’ was displaying such obvious symptoms of poisoning. Just by looking at him, the crowd could feel the agony he was currently enduring.

The exact same half-piece of green fruit yielded drastically different results!

Witnessing something so utterly inexplicable, the crowd was gripped by dumbfounded astonishment, momentarily forgetting the need to immediately rescue Huaisong.

“Hm?”

Nie Kong let out a soft, confused sound. Previously, he had concentrated completely on the trial results, paying no attention to the commotion around him. Now that he had finished writing the findings, he noticed the atmosphere nearby was peculiar. A quick glance revealed Huaisong spasming as if suffering from an epileptic fit.

Looking at Huaisong’s condition, and then seeing the empty medicine box, Nie Kong knew the man must have eaten the remaining green fruit. He didn't understand why Huaisong had been so reckless, and found the situation both frustrating and amusing. How could such a highly poisonous fruit be eaten so casually?

Nie Kong, having already finished writing his results, was perfectly aware of that green fruit’s toxicity.

Since the incident occurred right beside him, he couldn't just stand by and watch the man be poisoned to death. With a thought, Nie Kong reached out his hand. However, before his fingers could even touch Huaisong’s body, a slender, fair, and delicate jade hand stretched out from beside him…