Chapter 22: The Final Crisis! Second Update, Seeking Votes! Reply: Third update arriving. Today's ten thousand words are complete. Brothers and sisters, if you still have any votes in hand, please continue to support us. There are only four days left; let's see what the final vote count for Medicine Collection reaches. Finally, a huge, immense thank you to all the brothers and sisters who voted; we are almost at seventy for the day. The above does not count toward the word count.

"Acting, it's damn exhausting!"

Nie Kong opened his eyes, pushed aside Yan Donglai's right hand draped over his chest, then wiped the blood-tinged fluid from the corner of his mouth, stood up, stretched his limbs, and exclaimed with a bit of affected drama.

He had a degree of admiration for the fellow who had collapsed before him; he, too, had thought of using sleeping powder! If it hadn't been for the little fellow Xiangxiang inside him, Nie Kong might have fallen for the sneak attack. Seeing this guy go down later than the other eight, Nie Kong figured he must have taken some special antidote beforehand. That antidote's resistance to stupefying agents should be stronger than the Mingshen Elixir.

It was a pity that no matter how good the antidote, he still ended up collapsing.

This wasn't to say Nie Kong's Minshen Incense was exceptionally potent, but rather because he used life force, not spiritual energy, to catalyze the medicinal fragrance. Once the life-force-infused fragrance entered the human body, it would flourish like grass and trees; how could those clear-minded, spirit-calming medicinal herbs resist that?

"Brother Tai, you can get up now!"

Nie Kong gave Tai Hong's shoulder a hard shake. Seeing he still hadn't moved, he remembered that Tai Hong had just been afflicted by the sleeping agent twice. He quickly placed his palm against Tai Hong's skin.

The little fellow finally got another chance to move, immediately letting out an excited cry of "Aiya ya!" A thick green aura permeated through Nie Kong's palm and seeped into Tai Hong's body, then separated into fine threads, extending like vines to every part of his frame.

Before long, a small clump of dark, sticky substance was condensed and, controlled by the little fellow, was swept back into Nie Kong's Yaochi Acupoint.

"Slap!"

Then, Nie Kong delivered another heavy slap to Tai Hong's shoulder.

The fellow cried out, "Aiya," opened his eyes, and muttered grumpily, "Nie Kong, is there really no antidote for your sleeping agent? Including this time, you've tricked me four times today."

"None! Let's see the haul. If luck is on our side, we can call it quits after this score," Nie Kong said with a smirk.

"Good!"

Tai Hong flipped up, scanned the figures lying on the ground, and immediately broke into a wide grin. He grabbed Yan Donglai's collar with his left hand and plunged his right hand deep into his chest. When he pulled his right hand out, the thick stack of maps in his grasp nearly made his eyeballs pop out.

"Big fish! Big fish!"

Tai Hong's face flushed with excitement. "I knew why you suddenly winked at me just now and changed the routine—it was for this big fish! Damn, this kid is fierce; there must be at least twenty maps in this stack, right?" As he spoke, Tai Hong tossed Yan Donglai aside and impatiently began counting.

"Ouch!"

Yan Donglai's backside hit a sharp rock, jolting him awake. In a glance, he saw Tai Hong happily clutching a stack of maps. Without needing to look, Yan Donglai knew they were all his. His eyes immediately turned red with anxiety, and he sprang up, shouting, "Treacherous villain, give me back my maps!"

"Slap!"

A sharp crack echoed.

Nie Kong struck the back of his head from behind. Yan Donglai, desperate, had almost no defense. Struck by this sudden attack, he collapsed without even a grunt.

As Tai Hong had said, when Nie Kong ran near the area, he had sensed Yan Donglai's presence through the surrounding vitality of the flora. Originally, he planned to use his old routine against the followers behind them, but upon sensing Yan Donglai, Nie Kong immediately changed his mind.

Nie Kong had spied on him while running earlier. Though he knew Yan Donglai was in the tree, he couldn't spot his shadow. Someone so adept at concealment must also be an excellent sneak attacker. The spirit pattern maps obtained from him would likely be far more valuable than those from the Lingyu City disciples following them.

Thus, Nie Kong quickly signaled Tai Hong. Fortunately, while Tai Hong appeared reckless, his mind was quite sharp. Moreover, having cooperated with Nie Kong several times, he quickly grasped his intent. Following this, the two staged a performance of "mutual injury."

Before this, to make the act more convincing, Nie Kong had eaten several Red Heart Fruits he found along the way, wrapping their blood-red juice in spiritual energy, ready to be ejected when needed. Just like moments ago, the juice served to lower the target's guard.

Nie Kong knew the scent from the Red Heart Fruit juice might arouse suspicion in the man in the tree, so he took a gamble: he bet that faced with dozens of maps, the man couldn't keep his mind clear and calm. In any case, even if the gamble failed, Nie Kong had no real loss.

In the end, Nie Kong won the bet. Although the other man eventually realized the blood flowing from Nie Kong's mouth was actually Red Heart Fruit juice, he realized it far too late.

"Twenty sheets, perfect!"

Tai Hong was grinning so widely his mouth almost couldn't close. He stepped over to another Lingyu City disciple and similarly pulled out a stack of maps from his embrace.

"Haha, twelve sheets, not bad at all!"

"This one has ten!"

"Ten!"

"Damn, this is another big fish—fifteen sheets!"

"Eleven!"

"Eight!"

After searching all nine Lingyu City disciples, Tai Hong's breathing grew rapid. He shook the thick pile of spirit pattern maps in his hand, which rattled loudly, and beamed like a dumpling: "Nie Kong, we've struck it rich! We've struck it rich! One hundred and four sheets, one hundred and four sheets, ah..."

Seeing his excitement, Nie Kong couldn't help but smile too. Prior to this, they had successfully netted two smaller hauls, with moderate gains, totaling only thirty maps between them. Dividing those, Tai Hong got nine and Nie Kong twenty-one. Adding the thirty-three they already possessed brought the total to fifty-four.

After some excitement, Tai Hong's mood calmed slightly, and he mumbled, "Three-tenths is... thirty-one! Nie Kong, the rest are all yours!" After counting out thirty-one maps for himself, Tai Hong stuffed the remaining seventy-three into Nie Kong's arms without a hint of reluctance.

"Take six more, make it fifty."

Nie Kong smiled, pulled out six maps, and handed them to Tai Hong.

Throughout their journey, this guy had cooperated flawlessly. Giving him a few extra maps caused almost no loss to Nie Kong, and after spending so much time together, Nie Kong realized that Tai Hong's elder brother, the Prince of the Shatu Empire, was truly worth befriending. He lacked the arrogance of the Fourth Prince of the Great Success Empire, and even more commendable was that, knowing Nie Kong possessed so many maps, he showed no greed.

This point alone earned Nie Kong great respect.

"Fine, I won't be polite then."

Tai Hong laughed heartily and took the six maps, tucking them away. Nie Kong also secured his maps. Counting up, his current sixty-seven, added to the previous fifty-four, brought his total to an astonishing one hundred and twenty sheets. It was highly unlikely anyone could surpass him in this supplementary test.

"Brother Tai, now that we're stopping, where are you headed? Directly to the inner city?" Nie Kong asked with a smile.

"No, I'm going to see if I can find my sister," Tai Hong replied cheerfully.

"Good. We part ways here then. See you in the inner city!" Nie Kong nodded.

"Haha, see you in the inner city!"

Tai Hong waved and strode off laughing. After walking several dozen meters, he suddenly seemed to remember something and called back, "Nie Kong, don't forget, we absolutely must spar again in the future!"

"I remember! I remember!"

Nie Kong was somewhat speechless but quickly shouted his affirmation. Only then did Tai Hong leave contentedly.

Watching his figure disappear into the mountain forest, Nie Kong glanced again at the nine Lingyu City disciples on the ground and suddenly gasped softly.

If they hadn't run into Nie Kong and Tai Hong, all nine of them should have made it to the inner city. But now, their efforts over half a day had all become points for Nie Kong and Tai Hong. If they still wanted to become inner city disciples, they would have to wait for next year's Six Palaces Grand Competition.

Even so, Nie Kong felt no sympathy for them. Their failure stemmed primarily from their greed. Furthermore, if these people had become obstacles, it would have been Nie Kong and Tai Hong who lost the opportunity. The competition for inner city disciples was this brutal; no quarter could be given during the trial.

Shaking his head, Nie Kong absorbed the dark, sticky paralyzing energy from the other eight disciples. He then bowed toward a large tree dozens of meters behind him and called out loudly, "Two professors, thank you for escorting us this far. I'll trouble the two esteemed adults with handling the cleanup here!"

With that, Nie Kong didn't wait for a response and turned to leave.

"See, I told you, this kid noticed us when he was over there."

Shortly after Nie Kong departed, two figures drifted down from the lush tree, their faces full of disbelief.

"I don't know how this kid managed it; we were already being careful enough, yet he, a Spirit Fusion Master, still detected us."

"Forget it, forget it. We go no further! As this fellow proceeds, even more formidable professors will be observing them, perhaps even the Vice Palace Lords themselves."

"Hmm, the total maps these two young men seized must be close to one hundred and seventy or eighty, right? Out of just over a thousand maps in total, these two have taken nearly twenty percent. It's likely the final results of this supplementary test will show a massive disparity."

"Not likely, it's a certainty!"

The two professors exchanged wry smiles and walked into the group of Lingyu City disciples, kicking each one awake. Cries of pain and startled shouts instantly echoed through the mountain forest.

From Tai Hong, Nie Kong had learned one thing.

The road several li east of the Lingyu City East Gate had previously also been obscured by an illusionary realm, only revealed specifically for this supplementary test. The scope of the path was only about four li wide. Once one stepped beyond the boundaries on either side, they would be returned by the illusion to the center of the path.

This scope was marked by two red lines on the map. By inputting a trace of spiritual energy into the map, a green dot would flash, indicating the holder's current location—very convenient. The illusionary realm was also etched with spirit patterns, as were the maps. Thus, the map was effectively a derivative product of the illusion. Once outside this illusionary area, the map became useless.

Therefore, to reach the outskirts of the inner city, one could only follow the route indicated on the map and then utilize the characteristic of the spirit pattern map to navigate the unrevealed illusionary realm surrounding the inner city's perimeter.

Nie Kong activated Flying Flower Flowing Shadow and dashed rapidly through the mountain forest.

At first, Nie Kong could still hear sounds of fighting, but the further he advanced, the quieter the surroundings became, almost devoid of any noise. It seemed very safe, but Nie Kong dared not relax in the slightest. If opponents appeared in such a place, they would surely be masters among the outer city disciples.

Nie Kong possessed one hundred and twenty-one maps, equating to one hundred and twenty-four points—enough to secure entry into the inner city for a good while. At this stage, he didn't need to snatch anyone else's maps. He just needed to safely traverse the final few li, and the slot for an inner city disciple would be his.

Nie Kong was cautious for another reason: all five Minshen Incense agents he had refined were used up. If he had known this supplementary test could be played this way, he definitely would have refined a few more. In fact, Nie Kong had originally only planned to refine three the day before yesterday.

Each time he cast his net to catch a fish, Nie Kong had to use the liquid life force from his Spirit Soul Acupoint to activate the incense, consuming one dose each time. If Nie Kong still had Minshen Incense on hand, he could advance recklessly; if anyone dared to approach, he could just use the Minshen Incense without hesitation.

Perhaps Nie Kong's reputation from his exploits in the Illusionary Space was too great, or perhaps the Lingyu City disciples who managed to reach this point in the morning were all sufficiently cautious. After traveling about four li, Nie Kong felt several instances of someone probing him nearby, and one even tracked him for a short distance. However, they ultimately chose not to attack, seemingly harboring considerable apprehension, which brought Nie Kong considerable relief.

Finally, the scenery before Nie Kong blurred slightly—the distant mountain forest was shrouded in a hazy white mist. Nie Kong quickly channeled spiritual energy into the map clutched in his hand, and indeed, a green dot flashed incessantly just ahead of the illusion boundary marker. A joy surged in his heart.

"We're here!"

Nie Kong couldn't help but let out a long breath. That patch of mist-shrouded mountains must be the entrance to the inner city's illusionary realm. Since no one had stopped him until this point, there should be no danger ahead. Moreover, the area outside the illusion was wide open, making it difficult for anyone to hide.

Although he thought this, Nie Kong did not completely lower his guard. True safety would only arrive the moment he entered the illusionary realm itself.

Silence reigned all around, almost no sound of wind rustling grass or birds chirping.

Nie Kong quieted his mind and ceased using Flying Flower Flowing Shadow to charge forward. Instead, he walked toward the mountain forest step by step, the distance shrinking from the initial hundred meters: eighty meters... fifty meters... thirty meters... twenty meters... ten meters...

"Whoosh!"

A light breeze seemed to brush past.

Nie Kong suddenly noticed the patch of mist, spanning several dozen meters in diameter, begin to stir. Immediately, a dark shape shot out like lightning, blocking his path. The small cloud of mist separated from the illusionary realm and dispersed. In an instant, Nie Kong and the figure were enveloped within it.

Nie Kong was startled inwardly. His "Spirit God Four Apertures" vibrated intensely.

A torrent of spiritual energy surged forth, churning violently, and green light burst from his skin, wrapping around Nie Kong like a jade-green cocoon. However, that faint, eerie green glow could not penetrate the white mist surrounding him in the slightest. Nie Kong's visible range was less than one meter...