Champion's Triumph: Resolving Doubts and Unveiling Love, the Spirit Plant Competition Concludes in Glorious Victory

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The sword formation woven from star-patterned orchids reflected in Shen Yi’s pupils as he wiped away the blood foam at the corner of his mouth.
The flowing smoke-blue wide sleeves of the Master of Spiritual Plants brushed past the display platform, and the Nine Nether insignia remaining on the bronze compass emitted an eerie purple glow under the moonlight.
“The final round’s challenge is spiritual plant synchronization,” the Master of Spiritual Plants raised his hand to catch a falling golden-red petal. At his signal, twenty display platforms rose with chains of dark iron. “Within two hours, let the spiritual plant resonate with your spiritual veins—nourish it with your blood.”
Leng Xuan deliberately bumped Shen Yi’s shoulder; the black jade coral he held was seeping black viscous liquid. “I heard the demoness of the Hehuan Sect loves to plant curses when men’s spiritual powers merge. Daoist Shen, are you ready for your heart meridian to be severed?”
Shen Yi’s finger brushed the frost crystallized on the edge of the cold jade basin; the frost patterns left by Ya’er’s hidden weapon had already spread to the bottom of the basin.
When he infused spiritual power into the star-patterned orchid, its pistil suddenly emitted a blood-scented golden mist—it was clearly not an ordinary spiritual seed provided for the competition.
“Detection: Ancient sword spirit parasitic entity,” a crimson warning flashed on the system interface. “Recommend immediate cessation of spiritual power input!”
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the audience stands.
Shen Yi looked up and saw Gao Yao’s life sword hanging above the judges' seats; the sword tassel was stained with the same viscous liquid as the black mist ghost face.
When the judge wearing the dark iron mask vanished like a streak of light, Shen Yi distinctly saw a purple jade gourd hanging from his waist—the token of the Medicine King Valley.
“Mr. Shen, why haven’t you acted yet?” The Master of Spiritual Plants pressed a jade flute against the vital point at the back of his neck. “Or are you conceding defeat?”
Shen Yi bit his fingertip and dropped blood onto the flower bud; the star-patterned orchid suddenly extended vines to entwine his wrist.
In the agony, he saw an illusion: Gao Yao holding a frost-patterned hidden weapon in a cedar forest, and behind her stood a shadow clad in the same smoke-blue long robe as the Master of Spiritual Plants.
“Spiritual power synchronization: 30%... 50%...” The monitoring formation began to hum.
Leng Xuan’s black jade coral suddenly exploded, splattering black juice onto Shen Yi’s platform; the star-patterned orchid instantly absorbed the poisonous liquid.
Shen Yi felt his dantian pierced by thousands of icy needles, the system alarms and the audience's shouts all becoming muffled.
When the orchid’s seventh leaf turned blood-red, he heard Gao Yao’s voice cutting through the illusion: “The twin-fish jade pendant at your waist... why does it bear my master’s life sword insignia?”
“Synchronization: 80%!” The jade flute emitted a dazzling green light.
Shen Yi coughed up blood, and the droplets crystallized midair into the same rune as the black mist ghost face.

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Several audience members suddenly clutched their heads, screaming in agony as the Nine Nether insignia identical to the bronze compass appeared on their foreheads.
Using his last clarity, Shen Yi activated the system backpack; swallowing the Heart-Clearing Pill mixed with blood, the star-patterned orchid suddenly enveloped him entirely in a flower bud.
Bathed in golden-red light, he saw frost patterns identical to Gao Yao’s life sword forming in his palm.
“So we were all implanted…” Shen Yi, before losing consciousness, raised his crystallizing right hand toward the judges' seats.
As the monitoring formation exploded with a roar, he faintly saw a blood-stained silver butterfly hairpin hanging from Gao Yao’s sword tassel.
The orchid’s vines bloomed with blood droplets around Shen Yi’s wrist; frost patterns crawled up from his collarbone to his Adam’s apple.
He spat out half a mouthful of blood mixed with ice shards, vaguely seeing Gao Yao’s trembling hand holding the hidden weapon in the illusion—behind her, the smoke-blue shadow was forming hand seals.
“Spiritual power synchronization: 90%!” The jade flute sounded like a ripping fabric.
Suddenly, Shen Yi bit his tongue and sprayed blood mixed with the Heart-Clearing Pill onto his crystallizing right hand.
The orchid’s seventh red leaf curled inward, absorbing all the spreading Nine Nether insignias in the audience into its pistil.
As the golden-red light engulfed the entire platform, Shen Yi heard the system emit an unprecedented mechanical voice: “Detected emotional calamity fluctuation, initiating emergency protection—”
Warmth surged in his dantian; in the illusion, Gao Yao’s hidden weapon thrown in the cedar forest perfectly overlapped with the frost patterns left earlier by Ya’er.
“It’s a twin curse!” Shen Yi howled amidst the radiance, his crystallizing right hand piercing the flower bud to grasp the bronze compass at the judges' seat.
The viscous liquid stained with the black mist ghost face ignited upon contact with blood, burning three twin lotus marks onto the compass’s surface—these were the exclusive secret marks left by Gao Yao’s master to direct disciples before seclusion.
The Master of Spiritual Plants’ smoke-blue wide sleeves suddenly whipped up a fierce wind: “Spiritual power synchronization… 100%!”
The monitoring formation shattered into a shower of stardust; all twenty dark iron chains snapped simultaneously.
Shen Yi staggered out from the glowing sphere, clutching the star-patterned orchid, now transformed into translucent blood jade, its leaves floating frost patterns identical to Gao Yao’s life sword.
The audience’s screams abruptly ceased.
Leng Xuan’s black jade coral had already melted into a stinking pool of black water; clutching his ulcerated right hand, he pointed at Shen Yi: “You cheated!”
Before he could finish, the Master of Spiritual Plants’ jade flute swept him off the platform, leaving spiderweb-like blood marks on his neck in blue light.
“This year’s champion, Shen Yi.” The Master of Spiritual Plants snapped his fingers, tucking the bronze compass into his sleeve. Shen Yi keenly noticed the man wore a bone ring resembling the token of Medicine King Valley on his pinky.
When the jade slip containing the “Nine Rebirth Azure Void Technique” and the mysterious spiritual seed were tossed to him, Shen Yi deliberately let the jade slip linger in his palm for a moment—sure enough, he triggered a hidden tracking curse.

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As the award bell tolled its third ring, Shen Yi had already slipped into the judges’ lounge through a secret door.
Gao Yao’s life sword hung before a Bagua mirror, the silver butterfly hairpin fragments on its tassel glowing faintly blue.
He reached out to touch the mirror’s surface; frost patterns on his fingertip resonated with his reflection, revealing a scene from three months ago in the forbidden grounds of Medicine King Valley—
A figure in a smoke-blue robe was pouring poisonous blood onto the star-patterned orchid, while the unconscious Gao Yao’s wrist was covered with the same crystallizing patterns as Shen Yi’s.
“You always say I’m like a reckless fire qilin,” Shen Yi suddenly spoke, pressing a shadow-capturing stone against the rippling mirror. “Have you ever thought that you’re the golden-winged bird ensnared in a spider’s web?”
He tore open his robe; the wound on his chest pierced by the star-patterned orchid showed the same bluish-grey hue as Gao Yao’s in the mirror.
Gao Yao’s sword tassel suddenly swayed without wind, and half a silver butterfly hairpin slipped from her sleeve.
Shen Yi was a step quicker, catching it with the bloodstained jade pendant. When their blood seeped together into the butterfly wing pattern, the hairpin projected a phantom of the Medicine King Valley’s sect leader and the Master of Spiritual Plants in secret conversation.
“The Nine Nether Reincarnation Formation requires two spiritual veins clashing as crucibles...” The voice in the phantom made Gao Yao’s face pale instantly.
As she turned, her hair brushed over Shen Yi’s scabbed wound, and the crystallizing patterns began to flow backward.
Shen Yi steadied her trembling shoulders and pressed a star-patterned orchid leaf into her palm: “Feel it; this holds more than just my blood.”
The leaf flipped, revealing tiny bite marks—the wound Gao Yao accidentally inflicted on him three days ago while testing poison.
As morning mist drifted through the window frame, the award ceremony’s horn sounded again.
Shen Yi stood atop the stage to receive the champion’s token crafted from spiritual marrow jade, suddenly noticing the Nine Nether insignia engraved inside the token, identical to that on the bronze compass.
Feigning a stumble, he steadied himself against the flagpole; the roots of the star-patterned orchid in his sleeve silently coiled around the purple jade gourd on the judges’ stand.
Amid the roaring cheers below, Gao Yao, now wearing the newly restored silver butterfly hairpin, looked up at him.
As their gazes met in midair, the champion’s token emitted an untimely buzzing—Shen Yi’s hidden left palm burned with the distinctive lotus brand of Medicine King Valley, ignited by the tracking curse.