Chapter 28: Feng Xi Must Be Behind This

Feng Xi began to spout sarcastic remarks.

"Lu Xiuhan, why are you still struggling? Just crush your jade token and escape. After all, everyone knows you are nothing but a shameless coward!"

"Do you know why everyone is beating you up? Because everyone knows about your filthy deeds! You have incited public outrage!"

"Lu Xiuhan, do you know what we call this? We call it beating a drowning dog! Smashing a mangy mutt like you!"

...

Lu Xiuhan’s head was buzzing with rage. He was already no match for the group, and now, he was even more flustered and frantic.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Feng Xi let out a howl and charged forward.

"Take this secret weapon!"

With that, she threw a bag of chili powder directly at Lu Xiuhan.

Lu Xiuhan instinctively blocked with his flying sword, causing the chili powder to scatter and fly everywhere. He was not the only one to suffer; Jun Wen and the others were not spared either.

Between the coughing and the tearing eyes, the scene descended into utter chaos.

Feng Xi shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Lu Xiuhan is trying to run! Quick, stop him!"

Jun Wen and the others attacked instinctively, filling the air with flying swords and spiritual arts. Although they could not see clearly, they knew Lu Xiuhan was within their encirclement, so their general direction was correct.

Lu Xiuhan was truly cursed with bad luck!

First, he was blasted into a bloody mess by Liu Shaobai’s Explosion Art, then he was turned into a human pincushion by Song Yudie’s Thorn Technique, and then Jun Wen’s flying sword poked a hole in his chest...

By the time everyone regained their vision, Lu Xiuhan was lying there like a dead dog, completely motionless.

After a moment of dead silence, Liu Shaobai stepped forward to check his breathing.

He was still alive.

Liu Shaobai breathed a sigh of relief. The others followed suit. A trial was a trial, but it would be disastrous if someone actually died.

Feng Xi said, looking helpless and at a loss, "I just wanted to help you all. I didn’t realize I’d end up being a hindrance. I’m sorry. But, but my intentions were good."

Song Yudie said, tears streaming down her face, "Feng Xi, I don’t care if your intentions were good or bad, just don’t 'intend' anything next time!"

Xing Wu said while sneezing, "Achoo! Achoo! Exactly! From now on, just stay in the back and be a useless ornament; don’t get involved!"

Although Jun Wen also felt that Feng Xi’s actions were unnecessary, he could not stand others criticizing her. He snorted coldly, "If it weren’t for my junior sister’s quick wit, Lu Xiuhan might have actually gotten away! I think my junior sister threw that chili powder perfectly. Perfectly! Achoo!"

Feng Xi almost laughed out loud. Her fifth senior brother had one great virtue: he was fiercely protective of his own.

She offered a few more sincere apologies, then walked over to Lu Xiuhan, stripped the storage ring from his finger, and handed it to Jun Wen.

"Fifth Senior Brother, can you open this?"

Jun Wen: "...Junior Sister, although I can open it, isn’t this, well, a bit improper?"

Feng Xi shrugged. "What’s wrong with looting a fallen foe? Isn’t it normal to get some benefits after working so hard?"

Jun Wen: "..."

Liu Shaobai and the others: "..."

How could she state such crooked logic so righteously?

Seeing that Liu Shaobai and the others were dumbfounded but offered no opposition, Jun Wen forcibly unlocked Lu Xiuhan’s storage ring.

Normally, a storage ring carries the owner’s spiritual imprint, making it impossible for outsiders to open. However, if the owner is severely injured, the spiritual connection weakens significantly, allowing it to be forced open. There is another situation: if the intruder’s cultivation is significantly higher than the owner’s, it can also be forced.

Jun Wen probed his spiritual sense into the ring and was instantly blinded by the contents!

It was too wealthy! He was too rich!

As fellow core disciples, how could the wealth gap be this vast?!

"Fifth Senior Brother, dump everything out. Let’s divide it up."

Jun Wen was obedient and immediately emptied everything out in one go. Although Liu Shaobai and the others were much wealthier than a poor soul like Jun Wen, who would turn down free money?

Thus, under Feng Xi’s guidance, everyone happily began to split the loot.

Although Feng Xi and Jun Wen took a slightly larger share, the others had no objections. After all, the idea was Feng Xi’s, so it was only natural for her to take more.

Once everything was divided, Feng Xi had Jun Wen stuff a pile of rocks into Lu Xiuhan’s storage ring and put it back on his finger. She wrote a "free gift" document, the gist of which was that Lu Xiuhan voluntarily donated the contents of his storage ring to them, and then she took Lu Xiuhan’s hand to press a bright red fingerprint on it.

Liu Shaobai and the others: Truly ruthless!

Feng Xi then kindly had Jun Wen crush the jade token for Lu Xiuhan...

Meanwhile, outside the secret realm, everyone stared at the projection stone in confusion.

The data for the core disciples had not moved for a long time. To be precise, except for Shen Zhilan, everyone else’s data was stagnant. Jun Wen’s score remained a big, fat zero.

What was going on?

Had they not encountered any spirit beasts or herbs? Or had every spirit beast or herb they found been snatched by Shen Zhilan first?

Regardless of everyone’s guesses, the smile on Baili Muchen’s face never faded.

Zhilan was truly living up to expectations! She was a hundred times better than that Feng Xi!

The people from the Hunyuan Sect were also looking smug, as if they had "First Place" written all over their faces.

Xiao Baidao had no interest in the data; he kept interrogating the disciples from the Xuantian Sect who had been eliminated, asking if they had seen Feng Xi. The answers were all negative. As for their reports that the Hunyuan Sect was targeting Xuantian Sect disciples, he felt nothing but rage, yet he was helpless.

There is no fairness for the weak.

Just then, someone else was teleported out.

Someone exclaimed, "Good heavens, this is tragic! It looks like someone from the Hunyuan Sect! Oh, and it’s a core disciple!"

Baili Muchen’s smile froze. Although Lu Xiuhan had been beaten into a pig’s head, he recognized his once-beloved second disciple.

Baili Muchen thought his eyes were deceiving him. Lu Xiuhan had the highest cultivation among all the trial disciples; how did he end up in such a sorry state? Had he been attacked by some high-level spirit beast?

But upon closer inspection, all of Lu Xiuhan’s injuries were caused by spiritual arts and flying swords.

What was going on?

The Hunyuan Sect was not short on money and possessed plenty of fine medicinal pills. After a flurry of activity, Lu Xiuhan opened his eyes.

"Master, those three sects teamed up against our Hunyuan Sect. I was eliminated because they ganged up on me! This whole thing must be that Feng Xi’s doing!"

Baili Muchen was stunned. The Xuantian Sect and two other sects teamed up against the Hunyuan Sect? Had the core disciples of the Beast Taming Sect and the Myriad Sword Sect gone insane?

Not to mention him, even the sect masters of those two sects were stunned.

Xiao Baidao was also shocked, immediately followed by a surge of ecstasy. "What did you say? You saw Feng Xi? How is she? Is she hurt? You didn’t do anything to her, did you?"

Lu Xiuhan almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Are you blind? I’m in this state, and you’re asking me what I did to her?