"Wait. You’re a precious female Spirit Controller. I’d advise you against taking the risk." Seeing that Ning Xuan was about to go inside, Xiao Yulin immediately spoke up to stop her.

When Ning Xuan stared at him in confusion, as if to question why he was meddling, Xiao Yulin bowed. "Although female Spirit Controllers have a lower risk of mutation, your companions are all male Spirit Controllers. Their mutation risk is very high. If they mutate, they will likely harm you. So, please, I hope you’ll reconsider."

Xiao Yulin spoke with great sincerity.

"Captain Xiao, actually, if the others are this young lady’s Contractors, they can overcome a mutation crisis as long as they receive timely soothing from their Contractor. In fact, just the day before yesterday, a lady safely entered with her three Contractors," a short man spoke up.

"The black fog wasn’t this dense the day before yesterday. The situations aren’t comparable at all. You just want to see if they can make it through under these conditions, don’t you? So you can sell the information." Xiao Yulin shot the man a cold glance. The man’s name was Li Jiu, an information broker.

"Are you all this lady’s Contractors? If you’re not, I’d advise you against going in," someone behind Xiao Yulin asked Leng Yue.

Leng Yue arched an eyebrow. Feigning fear, he lowered his head and didn’t answer.

Ning Xuan smiled at Xiao Yulin, then turned and continued toward the pitch-black entrance.

"Here, take this. Wear it. It can mask the aura of the living, so if anyone mutates, they won’t attack you." Unable to dissuade Ning Xuan, Xiao Yulin tossed a small wooden tablet toward her.

Lin Mo, walking beside Ning Xuan, snatched it from the air and tossed it back to Xiao Yulin. He offered a polite fist-and-palm salute. "Thank you, Captain Xiao, but we have no use for it. Please, take it back."

Lin Mo was in the military, and Xiao Yulin was in a Mercenary Corps. They belonged to different systems and had never crossed paths, so Lin Mo didn’t know much about the man.

Xiao Yulin watched as Ning Xuan led the way into the fog-filled entrance, with the five male Spirit Controllers following without a moment’s hesitation.

The crowd waited quietly, speculating on how many would mutate. Once someone mutated, they would instinctively pursue the need to feed and rush back out of the entrance toward the large gathering of living people.

Normally, there would be some commotion within ten minutes. But they waited for a full half an hour, and the entrance remained eerily silent, with no sign of activity.

"Maybe some of them mutated and some didn’t, and they ended up killing each other? Is that why something happened to all of them?"

"Or maybe the ones who mutated chased the others deeper into the Medicine Valley."

Everyone began to speculate wildly.

"It’s also possible that lady’s soothing ability is incredibly strong, and she managed to control all of their Mutated Degrees," Li Jiu said, his eyes gleaming.

After he spoke, a silence fell over the crowd.

"Alright, that’s enough waiting. Who else wants to go in? Go ahead and register," Xiao Yulin said, a hint of frustration in his voice.

Ning Xuan and her party could no longer see what was happening outside the entrance. By now, she had led Lin Mo and the others into the Spirit Medicine Valley.

Leng Yue stared at his now-normal hands and feet, still shaken from the ordeal. ’Just a moment ago,’ he thought, ’my Mutated Degree was about to spiral out of control.’ It was a moment of crisis. Ning Xuan had to give him an injection and force him to drink three blue vials of medicine to pull him back from the brink. The other two men sent by Housekeeper Yan had been saved in the same manner.

"Thank you for saving our lives, Miss Ning." As soon as the two new subordinates had recovered, they knelt before Ning Xuan in gratitude.

"You are working for me, so I am responsible for your lives. It’s only right. There’s no need for such formalities," Ning Xuan said gently.

The two men looked at Ning Xuan with immense gratitude. ’She says that,’ they thought, ’but we were sent to protect her. We haven’t accomplished a single thing, and yet we’ve already burdened her by needing to be rescued.’

’She didn’t look down on us for our weakness. Instead, she spared no expense to save us. It feels so good to be protected and valued like this.’

Leng Yue looked over at Lin Mo and Chen Nan, who seemed perfectly fine, and felt a pang of envy. While he had been struggling in agony, he had seen Ning Xuan simply place a hand on each of their heads, and just like that, they were back to normal.

’Is this what soothing with spiritual power is like?’

’Although they say the method of soothing with spiritual power varies, depending on the Contractor’s preference, he’d never heard of it being so effortless.’

"There’s miasma in this valley as well. You all just took the Dragon Saliva Clearing Miasma Potion, so you won’t be affected by it for a while. However, you must not get injured. An injury would be very dangerous. Therefore, after every battle, or anytime you notice something unusual, you must check each other for wounds," Ning Xuan instructed.

"Let’s split into two groups of three and search separately. We can’t get too far from each other, though. We’ll meet up once every hour. If you discover anything unusual, we regroup immediately." Ning Xuan handed a refined, transparent Ant Wing to Leng Yue. "Keep this safe. As long as you’re not too far away, I can use this Ant Wing to pinpoint your location."

’The Vine Silk from the Ghost-faced Red Vine would have been better for this,’ she thought, ’but unfortunately, the vine is still dormant.’

Leng Yue wasn’t happy about splitting up from Ning Xuan, but he didn’t dare protest in front of everyone.

Ning Xuan looked down at the Reward Map in her hand. According to the official list, the medicine that awarded the most points in this competition was the Mixed Element Elixir of Eternal Life.

The most crucial ingredient for concocting the Mixed Element Elixir of Eternal Life was the Primordial Fruit.

Crafting a Mixed Element Elixir of Eternal Life was worth 10,000 points. However, the elixir was actually a Star-grade Medicine. In an environment like the Lingxiao Secret Realm, which suppressed a Spirit Controller’s power, it was impossible for anyone to create a Star-grade Medicine.

But it didn’t matter if no one could make the elixir. On the official bounty list for ingredients, the Primordial Fruit ranked number one. Finding a single fruit was worth 200,000 Star Gold.

200,000 Star Gold was enough to buy a small, private Starship.

That was why so many people made a beeline for the Spirit Medicine Valley as soon as they entered the Secret Realm. There was a Primordial Fruit Tree inside the valley, and if someone managed to pick just one Primordial Fruit, this trip would make them rich.

As Ning Xuan searched the valley for medicinal herbs, she had yet to find the Primordial Fruit Tree. However, she did find plenty of other herbs like the Seven-leaf Heart-piercing Lotus, Black Tongue Orchid, Jade Coral, Bone Cleansing Flower, and Ink Leaf Lotus. Each and every plant was a top-quality specimen. Ning Xuan gathered them swiftly, sorting and placing them into their appropriate containers.

While gathering the herbs, they were attacked by various Exotic Beasts. No one in Ning Xuan’s group was injured, but she noticed that the beasts also seemed to be affected by the poisonous miasma. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they were all incredibly violent.