"Let’s start!" the judging panel announced.

The two competitors began almost simultaneously.

Gu Baiyi already knew what he needed to do, so he chose his medicinal herbs with extreme speed, selecting all sorts known for their deadly poison. Many doctors present couldn’t even name a lot of the poisonous herbs and flowers he chose. But Gu Baiyi knew them all intimately. The man’s skills were clearly formidable; he would not be an easy opponent.

By the time Gu Baiyi had finished selecting all his ingredients, Yang Qi had just begun to leisurely pick out his medicinal herbs. After all, choosing poisons on the fly was naturally a bit slower.

Gu Baiyi smirked to himself. This is my advantage.

Ignoring Yang Qi, he began his concoction. His technique and proficiency won high praise from the surrounding doctors.

"Hmph, you can tell he’s practiced this many times. Mr. Yang should never have made this bet with him. It’s not only dangerous, but he’s also at a disadvantage," Yao Ran grumbled.

"I agree, but with Mr. Yang’s temperament, who could possibly persuade him?" Chen Guo said with a wry smile. "We can only hope he pulls off a victory. Sigh... I never expected Gu Baiyi to choose such a vicious method for the competition."

Over with the Gu Family, an excited expression finally appeared on Gu Lingshan’s face. This time, Yang Qi is as good as dead. Once he’s gone, won’t Li Qingyan be easy for me to capture?

About five minutes later, the White Heart Cranesbill was successfully concocted, and Gu Baiyi carefully poured it into a bottle. The red liquid, filled with strange white spots, looked like poisonous insects and sent shivers down the spine. Gu Baiyi was very cautious because he didn’t have an antidote or a cure for it either. Once poisoned, it was practically incurable.

Meanwhile, Yang Qi was still choosing his medicinal herbs. To everyone’s astonishment, all the herbs he selected were extremely common, neither highly toxic nor greatly beneficial. They were just very average herbs, the kind you could often find growing by the roadside. He did, however, choose numerous varieties—over one hundred in total.

The people from Jingnan Prefecture grew anxious.

"Mr. Yang, what are you doing? There are so many toxic herbs you’re not taking! So many tonics that could increase the poison’s potency you’re not taking! Why are you only taking those most common herbs?"

Everyone was perplexed. A proper combination of toxic herbs could be formulated into a terrifyingly lethal poison. Potent tonics could also be combined with toxic materials to create deadly poisons. But those ordinary herbs? No matter how you looked at them, they couldn’t possibly be toxic.

Was he playing some kind of game? His life was on the line! His opponent was taking it so seriously, yet he was just fooling around?

After selecting a hundred ordinary herbs, the concoction process was indeed quick, taking only one minute—much faster than Gu Baiyi.

Yet, looking at the clear liquid that resembled mineral water, everyone was filled with doubt. Could that stuff really kill someone?

What on earth was Yang Qi playing at? It wasn’t just the spectators below who were baffled—even Gu Baiyi couldn’t understand.

Unable to comprehend what was happening, Gu Baiyi scoffed. Hmph. He’s just being needlessly mysterious.

"Yang Qi, I advise you to just concede. That way, you won’t have to die. Otherwise, it’s going to be embarrassing for you later," he taunted, using reverse psychology again. It seemed like he wanted Yang Qi to give up, but in reality, he didn’t want Yang Qi to quit because he was confident of his victory.

"You can relax. There’s no need for such disgusting provocation. I said I wouldn’t concede, and I won’t. Let’s start the test," Yang Qi said indifferently.

"Good!"

Gu Baiyi dropped the eerie, red-and-white liquid into the mouth of the test dummy. The next moment, the machine responded. It was almost an instant kill! Within three seconds, the test dummy was devoid of life.

"Terrifying! Could that be White Heart Cranesbill?" someone shouted.

"That’s right, now that you mention it, it really does look like it! It’s over. Yang Qi is finished this time. They say there’s no cure for White Heart Cranesbill."

"Even the Medicine King himself wouldn’t be able to cure this poison."

Hearing this, Gu Baiyi sneered. That’s right. This is exactly what I was going for.

"Hehe, Mr. Yang must have guessed what poison this is by now. Why not admit defeat?" Gu Baiyi said with a smile.

Yang Qi just shook his head. This guy is so tedious, using the same provocation again and again just so I won’t concede. He couldn’t even be bothered to respond. He immediately dropped his own clear, transparent liquid into the mouth of the other test dummy.

One minute passed. The test dummy was unaffected!

Two minutes later, the test dummy was still unaffected!

Ten minutes later, the test dummy was still absolutely fine!

"Hahaha!" the crowd burst into laughter. "Yang Qi, what are you playing at? Your poison was so strong when you competed against Lan Xin’er, but what is this stuff supposed to be?"

"Are you afraid to kill, so you used this stuff instead?"

From the looks of it, Yang Qi’s poison had no potency at all. If it couldn’t even kill a test dummy, it certainly couldn’t kill a real person.

"Admit defeat, Mr. Yang! There’s no need to continue."

"Yeah, Mr. Yang, our ranking is already high enough. It doesn’t matter if we lose this one!"

"You can’t let anything happen to you!"

The crowd from Jingnan Prefecture kept shouting, hoping Yang Qi would give up.

But Yang Qi just smiled and said, "It’s fine. I promised to see this through to the end. Let’s move on to the second phase: poisoning each other!"

A moment later, each participant administered a drop of their liquid into the other’s mouth. The time had come to concoct an antidote or detoxify themselves.

Yang Qi, however, did nothing. He simply pulled a piece of chewing gum from somewhere, popped it in his mouth, and watched Gu Baiyi with a smile.

Gu Baiyi, however, didn’t dare to underestimate his opponent. He carefully examined his body and even took his own pulse. But after checking again and again, he found no signs of poison, which left him rather frustrated. So... I don’t need to make an antidote?

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded on the competition stage. Instead of frantically competing to concoct an antidote, the two doctors just stared leisurely at each other. Weren’t they supposed to be detoxifying?

Yang Qi spoke up, "Gu Baiyi, although we have a grudge, I’ll give you a piece of advice. If my poison isn’t neutralized within three minutes, it will incapacitate you. Even if you eventually find a cure, you’ll be bedridden for the rest of your life."

"We’ve just passed the one-minute mark. If you concede now, I can detoxify you and guarantee there will be no side effects."

"Hmph, do you think I’m a fool? I won’t believe such nonsense from you. Your lousy poison doesn’t have an ounce of potency," Gu Baiyi snorted with disdain.

Yang Qi shrugged. "Anyway, I’ve given you my warning, so my conscience is clear. If you won’t listen, then just wait. In three minutes, the poison’s effects will inevitably flare up, and once they do, it will be completely uncontrollable." He then ignored Gu Baiyi and went back to chewing his gum.

A short while later, three minutes were up.

Yang Qi took the chewing gum out of his mouth. As everyone watched, they saw that the gum had actually changed color.