Clearly, Yang Qi, who appeared to be chewing gum, was actually neutralizing a poison. In just three minutes, he had found a way to neutralize the White Heart Cranesbill—a poison deemed incurable since ancient times—in a manner no one else could comprehend. This was truly astonishing.

At that moment, Gu Baiyi’s complexion changed drastically. He let out a piercing scream and collapsed, his body beginning to twist and contort grotesquely. He had completely lost consciousness. Forget neutralizing the poison—even moving was out of the question.

"I surrender! I surrender!" Gu Baiyi screamed.

At this, Xue Renyi, Gu Baiyun, and the others rushed onto the stage, attempting to administer an antidote. After checking his pulse, they found it to be utterly chaotic. It was a mess unlike anything they had ever encountered, something they couldn’t quite understand.

Gu Baiyi was now unable to even speak, his eyes gradually becoming lifeless. He looked at the crowd with an expression of pure terror, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word.

Xue Renyi and Gu Baiyun joined forces to detoxify him. After inserting dozens of Silver Needles, the poison seemed to be under control. In reality, however, it was completely futile. In fact, Gu Baiyi’s pupils began to dilate, his heartbeat weakened, and his breathing gradually ceased.

This scene sent the entire Gu Family into a panic. Despite all their attempts, Gu Baiyi’s condition only worsened. Blood even began to trickle from his mouth. The red blood didn’t look like a symptom of poisoning, but given Gu Baiyi’s current state, who could say it wasn’t?

At this time, the data from the simulated person that Yang Qi had poisoned began to change dramatically. Within a single minute, all its signs of life had vanished. Only then did people realize that Gu Baiyi had been played. The seemingly harmless, pure liquid was actually the most terrifying kind of poison, capable of claiming your life before you even noticed. It was like boiling a frog in lukewarm water; by the time the frog realized what was happening, it was too late to escape. A truly ruthless move.

"Bastard! If my Second Grand-uncle dies, the Gu Family will hunt you to the ends of the earth!" Gu Lingshan roared.

In response, he received a fierce slap from the Family Head. "Can you just shut up?"

The Gu Family Head was just as furious, but he didn’t dare show it. He couldn’t erupt in anger, not when they still needed Yang Qi to save Gu Baiyi.

"Divine Doctor Yang, I beg you, please save him," Gu Baiyun pleaded, turning to Yang Qi.

He had no choice but to bow his head. At that moment, Gu Baiyi’s life was the only thing that mattered; everything else was meaningless.

Yang Qi shook his head. "Even if I save his life now, he’ll be permanently crippled. I warned him that if he didn’t neutralize the poison within three minutes, he would be crippled. He didn’t listen. Now, all I can do is keep him alive."

Hearing this, the members of the Gu Family wanted to tear Yang Qi apart. But they were helpless; there was nothing they could do. The strongest Divine Doctor of the Gu Family had been crippled just like that, leaving them infuriated beyond words. The Gu Family Head was so enraged that he coughed up blood. They had been counting on Gu Baiyi to surpass Xue Renyi, but now, he was just a cripple.

"No matter what, I beg you, Divine Doctor Yang, please save my second brother’s life," Gu Baiyun cried. While others had already given up on Gu Baiyi, he still clung to their brotherly bond.

Yang Qi nodded and tossed him a packet. "This is the antidote I prepared when I concocted the poison. Go on, use it."

After taking the antidote, Gu Baiyi’s condition improved significantly, but he was utterly broken. His Martial Arts were gone and his limbs were useless. Forget practicing martial arts, he couldn’t even practice medicine anymore.

Gu Baiyun bowed, then carried Gu Baiyi out of the arena. It seemed he was taking him to a hospital for treatment; after all, he couldn’t abandon his own brother. The other members of the Gu Family, however, only showed anger, not sadness.

What a group of heartless people.

Of course, Yang Qi felt no sympathy for Gu Baiyi. In this competition, Gu Baiyi had been trying to kill him. Letting the man live was already an act of mercy, even if a life like this was arguably worse than death.

"Yang Qi, you’d better remember this! My Gu Family will not let this matter rest!" the Family Head threatened. Once he saw that Gu Baiyi had been revived, his expression had turned fierce, just like Gu Lingshan’s.

"Hah, how absurd," Yang Qi sneered. "His own Medical Skills were inadequate, yet when I save his life, you still want to kill me? It doesn’t matter. If you want to come after me, bring it on. I won’t show any mercy."

After that heart-stopping duel, the eighth round soon came to an end. By now, no one cared about the other matches. They only cared about one thing: who was stronger, Yang Qi or Xue Renyi?

「The Ninth Round」

The most crucial competition began.

"Let’s compete in Alchemy!" Xue Renyi declared, more serious and focused than ever before. Previously, he hadn’t taken any opponent seriously, but now, he was forced to acknowledge Yang Qi. He was far more formidable than he had ever expected.

"Alchemy?" Yang Qi said, looking at him. "I advise against it. It’s a competition you can’t win."

"How will we know without trying?" Xue Renyi seemed unwilling to back down.

"Hah, you seem very confident. Fine, let’s begin!" Yang Qi said with a smile.

As a Cultivator, my greatest strength is Alchemy. And this man wants to challenge me in it? He’s truly asking for trouble.

With that, Xue Renyi began his alchemical process while Yang Qi watched from the side.

So ordinary people really do use pressure cookers for Alchemy. It can reach much higher temperatures than a Pill Furnace.

Xue Renyi was meticulous in his work, performing each step flawlessly. It was quite an impressive sight. The herbs inside the pressure cooker began to transform, melting into a liquid. But what happened next was somewhat awkward. The Elixir Xue Renyi produced was actually inferior to the one made by that genius from the Hanfang Association. That genius possessed Spiritual Fire and had created a genuine First-Level Elixir. What Xue Renyi made, however, was merely a pseudo-elixir; in essence, it was just a simple medicine pill. Although it looked beautiful and had potent medicinal effects, drawing cheers from the crowd...

"Is this the Elixir you’ve concocted? Are you joking?" Yang Qi shook his head. "You really should have attended the Elixir Medicine Conference in Jingnan Prefecture. You wouldn’t be flaunting something like this in front of me if you had. Let me show you what a *real* Elixir is!"

Immediately, Yang Qi began Condensing Qi into a Furnace.

Then, Spiritual Fire ignited.

The mere sight of the Spiritual Fire left everyone astounded. Many had heard of refining Elixirs with Spiritual Fire, but few had ever seen it. The people from Jingnan, however, were smugly proud, as many of them had witnessed it before. They knew just how formidable Yang Qi was in this area.

In just half an hour, the Elixir was complete.

Suddenly, a crimson auspicious cloud drifted across the sky—the very sign of a Mortal Grade First-Level Elixir.