"SHLICK!"

The muffled sound of a sharp blade sinking into flesh.

Su Ling’er’s pupils contracted. She could hardly believe her eyes.

The disciple had just stabbed himself with his own sword, right before Su Ling’er’s very eyes!

????

This...

What was this situation?

The blade pierced through his abdomen, drawing a spray of hot blood.

The stench of blood instantly filled the air.

The disciple’s face went deathly pale. His sword fell to the ground with a CLANG, and he collapsed stiffly onto the sickbed in front of him.

"Ugh... oh... Junior Sister... quick... I... I’m... not going to make it!

I’m... this is... a critical case!

If... if you don’t save... me, I’m afraid... I’m going to... pass on... to the next world!"

Su Ling was completely dumbfounded.

’What are they doing?’

’Why don’t I understand any of this?’

’Weren’t you just running around full of energy a moment ago?’

’Why would you run over here, stab yourself, and then ask me to heal you?’

’Even if you ask me to, I can’t heal you!’

’They’re crazy!’

’They’ve all gone completely crazy!’

The surrounding disciples gathered around.

"Junior Sister, hurry up and treat him! If you don’t, he’s going to die!"

"Yeah! Are you just going to stand there and watch him die? His death will be on your hands!"

"Junior Sister, can your conscience bear it? Are you just going to watch a living, breathing person die right in front of you?"

Lin Qingfeng also sidled up.

"Junior Sister, look at you. Aren’t you going to heal him? He’s about to die!

I never thought you could be so cruel!

He’s been groaning and moaning here for ages, and you haven’t even thought about saving him. How the world has grown cold and people have lost their hearts!"

Listening to her Senior Brother and the others constantly pressuring her, even resorting to moral blackmail, it was as if his death would be her fault if she didn’t treat him...

’But... I don’t know any healing arts!’

’And I definitely don’t know Alchemy!’

’What do you want me to treat him with?’

’Feed him dirt?!’

Seeing his junior sister’s dumbfounded look, Lin Qingfeng quickly gave her another hint.

"What are you spacing out for!"

"Just grab some random herbs, throw them in that Pill Furnace, heat it with some fire, and feed him whatever comes out!"

"We’re on a tight schedule, we need to finish this kind of task quickly!"

The little Junior Sister could only copy the motions of a nearby Pill Master, clumsily starting her attempt at Alchemy.

But all she managed to produce was pile after pile of dregs, without even the faintest shape of a pill.

The "gravely injured" senior brother’s breathing was now barely perceptible. Lying on the bed, he struggled to lift a bloody hand.

He shakily pointed at the pile of pitch-black dregs, a raspy sound emerging from his throat: "HACK... HACK..."

"Cough... cough cough... Junior Sister... quick... give it to me..."

Su Ling’er looked at his near-death state, holding the pile of dregs that still smelled of burnt char, and panicked.

"You... you really want to eat this? It’s just a pile of dregs! I really don’t know Alchemy!"

"If you die... if you die, don’t you dare blame me!"

"Stop... wasting your breath... Hurry... give it..."

The disciple actually struggled to roll off the bed, scrambled on all fours to Su Ling’s feet, and snatched the dregs from her hands.

Then, without even looking, he shut his eyes and desperately shoved it into his mouth.

"COUGH COUGH... UGH..."

He choked and began coughing violently, his face turning the color of a pig’s liver.

But he didn’t stop, continuing to swallow big mouthfuls as if it weren’t a pile of dregs, but a supreme Immortal Pill that could save his life.

Su Ling’er stumbled backward in fright, completely stunned by the bizarre scene unfolding before her.

And then... after finishing the pill residue, the disciple’s body suddenly went rigid. He convulsed violently a few times, and then seemed to stop breathing altogether.

The little Junior Sister froze on the spot, her mind a complete blank.

’I... I killed someone?’

’This... This isn’t what I wanted!’

’What in the world was he trying to do?!’

’Can someone please tell me what they’re doing?’

’Why can’t I understand any of this?!’

Su Ling’er felt that there had to be something terribly wrong with this world.

’What are these fiends trying to achieve by doing this?’

’Are they just trying to amuse themselves by watching me panic?’

’Or is this, in itself, a crueler form of selection?’

’A way to see who can adapt faster to their law of treating human life as worthless, to see who can become a more qualified "demon"?’

She stared at the person she had "killed" with her own hands, her heart trembling...

’Even though I didn’t mean to, I was just...’

’I didn’t kill a person. I was eliminating a demon. I was eliminating a demon...’

She tried to convince herself, forcing herself to calm down.

Then, she saw the "dead" disciple on the sickbed let out a couple of coughs, "COUGH COUGH," and spit out most of the pill dregs in his mouth.

"Holy... shit..."

"This... stuff almost... choked... me to... death!"

Seeing this, Su Ling’er finally breathed a sigh of relief.

’Thank goodness, he’s not dead...’

’Wait, an Evil Cultivator not dying isn’t necessarily a good thing. That’s also a problem!’

Her thoughts were now a jumbled mess.

Meanwhile, Senior Brother saw that the disciple’s "treatment" was complete and that the total NPC contribution points on the sect panel had risen by 30. He immediately went forward.

He grabbed the disciple by the back of his legs and dragged him to another empty sickbed.

Then he started his own Alchemy, preparing to "heal" this patient and make use of the waste!

Su Ling’er couldn’t help but tilt her little head in confusion as she watched her Senior Brother’s actions.

’Wait!’

’Aren’t you going to heal him yourself anyway?’

’If you were going to save him, you should have done it sooner!’

’Why did you have to make me feed him a mouthful of dregs first?’

’I already told you I don’t know Alchemy, but you still insisted!’

’In the end, didn’t you still have to do it yourself?!’

But before she could even process what had happened, another disciple, Ji, excitedly appeared before her.

"Here I come! Here I come!

Junior Sister, quick! Me too! I want some too!

Something’s about to happen to me! I need your treatment too!"

Su Ling’er looked at this new disciple with a puzzled expression. He seemed vaguely familiar, but she just couldn’t remember who he was.

Then, she watched as this disciple, right before her eyes...

"BANG—!!!"

A muffled explosion!

Bits of flesh and blood flew from the disciple’s body, and some bloody froth even splattered onto Su Ling’er’s face!

She numbly touched her cheek, looking at the warm, sticky traces of blood.

She looked again at Ji, who had blown himself into an unrecognizable state and was now lying on her sickbed...

His mangled face turned to the little Junior Sister and smiled.

"Junior Sister... trouble... troubling you... to lend a hand..."

She didn’t understand.

She looked helplessly at her own blood-soaked hands.

’Why?’

’What in the world are you all doing?!’

’Why are you all running over here to self-harm in front of me?!’

’Do you people have some kind of special fetish?’

’Before, there were disciples used as sacrifices for pills, and disciples used for Artifact Refining. At least you could say they were sacrificing themselves for the creation of magic treasures and pills.

But what is the point of you getting yourselves into this state for me to treat?

’This world has really gone mad...’