Chu Wanning was not injured. At the critical moment, Mo Ran reacted quickly and stood in front of the figure with the dark blue cloak fluttering in the wind. The man’s dagger had completely sunk into his shoulder, leaving only the hilt with a silver snake pattern. The clothes on Mo Ran’s shoulder were instantly dyed red with blood. He lowered his eyebrows and clenched his teeth, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

     They were the fierce eyes of a falcon when it finally killed the sly rabbit.

     “Hua-zongshi.” He suddenly gripped Hua Binan’s hand, which was still holding the dagger, and endured the pain as he pulled the short blade out of his own flesh and blood. There was a thin layer of cold sweat on his forehead, but he still gritted his teeth and sneered, “You sneaked an attack on my Shizun from behind. Did you think I was dead?”

     The night breeze blew, ruffling the green veil that Hua Binan had put on again to cover his ugly appearance. Hua Binan was silent for a moment, then said, “How long has Mo-zongshi suspected me?”

     “From the moment you were poisoned by snake venom and stayed on the mountainside.”

     Hua Binan chuckled. “Well… there’s nothing I can do about that. After all, I was hoping to bring down a group of people in the front hall.”

     Mo Ran gritted his teeth and said, “Why did you stop Xu Shuanglin before?”

     “What else could I do? Allow the formation to change and let him realize that the Rebirth Formation he had worked so hard to set up was a fake? Wouldn’t that be troublesome?”

     At this point, Chu Wanning had already struck down Tianwen, striking directly at the center of this mysterious formation.

     However, as soon as it landed, he was shocked to find that the spiritual energy of the formation was so strong that it couldn’t be easily suppressed. When he turned his head and saw Mo Ran standing behind him, his shoulder injured by Hua Binan’s dagger, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. “Mo Ran—”

     “Don’t worry about me,” Mo Ran said. “Destroying the formation is more important. I’ll guard this place.”

     Chu Wanning had no choice. There was a vicious spiritual flow within the secret formation that he had never encountered before. Even Butterfly Town’s Heavenly Rift couldn’t compare to it. He continuously poured spiritual power into Tianwen, but he could only prevent the formation from continuing to evolve; he had no way to make it shatter and disappear.

     On the other side, Jiang Xi also suddenly understood what was going on. But he couldn’t believe that the number one master of his sect had an ulterior motive behind his back. He couldn’t help but feel defeated. After a while, he said, “Hua Binan, you…”

     Hua Binan’s hand was being tightly gripped by Mo Ran at the moment. He didn’t turn around, but hearing Jiang Xi’s voice, he smiled faintly and said, “Sect Leader, don’t act rashly. Guyue’ye has a rule—be mindful of everything. I’ve naturally kept that in mind, so on this journey, I looked for opportunities to plant heart-drilling bugs that I have carefully nurtured for many years on several people.”

     “!” Everyone’s expressions changed with horror. After a moment of silence, the scene was like a pot of boiling congee.

     Did Cold Scale Sacred Hand plant bugs on their bodies?

     It was clearly neither painful nor itchy; they didn’t feel anything at all. But suddenly, they felt an intense itching all over their bodies, as if every corner of their body was hiding a heart-drilling bug that could take their lives.

     “Hua Binan, you madman!”

     “What vicious thoughts!”

     Some even cried anxiously and rubbed their bodies. “Where is it? Where is it? Did I get hit? I didn’t have any contact with him at all. There should be nothing on me…”

     There was also someone with a straightforward temperament who couldn’t stand Hua Binan’s despicable methods. He shouted angrily, “You with the surname Hua! Don’t try to confuse the masses with your lies! There are so many cultivators present, all of whom are among the best of each sect. Do you think they’ll be afraid of threats like yours?!”

     Before he finished speaking, Hua Binan lightly waved his hand.

     The man who provoked him suddenly swayed. His eyes bulged and he grabbed his throat before falling to the ground, rolling and shouting, “Ah! Ah—!”

     Pus and blood gushed from his nose and eyes. His eyes rolled back and he spasmed violently. His urine and feces surged all over his crotch, exuding a stench. He soon stopped moving and collapsed to the ground, his skin shriveling rapidly. His mouth was still open, and a red bug that had just consumed blood crawled out of it. It looked like a spider but had ten thin legs on either side.

     This shocking change made many people who were originally filled with righteous indignation and wanted to denounce Hua Binan go silent, their faces ashen as they stared at the scene before them.

     “Although the bugs are small, they can take a person’s life in an instant.” Hua Binan said gently, “If you don’t want to repeat the tragedy of the annihilation of Rufeng Sect overnight, you should stand where you are. Don’t try to move and cause trouble; just listen to my instructions obediently. Especially people from Guyue’ye.”

     His gaze fell on Jiang Xi, then he looked at the group of medical cultivators dressed in light jade-green robes behind Jiang Xi and said with a smile, “In consideration of the fact that we are from the same sect, I will definitely not harm any of you when doing these things.”

     Jiang Xi’s face was ashen. “Hua Binan! You actually have such wild ambitions?”

     “I don’t deserve to be called ambitious.” Hua Binan seemed to suddenly remember something and said to Jiang Xi, “Oh right, Sect Leader, you also have a heart-drilling bug on you. Other people have lower cultivation levels, and the bug can take their lives in a blink of an eye. But Sect Leader’s cultivation level is high, so I think you’ll be able to hold on for at least ten days to half a month.”

     Jiang Xi said coldly, “Guyue’ye has not treated you poorly in these past ten years. What exactly are you planning?”

     “Of course, I have my reasons, but I don’t necessarily have to tell you.”

     He turned his head to look at Chu Wanning, then at Mo Ran, who was confronting him, before turning back around.

     “In any case, you can’t know who has a bug on their body and who doesn’t, but there’s a half and half possibility. This is a matter of life and death. I think if you’re smart enough, you’ll know who to side with.”

     There was dead silence.

     Then a warm and gentle voice suddenly sounded from the crowd. Shi Mei stood beside Xue Meng and said, “The heart-drilling bug is attracted to fire. As long as you ignite a fire spell or talisman in your hand, you’ll be able to see a protrusion under your skin. This is the curse. Everyone else is safe.”

     “...” Cold Scale Sacred Hand suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Shi Mingjing, you secretly read my writings?”

     Shi Mei’s face seemed to be a little red, but it wasn’t obvious. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention. Now that so many people were looking at him, his expression was a little stiff.

     “During the five years of my Shizun’s seclusion, I asked to study in Guyue’ye. I didn’t read senior’s writings but accidentally found this kind of bug, so… so I did some research.”

     Hua Binan said angrily, “You’re so shameless to steal someone else’s work!”

     Xue Meng’s eyebrows raised and he immediately defended Shi Mei, “What face is there to talk about with a two-faced man like you?”

     After he spoke, he immediately followed Shi Mei’s instructions. Seeing that there was nothing amiss under his skin, pulled Shi Mei over and said joyfully, “That’s great. It’s all thanks to you. Look, I don’t have any bugs on me!”

     Seeing this, the others followed suit. For a moment, everyone on the Soul Summoning Platform was saying, “I don’t have any!” or “What should I do? I have a heart-drilling bug on me!”

     Hua Binan closed his eyes and then sneered, “Even if you can tell who has one and who doesn’t, so what? Those who have been infected by the heart-drilling bug, listen to me! Come to my side to help me take down Chu Wanning and defeat Mo Weiyu. Of course, I won’t do anything to you. Otherwise—”

     He pointed at the cultivator on the ground who had been killed by the heart-drilling bug.

     “This is your fate.”

     Under threat, the first to defect was a female cultivator from Guyue’ye. She rushed to Hua Binan’s side in front of everyone’s gaze, slightly raising her head with a somewhat arrogant expression.

     Mo Ran was also surprised that a traitor still had the face to act so arrogantly.

     “Apologies, Sect Leader Jiang.” She said, “I stand with shengshou not just to protect myself, but because I have always admired shengshou's talents. The reason I studied at Guyue’ye was because of his name. Not to mention whether I have been hit with a heart-drilling bug, even if I am not poisoned, I am willing to be Cold Scale Sacred Hand's lackey.”

     As she spoke, she glanced at Hua Binan’s expression; although Hua Binan was fighting with Mo Ran, he had a smile on his face. It was obvious that he was satisfied by her words, so she couldn’t help but feel relieved. She tried to persuade them, “Cold Scale Sacred Hand has already said that he won’t make things difficult for us since we’re from the same sect. Everyone should know what to do.”

     She waited for a while, but only three cultivators from Guyue’ye came to stand next to her.

     The others glared at them, scowling coldly.

     The three cultivators exchanged words. “Sect Leader Jiang’s management of Guyue’ye has become worse and worse over the years. If it weren’t for Cold Scale Sacred Hand, I would have left long ago.”

     “Cold Scale Sacred Hand is capable, and we’ll only follow those who are worthy.”

     Someone from Guyue’ye couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted angrily, “Traitor! How dare you say that?!”

     “That’s right! Traitor!”

     “You have no integrity. Get out of Guyue’ye!”

     The woman didn’t expect that so many people would refuse to submit even after being poisoned by the heart-drilling bug. She looked extremely embarrassed for a moment, her face red, but she forced herself to calm down and said calmly, “I don’t need you to say that. We’ve long since decided to leave this broken sect. If you follow Jiang Xi, you’ll be a lonely soul following a ghost!”

     She turned her head and glared at her former sect leader.

     “I, Ling Biran of Guyue’ye, from now on, with Guyue’ye and Jiang Xi, will strike with my sword—”

     Before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by Jiang Xi. Jiang Xi’s face was expressionless, and his eyes were extremely cold. He looked at her disdainfully. “Don’t cut. Who are you?”

     “I-I’m Ling Biran—”

     “I won’t remember your name even if you say it in front of me a hundred times every day.”

     The female medical cultivator was extremely embarrassed, biting her lower lip for a long time, but she was still indignant. “Heh, I didn’t expect Sect Leader to have such a demeanor.”

     “You’re only seeing me today?” Jiang Xi sneered, “But speaking of which, Guyue’ye has thousands of disciples, and this is the first time I’m seeing you. To tell you the truth, if it weren’t for this situation today, you might not even have the chance to speak to me in this lifetime.”

     After saying this, he flicked his sleeve. A fragrant wind blew, and Jiang Xi had already started fighting with Hua Binan.

     Hua Binan already had an extremely difficult Mo Ran in front of him. Now that Jiang Xi was here, he could no longer bear the consequences. In a moment of desperation, he activated the wave of heart-drilling bugs. Everyone present who was hiding the poisonous insects were immediately attacked by the bugs, the pain unbearable.

     “Ahh—!”

     “Help, help me!”

     Jiang Xi’s figure also paused. However, he was indeed worthy of being the Sect Leader of Guyue’ye. He immediately tapped a few acupoints to ease the pain and went to fight Hua Binan with Mo Ran, his face pale.

     Hua Binan wasn’t stupid. With a flick of his finger, he freed the people who had defected to him from the pain of the heart-drilling bug and said sternly, “Accept the challenge.”

     In the midst of the pain, some people with weak minds saw that surrendering to Hua Binan would save them from this crime, so they all rushed over. In an instant, a small part of the crowd knelt down and shouted at Hua Binan, “Please, shengshou! Release the curse! I am willing to serve shengshou!”

     “I can’t take it anymore. It’s too painful… Please Hua-qianbei…”

     Hua Binan smiled slightly in the midst of the fierce battle and said to Mo Ran, who was still engaged in a vicious fight with him, “So, Mo-zongshi, you see. In the end, the most powerful sect in the world is still the medical sect.”

     Before he could finish his words, Jiang Xi had already pulled out Xuehuang, and he said sternly, “How can a person like you who is accustomed to using underhanded methods be worthy of saying the words ‘medical sect’?” After his words, he said to Mo Ran, “Go ahead to the array and help your Shizun. I’ll hold him off here.”

     Hua Binan sneered, “Does Sect Leader insist on making me his enemy today?”

     “Cut the crap.”

     “You drag your body that has been infected by a heart-drilling bug and still want to fight with me? Sect Leader Jiang—Jiang Yechen—you really think you’ve lived a long life.”

     Jiang Xi’s face was gloomy. “How can you decide whether my life is long or short? If I don’t stop you today, I’m afraid you will ruin the reputation of the medical sect’s integrity!”

     Having said that, the two people proficient in poison had already seen through each other’s tricks. Between the swords and shadows, there were even poisonous powders and medicines that offset each other. When Mo Ran saw that Jiang Xi had the strength to fight back, he immediately turned around and rushed to Chu Wanning to help. Who knew that halfway there, a dozen dark yellow figures rushed towards him.

     Mo Ran gritted his teeth. “Huang Xiaoyue—!”

     These people were Huang Xiaoyue and more than ten elite disciples of Jiangdong Hall. Huang Xiaoyue stood in the wind with his loose robes and large sleeves. He stroked his beard and said, “Mo-zongshi, the heart-drilling bugs are not a joke. I am like a fish on a chopping block. In the face of life and death, I have no choice but to be zongshi’s enemy. Sorry for the offense.”

     He wasn’t the only one. There were also experts from other sects who couldn’t bear the pain and all rushed over to kill him.

     At this time, the Soul Summoning Platform was a mess.

     Cultivators of the various sects fought amongst themselves, those who were poisoned by the heart-drilling bugs and those who were not, those who were traitorous and those who were not. Everyone was fighting against each other.

     For a time, Jiang Xi and Hua Binan fought against each other with all their might.

     As the last line of defense in front of Chu Wanning, Mo Ran was attacked from front and back. He fought with waves of cultivators such as Huang Xiaoyue while Chu Wanning focused all of his spiritual power to come to a standstill with that mysterious formation.

     On the other side, Xue Zhengyong and the members of Sisheng Peak were guarding the front line, preventing more rebels from approaching Chu Wanning, who was sealing the mysterious formation.

     Shi Mei was surrounded by the cultivators who had been hit by the heart-drilling bug but refused to surrender. He was trying to remove the curse.

     “It hurts… Kill me, please kill me!” Shi Mei bent down and picked up a young man who was rolling on the ground. The young man grabbed his hand and cried loudly, “It hurts too much! I don’t want to surrender; just kill me! Please kill me! Kill me!”

     “Bear with it.” Shi Mei comforted him and placed his fingers on his pulse.

     “I can’t stand it anymore—”

     “Look at me. Look into my eyes.”

     But the young man didn’t listen to Shi Mei’s words at all. He clenched his fingers tightly, his whole body like a fish out of water, constantly flopping and twitching as he gasped for breath. “I can’t take it anymore…”

     Shi Mei had no choice but to forcefully lift the young man’s face and open his tightly closed eyelids. This really wasn’t easy because the young man kept kicking and struggling, leaving red marks on the backs of Shi Mei’s arms.

    “Look at me. Look at me!”

     The young man was barely able to regain some consciousness. He panted and looked at Shi Mei with tears in his eyes. Shi Mei silently chanted an incantation and stared into the young man’s eyes. Suddenly, the young man quivered as he felt something rapidly climbing up his waist and ribs. Soon, it reached his chest, throat, and mouth.

     “Blrh—”

     He suddenly turned to the side with a strong feeling of nausea and spat out a large puddle of vomit. The stench was extremely pungent and a red heart-drilling bug was convulsing inside.

     Shi Mei immediately pointed in the air and the insect immediately crumbled to dust.

     He suddenly stood up and said loudly, “The heart-drilling bug can be controlled by the Eye Healing Technique. It can be cured! I can help you do it!”

     He ran around, shouting anxiously, “Stop fighting! It can be undone. Don’t kill each other; it can be undone—it can be undone!”

     However, not many people listened to him in the chaotic battle. His voice was not loud and was soon drowned out by the shouts and howls, explosions and collisions.

     But Jiang Xi heard Shi Mei’s shout and froze. Eye Healing Technique?

     Just like how many bugs were attracted to fire and light, when some poisonous bugs entered the body, as long as the appropriate eye therapy was used as a guide, they would be lured out of the body like moths to a flame, and the poisonous bugs could be eliminated.

     Hua Binan obviously heard it too. He cursed in his heart as his eyes flashed with a fierce, cold light.

     “Along the journey, I killed all the cultivators who knew the Eye Healing Technique in Guyue’ye. I didn’t expect that there would be people in that shabby Sisheng Peak who knew such a high-level medical technique. It’s really—”

     The knife in his hand suddenly brushed against Jiang Xi’s Xuehuang, sparks flying as they collided.

     Hua Binan gritted his teeth and said, “The younger generation is truly fearsome!”

     Suddenly, he withdrew his sword and swept back like a bat, leaping into the midst of the fierce battle.

     “Not good!” Jiang Xi was startled. He had already seen through Hua Binan’s intentions. He was about to gather his energy to follow, but the heart-drilling bug flared up. His chest tightened and he spat out a large mouthful of blood, stabbing his sword into the ground and half-kneeling on the ground.

     His blood-soaked lips opened and closed, looking in the direction where Hua Binan had gone. He wanted to warn the others, but he couldn’t make a louder sound. “Be careful… heart…”

     Shi Mei was currently detoxifying a cultivator of Taxue Palace who was poisoned. After the cultivator spat out the heart-drilling bug, he no longer felt the pain in his heart. He quickly stood up and shouted for Shi Mei, “Stop fighting! Come and remove the poison! It can be undone!”

     Xue Meng was also busy trying to stop the fight. He dragged about ten people over to Shi Mei and kept shouting, “Okay, okay, bear with it. Don’t cry out, we’ll cure you right away. Let me tell you who’s my shidi; he is top-notch in ability, not one bit inferior to Guyue’ye’s disciples. I—”

     As Xue Meng spoke, he was going to call to Shi Mei. But the moment he looked up, his words cut off.

     “Shi Mei! Behind—!”