As the spectators continued cheering, I made to descend from the stage. Before I could, however, the referee gestured for me to stay where I was.
"Hey! The rewards!" One of the spectators yelled so loud that everyone in the coliseum could hear him. "Didn't you promise that the victor of this year's intersect tournament will receive a million spirit stones and a five vein spirit pill? Where are they?"
"Or was it all a lie?" Another spectator taunted. "Perhaps the Azure Water Sect didn't prepare the rewards because they thought they would win it."
"Hah! After all that bragging about the Divine Spirit Body, she ended up losing to someone from a healer sect!"
"Serves them right for being so arrogant and looking down on others. They were so confident that they would win, but now they ended up having their faces slapped in front of everyone!"
While the spectators laughed and jeered, the expressions on the Azure Water Sect members were very ugly, as if they had just swallowed something bitter. Cheng Kun, in particular, was trembling in fury.
"Where's the rewards? Hurry up and begin the awards ceremony! We don't have all days!"
"They never thought they would have to give it to a disciple from another sect, of course they don't have it prepared!"
"Wow…so dishonest."
"Dare to brag, but cannot afford to lose."
"Enough!" Cheng Kun yelled. He took a deep breath and turned to me. "Before I hand over the rewards, I would like to make you an offer, Hei Ye. Would you like to join the Azure Water Sect?"
There was an uproar from the spectators at what they perceived to be an outrageous proposal. A few of them erupted in fury.
"How audacious?! To poach a disciple from another sect right in front of his sect patriarch?! How thick-skinned can you get!?"
"Lose to him, so you try to recruit him now? A little too late for that, don't you think?"
"You know what's worse? They were all calling him trash earlier. The disciples of Azure Water Sect, along with Jian Shen and a few Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion disciples were all insisting that he was trash and mocking him, claiming that there's no way he can defeat them. Now that he defeated them, they forgot that they insulted him and turned around to try and recruit him? Do you think he'll join you after receiving all those insults?"
"This is what they call shameless."
"Maybe he's trying to weasel out of awarding the victor of the intersect tournament? Some fine print that says that you can only receive the prize for winning the tournament if you're a disciple of the Azure Water Sect?"
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Cheaters!"
"Liars!"
"No integrity at all!"
"What rubbish is this?!" Xing Chen snapped. "It'll be more appropriate if I ask Hei Ye to join my Astral Star Sect, but even I'm not thick-skinned enough to poach him in front of his sect patriarch! What are you playing at, Cheng Kun?! Are you really that shameless?!"
As the spectators bombarded Cheng Kun and the Azure Water Sect with verbal abuse and jeers, the Azure Water Sect patriarch suppressed his rage and forced himself to stop shuddering. He took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on me.
"So what do you think? Will you join the Azure Water Sect?"
"No. I'm a member of the White Herb Sect, and I'll stay with the White Herb Sect." My tone was firm and decisive. Cheng Kun swallowed, somehow offended that I had rejected him. For heaven's sake, not another "How dare this person humiliate me by rejecting me? He must die because he offended me and my sect!" nonsense. Like how did they even arrive at such logic? Just what sort of train of thought led them to think along such idiotic lines?
"So you're reneging on the rewards because he refuse your attempt to poach him? Dishonorable. Dishonest. Liars."
"No integrity at all."
"How did the Azure Water Sect ever become one of the seven major sects? They can't even keep their word."
"They probably did it by cheating their way to the top and bullying others."
"ENOUGH!" Cheng Kun roared. He trembled uncontrollably, his face purple with rage. "I never said I'll never hand over the rewards! Of course we will keep our word!"
He then disappeared into some backroom built into the coliseum before emerging a few minutes later, ferrying a tray. On it was a single spatial pouch and a five-vein spirit pill. He dropped down onto the stage and strode toward me, smiling politely.
"The spatial pouch has the one million spirit stones. You can count them to make sure we didn't accidentally fall short of the amount. And as promised, here is the five vein spirit pill for the winner of the intersect tournament. You have fought well, and you deserve it."
"WOO!" Everyone cheered, rising to their feet and applauding. I awkwardly accepted the tray, feeling embarrassed from being at the center of attention.
"Thank you." I checked the spatial pouch and sensed the one million spirit stones within it. Looked like they weren't tricking me on that. Excellent. The five vein spirit pill, on the other hand…
Cheng Kun beamed at me before he returned to the VIP box. Lan Bei Er joined me, along with Bai Yao Cai and even Xue Ren.
"Great work," Bao Yao Cai told me with a huge grin. "You've brought honor to our White Herb Sect. You've surpassed all expectations and proven everybody who looked down on you wrong. You've made us all proud. Really…great work."
"Thank you." I bowed. I passed the spatial pouch with a million spirit stones to my wife, who raised an eyebrow.
"You earned this with your own efforts. You should keep it for yourself."
"Um, you're my wife. I trust you with the finances. If I need it, I'll ask you for money, but I'll entrust them to you for now so that I can avoid impulse purchases."
"All right then. If you say so." Lan Bei Er was amused. She then stared at the five vein spirit pill. "You should take that and use it to improve your cultivation realm. Also, you're injured from the earlier match, so consuming that spirit pill should also help you recover from your wounds. Now's the optimal time to eat it."
"Nah." I shook my head. "You know my stance on spirit pills. I don't trust them. I consider them steroids and I am opposed to doping. I'd rather rely on hard work, training and constant practice to grow stronger instead of consuming elixirs and pills."
"Fair enough." Lan Bei Er nodded. Bai Yao Cai smiled wryly and cocked his head to the side.
"What will you do with the spirit pill then? Sell it?"
"I'm not that desperate for money, and I'm not greedy. Besides, there's someone who needs it more than I do." I turned to Bai Ning Shuang, who was still sitting on the stage, stunned from her defeat and also badly hurt. Stepping toward her, I offered her the five vein spirit pill. "Bai Ning Shuang, you should eat this spirit pill. It will help you recover from your injuries and also allow you to progress in your cultivation. Right now, you're only at the first level of Innate Realm. It feels kind of unfair that I had to take advantage of my higher level – seventh level – to defeat you."
"No." Bai Ning Shuang shook her head. "You attained a higher level through your own efforts. I have no complaints about the outcome of the match."
"Even so, I think the spirit pill will be more useful to you than it will be for me."
Bai Ning Shuang stared at me for a moment, her eyebrow raised. "Are you sure?"
"Sure as sure. Don't worry, I'm not playing some trick. You can have it. Like I said, I don't believe in spirit pills and elixirs. I would rather get stronger on my own. I doubt you have the same aversion as I do."
"No." Bai Ning Shuang bowed her head and accepted the spirit pill. "Thank you very much. I owe you."
"Wait!" Cheng Kun shouted suddenly and rushed forward in a panic, but he was too late. Bai Ning Shuang had already swallowed the five veined spirit pill. She then closed her eyes and began to absorb the spirit pill to heal her injuries and improve her cultivation. Cheng Kun skidded to a stop, dismayed. His face was ghastly pale.
"What's the matter, sect leader Cheng Kun?" Bai Yao Cai asked with a frown, taken aback by the Azure Water Sect patriarch's undignified behavior.
"The…the spirit pill…" Cheng Kun spluttered, his demeanor as white as a ghost.
"What about it?" I asked, confused. "It's a five-veined spirit pill, right? I saw the veins on it. There shouldn't be any mistake."
Then I sensed an increase in Bai Ning Shuang's qi. She was making a breakthrough and was rising rapidly, achieving level 2 of Innate Realm. No…level 3! Whoa, breaking through two levels at once, this was impressive.
"See? Seems to be working. And you don't have to feel bad about this. You planned for Bai Ning Shuang to receive the five veined spirit pill in the first place. Like I said, I don't believe in relying on spirit pills and elixirs to improve one's cultivation, so I have no use for it. Might as well give it to someone who would benefit from it. I assume the spirit pill was specially prepared for Bai Ning Shuang anyway, suited for her constitution or techniques."
"No…no…" Cheng Kun stammered. I raised an eyebrow, puzzled by his panicky and frantic reaction.
"Sect leader Cheng Kun, are you all right? What's going on?"
He never got to answer. Instead, it was Bai Ning Shuang who coughed out a mouthful of blood and collapsed. To everyone's shock, her cultivation realm plummeted drastically, from Innate Realm to Acquired Realm…and then Core Formation Realm. Then to Foundation Establishment Realm.
"How the hell did Bai Ning Shuang's cultivation realm drop by three major realms?" I demanded. "What's going on?"
"This can't be possible!" Lan Bei Er cried, rushing over to help her senior. She attempted to heal her, but her techniques had no effect. "I can't stop her dwindling qi! Her meridians…her meridians are rupturing! And I can't stop them!"
"What happened? How is this happening?" I asked again.
Bai Yao Cai knelt beside Bai Ning Shuang, taking over from Lan Bei Er. He felt for her pulse and closed his eyes, diagnosing the stricken girl's situation. His eyes widened and he snapped a glare toward Cheng Kun.
"This…this is the Marrow Corrosive pill!"
"Huh? What the hell is a Marrow Corrosive pill?" I asked, utterly baffled. Never heard of such a spirit pill before…then again, I wasn't an alchemist or a receptarier or a healer. There were a lot of spirit pills I never heard of before. "Is it the pill she ate just now? But that can't be. I checked the spirit pill myself – it really was a five-veined spirit pill."
"A Marrow Corrosive pill is also a five-veined spirit pill," Bai Yao Cai explained softly.
"What does it have to do with Bai Ning Shuang's condition? Is it causing her drop in cultivation?"
"A Marrow Corrosive pill is a very potent spirit pill design to destroy the eater's meridians. It sinks deeply into the bones and destroy the marrow and qi channels there…which is why senior Bai is suffering so much." Lan Bei Er was shuddering in horror, her wide eyes turning toward a stricken Cheng Kun who had fallen to his knees. "But why would you give such a pill…?"
"Cheng Kun, you bastard! Look at the good thing you did!" Bai Yao Cai suddenly bellowed. Realization had dawned upon him. "You meant for Xiao Ye to eat that pill, didn't you? That's why you gave it to him as a supposed reward for winning the intersect tournament! You intended to destroy his cultivation!"
Murmurs rippled through the stunned crowd of spectators when they finally understood what was going on.
"Whoa, how vicious! The Azure Water Sect leader is so cruel and vicious! To think he would resort to such despicable means!"
"So underhanded…how did someone like him become a sect leader?"
"This is super ironic!" Someone burst out laughing. "He meant to destroy a rival sect's core disciple, but didn't think that the guy was so nice and generous to offer his own prize to his disciple instead! His cruelty backfired and he ended up ruining the Divine Spirit Body he and his sect were so proud of…with his very own hands!"
"Ha ha ha ha! If this isn't poetic justice, then what is?"
"Receiving the taste of his own medicine! Truly, there is no better idiom to describe this situation right now!"
"Ha ha ha ha! This must be a bitter pill to swallow for him!"
"Oh! That's another good one that perfectly sums up the situation right now! I still prefer the receiving the taste of his own medicine, though!"
"Completely deserved. The heavens really have eyes!"
"This is what we call retribution!"
Cheng Kun shook uncontrollably at the amused jeers, taunts and mockery from the audience. Nobody had any sympathy for him and his botched attempt at crippling a rival sect's disciple. They were in fact celebrating it.
Then he finally snapped.
"Hei Ye, you bastard! This is all your fault!"
With a roar, Cheng Kun abruptly turned toward me and lunged forward. His fists glowed with azure qi and he thrust out his hands to punch me into oblivion with some Azure Water Sect ultimate technique.