Overcoming trials to ascend in rank and renown, Longing remains, haunting the depths of every dream.

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Shen Yi pressed the bud of the Star-patterned Orchid against his chest, icy crystal fragments dissolving into mist that coiled around his fingertips.

Around the exhibition platform, contestants busily transplanted spiritual plants into specially crafted black iron pots. Leng Xuan deliberately bumped aside two young attendants carrying vials of spiritual marrow liquid, the shattering of a glass lamp drawing the crowd’s attention.

“Brother Shen, be careful,” Leng Xuan said, flicking a shard of broken porcelain stained with dragon vein soil between his fingers. The dark red spiritual energy silently corroded the edges of the porcelain. “I heard that chaotic spiritual energy loves to consume plants infected with love poison.”

The spiritual plant master’s smoke-blue wide sleeves brushed over the monitoring device, and three bronze compasses hovered above the platform.

Suddenly, a red warning flashed across Shen Yi’s system interface. He pretended to adjust his sleeve, catching a glimpse of the faint Nine Nether emblem on the back of one compass—a symbol of the immortal realm’s rebels.

“Transplantation begins!”

At the gray-robed judge’s incantation, the entire platform rumbled and sank underground.

Shen Yi clutched his pot amidst the weightlessness. The roots of the Star-patterned Orchid suddenly shot out wildly, its mycelium piercing the black rock formed from condensed chaotic spiritual energy in the iron pot.

Exclamations erupted from the contestants as three purple cloud ginseng plants turned to ash on the spot.

“System, activate emergency protective barrier.”

He silently commanded. A familiar electronic voice rang in his ear: [Consume 300 spirit energy to exchange for an Xuan Ice Shield; remaining spirit energy 42%.]

As the pale blue ice crystals crept up from the bottom of the pot, he noticed Leng Xuan smearing a dark purple powder along the pot’s rim.

A tornado of chaotic spiritual energy raged through the cavern, tearing more than a dozen slashes in Shen Yi’s robe.

The orchid’s leaves curled abruptly into tubes, and the protective net woven by the mycelium emitted a corrosive hiss—those drifting purple powders, encountering the spiritual storm, had transformed into bone-eroding toxic mist.

“If Miss Gao saw you in such a sorry state...” Leng Xuan’s voice pierced his mind through a transmission spell. Suddenly, Shen Yi’s wrist throbbed sharply. The system interface flashed a new alert: [Love poison spores detected. Initiating purification requires consuming 1 memory shard.]

The ice crystals dissolved into flowing light in his palm. Shen Yi saw a memory fragment of Gao Yao coughing up blood.

The image of the girl kneeling deep in the cedar forest overlapped with the toxic mist before him. Gritting his teeth, he poured the last half bottle of dragon vein soil into the pot: “To hell with love poison!”

The mycelium exploded into a silver light net, and a purifying spiritual pattern rapidly spread along the earth vein.

A stir arose from the audience. The spiritual plant master’s demon-revealing mirror at his waist suddenly reflected the Nine Nether token hidden in Leng Xuan’s sleeve.

Seizing the moment, Shen Yi flicked his wrist. The orchid’s roots pierced through Leng Xuan’s pot—the soul-devouring grass disguised as a spiritual plant withered instantly.

“Your grafting technique is truly exquisite, Young Master Shen.” Ya’er approached, cradling a newly acquired cold jade pot. The silver butterfly hairpin in her hair flickered with an eerie blue light.

Accidentally overturning a vial of dew onto the orchid’s leaves, the hidden sealing powder within caused the mycelium to start knotting.

Shen Yi wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. His system’s spirit energy had plummeted below 15%.

He tore off the wine pouch at his waist and gulped twice. The spicy aroma cut through the dizziness caused by the chaotic spiritual energy.

When Gao Yao’s phantom reappeared at the flower’s heart, he suddenly sprayed the wine mist onto the tangled mycelium—infused with dragon vein energy, the orchid bloomed a second petal.

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“Look at his spiritual pattern!”

The audience erupted in astonishment.

Shen Yi glanced down to see silver markings emerging on the back of his hand, devouring the toxic mist. The consumed energy turned into fine droplets falling back into the pot.

Leng Xuan’s face darkened as he crushed his communication jade token. A figure wearing a black iron mask quietly left the judges’ stand.

At dawn on the third day, the Star-patterned Orchid suddenly retracted all its mycelium into its bud.

Just as people thought it was dying, a golden-red glow flickered within the frost-covered flower calyx, inhaling and exhaling chaotic spiritual energy.

Leaning against the rock wall, Shen Yi slid down to sit. The system alert and the dragon vein monitor alarm sounded simultaneously.

The light inside the bud suddenly shaped into an arrowhead, pointing straight toward the depths of the cedar forest—that was the direction where the blood-stained sword tassel was buried.

Shen Yi steadied himself against the rock wall, his fingertips still sticky with the orchid’s icy crystal secretion.

The audience’s gasps surged like a tide. As he stared at the golden-red light within the bud, he suddenly heard Gao Yao’s cool voice mixed into the system alert, teaching him how to identify spiritual plants: “Evening primrose juice can neutralize bone-eroding poison...”

“Master Shen, watch out!” Ya’er suddenly lunged forward, grabbing his sleeve. The silver butterfly hairpin in her hair flared with intense blue light.

Shen Yi staggered back half a step, just as a dark purple powder drifting from Leng Xuan’s sleeve was about to touch the orchid’s leaves—it was clearly the soul-devouring powder that could trigger violent frenzy in spiritual plants.

The remaining spirit energy in his dantian suddenly surged, but his hand faltered as it reached for the wine pouch.

The jade gourd in the system warehouse began to heat up—it was the special item Moonlight Dew obtained during last month’s task to cultivate a millennium-old snow lingzhi.

At that time, Gao Yao had used her sword tip to pry open the medicine basket he offered: “A righteous disciple should not accept things of uncertain origin.”

“To hell with the distinction between good and evil!” Shen Yi bit his tongue, blood mixing with the bitter taste as he dabbed the dew onto the pot’s rim.

The pale blue liquid touched the chaotic spiritual energy, and the entire cavern was suddenly dusted with fine snow. The orchid’s curled mycelium stretched out into a vast silver web.

The sound of a teacup shattering came from the judges’ stand.

The spiritual plant master’s smoke-blue sleeves brushed the monitor again. All three bronze compasses pointed simultaneously at Shen Yi’s platform.

Leng Xuan’s soul-devouring grass emitted a scream like a crying infant. The dark purple powder was entirely repelled by the silver web, corroding black smoke from his hand.

“This... this is Moonlight Dew?” The gray-robed judge’s beard trembled violently. “It vanished three centuries ago...”

Shen Yi ignored the commotion. Looking at the frost crystallizing on the silver web, he suddenly recalled the snowy night last winter when he repaired Gao Yao’s heart-protecting mirror.

The girl’s pale fingertips brushed over his frostbitten tiger mouth, her breath swirling with the scent of herbs: “Your Tianshan snow lotus blooms more beautifully than those in the Medicine King Valley.”

The Star-patterned Orchid emitted a clear, high-pitched chime. The golden-red arrowhead swelled three inches, projecting a shadowy image of the cedar forest onto the rock wall.

Shen Yi’s pupils contracted sharply—the crooked old pine tree’s hollow in the image clearly harbored the blood-stained silk cloth Gao Yao had buried during her last poisoning.

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“Transplantation phase complete!”

The spiritual plant master’s announcement echoed through the cavern with the toll of a bell, but Shen Yi felt a buzzing in his ears.

He mechanically followed the crowd back to the surface. Dragon vein soil fell from his sleeve, assembling on the bluestone slabs into a half-complete sword pattern—an exact match to the mark on Gao Yao’s destined sword.

“Brother Shen, impressive skills.” Leng Xuan’s sarcastic voice came from behind. The soul-devouring grass, entwined with dark red spiritual energy, writhed in his palm. “But that last vial of dew looks suspiciously like something from the demonic sect’s alchemy clan...”

Shen Yi swung his empty wine pouch, smashing it at Leng Xuan’s feet. Amber liquid splashed onto the gold-embroidered boots.

The aroma of wine infused with dragon vein energy spread. Suddenly, a figure wearing a black iron mask at the judges’ stand crushed a jade cup.

“If you’re interested in the dew, Young Master Leng,” Shen Yi pulled open his collar to reveal the star pattern on his collarbone, still bearing the burn marks from purifying the love poison, “perhaps you should ask the Nine Nether token hidden in your sleeve how soul-devouring grass juice tastes mixed with rebel talismans?”

The audience erupted into uproar. Amid the clamoring, Shen Yi’s hand found his chest.

The sword tassel tucked close to his body suddenly heated up. Inside the icy crystal bead at the tassel’s tip, a faint silhouette of Gao Yao leaning by the window of the medicine hut appeared.

The girl’s wrist bore the faint glow of a gecko mark—the harbinger of love poison’s outbreak.

“Now announcing the third round rankings!”

The gray-robed judge’s amplified spiritual voice made the pillars tremble. Shen Yi’s name hovered at the top of the light screen, golden runes entwining the orchid’s phantom image.

Ya’er approached with her newly acquired cold jade pot, but as Shen Yi turned, the silver butterfly hairpin in her hair suddenly shot three blue needles.

Instinctively, Shen Yi dodged. The needles whistled past his ear, embedding into the stone pillar. The glowing frost pattern on their tails matched the frost flower pattern of Gao Yao’s destined sword.

A metallic sweetness surged in his throat. The system interface flashed a red warning: [Host emotional fluctuations abnormal; recommend immediate consumption of calm heart pills.]

“Congratulations, Young Master Shen.” The spiritual plant master appeared beside the platform without notice. His smoke-blue wide sleeves brushed the monitor once more, and the Nine Nether emblem on the back of the bronze compass slowly faded. “The final round will commence at midnight. The theme is...”

Before he finished, the entire venue trembled violently.

Shen Yi steadied himself on the platform’s edge, watching viscous black mist seep from the seams between floor tiles. The ghostly faces formed by the mist mirrored precisely the agonized expressions Gao Yao wore during her poisoning.

The sound of jade breaking came from the judges’ stand, and the figure in the black iron mask suddenly dissolved into a streak of light, vanishing into the horizon.

The Star-patterned Orchid’s buds burst open simultaneously, golden-red light weaving into a massive sword formation beneath the night sky.

Staring at the cedar forest image crystallizing at the sword formation’s center, Shen Yi suddenly heard the system emit an unprecedented sharp alarm.

At that moment, the midnight drum struck.