Chapter 116: No Money, No Medicine—do Not Enter This Door
Ding ding dang dang, the clinking sound of coins shaking continued to echo in the arena.
The two Immortal Sect envoys walked among the crowd of examinees, constantly plucking bulging-bellied Qing Fu from the examinees’ bodies like picking fruits and vegetables.
This scene not only left the examinees in the midst stunned, but also shocked the surrounding families and relatives watching, their faces instantly showing anger.
On the contrary, the Dojo Masters all had calm expressions, at most frowning at the scene before them, but harboring no intention to stop it.
Even if young disciples beside them were indignant and wanted to curse aloud, they were immediately sternly stopped by these Dojo Masters:
“Shut your mouth!”
In the silence, the sky had already darkened.
The marketplace onlookers on the outermost edge only saw glowing green dots flying up and landing on the crowd of examinees, unaware that the promising examinees in their eyes were being drained of blood like blood ghosts.
The onlookers kept discussing animatedly:
“What are those green lights? Magic?”
“This method of elimination is the first I’ve seen.”
In the end, the two Immortal Sect envoys in the arena, no matter how fast their hands were, could not pluck all the Qing Fu from the numerous examinees.
One by one, the fully engorged Qing Fu detached themselves from behind the examinees, falling to the ground with crisp sounds.
Some Qing Fu, overly full from sucking, burst with a pop into a puddle of blood upon hitting the ground.
Batch after batch of Qing Fu fell densely to the ground.
Finally, a thudding sound rang out.
One examinee could no longer endure it; his body weakened, his vision blackened, he felt the world spinning, and he collapsed to the ground.
Once he fell, the Qing Fu on his body did not scatter, but continued clinging to him, sucking blood.
The two Immortal Sect envoys saw this, stepped forward, and directly kicked the fallen examinee out of the Qing Fu swarm.
They kept shouting: “One eliminated!”
“Anyone who knows him, quickly carry him away.”
These words reached the ears of the other examinees, making many of them tense up, realizing that once they fell, it meant failure in the Spring Examination.
This made many dizzy examinees grit their teeth against the discomfort and continue holding out on the high platform; it also made some who wanted to fake illness quickly abandon the idea.
After successively eliminating twenty or thirty people, the elimination rate of the remaining examinees suddenly slowed.
For a full half quarter-hour, not a single examinee fell.
Seeing this, the two Immortal Sect envoys chatted idly: “Tsk, this method is truly effective. Those with unstable foundations were immediately weeded out.”
“Anyone who broke through temporarily with drugs, superficially at Third Calamity but actually deficient in Qi and Blood, or faking Third Calamity, were all among those just eliminated. The current number is normal.”
The two of them chatted and laughed, completely disregarding the examinees, families, Dojo Masters, and others.
Among the examinees.
Fang Shu continued to hold out. Although he was far from blood exhaustion, continuing like this might even damage his foundation.
Moreover, if time ran out and others chose to burn their foundation to keep holding out while he did not, he would be outdone and directly eliminated.
He thought to himself: “Is this selection or squeezing oil?”
If those two envoys did not know when to stop, someone might be drained to death alive today.
In his gloomy mood, Fang Shu was just “fish meat” on the chopping block, only able to be manipulated, utterly helpless.
He had repeatedly tried to seal off his Qi and Blood to prevent the Qing Fu from drawing his blood, even attempting to use his body’s Poisonous Blood to poison them.
But any such action only caused fluctuations in his Qi and Blood, making the Qing Fu blood bugs even more excited!
Fortunately, after continuing for several more quarter-hours, when a layer of Qing Fu Blood Money had accumulated on the ground, the Immortal Sect female envoy still standing on the high platform spoke:
“Enough.”
Her words clearly reached the ears of everyone within thirty zhang around. Fang Shu and the others felt delighted in their hearts, and even the Dojo Masters relaxed their expressions.
Only the two envoys who had released the bugs showed hesitation, saying:
“Fellow Daoist Zong, this Blood Money is different from ordinary Blood Money; it’s Third Calamity Blood Money, also called ‘worth a hundred coins’.”
“Don’t be hasty, Fellow Daoist. There are still forty-seven examinees in the arena; we’ve only eliminated a small portion!”
Zheng!
A flash of cold light seemed to gleam on the high platform.
The calm-faced Female Immortal of the Zong Family opened her eyes. She looked at the two Immortal Sect envoys and said flatly: “Do you two Fellow Daoists need me to repeat myself?”
The two Immortal Sect envoys stiffened. They immediately cupped hands toward the Female Immortal of the Zong Family, then began forming hand seals or playing flutes as appropriate.
Buzz buzz buzz.
The Qing Fu blood bugs that had been on Fang Shu and the others detached from their bodies one after another, forming two streams that burrowed into the waists of the two Immortal Sect envoys.
The examinees, drained of blood for so long, were finally free of the bugs, each showing a deathly pale face.
Many relaxed with a sigh of relief, their legs buckling, Qi and Blood severely damaged; even quite a few examinees directly collapsed to the ground, breaking out in cold sweat.
Fang Shu stood among them, no exception; his face was also pale, his limbs weak.
In stark contrast, the two Immortal Sect envoys were hurriedly sweeping up the Qing Fu Blood Money from the ground and packing it into three large jars.
These two guys showed unrestrained delight on their faces.
Just as someone recovered enough to cup hands toward the Zong Family woman on the high platform in thanks, they saw the two Immortal Sect envoys reverently carrying the jar with the most Blood Money to her.
She accepted it without any pretense, waving her sleeve to collect all the Blood Money in the jar into it.
This action left all the examinees silent.
Before the crowd could calm their emotions, the Immortal Sect envoys who had collected the money produced a giant Bronze Bell ten feet tall and placed it in the arena with a thud.
They shouted:
“Those who can still stand, get up and ring the bell. This Bronze Bell is specially made by the sect; three zhang of Qi and Blood can ring it, to prevent imposters from sneaking into the sect.”
But upon hearing this, even the weak and Qi-deficient examinees erupted in curses.
“Damn it! Our Qi and Blood just took a huge hit; how can we ring this giant bell?”
“May we ask you two Immortal Elders, are you deliberately making things difficult for us?”
Many glared at the two with hateful expressions, as if they wanted to devour them.
Fang Shu blended in among them, similarly sneering inwardly but not speaking out.
Soon, many turned their gazes to the Female Immortal of the Zong Family, hoping she would intervene again for fairness.
But the Zong Family woman was already sitting cross-legged in meditation, not glancing at the crowd again, letting the two “subordinates” do as they pleased.
Amid the clamor, one Immortal Sect envoy sneered:
“Whether you can ring it or not is your business.
Anyway, after three quarter-hours, only those who ring it can formally enter the selection.”
After speaking, the two imitated the Zong Family woman, slightly closing their eyes and ignoring the crowd.
At this point, the Dojo Masters outside the arena finally intervened.
But they only dared to quietly transmit voices: “Quickly regulate your breathing and refine your medicine.”
As examinees realized one after another that the two Immortal Sect envoys did not prohibit taking medicine, they stopped cursing and instead sat cross-legged, swallowing the drugs in their hands.
Some who did not have enough medicine on them or had not brought any simply asked friends and family outside the arena; the two Immortal Sect envoys did not stop them.
Soon, examinees stepped forward to try, but the first batch all failed.
It was not until a quarter-hour later that someone had recovered most of their strength, mustered all their Qi and Blood to strike the bell, and finally produced the first dong.
The person’s face lit up with ecstatic joy, and under the direction of the two Immortal Sect envoys, they quickly stood to one side.
However, after this first examinee rang the bell, the flush on their face had not faded, clearly showing signs of having taken potent medicine harmful to the body.
Fang Shu did not take potent medicine.
He only took Mushroom Treasure Medicine. Fortunately, the effect was potent; within a quarter-hour, it fully restored his Qi and Blood, though his body still felt somewhat unsteady.
A little over a quarter-hour later, he too successfully rang the giant bell and stood with a slight relaxation among the passers.
Two quarter-hours later, the remaining examinees all looked anxious.
These people either had meager backgrounds without superior medicines, or had been drained too harshly earlier, such that even Precious Medicines could not repair them in time.
Foundations and backgrounds were laid bare at this moment.
Thus, some examinees in the arena shamelessly begged others for medicine, extremely obsequious, not only making heavy promises but even kneeling to kowtow.
But whether examinees or Dojo Masters, all watched coldly; how could they aid the enemy at this time?
In an instant, the remaining people grew frantic, filling the arena with voices of resentment and wailing:
“It’s all your fault; who told you not to bring medicine?”
“Father, your son is unfilial; we can only accept our fate…”
Among them, some, seeing their medicine exhausted, even agitatedly shouted:
“No more? Then quick, give me some milk!”
