Nan Gong Huan didn’t stop her. She simply watched as Nan Gong Qian’er fled.

  "Ah Huan, she’s gone," Ye Wan Jun said, still feeling nauseous from the sticky worm juice under her feet.

  "She can’t escape. It’s about time. Let’s leave too," Nan Gong Huan immediately activated her red ring and left the area.

  Ye Wan Jun saw this and followed suit, activating his red ring to leave as well.

  At the judges’ platform, Nan Gong Qian’er was still rolling on the ground in agony, a pitiful sight.

  "Ah—"

  Her screams sent chills down the spines of the onlookers. It was the first time anyone had seen Nan Gong Qian’er acting like a madwoman. Moreover, everyone noticed that black spots had appeared on her face, almost identical to Nan Gong Huan’s, but even uglier!

  "Hold her down! See what’s wrong with her!" the city lord shouted. The judges were equally baffled.

  They had no idea what had happened to Nan Gong Qian’er or that she had activated the Gu worm. They only thought she had encountered extreme danger and fled back.

  Immediately, a physician stepped forward to examine her.

  Wei Yu Gong, who had been waiting outside, also wanted to rush forward, but Shen Ye Rong was faster. She swiftly reached her daughter’s side, pressing several acupoints and biting her own finger to let her blood flow into Nan Gong Qian’er’s mouth.

  Only then did Nan Gong Qian’er slowly stop struggling and faint.

  "How could this be..." Shen Ye Rong held her daughter, her face pale and her hands trembling. Having raised Gu worms for so many years, how could she not understand the situation?

  She had spent years nurturing this pair of mother-child Gu worms with her essence blood. How could the child worm now be inside Qian’er?

  With the mother worm dead, the only way to save Qian’er was to use her own heart’s blood...

  Thinking this, Shen Ye Rong pulled out a dagger and stabbed her own heart, extracting a drop of heart’s blood, which she dripped into Nan Gong Qian’er’s mouth.

  Immediately, a rice-sized Gu worm was vomited out by Nan Gong Qian’er. Though small, the worm’s body was twisted like a rope, struggling on the ground for a moment before dying completely.

  Shen Ye Rong then pressed several acupoints on herself to preserve her life.

  The crowd erupted in chaos at the sight.

  Wei Yu Gong’s face changed, and he quietly retreated several steps, blending into the crowd and distancing himself from Shen Ye Rong.

  At that moment, a pair of black boots adorned with lotus and carp patterns stepped into Shen Ye Rong’s view.

  "Shen Ye Rong, you instigated Nan Gong Qian’er to use Gu worms, harming all the trial disciples. You and your daughter are two of a kind, colluding like snakes and rats. What do you have to say for yourself?" Nan Gong Huan’s voice was calm, so calm that it betrayed no emotion.

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  Shen Ye Rong slowly looked up, her eyes dark and sinister. Only then did she notice that the black spots on Nan Gong Huan’s face had faded significantly, turning from deep black to light gray in just a few days.

  "Your face... impossible, I planted the Gu worm in you... How did you do it? Why didn’t I notice?" Shen Ye Rong gritted her teeth and whispered, but her words were heard by everyone.

  This revelation caused an uproar in the crowd!

  "What does she mean? Shen Ye Rong planted Gu worms? Or was it Nan Gong Qian’er?"

  "Idiot, both of them planted Gu worms and harmed all the trial disciples!"

  "No way, how did she plant Gu worms in so many people?"

  "Ugh, stop talking. Just thinking about worms makes me sick."

  Hearing the crowd’s curses, Shen Ye Rong’s face turned even paler.

  "If you could have noticed, little sister Qian’er wouldn’t have ended up like this," Nan Gong Huan smiled slightly, tilting her head. "Do you know Black Lotus? She’s my senior sister."

  She made up another identity to confuse the situation, just as she had told Ye Sang and Ye Wan Jun.

  Xue Lao and Song Xi Ran were secretly shocked. Black Lotus was her senior sister? They wondered which powerful sect they belonged to.

  "Black Lotus..." At the mention of these two words, Shen Ye Rong’s barely stabilized heart felt like it was about to burst with anger!

  How could she not know? That despicable pharmacist who had swindled over thirty million spirit herbs from her at the medicine shop!

  "My senior sister discovered the Gu worms in the potions and instructed me to collect some potions and send them to the certification association for testing. I think the trial disciples here would also like to testify against you," Nan Gong Huan said, spreading her hands.

  "Me! I’ll testify!" The two Chi family disciples she had saved earlier had returned and eagerly stepped forward, shouting, "Shen Ye Rong sold us potions a few nights ago, and each one contained Gu worms! We were all tricked!"

  Even the younger brother Ye Qi He came forward. "That’s right! Thankfully, our eldest brother was wise and, at Black Lotus’s request, collected our potions and sent them to the certification association for testing. Otherwise, we would have been infected too!"

  Besides these two teams, several other teams that had returned early also stepped forward to testify. The Chi family disciples had already informed them, and everyone knew the culprits were this mother-daughter pair.

  What was distressing was that the Gu worms in their bodies hadn’t been removed!

  Finally, amidst the crowd’s uproar, Xue Lao also stood up and said, "Two days ago, I did receive many potions. After investigation, they indeed came from Shen Ye Rong. The test results confirmed that each potion contained Gu worms."

  Xue Lao’s clarification caused the crowd to erupt again.

  "How disgusting! They really used Gu worms!"

  "Ah, what about my child? My child also drank the potion!"

  "Shen Ye Rong, you vile woman! To think you’d stoop so low for victory. You and Nan Gong Qian’er are both despicable! Ugh!"

  "Old witch, execute her by a thousand cuts! Execute her by a thousand cuts!"

  The curses were one-sided, and some even threw rotten vegetables and eggs at the mother and daughter. The stench was so overwhelming that Nan Gong Huan had to retreat out of the line of fire.

  Wei Yu Gong looked at the scene in disbelief, clutching his chest. He had also drunk the potion. Did that mean he was...

  Shen Ye Rong lowered her head, her eyes dark and sinister.

  "Teacher, such a significant matter, and I never heard you mention it," Song Xi Ran said in surprise. She had been at the certification association for several days before the trial but hadn’t heard about this.

  "Black Lotus secretly handed it to me, so I didn’t make it public," Xue Lao stroked his beard and admitted. He didn’t know what relationship Black Lotus had with the Ye family, but she had managed to collect all the potions auctioned by the Ye family that day.

  "So that’s how it was," Song Xi Ran was surprised again. She glanced at the unconscious Nan Gong Qian’er and suddenly had a bold thought.

  Could it be that the Purple Star wasn’t Nan Gong Qian’er, but... Black Lotus?

  Otherwise, how could her incredible actions be explained?

  "Who is Black Lotus?" Song Que looked confused. Although he also felt like cursing the mother and daughter for the Gu worm incident, he was afraid that if Nan Gong Qian’er really was the Purple Star, losing her would be a great loss.