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Midnight, the thick fog veiled the crescent moon.

In the silence of the night, a bellow sounded in the air.

"Stop right there! You can't run!" 

On the pitch-black road, over thirty Tang Sect disciples were holding torches, a hand holding a sword, closely pursuing the several shadows in front of them.

The several shadows were moving in a demon-like speed. A person dodged and turned to a street at the corner.

After the Tang Sect disciples bypass the corner street, they only found the people they were pursuing gone.

Leading them is a disciple of Tang Sect's second elder, Zhu Junzhe. His attention was on the empty street in front of them. Gnashing his teeth, he smashed a fist onto the wall, furious: "Find them for me! The demonic sect's underlings must be hiding in the vicinity!"

This evening, Blood Flame Sect attacked Tang Sect. However, they weren't careful enough in the ambush. At this point, they had no choice but to flee.

These kinds of hassle in the middle of the night,  still going after those fleeing for so long, quite a few disciples were somewhat complaining inwardly. But none of them dared to voice their opposition. They could only yield and obey Zhu Junzhe's commands.

The flames swayed, and the disciples of Tang Sect scattered. Two people a group, two groups a squadron. Attentively searching their surroundings.

The great elders of Tang Sect, Zhu Xing'an, and third elder Bi Yuanming rushed to the location.

"Junzhe, where is she?"

Zhu Junzhe cupped his fist and humbly apologized: "Answering Shifu, Tu'er[1] is incapable. We lost them!"

[1] A way of saying "This Disciple".

Zhu Xing'an flung his sleeve and reprimanded: "Disgraceful! The demonic cult's she-devil has been inflicted with my Five Scattering Poison, and her inner strength is unusable for anything. Yet you still managed to lose her!"

Zhu Junzhe silently bowed his head, not daring to go against Zhu Xing'an.

Aside from watching, Bi Yuanming hurriedly soothed: "Da Shixiong[2], don't be angry.  That she-devil has been inflicted with your poison. It doesn't matter whether we find her or not. After all, aside from our Tang Sect's people, the only ones able to clear out the poison are Divine Doctor Sect's group of people! Divine Doctor Sect, those stubborn old men, definitely won't help. Looking at this, it seems that she-devil is bound to not live for long! In this case, we don't have to waste our strength!"

[2] A way of calling a senior under the same master's tutelage.

In Jianghu[3], orthodox sects have their alliances, and unorthodox sects also have their alliances. Both orthodox and unorthodox sects have their own alliances.

[3] The world of martial artists and pugilists.

Unfortunately, this was Blood Flame Sect, a powerful demonic sect that not only provoke orthodox sects into pursuing and exterminating them, but also the unorthodox into loathing.

That is because each and every one of Blood Flame Sect's people are extremely arrogant. As long as someone ticked them off, regardless of who the other party was, Blood Flame Sect's people would dare rush to their doorstep to have their revenge.

Just revenge wouldn't really be a problem, It's just that they always rush up with grand fanfare, not knowing how to hide their identity. They're even afraid that others won't know that they're people from a demonic sect.

Therefore, after who-knows-how-many years of accumulation, Blood Flame Sect had long had innumerable enemies. This made people acknowledge them as a powerful demonic sect in the entire Jianghu.

Even the extremely vicious people from Fiend Valley, when speaking of Blood Flame Sect, their faces turned to that of hate and aversion.

The night was dark.

It was windy, and somewhat cold.

The painstakingly fruitless search of Tang Sect's disciples' had no other option but to be stopped at this point. 

They were about to withdraw, but they didn't expect that those people Blood Flame Sect would climb over the wall and hide in the backyard of a shop in the street without being found by them.

One wall apart. The people at the inner side of the wall could hear the sounds outside the wall, but the people outside the wall won't find them.

Only when they heard the sounds outside become smaller and smaller did they dare make a sound.

"Qiu Hufa[4]! What should we do! Jiaozhu[5] is actually inflicted with the Five Scattering Poison! What should we do about this ah! Do you have a cure?"

Jing Rong yelled with an anxious face.

[4] Hufa: Title of a guardian of a sect, placed on the second highest position.

[5] Jiaozhu: A way of calling the founder/leader of a sect.

Among these people on the go, only Qiu Chengye had a little medical skill, so Jing Rong could only rely on him.

Qu Chengye also became incessantly worried when he heard that.

Just now, when Zhu Xing'an shot the poison dart at Zhong Shujin, he had already sealed her heart's veins to prevent the poison from spreading.

At that time, he didn't know where to begin as he didn't know what poison it was, but now that he knew, he was even more confused as to where he should begin.

The five poison teaching is a poison unique to Tang Sect. Only Tang Sect's people knew how to make this poison. Without knowledge of the poison formula, they wouldn't be able to prescribe the antidote. This was the biggest problem.

"This Five Scattering Poison, I can't solve it ah! This poison, besides Tang Sect's people, only the Divine Doctor Sect can solve it! But Divine Doctor Sect's people had already announced that they won't help our Blood Flame Sect's people, so even if we go and seek their help, it'd also be futile!"

Hearing the words, Ju Yuze said: "Would you like me to change Jiaozhu's appearance into that of another person's and carry Jiaozhu to the Divine Doctor Valley to be treated by Divine Doctor Sect's people? How?"

Leng Shaoying smacked Ju Yuze's head and ignored him: "Damned idiot! The Five Scattering Poison will fully poison in less than five days. Here and the Divine Doctor Valley are four days apart. By the time we carried Jiaozhu to Divine Doctor Sect, Jiaozhu would've been poisoned to death!"

Li Ziming agreed: "Ying Jie[6] is right! This method is in no way feasible. Regardless of this trip's initial problems, this evening, Jiaozhu is inflicted with the Five Scattering Poison. Tang Sect will definitely spread the news. If we carry our Five-Scattering-Poison-inflicted Jiaozhu to Divine Doctor Sect, even if we change the appearance, they'll still be able to tell it's Jiaozhu! When that happens, they won't be so courteous towards Jiaozhu. We'd just be delivering ourselves to death's doorstep!"

[6] Abbreviation of Shaoying Jiejie.

Jing Rong broke down.

"What are we going to do! We can't possibly let Jiaozhu die!"

Zhong Shujin restrained her words.

"That's it, stop quarreling!"

Zhong Shujin held Jing Rong's shoulder and supported herself with Jing Rong. 

When they were finally quiet, she glanced at the poison dart nailed to her left arm and asked: "Uncle Qiu, if I sever my arm, will the poison halt?"

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Note: This is my very first historical-setting translation, so please help me fix wrong terms if I happen to not know or use them wrongly! 

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