C7 New Harvest: Medical Book and Pill Dao

Bang!

Chen Qiang hit the ground, his blood seeping out and staining the earth beneath him. The final image etched in his mind was Ke Dong's resigned head shake, and the last words that echoed were: "Who's to blame?"

Ah!

A piercing scream erupted as Yu Xuan, paralyzed by fear, crumpled to the ground, her face ashen and her legs shaking uncontrollably.

She had always been the face of the company at the front desk; such violence was alien to her.

Now, terror-stricken, she couldn't even muster regret for having chosen the wrong side.

Ke Dong had initially harbored a flicker of sympathy for her, but the labyrinth's perils had dissuaded him from including Yu Xuan in his journey. Seeing her quick change of allegiance, any remaining pity evaporated.

The onlookers, who had doubted Ke Dong, were now frozen in shock, instinctively retreating and regarding him with a mix of fear and respect.

In this maze, killing was not uncommon, yet few possessed Ke Dong's decisive lethality.

What's more, they had all seen Chen Qiang's formidable prowess, but even he had been effortlessly dispatched by Ke Dong.

Is this what it means to be a true power player?

Soong Wan gazed at the lifeless Chen Qiang, his thoughts a tangled web.

He had entered the scene as a martial arts master, only to end up as a mere backdrop.

His earlier attempts to ally with Ke Dong against Chen Qiang now seemed laughable; Ke Dong had no need for such alliances.

Recognizing the chasm between himself and Ke Dong, Soong Wan grasped why his offer to team up had been rebuffed.

He, too, would not have wanted to navigate the maze with dead weight. Ke Dong's silence on the matter was a courtesy.

Ke Dong maintained a stoic facade, but internally he grappled with discomfort—this was his first kill.

Before this maze, he was just another person. Without the cultivation interface, it could have been him lying there.

Ke Dong approached Chen Qiang's body in silence, drew the Coldsteel Sword, and cleaned the blade on the dead man's clothing. Without another glance at the onlookers, he moved on.

Yet, as he wiped the blood from Chen Qiang's body, the action sent another wave of shock through the onlookers. Paired with Ke Dong's stoic expression, the image of a cold-blooded killer was etched into their minds, sending a shiver down their spines.

Once the blood was cleaned from the Coldsteel Sword, Ke Dong turned his attention to the far end of the clearing. A long wall stood there, dotted with numerous doors, their destinations unknown.

Ke Dong quickly realized that despite its size, this clearing was nothing more than an oversized room, capable of holding more people but not suitable for long-term survival due to the lack of essentials like food and water. The others might not have recognized this yet, but hunger and thirst would soon make it painfully clear.

Knowing they would have to leave eventually, Ke Dong decided it was best to set out sooner rather than later. Lingering here held no appeal, especially with the prospect of becoming a spectacle for the crowd. After all, masters capable of slaying with a Flying Sword, like Ke Dong, were a rare breed.

With his mind made up, Ke Dong approached the wall, contemplating his choice of door. In the maze, strength was secondary to the wisdom of the right choice; one misstep could mean the difference between paradise and perdition.

Wang Chun, witnessing Ke Dong's preparations to depart, lunged at Chen Qiang's body in a frenzy, ripping at it desperately.

"Give me back the Iron Shirt! Give it back!"

"It's mine! All mine!"

Before entering the maze, Wang Chun had been a person of stature, but the maze had turned his world upside down. The sight of the Iron Shirt slipping from his grasp into Chen Qiang's, empowering Chen Qiang while leaving him with nothing, had created a chasm in his psyche, driving him to the brink of madness.

Yu Xuan, seeing Wang Chun's manic breakdown, quickly backed away, eager to distance herself from him. But her movement caught his eye. With bloodshot eyes, he fixated on Yu Xuan and lunged at her.

"You were Chen Qiang's woman, so you'll settle his debts!"

"Ah! Let me go, let me go! This has nothing to do with me..."

Yu Xuan stood no chance against Wang Chun, pleading desperately, but Wang Chun had lost all reason and was unrelenting in his grip.

The bystanders were shocked once more, realizing that without his wealth, the once untouchable billionaire was indistinguishable from any ordinary person.

Soong Wan watched Wang Chun's breakdown with a hint of surprise but chose not to intervene.

Having seen Ke Dong and Chen Qiang's formidable abilities, he understood that his martial arts mastery wasn't enough to ensure his safety in the maze; staying out of trouble seemed the wiser course.

Ke Dong, overhearing the disturbance, glanced back at Wang Chun and Yu Xuan with indifference, devoid of any sympathy for Yu Xuan.

Approaching a door, Ke Dong inhaled deeply and turned the handle, stepping through without a second thought.

Unable to discern any differences between the doors from the outside or predict what lay beyond, he resigned his fate to chance.

As Ke Dong disappeared into the room, Soong Wan made his move, dashing to follow him in before the door shut. To his astonishment, as Ke Dong vanished, so did the door, leaving nothing but a cold wall.

Staring at the wall in disbelief, Soong Wan realized that in this maze, a door could only be entered once, foiling any attempts to follow or cheat.

Inside, Ke Dong readied himself, positioning the Coldsteel Sword defensively across his chest as he surveyed the room. A rope dangled from the ceiling, suspending a wooden box, while sharp stones lay scattered in a corner.

The room's ceiling was four meters high, the rope a mere eighty centimeters, placing the box roughly three meters and twenty centimeters from the ground—just beyond the reach of a standard basketball hoop at three meters and five centimeters.

Lacking the extraordinary leaping ability of a professional basketball player, Ke Dong would have to resort to using the sharp stones at the base of the wall, attempting to sever the rope and claim the box.

This presented an intriguing challenge indeed.

A playful smirk graced Ke Dong's face. To the average person, this task might pose some difficulty, but for a cultivator like Ke Dong, it was hardly a concern.

He picked up a stone chip and channeled a wisp of Spiritual Qi within him, hurling the chip with precision. It struck the rope squarely, slicing it with ease, and the wooden box plummeted. Ke Dong caught it effortlessly as it fell.

Upon opening the box, a thread-bound tome caught his eye. Emblazoned on the cover were bold characters that stood out prominently: Medical Classic of Alchemy.