The two Vice Presidents exchanged glances and both pretended not to hear.
Everyone else tried their best to make themselves invisible.
"Vice President Wang, Vice President Liu!" Sophie Sun called out to the two Vice Presidents, enunciating each word.
"President, what's wrong?" Why is she calling us?
"Let's go up the mountain together and take a look, see what's really going on!"
The two Vice Presidents had no choice but to nod, and the three of them hurried off together.
Leo Bo followed after them.
Azure Phoenix saw this and also tagged along.
Sure enough, the whole mountainside had been thoroughly tilled, but all the Black Ginseng was dead.
The once vibrant terraced fields had turned into a scene of utter desolation.
Sophie Sun had already heard from Leo Bo about Azure Phoenix’s method of tilling the soil. While secretly impressed by her cultivation, she also suspected that Azure Phoenix had used hidden force to damage the Black Ginseng roots.
So she dug up some of the dead Black Ginseng.
However, their roots were all intact and undamaged.
"President, these Black Ginseng are perfectly intact, yet they’ve died so thoroughly. It’s almost as if… they were poisoned by something like Witherbane Elixir," one of the Vice Presidents said.
Sophie Sun shot Azure Phoenix a menacing look and said, "Take some soil samples. Run the tests."
So, they collected soil samples from various spots for testing.
They were all spirit pharmacists—if there had been any toxins in the soil, they would be able to detect it using their methods.
However, after testing soil samples from seventeen or eighteen different locations, they found no trace of any toxins.
Azure Phoenix had used a generous amount of Spiritbane Grass, and by midnight last night, it had completely dispersed the medicinal effects of the Witherbane Elixir.
No wonder they couldn’t detect anything.
Seeing Sophie Sun’s increasingly sour expression, Azure Phoenix smiled sweetly and said, "President, do you believe me now? Once the soil is turned, the Black Ginseng dies!"
Sophie Sun took a deep breath and ignored her.
"I’ve heard that the Vermilion Spirit Alliance holds branch presidents accountable if they fail to deliver their quota of spirit herbs," Azure Phoenix teased. "At best, you lose your position. At worst, you get a major demerit!"
Sophie Sun’s face turned livid. "You. Shut. Up!"
"Hey!" Azure Phoenix sighed. "I understand how you feel. Actually, President, you don’t need to worry so much. Maybe the neighboring country has extra stock—we could buy some and turn it in."
At the market price of five hundred silver taels per plant, seventy thousand Black Ginseng would only cost thirty-five million taels!
That kind of money is nothing for you, President, right?
After all, your family mined Mythril Ore!
Even if the emperor confiscated your land and property, I bet you still have a stash of wealth hidden somewhere—maybe enough to rival a whole country…
"Azure Phoenix!" Sophie Sun’s glare was positively venomous.
Azure Phoenix: "President, do you have any instructions?"
Sophie Sun, regaining her composure, took a deep breath and put on a businesslike expression. "I’ll send a message to the Vermilion Spirit Alliance and ask them to send Falcon to investigate!"
Azure Phoenix: "Falcon, huh…"
"There’s no truth Falcon can’t uncover!" Sophie Sun sneered. "When the time comes… some people better not cry!"
Azure Phoenix said nothing.
Sophie Sun stormed down the mountain, Leo Bo hurried after her and asked in a low voice, "President, if you invite Falcon and he still can’t find anything, what will you do?"
"Once Falcon arrives, he’ll definitely find out that she put poison in the soil!" Sophie Sun declared. "Then, not only will she get a major demerit, but she’ll have to pay for all the Black Ginseng!"