The Unseen Poison

The cave mouth was deep and nearly vertical, a full hundred zhang in depth. The handsome youth jumped down, using his Xiantian true yuan to make his body as light as a feather, occasionally grabbing at the walls of the deep shaft to slow his descent. It took him a considerable amount of time before he finally reached the bottom.

“So deep. Now, where is Master’s secret chamber?” The handsome youth looked around carefully as he advanced along the winding passage. Up ahead, a blinding green light appeared. Soon, he spotted an open stone door, behind which was a sea of green light, along with waves of energy that made one’s heart tremble.

“Master.” The handsome youth called out from outside the stone door.

“Enter.” A sharp, thin voice barked.

“Yes.” Suppressing his fear, the handsome youth walked inside. This was a sealed stone chamber about ten-plus zhang in diameter. In the center of the chamber was a large boulder, upon which sat a man dressed in a wide black robe, his long black hair loose, his face gaunt and pale. His eyes glowed with an eerie green light, and his entire body emanated a palpable, malevolent aura.

Before him was a large cauldron. Floating above a burning green flame that radiated a chilling cold was a simple, blood-red cloth banner. On this banner were faint, blurry, savage faces, silently screaming and roaring as they devoured and fought each other. The entire banner was wreathed in a layer of visible black light.

“Karmic sin!” The handsome youth’s heart trembled. “Heavy karmic sin.”

Doing good deeds accrued karmic merit; doing evil deeds accrued karmic sin. Those with great karmic sin naturally possessed a terrifying evil aura that could chill the heart. But for a cloth banner to actually manifest visible karmic sin was truly shocking.

“This is a magic treasure born from boundless sin.” The handsome youth was both terrified and unable to suppress a surge of greed. He knew very well that crafting such a great-sin magic treasure would make the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations unimaginably terrifying, but the power of the treasure itself would be astonishingly great. This was why, even though evil arts brought immense karmic sin, cultivators still flocked to learn them.

The path of evil was easier, faster, and even allowed one to fight above their level.

“No wonder Master said that once his treasure is complete, even Wanxiang Adepts would fear him.” The handsome youth held his breath.

“Xiao Qi.” The man with the loose hair and sharp, thin voice spoke, sitting cross-legged. “Gan’er was my first disciple, like a son to me! This Ji Ning killed my son. How could I, Bo Zishan, spare him?”

The handsome youth lowered his head.

“I am in the middle of refining my treasure and cannot leave.” Bo Zishan’s green eyes glanced at the handsome youth. The process of refining such a great-sin treasure was itself extremely dangerous. Some refiners were counterattacked and devoured by countless vengeful spirits, their souls scattered. Of course, he could forcibly stop, but the cost would be great.

“Xiao Qi, I gift you a portion of ‘Erosion of the Heart Powder’.” A porcelain bottle appeared in the palm of Bo Zishan’s left hand. He casually tossed it, sending it flying toward the handsome youth.

The handsome youth quickly caught it, staring at the bottle in his hand with horror. “Erosion of the Heart Powder?”

He had heard of the infamous Erosion of the Heart Powder. A single bottle of this was more precious than a graded treasure. Countless Zifu Disciples had died from it. The powder had become increasingly difficult to obtain. His master could only get this terrifying poison thanks to his sect connections.

“If I were not confined here, why would I waste a portion of Erosion of the Heart Powder?” Bo Zishan’s voice was sharp and thin. “Remember, smash the bottle within ten zhang of Ji Ning, and he will surely be poisoned. Once the Erosion of the Heart Powder enters the body, its effect is slow, taking a full three days to work. But once poisoned, it is virtually impossible to expel. Even if he is a Fiendgod Body Refining Xiantian lifeform cultivating the legendary number one Fiendgod Body Refining technique, the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, he will be dead for certain!”

The handsome youth nodded.

“Remember, be careful yourself. Stay far away. If you get poisoned, come back to me for the antidote.” Bo Zishan said.

“I am confident in simply releasing the poison.” The handsome youth said.

“Go.” Bo Zishan’s gaze fell back on the blood-red cloth banner being roasted by the green flame. Countless vengeful spirits emerged from the banner, silently screaming and roaring at him in fury. His green, gleaming eyes remained cold and sinister.

The handsome youth retreated respectfully. He then leaped up along the deep, dark shaft, grabbing at protrusions on the stone wall. Soon, he emerged from the cave mouth.

Clank, clank, clank…

Iron plates rotated, and the cave mouth sealed shut again.

…

Black mist filled the air.

Surrounded by the Water-Fire Lotus, Ji Ning’s soul was frantically deducing formations. Model after model of formations manifested within his sea of consciousness, their structures constantly shifting. Through this mad research, his insights into the Dao of Formations were steadily increasing.

“Eh?” Ji Ning suddenly felt a pang of anxiety.

With his soul as powerful as it was, he could dimly sense incoming deadly danger on a subconscious level. The last time his soul had such a premonition was when he was about to face the third trial in the ancient aquatic estate. But this time, the feeling was even stronger, as if no matter how he struggled, he could not escape the approaching crisis.

“Danger?” Ji Ning opened his eyes and looked around.

Suddenly—

The black mist to his left and front parted of its own accord. As it parted, countless white threads shot forward like a net. In the distance, the handsome youth held a horsetail whisk in one hand and a Dao talisman in the other. The white threads from the whisk were already upon Ji Ning.

“Hmph.” Twin swords appeared in Ji Ning’s hands, and the Water-Fire Lotus moved to block the white threads.

BOOM!

The moment the thousands of white threads collided with the Water-Fire Lotus, there was an explosion. Ji Ning realized that the thousands of white threads were wrapped around a porcelain bottle. At the moment of impact, they shattered the bottle. The moment he saw the bottle break, the intense, ominous premonition from his soul grew even stronger, causing Ji Ning’s expression to change.

“There must be something in that bottle!” Ji Ning was no fool, but he could see nothing, and it was odorless!

The handsome youth in the distance immediately withdrew his whisk the moment the bottle shattered, activated a teleportation talisman, and vanished into thin air.

“This… this bottle…” Ji Ning felt a wave of unease.

“Ahh.”

Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through his heart. Ji Ning’s face went pale as he clutched his chest. Crimsonbright divine power immediately surged through his body, searching for the toxin. But no matter how he probed, he could not find a trace of any poison. Yet, the pain in his heart intensified gradually, and a dull ache spread throughout his entire body. It was unstoppable, even reaching his head.

“What do I do? The poison is seeping into my entire body. My Crimsonbright divine power can’t sense it. My divine sense can’t detect it either.” Ji Ning was reminded of what the Black Ox had said in the aquatic estate. “Don’t underestimate any opponent, especially cultivators.”

Cultivators had countless methods. An opponent could poison you with a single dose without ever having to fight you. No matter how strong you were in battle, they simply wouldn’t engage.

This was the nature of cultivators!

You never knew what methods they possessed…

“Hahaha.” A triumphant laugh came from afar. “Ji Ning, you may be a monstrous genius, but you are dead for sure!”

Within the great formation, Ji Ning’s expression was grim. Although his Crimsonbright divine power and divine sense could not detect the poison, the pain spreading through his body gave him a clear feeling. This invisible toxin was slowly but steadily eroding every part of him. The process was gradual, but it was unwavering, and the powerful vitality of his Fiendgod body was unable to expel it.

“What a terrifying poison. Colorless, odorless, and undetectable,” Ji Ning thought in alarm. “It doesn’t act instantly like most poisons; instead, it seems to root itself in every single cell, impossible to eradicate. At this rate, my body will be finished in a day or two.”

“A day or two?”

Ji Ning’s eyes burned with a mad resolve.

“In these final one or two days, even if I must die, I will break this formation first.” A towering rage burned within his heart. “I’ll kill them all, every last one. Perhaps if I’m lucky, I can find the antidote on them.”

“There’s no turning back.”

“I must break the formation!”

Ji Ning sat down cross-legged, closing his eyes. The protective Water-Fire Lotus swirled around him as he threw himself into a desperate, all-out effort to deduce the formation.

…

Inside the mountain belly.

The handsome youth walked in, glancing at the captured Ji clan members: Mengyu, Ji Wuyu, and others, who were staring at him with fury and shock. The Ji clan members from the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Ancestral branches were also glaring at him in anger.

“What are you looking at? Your Ji Ning has been poisoned. He will die within three days.” The handsome youth was supremely confident. “Let alone him, even a Zifu Disciple who ingests this poison will die for sure.”

“Our Ji clan’s Patriarch will definitely come.”

“He will kill all of you, and he will save Young Master Ji Ning.”

Mengyu and the others refused to believe Ji Ning would die.

“Hahaha, your Patriarch?” The handsome youth laughed arrogantly. “How could a small tribe like yours in the Yan Mountains have access to such poison? Even within my sect, this poison is incredibly hard to obtain. Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to tell you what poison it is.”

“Go to hell!”

“You will all die!”

The Ji clan members cursed one after another. Even the other bound Xiantian lifeforms joined in, cursing in despair.

…

Inside the inner city of the Ji Clan’s Western Prefecture.

Ji Yichuan was accompanying his wife, Yuchi Snow, occasionally glancing toward the door.

Suddenly, through the doorway, he saw a Greenflame Bird in the distant sky. On its back were two figures: one was Ji Honghua in her red robes, and the other was an ashen-robed old man with fiery red hair. Ji Yichuan recognized him instantly—he was the true pillar of the entire Ji clan: the Patriarch, Ji Jiuhuo!

“Snow, Snow, the Patriarch is here!” Ji Yichuan called out hastily.

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