He had been watching the other party drinking earlier, and the other party had only grabbed the wine cup and gourd without touching the wine at all. Yet, under such circumstances, he was still poisoned and rendered a Saint 1-dan intermediate stage expert like him completely helpless. If the other party wasn't a poison master, what else could he be?
More importantly, to be able to poison him so stealthily and with such a potent poison, the other party had to be at least a 6-star poison master!
To think that a poison master of that caliber wouldn't even know the location of the Poison Temple... Are you here to deal with me?
It was laughable that he had intended to poison the other party to death... But now, he was the one who ended up paralyzed from the poison...
"Hehe, if you aren't a poison master, who would know the location of the Poison Temple?"
Zhang Xuan chuckled softly as he snapped his fingers. "Come, spit another mouthful of wine for fun!"
Zhang Xuan easily noticed the other party's intention to poison the wine. Driving his Heaven's Path zhenqi, he immediately neutralized the poison. After which, he infused two surges of zhenqi into the wine, and with a thought, he turned it into lethal poison.
The Heaven's Path zhenqi was incomparably pure, and it could enter any acupoint in one's body. Even a Saint 1-dan intermediate stage expert wouldn't be able to withstand it.
"AHHH..."
As Zhang Xuan spoke, his zhenqi flowed through the other party's body, and with a cry of agony, Hu Yunsheng spurted yet another mouthful of blood.
"You... I will kill you!"
With a pale face, Hu Yunsheng roared furiously as he drove his zhenqi. Leaping up, he charged toward Zhang Xuan.
The head of Inkcloud Quarter, an existence whom even the city lord of Jingyuan City had to treat with respect, was actually poisoned by a Nascent Saint cultivator. Infuriated, he leaped into the air and smashed his palm down.
"Not obedient at all. Come down!"
Sitting on the spot, Zhang Xuan raised his eyelids and snapped his fingers once more.
Pah!
Before the palm could land, Hu Yunsheng's body suddenly convulsed once more, and he fell from the sky, crouching on the ground as if a toad.
"This... poison possesses spirit?"
Hu Yunsheng's body trembled as if he had seen a ghost.
There were two types of poisons. One was without spirituality, and the other was with spirituality.
As long as one searched for the antidote, the former would surely be resolved. On the other hand, the latter was similar to a lifeform, possessing the ability to seek fortune and avoid calamity.
However, a poison with intelligence was complicated. Like a Gu worm, it needed to be raised. At the very least, one had to be an 8-star poison master to concoct it. Could it be that the person before him was an 8-star poison master?
However, 8-star poison masters had to be Saint 6-dan at the very least. Every single one of them was a renowned expert on the Master Teacher Continent, so why would they come to such a remote city in search of the Poison Temple?
His heart was filled with bewilderment and fear.
"Hehe!"
Zhang Xuan smiled faintly, not bothering to explain.
Even if the Heaven's Path zhenqi were to leave his body, it would still be able to move according to his will. Even though it didn't possess any sentience, it was no different from a poison with sentience.
Of course, he could control it at will at a short distance, but once he was too far away, his mental power would not be able to reach it, and he would not be able to control it.
It was unlike the Innate Fetal Poison in his body, which he was unable to rid himself of no matter where he went. It had already gained sentience, such that not even he could do anything about it.
"I … admit defeat!" Upon hearing that it was a poison with sentience, Hu Yunsheng's face reddened and paled. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and said.
He had no choice but to admit defeat. It was not like he was a match for the other party, not to mention that he was poisoned. His life was in the other party's hands, and a single word from the other party was enough to decide his fate.
He wanted to take advantage of the other party to earn some money, but before he could do anything at all, he was already on the verge of death. Just the thought of it left him feeling stifled.
"That's more like it …" Hearing Hu Yunsheng admit defeat, Zhang Xuan chuckled. "I want to know everything about the Poison Temple!"
Hu Yunsheng gritted his teeth. "To be honest, even though our Inkcloud Quarter is good at gathering intelligence, we still don't know much about the Poison Temple. They are extremely cautious …"
"Tell me, is the Poison Temple in the vicinity of Jingyuan City?" Zhang Xuan asked.
"That's right!" Hu Yunsheng nodded. "In the past few years, there have been quite a few people looking into the Poison Temple, and I have done some research as well. I am certain that it is located in Yun Canghai, but I am unable to pinpoint its exact location. Furthermore, I heard that even if one were to find its exact location, without a special token, it would be impossible to enter the Poison Temple! "
"Yun Canghai?" Zhang Xuan frowned.
The Yun Canghai was the largest inland sea in Hongyuan Empire, spanning an area of several hundred thousand kilometers. More importantly, it was home to countless ferocious spirit and saint beasts. Even Saint 3-dan and Saint 5-dan experts would not dare venture into it recklessly.
If the Poison Temple was really located in the Yun Canghai, it would be impossible for one to find it without knowing its exact location.
It was no wonder the old principal was only able to ascertain its exact location. It was indeed well-hidden.
"That's right. This piece of news came from an elder of the Poison Temple who came here to buy some goods, and he accidentally revealed it to me … I really don't know anything else …" Hu Yunsheng's face reddened.
Given that he had been afflicted with the other party's poison, there was a good chance that he would die if he didn't neutralize it.
However, he really didn't have any information that the other party wanted to know.
If the Poison Temple was located in the Yun Canghai … Given the size of the ocean and the countless saint beasts there, who would dare to venture into the Poison Temple recklessly?
"Buy some goods?" Paying no heed to Hu Yunsheng's worries, Zhang Xuan frowned and asked, "An elder of the Poison Temple came here to buy some goods? What did he buy? "
"A hundred-year-old Sepulture Flower was sold in the previous auction. It is one of the best medicinal herbs for concocting poisons, and it is extremely rare. That's why an elder of the Poison Temple came to buy it … In the end, he bought it at an extremely low price …"
Hu Yunsheng's face turned livid.
This Sepulture Flower was something that their Inkcloud Quarter had paid a heavy price for, worth nearly a hundred high-tier spirit stones … Yet, when the other party came to buy it, he poisoned more than a dozen of them and nearly poisoned himself as well. Left with no choice, he had no choice but to sell it at a low price.
It could be said that he had suffered a huge loss this time around, and it had taken him an entire year to recover from it.
This was also the reason why their auction house rarely dealt in medicinal herbs at the moment, fearing that the other party would rob them of their medicinal herbs.
"Do you have any medicinal herbs that the Poison Temple requires here, and they are of high maturity? Can you lure them over? "Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment before asking.
While the Inkcloud Quarter might not know the exact location of the Poison Temple, the elders of the Poison Temple were bound to know of it.
In other words, as long as a poison master appeared and subdued him, he would be able to find the location of the Poison Temple.
Even though his comprehension of poison was only at 2-star at the moment, with his Heaven's Path zhenqi, even a 6-star pinnacle poison master or a Seven Star poison master wouldn't pose any threat to him.
But of course, it wouldn't matter how strong one was. Take the Innate Fetal Poison for example, it was able to ward off calamity, such that even the Heaven's Path zhenqi was unable to do anything to it.
The reason poison masters were able to strike fear into the hearts of countless people was due to their unique abilities and strength.
If not for their fear of Mingshi Tang and the fact that poison was extremely difficult to learn, they would have been one of the occupations of the Upper Nine Paths.
"Medicinal herbs that must be used?"
Understanding the other party's intentions, Hu Yunsheng said awkwardly, "Our Inkcloud Quarter hasn't bought any medicinal herbs in the past few years. Even if we do have some, their value isn't too high … I fear that it will be difficult for us to move him!"
After suffering a loss, they understood the fearsomeness of poison masters. Naturally, they wouldn't be willing to buy medicinal herbs anymore.
Otherwise, wouldn't they suffer a huge loss if a few more came to rob them?
"Then, do you know what kind of medicinal herbs will be able to move him?"
Knowing that his Heaven's Path zhenqi was lingering in Hu Yunsheng's body, Zhang Xuan frowned.
"Based on what I know, if a 6-star poison master wishes to advance to Seven Star, he has to concoct a lethal poison capable of killing a Saint 2-dan expert, and the main ingredient for such a poison is the Sepulture Flower … If there is a medicinal herb of sufficient age, it will surely attract poison masters over. However … the Sepulture Flower is extremely rare, and it was due to luck that we were able to obtain it previously … "
Hu Yunsheng said.
"Sepulture Flower?"
Zhang Xuan shook his head.
The saint beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge had sent him quite a number of medicinal herbs previously, but there wasn't a single Sepulture Flower among them.
It seemed like it was just as Hu Yunsheng had said.
"Why don't we do this instead? Announce to the public that you have a 200-year-old Sepulture Flower, and if you wish to auction it off, all you have to do is to lure them over!" Zhang Xuan said.
His goal was only to lure the other party over. He didn't really need the Sepulture Flower. As long as he could capture the other party, everything else would be easy.
"This … I'm afraid that it won't be that easy! Without using poison, poison masters are no different from ordinary cultivators. If they find out that the news of the Sepulture Flower is fake … and they don't make a move, we won't be able to verify it. How are we supposed to know? "
Hu Yunsheng said with a bitter smile.
"This …" Zhang Xuan was rendered speechless.
Just like soul oracles, poison masters were hated by everyone on the Master Teacher Continent. As long as they didn't use poison, even he wouldn't be able to recognize them.
The Library of Heaven's Path could only observe cultivators who used battle techniques. If the other party didn't use them, and given how many people were here to purchase them, how could he possibly find them?
"More importantly, if they abide by the rules and purchase them with money … we won't be able to reject them either …" Hu Yunsheng continued.
The previous time when he was forcefully purchased, it was a unique situation. After all, it couldn't be that all poison masters were so vile. If the other party were to spend money to purchase the Sepulture Flower while he was unable to produce the medicinal herb … the Inkcloud Quarter would probably be forced to shut down.
"You're right …" Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella.
It seemed like his idea wasn't feasible.
"Actually … there's no need to feign it. Even though the Sepulture Flower is rare, I know someone who definitely has it. Furthermore, it is definitely over a hundred years old!"
Gritting his teeth, Hu Yunsheng suddenly recalled something and said.
"Oh? Who is it? "
Hearing that someone had a Sepulture Flower, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.
"I'm not too sure what his name is either. All I know is that he's an extremely eccentric person. Everyone calls him the [Eccentric Old Man]. Not only does he plant medicinal herbs, he collects many treasures as well. The Sepulture Flower that I obtained previously was from him … If we were to look for it with him, we would surely be able to find it!"
Hu Yunsheng said.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
