After advancing several hundred meters, Huchen Wanmu discovered that while the potent poisons were extraordinary, their attacks were still singular in nature. Under these circumstances, they posed no immediate threat, so he couldn't help but pick up his pace. However, instead of relaxing his guard, he became even more vigilant. From time to time, a light rain would materialize out of thin air above the path, and one glance was enough to know that these raindrops were not something to be touched. He had no choice but to slap two more talismans onto his protective shield. After a moment's consideration, still feeling uneasy, he took out a bottle of blue medicinal liquid and smeared it over his exposed skin. Only then, on high alert, did he continue on his way. A few dozen breaths later, he had already ascended over forty zhang. He wanted to use the period while the medicine was effective to put as much distance as possible between himself and Li Yan.
On the other side, Li Yan, from the moment he set foot on the path, was also protected by a Spirit Power Shield, but it looked utterly incomparable to Huchen Wanmu's. The crowd in the plaza saw Li Yan hastily swallow a medicinal pill before stepping onto the path, his expression fraught with gravity.
Everything Li Yan did was merely a disguise. The medicinal pill he swallowed was just an ordinary detoxification pill.
Li Yan had his own plan. Being forced into this corner was the main reason he had agreed to this assessment; he had to obtain the Netherworld Order, no matter what. On the other hand, witnessing the methods displayed by the Huchen family's Poison Cultivators had ignited a desire for tempering within Li Yan. He wanted to use this opportunity to experience how his own body—one of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's so-called Three Peerless Poison Bodies—fared against a Poison Cultivator from a lineage with over ten thousand years of history. What were his strengths? And what were his weaknesses?
In the Malevolent Spirit Sect, Li Yan's actual poison-wielding skills could only be considered lower-middle tier. Whether it was deploying poisons with formations or commanding poisonous insects, he had only dabbled. His own methods of administering poison were all done at will, relying on the innate connection between his Fragmented Poison Body and himself.
Therefore, after entering the path, Li Yan didn't rush to ascend the mountain. Since he already knew that regardless of the competition's outcome, the Huchen Ancestor would ensure Huchen Wuding obtained the qualification, there was no need for him to be the anxious one.
Moreover, Li Yan was certain that in this ostensibly fair competition, given the Huchen Ancestor's preference for Huchen Wuding, he would never allow Huchen Wanmu to reach the summit. If that happened, the Huchen Ancestor would have no superficial reason to declare Huchen Wuding the winner. By the same token, even if he himself managed to reach the peak, Li Yan suspected the Huchen Ancestor would arrange for his "accidental death."
The specific manifestations of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Three Peerless Poison Bodies had always been a closely guarded secret. It was by no means easy for an outsider to determine if someone possessed one based on appearance alone. Even when Yu Yiyong and the others first saw Li Yan, it was only because his Fragmented Poison Body was in its embryonic stage, making its outward signs quite obvious. Furthermore, as disciples of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, the three of them were intimately familiar with the sect's three great poison bodies and grew suspicious at first glance. However, as Li Yan's Fragmented Poison Body truly formed, it had become completely integrated with his flesh and blood, no longer distinguishable. This was not a secret that could be discerned simply by having a high cultivation level. Unless Li Yan's body was completely dissected, it would be impossible to discover that the toxins contained within his flesh and blood were of types unrecorded in any known text.
With these thoughts in mind, Li Yan casually raised a Spirit Power Shield upon entering. After surveying his surroundings, he saw that the air was a splendid, seven-colored vista. Mists of various hues floated about, some in clumps, some in threads. Some drifted in the air, while others coiled around the tips of low-lying flowers and grasses, moving slowly. It looked illusory and ethereal, as if one had fallen into a dreamscape. But Li Yan understood that all this excessively beautiful mist was lethal. An ordinary person wouldn't even need to inhale a single strand; a mere touch would bring instant death. After death, the body would either turn to nothingness or the skin would become mottled with a bizarre and terrifying array of colors. There were even more horrifying colorless and odorless substances here. Sometimes, one might never know how they died from the poison. The most terrifying methods of a Poison Cultivator were the silent and traceless ones.
He quietly allowed a trace of a potent poison from the air into his body and felt its effects. As the wisp of poison entered him, it brought only a fleeting, icy chill before being swept away without a trace by the circulation of his qi and blood. If Li Yan hadn't been intentionally and carefully sensing it, he might not have even felt that sliver of coldness.
This, in turn, proved some of Li Yan's previous speculations. He had experimented like this with some poison grasses back in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, and had even sought out poison pills for this purpose later on. Ordinary poisons or small amounts of potent ones did him almost no harm. However, he had not conducted such experiments many times.
No matter the type, any ordinary poison grass was still a Spirit Plant that required Spiritual Energy to grow. Poison pills, even more so, required several, or even dozens, of types of herbs to be refined successfully. High-grade poison pills even required the addition of demonic beast essence blood, beast cores, and the like. All these things required a large amount of Spirit Stones to purchase, and the Li Yan of that time did not have many Spirit Stones to spare for such experiments. After a few tests, he had given up. Later, after emerging from the Secret Realm trial, he had a considerable number of Spirit Stones, but he had been constantly focused on practicing immortal arts and cultivation manuals, wholeheartedly wanting to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible to go home and see his parents. He simply had no time for further experiments.
This place today was a magical treasure illusion once used by the Huchen Ancestor, a genuine Nascent Soul stage Poison Cultivator. The various poisons refined within were far from common. How could Li Yan let such a golden opportunity slip by?
The main reason was a piece of wisdom Li Yan had once seen in a sect record about the Fragmented Poison Body, left by a predecessor: "Fragmented to pieces, endlessly dividing, devouring all in nature's contest." The meaning of this sentence was that the Fragmented Poison Body differentiates into more types of toxins as it continuously advances, making it endlessly versatile. However, if it could devour other types of potent poisons, it could similarly be enhanced and advanced.
When Li Yan first read this sentence, he was extremely excited. If his Fragmented Poison Body could be greatly enhanced, his life-saving methods would become much more abundant. But later, when he tried devouring potent poison pills, he didn't feel any significant effect on his Fragmented Poison Body. After much thought, Li Yan deduced that the poison pills he had consumed were likely of too low a grade, or the quantity was too small to have any effect.
The "nature's contest" in "devouring all in nature's contest" should carry the meaning of natural selection, which meant that higher-grade spirit plants, poisons, or poison pills were needed to stimulate the Fragmented Poison Body. This was Li Yan's speculation.
After feeling that a single strand of potent poison did him no harm, Li Yan focused his Divine Sense around his body, carefully observing every type of toxin within his Divine Sense's range. Finally, he selected three potent poisons and let a tiny amount of each enter his body. This time, he clearly felt that as the quantity and types of poison increased, alternating sensations of cold yin and tearing pain arose within him. But in the next moment, as his qi and blood circulated, they vanished again without a trace.
This gave Li Yan an idea. In the next moment, he inhaled about three times the amount of potent poison from the air around him. This time, what made Li Yan a little excited was that when the quantity of various potent poisons surged to a certain level and was inhaled by him in one breath, his long-dormant Fragmented Poison Body actually began to stir on its own. Moreover, after these potent poisons entered his body and were rapidly dissolved by his qi and blood, it even slightly accelerated the circulation of his Spirit Power.
'The Fragmented Poison Body was originally an anomaly created by the True Scripture of Gui Water. Perhaps they have a mutually reinforcing effect. If I can improve the Fragmented Poison Body, it should have a similar auxiliary effect on improving the True Scripture of Gui Water.' Feeling the vitality of the Spirit Power within him, Li Yan began to feel a sense of anticipation.
However, when he prepared to inhale even more of the poison from the surrounding air, he found that he couldn't absorb much this time. It turned out that he had been standing in the same spot since he entered. This area was the entrance to the path, where there weren't many plants. After he had devoured the ambient poisons several times, he had created a temporary empty zone.
Filled with hope, Li Yan began to walk forward. As he moved, he continuously tried to come into contact with more potent poisons. However, he didn't dare to completely retract his Spirit Power Shield, because the poisons in the air were not just in the form of mist, but also smoke, rain, and so on. These substances made the entire path hazy and indistinct, causing the scenery on the mountainside to appear and disappear. More critically, if he let these things touch his body, while Li Yan had some confidence in himself, his clothes might not be able to withstand them. If they turned to ash, Li Yan would be left naked under the watchful eyes of the crowd. Thus, he could only carefully select what to let through his Spirit Power Shield, sometimes more, sometimes less, before inhaling it all.
Just as Li Yan started moving, some people in the plaza breathed a sigh of relief, especially the Huchen Ancestor. Although he had already marked Li Yan and Zhuo Lingfeng for death, he still hoped that Li Yan could get ahead of Huchen Wanmu. As a last resort, he would secretly act to prevent Huchen Wanmu from advancing another inch. As long as Li Yan could surpass him, that would be enough. Once Li Yan had a slight lead, he would unleash an attack from within the magical treasure, directly taking Li Yan's life. In the end, Li Yan would still be declared the winner based on his proximity to the summit. Then, after the competition was over, he would quietly take care of Zhuo Lingfeng.
But to his utter surprise, after the two entered the path, Huchen Wanmu, despite his initial caution, had been steadily advancing, even speeding up like an arrow later on. In contrast, Li Yan, after looking left and right upon entering, had actually stopped in his tracks. The Huchen Ancestor had not anticipated this development at all. Under the gaze of everyone present, he couldn't help even if he wanted to. The Huchen Ancestor couldn't help but curse Li Yan's incompetence in his heart. Seeing Li Yan hide his cultivation and maintain a calm demeanor earlier, he had thought he had at least some skills. Who would have thought it would start like this?
It wasn't just the Huchen Ancestor; Li Yan's opening performance stunned everyone in the plaza, making them think he had been afflicted the moment he entered the path.
"Could that cultivator have been hit by some kind of hallucinogenic poison mist? Otherwise, why is he not moving?"
"Maybe he's observing first. Didn't you see him looking around?"
"Isn't that being a bit too careful? This looks like he has no confidence at all. Back in the plaza, his calm demeanor made me think he was some kind of expert."
"..."
By this time, Huchen Huiqing had already moved to Huchen Wuding's side. Her beautiful eyes looked at the calm-faced Huchen Wuding, then at the equally expressionless, hunchbacked old man, and finally said with exasperation, "Wuding, is this friend of yours any good or not? What is he doing standing at the entrance? Don't tell me he can't even move an inch? Look how smug Fourth Mother over there is getting, hmph!"
As she spoke, she gestured with her eyes towards the beaming Ye Luoyan in the distance. Even Huchen Jianghai, who had just woken up, though his face was bloodless, had a fiery look in his eyes as he gazed at the light screen in the sky. This made Huchen Huiqing even more frustrated.
When she flew over just now, she had first tried to discreetly ask about Li Yan, but Huchen Wuding only said that he was a good friend who had come to visit the Huchen family. No matter how much Huchen Huiqing pressed, he wouldn't say another word.
This made Huchen Huiqing so angry she wanted to give Huchen Wuding a good beating, but in the end, she at least found out that Li Yan was not the apprentice or nephew of that hunchbacked old man.
"Brother Li will win, of course. There's no need to worry. He's just trying to acclimate to the environment right now," Huchen Wuding said impatiently in response to her questioning. In truth, he didn't know why Li Yan had been standing still since entering the path, so he just made something up.
And just as his words fell, Li Yan's figure finally moved. This movement allowed many in the plaza to breathe a sigh of relief; otherwise, the competition would be utterly boring. However, Li Yan was still not walking fast, a point that left the Huchen Ancestor somewhat dissatisfied. But that was the extent of it, because he knew that Huchen Wanmu was about to run into trouble. The assessment he had set up, although primarily designed to kill Zhuo Lingfeng, still had the purpose of being a test.
Sure enough, as Li Yan slowly made his way up the path, Huchen Wanmu, who had been advancing like a hot knife through butter, finally came to a stop. He had encountered a problem.