Huchen Wanmu stared at the peach blossom forest blocking his path. This forest was not growing on the ground but on a sea of green Stinking Earthworm Leaves. As the Stinking Earthworm Leaves undulated like green waves, the entire peach blossom forest swayed and danced, its branches adorned with peach blossoms that flew through the air like specks of spring snow.
From the green ocean formed by the Stinking Earthworm Leaves, black dots would occasionally emerge, only to disappear into the rolling green sea, reappearing in another spot a moment later.
Huchen Wanmu had long since held his breath, and his Spirit Power Shield isolated him from everything outside. But even so, he had to constantly channel a large amount of Spirit Power to maintain it. A continuous "thump, thump, thump" sound echoed from outside the shield, the sound of a collision from the countless flower petals attacking it.
Huchen Wanmu's sharp, hawk-like eyes were fixed on the countless black dots constantly emerging from the green ocean. He knew what they were: "Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms," mid-tier Rank One demonic beasts. They fed on the rotting corpses of living creatures and could secrete a terrifying poison. If even a small amount of this poison touched flesh and blood, it would birth countless maggots. Each maggot was tiny, with a sharp spike on its head, and would instantly burrow into the flesh. The flesh they encountered would rot and fall off in an instant, as if carving out channels within the human body. Chunks of flesh would splash and fall to the ground like flying mud, only to be devoured by the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms on the ground below. In the end, you would be left with nothing but an empty skeleton. If even the Primordial Spirit was too slow to escape, it would be corroded and devoured completely.
Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms liked to live under the Spirit Plant known as the Stinking Earthworm Leaf, and they lived in colonies, ranging from a few dozen to thousands.
And in the short time Huchen Wanmu had been observing, he had already determined that there were no fewer than a thousand Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms here. A single Three-Legged Carrion Earthworm was equivalent to a fifth or sixth-level Qi Condensation cultivator. Although a Foundation Establishment cultivator could easily handle hundreds or even thousands of Qi Condensation cultivators, it still depended on the opponent.
These Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms were creatures that simply couldn't be touched. If a single drop of their blood splashed onto you during a fight, the consequence would be a maggot burrowing directly into your body. By the time Huchen Wanmu diverted a trace of Spirit Power to stop or kill it, both his movements and Spirit Power circulation would be hindered. More Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms would then swarm in, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
In addition to this, the peach blossom forest posed a huge threat. Feeling the pressure on his Spirit Power Shield, he quickly retreated. Until he could figure out a solution, the peach blossom forest itself could be the death of him.
After Huchen Wanmu retreated more than five zhang from the edge of the peach blossom forest, the dancing and falling petals no longer followed him. The flying peach blossoms looked beautiful and artistic, but in reality, each petal striking his Spirit Power Shield was like a thousand-jin hammer crashing down. Even for someone at Huchen Wanmu's Pseudo-Core Realm, it rapidly consumed his Spirit Power. Furthermore, the ocean-like expanse of Stinking Earthworm Leaves beneath the forest made it impossible for him to pass through quickly.
'This peach blossom forest doesn't contain any potent poison. Instead, the petals emit a strange fragrance. But this fragrance makes the Stinking Earthworm Leaves under the forest grow even more vigorously, which in turn causes the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms beneath them to become exceptionally excited. They will attack any creature that enters without any regard for their own safety.'
'Each petal's attack is equivalent to a full-force blow from a tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivator. Normally, I would just raise my Spirit Power Shield and fly through at top speed. At a hundred zhang, even while tanking these attacks, it would probably only take about ten breaths. And I could dodge most of the attacks with speed.'
'But now, flying is forbidden here. The moment I step in, I'll have to face the swarming attacks of the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms from below. A single touch of their saliva or flesh is a nightmare. Not to mention the sky full of drifting peach blossoms, which will come in waves like successive batches of tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivators. One careless mistake, and I'll fall right here.'
Looking at the peach blossom forest, which stretched for a full hundred zhang, Huchen Wanmu was at a loss for a moment. What gave him some relief was that this place's Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms seemed to have been restrained by the Huchen Ancestor. Although terrifying, they only moved within the waves of Stinking Earthworm Leaves and did not leave the peach blossom forest to attack. Otherwise, he would have had no choice but to flee in disarray.
Another point that slightly reassured Huchen Wanmu was that on the other path, ten zhang away, there was still no sign of the cultivator surnamed Li. This bought him some time to think.
While Huchen Wanmu was pondering how to get past the blockade, on the huge light screen in the plaza, Li Yan was seen leisurely catching up.
As Li Yan advanced, he absorbed more and more varieties of mixed potent poisons. His body now felt like it was gradually coming to a boil. The continuously inhaled toxins flowed through his entire body with his blood, and his skin changed colors like a revolving lantern: green, purple, black, red. After each cycle through his body, whenever a poison passed his abdomen or chest, it was absorbed by the thirty separated pieces of his meridians and flesh. With each absorption, Li Yan could feel a minuscule increase in his Spirit Power, becoming purer, or rather, growing by an almost imperceptible amount. This filled Li Yan, who had been paying close attention, with ecstatic joy.
However, this process was extremely unpleasant. The first thing the potent poisons brought him upon entering his body was not joy, but various discomforts: a burning sensation like a furnace, a peeling pain as if his marrow was being extracted, or a sudden plunge into a nine-layered icy hell that left him frozen and dazed. This caused not only the color of his skin to constantly change, but also forced him to stop from time to time, his facial features contorting as he circulated his Spirit Power to accelerate his qi and blood circulation.
'So this is one of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Three Peerless Poison Bodies. The pain of normal advancement through fragmentation is relatively mild. Relying on external forces to advance not only carries unknown dangers, but the pain is also several times greater,' Li Yan mused. As he continuously devoured the surrounding poisonous mists and rainwater, he also discovered that some toxins could not be dissolved immediately; a portion seemed to settle within his body. This was the first time Li Yan had consumed such a large amount of poison, and it made him apprehensive. He never believed that the Fragmented Poison Body could withstand every poison under the heavens. Just thinking about the items the Huchen Ancestor used for the assessment, even with their power suppressed to twenty percent, he was already encountering things he couldn't fully consume.
Thus, for the rest of the way, whenever Li Yan found that a certain poison he inhaled could not be dissolved immediately, he would not linger in that area to absorb more. Instead, he quickened his pace. Although the air along the way was mixed with various poisons, there were still many that Li Yan could identify, and he selectively devoured them.
To the onlookers in the plaza, his actions presented a completely different picture. When they saw Li Yan's exposed skin suddenly turn an earthy yellow as he walked, many exclaimed in alarm, "That man has been poisoned by the 'Thick Sand Bean'! Is he going to withdraw from the competition so soon?"
And just as disappointment filled their eyes, a cold, sinister gleam flashed across the Huchen Ancestor's.
They watched Li Yan stop, take out a pill with a trembling hand as his face contorted, and swallow it. A few breaths later, Li Yan slowly raised his head, his complexion having returned to normal. He then took another step forward. But just as everyone thought he was about to make some progress, Li Yan's face turned crimson as blood, and in the next moment, it became as purple as a pig's liver.
"That's Purple Heartwood! How did he get poisoned by Purple Heartwood so quickly?" many people exclaimed, seeing Li Yan get poisoned again after just a few steps, as if his external defenses were completely useless. Li Yan stopped, his face contorted in pain, as if his blood had stopped flowing and congealed, blocking his veins and turning them a bruised purple. It looked as if he would drop dead if he couldn't catch his next breath.
Even Huchen Tingchun, who was covering the mountain with his Divine Sense, was about to intervene when Li Yan's body suddenly shuddered violently, as if he had cleared all his meridians at once. His complexion rapidly returned to normal, and he once again began to walk forward slowly.
This scene was not only incomprehensible to the cultivators in the plaza, but even the Huchen Ancestor was momentarily stunned. 'What kind of detoxification method is this? I've never heard of it. To neutralize a potent poison without needing a pill... forcing it out with Spirit Power? Is this person really from some secluded poison-cultivating family? No, I've never heard of such a cultivation method, one that seems capable of neutralizing a hundred poisons. Could it be...' At this thought, the Huchen Ancestor finally breathed a sigh of relief. If there really was a cultivation method that could neutralize hundreds and thousands of poisons, it would be too terrifying—a nightmare for all Poison Cultivators. Such a person must be killed, no matter what.
There were also many knowledgeable people in the plaza. After a moment of thought, one of them couldn't help but shout, "I know why he's detoxifying like this! He must have some kind of treasure on him that excels at neutralizing strange poisons. That's why whenever he's poisoned, he just needs to stop and dissolve it. I suppose that's why he dared to participate in our Huchen family's assessment." As soon as he said this, many people nodded in agreement. Even the Huchen Ancestor nodded slightly. This person's words were exactly what he had been thinking. It was just that Poison Cultivators usually thought of antidotes first when it came to detoxification, followed by cultivation methods and magical treasures. For a moment, he too was misled by appearances.
"To have such a treasure on him, this person must be a disciple of some major sect. Otherwise, with such a cultivation level, he wouldn't be worthy of possessing such a treasure," someone immediately added. Then, many eyes turned towards Huchen Wuding.
Huchen Wuding completely ignored these gazes. He stared unblinkingly at the light screen in the sky, also pondering this question. 'Brother Li's actions are mysterious, but judging from his past methods of using poison, they were always so silent and bizarre. Could he really be a man of great treasures? But how to explain his poison techniques? Those are genuine skills.'
Although Li Yan had taken precautions against others prying into his origins, his actions were ultimately impossible to explain fully. Right now, he was immersed in his cultivation. The Spirit Power in his body was increasing at a speed he could feel. Normally, to achieve such an increase, even with day and night meditation, it would take more than a month of hard work. Today, he had achieved it in just a quarter of an hour. Li Yan even felt that if he could continue cultivating like this, he might be able to attempt a breakthrough to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment in just seven or eight days. But he knew in his heart that this was just wishful thinking.
As he devoured his way forward, Li Yan found that when his body had absorbed a certain amount of a particular poison, any further intake of that same poison would cause it to precipitate and no longer dissolve into his flesh and blood to enhance his Spirit Power. Li Yan guessed that the stimulating effect of a single type of poison was limited; once a certain amount was reached, it would no longer have any effect.
Unknowingly, he had arrived a dozen or so zhang away from the peach blossom forest. Although most of his attention was immersed in cultivation, Li Yan still kept a wisp of his Divine Sense on alert. At that moment, he clearly felt a gaze directed towards him. It was, he sensed, from Huchen Wanmu.
Li Yan collected his thoughts and looked up, only to see a large peach blossom forest before him. Pink blossoms danced and swirled within it, scattering through the air like a flurry of spring snow, a truly beautiful sight.
Huchen Wanmu was ten zhang away from him, separated by clumps of thorns that clearly couldn't be easily crossed to reach the other's path. The two paths approached the peach blossom forest from different directions, but they could see and hear each other.