Challenging the Mystic Rank Trial

The best way to deal with poisonous insects was to attack with fire.

Although Xiao Yan still could not directly materialize Dou Qi Flame and had to rely on the help of a Pill Furnace and a Magic Core to ignite the furnace fire, no matter what, the abilities of an alchemist were still Xiao Yan's own skills.

With a boom, Xiao Yan abruptly opened the lid. The Rank 2 fire-attribute Magic Core, completely detonated by the Dou Qi Flame, erupted with terrifying fire.

Xiao Yan used his Soul Power to control the fire, turning it into a fire dragon that charged toward the dense swarm of poisonous insects.

Seeing the fire dragon pounce over, Zhang Chuanwu was not alarmed; instead, he laughed. He had seen far too many alchemists' furnace fires. Although he could not refine Medicinal Pills, he also had a Pill Furnace—only, he used it to refine poison.

"Furnace fire? True, what poisonous insects fear most are things of extreme yang. They fear Flame. But my poisonous insects have been refined through the Poison Insect Method and have undergone three generations of derivation and evolution inside my body. Every poisonous insect already has a layer of Poison Qi Gauze Armor protecting it. How could the mere furnace fire of a Rank 2 Magic Core possibly harm my poisonous insects!!"

Pfft! The fire dragon opened its mouth and swallowed all the poisonous insects in one gulp. The fire dragon coiled in the air, as if a ball of fire had wrapped around countless poisonous insects.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!! Strangely, the poisonous insects still moved freely inside the fireball, truly as if they were not afraid of being burned by Flame.

Xiao Yan shook his head, placed both hands over the fire vent of the Pill Furnace, and said calmly, "A pity. The Flame I possess is not ordinary Flame. Although there are only a few wisps, it is still the Bone Chiling Flame. Dealing with these poisonous insects is more than enough."

A few wisps of pale-white Bone Chiling Flame condensed into a long white needle. This move of Xiao Yan's was precisely the Threading the Needle Fire Control Hun Xuzi had used back then when refining the poison pill and purifying medicinal ingredients! With just one glance, Xiao Yan had firmly memorized the technique and successfully learned it in secret! When the Poison Water Ants saw the pale-white needle of Heavenly Flame appear within the fire dragon, every Poison Water Ant was badly startled. With a whoosh, they turned and fled, clearly extremely afraid of the needle and thread formed from Heavenly Flame.

One had to know, this was a Heavenly Flame! And it was the Heavenly Flame ranked eleventh on the Heavenly Flame Ranking! Heavenly Flames were the most unyielding and yang of all things on the Dou Qi Continent. Born from heaven and earth, they were the bane of all poisonous things!

Indeed, the Poison Water Ants that had been fed for years on Zhang Chuanwu's Poison Dou Qi were not afraid of ordinary Pill Furnace fire at all, not to mention that Xiao Yan's Cultivation Level was lower than his. But encountering a Heavenly Flame was equivalent to encountering their natural nemesis.

Even if Zhang Chuanwu was a Da Dou Shi, even if his poisonous insects were twice as strong, once they were touched by a Heavenly Flame, there was still only one road for them: death.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!! Under the Heavenly Flame's Threading the Needle, none of the poisonous insects could resist at all. Any Poison Dou Qi Gauze Armor was nothing but empty talk. Xiao Yan's Soul Power was something even Hun Xuzi had praised; to possess such Soul Power naturally, without acquired training, absolutely made him worthy of being called a born alchemist.

That fire dragon was merely a layer of sealing, preventing the poisonous insects from escaping. The true killing blow was the Heavenly Flame needle formed from a few wisps of Bone Chiling Flame!

"Come back!!" Zhang Chuanwu's heart was bleeding. Those were the poisonous insects he had raised! When Zhang Chuanwu dragged his heavily injured body and rushed toward Xiao Yan, intending to attack, all the poisonous insects had already been eliminated by the Heavenly Flame needle under Xiao Yan's control. Not a single one remained.

Seeing the poisonous insects reduced to ash, Zhang Chuanwu's face was filled with despair, his heart like dead ash. After spitting out a mouthful of blood, his spirit actually died, and he breathed his last!

Originally, if Zhang Chuanwu had not been a poison master and had cultivated Mystic High-Rank skills and combat techniques instead, Xiao Yan really might not necessarily have won.

But it just so happened that Zhang Chuanwu was a poison master who raised poisonous insects, while Xiao Yan was a second-tier alchemist with extremely strong Soul Power, plus some Bone Chiling Flame. One could say he completely countered Zhang Chuanwu.

For others, a poison master who was incredibly troublesome and dangerous instead did not have much effect against Xiao Yan.

When Xiao Yan walked up to Zhang Chuanwu's corpse, only then did he discover that the man's internal organs had long since been hollowed out! Zhang Chuanwu, who had lost all his poisonous insects, was doomed to only one end: death.

"Looks like he joined the trial to search the Soul Hall for some way to save his life."

A poison master was undoubtedly a profession that hurt the enemy a thousand while harming oneself eight hundred. Strong, yes, truly strong—but also far too ruthless to oneself.

Completed all Yellow Rank High-Level trials. Granted the title of Yellow Rank High-Level Soul Envoy. You may choose to leave the trial grounds and enter the Treasure Hall to use Soul Points to exchange for resources, or continue forward to undertake the Mystic Rank trial.

Xiao Yan listened to the soul voice transmitted directly into his soul, his expression grave.

"Mystic Rank. From the perspective of Skill and Combat Technique, the gap between Mystic Rank and Yellow Rank is like a heavenly chasm."

Although Xiao Yan had only fought two battles in the Yellow Rank High-Level trial, both battles could be said to have been dangerous and startling.

In these two battles, Xiao Yan had no longer fought entirely by relying on Brute Force. He had also needed some wisdom, strategy, and a bit of luck in order to win relatively easily.

Xiao Yan checked his Soul Token. The words on it had naturally changed to Yellow Rank High-Level, and his Soul Points were exactly one hundred.

"One hundred Soul Points is just enough to exchange for one Yellow Rank High-Level skill or combat technique."

"If I can pass all the way from Mystic Low-Rank to Mystic High-Rank, then I should have exactly one thousand Soul Points, enough to exchange for one Mystic High-Rank Skill and Combat Technique."

Xiao Yan could not help smiling bitterly again and again. Mystic High-Rank? He might not even be able to defeat the opponent in a Mystic Low-Rank trial.

Mystic High-Rank was very likely to be a Rank 3 Magical Beast! A Rank 3 Magical Beast could slap Xiao Yan into meat paste with one claw! Even his father, Xiao Zhan, might not necessarily be able to defeat a Rank 3 Magical Beast, let alone a mere little Dou Zhe like him.

However, Xiao Yan soon smiled in relief and muttered confidently to himself, "If I can't even earn a Mystic Rank evaluation, what face would I have to go back and see Xun Er?"

However, Xiao Yan did not rush. After eating a Qi Recovery Pill to recover his Dou Qi, he reignited the Pill Furnace, cut his finger, and dripped a drop of blood into the Pill Furnace. The furnace fire slowly decomposed the blood.

He was still poisoned right now, after all.

"To refine an Antidote Pill, the first thing is to know the composition of the poison pill, and what toxins it contains."

The poison had been absorbed by Xiao Yan, so to refine an Antidote Pill, he had to analyze the toxic components in the venom, then use the effects of medicinal ingredients to neutralize the toxins.

Strictly speaking, this was Xiao Yan's first time detoxifying poison. Hun Xuzi's attempt back then did not count as detoxification in the formal sense at all; it was more like a brain teaser.

After a day and a night of deciphering it, Xiao Yan finally found medicinal ingredients capable of purifying the toxin. After refining an Antidote Pill, he removed the poison from his body.

"It actually took me a full day to detoxify it. Killing is easy, saving people is hard. Getting poisoned is easy, detoxifying poison is hard."

Xiao Yan grumbled, then discovered that the surroundings were as quiet as death, making him seem very foolish.

"I've stayed in these trial grounds for some days now. It's about time to end it. Challenge the Mystic Rank trial!"

As soon as his words fell, there was a hum, and a great door suddenly appeared before Xiao Yan. Unlike the previous teleportation portals, this door was extremely real.

"As expected of Mystic Rank. Even the door is different." Xiao Yan muttered to himself as he walked through the great door.

Within the Hun Realm in the void, in the training ground of a remote city in the Hun Realm, thousands upon thousands of youths were undergoing combat technique training.

The instructor in the field suddenly received a soul voice. He casually pointed at a boy and said, "Hun Yucun, someone from the outside world has applied for the advancement trial to Mystic Rank. You go."

Hearing the instructor's words, all the Hun Clan Disciples in the field revealed looks of envy, jealousy, and resentment. Why did this good chance to earn Soul Points not fall to them! "Yucun, you've got it good. Advancing to Mystic Rank requires one hundred Soul Points. For some mere person from the outside world, rounding it off, isn't that basically giving them away for free?"

The Hun Clan Disciple called Hun Yucun's gaze sharpened. He licked his lips and said, "What I like most is hunting down these outside-world people who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. My collection is about to gain one more."