Brand Poison

"Senior..."

Looking at the tightly shut door before him, Nalan Su took a deep breath, forced down his unease and fear, and dropped to his knees with a thud.

"My father's safety is in your hands!"

Whether in sentiment or reason, for such a mighty figure to be willing to lend a hand was already a favor. Judging by his appearance, he was also in his sixties or seventies, so accepting a bow from him was perfectly reasonable no matter how one looked at it.

If kowtowing a few more times could increase the chances of success, he would gladly kneel outside until nightfall.

"Heh... You may rest easy."

Yao Lao swept out a wave of Dou Qi to help him up, then turned and pushed the door open.

The current Brand Poison was nothing like the docile thing it would become a few years later. All sorts of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had yet to be thrown in to suppress it, and the entire room was wrapped in a foul, fishy stench.

Nalan Jie, whose body had begun to wither toward a skeleton-like frame, sat cross-legged with his head lowered. A dense fog of Poison Gas shrouded him, even drawing the Dou Qi from within his body to strengthen itself, extending tentacle-like bands that slowly danced in the air.

In the end, however, they were blocked inside by a layer of Light Barrier.

The energy of the green barrier was clearly stronger than it, but it lacked endurance and could not withstand continuous erosion. It was obviously only a stopgap measure.

With a slight movement of Yao Lao's mind, his Soul Power—extremely damaged yet astonishingly strong—sealed off the room.

Then he casually poked a hole in the Light Barrier.

"Hiss..."

The poisonous fog found an outlet and bit onto his finger like a snake, trying to drill into Xiao Yan's body and take root there.

"As expected of a strange poison rumored to be capable of killing a Dou Emperor. It can actually display spirituality."

Yao Lao stroked his empty chin. "This Nalan Jie has already lost consciousness. Do you want to do it yourself? I'll help you conceal your aura."

"I'd better handle the outside first... I only just obtained the Heavenly Flame, so I'm not familiar with controlling it at all. If I end up lighting the old master into a torch, that'd be bad."

Xiao Yan judged that his proficiency with the Heavenly Flame was still far from enough for now. Burning a bit of poisonous smoke to test the feeling was fine.

"That won't do! It would be far too much of a pity to waste such a rare opportunity." Yao Lao shook his head. "I'll serve as the fire guide. You just follow along."

"Fine."

Since things had already been said to this extent, Xiao Yan naturally nodded.

Learning it would not be a loss either. These techniques might come in handy in the future.

"Good~ Begin!"

Yao Lao brushed a hand over the top of Nalan Jie's head, and the Bone Chilling Flame was drawn into threads so fine they were almost invisible, spreading out under exquisite control without injuring him in the slightest.

"Hiss."

Xiao Yan followed the threads Yao Lao had traced out. It was like controlling dozens of people to cross single-plank bridges at the same time.

"Teacher, can't we split this into batches and do it piece by piece?"

Clearly, removing the poison in batches would be simpler and more effective. Slowly.

As the branches increased and the flames extended farther and farther, even with Xiao Yan's Soul Power, it became somewhat too much to bear, and sweat began to seep from his forehead.

Utterly focused, he naturally did not notice Yao Lao's gaze growing more and more astonished, until it turned into complete shock.

"This boy... is this really his first time controlling a Heavenly Flame?!"

Although Yao Lao was a Soul Body, he still nearly yanked his beard off.

Even with the guidance he provided, the difficulty of this task was enough to knock down who knew how many Fifth Grade alchemists. Even some half-baked sixth-grade ones would fail.

"Drawing threads into lines, decomposing medicinal properties."

"With this boy's control ability and learning ability, this technique shouldn't take more than three to five years for him to master. At that time, he'll be able to stand firmly in the realm of a Fifth Grade alchemist."

Yao Lao could not be considered someone with little experience, but to become a Fifth Grade alchemist after studying alchemy for only five or six years...

Sorry, that truly was a rare thing.

"Ugh!"

Xiao Yan opened his eyes and struggled to maintain the flame patterns that covered the human body. With his current Soul Power, doing this was still somewhat forced. "Teacher... the flames have converged... Would my performance count as passing?"

"Mm."

Yao Lao immediately put away his shock and looked at Nalan Jie with a calm expression. "Although it can only be considered not embarrassing me, there is still room for improvement."

No.

He absolutely could not let his disciple think he had never seen anything impressive and spent all day being shocked.

Xiao Yan gave him a long, faint look but did not expose him, instead focusing his attention on the Brand Poison deeply attached to the Meridians.

"Next, it'll be much simpler. I just don't know whether Nalan Old Master can endure it."

After adjusting his condition, Xiao Yan raised his hand and struck Nalan Jie's chest with his palm.

Spiderweb-like pitch-black poison lines appeared, constantly writhing and twisting, even corroding toward Xiao Yan's palm as though they had thoughts of their own.

"Don't worry. With your master protecting him, you can go ahead and do it boldly."

"Then..."

Xiao Yan paid no attention to the blackness climbing up to his elbow. The Heavenly Flames he had prepared erupted in an instant, ripping out the Brand Poison that had spread through his body along with it.

"Get out!"

His palm curled, clamping tightly around the poisonous mass seeping through his skin, and he yanked hard. A viscous substance covered in countless tiny tendrils was exposed to the air.

"Screech!"

A snake head grew from the Brand Poison and bit down on his wrist. After tearing at it several times, it realized it could not invade at all.

"Hmph... Did you really think no one could deal with you?"

Xiao Yan sneered. A layer of eerie white armor had long since covered his arm, and wisps of Heavenly Flames occasionally darted out, evaporating that foul, poisonous patch.

"Refine!"

The armguard rolled back and wrapped around it, turning into a cauldron shape in his hand. In just a few breaths, it melted the poison down into a pitch-black pill, its movements sealed by three white chain marks.

Seeing Xiao Yan stop, Yao Lao found it strange for a moment. "Why not burn it to nothing directly? That Brand Poison hadn't been infecting you for long. The Dou Qi wrapped inside it would only be enough for a Dou Zhe to use once."

"As long as it can be used, that's enough! If I land a hit with it in battle, even a Dou Emperor will have to lose twenty percent of his vitality."

Xiao Yan tossed the black pill up and used the Heavenly Flames to store it inside a jade bottle.

Is having me as his teacher still not enough...

He really is cautious enough.

Yao Lao shook his head helplessly. "All right. Now that things here are settled, there's still a huge pile of work waiting."

"Okay."

Xiao Yan looked back at Nalan Jie one last time, pulled up his hood, and, with Yao Lao's Soul Power helping him, blurred his features.

Putting everything else aside, after obtaining the Seven Illusory Green Spirit Saliva, he still had to gather the supplementary ingredients.

It seemed he would need to stay in the Imperial Capital for a few more days.

Smash!

The teapot and teacups were swept into the wall with one palm, and the shards that bounced back were slapped back again by the solid wooden square table.

Bang!

Perhaps the person who struck had used a little too little strength, because the table only lost some paint and showed no real structural damage.

"Who on earth attacked and robbed the shipment? Doesn't he know who wanted these goods? This is outrageous! Why wasn't this reported earlier?"

Liu Xi was utterly furious, smashing things around the room as he pleased.

Galeo Bi, who was off to the side enduring treatment through the pain, felt his eyelids twitch as he watched.

The one who had suffered losses was clearly his Gale Family, so why was this man even angrier than he was? "Kid Liu Xi."

The burly man sneered. "If I hadn't sent someone to drag you out of your pleasure den, you'd still be busy fooling around right now! Stop throwing your temper here."

"Isn't it just that the supply of Revival Pills has been cut off? Endure it for two days and it'll pass."

"You!"

Liu Xi's expression darkened, and he hurriedly split off some attention to glance at Galeo Bi. Seeing only confusion and incomprehension in his eyes, as if he had no idea what the Revival Pill did, Liu Xi finally relaxed.