System Thinking

The cold centipede crawled a full circle around Li Shuidao's neck. He could even clearly hear the trembling of its legs as they moved.

In the blink of an eye, the Giant Centipede went off to torment someone else. It crawled over each and every one of the more than twenty Li Lineage members.

The vast majority remained calm. Though their bodies were tense, not one of them made a sound.

After the poisonous insect crawled over him, Li Shuidao felt an unbearable itch on his neck. He had obviously been poisoned.

Every single person present had been poisoned...

"You've all been poisoned by centipede venom. If left untreated, you'll be dead within half an hour at most." Li Tianliang spoke calmly, as if stating an everyday fact.

The disciples present hurriedly took out detoxification pills and stuffed them into their mouths.

Detoxification pills were said to neutralize a hundred poisons. Their effect was to dilute toxins and temporarily strengthen the user's vital energy, allowing them to endure lethal poisons. That was how they could supposedly neutralize a hundred poisons. But against poisons of the cultivator level, detoxification pills were practically useless.

After the Li Lineage moved to Black Mountain, snakes, insects, rats, and ants were everywhere. It was inevitable that members of the Lineage would be bitten by poisonous creatures. Usually, taking a detoxification pill after a bite was enough to keep them out of danger.

After Li Shuilang and Li Shuiting took the pills, the skin the centipede had crawled over seemed to itch even more.

Centipede venom was Wood Poison, one of the Five Poisons. Licorice root couldn't neutralize it; it would only make things worse.

In the theory of the Five Elements, Metal overcame Wood. To cure centipede venom, one had to fight poison with Metal Poison.

Li Shuidao looked at the plate Li Tianliang had yet to put away.

Painted on the five-colored porcelain plate were five lifelike insects: a Golden Scorpion, a brown Gecko, a Jade Toad, a scarlet venomous snake, and an emerald Centipede.

This was actually the best hint!

The scorpion corresponded to Metal Poison; the Gecko to Earth Poison; the toad to Water Poison; the venomous snake to Fire Poison; and the centipede to Wood Poison.

A small amount of Scorpion Venom could fight poison with poison. Alternatively, Metal-type Spirit Grass such as goldthread grass, golden dew fruit, or golden leaf vine could also neutralize the toxin.

Even Metal-type ores such as gold-veined stone and cinnabar could be used...

If all else failed, the bones of a Metal-type monster could be ground into powder and applied to the wound to neutralize the poison.

In an instant, Li Shuidao thought of more than a dozen ways to counter the poison, but he didn't speak up rashly.

A twelve-year-old child didn't need to know too much.

"Go to the dining hall, scrape the soot from the cooking pots, and smear it on your wounds. That'll neutralize the poison," Li Tianliang said unhurriedly.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Doctor, we'll take our leave."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The disciples departed one after another, none of them looking the least bit flustered.

Li Shuidao shook his head to himself. Ash from a hundred herbs could indeed neutralize Wood Poison. He'd actually overlooked that.

On the first day, the disciples had been toyed with by a centipede. On the second, Li Tianliang took them to catch frogs in a marshy pond.

Compared to the centipede, frogs were far too weak. Who among the disciples hadn't caught frogs before? Even poisonous frogs were no problem; after all, they didn't bite.

The disciples plunged into the water, looking fearless. Then several brightly colored venomous snakes darted out, and the disciples fell to the ground, poisoned.

Standing on the bank, Li Tianliang called out, "All things in the world give rise to and overcome one another. Within ten steps, there's always an antidote. Rub the frogs you caught against your wounds, and the poison will be neutralized."

Toads were Water Poison, while snakes were Fire Poison.

Water overcame Fire.

The disciples rubbed the frogs against their wounds. A cool feeling welled up, and sensation returned to their bodies, numbed by the snakebites.

"Since you're no longer afraid of snake venom, each of you must find a way to catch a snake!" Li Tianliang ordered.

On the third day.

Li Tianliang took everyone to a dilapidated courtyard to catch Geckos. With their new experience, they cautiously entered the ruined little courtyard.

Sure enough.

There weren't any Geckos in the house at all. Instead, more than a dozen brown poisonous scorpions, each the size of a palm, swarmed out and attacked. Twelve disciples were struck down instantly. Their wounds glowed gold, and the pain was unbearable.

Li Tianliang appeared again and called out, "All things in the world give rise to and overcome one another. Within ten steps, there's always an antidote. Drink snake blood, and the poison will be neutralized."

The disciples took snake blood from the cloth pouches at their waists and gulped it down. The pain in their bodies immediately eased.

On the fourth day.

The disciples returned to class, and Li Tianliang took out the Five Elements plate to explain the Five Poisons and how the Five Elements generated and overcame one another.

Some seemed to understand, while others were still utterly confused.

After class, everyone took a break.

"Doctor Tianliang, there's something I don't understand. I hope you can enlighten me."

"Go ahead."

"Doctor Tianliang, I've heard there are venomous snakes in the ocean too, called sea snakes. So are sea snakes Fire-type or Water-type?" Li Shuidao asked with cupped fists.

"Ah... well..." Li Tianliang furrowed his brows and thought for a long time before saying, "Sea beasts are all Water-element monsters. That means venomous snakes aren't necessarily all Fire Poison."

"I understand. Thank you, Doctor Tianliang." Li Shuidao tactfully didn't press further.

He already had a theory about the question. He had asked Li Tianliang only to confirm what he suspected, but even Doctor Tianliang didn't know the answer.

As the saying went, within ten steps, there was always an antidote. Everything in the world belonged to a system. Only within a system could there be Yin-Yang Balance and the Five Elements generating one another. Outside that system, forcing connections was like Guan Yu fighting Qin Qiong—things that didn't belong in the same world and couldn't be compared.

That sea snake was indeed a Water-type monster. But within the system of the ocean, it still belonged to Fire Poison.

Over the next few days, Li Tianliang continued teaching the disciples how to identify poisons, distinguish between them, neutralize them, and refine poison pills and antidotes...

Throughout this process, Li Shuidao gained an ever-deeper understanding of the art of poisoning.

Within any isolated system, there was bound to be Yin-Yang Balance and the Five Elements generating and overcoming one another.

That was the fundamental reason there was always an antidote within ten steps. Any antidote found within ten steps had to come from within that system, not from outside it.

After grasping the way of thinking in systems, everywhere Li Shuidao looked, he saw Yin and Yang giving rise to one another, the Five Elements harmonizing, and everything forming its own system.

If Yin and Yang were thrown into chaos and the Five Elements mismatched, the system would spontaneously evolve toward Yin-Yang Balance and harmony among the Five Elements.

This was the Heavenly Dao!

If people were also part of that system, they had to avoid the harmful effects brought about by such changes. That was what it meant to avoid being poisoned.

It was like watching two armies fight from across a river.

In theory, you didn't just have to watch the two armies fight from across the river. You could also sit back and reap the benefits of their struggle.

If you could cleverly turn the situation to your advantage, you might naturally improve your cultivation.

Perhaps this was the path of Poison Cultivation!

While his classmates were still memorizing the recipes for detoxification pills and Purple Poison Powder, Li Shuidao was already looking down from a higher vantage point, pondering the Great Dao of Poison Cultivation...

Although they were all learning the same things, the height of their thinking and breadth of their horizons were on entirely different levels.

Li Shuidao recorded all his interpretations and theories in the notebook he carried with him.

Even if Li Tianliang found it and read it, he wouldn't understand a thing, because the notes were written in Chinese characters.

In this way, Li Shuidao studied Poison Cultivation alongside his classmates for nearly two years.

During those two years, Li Shuidao spent day and night with his classmates among poisonous insects and plants, learning to identify medicinal and toxic properties and refining poison pills and antidotes.

Although Li Shuidao had already read about toxicology and pharmacology in the Lineage's scripture library, knowledge gained from books always felt shallow. To truly understand something, you had to practice it yourself.

Only through repeated practice could he truly master it.