Demon Poison Body Tempering

Demon Poison Body Tempering

"Everyone says demonic beasts are terrifying because of the demonic poison in their bodies. The Mad Heart Fox's poison is incredibly overbearing. In just a few breaths, I'm already having such a strong reaction!"

By now, the wound on Zhang He's body had turned purplish red and grown slightly swollen.

Without hesitation, Zhang He fished the Five Poison Beads out of his bag and swallowed them. No matter how potent the demonic poison was, the Five Poison Beads could help ease its effects.

Then Zhang He immediately circulated his Rejuvenation True Qi.

The strand of green qi in his Guanyuan Acupoint finally sprang into action. It flowed swiftly along his meridians. Wherever it went, it was like a cool stream, clearing Zhang He's muddled mind and reviving his spirits.

"The Rejuvenation True Qi has thickened! This demonic poison is so overbearing!" Rejuvenation True Qi grew by absorbing poison; the more potent the poison, the greater its growth.

To Zhang He's delight, as the Rejuvenation True Qi absorbed the demonic poison in his body, it thickened rapidly. This rate of growth was beyond anything he had expected.

"Wonderful. The Mad Heart Fox's poison is far more potent than ordinary poisonous herbs. It's actually as powerful as the King Cobra's venom!"

Zhang He was both startled and delighted. In the past, only the venom he absorbed from King Cobras had made his Rejuvenation True Qi grow so quickly. He hadn't expected the Mad Heart Fox's poison to be every bit as potent!

"The Rejuvenation True Qi has doubled compared to before!" Zhang He checked the qi in his Guanyuan Acupoint, his face bright with happiness.

Zhang He applied a specially prepared herbal salve to his wound. With the Rejuvenation True Qi stimulating it, the wound had healed until only a narrow slit remained. It would surely close completely soon.

"The Mad Heart Fox's poison can leave me dazed and confused. I wonder what will happen if I circulate it in reverse." After fully refining the Mad Heart Fox's poison in his body, Zhang He could hardly wait to find out.

He was eager to see what effect the Mad Heart Fox's poison would have if he reversed its flow.

The Rejuvenation True Qi in his body immediately began to rotate in reverse, emerging from his Guanyuan Acupoint. It followed a special route through his body, coursing rapidly along it.

By now, the Mad Heart Fox's poison in his body had been completely refined by the Rejuvenation True Qi. The strand of qi within him had taken on the properties of the Mad Heart Fox's poison.

When circulated normally, the Rejuvenation True Qi could use the Mad Heart Fox's poison to attack his enemies. When circulated in reverse, it could turn the poison's properties around and temper his body.

A cool sensation spread through him in an instant.

Zhang He's spirits soared. At that moment, he felt invigorated. The birds' chirps and insects' cries all around him rang clearly in his ears.

In an instant, the world seemed to gain layer upon layer of detail.

His senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—had become incredibly sharp. He could even make out the feathers of a small bird flying in the distance.

"The Mad Heart Fox's poison can keep me alert while also calming me down, and it makes my senses sharper!"

Zhang He was overjoyed.

In people's memories, demonic poison was enough to make them pale at the mere mention of it. People feared demonic beasts not only because of their strength, but above all because of their poison. Once someone was poisoned and there was no way to treat it, the consequences were dire. The Mad Heart Fox, for example, seemed weak, but if it bit someone and treatment came too late, the victim would go mad, with disastrous consequences. That was why people usually locked up anyone poisoned by a Mad Heart Fox. If they began to show signs of madness, they had to be killed immediately to prevent an even greater disaster!

Now the very poison others feared had become a supreme tonic in Zhang He's eyes. His Rejuvenation True Qi countered all toxins, and the Mad Heart Fox's poison could help it grow.

Zhang He knew he had found his goal.

"Hunt Mad Heart Foxes and absorb their poison." Zhang He made up his mind at once. His gaze fell on the clump of Mad Heart Grass, and a thought struck him.

"The Mad Heart Fox's poison can make people go mad... Mad Heart Grass has the same effect. Could the poison in the Mad Heart Fox's body come from eating Mad Heart Grass?"

Zhang He immediately went over to the Mad Heart Grass. There, he found a small pile of pellet-shaped droppings. The area had clearly once held more Mad Heart Grass, but a small beast had eaten it, leaving only the stalks behind. Tooth marks were still visible, and many of the droppings had dried out. This detail immediately confirmed Zhang He's guess.

"I can use Mad Heart Grass to lure Mad Heart Foxes!"

A gleam flashed through Zhang He's eyes. He had already worked out the perfect plan to capture a Mad Heart Fox.

A Mad Heart Fox dashed out of the grass. It was puzzled to see so much Mad Heart Grass in front of it, but in the end, it couldn't resist the temptation and began to eat.

After only a few bites, it grew dizzy. Its body began to go numb, and then it collapsed to the ground.

"That's the eleventh!"

Zhang He's figure dropped nimbly from a nearby tree. The tree was more than three zhang tall, yet he jumped down without so much as a scratch.

"Even a glutton can't resist the temptation of good food."

Zhang He smiled faintly as he looked at the Mad Heart Foxes lying on the ground. One after another, a total of eleven had fallen in front of the specially treated Mad Heart Grass.

Zhang He had sprinkled a little anesthetic on the Mad Heart Grass. When preparing it, he had deliberately mixed in the grass's juice, so there was nothing unusual to smell. The Mad Heart Foxes ate it without a care and were quickly paralyzed from head to toe, but their lives were never in danger.

Zhang He pried open a Mad Heart Fox's mouth. He had already figured out that its demonic poison was stored in a poison sac in its throat. He slipped in a small knife, flicked the sac loose, and caught it in his hand.

Once he was done, Zhang He put the Mad Heart Fox back in the grass. The anesthetic would wear off after a while, and it would be able to frolic around again. As for the poison sac he had removed, it would grow back in time.

Zhang He circulated his Rejuvenation True Qi and absorbed all the demonic poison from the sac.

The qi in his body surged once more.

By now, Zhang He's qi had undergone a complete transformation compared to before he entered the mountains. Thanks to these eleven Mad Heart Foxes and two other demonic beasts, his qi had become incredibly abundant. If he fought Han Zhao and Zhao Feng again, neither would be able to last even one round against him!

The difference between having qi and not having it was truly like the divide between heaven and earth!

"My strength is probably close to nine stone now. That's despite how little time the qi has had to temper my body. At this rate, in another day or two, I'll reach ten stone!"

Ten stone of strength was the Brute Force Realm—the peak of the Force Martial Realm!

Even if someone saw this incredible rate of cultivation with their own eyes, they wouldn't think they were seeing things. In truth, Zhang He himself was surprised. He had thought that tempering his body to the seventh level during this trip into the mountains would be a good result. He hadn't expected the Mad Heart Fox's poison to make his Rejuvenation True Qi surge, allowing his body to be tempered around the clock. In just two or three short days, his physical strength had risen dramatically.

By now, Zhang He's senses had become freakishly sharp. He could detect a Mad Heart Fox as soon as it came within a hundred paces. Mad Heart Foxes made almost no sound when they walked, yet he could still sense them. That showed just how keen his senses had become.

"I've opened four acupoints already. I only need four more to reach the first level of the Rejuvenation True Explanation perfectly. Then I'll be able to use the Rejuvenation True Qi in my acupoints to accelerate my attacks and unleash a critical strike!"

A spark of excitement flashed through Zhang He's eyes.

This was a cultivation method Zhang He had created himself! He circulated the qi in his body and coordinated it with his martial arts to attack his enemies and inflict damage. The faster the qi flowed, the greater the damage. But for most people, the speed at which their qi circulated was limited by its depth and the width of their meridians. Zhang He's Rejuvenation True Qi, however, was tucked away in his acupoints. As his qi flowed through his meridians and passed through an acupoint, the Rejuvenation True Qi within could spin it faster, increasing its circulation speed and, in turn, the power of his attacks.

This was the ability granted by the first level of the Rejuvenation True Explanation: a double-strength critical strike! Once all eight acupoints were opened, the Rejuvenation True Qi would assist his circulation and give his attacks twice the power.

"I can hardly wait. If I keep cultivating, I'm sure I'll reach the first level of the Rejuvenation True Explanation before long. This world is full of demonic beasts—just imagine how much demonic poison there must be. I doubt it'll take long for me to cultivate back to the realm of [Daytime Ascension]."

Zhang He licked his lips. He yearned for the realms beyond the True Martial Realm. What would they be like? Could he really fly through the air, just as the books described?

"Hmm?" Zhang He's expression suddenly changed. He whipped around and saw a yellow-and-black shape flicker through the grass in the distance.

"There's another one! I was focused on this one just now and didn't notice the other. But its belly is swollen—it seems to be pregnant, and its movements are sluggish. That must be why the male Mad Heart Fox went out to find food. Chase it!" Zhang He's eyes lit up. He immediately slung his medicine basket over his back and took off after it.

His qi was now abundant. When he circulated it through his legs, he reached the Godspeed Realm, moving as fast as a Ferghana horse. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared jump straight down from a three-zhang-tall tree. With a few leaps, Zhang He was up a hillside.

His hearing and sight were keen, and he could clearly determine the route the female Mad Heart Fox had taken by following the sounds it made. He was confident he could catch up with it. The female Mad Heart Fox's poison sac was much larger than the male's, so Zhang He was determined to get it.

A sudden strange sound came from ahead, and Zhang He's brow furrowed. It sounded like a person.

Could someone else be here? This was already deep in the mountains. Had a hunter come out this far?

It was always best to be wary of others. Zhang He immediately suppressed his presence and crept closer. Peering through the grass, he saw a figure and couldn't help freezing. "Goddess Lian?"

Ahead, a woman in tight-fitting martial attire had collapsed on the ground. Her breathtakingly beautiful face belonged to Lian Yunbi. But she seemed to be in trouble. She pulled a bottle of pills from her clothes and quickly swallowed one, then began pressing hard against the outside of her thigh.

Zhang He saw it clearly: there was a bleeding bite mark there.

"So she was bitten by a Mad Heart Fox. It must have been that female one just now. Tsk, a pregnant Mad Heart Fox bites viciously."

The wound he saw was clearly much larger than the one that had bitten him!

Lian Yunbi was feeling terribly unlucky. She had just found an Ice Cold Pangolin and was about to catch it when a beast suddenly burst out of the grass. Caught off guard, she had been bitten.

Fortunately, she had brought medicine and had promptly squeezed out the blood. There shouldn't be any serious problem.

Thinking of the Ice Cold Pangolin she had been hunting, Lian Yunbi ignored her injury. She bound the leg tightly above the wound with a strip of cloth, struggled to her feet, and grabbed her bow and weapons, ready to chase after it.

But after only a few steps, her vision suddenly went black. It felt as if the blood in her body had begun to burn.

"That beast was a demonic beast!" Lian Yunbi was shocked and furious. She collapsed to the ground, and now everything she looked at appeared doubled.

A sound suddenly came from nearby.

Lian Yunbi snatched up her weapon, her beautiful eyes instantly filling with wariness.

"Who?"