Poison Spirit Art

After obtaining the cultivation manual, Luo Mu didn't stay at the night market. He fought down his excitement and hurried back to his shop. He had no heart for bargain hunting now; all his thoughts were fixed on that Jade Slip.

Back at the shop, Luo Mu firmly shut the door and went up to the second floor. He released his spirit insects to keep watch and guard against the Female Ghost appearing again, then took out the Jade Slip he'd acquired that night.

"Poison Spirit Art"—a cultivation art centered on poison. It mainly explained the techniques of using poison: how to kill without a trace, taking someone's life before they even knew what was happening. It was exceedingly sinister and ruthless. To cultivate this art, one had to carry poison at all times. Poison was needed both for cultivation and as an essential weapon against enemies; one couldn't do without it.

This art used highly toxic substances to slowly transform the spiritual power in a cultivator's dantian into Poison Spirit Power, turning the cultivator into a Poison Cultivator whose very body was poisonous.

The art had seven levels. Each time one advanced a level, its toxicity increased by three parts, and its power surged. However, advancing required large quantities of highly toxic substances to assist in cultivation, allowing one to progress as quickly as possible. Starting at the third level, one would gain several special abilities.

At the third level, the Poison Spirit Power cultivated within the body could be released to form a protective barrier, strengthening the cultivator's defenses. At the fourth level, one could administer poison from afar, striking without a trace and leaving opponents unable to guard against it. Upon reaching the fifth level, one could release the Poison Spirit Power in one's dantian and condense it into all manner of strange forms, increasing its toxicity and greatly enhancing its lethality. At the sixth level, one could condense a Poison Spirit in the dantian. The seventh level was the stage of perfect mastery of the Poison Spirit Art, when the Poison Spirit condensed in the dantian would mature and could be released to become a powerful ally.

Cultivating this art required large quantities of poison. Without them, progress would be difficult.

The Jade Slip Luo Mu had obtained recorded the complete Poison Spirit Art. Given his circumstances, it could not have been better suited to serve as his primary cultivation art.

That was why Luo Mu had been so excited after obtaining it.

However, judging from the Jade Slip, the Poison Spirit Art was probably not a unique copy, but a replica. That meant there should be quite a few copies of the same art, and Luo Mu certainly wasn't the only Poison Cultivator. No one knew how vast the cultivation world was, but Poison Cultivators were surely rare within the territory of the Wanfa Sect. And even if there were any, they were probably only mediocre.

As for whether Poison Cultivators existed elsewhere, the answer was obviously yes. Otherwise, how could this art have come to light? Luo Mu didn't know how the stall owner had obtained the Jade Slip, but he could guess why the man hadn't sold it—and why he'd called the Poison Spirit Art an auxiliary art.

The Wanfa Sect built its foundation on techniques. After years under its influence, low-level cultivators in its territory had also come to favor techniques without even realizing it. Everything other than techniques was treated as auxiliary. And using poison was even more disreputable, regarded as a low-down trick unfit for the grand stage.

Even when they used poison, cultivators did so with extreme caution, afraid someone would see and spread the word, making them a laughingstock. Using poison against demonic beasts was understandable, but using it in a fight against another cultivator would earn the scorn of their peers.

So if cultivators used poison in a fight, they would never leave survivors, lest word get out and damage their reputations.

High-level cultivators cared about their reputations, so low-level cultivators cared even more. Once their reputation was ruined, half their path to immortality would be destroyed.

Who among the low-level cultivators who had only recently entered the cultivation world didn't want to go further along the path of cultivation? Who didn't want to live longer after raising their cultivation level? So when choosing an art, of course they wouldn't pick this disreputable poison art. For low-level cultivators in the Wanfa Sect's territory, joining the Wanfa Sect was the way forward.

The stall owner had held the Poison Spirit Art for a long time. It was these reasons that had kept him from selling it. Because of his low level of strength and cultivation, the cultivators he encountered were just like him: low-level cultivators. Which novice, having only just set foot on the path of cultivation, would choose such a "futureless" poison art? That would be like digging their own grave.

The stall owner wasn't the only one who would have thought that way. If it had been the old Luo Mu, he wouldn't have chosen the path of a Poison Cultivator either. Back then, he'd thought just like today's low-level cultivators. But fate had brought him onto this path, and now Luo Mu was determined to keep walking it—and carve out a world of his own.

What was actually a primary cultivation art, the Poison Spirit Art looked to the stall owner like an auxiliary art—and one few cultivators would be willing to practice. They might cultivate it now and then, just to secretly harm someone. That was why, when he sold it to Luo Mu, the stall owner had called it an auxiliary art instead of a primary one.

After looking through the entire art, Luo Mu felt that the Poison Spirit Art was indeed excellent. The stall owner hadn't sold it because he was too timid to put it up for sale openly, and because he'd never met a cultivator who truly needed it.

Many cultivators would do anything to increase their strength. They didn't care what others thought or said, and cared even less about how bad their reputation became. As long as they could grow stronger, that was enough. Once they were powerful, who would dare openly criticize them?

Luo Mu was one of those people. Faced with the Poison Spirit Art, which suited him perfectly, he hadn't hesitated for a moment before deciding to buy it. No matter how many spirit stones it cost, he would have bought it. If the stall owner had tried to extort him, Luo Mu wouldn't have hesitated to kill him right there in the city, take the art, and leave.

Of course, buying it for one spirit stone was something Luo Mu hadn't expected. But for him, it was the best possible outcome.

Now, Luo Mu's divine sense had sunk into the Jade Slip as he carefully studied the art, word by word, making sure he understood its meaning. Whether the Poison Spirit Art was a primary or auxiliary art was no longer a concern. He had already confirmed again and again that it suited him perfectly. That was all that mattered; there was no need to think about anything else.

In truth, the Poison Spirit Art was one of the top-tier primary cultivation arts for Poison Cultivators. Luo Mu didn't know how it had ended up in the stall owner's hands, only for it to eventually fall into his own—as if fate had arranged it all.

In the eyes of ordinary Poison Cultivators, the Poison Spirit Art was a top-tier cultivation art. But for Luo Mu, even calling it top-tier didn't do it justice.

Ordinary Poison Cultivators needed large quantities of poison to practice the Poison Spirit Art, transforming the spiritual power in their dantians into Poison Spirit Power. After completing the transformation, they had to absorb spiritual power from the world again, then transform it with poisons into the Poison Spirit Power they needed. The cycle repeated endlessly, making cultivation extremely troublesome. The time it took was terrifying.

Luo Mu, on the other hand, could skip that wasted time. Since he couldn't gather spiritual power in the first place, after he took poison, his dantian could produce Poison Spirit Power by itself, endlessly and in tremendous quantities. When cultivating the Poison Spirit Art, he would surely make twice the progress with half the effort.

Put simply, it was as if the Poison Spirit Art had been made specifically for Luo Mu.

Luo Mu slowly opened his eyes. A gleam flashed in them as he took a deep breath, unable to hide his joy.

Having repeatedly checked the Poison Spirit Art, Luo Mu could finally confirm that it truly suited him. With one of his greatest worries resolved, he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the toxins accumulated in his body would be dealt with before long.

(I have to head to work. This chapter is a bit short, so please bear with me.)