Poisonous Pill Backlash? System, Destroy It For Me!

Pill-toxin backlash? System, destroy it for me! The bone-scraping sting in his meridians made a vein jump at Zhao Hao's temple.

His spiritual power circulated sluggishly, clogged and stagnant. If he forced it, less than fifty percent of his strength could barely pass through.

The Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art was not only useless—it had made the pill toxins tangle even deeper with his flesh and blood.

They were "helping" the pill toxins, turning them into part of his body!

"Damn it!"

Zhao Hao forcibly suppressed the stinging pain that was almost driving him mad.

Since the Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art couldn't refine them...

Then he would have the system treat them as "materials" and destroy them!

The moment the thought cleared, he acted at once.

Zhao Hao took the disciple token from his storage pouch and contacted Lu Gui directly.

His voice carried a trace of deliberately suppressed, yet impossible-to-hide urgency and weakness.

"Senior Brother Lu! Something went wrong with my cultivation! I urgently need a batch of poisons and pills!"

From the other end of the token, Lu Gui's voice quickly came through, carrying his usual fawning tone. "Senior Brother Zhao? What happened to you?"

"I was cultivating the Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art, and it seems I was too eager for quick success. My spiritual power has become somewhat uncontrollable."

As Zhao Hao spoke, he used the perfected-level Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art to steadily disguise his aura as "peak third level Qi Refining."

The appearance of a young genius eager to break through, only to lose control, was acted out by him to lifelike perfection.

A wave of fluctuation came from the restriction before the stone door of the cave abode.

Before long, Lu Gui rushed to the entrance of the cave abode in a great hurry. Even through the stone door, Zhao Hao could sense his anxious aura.

Zhao Hao opened the stone door.

The moment Lu Gui saw his pale face, then sensed his "peak third level Qi Refining" aura, he froze for an instant, but he had also somewhat grown used to seeing strange things.

In Lu Gui's heart, his judgment of Zhao Hao's future rose once again to an entirely new level. That last bit of lingering hesitation vanished like smoke and clouds in an instant.

"Senior Brother! Whatever you need, just give the order! Even if Junior Brother has to climb a mountain of blades or descend into a sea of fire, I'll get it for you!" Lu Gui bent even lower at the waist, almost folding himself in two.

"Ten portions of mortal poison, ten portions of first-tier spirit poison—the more varieties, the better. Also, help me buy twenty bottles of Essence Condensing Pills. I need to stabilize my realm," Zhao Hao said quickly.

"No problem!" Lu Gui agreed at once, swiftly estimating the price in his heart.

"Senior Brother, all these things together should cost about three hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones."

Without another word, Zhao Hao directly counted out three hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and handed them over.

Lu Gui accepted the spirit stones, assuming they were what remained of the money Zhao Hao had borrowed from him back then, and thumped his chest in guarantee.

"Senior Brother, rest assured! Two hours! Within two hours, I will definitely deliver them!"

Watching Lu Gui leave like a gust of wind, Zhao Hao closed the stone door. The plan in his heart had already taken shape.

This "logistics minister" was becoming more and more useful.

In less than two hours, Lu Gui had indeed returned, bringing back more than forty pill bottles: twenty jade bottles containing mortal poisons, first-tier spirit poisons, and other such toxins, as well as twenty bottles of Essence Condensing Pills.

After seeing Lu Gui off, Zhao Hao shut the stone door with a backhanded motion, an impatient expression appearing on his face.

He sat down cross-legged and directly called up the system panel.

First, he placed a jade bottle of first-tier spirit poison labeled [Bone-Eroding Powder] into the [Main Item Slot].

Then, he took a deep breath and selected the two negative statuses [Qi Gathering Pill Pill Toxin] and [Essence Condensing Pill Pill Toxin] from the materials column!

[Main Item: Bone-Eroding Powder (First Tier) enhanced to (Second Tier)]

[Consumed Materials: [Qi Gathering Pill Pill Toxin] + [Essence Condensing Pill Pill Toxin]]

[Enhancement Success Rate: 40%]

[Begin enhancement?]

As he began the enhancement.

[Ding! Enhancement failed. Notice: Consumed materials (Qi Gathering Pill Pill Toxin, Essence Condensing Pill Pill Toxin) have been destroyed!]

It worked!

Zhao Hao did not immediately get up. Instead, he closed his eyes and looked inward at himself once more.

It was a feeling of clarity he had never experienced before!

Within his meridians, all the attached gray-black impurities had vanished without a trace. His entire network of meridians had become incomparably clear and transparent, and along with it, his whole body and mind relaxed.

Spiritual power surged and flowed through them like the most obedient rivers, smooth and effortless, without even the slightest bit of the earlier stagnation and stabbing pain!

A grave danger lodged in his very heart had been completely removed in a single morning!

Zhao Hao let out a long breath of turbid air, feeling his body and mind become comfortable to the extreme.

His foundation had been fully restored, and he no longer had any worries for the future!

Without the slightest delay, he immediately took out an Essence Condensing Pill and swallowed it.

A supreme-grade fire spirit root combined with the perfected-level Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art—his cultivation efficiency was fully unleashed!

The spiritual energy inside the cave abode was wildly stirred, forming a small spiritual-energy vortex, while the majestic medicinal power of the pill transformed into the purest energy and was swallowed down by him in whale-like, oceanic gulps!

Only two days!

Two days later, the spiritual power accumulated within his body had reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining!

That sturdy bottleneck seemed unable to withstand a single blow at this moment.

Accompanied by a dull rumble inside his body, like a dam bursting, a violent flood of spiritual power surged out and smashed through every obstruction!

[Realm: Qi Refining Seventh Level (0/100)]

He had stepped into late-stage Qi Refining!

Zhao Hao slowly opened his eyes, and an aura several times more powerful than before circulated within him.

The range of his spiritual sense had more than tripled in the instant of his breakthrough. Every stir of wind and rustle of grass within a radius of ten zhang inside and outside the entire cave abode was reflected clearly in his mind.

His thoughts moved.

A teacup on the stone table let out a faint hum and trembled slightly, then actually rose slowly into the air!

This was the ability only cultivators in late-stage Qi Refining could grasp—controlling objects with spiritual sense!

Zhao Hao immediately took out the supreme-grade first-tier flying sword bestowed by his master from his storage pouch—Ghost Bone.

He poured spiritual power into the sword's body, and the flying sword let out a clear, ringing sword cry, shakily drifting up.

As he practiced continuously, the flying sword wove back and forth nimbly within three chi in front of him, cold light flashing along its edge, killing intent austere!

Although it could be used by directly controlling it with divine sense, it still could not compare to finding a specialized sword-controlling method. After all, sword-controlling methods contained no small number of flying-sword manipulation techniques.

After the joy of his soaring strength passed, Zhao Hao once again took an Essence Condensing Pill.

He discovered that after the pill dissolved, although the total amount of spiritual power it provided had not changed, compared to the vast spiritual-power requirements of the seventh level of Qi Refining, it was already somewhat like a cup of water against a cartload of firewood.

His cultivation speed slowed.

Zhao Hao was not surprised by this at all.

He calmly took out a new Essence Condensing Pill and placed it into the system's [Main Item Slot].

Then, he took out five identical Essence Condensing Pills and placed them into the [Consumable Material Slot].

[Ding! Enhancement successful!]

The light dispersed, and a brand-new pill the size of a dragon's eye, with an unprecedentedly rich medicinal fragrance and even faint spiritual light flowing across its surface, appeared in his hand.

Zhao Hao did not hesitate and swallowed it directly.

A pure medicinal power more than five times vaster than before exploded thunderously in his abdomen, its effect comparable to the sum of five ordinary pills from before!

Although, viewed as a whole, it was equivalent to losing the medicinal power of one pill, it was also equivalent to his pill-refining speed becoming five times faster.

He immediately immersed himself in this exhilarating sensation of his cultivation increasing rapidly.

He enhanced all the remaining pills and obtained a total of thirteen enhanced pills.

Another three days passed. When the medicinal power of the final enhanced pill had been refined, his cultivation stopped steadily at the late stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining.

[Realm: Qi Refining Seventh Level (84/200)]

Only then did Zhao Hao stop cultivating.

A supreme-grade spirit root, a perfected cultivation technique, perfected spells, and a supreme-grade flying sword.

He was confident that, setting aside combat experience, even if he faced an ordinary cultivator at perfected Qi Refining, he could clash head-on!

But he was not complacent. Wu De's Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation was like a great mountain, pressing heavily on his heart.

He still needed to become stronger!

Zhao Hao glanced at the few spirit stones remaining in his storage pouch and was just preparing to contact Lu Gui again, asking him to help purchase pills so he could surge in one breath to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Just then—

The disciple token at his waist suddenly began to shake violently.

A cold voice, devoid of any emotion, rang out from within the token, directly trembling deep in his soul.

"All disciples of the Corpse Refining Lineage at mid-stage Qi Refining and above are to assemble at Ten Thousand Corpse Hall immediately. No mistakes will be tolerated!"

It was True Person Corpse Heart's voice!

Zhao Hao had only just broken through, and before he had time to fully stabilize it, the aura of his seventh level of Qi Refining fluctuated uncontrollably.

His expression changed slightly, and he immediately circulated the Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art at full force, forcefully suppressing that leaked aura back down.

Something had happened!