Poisoned

"You've found some good spiritual materials." The Qingxu ignored the fact that the Purple Mansion hadn't been solved, and instead began to rummage through the heavenly materials and earthly treasures that the Tiger Demon and Situ Mingyue had brought back. "These few spiritual fruits are Golden Body Fruit, which have been proven to enhance physical strength. They can be consumed directly without any other harm."

"And these few blades of grass are called Silver Thread Grass. They are extremely tough and are a material used for refining weapons."

Zhang Yang glanced sideways at the Qingxu Daoist: "You're not lying to me, are you? I don't recognize any of these things."

Qingxu glanced at Zhang Yang and asked, "The last time your Azure Cloud Sect entered the Prodigy Battlefield was more than 1,200 years ago. The Prodigy Battlefield has only been around for about 3,000 years. Therefore, your Azure Cloud Sect has missed about half the time in studying the Prodigy Battlefield."

Especially after the Millennium Upheaval, your Azure Cloud Sect probably has even less time or inclination to study these things, right?

What I just mentioned are all materials researched and compiled by our various major sects."

"Therefore, our Azure Cloud Sect has no share in these materials!"

Qingxu retorted, "Since your Azure Cloud Sect can't participate and can't provide any information, why should we share it with you?"

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "It's alright, you understand these things, right?"

Qingxu was stunned.

He silently examined the heavenly materials and earthly treasures, then said, "There aren't many good ones; after all, it's just a small mountain that a major sect wouldn't even consider. However, I discovered some of the refining materials here, which can be used to forge some Law Treasure. Conservatively speaking, we can forge Eight-Rank Magic Artifact."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang immediately understood that there weren't many good things here.

Eight-Rank Magic Artifact is practically the worst kind of Law Treasure.

"Pack your things and get ready to run!" Qingxu's next words surprised Zhang Yang and the others.

"Run?"

Isn't this small hill something nobody wants? Surely no powerful person would come here, so why run away?

Qingxu looked at Zhang Yang and the others speechlessly and said, "If we don't run now, the people from the Cloud Firmament Palace will be here soon!"

You'll definitely use me as a scapegoat then, and I don't want to die with you.

The Prodigy Battlefield has been over a thousand years old. You're still bringing information from over a thousand years ago to the Prodigy Battlefield. I really don't know if you're brave or just looking for death."

Zhang Yang's expression changed, and he immediately instructed the Tiger Demon and Situ Mingyue, "Take the things and let's go!"

Indeed, their information is over a thousand years out of date.

After more than a thousand years of development, these major sects must have undergone other changes on the Prodigy Battlefield.

The Tiger Demon swallowed the fruits with a flick of its tongue, then, carrying a pile of swords and materials, quickly retreated towards the entrance of the Prodigy Battlefield.

Just as Zhang Yang was about to leave with Qingxu, he suddenly remembered something. He hurriedly tore down the "flag" stuck on the mountain, then carefully hid a packet of Soul-Entangling Powder inside the "flag." Finally, he secured it with a faint talisman to prevent the Soul-Entangling Powder too quickly, while still allowing it to slowly disperse.

"What are you doing?" Qingxu asked curiously.

Zhang Yang chuckled, "It's a kind of potent poison Soul-Entangling Powder' used by ordinary people, specifically designed to poison the physical body. Even Nascent Soul Cultivator would find it difficult to expel the poison once poisoned. Didn't you say the people from the Cloud Firmament Palace would be coming? I'll prepare for them and give them a proper welcome."

Qingxu looked at Zhang Yang strangely, thinking to himself, "You actually poisoned him?"

"Let's go!" Zhang Yang grabbed Qingxu and chased after Situ Mingyue and the Tiger Demon in the direction they had left.

They had only been gone a short while when Jiang Wu indeed led more than a dozen Nascent Soul Realm to rush over.

Upon arriving at the hill, Jiang Wu immediately ordered sternly, "Surround them! Carefully search with your Spiritual Sense. Everyone be careful, this person is very well hidden and possesses a powerful Law Treasure capable of killing from a great distance. So, everyone be cautious."

Then, everyone extended their Spiritual Sense up the mountain, conducting a thorough search of the entire hill.

The small hill, which wasn't very big to begin with, was searched out by a group of the Nascent Soul Realm in no time.

"Senior Brother Jiang, we found no one else, only many corpses! Even rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures are scarce; they've probably already been harvested."

Jiang Wu was furious, but he couldn't vent his anger.

Several of their men were killed without even knowing who their opponents were, and now their enemies have escaped.

They searched the surrounding area carefully, but still couldn't find anyone, and knew in their hearts that there was probably no hope.

The group put away their shields, since the shields required spiritual energy, and they couldn't afford to waste it like that since there were no enemies.

However, the toxins from the Soul-Entangling Powder were slowly evaporating and were already about to come into contact with those Nascent Soul Cultivators.

"That damned thing, don't let me find him, or I'll make him wish he were dead!" Jiang Wu cursed.

He glanced at the "flag" planted on the mountain, found it so offensive that he kicked it away.

A cloud of white mist spread out rapidly.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening.

"Defend now!"

Even if I don't know what it is, defense is always the best policy.

All the Nascent Soul Cultivator hurriedly used their spiritual power to erect protective shields.

However, since they were not at the Primordial Spirit Realm, it would take them a little while to activate their shields.

In that short period of time, several Nascent Soul Realm were infected with the deadly poison of the Soul-Entangling Powder.

Jiang Wu was among them.

The group exchanged bewildered glances, seemingly unconcerned.

They hurriedly used Law Technique to summon a gust of wind, which dispersed the smoke.

"Senior Brother Jiang, since everything's alright, shall we go back?" a Nascent Soul Realm suggested.

"Go back!" Jiang Wu nodded.

"No, Senior Brother Jiang, we're going back, what are you laughing at?"

"I wasn't laughing, what's so funny?"

Everyone stared at Jiang Wu's strange smile. "Your face looks like that, and you're still not smiling?"

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Jiang Wu asked, bewildered. "And Junior Brother Wu, what are you laughing at? And Junior Brother Qin, what's so funny?"

It was only then that everyone realized that the smiles of a few people were really too eerie.

It's that kind of forced smile, where the muscles are all pulled together.

Gradually, Jiang Wu noticed that he could no longer speak fluently, his body was extremely stiff, and he hunched over, eventually collapsing to the ground.

"Ah—poison! Quick, Senior Brother Jiang and the others have been poisoned!"

At this point, everyone realized that Jiang Wu and the others had been poisoned.

Startled, the other Nascent Soul Realm quickly grabbed Jiang Wu and the others and fled.

Jiang Wu's body involuntarily shrank, his eyes staring blankly at the sky, tears welling up in his eyes.

He wasn't trying to cry; he simply couldn't control himself.

At that moment, he was filled with boundless hatred and vowed to capture that person.

In his entire life, when had he ever lost so much face?

From a distance on the mountain, Zhang Yang saw everything happening on the mountain through his scope and burst into laughter.

Qingxu saw Zhang Yang inexplicably acting crazy and didn't know what Zhang Yang was laughing about.

"Here, let me show you!"

He simply handed the scope to Qingxu; such things are only truly enjoyable when shared.

When Qingxu saw the tragic state of the geniuses from the Cloud Firmament Palace after being poisoned, he was speechless with astonishment.

"How was that? Pretty cool, huh?" Zhang Yang put away his scope.

Qingxu looked at Zhang Yang as if he were a monster. The renowned genius Jiang Wu of the Cloud Firmament Palace had embarrassed himself like that. He thought to himself, "Is this exciting?"

You might as well just kill them!