The gray-clad man's voice flowed with the cold air in the hall, his tone flat but carrying a trace of caution. "More importantly, if the Grand Elder truly succeeds, with the poison body as his trump card, he'll likely become even harder to control."
The man in the dark robe raised a hand and waved it dismissively. His gaze turned toward the auction house deep within the Poison Market, shrouded in restrictions. His voice was icy. "No need. Let him test her. It saves us from being unable to gauge that poison girl's true capabilities."
After a pause, he flicked a strand of blue-black Dou Qi from his fingertips onto a black token on the desk. "Immediately lead the Shadow Poison Guards to the auction house's lower level and reinforce the restrictions around the Thousand Poisons Origin by another three layers. Also notify the auction house master. Have him personally keep watch. If anything happens, destroy the Origin first. It must never fall into anyone else's hands!"
"Yes!" The gray-clad man accepted the token. With a flicker, he vanished from the pavilion as if he had never been there.
The dark-robed man looked once more at the jade tablet in his hand. The glow on it had stabilized, yet his gaze only grew deeper.
He walked to the window and looked toward the direction in which the Grand Elder's group had sped deeper into the Poison Market. He murmured, "Woeful Poison Body... Thousand Poisons Origin... This show is becoming more and more interesting. I just wonder what kind of 'surprise' this suddenly appeared poison girl with the Woeful Poison Body will bring to the Poison Sect."
At that moment, in a pavilion on the top floor of the Poison Market auction house.
The woman beneath the black robe stood quietly