Pushing open the door, Mu Chen walked into the corridor with his hands behind his back. Glancing sideways, he indeed saw four figures hurriedly rushing out of their rooms.
"The source of the pill fragrance came from there." The strongest old man glanced at Mu Chen in surprise, but after sensing carefully, he detected not even a trace of smoke or fire on him.
Shaking his head, the old man immediately dismissed the notion that Mu Chen was an alchemist. Yet the pill fragrance had undeniably drifted out from Mu Chen's room.
"A Fourth-Grade Pill. Judging by the richness of its fragrance, this Fourth-Grade Pill is nearly at the peak of the Fourth Tier.
"Never mind its effects—if I obtain it and study it carefully, my alchemy may rise another level and reach the Fourth Tier I've always dreamed of."
An intense greed surfaced on the old man's face. There were absolutely no more than twenty Fourth-Grade Alchemists in the Jia Ma Empire. Every Fourth-Grade Alchemist was a towering figure in the alchemy world. Even colossal powers such as the Jia Ma Imperial Family and the Misty Cloud Sect had to treat them with courtesy, and their status was comparable to that of an ordinary Dou Wang expert.
Thinking of all the benefits of becoming a Fourth-Grade Alchemist, the old man's breathing quickened. Still, he was more seasoned than the others and did not act rashly. He knew the three companions beside him would be less patient than he was.
"Hehe, little brother, we were resting just now when we suddenly sensed a strange energy fluctuation.
"We came over with no other intention, merely to take a look. After all, we're currently a thousand meters in the air. If anything goes wrong, we'll all lose our lives."
A Second-Grade Alchemist standing relatively close to Mu Chen spoke. His smiling face twisted into a greedy curve, and his gaze repeatedly passed over Mu Chen to peer into the room behind him. His hands rubbed together nonstop.
The other two were the same. As alchemists, they naturally understood that only pills above the Fourth Tier could possess such dense pill fragrance.
A Fourth-Grade Pill! It was enough to make them cast aside their dignity and become bandits again.
Detected the host's current situation. Mission triggered: Slaughter Reward: One combat experience package.
After processing the task suddenly issued by the system, Mu Chen's lips curled upward. This mission had come at just the right time and suited his intentions perfectly.
Cracking his knuckles, Mu Chen sneered. "We're all alchemists, so why bother dressing up your words? That Fourth-Grade Pill is in my hands. If you have the guts, come take it."
With the map laid bare, the three Second-Grade Alchemists exchanged glances after Mu Chen exposed them. The greed in their eyes was frighteningly intense, and then all three looked toward the old man pretending to be calm and composed.
One of them immediately mocked, "Ha Lang, what are you pretending to be some senior expert for? Let's attack together, kill this brat, and throw him from the sky to destroy the evidence. The pill will be split among the four of us.
"Otherwise, don't even think about reaping the rewards without lifting a finger."
The old man named Ha Lang first shot the three of them a vicious look. Lowering his brows slightly, he then walked toward Mu Chen with a fake smile. "Little brother, you're the guard hired by the alchemist inside, right? You're still young, so it would be best for you to step aside. Don't get caught in the crossfire."
Mu Chen shrugged listlessly, then an icy expression flooded his face. He gave a disdainful laugh. "What a boring performance. I hate hypocrites like you the most. Since you covet my pill, leave your lives behind."
A fierce chill burst from Mu Chen's eyes. With a light tap of his foot, the aura he had suppressed for so long suddenly erupted. In a single dash, he swept across the corridor, and the Dou Qi attribute within his body shifted into Poison Attribute.
Thick black mist clung to his palm. Like a tiger descending the mountain, Mu Chen pounced viciously at the Second-Grade Alchemist standing in front.
Mu Chen struck with his palm, and the Second-Grade Alchemist's expression changed drastically. He had assumed that Mu Chen's young age made him easy prey, but Mu Chen's strength was actually far greater than his own as a Three-Star Dou Master.
"This brat's tough. Attack together!"
As he spoke, a thin Dou Qi Veil immediately appeared around his body. He stretched out both hands and met Mu Chen's incoming palm head-on.
The enormous disparity in strength allowed Mu Chen to easily shatter the Three-Star Dou Master's defenses. His fierce Dou Qi blasted the Dou Qi Veil around the man's body apart in an instant.
Mu Chen's palm did not stop. Under the man's terrified gaze, it slammed brutally into his chest. With a burst of palm force, a savage power carrying Poison Attribute Dou Qi poured into his body.
"Ah..." The Three-Star Dou Master flew backward and crashed onto the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Just as he tried to rise, his face instantly turned pitch-black. He spat out several more mouthfuls of black blood and pointed at Mu Chen with a trembling finger. "You... so poisonous..."
With that, he died. Mu Chen was secretly shocked by the terrifying power of his Poison Attribute Dou Qi. In terms of raw destructive force, that palm strike could at most have injured the man. His immediate death was mainly because the poison Dou Qi was simply too tyrannical and violent.
"Combining the poisonous aura from Xiao Yi Xian's Woeful Poison Body with the poison aura from that woman, the resulting destructive power is truly terrifying.
"Even if a Da Dou Shi fought me, if they were careless enough to let my poison Dou Qi invade their body, they would likely end up severely injured."
Shocked though he was, Mu Chen did not stop advancing. The remaining two Second-Grade Alchemists possessed strength similar to that of the dead man on the ground. Even though they tried to flee, Mu Chen quickly caught up to them.
After exchanging four or five moves at lightning speed, both men had their protective Dou Qi Veils shattered by Mu Chen. Poison Dou Qi was poured into their bodies, and they succumbed one after another within ten seconds.
Even one of them, who swiftly took out and swallowed an antidote pill, still failed to escape being poisoned to death.
"No wonder people across the continent treat Poison Masters with coldness and disgust. It isn't without reason.
"If you're poisoned by accident and fail to remove it immediately, even if you don't die, you'll still suffer a serious illness." Mu Chen secretly marveled.
"Old man, you're the only one left." Thick black mist rose between Mu Chen's hands, while an almost solidified Dou Qi Veil appeared over his body. The remaining man was a Da Dou Shi, worthy of Mu Chen's serious attention.
"You're actually a Poison Master. Are you from the Chu Yun Empire? Unfortunately, although your poison aura is powerful, it can never break a Da Dou Shi's Dou Qi Armor."
As the old man spoke with some confidence, a somewhat illusory earth-yellow Dou Qi Armor covered his body. Yet judging from how faint it appeared, this Da Dou Shi was clearly far from the real thing.
"Heh, this is my first time fighting across a realm. I wonder how long it'll take to kill a Da Dou Shi?" Like Ha Lang, Mu Chen was extremely confident.
Dispelling the Poison Attribute Dou Qi around his body, Mu Chen switched to his currently strongest Fire Attribute Dou Qi, supported by Wood Attribute. The old man had been right: poison Dou Qi was sinister and vicious, but it could not penetrate that layer of Dou Qi Armor.
Blazing Prairie Hundredfold Slashes! Forming the Fire Seal with his hands, Mu Chen opened with a killing move, launching two blazing fire pythons in a ferocious assault toward Ha Lang.
"Hmph, you vicious brat. You don't know the first thing about respecting the old and caring for the young. Let me teach you how to respect the strong," Ha Lang said sinisterly, swiftly firing out a yellow light wave. It was clearly a Dou Technique of considerable rank as well.
The collision of their Dou Techniques turned the corridor into a mess. Splintered wood flew everywhere, and the nearby rooms suffered even worse damage—their roofs were blown away, exposing the blue sky.
Mu Chen's Blazing Prairie Hundredfold Slashes proved superior in the clash. After the fire pythons forcefully devoured the light wave, they slammed fiercely into Ha Lang.
The already precarious room instantly collapsed, and the violent winds swept it from the bird's back, sending it plummeting from the sky.
With the Fire Seal still formed in his hands, Mu Chen kicked aside the remaining wooden debris and walked toward Ha Lang, who was kneeling and sprawled on the bird's back, coughing up blood.
"Is that all? Weren't you going to teach me how to behave?"
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