Eastern Evil and Western Poison

Chen Fan immediately rushed toward the snake eggs in delight. Back then, he had thought these two eggs could be used as materials for poison-making and pill refinement. But after examining them closely, he discovered that the little snakes inside were already showing faint signs of breaking out of their shells. No wonder that giant snake had suddenly left its nest—it had likely gone to find food for its soon-to-be-born young. Heaven cherished all living things. Though he had killed the old snake, he had been ridding the people of evil, so his conscience was clear. Yet asking him to harm little snakes that had not even hatched was truly more than he could bear. Thus, he set the eggs aside and paid them no further mind, soon forgetting about them altogether.

Now, the two little snakes broke out of their eggs at the same time. That wondrous moment made him feel the marvels of nature. After hatching, the two snakes wriggled slightly, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on Chen Fan. When Chen Fan shifted his body to either side, their gazes moved along with him, as though they feared he might leave.

These two little fellows must have taken him for their parent. Chen Fan secretly found it amusing. What would these two think if they learned that he had killed the old snake? It was like discovering that the person who had raised you was actually the enemy who had murdered your father. That might become a hidden danger in the future.

Yet karma turned in endless cycles. He had stolen the eggs, so the old snake had wanted to kill him; he had killed the old snake, and now it seemed he had no choice but to raise these two little snakes. If these two snakes harmed him someday, then that would simply be his fate. Still, it should be difficult for them to ever surpass him in strength. It was basically impossible. Ah, he would let nature take its course.

"Listen carefully, you two. Your mother once terrorized this area of the mountains and has already been slain by me. I hope you will both behave yourselves by my side from now on. If I discover that you are committing evil deeds, do not blame me for ruthlessly killing you as well." Chen Fan spoke sternly to the two little snakes, regardless of whether they could understand him.

The two little snakes wriggled again, as if expressing their agreement. It seemed the eggs laid by the old snake had contained a measure of Heaven-and-Earth Origin Qi, allowing these newborn snakes to possess some intelligence.

Chen Fan looked at the two snakes with satisfaction. Their eyes and tails were green, and compared with the old snake, they were almost perfect miniature replicas. Their blood was likely green as well. They were indeed Three-Green Flower Pythons. Faint patterns had already appeared across their bodies, clearly showing that they possessed considerable venom from the moment they were born.

Chen Fan extended his right hand, and one of the little snakes excitedly darted up and coiled around his wrist. Delighted, he extended his left hand as well, and the other little snake coiled around it. A thought struck Chen Fan. "I'll give you two names. You shall be called Eastern Evil and Western Poison." He raised his right hand. "You will be Little East." Then he raised his left. "And you will be Little West."

Then he lightly swept both hands downward, and the two little snakes jumped back onto the table. Yet they continued staring at Chen Fan and hissing. Hmm? Could they be hungry? Chen Fan took out some dried rations and fed them to the little snakes. The snakes sniffed at them, lifted their heads, and hissed at Chen Fan again. They were picky eaters already. Helpless, Chen Fan said, "You two wait here. Don't run around." He remembered that some outer sect disciples kept pets and often hunted in the mountains, so they should have some raw meat or something similar.

A short while later, Chen Fan returned and tossed a large chunk of meat to the two little snakes. They sniffed it and took a few bites, then sniffed it again and stopped eating. They continued to stare at Chen Fan and hiss.

What? They would not even eat meat? Were they trying to become immortals? Chen Fan was speechless. After thinking it over, he took out a poison pill he had made earlier. The moment he placed it beside the little snakes, the two snakes suddenly seemed incomparably excited. They scrambled to bite and tear at the poison pill, devouring it clean in an instant without leaving even a crumb behind. After eating it, the two snakes looked at Chen Fan as though they still wanted more, occasionally wriggling their bodies.

What? Their mouths were that spoiled? Chen Fan took out another pill and tossed it over. Once again, the two snakes frantically fought over it, more or less splitting it evenly. Only after finishing that meal did they slowly lie down, looking thoroughly satisfied. Chen Fan could not help but break out in a cold sweat. At this rate, who could afford to raise them? The demon beasts of the wild usually survived by eating wild plants or hunting other beasts. Yet these two fellows wanted medicinal pills from the moment they were born?

Still, if there were no pills, they would probably eat other things. But going from thrift to luxury was easy; going from luxury back to thrift was hard. How could today's allowance last forever? Forget it. He would satisfy them as best he could. After all, now that he was their "mother," he had to take responsibility for his children. If there truly were no pills, they could eat something else as long as they did not starve to death.

These two little snakes looked exceptionally obedient. Though they could not yet help Chen Fan in battle or poison-making, he would raise them for now. With these two little fellows keeping him company, his days would be a little less lonely.

Another day passed. A streak of radiant light flashed across the horizon, followed by a beautiful figure appearing outside Chen Fan's house.

"She's here again. And this time, it's another woman." "I'm used to this guy by now. I've lost all interest in this kind of gossip." Quite a few disciples saw the scene, feeling both envious and speechless. In any case, they had long grown accustomed to women appearing outside Chen Fan's door.

"Chen Fan, come out for a moment." A woman's voice rang out, carrying a trace of chilliness.

The door opened, and Chen Fan poked his head out. He had just been studying the poison-making arts in the Treasure Record while playing with the two little snakes beside him. Hearing that someone had come to see him, he hurriedly put everything away before rushing over to open the door.

"Fairy Ye?! Why are you here? Did something happen?" Chen Fan was somewhat surprised. Ever since Fairy Ye had left that day and said she would no longer come to teach him, he had thought it would be a long time before he saw her again. Yet after only a few days, she had actually come to his door herself. Could something urgent have happened? He had clearly sensed that Fairy Ye's attitude toward him had softened considerably before, so why was her tone now icy cold again?

"Did something happen? Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Fairy Ye looked at Chen Fan meaningfully. "Someone asked me to give this to you." With that, she took out two books and handed them to him.

Chen Fan accepted them and was astonished. The covers of the two books respectively bore the titles Blood-Coagulation Technique and Rejuvenation Formula. When he opened them, he found that they had clearly been copied by hand recently, with some ink still not fully dry. Could Little Witch have personally copied them over these past two days?

"Hurry and put them away. That girl said you could read them without worry, and there was no need to rush to return them. Also, it is not convenient for her to come out lately, so cultivate properly on your own." After giving those instructions, Fairy Ye turned to leave. Then she suddenly recalled something, turned back, and asked, "If you wanted to read books from the Library Pavilion, why did you not come find me?"

Chen Fan was speechless inside. Qin Ziyan must have been watched within the palace, so she had entrusted Fairy Ye with bringing him the books. Looking at these two handwritten copies, he was deeply moved as well. He had not expected that Little Witch to be so loyal and affectionate. He had been neither warm nor cold toward her before, and thinking about it now made him feel somewhat ashamed. But what did Fairy Ye mean by that? What difference was there between finding her and finding Qin Ziyan? Besides, he had not sought out Qin Ziyan in the first place—she had come knocking on his door. Another difficult, strange, beyond-the-syllabus question!

"Fairy Ye has already shown this junior much care on many occasions. I would not dare trouble you again over such a matter," Chen Fan replied respectfully.

"Do you not dare, or do you not want to?" Fairy Ye cut in. She looked at Chen Fan a few more times, then suddenly froze. "You are already at the third level. It seems I truly have nothing left to teach you. Give it back."

"What thing?" Chen Fan asked in confusion.

"The token."

"Oh..." Chen Fan tremblingly took out the Swordheart Hall token and presented it with both hands.

Ye Wan took the token and gave Chen Fan another look. Hmph. He actually took it out without the slightest hesitation. So be it. With that thought, Ye Wan accepted the token, then ran off in a puff of smoke. Yes, she looked somewhat flustered.

What... what was that about? She seemed angry? A woman's heart truly was impossible to fathom.

Time flew by. A year later, at the outer sect martial arena, it was the disciples' midmonth sparring day. Any disciple wishing to verify their cultivation arts could take this opportunity to compete and exchange pointers. Naturally, these were friendly matches where they stopped before real harm was done.

One figure wielded a sharp sword. In an instant, his body blurred, and several identical figures simultaneously raised their swords and stabbed toward a young man opposite him. The young man was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly raised his sword to block, shattering one streak of sword light. Then he twisted his body and slashed backward with his sword, blocking another streak of sword light. Immediately afterward, he threw himself into a hard backward flip to the side, narrowly evading the opponent's third streak of sword light. That sword light struck the ground not far away, leaving another deep sword mark on the martial arena.

Yet before the young man could steady himself, his opponent used an exceptionally ghostly movement technique to split into five afterimages and consecutively unleash five waves of Sword Qi. The Sword Qi attacked from above, below, left, right, and center, and its power was even stronger than that of the previous three streaks of sword light.

"I concede!" the young man cried out in panic just in time.

The five waves of Sword Qi flying toward him instantly lost most of their force, then dispersed into nothingness only a few feet before him.

"Junior Brother Chen, I never expected you to have become this strong. I fear none of us can be your match any longer," the young man said.

"Senior Brother Murong, you let me win." The two sparring were none other than Chen Fan and Murong Zhu.

Over the past year, Chen Fan had cultivated bitterly day after day. Aside from steadily consolidating and improving his Internal Qi realm, his attainments in swordsmanship had advanced by leaps and bounds. He had not trained in any more profound sword arts. Instead, he had completely fused the Azure Mountain Sword Art with the Clear Wind Art, and he could now execute them with consummate fluency. Combined with his third-level Internal Qi, he had become one of the rare few without rivals among the outer sect disciples. He had even comprehended some of the mysteries of the Soaring Art. Although he did not possess the technique itself to cultivate, based on his understanding of the Soaring Art, he had created several unique footwork methods and incorporated them into his swordsmanship. When used in battle, they made it difficult for opponents to grasp his movements.

Over the past year, he had occasionally sparred with Murong Zhu and other outer sect disciples. Gradually, many of them could no longer withstand even a single move from him. While the disciples marveled inwardly, they also became thoroughly convinced of Chen Fan's strength.

Over the past year, Chen Fan had not relaxed his study of the Treasure Record either. By now, he could skillfully refine nearly a hundred kinds of poison. Had the necessary materials not been incomplete, the number of poisons he mastered would have been even greater.

Of the poisons he refined, half went directly into the mouths of Chen Fan, Eastern Evil, and Western Poison. It was one thing for the two snakes to eat them. But Chen Fan eating alongside them made the scene somewhat insane. Still, he had his reasons. He first cultivated both the Blood-Coagulation Technique and the Rejuvenation Formula to the third level, then compared their speed of circulating essence and their detoxification effects against the Golden Wheel Scripture. The result was that neither could compare to the Golden Wheel Scripture at all. Chen Fan had become certain that even if he cultivated both techniques to the fourth level, they still would not surpass the Golden Wheel Scripture. Since both techniques leaned toward recovery and healing, using them as his main cultivation methods after the fourth level would be rather useless. Thus, he simply gave up on continuing to cultivate them. However, he continued to store the two handwritten copies. As for the Golden Wheel Scripture, after mastering it to the point of complete perfection, he directly destroyed that cultivation manual entirely, thereby removing a major hidden danger. In addition, he had raised his Internal Qi realm considerably through the method of taking poison while detoxifying and recovering at the same time, though he was still far from the peak of the third level.

Meanwhile, the two beauties from the inner sect had seemingly agreed never to seek out Chen Fan again. Chen Fan had no way to go find them himself, and there was indeed nothing he needed from them, so he simply focused on cultivation. However, not long ago, he learned that the little demoness had actually entered seclusion nearly three months earlier. It seemed that ever since she had fallen in love with the Library Pavilion, combined with her already exceptional talent, once she settled down to cultivate, everything had flowed as naturally as water reaching a channel. From the looks of it, she was now in seclusion to charge at the great barrier of the fourth level. If she broke through successfully, he would have to address her as Martial Aunt, though Chen Fan did not care much about that.

As for Fairy Ye, Murong Zhu had learned that some outer sect disciples had seen her at the foot of the mountain. She seemed to have gone down the mountain to travel. This was perfectly normal. Once cultivators reached a certain bottleneck, what they needed most was not to bury their heads in study, but opportunity. Traveling far and wide to experience the countless conditions of the world could greatly increase the chances of breaking through a bottleneck.

By that logic, he would continue not seeing either of them. Chen Fan mocked himself inwardly. Could it be that I'm lovesick? And for two women at once... Yet this also gave Chen Fan an idea. After a year of cultivation, he had reached certain bottlenecks in many areas. Perhaps he lacked cultivation techniques, or perhaps he lacked insight gained from real battle. Was it time for him to go out and wander as well? Perhaps he might encounter his own opportunity.