God-Killing Powder

"I'll buy one kilogram of God-Killing Powder."

Fang Yan made his decision.

"Alright, Master! Placing the order for you... One kilogram of God-Killing Powder, total price: 600 million mixed yuan units. Estimated delivery time... three hundred years?"

Fang Yan nearly jumped out of his chair.

"Three hundred years?!"

"Master, calm down!"

Little Fox Fairy's voice carried a hint of grievance.

"God-Killing Powder is a top-grade poison to begin with. The raw materials need to be gathered from all across the universe before it can be made, so three hundred years is already very fast! If it weren't for the Hong Alliance's internal channels, buying this stuff through normal means would take at least a thousand years!"

Fang Yan took a deep breath and calmed himself.

Three hundred years.

In a mortal world, that was an age so long that one might not live through it even across three lifetimes.

(Sigh... infatuated Miss Shang, please wait another lifetime.)

But for cultivators at the Immortal level, three hundred years was no more than the time it took for a single period of seclusion.

Fang Yan could wait.

"Fine. Three hundred years it is."

Fang Yan rose to his feet. After leaving the private room, he logged out of the Virtual Universe.

Above Yinghuo Star, the two moons still hung high in the sky.

"The God-Killing Powder won't arrive for three hundred years. I can't waste that time."

Fang Yan sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. The power of his internal world began to circulate slowly.

His comprehension of the Law of Wind was stalled at ninety-nine percent. There was no rushing it for now.

But there was still enormous room for improvement in his use of the Wind-Following Wings, his proficiency with the Time Shuttle, and the threshold of time suspension that he had vaguely begun to touch.

More importantly, he needed to make thorough preparations for his trip to Wind Abyss Star.

Who knew what might be waiting for him on that planet besides the Wind Origin?

"Master, are you going to start cultivating again?"

Little Fox Fairy's projection appeared. She swayed her tail, sounding somewhat bored.

"What else? Keep you company and chat?"

"That wouldn't be so bad..."

Fang Yan ignored Little Fox Fairy's muttering and sank his mind into deep meditation on the laws.

The stone doors of the cultivation chamber slowly closed.

Across the land of Yinghuo Star, crimson wind and sand howled past.

Time began another cycle of passage upon this desolate planet.

Three hundred years, by mortal standards, was enough for a dynasty to rise and fall, enough for seas to turn into mulberry fields.

But in the world of powerful World Lords, three hundred years was as brief as a breath.

The moment Fang Yan opened his eyes, a cyan radiance lit up within the cultivation chamber.

He was only a hair's breadth away from a breakthrough in his comprehension of Immortal laws, yet that very hair's breadth had kept him from grasping it.

"Master, Master!"

Little Fox Fairy's anxious voice rang out.

"The God-Killing Powder has arrived!"

Fang Yan stood up and patted the nonexistent dust from his robes.

"Let's go receive it."

He pushed open the stone doors of the cultivation chamber and walked out onto the summit of Sky Pillar Peak.

After three hundred years, Yinghuo Star still looked exactly as he remembered: crimson earth, a dim sky, and two moons reflecting each other's light across the vault of heaven.

Fang Yan looked up at the sky.

Against the crimson canopy, a faint glimmer was rapidly approaching. Like a meteor flying in reverse, it was particularly conspicuous against Yinghuo Star's dark backdrop.

It was a pitch-black spacecraft, sleek and sharp-lined.

The spacecraft slowly came to a stop roughly a thousand meters from Fang Yan. It made no sound, yet the invisible pressure spreading through the air caused even the crimson wind and sand around it to halt.

The hatch opened.

Three figures emerged from the spacecraft.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a square face and bronze skin, clad in dark golden armor. Every scale of that armor was inscribed with intricate law patterns.

A Marquis Immortal!

Those were Fang Yan's first thoughts.

Behind him followed two figures dressed in silver-gray robes. One man and one woman. They looked young, but the ancient air in their eyes showed that they were old monsters who had lived for untold tens of thousands of years.

Immortal Army Lords!

Fang Yan narrowed his eyes slightly.

It was merely an order for poison worth 600 million mixed yuan units, yet the Hong Alliance had dispatched three Immortal powerhouses to deliver it?

This was an awfully grand display.

"Are you Fang Yan?"

The middle-aged man stopped about three zhang away, his gaze settling on Fang Yan as he looked him over.

His voice was low and resonant, carrying a metallic quality.

"I am."

Fang Yan clasped his hands in a neither servile nor overbearing salute.

"The God-Killing Powder you ordered has arrived. Please confirm receipt."

The man turned and gave the female Immortal Army Lord behind him a slight nod.

The woman stepped forward. Her features were exquisite yet cold, and her long silver-white hair drifted gently in the wind.

She raised her right hand and handed Fang Yan a black-as-ink ring.

"Please inspect it."

Her voice was cool as an icy spring striking stone, concise and direct.

Fang Yan accepted the world ring.

"Little Fox Fairy," Fang Yan called silently in his mind.

"Got it, Master~"

Little Fox Fairy's projection quietly appeared. Her hands passed through the void and gently touched the surface of the world ring.

A moment later, Little Fox Fairy's voice sounded in Fang Yan's mind.

"The spacecraft, the armor, and the God-Killing Powder are all here, Master!"

"Receipt confirmed."

Fang Yan said.

Fang Yan remained where he was and watched the three board the ship.

The black spacecraft rose soundlessly, tracing a dark blue streak across Yinghuo Star's dim vault before swiftly vanishing beyond the horizon.

The wind began to howl again.

Crimson sand once more swept across the earth.

"Six hundred million... traded for something this small." Fang Yan squeezed the ring, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

The God-Killing Powder was in hand!

He returned to the cultivation chamber and carefully opened the metal box.

Inside was a transparent crystal vial the size of a fist, filled with silver-gray powder.

The powder was extremely fine. When it shifted slightly inside the vial, it resembled flowing silver mist.

Fang Yan took out the crystal vial, then retrieved the five cyan robes he had previously purchased from the Hong Alliance Trading Hall.

He turned back the wide cuff of one robe, opened the vial over the hidden pocket inside the sleeve, and carefully poured in a small amount of God-Killing Powder.

The silver-gray powder spread evenly through the sleeve in a thin layer, leaving almost no trace at all.

"Colorless, odorless, and dissolves upon contact with air."

Fang Yan shook out his sleeve in satisfaction and put the robe back on.

With this poison hidden in his sleeve, if he ever encountered an opponent he truly could not defeat, it would serve as a little surprise for them.

"Master, what you're doing... is so devious."

Little Fox Fairy's voice carried complicated emotions.

"This is called wisdom."

Fang Yan corrected her in a solemn tone.

"When faced with an absolute gap in strength, wisdom is the final trump card."

"What you said sounds reasonable, but I still feel like something is off..."

"An illusion."

Fang Yan sealed the remaining God-Killing Powder away again and stored it in his storage space.

He walked to the cultivation chamber window and looked up at the sky over Yinghuo Star.

It was time to set off for Wind Abyss Star!