Cooperation and Trade

Xiao Clan's back mountain

"Brat, what was that just now?"

Not long ago, when Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian had arrived at the back mountain, he had clearly sensed that this little girl possessed only the cultivation of a Dou Zhe.

Then what had that pressure been?

A secret technique?

Or some life-saving measure?

Seeing Yao Chen's confusion, Xiao Yi Xian knew that Yao Lao had already noticed something. After all, if a former peak Dou Zun could not even see through this, he might as well truly be useless.

What was more, Yao Lao had been observing Xiao Yi Xian's every movement, his soul force tightly locked onto her.

Xiao Yan beside them also wore a bewildered expression.

What was going on?

Why could he not understand any of this?

Had he fallen behind the times?

Xiao Yi Xian twirled a lock of her long hair around her fingers. Her deep eyes seemed filled with stories as she sighed softly and said, "I do indeed possess only the strength of a Dou Zhe, but that does not mean I cannot unleash great power. And finding Yao Lao was the only method my master mentioned before he died."

Even after hearing Xiao Yi Xian's explanation, Yao Lao still had many doubts. Though he knew nothing about any secret technique, he still had his questions.

He lightly scratched his chin and looked at Xiao Yi Xian. "Brat, did I know your teacher? And how did he know I was here?"

Though he did not know whether Xiao Yi Xian could truly unleash such strength, the sword case on her back was indeed mysterious. At this moment, he still needed to determine the relationship between them.

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Yao Chen with a trace of sorrow and said, "The old man did not know Senior, but he used his life to divine a path to survival for me. That path was you, Senior Yao Lao!"

"Me?"

Yao Chen fell silent upon hearing this. A powerhouse capable of divination could not possibly be ordinary, so why would such a person need his help?

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Yao Chen, her sorrow fading as she revealed a faint smile. "I have the Calamity Poison Body."

"What?"

The moment Yao Chen heard this, he completely lost his composure. His soul body nearly fled into the Storage Ring in fright.

Seeing Yao Chen like this, Xiao Yi Xian smiled and said, "Don't worry. My Calamity Poison Body has only just manifested. It has not reached the point of exploding yet!"

"Oh, I see!"

Yao Chen immediately relaxed upon hearing that. His poor heart could not take it. Was this not another case of someone about to explode coming to find him?

"Um... may I boldly ask what the Calamity Poison Body is?"

Although Xiao Yan had questions about the Dou Zhe cultivation and the pressure from earlier, he was even more curious about this Calamity Poison Body. What kind of constitution could make these two ponder it so deeply?

Yao Chen thought for a moment, then explained to the confused Xiao Yan, "Even the most skilled Poison Master may be poisoned to death by their own poisons. Yet everything has exceptions. On the Dou Qi Continent, there exists an extremely special constitution.

"This constitution is known as the... Innate Poison Body, or the Calamity Poison Body. The appearance of this poison body basically brings calamity."

"Innate Poison Body? Calamity Poison Body?" The unfamiliar terms left Xiao Yan completely baffled.

"You've spent all year cooped up in Wutan City, so naturally you know nothing of some of the secrets of the Dou Qi Continent. Back when I still had my physical body, a woman with the Calamity Poison Body once appeared on the Dou Qi Continent.

"Once, in a fit of rage, that woman turned an entire empire into poisoned land stretching for a thousand miles. Over that poisoned land, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even more, dead souls lingered."

"Hiss..." Xiao Yan sharply sucked in a breath. That woman had been far too ruthless, hadn't she? Hundreds of thousands of lives, harvested without the slightest mercy? Was she slaughtering chickens?

"You must understand that on the Dou Qi Continent, powerhouses have rules that powerhouses must follow. What that woman did undoubtedly violated those unspoken rules.

"After all, many powerhouses had come from that empire... So the matter erupted like this. One powerhouse after another went to seek revenge against that woman, yet one after another fell. Oh, and the weakest among those powerhouses were at least Dou Ling.

"The strongest even included a nine-star Dou Huang who was about to enter the Dou Zong level." Yao Lao spread his hands. "Unfortunately, every single one died at that woman's hands."

"Gulp..." Xiao Yan swallowed with difficulty and wiped away a cold sweat. That woman had been far too fierce. She truly killed people as easily as chickens and dogs.

"In the end, the matter finally drew out those old monsters who had hidden themselves away. After a shocking battle unknown to outsiders, that woman, whose strength had only been at the five-star Dou Huang level, fled far away with severe injuries.

"Meanwhile, on the old monsters' side, a Dou Zong-level super powerhouse had to spend a full ten years purging the poison before completely recovering."

"Damn..."

Xiao Yan's throat moved. A Dou Huang had actually dared to challenge a Dou Zong powerhouse, and it seemed she had even left a deep mark on her opponent. For such a person, Xiao Yan could only use those two words to describe her.

"More than twenty years after that woman fled, she appeared once again. But by then, she had already advanced to the Dou Zong level.

"And after suffering a hidden loss once, those old monsters no longer dared to come out and judge her recklessly. They could only pretend to be deaf and mute, acting as though they knew nothing of her whereabouts."

"Twenty years... rising from a five-star Dou Huang to a Dou Zong. That speed was pretty monstrous too, wasn't it?" Xiao Yan shook his head.

Hearing this, Xiao Yi Xian looked at Xiao Yan with disdain in her eyes. Do you even know how fast your own cultivation speed is?

Devouring Heavenly Flames was like swallowing massive amounts of experience potions. His cultivation shot upward with a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

"Mm... that woman was indeed an extraordinarily gifted person." Yao Lao nodded, then turned his gaze toward Xiao Yi Xian beside him and said softly, "After that, while picking a spirit herb, I ran into that woman, and a conflict arose between us. In the end... we fought."

Xiao Yan's eyes slowly widened. Hearing Yao Lao vaguely reveal one of his past deeds, he hurriedly asked, "What was the result?"

"The result..."

Yao Lao smiled lightly and raised his head. A trace of wistful reminiscence appeared in his cloudy eyes. After a long while, he finally smiled faintly. "The result was that I narrowly defeated her."

"..."

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, his heart filled with shock!

Xiao Yi Xian, meanwhile, indicated from the side that this was the terrifying strength of the Calamity Poison Body, but...

"Mm." The smile on Yao Lao's face gradually faded. He stared at Xiao Yi Xian for a long time before sighing softly. "I once fought that woman, so I remember this Calamity Poison Body quite deeply."

"The cultivation method of this poison body is rather strange. They do not need to cultivate Dou Qi painstakingly year after year. If they wish to grow stronger, they only need to..." At this point, Yao Lao turned to Xiao Yi Xian, his expression becoming somewhat strange.

"Eat... poison?" Xiao Yan first froze at Yao Lao's gaze, then his expression changed sharply as he cried out in shock.

"Mm, that's right... eat poison. So long as they consume poison, their Calamity Poison Body transforms the poison energy contained within it into an extremely special Poison Dou Qi through a bizarre method."

Yao Lao clicked his tongue in amazement and continued, "The more potent the poison, the more beneficial it is to increasing their strength. Therefore, they do not need arduous cultivation. They only need to continuously consume poison to rapidly increase their strength."

"What a... monstrous constitution." Xiao Yan sighed softly with a bitter smile.

"Of course, nothing in this world is absolutely perfect. Although the Calamity Poison Body can rapidly increase its strength by consuming poison,

"Poison is still poison. Although they can rely on the Calamity Poison Body to stop the poison energy from devouring their bodies, once the poison they consume in the future accumulates in ever greater amounts, until even the Calamity Poison Body can no longer suppress the Poison Dou Qi within them...

"At that time... the agony of countless poisons devouring their body will slowly kill them amid the most painful torment." Yao Lao shook his head and sighed.