The Sword Inquiry Trial: The Withered Stone Sea's Eight-Branched Cloud-Swallowing Python?

"Good! The show has begun."

In the third-floor hall of the Faceless Tower, as they watched cultivators bend over and collapse one after another in the illusory projection at the center of the hall, smiles appeared on the faces of all Nine Seats. The warrior monk occupying the Second Seat even struck the table and cheered.

Everyone present was an expert in poisoning, so they could tell at a glance that the cultivators before Dragon Gate Hall had been afflicted by the deadly poison of the Spirit-Eroding Thunder God Vine.

"The Spirit-Eroding Thunder God Vine is a poisonous plant found only in the Withered Stone Sea. It flowers once every seven years."

"Ordinarily, it is no different from an ordinary Thunder God Vine, but once it flowers, it devours every last trace of the surrounding Spiritual Power."

"At the same time, the distinctive fragrance of its pollen can leave cultivators limp and powerless."

"If you don't circulate your power, you'll be fine; the poison will dissipate in an hour or two at most. But if you drive your true essence and qi and blood at full strength, the deadly poison will flow into your meridians and bone marrow. In severe cases, it can cripple all your cultivation."

"So under normal circumstances, any cultivator who smells this fragrance can wield no more than sixty percent of their usual power."

"Beyond that, the most distinctive thing about this poison is that it has no antidote. You can only let it dissipate on its own."

"The only way to avoid being poisoned is to circulate your true essence using a special mental method just before the pollen is released, warding off the poisonous fumes."

"To think One-Eye and Wumei even got their hands on something like this. It seems they came fully prepared."