The Black, Emaciated Elder clutched his chest and coughed violently several times. Seeing Li Xingzhi sway, he said smugly, "I have to admit, your strength far exceeded my imagination, but so did your stupidity... Now that my Poison has entered your body, even if you have the power to reach the heavens, you won't escape death today!"
With that, he bared his teeth and broke into a rasping laugh, pointing at Li Xingzhi. His laughter sounded as hideous as a beast's howling.
Between bouts of laughter, he continued haltingly, "A wondrous toxin with no antidote under heaven, Poison is colorless and odorless... Even so, I knew you were meticulous and well versed in medicine, so I deliberately separated its ingredients... In the tea you drank... at Taomulang's home... there was one catalyst... In the boiling White Whale Pot... was the second... The rising steam had already activated it..."
At this point, the Black, Emaciated Elder fixed his sinister gaze on Li Xingzhi, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes brimming with delight.
"Isn't the seawater here much clearer than elsewhere? Doesn't the air feel different too? That's because... there's a kind of algae here, colorless and transparent... And that... is the third catalyst... Once all three combine, even an immortal couldn't cure you..."
Hearing this, Li Xingzhi secretly regulated his breathing and drew upon the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy.
Unexpectedly, he stumbled. The True Qi within him suddenly fell into chaos, seemingly beyond his spiritual sense's control, surging and raging as though it would burst out of his body.
Only then did Li Xingzhi, usually so composed, lose his calm.
At the sight, the Black, Emaciated Elder laughed so hard he rocked back and forth.
Before his laughter faded, he curled his hand into a claw. Amid