An unnamed, isolated island lay in the southwestern Outer Star Sea of the Chaotic Star Sea.
The island bore no markings on any map. Remote and poor in spiritual energy, it was a place even demonic beasts could not be bothered to visit. Gray-black volcanic rock covered its surface, with sparse vegetation-only drought-resistant shrubs and moss stubbornly growing in the cracks. The entire island looked desolate and deathly still, devoid of life.
Yet deep within this island, inside a hidden cave abode shrouded in powerful restrictions, Chen Ming sat cross-legged, his hands forming seals, a heart-quaking aura swirling around him.
Three years.
Three full years had passed since that harrowing encirclement by the Star Palace.
Over those three years, Chen Ming and Wan Yao'er had traveled to every corner of the Outer Star Sea, evading the Star Palace's pursuit while continually strengthening themselves. Drawing on his alchemy experience from his previous life and the various opportunities he had gained in this one, Chen Ming's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, climbing steadily from early Core Formation to its peak, only one step away from mid Core Formation.
But his was no ordinary path.
At that moment, inside his dantian, a second core was slowly coalescing beside his normal golden core-a pitch-black poison core radiating a cold, dangerous aura.
The True Explanation of a Hundred Poisons.
This cultivation art, obtained from a secret inheritance in Great Jin, was an extremely obscure and perilous Poison Dao art. Rather than following the usual path of cultivating spiritual power, it used highly toxic substances as catalysts, refining their toxins into the body to form a poison core and enter the Dao through poison. Every breakthrough carried tremendous risks for its practitioners. The slightest mistake could send poisonous energy into the heart and bring