Deadly poison

A cold wind passed through the branches, slowly dispersing the lingering smell of blood on the rocky slope.

Large patches of dark red blood had congealed in the cracks between the rocks. Once dry, their color deepened, making the entire marsh hollow seem even more desolate and grim. The struggle that had lasted over ten minutes was finally over. The clamor of combat faded completely, and deathly silence enveloped the low-lying woodland once more.

Lu Heng stood where he was, staring at the poison lizard's limp, motionless corpse at his feet. His chest heaved, and he could not steady his breathing.

The back of his cloth shirt was already damp with cold sweat. Whenever the wind blew, the chill drilled straight into his bones.

The battle had been agonizing.

There had been no effortless, overwhelming quick kill. Throughout the fight, he had relied on the terrain to maneuver, slowly wearing down its stamina and risking his life to dodge its deadly fangs. He had forcibly exhausted the last of this Black Iron beast's vitality. Especially in the instant his wooden spear snapped, when he had no weapon at hand and faced the beast at close range, even half a beat's delay would have left him lying here instead.

Lingering fear weighed on his heart, and his fingertips trembled slightly beyond his control.

He did not dare approach and touch the corpse recklessly.

The rabbits and sparrows he usually hunted were ordinary, unranked animals, with manageable risks. But the Swamp Poison Lizard before him was a genuine Black Iron-Level Exotic Beast, on an entirely different level from ordinary creatures. Its whole body carried lethal toxins, and its physique was ferocious. Unknown dangers lurked in its flesh and glands from head to tail. Even a trace of residual poison would mean certain death if he made a mistake while touching it.

To be absolutely safe, his only choice was to use the wristband to dismantle the corpse.

Lu Heng raised his wrist. A pale blue glow lit up, and he tapped with his fingertip to issue the dismantling command.

A soft curtain of light slowly descended, enveloping the lizard's thick body.

There were no flashy visual effects or abrupt sounds. The tough body turned insubstantial and dissolved at a visible speed. Flesh, fascia, hard bones, and poison glands were all separately purified and stored by the system. Within a few breaths, nothing remained on the ground except dried bloodstains. It was so clean that there was no sign a fight to the death had just taken place.

The wristband interface refreshed at the same time, and orderly rows of resource entries appeared. The data was cold and clear, with explicit grade distinctions, worlds apart from the inferior resources obtained by hunting ordinary animals.

[Dismantling complete! Black Iron-Level Exotic Beast resources obtained]

[Swamp poison lizard meat ×3]

Grade: Black Iron

Properties: Contains trace amounts of active wilderness vital essence. Long-term consumption can slowly improve baseline physical attributes and repair physical exhaustion. Its body-strengthening effects far exceed those of ordinary beast meat.

Safety assessment: Poison glands completely removed. Safe to eat once thoroughly cooked.

[Swamp Deadly Poison Gland ×1 (highly hazardous item)]

Grade: Black Iron

Toxicity level: Lethal neurotoxin

Properties: Even a trace of toxin entering through broken skin will cause limb paralysis and stiff movement. A sufficient dose can directly block the nerves controlling the heart and lungs, leaving no possibility of rescue. One hundred percent fatal.

Uses: Can be used to make deadly poison traps and lethal close-range self-defense weapons.

[Swamp poison lizard hide ×1]

Grade: Black Iron

Properties: Dense, waterproof hide texture. Tear-resistant and cold-resistant, with more than three times the toughness of ordinary animal hide.

Uses: Can be tanned into insulating protective gear, used to seal wind-admitting gaps in a Shelter, or made into various wear-resistant survival accessories.

[Swamp poison lizard bone ×2]

Grade: Black Iron

Properties: Extremely dense, hard bone. Resists pressure and does not break easily. Maintains a consistent, lasting edge after sharpening.

Uses: Can be used to make bone spears, bone arrows, and various precision wilderness survival tools.

Lu Heng scanned the wristband's resource entries line by line, and his anxious heart finally settled.

This was the true value of a Black Iron-Level Exotic Beast.

The meat of ordinary animals could barely fill his stomach and offered no physical benefits. But every material produced by this Swamp Poison Lizard had its own special properties, practical combat uses, and physical enhancement effects. These were genuinely scarce wilderness resources.

That lethal poison gland in particular, with its cold assessment of one hundred percent fatality, brought the perilous scenes of their close-quarters struggle surging back into his mind.

Had the poison lizard bitten him even once, there would have been no chance to maneuver or save himself.

After confirming that all the resources were safely stored, his shoulders, which had been tense for over ten minutes, finally relaxed a little.

The resources gained from a brush with death were plentiful enough to justify the life-risking struggle.

He raised his hand and took the Black Iron Muscle-Bone Grass out of his storage inventory.

Its stem and leaves were intact, its color a deep green. It was in perfect condition, without the slightest damage.

He had been tense and fighting for his life throughout the battle, with no time to consider his physical strain. Now that he had completely relaxed, all the accumulated soreness in his muscles and bones and stiffness in his limbs from the past several days surged up at once. His shoulders and back were rigid, his waist and legs heavy and sluggish, and exhaustion permeated deep into every muscle.

The wristband only stated that this herb could repair hidden injuries and relieve strain in the muscles and bones. It gave no specific instructions for use.

Taken internally, applied externally, boiled, or crushed-there were no directions, no ready-made tutorial to consult.

In wilderness survival, few things were more inadvisable than experimenting recklessly with medicine. Here in these remote mountains, without doctors or medicine, an incorrect application, conflicting medicinal effects, damage to internal organs, or poisoning could all prove fatal. Any mistake meant a deadly crisis.

Holding the Muscle-Bone Grass, Lu Heng stood in the cold wind and quietly weighed his options.

Judging by his real-world common knowledge, external injuries such as bruises, congestion in the muscles and bones, and muscle strain were mostly treated through external application.

External application allowed the medicinal properties to penetrate through the skin, clear congestion in the tissues, and relax stiff muscles and bones. It was safe and reliable, without harming the internal organs. Herbs taken internally mostly targeted weakness and damage in the internal organs, which did not match the strain throughout his flesh, muscles, and bones at all.

After repeatedly weighing the advantages and disadvantages, he settled on how to use it.

He found two flat, thin stone slabs, placed the Muscle-Bone Grass between them, and gently pressed them together to crush it.

The crisp stems were thoroughly crushed, and a fine, blue-green medicinal paste slowly oozed out. A faint, slightly bitter herbal fragrance spread through the air. Its medicinal nature was mild, neither pungent nor harsh.

Lu Heng removed his dirty outer clothing and evenly spread the soft paste over every stiff, aching area of his shoulders, neck, lower back, and thighs.

The slightly cool medicine slowly seeped through his skin. Within moments, the muscles and bones that had been tense and stiff for days seemed to be gradually kneaded loose. The congested soreness slowly dissipated, much of the heavy exhaustion throughout his body was soothed away, and his body finally relaxed.

The medicine was gentle and reliable, causing no discomfort at all.

After treating his physical strain, Lu Heng did not dare linger.

A fierce battle had just broken out at the edge of the swamp, creating a tremendous disturbance that could easily draw wandering beasts from nearby to investigate. With temperatures continuing to drop across the entire region and the chill growing increasingly severe, this low-lying area was no longer suitable for a prolonged stay.

He turned and set off, steadily retracing his route up the gentle slope toward his Shelter deep within the Frost Forest.

The farther he climbed toward the high ground, the heavier the surrounding chill became.

The few remaining leaves among the trees rustled as the cold wind swept them down. The air was dry and bone-piercing, and the wind was several times stronger than it had been that morning. Temperatures throughout the mountain forest were plummeting. This was not a brief cooling brought by a gust of wind, but a genuine abnormal change in the climate.

The vegetation along his route withered and yellowed at a visible pace. The cold wind rapidly sucked moisture from the earth, leaving desolation everywhere he looked.

The unease in his heart grew little by little.

The scattered complaints in the World Channel, the sudden temperature drop that morning, and the cold wave that was still intensifying-all those subtle signs connected, making the answer unmistakably clear-

A cold-wave disaster spanning the entire region was drawing closer, step by step.

Before the disaster fully descended, he had to stockpile enough dry firewood, meat, and insulating supplies to hold on to his newly completed level-one Shelter.

He proceeded cautiously, encountering no unusual beast activity along the way, and safely reached the familiar forested high ground.

Before long, the solidly enclosed, structurally orderly level-one stone-and-wood Shelter appeared at the edge of his vision.

Lu Heng quickened his pace, walked up, and pushed the door open. Once inside, he reached back and slid the wooden door latch firmly shut.

In an instant, the piercing wind outside, the deadly dangers of the swamp, and the desolate chill filling the world were all shut out by the thick stone-and-wood walls.

The small Shelter was dry, secure, tightly enclosed, and safe-the only refuge in this constantly changing wilderness where he could feel completely at ease.