“Also… also p-poison?” Boneblade stammered, his eyes wide with despair. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but before he could, he passed out.

That was when the Fog of Confusion rolled over them, covering the area and swallowing both Xu Qing and Boneblade.

Four hours later, at a crossroads at the edge of the jungle, Boneblade opened his eyes. His entire body ached, but the first thing he did when he opened his eyes was jump to his feet nervously.

There were no dangers around, and he didn’t see Xu Qing. He sighed in relief. Then he checked his face and found it wasn’t swollen anymore. It didn’t seem like he was poisoned any longer.

“I’m not dead?” he murmured, his heart pounding at the realization that he’d somehow made it alive out of a seemingly impossible situation. Then he noticed a bamboo slip laying off to the side with some text on it.

“Insurance expired.”

Mixed emotions filled Boneblade’s heart as he read the words, including shame at the trick he’d tried to pull earlier. Finally he sighed, clasped his hands, and bowed deeply in the direction of the jungle.

“Thank you.”

Turning around, he saw that there were two paths in front of him. The one on the right led straight back to the basecamp. On the left was a road that would eventually go to the city of Laughing Pines.

Given there was no one around, he stood there, thinking.

The camp owner is from the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect, and they control all the cities around here. Even if I go to Laughing Pines, I doubt I’ll escape the wrath of the camp owner, especially considering the team he sent after me is dead.

Boneblade struggled to make a decision. The easiest way to stay alive would be to go back to the camp and lay all the blame on the Kid. He could explain that the Kid was the one who killed the camp owner’s subordinates, and that he had nothing to do with it. That idea pricked his conscience, as the Kid had saved him. But after some thought, he made his decision.

In this chaotic world, the most important thing is to keep on living. You can’t worry about other people! Having reached this point in his train of thought, he quashed his guilt and started running back to the camp.

However, the moment he started moving, a cold beam of light shot toward him with shocking speed, and in a split second, pierced through his head. With a thump, Boneblade fell to the ground, his eyes wide, blood pooling around him. He twitched a few times, and then his view of the world turned dark. And it would remain that way forever.

He was thoroughly dead.

Xu Qing stood above the corpse, retrieving his iron skewer.

He wasn’t interested in getting involved with the camp owner. And he understood human nature, so he hadn’t left the scene. Instead, he waited to see what Boneblade would decide to do. 

The path to the left led to life.

The path to the right led to death.

Boneblade had chosen the path to the right.

Face completely expressionless, Xu Qing sprinkled Corpse-Ravaging Powder on Boneblade’s corpse, then turned and sped off.

The Fog of Confusion was still present in the jungle, but that didn’t pose an obstacle for Xu Qing. Eventually he reached the canyon with his laboratory. Upon entering the canyon, he heard the faint cry of a wolf, but he ignored it.

First, he checked to make sure the traps he’d set up before leaving last time hadn’t been sprung. Then he pushed open the door of the laboratory and stepped inside.

It wasn’t very big inside. There was no bed to sleep on, and the walls were covered with a grid of small cabinets, within which were various medicinal plants and poison glands. Some of them had already been prepared for use in mixtures. Others were completely intact. Altogether, there were hundreds of specimens.

Xu Qing looked around and felt very pleased.

This was the collection he had built up after he started studying with Grandmaster Bai, and most were things he had personally collected in the forbidden region.

Poisonous plants made up most of the collection, with only a small portion being medicinal plants.

Xu Qing inspected everything, then sat down to think.

Grandmaster Bai had given him the pill formula for the white bolus, but it was hidden in the content of his lectures. Xu Qing had taken extensive notes, and also had a very good memory, and had already organized the information from those specific lectures. However… he didn’t have all the medicinal plants he needed to concoct the pill.

I have no way to make the pill, but I might be able to substitute some other plants with similar qualities to the ones I’m missing.

He had no idea if it would work, but even if it didn’t, he would learn from the process. Having reached this point in his train of thought, he waved his hand, causing seven or eight medicinal plants to fly out of various cabinets and land in front of him.

After inspecting them closely, he thought for a bit, then went to the small courtyard behind the laboratory. The courtyard had colorful flowers growing everywhere, and also a small patch of dirt where a few medicinal plants were growing. Those plants were the kind that had to be used within a certain period of time after being harvested. After turning this back courtyard into a medicinal garden, he had transplanted them here.

As he stepped into the medicinal garden, he heard the wolf howling again, even more clearly than before.

Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever as he harvested three plants from the garden, then went back inside.

There, he produced a stone basin, within which he began to crush the various ingredients together into a mixture.

Whether it was picking off leaves, extracting the liquid, or separating flower petals, he worked with great precision, making sure not to add too much or too little of anything. Gradually, the medicinal liquid in the basin turned pitch black in color.

I’m missing five kinds of medicinal plants….

Looking around at the cabinets, he considered the matter carefully before gathering the replacement ingredients.

Using the principle of yin-yang polarity, he tried to create something that would produce the proper result, but it turned out to be harder than he expected. The night passed, and morning came before he was finally able to produce the mixture he wanted. 

Looking at the black, viscous liquid in the stone basin, he frowned. It didn’t come close to resembling what he expected a white bolus mixture to look like. But given the work he’d put in so far, he wasn’t going to give up now. Gritting his teeth, he took out some seven-leaf clover and added it to the mixture.

Soon, the medicinal liquid in the basin started bubbling, and it looked like the color might change. But after three breaths of time passed, it went still.

Looking closely, Xu Qing saw that the liquid was no longer black, but instead, a brown color.

Xu Qing hesitated. Rubbing his chest where the violet crystal rested inside, he thought about his resistance to poisons, and finally decided he wasn’t in any danger. Reaching carefully into the basin, he took a small handful of the mixture and rolled it into the shape of a pill. Then he put it close to his nose and inhaled.

It smelled so revolting and acrid that he didn’t dare to eat it.

Is it even edible? After some more hesitation, he took the pill out to the medicinal garden.

Yet again came the howl of the wolf. This time, Xu Qing walked through the medicinal garden and directly toward the source of the howling. Beyond the garden, in a patch of weedy overgrowth, was a large cage made of iron, wood, and vines. Inside the cage was an emaciated black-scaled wolf.

Upon seeing Xu Qing, it got to its feet and bared its teeth. However, its eyes shone with terror; clearly, it was afraid of Xu Qing.

Some time ago when Xu Qing was out in the jungle harvesting plants, this wolf attacked him out of nowhere. Instead of killing it, he’d brought it back here to be a test animal.

Upon noticing the brown-colored pill Xu Qing held, the wolf started trembling, and edged away from him.

It did no good. Xu Qing reached into the cage, grabbed the wolf by the neck, and pulled it toward him.

No facial expression could be seen on Xu Qing as he looked coldly at the trembling wolf. Using his other hand, he took the pill he’d just concocted and put it to the wolf’s lips.

The black-scaled wolf shook uncontrollably. Realizing that death shadowed over it, the wolf meekly took the pill and swallowed it.

A moment later, black smoke started rising off the wolf, and then it vomited. At the same time, a huge blister formed on its head, which grew larger and larger until it popped loudly. Then the wolf sagged to the ground, gasping for breath.

Xu Qing frowned, threw a few pieces of meat into the cage, and then went back to the laboratory to think.

Why didn’t it work as expected…? Something strange happened when the medicine kicked in. Instead of neutralizing the mutagen, it caused it to converge and then explode.

After considering the matter, Xu Qing decided it was probably because he didn’t include a medicinal augmentation agent. If he added one, it would probably make the medicine more effective.

An augmentation agent. What if I used snake venom in the mix?

He waved his hand, and three different venom glands appeared in front of him. After carefully extracting the venom, he added it to the mixture in the stone basin, causing the liquid to hiss and pop, while green fumes wafted up.

Seeing the poisonous fumes, Xu Qing waved his hand to fan them outside. Then he set the stone basin off to the side to ferment.

While waiting, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged to do breathing exercises and cultivate the Sea and Mountain Incantation.

Later, as evening fell, Xu Qing checked the medicinal liquid. Pulling out another handful to create a pill, he again went over to the black-scaled wolf.

A string of popping sounds rang out, and then Xu Qing returned to the laboratory looking dejected. After sitting down to think for a while, he took out a completed white bolus, melted it, and then studied the results.

In this manner, six days went by in a flash.

During that time, Xu Qing didn’t pay attention to anything but his research into white boluses. He’d already used about half of his collection of medicinal plants, and his garden was completely empty. Furthermore, he’d made more than ten attempts at creating different versions of the white bolus liquid.

As for the black-scaled wolf….

Upon consuming the latest pill, the mutagen within it experienced a rapid influx. That, in turn, caused the spirit power in the area to pour into the wolf, bringing even more mutagen with it. Finally, the wolf exploded into a cloud of blood.

Thankfully, Xu Qing’s shadow could absorb mutagen, otherwise the resulting convergence would have inundated him.

Seeing that final result, Xu Qing felt even more discouraged. That said, he knew that white boluses weren’t easy to make, and that was especially true considering he didn’t have all the right ingredients.

Even still, he was learning a lot about mixing medicinal ingredients. Every time he tried to make a new version of the mixture, he learned more. Furthermore, the final version of his pill actually did something.

Unfortunately, what it did was the opposite of what a white bolus did.

White boluses dispelled mutagen, but the pill Xu Qing made attracted it.

Looking down at the stone basin, he saw a thin green membrane that was created by adding seven-leaf clovers to the mix. Underneath it was a pitch black medicinal liquid. The reason for the membrane was that, without it, the liquid would immediately attract mutagen and create a strong convergence.

That was what had killed the black-scaled wolf.

Xu Qing sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Focusing on the fluctuations of his cultivation base, he tried to get rid of any feelings of failure.

He hadn’t succeeded with the medicinal pill, but he had experienced some growth in his cultivation base. Right now, he was at the peak of the fifth level of the Sea and Mountain Incantation.

I should be able to reach the sixth level tonight.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped thinking about medicinal pills and went all out to achieve a cultivation breakthrough. In the chaotic world he lived in, every additional level of strength led to greater chances of survival.

That night, when the moon hung high in the sky, rumbling sounds echoed out within Xu Qing.

These sounds were far louder than anything from before. And despite the fact that he’d assumed there was no more filth within him to extrude, as soon as he reached the breakthrough point, massive amounts of impurities emerged from inside him.

An unprecedented sense of clarity swept through him, and then a roaring sound echoed out from behind him.

In the past, his fist strikes caused the spectral image of a goblin to appear. This time, a similar image appeared behind him, except larger and fiercer. And instead of having a single leg, it had two legs.

Moreover, this time… the spectral goblin even had a horn!!

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t actually a goblin, but instead, a hobgoblin!

The howling of the hobgoblin echoed out into the night, causing the roars of the mutant beasts to cease.

Xu Qing’s eyes snapped open, and violet light spilled out into the laboratory, as though a bolt of violet lightning had just landed. As the violet light spread out, and the hobgoblin roared, Xu Qing sat there looking profoundly intimidating.

A moment later, the light faded, and the spectral hobgoblin disappeared.

Sea and Mountain Incantation. Sixth level!