Chapter Sixteen: Poisoned, Definitely Poisoned

Chapter Sixteen: Poisoned, Definitely Poisoned

The quantity of Chi Yang Poison Dragon Saliva continued to decrease, and the area where Li Changshou left footprints became increasingly vast.

The locations recorded in ancient books yielded no results, and neither did the surrounding areas of the chaotic miasma treasure forest.

Three days after rescuing Qin Xuanya, Li Changshou still hadn't found the Immortal Detoxifying Grass. Instead, as he delved deeper into the Northern Ju Lu Continent, he harvested many useful poisonous and spiritual herbs.

He even captured two precious "Corpse Incinerating Bugs," which could be brought back and refined into Corpse Incinerating Powder, increasing the number of methods for handling corpses to twelve.

Although he felt slightly frustrated in his heart, he never forgot that he was in such a dangerous place in the Northern Ju Lu Continent. His vigilance never wavered.

Logically speaking, while the Immortal Detoxifying Grass is precious, it is quite a unique poisonous herb, rarely needed by anyone. Yet the areas he searched all met the environmental conditions required for the growth of the Immortal Detoxifying Grass, yet not even a seedling could be found...

It's really baffling.

Did he spend decades studying poison scriptures and pharmacopoeias during his cultivation breaks for nothing?

"Indeed, it's probably because Master's luck is too bad."

Li Changshou could only console himself like this, driving away the dissatisfaction in his heart and starting to think about when he should return.

Two hundred more miles to the west!

If he couldn't find it, he would have to give up and see if there were any Immortal Detoxifying Grass for sale in that town... Although the hope was slim.

With quick steps, Li Changshou left behind traces of afterimages, determined to complete this last leg of his quest.

Fifty miles of searching yielded no results; a hundred miles of searching, circling around the areas where the Immortal Detoxifying Grass might grow nearby, also yielded no trace of it. Instead, he unexpectedly harvested several precious spiritual herbs suitable for making Soft Immortal Powder...

Look, the poisonous herbs he used lined up to rush into the storage artifact, but the poisonous herbs useful to Master couldn't be found at all.

This is probably the difference in luck and temperament.

Without the Immortal Detoxifying Grass, it would be impossible to refine the "Assimilating Immortal Pill," and this path would become impassable.

Fortunately, he had already formulated backup plans two and three beforehand. Although they were not as reliable as the "Assimilating Immortal Pill," they could still help Master to some extent.

Buzz—

The aura of the heavens and earth fluctuated; someone was fighting.

Li Changshou's spiritual awareness immediately probed toward the source of the disturbance, but the miasma was too thick and the poison was in turmoil, limiting his effective range to just over twenty miles.

The fight was happening thirty miles away, and his spiritual awareness captured the movement of several figures...

Is he about to reach the area where those 'wandering cultivators' are active?

Many Qi Refiners are active near the border of the Northern Ju Lu Continent. They usually venture thousands of miles into the Northern Ju Lu Continent to find some rare and exotic flowers and fruits, exchanging them for resources needed for their cultivation.

For example, the 'Crested Pigeon' that was killed before had already reached the Returning Dao Realm. When there were no dirty tasks, they relied on these kinds of labor to earn cultivation resources.

Li Changshou immediately had a retreat in mind.

Stopping his figure, Li Changshou hid behind a rock and pondered carefully.

The areas recorded in ancient books had already been searched, and in the direction he wanted to go, there were Qi Refiners fighting. When was the best time to retreat?

As the saying goes, 'A wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall.' This trip to the Northern Ju Lu Continent can only end in regret...

Li Changshou suddenly shook his spirits!

His spread-out spiritual awareness accidentally captured the presence of three inconspicuous green grasses swaying gently at the top of a cliff twenty-three miles northwest.

They looked like orchid grass, but much shorter than orchid grass, with mysterious patterns on the leaves, and each plant was wrapped in a faint halo.

Immortal Detoxifying Grass!

The kind that can poison an Immortal and seriously injure the soul of a True Immortal!

And judging by the number of demonic patterns on it, the central one has been at least three thousand years old, and the ones on the sides have been over a thousand years old!

Li Changshou almost jumped out from behind the rock.

But he immediately recited the Calming Heart Mantra, calming himself down quickly. The medicinal herbs weren't in hand yet; he couldn't celebrate too early.

Calm down. Wait until the medicinal herbs are in hand and safely leave the Northern Ju Lu Continent before celebrating...

No, making pills is also very troublesome. At least wait until he returns to the mountain and successfully refines the Assimilating Immortal Pill before celebrating.

Let's get started!

Using the Earth Escaping technique, Li Changshou went straight to the Immortal Detoxifying Grass underground while his spiritual awareness spread out in the earth, analyzing the surrounding environment.

Next to the Immortal Detoxifying Grass, there was an old cypress tree without any leaves... Well, he could switch from Earth Escaping to Wood Escaping to approach the Immortal Detoxifying Grass.

But for thousands of years, the poisonous beasts would definitely regard this poisonous grass as a delicacy. There must be someone guarding it nearby.

Sure enough, Li Changshou soon discovered a Three-eyed Azure Wave Snake.

This snake was cunningly hiding below the cliff, even knowing how to conceal its own aura. Its three-zhang-long body blended into the rocks, emitting a peculiar faint light from its emerald green scales.

If it weren't for Li Changshou inch by inch checking, he wouldn't have discovered this poisonous creature blending in with the environment.

The head of the Three-eyed Azure Wave Snake had already swelled up like a bun in the middle, looking somewhat unsightly and easily giving people bold ideas; its triangular snake head had begun to elongate, and its body was thicker than ordinary snakes.

--Obviously, it's on the verge of transforming into an Immortal.

And that oldest Immortal Detoxifying Grass should be the key to its transformation into an Immortal, but at this time, the toxicity is still not enough.

"Not easy to deal with."

Li Changshou also noticed that there were many white bones under the cliff, many of which were human skeletons...

He couldn't fight head-on; he had to use strategy.

This kind of fast-transforming poisonous creature was powerful, originally a highly poisonous monster. Although he carried nine different types of poisons with different effects that could threaten ordinary Immortals, they were all useless in front of it.

With the spells he mastered, although he might not necessarily lose to it in a head-on fight, the surrounding environment was too dangerous, with instability everywhere...

How to outsmart it?

Rely on Wood Escaping to get close and pull out the grass then run?

Most snake-like beasts are very agile, and this plan obviously won't work.

Li Changshou, who was swiftly shuttling through the earth, also fell into contemplation at this moment, and soon gave out more than a dozen plans in his heart.

As he got closer and closer to the Immortal Detoxifying Grass he had longed for in his dreams, Li Changshou's spiritual awareness also detected the situation of the fight further away. He focused his gaze and couldn't help but feel a surge of air, coughing a few times in the soil, almost turning around and leaving.

Why did he encounter her again...

Is this Qin Xuanya toxic? Might as well rename her Toxic Xuanya...

He drew a map for her to go southwest, so why did she end up here?

It's two thousand miles away from the expected location!

Li Changshou's mouth twitched a few times, feeling inexplicably that he had touched some blind spots of knowledge...

"Huh? There's an Immortal's pressure among the people chasing her?"

A faint light flashed in Li Changshou's mind, and his spiritual awareness captured the situation of the chase and battle over there. Suddenly, he had a plan to outsmart the Immortal Detoxifying Grass.

Come to think of it, if it weren't for the disturbance of the fight in this direction, he wouldn't have discovered these three Immortal Detoxifying Grass;

and in this position, according to his previous route planning, there was a high probability that he wouldn't be able to search.

From this perspective, he had to thank 'Toxic Xuanya' this time.

"I saved you last time, and this time I'll just use you a little bit. Then we're even."

Li Changshou muttered to himself, pausing briefly in the earth, and then once again used the Earth Escaping technique;

with all his power, he suppressed his own aura fluctuations, swiftly and silently approaching the cliff, and began to observe the people chasing Qin Xuanya.

At this moment, Qin Xuanya was surrounded by flying swords burning with flames, hovering in mid-air, also moving towards the direction of the cliff.

Swords were flying around her, forming an impenetrable defense.

But Li Changshou could see at a glance that Qin Xuanya was only strong on the surface at this moment. Her sword technique hadn't been fully mastered yet; she only knew fixed moves and couldn't improvise on the spot, unable to effectively counterattack when defending...

And the six black-clad men chasing Qin Xuanya consisted of two Returning Dao Realm experts and four Void Returning Realm experts. Although they were using their full strength, their attacks were not aimed at Qin Xuanya's vitals, obviously intending to capture her alive.

--It was also fortunate for Li Changshou that there were two Immortals holding down the fort elsewhere in the sky, and the commotion caused by a certain True Immortal there also distracted the attention of two Void Returning Realm experts.

"Just these guys, I'm afraid they're not enough to be a toothpick for this Three-eyed Azure Wave Snake."

Fortunately, there were still two auras in the sky that had not yet acted. Li Changshou was quite familiar with these two auras--

The Immortal Yuxi, the Great General in front of the palace of that country;

Yuan Qing, a fellow disciple of the Broken Sky Peak.

Within a radius of thirty miles, only the aura of Immortal Yuxi was discovered. The Immortal pressure detected earlier came from him.

Li Changshou's mind began to churn.

But then again...

Why hasn't Yuan Qing, this big warm-hearted guy, taken action yet? Why keep dragging it out, thinking that their Daoist sect doesn't have any strong people?

Although the Daoist sect is only considered a mediocre cultivation sect, it is still widely recognized as one of the three major cultivation sects. Even if there are several Immortals from the secular royal power sitting here, they won't be taken seriously by the Daoist sect.

If Senior Brother Jiu and the other five haven't returned to the sect at the agreed time, Immortals will definitely come north to search, and Yuan Qing's group's procrastination is simply seeking death.

All in all, this fake warm-hearted guy is just greedy for the fake Ice Mountain's body?

Tsk, despicable!

At this moment, from the Immortal Yuxi in the sky to the six people chasing Qin Xuanya below, they were all numbered as tools one, two, three, four...

With his spiritual awareness locked onto Qin Xuanya, Li Changshou activated a spell and transmitted his voice directly into Qin Xuanya's ears.

"With your face facing the south as the Qian position, retreat to the Zhen position, eight feet away."

Qin Xuanya's spirit shook suddenly.

Senior Brother Changshou!

How did he get here?

Although she was puzzled, Qin Xuanya subconsciously followed the guidance, retreated with her flying sword touching the ground, and two streaks of light just passed by the side of the sword formation!

It was a short knife and a long nail, swiftly attacking, but they missed directly!

"Move back again, six feet from the Zhen position."

Li Changshou's voice transmission tone was slightly urgent, and Qin Xuanya followed the instructions again, avoiding two streaks of light on the other side.

Following that, Li Changshou's voice continued to sound in her ears:

"Don't hesitate, counterattack if you have the strength, pay attention to your expression, don't let them get suspicious.

Under the cliff, there is a powerful poisonous creature. Lure them over and use the creature to defeat the enemy.

Move three feet away, then turn five feet toward the Zhen position."

Qin Xuanya's eyes, which had been somewhat dim, quickly regained their brightness;

She tightly closed her lips, muttered a response in her heart, and began to retreat gracefully and calmly, gaining momentum. In the eyes of the six pursuers and the two people above, Qin Xuanya suddenly became agile.

A breakthrough on the spot?

The six men's attacks were evaded by her for the most part. The flying swords that were originally only used for defense immediately found an opportunity to counterattack;

With this increase and decrease, Qin Xuanya's pressure suddenly decreased significantly, and she calmly retreated towards the cliff where the Three-eyed Azure Wave Snake was hiding.

At the same time, Li Changshou's figure had already appeared in the rock layers above the cliff, only a hundred or so feet away from the Immortal Detoxifying Grass.

It seemed that the Three-eyed Azure Wave Snake had already sensed something and poked its head out from below the cliff, vigilantly observing all around.

In front of the Immortal Detoxifying Grass was a grassy area, with a sturdy black-skinned cypress tree standing sixteen feet away from the edge of the cliff, casting a shadow over the Immortal Detoxifying Grass.

Li Changshou found the main root of this black-skinned cypress tree in the rock layers, cancelled the Earth Escaping technique, suppressed the surrounding pressure that squeezed in, gritted his teeth, and displayed the Wood Escaping technique, diving into the main root of the cypress tree, hiding his aura, and decisively rushing upwards.

Old cypress tree:...

Huh?

Hmm...