The full moon hung low in the sky, veiled by drifting clouds like an eye behind gauze.
In the depths of his private chamber beneath the Eastern Courtyard, Tang Yun sat beside a low wooden desk. Several aged scrolls were spread out across it, each carefully weighed down by jade paperweights. The pungent aroma of rare poisons lingered in the air sour, bitter, with a faint sweetness of something deceptively fragrant.
He tapped one long finger on a line of ink.
>m"When the veins of the Qi Awakening Realm refine more than nine cycles of specialized qi, the final plateau is a bottleneck requiring not more poison, but balance."
He leaned back and exhaled.
"Balance. That's the challenge."
Tang Yun's Plan to Break Through
Tang Yun was at the mid Qi Awakening Realm, but his poison qi density was already on par with many at the late stage. The problem wasn't raw power it was integration.
He needed to synchronize three distinct toxin types into one circulating system, each incompatible in nature:
1. Soul-Eroding Miasma – A mental-affecting poison.
2. Widow's Blanket Extract – A paralytic.
3. Whitebone Venom – A tissue-rot, highly unstable.
Individually, they were potent.
Together, they were suicidal.
But Tang Yun had a plan.
Step One – Build the Internal Pathway Map
He spread a hand-drawn meridian chart before him. His fingers traced the network he'd slowly modified over the past months.
A normal cultivator's qi moved like water through veins.
His moved like acid.
He marked seven primary conflict points—places where the poisons clashed violently inside him when circulated together.
He needed to either:
Reinforce those pathways,
Or trick the poisons into stabilizing each other.
He chose both.
"First, we lay the False Flow Formation," he muttered.
He began crafting talismans infused with faint qi that would emit decoy pulses across his body while he circulated actual poison internally.
Step Two – Extract the Essence of Widow's Blanket
Xiaomei returned by morning with a small wooden crate sealed with three copper locks. Inside was a fist-sized red fruit, thorny and pulsing faintly an unripe Widow's Heart, taken from the widow-root plant.
Tang Yun pricked it with a glass needle and began distilling it using Moonshadow Extract, slowly drawing out a non-paralytic essence that retained its poison but lost its debilitating effects.
By combining this "half-venom" with Serpent Lotus dew, he could achieve a mild qi conductor—a medium to force foreign poisons through resistant meridians.
It was risky.
Too much and it'd corrode his blood.
Too little and it'd clog his dantian.
Step Three – Formulate the Breakthrough Chamber
He tasked Xiaomei with beginning construction of a temporary underground chamber far beneath the poison pool shielded with silencing formations and reinforced with bone-sealed jade walls. He would fill it with:
Toxic mists to numb physical pain.
Spirit-dampening incense to slow hallucinations.
A spirit-lock formation to prevent cultivation leakage.
This chamber would be the core of his planned breakthrough.
Completion: 3 days.
Disguising His Cultivation
While preparations advanced, Tang Yun also began to intentionally restrict his poison qi during open sparring with outer disciples. He let them "win" by a narrow margin or trick them into thinking he was still relying on secret weapons instead of personal strength.
Rumors soon began to spread:
"He's clever, but still weak."
"Probably only at early-mid Qi Awakening."
"His poisons do the work for him."
Perfect.
"Let them underestimate me," Tang Yun said softly as he plucked out one of the bone needles from his shoulder. "Until they stand before me in the arena, choking on their own blood."
A New Player Appears
Late that evening, as he prepared to rest, a cold knock echoed through the door.
A new servant girl stood outside eyes downcast, expression empty. Her name tag read Ruo'er.
Tang Yun narrowed his gaze.
The qi around her body was faint but controlled. Early Qi Awakening, but with the unnatural stillness of an assassin.
He smiled warmly and accepted her with a nod.
Once inside, he let the door slide shut behind her and whispered:
"Tell your master, whether they serve Jianxu or Liansu, to send someone stronger next time. Or better yet, someone quieter."
Ruo'er froze.
A thread of green light curled around her ankle one of Tang Yun's newly hidden Karmic Thread Traps.
Poison qi surged faintly.
She bowed once, turned, and left without another word.
Meanwhile – Inner Courtyard Pavilion
Tang Yao trained shirtless beneath a waterfall, water crashing over his shoulders as his fists struck stone. With each blow, the stone cracked further.
His qi surged stable, refined.
Late Meridian Opening Realm.
He could feel the pressure of the tournament already building. Yet he also felt something else.
A presence climbing from below.
He opened his eyes and stared south toward Tang Yun's courtyard.
"You've been coiling in shadows, little brother," he said aloud.
"But let's see if you can strike."
[End of Chapter 37]
[Tags]: Reincarnation, Martial Arts, Poison, Scheming Protagonist, Cultivation, Weak to Strong, Anti-Hero, Cold Protagonist, Clan Wars, Hidden Identity, Revenge