Poison Genius Consort

If Lil Thing’s poison teeth had recovered by now, then its cultivation level in the Poison Sect would be the highest without compare. After all, no one in the world was capable of curing the poison from its fangs! Yet it had been foolish enough to let Mama Yunxi take its blood to save someone else, thus greatly injuring its vitality. Then there were the serious injuries it’d incurred at Celestial Mountain, so it had no way to recover quickly despite ingesting large amounts of nutrients. Lil Thing still had no idea which human Mama Yunxi had saved with its blood, but every time it recalled the fact, it wanted to bite that human once.

Bereft of its full powers, it could only eat poison plants like a madman to replenish its body while drawing power from Mama Yunxi’s own cultivation base. She had ascended to level two of the poison storage space precisely because of Lil Thing’s recovery, so now their cultivation advancements were linked. Although Mama Yunxi hadn’t been cultivating much recently, Lil Thing was giving its all in the poison storage space. Because of its efforts, it had affected Mama Yunxi and left her feeling exhausted. Lil Thing hadn’t stopped cultivating since it’d been locked into this space until it felt Mama Yunxi reach her limit and faint away. Now it had stopped.

It was a poison beast who knew no death, but Mama Yunxi was only a human. Her endurance couldn’t be compared to its. Currently, Lil Thing was curled up in a corner of the dim, dark space with its tail wrapped around itself like a hand cradling its body. It had been so frantic to cultivate since getting trapped that it’d lost all track of time. Now that it’d stopped, it suddenly wondered how many days had passed and remembered the gentleman.

Was the gentleman...doing well?

How could he be well after falling off a cliff?

It didn’t dare to think further, but it couldn’t help but speculate. The more it thought, the more fearful it grew. It could only make itself busy so it wouldn’t think so much. It was certain the assassin that night couldn’t be Papa Long, but his sword skills had been on par with the man. There was something familiar about him as well, but it couldn’t tell what. It had sensed the same familiarity once back at Medicine City’s conference.

Could the assassin be a direct bloodline descendant of the Poison Sect, which was why it felt the man was familiar? Could the very same assassin be the one who trapped it here?

Lil Thing had a sensitive nose capable of identifying individuals’ scents, but to determine whether the assassin was a descendant, it would have to smell his blood. Lil Thing couldn’t figure it out. If the assassin really was a bloodline descendant of the Poison Sect, then why didn’t he acknowledge Mama Yunxi? But that question was so complicated that Lil Thing only got a headache trying to figure it out. Still, what else could it think of, if not this? It couldn’t cultivate, so it had to busy its brain. Only then could it stop itself from missing the gentleman. As long as it closed its eyes, it could pretend that the entire world had grown dark.

Can I pretend the gentleman’s okay as long as I don’t think about him?

But it’d be repeatedly probing the black-robed assassin’s identity for so long that there was nothing left to think about! Lil Thing crawled to its feet and began to pace in circles. The more it paced, the faster it got until its tail was almost touching its head. What to do? It was going to think of the gentleman again, and how he’d fallen off the cliff while nursing wounds. His form had been as weak and frail as a butterfly, torn to pieces by the winds...

No!

Lil Thing screeched to a halt! It had to busy itself another way so it could stop thinking. Besides cultivation, it could still eat--gorge itself until the world came to an end. Without hesitation, Lil Thing raced to the side of a nearby vine. It was a vigorous plant entwined around a tree, but it had long swallowed it up. Every leaf on the vine was the size of a grown man’s palm and exuded sticky yellow toxic sap that dripped to the ground. The entire vine seemed to be sick, leaking sap in a disgusting way. Lil Thing climbed up the vine-covered tree without hesitation and allowed the gross sap to stick to its snow-white fur. The foul stench was even more putrid at the top, but Lil Thing only buried its head into the thicket of leaves and started munching nonstop like a madman!

Soon enough, Lil Thing lifted its head to throw up. But right after that, it started eating again. After vomiting a few more times, it stopped throwing up altogether. It had its share of nonstop eating days, so it could eat until the sky fell for all it cared. It could pretend this was a delicious poison feast, that it didn’t have to think as long as it was preoccupied, that everything would be fine as long as it stopped thinking. Lil Thing ate and ate, never knowing that the poison plants here would affect its fate drastically in the future. It had a huge appetite, so it only took a day for Lil Thing to get rid of all the plants near its vicinity. Naturally, the owner of the Darkspace could sense it as well. But he could only keep Lil Thing trapped here since he had no other choice.

Lil Thing hoped that Mama Yunxi could wake up sooner and recover her health. Then it could keep cultivating. That was its only chance to escape from this place. Mama Yunxi was on the verge of breaking through the third level of the poison storage space. She only needed a crucial turning point for that final push. Lil Thing was hoping that would happen soon, because then it’d be able to fully communicate with her via their souls.

Currently, Han Yunxi was still unconscious and unaware of Lil Thing’s efforts. Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue were even more ignorant. They had already left the teashop and were hurrying towards the Hundred Poisons Sect. Along the way, Long Feiye kept watch over Han Yunxi day and night. Gu Beiyue and Baili Mingxiang ended up sharing the same carriage, him with creased brows and silent countenance while she was filled with worry. Day after day passed, but Han Yunxi still showed no signs of waking up. The closer they got to Hundred Poisons Sect, the tenser everyone felt.

This afternoon, the ground was resting by a stream when Long Feiye received bad news. Long Tianmo had been invited to Western Zhou by Emperor Kangcheng and publicly expressed his support for the East-West Qin Alliance, as well as his desire to help them deal with the Hundred Poisons Sect.

“Expresses his support?” Gu Beiyue smiled. “That’s probably not Long Tianmo’s true motive.”

“He and Emperor Kangcheng both want to serve as witnesses to the truth behind the civil war of the Great Qin Empire,” Long Feiye intoned.

It wasn’t just East and West Qin who had their own versions of the civil war story, but all of Cloud Realm Continent. No one knew the truth or who were the real victims versus criminals. Every since Myriad Merchant Hall publicized news of the East-West Qin Alliance and Long Feiye and Han Yunxi’s tag-team efforts against Bai Yanqing, new discussions had popped up all around the continent again. After all, the factions of both East and West Qin made up of half of Cloud Realm Continent. This would determine the continent’s future, so who wouldn’t be interested and curious? Furthermore, many people wanted to know who would win in the match against husband and wife once Long Feiye and Han Yunxi attained their goal.

“Stand as witness, now that’s interesting.” Gu Beiyue mused, but before he could continue, Long Feiye’s eyes turned cold.

“That depends on whether they have the skills to see it in the first place!”

The Hundred Poisons Sect was located within Western Zhou territory, which was ruled by Emperor Kangcheng. Was it he who had invited Long Tianmo first, or Long Tianmo himself who extended the offer of a collaboration? Whether it was Western Zhou or Tianning, both countries were still exhausted from last year’s battles. It would take them five to ten years to build up enough manpower and wealth to fight again. Who knew that their two leaders would be restless enough to involve themselves in the East-West Qin debate?

“Looks like Emperor Kangcheng is going to perform the duties of a host,” Gu Beiyue said helplessly.

As predicted, Long Feiye received news the next day that Emperor Kangcheng had used his status as host to invited Medical and Medicine City to come act as witnesses, too.

“Hilarious!” Even a compassionate soul like Gu Beiyue couldn’t help but mock them. The world already knew that Medical and Medicine City were Han Yunxi’s powers. Wasn’t Emperor Kangcheng doing something completely unnecessary? He didn’t need to invite the two cities at all.

“What is Kangcheng planning?” Long Feiye mused. Rather than inviting the two cities, it seemed like the emperor simply wanted to make a fanfare of things. Once the stakes grew larger, then he and Han Yunxi would have to publicly question Bai Yanqing instead of interrogating him in private. Such matters wouldn’t affect Western Zhou, so why did Emperor Kangcheng care so much in the first place?

“Ask Chu Tianyin just what Kangcheng’s motives are!” Long Feiye instructed icily. After Gu Beiyue’s return, communications with Chu Tianyin naturally fell on his shoulders. Long Feiye himself returned to the carriage to sit by Han Yunxi’s side. He took her hand and pressed it against his lips, looking even calmer than she did.

There were three days left until the appointed faceoff. Would Han Yunxi wake up in time?