48: Chapter 48 Let's see who dies first!

The poisonous juice of nether grass was an extremely frigid substance to begin with, so entering its body did not alert the Ice Crystal Toad in the slightest.

But the next instant, this purified poison juice detonated directly in its throat, freezing its vocal cords and nerves all over its body!

The Ice Crystal Toad's eyes bulged violently. It tried to let out a screech, but could only manage a muffled gagging sound from its throat, its entire body stiffening into a literal block of ice!

"Done!"

Qi Yang moved like lightning, sweeping to the edge of the stone pool.

He pulled out three specially made jade bottles prepared beforehand. His hands blurred into afterimages as he filled three bottles with raw xuanyin water!

Just as he tightly corked the bottles, a vast, sea-like spiritual sense carrying a terrifying pressure suddenly swept down from above the cave!

The substitute Foundation Establishment Elder had sensed something amiss!

Qi Yang's heart constricted. He stuffed a turtle breathing pill into his mouth, instantly entering a state of suspended animation—even his heartbeat and blood flow came to a complete halt.

At the same time, he rolled into a narrow rock crevice nearby, using Earth-attribute spiritual power to seal himself tightly inside.

That Foundation Establishment Stage spiritual sense was like a searchlight, sweeping back and forth around the stone pool a full three times!

Hiding in the crevice, Qi Yang felt as though a steel blade were suspended above his head; if that perception penetrated just an inch deeper into the rock layer, he would be completely exposed.

Fortunately, the substitute Elder didn't notice anything unusual.

The Ice Crystal Toad was naturally a quiet Yao Beast. Stiffened in place right now, it looked no different from its usual sleeping state.

The spiritual sense ebbed away like a tide.

Qi Yang held his breath in the rock layer for half an hour until he confirmed there was no more movement outside before lifting his turtle breathing state.

He retraced his steps to that weak node, crawled out of the Formation, and used Earth-attribute spiritual power to seamlessly restore the end of the tunnel, leaving not a single trace behind.

Returning to the secret room beneath the Nether Grass Field, Qi Yang exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

He neatly arranged the three jade bottles containing raw xuanyin water on the bronze stone platform, his cloudy old eyes brimming with fanaticism.

jade pith ganoderma, dragon blood fruit, heavenly spirit fruit, plus this most core xuanyin water.

All the Materials for the foundation establishment pill were completely gathered!

As long as he refined the foundation establishment pill, a hundred-year-old Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root useless waste like him could defy fate and step onto the grand Dao of Foundation Establishment that countless Cultivators dreamed of!

But Qi Yang didn't let the wild joy rush to his head.

"I'm only at the Qi Condensation 8th Layer right now, still a whole four Realms away from the Qi Condensation Twelfth Layer Great Perfection."

Qi Yang knitted his brows tightly.

Common sense in the Cultivation World dictated that if one's cultivation had not reached Qi Condensation Great Completion, the spiritual power within their body simply could not sustain the consumption required to refine a Heaven-Defying Medicinal Pill like the foundation establishment pill.

Forcing the refinement would only result in a cauldron explosion, turning both person and pill to ashes.

"I must keep laying low and keep making Breakthroughs!"

However, the gloomy cold energy of the Nether Grass Field had negligible effect on his current cultivation level.

The Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body had already hit a Bottleneck.

To achieve a Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he had to find a rare fiendish poison spiritual material and use the extreme method of fighting poison with poison to forcibly tear open the barrier of his Meridians.

And such a thing could never be found in the inner Sect; his only chance was to try his luck in chaotic black markets or market towns.

Just as Qi Yang was calculating how to slip out of the Sect...

Inner Sect, Jianzhi Peak's main hall.

*Bam!*

A desk made of century-old ironwood was smashed to pieces.

Peak Master Wu Lie of the Foundation Establishment Stage Middle Stage had an ashen face, the violent Fire-attribute spiritual power surging around him searing the air in the hall until it warped.

Below him, several Inner Sect deacons at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer shivered in terror, not even daring to breathe loudly.

"Investigate! Thoroughly investigate this for me!"

Peak Master Wu Lie's roar thundered through the hall.

"Daoyuan has Cultivated the Scarlet Gold Burning Heaven Sword Technique for five years and has an incomparably solid Foundation! How could he suffer Qi Deviation for no reason at all?!"

He had personally acted to soothe Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's Meridians and actually detected an extremely faint, hard-to-notice trace of gloomy cold energy deep within Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's shattered Dantian!

It was precisely this strand of gloomy cold energy that detonated the Metal-attribute Sword Qi within Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's body!

"This is definitely someone's foul play! Go to the Baicao Peak Spirit Plant House and check every single medicinal field growing dark-cold attribute Spiritual Plants, as well as everyone who handled the gold-refining pill! I'd rather wrongly kill a thousand than let a single culprit slip by!"

Peak Master Wu Lie's fury swept directly over to Baicao Peak.

Inside the main hall of the Spirit Plant House, Manager Jiang Duosheng was like an ant on a hot pan.

As a manager at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, he looked glorious on the surface, but behind the scenes, he was a rotten pest to the core.

To earn Spirit Stones for cultivation resources, he had been passing off inferior goods as quality items for years, embezzling Spiritual Plants from inner Sect fields and secretly selling them in the black market outside the Sect.

The area he skimmed the hardest from was none other than the nether grass plot in the back mountain!

Now that Peak Master Wu Lie had ordered a thorough investigation into dark-cold Spiritual Plants, once the Law Enforcement Hall audited the books, his embezzlement would definitely be exposed!

"No! I can't just sit here and wait for death!"

A vicious, sinister gleam flashed through Jiang Duosheng's bead-like eyes.

He had to find a scapegoat!

Who?

The image of that hunchbacked, white-haired old waste surfaced in Jiang Duosheng's mind.

"Qi Yang! Yes, that old thing from the outer Sect!"

Jiang Duosheng slapped his thigh.

Qi Yang was in charge of growing nether grass, had no background, possessed Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Roots, and already had half a foot in the grave.

Pinning the crimes of embezzling Spiritual Plants and plotting against Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan on his head couldn't be more perfect!

Who would care about the life or death of an old Qi Condensation Third Layer waste?

"Men! Follow me to the back mountain's Nether Grass Field!"

Jiang Duosheng immediately rallied several Law Enforcement Hall Disciples and charged fiercely toward the back mountain.

Meanwhile, far away in the back mountain field, Qi Yang was squatting on the ridge weeding.

His perception had long since picked up the murderous group approaching from several miles away.

"Jiang Duosheng? Bringing Law Enforcement Hall people to my place?"

A chilly Killing Intent flashed deep within Qi Yang's cloudy eyes.

Using just a bit of brainpower, he instantly deduced what game this fat bastard was playing.

"Want to use me as a scapegoat? Sure, then let's see who dies first!"

Qi Yang didn't run. Instead, he slowly stood up and dusted the soil off his hands.

He retrieved a worn ledger from the depths of his Storage Pouch, along with a discarded Jade Slip prepared in advance, tucking them into his wide sleeves.

"Better a Fellow Daoist die than oneself"—that was a famous truism in the Cultivation World.

*Bam!*

The dilapidated fence gate outside the Nether Grass Field was kicked into splinters.

Jiang Duosheng strutted in with four grim-faced Law Enforcement Hall Disciples.

"Old thing! Get your ass over here!"

Jiang Duosheng puffed out his large belly, pointing at Qi Yang on the ridge and cursing loudly.

Qi Yang shuddered in fear, dropping the hoe in his hands straight to the ground.

Hunching his back, he trotted over with a face full of terror, coughing violently.

"Manager... W-what is going on? Has this old man committed some mistake?"

Qi Yang neither knelt nor begged for mercy; he simply acted out the role of a terrified, bottom-rung old farmer to perfection.

"Committed a mistake? You old dog, how dare you!"

Jiang Duosheng sneered repeatedly, slapping a massive accusation on him directly.

"Peak Master Wu Lie has already determined that Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's Qi Deviation was caused by someone lacing the gold-refining pill with the cold poison of nether grass! In the entire inner Sect, only your field grows nether grass!"

"Not only that! This manager just audited the books—you old dog have actually been embezzling nether grass quotas for years to line your own pockets! What else do you have to say for yourself?!"

Several Law Enforcement Hall Disciples stepped forward immediately, unleashing their Qi Refining Tenth Layer Aura onto Qi Yang without mercy, ready to arrest him on the spot at the slightest disagreement.

Forced back repeatedly by the pressure, Qi Yang's face turned deathly pale, but his hands desperately shielded his chest as if he were hiding some treasure.

"I'm innocent! Manager, this old man is innocent!"

Qi Yang yelled in a trembling voice.

"The nether grass this old man turns in every month is delivered in full! I have a ledger right here where every single entry is recorded clearly—I wouldn't dare hoard a single stalk!"

Saying this, Qi Yang tremblingly pulled out that old worn ledger from his chest and handed it with both hands to the leading Law Enforcement Hall Disciple.

Jiang Duosheng's face darkened as an ominous foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart.

This old waste actually kept a ledger?!