65: Chapter 65 Target: Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes!

"So that's how it is..."

The coldness in Su Qinghan's eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a realization!

She had always wanted to use the overbearing spiritual power of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer to forcefully execute this high-tier sword art, neglecting the natural flow of spiritual power itself!

Zheng!

Su Qinghan ignored Qi Yang, drawing her sword to dance with it once more!

This time, her sword technique had completely changed.

It was no longer purely fierce and overbearing; instead, during critical footwork transitions, her sword followed her body in harmony with the flow of internal spiritual power, unending and continuous!

The previous feeling of sluggishness vanished completely!

As the Sword Qi swept back and forth, it even carried a subtle charm of seamless fluidity!

Finishing the sword routine, Su Qinghan sheathed her sword and let out a long breath of turbid air.

She turned her head, her gaze complex as she looked at the hunchbacked old man squatting on the ground, wiping away tea water with his sleeve.

A coincidence?

The spot where the water splashed was precisely the fatal weakness in her sluggish footwork.

The absurd logic he mumbled casually happened to untie the knot in her sword technique.

Su Qinghan took a deep breath.

She realized she was becoming less and less able to see through this nominal Trash husband of hers.

"Thank you."

For the first time ever, Su Qinghan spoke those two words to Qi Yang.

Qi Yang raised his head, putting on a bewildered look as if overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.

"Fairy, you flatter this old man too much! I'm just a simple farmer, how could I deserve Fairy's gratitude!"

Su Qinghan said nothing more.

She gave Qi Yang a deep look, a strange trust appearing in the depths of her eyes that even she hadn't realized.

"I'm leaving. Take care of yourself."

With those words, Su Qinghan transformed into a streak of moon-white sword light and shot into the sky.

Watching Su Qinghan vanish into the clouds, the bewildered look on Qi Yang's face slowly faded, revealing a faint smile.

Without delay, Qi Yang turned, walked quickly into his thatched cottage, and locked the wooden door.

Pressing the bed's mechanism, he followed the stone stairs down into a secret underground chamber.

He began to take inventory of his assets.

"tendon-softening powder, blood-dissolving powder, Frost Absolute Shadow... bring all these second-grade lethal poisons!"

"explosive flame talisman, earth-sinking talisman, divine mobility talisman... stuff them all into the Storage Pouch!"

Qi Yang equipped all the trump cards he had looted from Deacon Pan Ping and the demonic Cultivator.

Finally, from deep within his Storage Pouch, he pulled out a sallow skin mask with high cheekbones and slapped it onto his face.

Taking off his tattered hemp clothes, he changed into a featureless grayish-black robe.

Swallowing an improved wuxiang pill, he steadily suppressed his cultivation from the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation down to the Qi Condensation Seventh Layer.

At this Realm, he was most inconspicuous and safest in the markets and dangerous areas on the outer edges of the Sect's territory.

Everything was ready.

Instead of leaving through the Sect's main gate, Qi Yang slipped out of Xuantian Sect silently via a hidden underground tunnel fifteen feet deep.

Target, Ten Thousand Snake Valley!

...

Ten Thousand Snake Valley.

Located on the outermost edge of Xuantian Sect's territory, it was a death zone.

It was a bottomless grand canyon perpetually shrouded in dense, grayish-green poisonous miasma, never seeing the light of day.

Innumerable venomous snake Yao Beasts lurked within the valley, making it a true forbidden zone for life.

But danger often came with opportunity.

The denser the poisonous miasma, the easier it was for rare poison-attribute Spiritual Plants and dark-chilly Heaven And Earth Treasures to grow.

At this moment, there were still three full days before the Xuantian Sect Disciples led by Su Qinghan would arrive.

Yet Qi Yang had already quietly made his way to the outer periphery of Ten Thousand Snake Valley.

Wearing his grayish-black robe and sallow mask, he lay in wait inside a concealed rock cave at the edge of the canyon like a lifeless stone.

"The poisonous miasma in this place is really potent."

Qi Yang took a deep breath of the pungent, rancid odor in the air; far from feeling uncomfortable, he felt as if all his pores had relaxed and opened up.

When ordinary Cultivators encountered this kind of poisonous miasma, even Geniuses with Dual Spiritual Roots or Three Spiritual Roots had to constantly maintain a protective spiritual light, consuming vast amounts of spiritual power to resist the corrosive poison gas.

But as the Five Elements Grindstone rotated inside Qi Yang, it treated these poisonous miasmas directly as nourishment, continuously converting them into Poison Wood Spiritual Power.

In this Ten Thousand Snake Valley, this was his absolute home ground!

Qi Yang was in no rush to enter the valley to search for the earth core jade marrow; instead, he spread his powerful perception across the canyon's surroundings.

Half an hour later.

Qi Yang's tightly shut eyes snapped open, a trace of coldness flashing in their depths.

"As expected, something fishy is going on."

Within his perception net, two groups of people were actually lurking around the outer area of Ten Thousand Snake Valley!

The first group was hiding in a pile of jagged rocks on the eastern side of the canyon.

There were about twenty people with varying cultivation levels ranging from Qi Condensation 6th Layer to Qi Condensation 9th Layer, dressed in various kinds of Loose Cultivator attire.

"The Loose Cultivator Alliance from the territorial market? These desperate scoundrels who value money over their lives probably heard the rumor that Xuantian Sect is coming to gather Spirit Medicines, wanting to tail them for leftovers or simply commit murder and robbery."

Qi Yang sneered, paying these Loose Cultivators no mind.

What truly made him wary was the second group hiding in the dense forest on the western side of the canyon!

It was a group of Cultivators dressed in matching black robes, oozing intense blood-gore aura and foul poisonous gas.

There were about a dozen people, every single one at the Qi Condensation 8th Layer or above!

The man leading them had an aura like a lurking venomous flood dragon, deep and unfathomable.

"Qi Condensation 11th Layer! Earth, Wood, and Water Three Spiritual Roots!"

Qi Yang's pupils shrank slightly.

He immediately recognized their identity.

Hundred Poisons Sect!

This was a notorious demonic Cultivator School entrenched on the outer borders of Xuantian Sect's territory, ruthless in conduct and specializing in using living humans to test poisons and cultivate techniques.

"A demonic Cultivator with Three Spiritual Roots at the Qi Condensation 11th Layer leading the team—this lineup isn't here to pick herbs."

Qi Yang rubbed his chin inside the rock cave.

Although he was at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation and his Poison Wood Spiritual Power was incomparably domineering, if he clashed head-on with a Qi Condensation 11th Layer demonic Cultivator, he would definitely be crushed into a pulp by their immense spiritual power.

"Only a fool would fight head-on."

Without any hesitation, Qi Yang immediately began his preparations.

Taking advantage of the night, he shuttled around a one-li radius surrounding the rock cave.

Every dozen yards or so, he would smear a layer of colorless and odorless gray powder on hidden tree trunks or rock crevices.

tendon-softening powder!

This was a second-grade lethal poison he had ripened using the black gourd. So long as one inhaled even a tiny bit, even a Qi Refining Tenth Layer Cultivator would have their spiritual power stall and their body go weak within half an incense stick's time.

After setting up a large-scale poison array, Qi Yang retreated into the rock cave once more, completely suppressing his aura to quietly play the oriole waiting behind.

Late at night on the second day, Qi Yang's perception caught movement from the Hundred Poisons Sect demonic Cultivators once again.

Under the cover of night, several demonic Cultivators crept stealthily to the entrance of Ten Thousand Snake Valley.

They didn't enter, but instead buried a large pile of dried grass releasing a pungent, strange fragrance along the indispensable path at the entrance, setting up a small Wind-Gathering Formation around it.

"monster-luring grass?"

Watching clearly from the rock cave, Qi Yang couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

These demonic Cultivators are truly vicious!

monster-luring grass was something with a fatal attraction for Yao Beasts.

They buried the monster-luring grass at the entrance; once Xuantian Sect's team and those Loose Cultivators entered, they would immediately activate the Wind-Gathering Formation to blow the scent of the monster-luring grass deep into Ten Thousand Snake Valley.

When that happened, all the venomous snake Yao Beasts in the entire Ten Thousand Snake Valley would go mad, forming a terrifying snake tide that would directly trap and slaughter the Xuantian Sect and Loose Cultivator teams inside!

"Trying to wipe everyone out in one fell swoop? Quite a nice calculation."

Qi Yang sneered repeatedly.

Playing with poison? Playing dirty?

In front of him, Qi Yang, these demonic Cultivators were simply showing off their amateur skills before a master!

"Since you want to play with a snake tide, I'll spice things up for you and let you thoroughly enjoy it."

A glint of chilling coldness flashed through Qi Yang's eyes.