72: Chapter 72 Poisoning Wei Bang, Searching for a Way to Survive

Qi Yang pretended to be frightened out of his wits by the palm wind and stood frozen in place.

But at the instant when Wei Bang's palm was about to strike his chest, beneath Qi Yang's wide sleeve, his finger twitched slightly.

A drop of liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power, compressed to the absolute limit and as fine as a cow's hair, shot out silently, directly piercing Wei Bang's Protective Aura and burrowing straight into the acupoint in the center of his palm!

Bang!

Wei Bang's palm wind struck Qi Yang's body.

Qi Yang took the momentum to fly backward, slamming heavily into the muddy ground, and spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood with a wail, which was actually forced out by biting the tip of his tongue himself.

"Cough, cough, cough... Murder! An Inner Sect Disciple is murdering a servant!"

Qi Yang clutched his chest, rolling and wailing in agony on the ground.

Looking at Qi Yang lying on the ground vomiting blood, Wei Bang flicked his hand dismissively.

Just now, he felt as if his palm had been bitten by a mosquito, but he didn't pay any attention to it, assuming it was just the force of the rebound.

"Consider yourself lucky, you old thing! I'll spare your dog's life today, but I'll come back tomorrow. If you still don't hand over the nether grass, I'll burn your lousy grass field to the ground!"

Dropping a vicious threat, Wei Bang swaggered away with two lackeys.

Watching the retreating figures of the three, Qi Yang stopped wailing.

He crawled up from the muddy ground, patted the dirt off his body, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and his murky old eyes were filled with the chilling coldness of looking at a dead man.

"Tomorrow? I'm afraid you won't live past midnight tonight."

The drop of liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power that Qi Yang had flicked out just now not only contained the terrifying destructive power of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, but also fused the ultimate poisons of Frost Absolute Shadow and blood-dissolving powder!

This toxic force had already lurked deep within Wei Bang's Meridians, and the moment he circulated his Qi, the poison would erupt!

That very night, within an Immortal Cave of the Alchemy Pavilion...

Wei Bang was sitting cross-legged on the bed, preparing to circulate his Qi to refine the Qi Gathering Pill he had swallowed during the day.

"That old immortal thing, I must finish him off tomorrow..."

Cursing under his breath, Wei Bang began to circulate his Spiritual Qi.

However, just as the Spiritual Qi completed a major circulation cycle within his Meridians.

"Ugh!"

Wei Bang's eyes widened abruptly, and a miserable scream tore from his throat!

An extremely cold poisonous fiend capable of freezing even the Soul suddenly exploded with a roar within his Dantian!

Under the erosion of this liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power, his Spiritual Qi suddenly collapsed!

"Save... Save me..."

In terror, Wei Bang reached out his hand trying to grab the transmission Jade Slip, but his arm had already dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling blood at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In a mere three breaths of time, the Immortal Cave returned to dead silence, leaving behind only a puddle of black water smoking with white smoke on the bed, not even bone fragments remained.

The next day, news spread from the Alchemy Pavilion that the Inner Sect Disciple Wei Bang, due to being overly eager for success, took inferior Medicinal Pills leading to a backlash of Spiritual Qi, suffering Qi Deviation and turning into a pool of blood.

Meanwhile, in the Nether Grass Field, Qi Yang was squatting in the dirt, leisurely munching on a coarse flour steamed bun.

"The poison of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer is truly useful."

Looking at the morning sun on the horizon, Qi Yang calculated silently in his heart.

"Hiding low and biding my time for a bit longer, I should be able to touch the threshold of the Qi Condensation 11th Layer soon."

...

In a secret chamber fifteen zhang underground, Qi Yang was sitting cross-legged on a bronze stone platform, his expression uncertain.

Boom!

Qi Yang flicked his finger, and a drop of ink-thick liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power shot out, sinking into the hard bluestone wall of the secret chamber.

A burst of sizzling corrosive sounds echoed.

In a mere three breaths of time, that wall reinforced by a Grade 2 Formation was forcefully melted into a vat-sized deep pit, its edges still emitting pungent white smoke.

"The power is indeed terrifying, simply comparable to a casual strike of the Qi Condensation 12th Layer."

Looking at that deep pit, Qi Yang didn't feel much joy; instead, his brows were tightly locked.

Inspecting his body internally, he discovered that merely mobilizing this single drop of liquid spiritual power had caused his fragile Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Roots Meridians to send a tearing, swelling pain.

If he encountered a true life-and-death battle and needed to unleash the liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea with full force, I'm afraid that before he could kill the enemy, his own Physical Body would collapse first from failing to withstand this overbearing power!

"The offensive power is severely overflowing, while the defensive power is pathetic to the extreme."

Qi Yang gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly.

"My body is like a leaky old wooden bucket filled with strong liquor capable of burning right through a person; once shaken too violently, the bucket will blow up first!"

No matter how high the attack power was, being ambushed and instantly killed in one move would still be completely useless.

Qi Yang deeply understood his current shortcomings; he had to find a means of self-preservation.

In the following half-month, Qi Yang pretended to be an old farmer in the grass field by day, but secretly purchased a pile of external intelligence through the channels of the Servant Hall for dozens of Spirit Stones.

Finally, a piece of news caught his attention.

On the edge of the Xuantian Sect's jurisdiction, there was a place called Yunyin Market.

Situated at the border between the Xuantian Sect and several other Sect forces, it was a complex place where all sorts of people from the three teachings and nine streams mixed together.

Most importantly, Yunyin Market was about to hold a once-a-decade underground auction.

The intelligence obscurely mentioned that among the grand finale items of this underground auction, there was suspected to be a remnant volume of the Puppet art "scapegoat paper doll"!

"scapegoat paper doll? A crooked thing used to die in place of another and ward off disasters?"

Two sharp rays of light burst from Qi Yang's murky old eyes.

Once this thing was successfully refined and infused with heart's blood, it could substitute for the master to endure a fatal attack at a critical moment!

This was simply a tailor-made, life-saving divine skill for someone like him with a weak Physical Body and Mixed Spiritual Roots!

"This Yunyin Market is a place I must visit."

Without any hesitation, Qi Yang immediately began preparations.

He flipped out a sallow-faced, high-cheekboned human skin mask from his Storage Pouch and stuck it onto his face.

Subsequently, he swallowed an improved version of the grade 2 wuxiang pill.

The medicinal power dissolved within his body, tightly sealing away the terrifying liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea, causing his cultivation base to plummet all the way until it steadily stopped at the Qi Condensation Seventh Layer.

Qi Condensation Seventh Layer, this Realm was nothing much in the inner Sect, but in the outside market, it was an optimal disguise—neither too high to attract attention nor low enough for people to casually squeeze like a soft persimmon.

Changing into a featureless dark grey robe, Qi Yang quietly escaped the Xuantian Sect through a tunnel.

Yunyin Market was over a thousand miles away from the Xuantian Sect.

Pasting on a high-grade divine mobility talisman, Qi Yang traveled day and night, choosing secluded mountain paths.

Three days later, a bustling market built within a huge valley appeared in his line of sight.

On the outskirts of Yunyin Market, a large number of Mortal towns were attached.

It was bustling with heavy traffic, and the sound of peddling was endless to the ear.

Many Mortals without Spiritual Roots made their lowest-level livelihoods here, providing various daily necessities for the high-and-mighty Cultivators.

Qi Yang did not stay long in the Mortal town; after paying an entrance fee of ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones, he directly stepped into the Formation light barrier inside the market.

The Spiritual Qi inside the market was abundant, and various stalls lined both sides of the streets, selling Medicinal Pills, Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and Yao Beast Materials.

Qi Yang pressed down the bamboo hat on his head, and relying on his powerful perception, he quickly found the heavily guarded underground auction house located in the center of the market.

After paying a deposit of one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Qi Yang received a black wooden plaque carved with the characters "Si Jiu", and walked down the dim stone steps into the massive underground auction hall.

The venue was abuzz with voices, accommodating as many as over a thousand Cultivators.

Qi Yang found the most inconspicuous corner to sit down, his entire person seeming to melt into the shadows, quietly waiting for the appearance of that supreme treasure sufficient to save his life.