386: Chapter 386 The Shock of the Withered Vein Immortal: He Actually Treated My Poison Pill as Nothing?

Withering Vein Ancient Cave.

Deep underground in the western section of the Dragon Spine Mountain Range, a winding tunnel extended downwards. Grayish-white mineral veins hung on the rock walls; they were withered, resembling old vines growing out of the stone, snaking section by section before finally vanishing into the darkness.

At the end of the tunnel was a stone chamber. The chamber was not large, and in the center sat a stone couch, upon which an old man was seated.

The old man was withered and thin, his skin clinging to his bones. His two hands rested on his knees; his ten fingers were long and slender, with grayish tips. That layer of gray was not dirt, but the manifestation of having cultivated the Withering Vein Cultivation Technique to a deep level. The corrosive power of the Spiritual Vein had permeated to the tips of his finger bones, becoming a part of his body.

Liu Can.

In the Late Stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, the master of the Withering Vein Ancient Cave, and one of the leaders of the four major forces on the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent. What he excelled at was not frontal combat, but poison, corrosion, and slipping a Withered Vein Poison Pill into an opponent's body when they were unaware, and then waiting.

Footsteps came from the tunnel outside the stone chamber, unhurried and steady. It was that Cultivator in Plain Robes.

The Cultivator walked into the stone chamber, stood still before Liu Can, bowed, and paid his respects.

"Cave Master."

Liu Can did not open his eyes. His voice leaked out from between his teeth, dry and harsh, like stone grinding against stone.

"Speak."

The Cultivator in Plain Robes opened his mouth and poured out everything he had experienced in the canyon, from beginning to end, without missing a single detail.

From the start of the banquet, to Su Changge's appearance and bearing, to Ye Qingyao's silence and that cup of tea, to Zhao Tian's positioning and expression, to Tu Lie's posture as the host and those conversations about the Seal—he recounted every time node, every action, and every sentence.

He spoke right up to that cup of wine.

"This subordinate dissolved the Withered Vein Poison Pill into the wine and handed it to him in the name of a toast. He accepted it, took a look, smelled it, and then tilted his head back and drank it."

Liu Can's eyelids twitched, but he did not open them.

"And then?"

"And then nothing happened."

The stone chamber was silent for two breaths.

Liu Can opened his eyes.

Those eyes were grayish-white, the color of the pupils much lighter than a normal person's, like two pearls that had been soaked in medicinal liquid for too long. They were turbid, but beneath the turbidity, sharp things were swirling.

"What do you mean by 'nothing happened'?"

"This subordinate's Divine Sense probed him four times after he drank it, and each time the result was the same. There were no signs of any damage to his Spiritual Vein, no fluctuations, no abnormalities—not even the slightest feedback that should occur after the poison pill enters the Spiritual Vein."

Liu Can's fingers moved on his knees, an extremely slight movement.

"Are you sure you used the Withered Vein Poison Pill and not water?"

"This subordinate refined it personally and dissolved it personally; there could be no mistake."

Liu Can took this answer and mulled it over in his mind for a long time.

The Withered Vein Poison Pill was his foundation. He had spent six hundred years on this path, refining poison, testing poison, and improving poison formulas. The effect of this poison pill was a recognized forbidden method among the four major forces of the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent. For a Cultivator in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage to be struck by this poison pill, damage to the Spiritual Vein was a certainty. Even a Cultivator in the Body Integration Stage could not withstand it, only the degree of damage would differ.

But this person had drunk it, and nothing happened.

It wasn't that he had neutralized it; it was that absolutely nothing happened.

His confidant had explained it very clearly: there were no traces of him circulating his magic power, no deliberate actions to neutralize it, no targeted reaction at all. He had simply drunk it and then commented on the taste.

The sentence that person said, his confidant had also relayed.

"The wine is not bad, it's just that the water quality is a bit poor, which affected the taste."

The water quality is a bit poor.

Liu Can sat on the stone couch, chewing on these five words twice. By the second time, his scalp went numb.

The Withered Vein Poison Pill, in that person's mouth, was called "the water quality is a bit poor."

His six hundred years of cultivation, his six hundred years of heart's blood, in that person's evaluation system, were not even worthy of a formal assessment. He had just tossed out a casual remark, so light and airy, as if that poison pill really was just a matter of water quality.

Either this person's cultivation had reached a level he could not imagine.

Or—

No, there was no "or." His confidant had described that "unfathomable" perception very clearly: probing into him was like entering a boundless Void Realm, touching nothing, seeing nothing. That kind of perception only appeared in one type of Cultivator.

A Cultivator who exceeded the limits of cognition.

"There is more." The Cultivator in Plain Robes' voice interrupted Liu Can's train of thought. "When he left, he said one sentence to me."

Liu Can stared at him.

"He said, 'As for the Withering Vein Ancient Cave, Senior Tu does not need to trouble himself with an invitation. Tell him to go back and pass on the message: seven days later, see you at the Seal.'"

The stone chamber was quiet again.

This silence was longer than the last one.

Liu Can sat on the stone couch, his ten fingers tightening on his knees. The grayish parts of his fingertips pressed into his kneebones with such force that his joints turned white.

He recognized me.

He recognized it from beginning to end.

He not only recognized that his confidant was from the Withering Vein Ancient Cave, he also knew that the cup of wine contained the Withered Vein Poison Pill. He knew everything. From the very first moment that person sat at the stone table, he had known everything.

And then?

And then that person did not get angry, did not pursue the matter, did not attack. He just drank that cup of wine, commented on the taste, and then walked past his confidant like he was out for a stroll, telling him to pass on the message.

Seven days later, see you at the Seal.

He wasn't inviting him to come.

He was notifying him to come.

Liu Can sat on the stone couch for a long time. Something kept churning in his grayish-white pupils. It churned for a long time, then finally sank slowly, turning into an emotion deeper than fear.

Dread.

"The people beside him, did you find out who they were?"

"One man and one woman. The man's cultivation is in the Early Stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, serving him with the etiquette of a junior disciple. The woman... this subordinate could not see through her. Her aura was kept extremely tight, and she appeared young, but this subordinate did not dare to probe deeply."

Liu Can closed his mouth and sat on the stone couch for a long time before speaking, his voice drier than before.

"Seven days later, we go."