177: Chapter 177: The Tool Person is Online

The Seals within the ten thousand poison bead were unraveled one by one.

Half an hour later, he had already ventured thirty miles deep into the Poison Barrier Forest.

In the mist ahead, a massive dark shadow was faintly visible.

It was a hill, covered in black vines.

The vines were entwined together, forming a massive nest.

In front of the nest lay a jet-black giant python.

The giant python was a full ten zhang long, its body covered in dark gold scales, with a single horn growing from its head.

Its vertical pupils were cold as frost, emitting a suffocating pressure.

Early Stage of Spirit Severing.

This one was equivalent to a human in the Middle Stage of Soul Transformation.

The giant python also saw Xiao Ran, sensing the aura he was emitting.

A typical Early Stage of Soul Transformation.

Thus, the giant python instantly understood that the advantage was its own.

Xiao Ran stopped in his tracks, locking eyes with the giant python.

The giant python hissed and suddenly lunged forward!

Its speed was pushed to the extreme!

Xiao Ran didn't dodge, raising his hand to strike with a palm!

The Guixu Demonic Light transformed into a grayish-black vortex, swallowing the giant python's head!

The giant python roared, struggling desperately.

Its tail swept across, snapping the surrounding large trees in half!

Xiao Ran gritted his teeth, increasing his output.

The vortex spun wildly, devouring the giant python's head inch by inch!

Ten breaths later.

The giant python crashed to the ground, its head gone, its body still twitching.

Xiao Ran withdrew his hand and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

"Soul Transformation Stage Yao Beasts really do have some skill."

"To actually be able to hold out against me for ten seconds."

He looked toward the nest, calculating in his mind whether or not to go inside and take a look.

After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head.

"No rush, let's scout the situation first."

He continued further in.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a massive figure suddenly appeared in the mist ahead.

It was a jet-black giant bear, ten zhang tall, its entire body covered in dark purple scales.

Its eyes were blood-red, emitting a crazed aura.

Late Stage of Soul Transformation.

Xiao Ran stopped, not rashly stepping forward.

The giant bear also noticed him, but it only gave him a glance before turning to leave.

Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes.

What was this giant bear afraid of?

He looked deeper in.

The mist there was already so thick it had almost condensed into a solid substance.

In the mist, a massive outline was faintly visible.

It looked like a mountain.

And also like a crouching giant beast.

Xiao Ran felt the ten thousand poison bead throbbing violently in his palm, as if it were warning him.

He took a deep breath and did not venture any deeper.

"Void Refinement Stage."

He murmured softly to himself.

At the core of the Poison Barrier Forest, a Void Refinement Stage poison beast was entrenched.

Though he wasn't sure what it was, it had scared off a Late Stage Soul Transformation Yao Race creature through sheer intimidation alone.

Its strength was absolutely not low.

Xiao Ran was at least currently no match for it.

Therefore, he could not continue deeper.

So he turned directly around and headed back the way he came.

After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

He raised his hand and took the human emperor banner out from his sleeve.

With a flash of black light, a white figure rushed out from the banner.

It was precisely the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Xiao Ran had just suddenly sensed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's desire to leave from within the human emperor banner; she had even begun crashing against the barrier at the end.

So Xiao Ran immediately let her out.

As soon as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox landed, she took a deep breath, and then her expression changed drastically.

"Poison barrier? You fucking brought me to the Poison Barrier Forest?"

Xiao Ran hurriedly waved his hands.

"Don't be in a rush, listen to my explanation."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox glared at him: "Explain what? I've been in that banner for so long, and you let me out just to breathe poison gas?"

Xiao Ran gave a mischievous laugh.

"Wasn't it you who wanted to come out?"

"As it happens, I also have something to discuss with you."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox gave a cold snort and looked around.

Her gaze fell upon the core of the Poison Barrier Forest in the distance, and her pupils shrank slightly.

"A Void Refinement Stage poison beast?"

Xiao Ran nodded: "Correct. I was originally planning to retreat, but now that you've appeared, I want to go in and take a look."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"You want me to be your hired muscle?"

Xiao Ran rubbed his hands: "Isn't this mutually beneficial?"

"You help me scout the way, and I'll help you restore your cultivation."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's smile vanished, and she turned to leave.

"Not doing it."

Xiao Ran hurriedly blocked her: "Don't! Let me finish!"

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox stopped and looked back at him.

"Speak."

Xiao Ran lowered his voice.

"I have the ten thousand poison bead in my hand; it can absorb the poison gas of the Poison Barrier Forest."

"As long as you help me, you can absorb all the poison gas here as you please. I can help transfer it to you, which will be of great benefit to restoring your cultivation."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's eyes lit up, but she quickly returned to her cold indifference.

"That's all?"

Xiao Ran: "Plus one Soul Transformation Stage Pill."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox stared at him for three breaths, and after seeing that Xiao Ran wasn't going to increase the price further, she nodded.

"Deal."

She turned and walked toward the core of the Poison Barrier Forest.

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox walked in front, her nine tails swaying gently in the poison mist.

Her steps seemed casual, but every step landed on the weakest points of the poison mist.

Xiao Ran followed behind, the ten thousand poison bead in his palm warming slightly.

"You certainly know how to find a place,"

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox said without looking back.

"The poison gas in this place is even purer than I imagined."

Xiao Ran gave a mischievous laugh: "Of course, otherwise would I have called you out?"

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox gave a cold snort.

"Enough flattery. I'm putting the ugly words first: if that Void Refinement Stage poison beast is too strong, I'm not getting involved."

Xiao Ran nodded hurriedly: "Rest assured, I know what I'm doing."

The two continued deeper.

The further in they went, the thicker the poison mist became.

At this depth, the mist was no longer grayish-black but had taken on a bizarre dark purple hue.

The air was filled with a scent of decay mixed with a cloying sweetness; every breath felt like swallowing razor blades.

Xiao Ran's Myriad Dao Guixu Body operated wildly, devouring and converting the toxins flooding into his body.

Even so, fine purple patterns began to surface on his skin.

That was a sign that the toxins were accumulating too quickly.

"Can you hold out?"

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox glanced back at him.

Xiao Ran: "It's nothing."

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox said no more, only slowing her pace.

After walking for about another incense stick's time, an open space suddenly appeared in the mist ahead.

It was a massive circular clearing, a hundred zhang across, where not a single blade of grass grew.

The ground was dark red, as if soaked in blood.

In the center of the clearing was a pool about three zhang square.

Inside the pool was not water, but liquefied poison mist.

Dark purple liquid surged in the pool, emitting a suffocating aura.

A few black lotuses floated on the surface of the pool, their petals like ink and their stamens blood-red.

ten thousand poisons lotus.

Xiao Ran's pupils shrank slightly.

This thing was something he had seen in the Ten Thousand Poisons Demon Venerable's Legacy.

The ten thousand poisons lotus was one of the most poisonous spiritual items in the world, growing only in places where poison gas had condensed for ten thousand years.

Its petals could be used to refine supreme treasures of the poison dao, and its lotus seeds were a core material required for the evolution of the ten thousand poison bead.

"Good stuff."

Xiao Ran's eyes lit up.

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, however, was not looking at him, but staring at the opposite side of the pool.

There, a massive figure was entrenched.

It was a giant python, jet-black, its scales covered in dark gold patterns.

Its body was coiled in a heap, occupying a third of the clearing.

Its head was held high, its vertical pupils like blood moons, looking at them coldly.

Void Refinement Stage.

Xiao Ran felt the ten thousand poison bead throbbing violently in his palm, not in warning, but in excitement.

The giant python opened its mouth and let out a raspy voice.

"Nine-Tailed... You're actually still alive."