144: A good cat is one that catches mice!

As soon as the thought arose, Su Ling couldn't help but associate it with actual combat scenarios.

If he coated the poison of the Poison Dragon Heart-Devouring Pill on the thunder shadow sword, or integrated it into the mother-son soul-chasing needles.

In future encounters, he would only need to graze the enemy's skin to allow the poison to invade their Meridians; wouldn't that be an extra killing move?

As for whether the method of poisoning was dirty... "It doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat; as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat!"

It's just poisoning, it's not like he hadn't done it before.

Su Ling didn't care about the means; as long as he could kill the enemy, he was willing to use even the dirtiest methods.

Casually swallowing a spirit nurturing pill, he sent the two Magic Treasures into his Dantian Qi Sea for nourishment. Su Ling then sat cross-legged and carefully read through the "Myriad Poison Secret Vault"... Su Ling remained in his Immortal Cave, focused on studying poison pills, completely unaware of the turbulence in the outside world.

Meanwhile, the flames of war between the Bitao Faction and the Qingming Faction had already spread around the Wuwang Bone Forest.

The soul crystal mine in the Wuwang Bone Forest was one of the sources of raw Materials for the Bitao Faction to refine Divine Soul Medicinal Pills.

Although the loss of the mineral vein this time hadn't harmed their foundation yet, it directly caused the price of Divine Soul Medicinal Pills in the Logistics Hall to soar by ten percent, leading many Cultivators in the faction to complain.

What made the Bitao Sect Cultivators even more indignant was that the two direct-line Nascent Souls, Bai Yifan and Yan Wushuang, had fallen one after another.

This was not only a loss of combat power but also a heavy blow to the faction's reputation.

Half a month later, once the situation on other fronts had stabilized slightly, Wu Yuanpeng, the Nascent Soul Cultivator ranked second on the merit points list, was the first to raise the banner of counterattack.

He personally led the team, assembling eight Nascent Soul Cultivators to accompany him. A grand army of nearly ten thousand Core Formation Cultivators marched toward the Wuwang Bone Forest with overwhelming momentum.

Everyone thought that the Bitao Faction would surely win this battle.

However, the course of the battle completely exceeded expectations.

The Qingming Faction had already made the Shadow Soul Crystal Mine their defensive core, spending massive resources to reconstruct the defensive Formation.

The Formation was filled with Magic Treasure-grade Flying Swords, and its lethality far exceeded what it had been before.

Moreover, within these two weeks, reinforcements from the Qingming Faction continued to arrive.

Until the number of Cultivators in this area reached over ten thousand.

What surprised Wu Yuanpeng and the others even more was that even Su Wangchen, the Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator ranked third on the Qingming merit points list, had personally come to oversee the place.

Clearly, they were determined to hold onto this resource point.

The two sides fought fiercely for three days. Although the Bitao Faction broke through the outer defense lines relying on their numerical advantage in Nascent Souls, they were repeatedly frustrated in front of the core Formation.

The Qingming Faction relied on the Formation to hold their ground. Although they kept the mineral vein, they also lost over a thousand Core Formation Cultivators.

The Bitao Faction suffered fewer losses, but hundreds of Loose Cultivators still perished there.

In the end, neither side could gain an absolute advantage, so they could only tacitly 'stop at a suitable point' and temporarily cease hostilities.

Out of options, Wu Yuanpeng could only lead his troops to retreat to the Blood Mist Swamp, two thousand miles away from the Wuwang Bone Forest.

This swamp was a resource point for the Bitao Faction, rich in 'Blood-Patterned Purple Lingzhi'.

This Spirit Medicine was a key material for refining high-grade body-forging Medicinal Pills and was of great value.

However, the swamp environment was also extremely dangerous, with 'Blood Fiend Qi' permeating the air and finding its way everywhere.

If a Cultivator inhaled too much, they would lose their mental clarity and fall into a state of frenzy, attacking all surrounding creatures indiscriminately.

Even more terrifying were the 'Blood Antss' inhabiting the swamp; these insects were tiny but extremely bloodthirsty.

Once they attached to a Cultivator, they would bore through the flesh and enter the body, devouring internal organs while laying eggs and hatching, turning a Core Formation Cultivator into a pile of white bones in just a few moments.

If one encountered a swarm of Blood Antss forming a 'Blood Ant Torrent', even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would have to temporarily avoid their sharp edge and not dare to resist head-on.

However, the Bitao Faction had previously sent people to clear the swamp, and most of the Blood Antss had been killed.

Only a few that had slipped through the net were dormant deep underground, posing little threat for the time being.

After Wu Yuanpeng and the others arrived, they didn't delay for a moment, quickly reinforcing the defensive Formations around the swamp and expanding the surveillance range.

At the same time, they sent messages to contact Nascent Soul Cultivators on other fronts.

They knew very well that the Qingming Faction's deployment of such heavy forces at the Wuwang Bone Forest was definitely not as simple as holding onto a mineral vein.

Their true purpose was likely to use this as a Breakthrough point to gradually encroach upon the Bitao Faction's territory.

This was no longer a matter of gaining or losing a single place; it could very likely affect the entire landscape of the Bitao Faction.

With the Qingming Faction watching so greedily, they had to be dealt a head-on blow.

In view of this, Wu Yuanpeng had to suppress his inner impatience and communicate with the various Nascent Souls through a communication Magical Artifact.

However, the Bitao Faction bordered three major factions: Yangquan Faction, Five Aggregates, and Qingming Faction.

On the other two fronts, the situation could change at any time.

Nascent Soul Cultivators were needed everywhere, and for a while, it was difficult to mobilize more reinforcements.

Left with no choice, Wu Yuanpeng could only wait for an opportunity while stabilizing the defensive line at the Blood Mist Swamp.

For a time, the two sides actually reached a stalemate like this... Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and movement finally came from Su Ling's Immortal Cave.

When he pushed open the door to end his seclusion, his eyes held a hint of reflection on the Dao of Alchemy, and his magic power and Divine Soul had long since returned to their Peak state.

He had already memorized the "Myriad Poison Secret Vault" by heart, and even the annotations on poison material identification tucked between the pages were deeply ingrained in his mind.

During this half-year, he also tried refining several batches of basic poison pills.

However, Alchemy tested fire control and spiritual power precision far more than drawing talismans, and his success rate was never very high.

Fortunately, the storage bracelet he had seized along with the "Myriad Poison Secret Vault" still contained many ready-made third-grade poison pills.

They were sufficient for the time being, so there was no need to rush to improve his Alchemy skills.

The only pity was that the thunder shadow sword itself contained the power of thunder, and the purifying characteristics of thunder would conflict with toxins, making it impossible to poison.

On the contrary, the mother-son soul-chasing needles were a perfect match for the third-grade Bone-Corroding Soul-Devouring Pill he had found.

After half a year of continuous refinement, the nine flying needles, which were originally bright silver, were now entirely dark green, with fine black lines spreading across the needles.

That was a sign that the toxin had completely penetrated the metal; once they hit, the toxin would quickly invade the enemy's body along the wound.

The first thing Su Ling did after leaving seclusion was go to the Mission Hall to understand the current state of the war.

According to the briefing, on the front line where the Bitao Faction and the Qingming Faction bordered, more than twenty Nascent Soul Cultivators had gathered on both sides.

The scale of the confrontation was massive, and the situation was tense; a major battle could break out at any moment.

While there were occasional frictions on the sides of the Five Aggregates and Yangquan Factions, Nascent Soul Cultivators rarely appeared, and most were small-scale conflicts between Core Formation Cultivators.

Su Ling rubbed the edge of the briefing with his fingertips, lost in thought:

On the Qingming Faction's side, hundreds of Cultivators had fallen by his hand in the previous battle, and the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother's soul control technique and his lightning arts had already been exposed.

If he went there again, he would definitely be targeted by the enemy's Nascent Soul Sword Cultivators, and the danger level would be too high.

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and directly accepted the mission to assist in guarding a resource point near the Yangquan Faction.

With his current strength, it was truly unwise to rashly face a Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator.

Temporarily avoiding Qingming's edge and going to a new battlefield to accumulate merit points was the best strategy.

After taking the mission, Su Ling left the base city and took out the soaring wing boat.

After injecting spiritual power, the boat turned into a streak of light and sped toward the west, its target being the border where Azure Wave and the Yangquan Faction met.