Chapter 462 — Duel of Arts in Thunder Mountain City

Thunder Mountain City.

In the early morning, the smell of medicine hung over every corner of Thunder Mountain City. Shen Mu sniffed the air and knew at once that no small part of that fragrance was the poisonous mist breathed out by creatures of great venom. He promptly refined several poison-warding pills and had Long Qilin and Xiong Qi'er hold them in their mouths.

The city of Mu Yingxue, the Poison Master, was like no other. Poisonous grasses, poisonous flowers, poisonous insects were to be seen everywhere, planted by the people of Thunder Mountain City in their own gardens. Venomous insects crawled in swarms over the ground; some folk even kept poisonous birds and beasts, which ran loose in every direction. Poison vines covered the houses as well, and now and then a green snake would poke its head out from the green tangles and hiss.

With a clatter, a troop of scaled, big-eared opossums scurried past them, chasing several centipedes two or three feet long.

Morning in Thunder Mountain City was a noisy affair; quarrels broke out in the streets at every moment.

"Damnation, whose poison bees are these? My face has swollen up — bring the antidote, quick!"

"Whose heartless family dumped their dregs in the street? My leg has gone numb, gone black... it's about to rot off! Who dumped them? Speak up, and see if I don't poison you dead!"

...

Shen Mu walked the streets of Thunder Mountain City. Vendors lined both sides, openly displaying the poisons they had refined and crying their wares, their hawking never ceasing.

"Sister Mu's Thunder Mountain City is a thriving place indeed."

He looked about him and found no small number of precious medicinal ingredients, so he bought some. Some of the poison pills the vendors had refined were of fine quality as well, good enough to serve as base toxins for refining higher and stronger venoms, so he purchased some of those too.

Before he knew it he had reached the center of Thunder Mountain City. Here it was noisier still; there were many great round arenas, and some poison-refining adepts were fighting on the platforms.

Shen Mu stopped and watched a while. The adepts on the platforms fought their duels in a manner quite unlike any other. Around them were ranged jars beyond count, along with all manner of green leaves, flowers, and grasses.

The adepts on either side worked their arts, and the venomous insects and creatures in the jars fell to slaughtering one another. The victor crawled out of its jar, gnawed the green leaves, and evolved. Then the adepts swiftly planted seeds within the insect's body and, with strange arts, hastened the seeds, making them grow with incredible speed, blossom, and bear fruit.

The adepts fed the roots, stems, or fruits to other venomous insects, using the art of All Things Have Spirit to make them grow at furious speed, spraying poison mist or poison fire at the foe. The two venomous creatures battled furiously, while the adept on this side dodged the enemy's attacks and prepared a good antidote.

"Fighting on the platform means refining poison on the spot; the insects and poisons used are identical, so it is fair enough. Only these adepts are of mediocre skill — not much of a spectacle."

Shen Mu walked on. Suddenly, with a thunderous boom, one of the platforms split open. A colossal thing burst out from within, taking up more than half the arena. The venomous creature was a giant spider with the upper body of a beauty; it roared, shook its body, swallowed clouds and spat mist, driving the onlookers back again and again.

Astonishment showed on Shen Mu's face. "To breed a venomous thing like this from the few poisonous grasses, flowers, and insects on the platform — this adept's skill is no small matter!"

A woman in black rose upon the spider's body, her face veiled in black gauze, but from the skin that showed, her face must have been covered in toad-like poison lumps. She cried shrilly, "Mu Yingxue, I've come back! Get out here, you — today I'll have it out with you again!"

Shen Mu's interest was instantly roused; he came to the foot of the platform to watch the fight. Other adepts of Thunder Mountain City came surging over as well, surrounding the platform so tightly that not a drop could have leaked through.

One woman said excitedly, "The Poison Master is going to make her move!"

Another woman was just as thrilled. "It's been so long since we saw the Poison Master act! I hear that ever since she met the Dark Demon Cult Master of the Central Plains — himself a great master of the poison path — love first stirred in them, their eyes met, and there was an unspeakable romantic affair between them. After the Poison Master returned, her poison arts grew greatly, she advanced further still on the poison path, and entered a realm unfathomable to gods and ghosts! Who would dare match against her?"

"You don't recognize this woman? She is the great poison master of the True Heaven Palace, called Jade Cicada — one of the foremost figures on the poison path. She once contended with our Mu family's Poison Master for the title and lost. It was the Poison Master who ruined her face!"

...

Shen Mu blinked. How had he come to have an unspeakable romantic affair with Mu Yingxue?

He had only fought a poison duel with Mu Yingxue; each had poisoned the other into a wretched state, faces hideous, even deformed by poison. That was hardly romance — though mutual admiration, that you could call it.

"She did kiss me, though."

At the thought, the youth's heart pounded, and a strange feeling and emotion stirred in him. Then he suddenly started. "Oh no! My heart races, blood surges to my face, my cheeks flush, my breathing quickens and grows rough, and at the mere thought of her warm currents flow through my heart — can it be that the lovesickness poison Sister Mu gave me has taken effect? But this poison seems harmless enough. Mm, no need to take it to heart..."

He turned his thoughts to Ling Yuxiu, to Si Yunxiang, to He Yiyi, to other girls, and the warm current vanished at once.

"Seems the lovesickness poison isn't hard to handle after all," the youth said, calm and composed.

"Mu Yingxue, do you dare not show yourself?"

The black-clad woman on the platform, Jade Cicada, sneered. "You're not some little man — hiding your head and tucking your tail is not your style!"

Just then a light laugh came, and a green vine in the city grew with incredible speed, stretching out from a mansion at the city's heart. The vine grew thicker and thicker, coiling like a green dragon, swiftly putting out great leaves in midair and growing longer tendrils.

In but a moment the vine had grown three or four li, arriving above the platform.

Pop.

With a soft sound, the vine put forth a great flower bud that hung above the platform. The flower bloomed, and a girl whose skin rivaled snow leapt out from it. Before she landed, seeds on the platform sprouted and put forth branches, and another great flower bloomed.

Mu Yingxue stood on the flower's pistil, barefoot, wearing no shoes, never touching the ground, and laughed. "Jade Cicada, last time you lost to me, and you never even dissolved the lingering poison I left in you — so that your once delicate, lovely face is still covered in lumps to this day. Coming here this time, aren't you just delivering yourself to death?"

Jade Cicada laughed low. "Heh heh heh. Did you think I've made no progress all these years? Last time I lost to you and you ruined my face. In all my walking marriages since, what man has dared look me straight in the eye?"

Mu Yingxue felt a pang of sympathy. "We who refine poisons — truly no man dares come near us, for the slightest displeasure to us and we poison them dead. Sister Cicada, when you put it that way, we are sisters in misfortune. But..."