Chapter 462 — Duel of Arts in Thunder Mountain City

The girl looked pleased and said in a crisp voice, "I already have someone in my heart! And he too is a master of the poison path — third in all the world! He has entered the Western Lands for my sake and come looking for me! Sister Cicada, forgive your little sister, but I can no longer keep you company in singleness!"

Shen Mu could not help laughing; this Mu Yingxue was just so clever and eccentric. Only, his coming to the Western Lands was not entirely to find her.

Jade Cicada cackled. "So you have a sweetheart. Luckily I have one too — and mine is a hundred times better than yours. He is the Great Venerable of the Golden Palace of Loulan, whose poison arts reach the gods! With his guidance this time, I have refined my poison path to the level of the soul. Mu Yingxue, you little bitch, today I will not only make you yield the title of Poison Master, I will make you die a death too horrible to behold!"

Mu Yingxue's expression shifted slightly. "The Great Venerable of the Golden Palace? The one famed for witch poison and soul poison? No wonder you dared come to Thunder Mountain City to seek me, sister. That Great Venerable does have some skill."

Jade Cicada sneered. "So you're afraid? Little bitch, today I'll make a wager with you!"

Mu Yingxue laughed. "Afraid? Not exactly. Ever since I wagered a duel with my little sweetheart, my progress on the poison path has been a thousand li a day; I am long since not what I was. Never mind you — even if the Great Venerable came, I could poison him dead with a flick of my finger. But since you have come to challenge me, I cannot refuse to answer. How do you want to wager?"

"Let's wager your little man!"

Jade Cicada suddenly raised her hand and pointed below the platform, at Shen Mu, cackling. "The life of your little man!"

At once a great space cleared around Shen Mu with a rush; the crowd scattered lest they be caught in the crossfire, leaving Shen Mu standing there all alone. Even Xiong Qi'er was carried off by Long Qilin, who took the little girl by the collar at the back of her clothes and bore her far away.

Shen Mu looked up at the platform with an air of innocence and gave the girl there a helpless smile, thinking, "The tracking arts of the Western Lands really are too strong. From first to last I never managed to shake off the True Heaven Palace's pursuit."

Mu Yingxue gave a cheer and was about to leap down from the platform, then suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She was already standing on the platform; to jump down would be to concede of her own accord, to yield the title of Poison Master, defeated without a fight.

"Fine — let's wager my little man!"

Mu Yingxue, elated and eager, turned and laughed. "You fused soul poison with our Western Lands' spirit-summoning art and used the venomous creatures on the platform to refine this colossal thing — truly no small feat; your skill has advanced greatly since before. I too will answer with the venomous creatures on the platform."

She lightly touched the flower's pistil with her bare foot, and at once the poisonous flowers and grasses all around burst into bloom and the venomous insects and toads grew madly. She said unhurriedly, "Sister Cicada, yours is only poison craft; I have already begun to enter the Way, and I understand the many inconceivable powers of the poison path. You think that by striking a step before me you have seized the initiative — but you never considered that on the poison path there has never been any initiative to seize."

A wondrous thing occurred: the bodily forms of those poisonous flowers, grasses, insects, and toads began to change, one species becoming another, one kind of venom evolving into another — an art of creation truly marvelous and mysterious.

Shen Mu marveled without end. Since Mu Yingxue's defeat at his hands, her attainment in the art of All Things Have Spirit had grown ever deeper, and her art of creation had risen with it by who knew how much — truly astonishing.

Jade Cicada shouted fiercely, and the giant spider beneath her at once brandished its claws. The platform was not large to begin with, and the spider had taken up more than half of it; now that it moved, there was even less room for Mu Yingxue to stand!

Beneath the spider's belly, venomous eggs burst one after another, and falling to the ground they became thousands upon thousands of small spiders that covered the platform and swarmed at Mu Yingxue.

Yet before these venomous things could reach Mu Yingxue they suddenly charred and shattered over the ground. The giant spider too gave a shrill, mournful shriek and burst apart with a bang.

Jade Cicada hurriedly shot into the air, leaping up into the sky, and cried fiercely, "I will come back for you!"

"Sister, in your next life."

Mu Yingxue flicked a finger, and Jade Cicada in midair turned into a pool of blood that splashed down to the ground.