"Junior brother seems quite wary of me!" the Little Poison King said with a laugh. "Though we're fellow disciples, we've never actually met. We should be closer."
Qin Mu lowered his arm. He had heard of this Little Poison King before—the Empress Dowager had mentioned him. The Herbalist's grandfather had cut off his face and retreated to the Great Ruins because of this person.
The Little Poison King was the Herbalist's most prized disciple, but he had betrayed his master by exposing that the Jade-Faced Gentleman was actually the Poison King.
The Jade-Faced Gentleman and the Poison King were two different figures in the martial world. One was a dashing, impossibly handsome man—tall, handsome, divine in his martial prowess, gentle as a spring breeze, leaving affection everywhere he went without ever seeking it. Anyone who met him fell in love, and even men found it hard to hate him.
The Poison King, on the other hand, wore a green-skinned mask with fangs, struck with ruthless cruelty, and had earned a fearsome reputation. He had poisoned countless experts and even annihilated an entire prestigious orthodox sect, killing every last person—chickens, dogs, none were spared.
Even among the Daoist temples and the Great Thunderclap Monastery, many attained Daoists and high monks had fallen to his poisons.
Though the Poison King's cultivation wasn't high, his abilities were supreme—both in poison and in controlling venomous creatures. The orthodox and demonic sects had repeatedly attempted to capture him, even mobilizing several Cult Master-level existences, yet none could bring him down. Instead, they suffered poison casualties.
The Poison King wore a green-skinned, fanged mask, and no one knew his true face—until his own disciple, the Little Poison King, exposed him. Only then did the world learn that the Poison King was the dashing, world-renowned Jade-Faced Gentleman.
The consequences of this exposure were complicated. Some wanted to kill him, while women fought over him—even women of power like the Empress Dowager joined the contest. This forced the Herbalist to cut off his own face, abandon all emotion, and retreat into the Great Ruins, never daring to step outside for the rest of his life.
The Little Poison King's days weren't easy either. The Empress Dowager and other women vented their anger on him, hunting him relentlessly. He was nearly forced to hide in the Great Ruins himself, but was luckily taken in by the State Preceptor.
Qin Mu had only heard of the Herbalist's experiences without knowing the truth, but he knew the Little Poison King had inherited the Herbalist's poison mastery and his skill in using toxins had nearly reached the Herbalist's level.
Emperor Yanfeng laughed. "Cult Master, I've invited you and the Little Poison King here today because you're both disciples of the Jade-Faced Poison King. One of you excels at using poison, the other at healing. Working together, perhaps you can cure the State Preceptor and myself."
Qin Mu smiled. "As you command. I'd also like to see my senior brother's skills."
The Little Poison King examined the Emperor's injuries and checked the treatment Qin Mu had provided, the bumps on his face growing even more terrifying. He said with a grin, "Your skills are quite impressive. You unraveled the Thousand Mechanism Poison in just one night."
Qin Mu, meanwhile, examined the State Preceptor. After returning to the capital, the Little Poison King had been treating her injuries. He said calmly, "You're not bad either. You used the Thousand Mechanism Poison quite cleverly."
The bumps on the Little Poison King's wrists suddenly popped open, and transparent little spiders crawled out. These tiny spiders shot silk threads that stuck to the center of Emperor Yanfeng's brow, then crawled along the threads into his forehead, penetrating his Spirit Womb spiritual aperture.
"I didn't intend to poison her to death. With my methods, killing a Cult Master wouldn't be difficult," the Little Poison King said leisurely. "Regardless of which cult's master, poisoning them is no trouble for me."
Qin Mu didn't even raise an eyebrow. Two additional layers appeared in his eyes as he used the Azure Heaven Eye to examine the State Preceptor's injuries. "Even if you poisoned her physical body, I could still preserve her soul and revive her after detoxifying. Besides, killing a Cult Master isn't as simple as you make it sound. As a Cult Master, wanting to kill you wouldn't even require facing you. Especially the Heavenly Demon Cult—they have a thousand ways to make you die inexplicably yet seemingly natural. When you one day meet your end in a stinking gutter, senior brother, you'll understand."
"Oh, really?" the Little Poison King's face was ferocious, his smile uglier than tears.
"Yes," Qin Mu replied with a smile as radiant as flowers.
The two locked eyes, and both Emperor Yanfeng and the State Preceptor felt their scalps tingle. When these two met, their verbal sparring grew increasingly murderous!
Ling Yuxiu blinked, her gaze darting between them, sensing the situation was spiraling out of control. She said with a smile, "Little Poison King, Cult Master Qin, healing comes first."
The State Preceptor coughed lightly, and Emperor Yanfeng did the same. "Yuxiu, you may leave for now."
Ling Yuxiu bowed and withdrew from the hall.
The bumps on the Little Poison King's face burst open, and fish-like insects flew out, burrowing into Emperor Yanfeng's other spiritual apertures to examine the damage. He said, "You're not bad—you removed the hidden ailments in His Majesty's spiritual apertures, and his physical body and soul are completely healed. It's a shame your medical skills have limits and you cannot treat spiritual apertures."
Qin Mu observed the residual divine skill inside the State Preceptor. He watched as the Little Poison King used Power-Dissolving Spirit Threads made from poison to wrap around these remnants, attempting to wear them away. These poison threads had the power to dissolve others' divine skills and even their cultivation, but they were barely effective against a god's residual power.
"Your poison skills have reached a transcendent state—both form and essence are perfected. These Power-Dissolving Spirit Threads are used quite cleverly. But there's room for improvement," Qin Mu said with a smile.
Their eyes met again.
Emperor Yanfeng and the State Preceptor felt their scalps go numb. If these two started fighting, they might use poison and medicine on each other—and on them!
The State Preceptor spoke. "You are both divine healers from the same school. Do either of you have a solution?"
The Little Poison King quickly said, "I have some confidence in treating His Majesty's injuries. His spiritual apertures are destroyed, but I can harvest a living person's spiritual apertures and transplant them onto His Majesty."
Emperor Yanfeng frowned. "How confident are you?"
"This..."
The Little Poison King hesitated, glancing at Qin Mu. "I'm skilled at using poison, so how confident I am is hard to say."
Qin Mu said, "The State Preceptor's injuries cannot be solved with Power-Dissolving Spirit Threads alone. The main issue is that the residual divine power is too strong. I believe we should gather several dozen Cult Master-level experts to collectively suppress these remnants, allowing the State Preceptor to mobilize her own cultivation to refine them."
The State Preceptor shook her head. "There are several dozen Cult Master-level experts within Yankang, but it's difficult to have them all serve my needs. You two divine healers—one uses poison, the other medicine. Perhaps you can complement each other."
Qin Mu glanced at the Little Poison King, who was also looking at him.
"My master, the Jade-Faced Poison King, excelled in both medicine and poison. He could strengthen poison with medicine, and medicine with poison," the Little Poison King said. "How many times can you amplify my poison?"
Qin Mu replied coldly, "That depends on how potent your poison is. I can use medicine to greatly boost His Majesty's vitality, enhancing his life force to self-heal his spiritual aperture injuries. But how strong is your poison? Can you amplify the energy and life force in my medicine thirty to fifty times?"
"As strong as it needs to be!"
The Little Poison King said coldly, "I'm afraid your tonic can't withstand my venom! To refine the State Preceptor's residual divine power, I need to amplify the toxicity of the Power-Dissolving Spirit Threads thirty to fifty times to dissolve a god's remnants. At that level of toxicity, even gods can be poisoned—even reduced to skeletons. Do you have the skill for that?"
Qin Mu gritted his teeth. "Let's try!"
One by one, poisonous insects crawled out of Emperor Yanfeng's body and burrowed back into the Little Poison King's facial and hand bumps.
"If you can't refine such medicine, I'll poison you to death," he chuckled.
Qin Mu's expression remained calm. "If you use the wrong poison, I'll ask the Emperor to spare your life and take you back to the Great Ruins."
The Little Poison King's face changed dramatically. He snorted coldly and began writing a list of poisons.
Qin Mu also wrote out a prescription.
"Your Majesty, please have someone gather the ingredients!" Both threw down their pens and sat in silence.
Emperor Yanfeng and the State Preceptor exchanged bewildered glances. These two had such volatile tempers—they didn't look like they were trying to heal them at all, but more like they were trying to kill them!
Emperor Yanfeng coughed and summoned several imperial physicians waiting outside the hall. "Quickly gather the ingredients."
The physicians hurried off with the prescriptions.
"Your dosage is quite potent," the Little Poison King growled.
Qin Mu ignored him. After a long wait, the physicians finally brought all the necessary poisons and tonics. Qin Mu immediately set to work, refining the medicinal power. He activated the Tyrant Body Three Pills Art, sometimes transforming into the Mars Star Lord with an ox head and human body, then the Venus Star Lord with a tiger head and human body, then the Mercury Star Lord, Jupiter Star Lord, and Saturn Star Lord. His form shifted as his vital energy transformed, extracting the essence from each ingredient.
The Little Poison King, meanwhile, used poisons to feed his insects. He made them consume lethal substances, then used the insects to refine poison pills, which he fed back to the insects. After repeating this process three times, he finally cultivated a large, pitch-black spider with red eyes, whose poisonous aura condensed and refused to dissipate.
Qin Mu produced several seeds and actually planted flowers right there in the hall. He planted the seeds on refined spirit pills and used the Creation Earth Origin Art to make the plants absorb the pills' medicinal power. Before long, the plants grew, bloomed, and bore fruit.
He harvested the needed spirit fruits or roots, refined them again, and after repeating the process three times, finally condensed the mountain of ingredients into seven spirit pills and one red pill.
Qin Mu pocketed the pills and looked at the Little Poison King.
The Little Poison King had refined the large spider to death, transforming it into a string of nearly invisible spirit threads and a small vial of venom.
The two exchanged a glance. Qin Mu tossed the red pill to the Little Poison King, who threw the vial of venom to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu forced a gentle smile. "Your Majesty, it's time for your medicine."
Emperor Yanfeng's heart pounded as he stared at the seven spirit pills and the vial of venom. "My dear minister, the toxicity..."
"It's quite potent."
Qin Mu glanced at the Little Poison King. "If Your Majesty perishes, I will avenge you!"
The State Preceptor also hesitated, staring at the red pill and silk threads before her. The Little Poison King said, "Don't worry, State Preceptor. Guaranteed to work, guaranteed to work."
Qin Mu's form dissolved into a shadow and slipped into Emperor Yanfeng's spiritual apertures. He placed one spirit pill into each of the Emperor's seven apertures, dripping a few drops of venom onto each one, then withdrew.
The Little Poison King injected the spirit threads into the State Preceptor's body. He pulled on one, drawing a spider thread from her mouth, and planted it into the red pill. Then he stuffed the pill into her mouth.
From within Emperor Yanfeng came thunderous explosions. Suddenly, his body hair began growing wildly, his bones elongating. In an instant, his legs had grown several feet longer, his trousers unable to contain them. His head enlarged, and a beard sprouted like wild grass, his hair extending in all directions.
Leg hair, chest hair, fine body hair—each strand grew thick and powerful, tearing apart his dragon robe.
Before long, Emperor Yanfeng had grown into a giant over ten zhang tall, lying on the ground unable to move. Half the hall was filled with hair, burying the emperor in a dense jungle.
"Your poison is a bit strong, senior brother," Qin Mu said, his eye twitching.
On the other side, transparent spider silk suddenly surged from the State Preceptor's body, emerging from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Even her skin pores produced silk threads, wrapping her like a giant zongzi, encased tight.
The Little Poison King's expression grew grave. "Your medicine is perhaps too potent."
The two looked at each other, each picking up their pen to write new prescriptions. They threw down their pens, about to have the Emperor summon someone to gather ingredients—then remembered the Emperor was buried under hair.
They could only cough and summon the imperial physicians outside to take the two new prescriptions.
The physicians waiting outside were terrified. They watched as thick strands of hair spread from the hall, already covering the steps.
After a while, the physicians returned with the ingredients. Qin Mu immediately began refining again, while the Little Poison King hurried to feed his insects.
Qin Mu drew two butcher's knives and hacked through countless strands of hair. After a bitter struggle, he finally found the Emperor and administered the medicine. On the other side, the bumps on the Little Poison King's face burst open again, and venomous insects carrying refined medicine burrowed into the cocoon, delivering it into the State Preceptor's body.
"Oh no!"
Both observed their patients, their faces turning ashen. "It seems the sovereign and minister are out of balance..."
On the Emperor's side, while his hair had stopped growing, toxins began seeping out. On the State Preceptor's side, hair started sprouting.
The two hurriedly picked up their pens and wrote yet another set of prescriptions.