Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Invincible Within the Mist, the Fairy’s Mummified Corpse

Old Ghost Xuanwang watched Li Yan’s Blood Qi surge after consuming the Medicine Pill. The pill’s potency far exceeded his expectations, filling him with delight.

Broken Sword Valley was an ancient battlefield, a remnant of the clash between righteous and demonic cultivators from antiquity. Though riddled with restrictions and perilous magical formations, it teemed with opportunities. Since time immemorial, countless cultivators had ventured into its depths in search of treasure, yet eighty to ninety percent met their demise within its treacherous confines. Those who survived stood a high chance of uncovering the secrets of immortality.

Alchemy using living beings no longer satisfied Xuanwang’s ambitions. This was why he so desperately sought an Immortal Pill. He had been stuck at the peak of the Blood Shifting Realm for far too long, unable to condense a Blood Condensation Pill. His expedition to Broken Sword Valley today was driven by his desperate search for treasures that could aid him in achieving this breakthrough.

Watching Li Yan reverently present the bottle of “Immortal Pills,” the Old Daoist was beside himself with joy. From a distance, he extended his hand, drawing the bottle into his palm with an invisible force.

As Xuanwang accepted the pills, Li Yan narrowed his eyes. If the old man swallowed the Hundred Blood Decay, even if it didn’t mortally wound him, it would surely leave him violently ill and debilitated. This was his perfect opportunity to escape.

Xuanwang poured out a pill, ready to swallow it. Li Yan could already envision the scene: the Poison Pill burning through Xuanwang’s vital organs, his body consumed from within.

Just as Xuanwang was about to swallow the Medicine Pill, he paused, took a deep sniff, and frowned.

“This Medicine Pill… something’s not right!”

Xuanwang wasn’t stupid; he had a nose and eyes. He could smell a Poison Pill a mile away. Several of the toxic ingredients were ones he frequently used himself—he could recognize them even if they were reduced to ashes.

“Traitorous Disciple! You dare try to poison me!”

Before the Old Daoist could erupt in anger, Li Yan suddenly flicked his tightly clenched fist forward, scattering the Poison Numb Powder he had prepared well in advance, anticipating this very move.

Li Yan wasn’t naive enough to believe the Old Daoist would fall for his ruse. He had planned two contingencies: if Xuanwang refused the Medicine Pill, the Poison Numb Powder would come in handy.

This precious powder was a treasure Li Yan had found in his Martial Aunt’s Cave Mansion. Though not lethal to someone like Xuanwang, anyone exposed to it would suffer an unbearable itch and stinging pain, as if a thousand tiny needles were piercing their skin in relentless waves.

When Li Yan threw the Poison Numb Powder in his face, Xuanwang’s face, mouth, nostrils, and eyes were coated in the stuff. The sensation was indescribable! Like venomous insects crawling over his skin, like a thousand needles piercing his flesh. Not intended to harm, only to torment—pure, unadulterated torture!

The maddening itch and pain drove Xuanwang berserk. Enraged and humiliated, he wildly swung his flying sword around in blind fury.

Li Yan, the instigator of this chaos, had long since vanished into the mist, leaving Xuanwang’s disciples to bear the brunt of the old Daoist’s berserk rage.

One by one, they fell victim to Xuanwang’s blind fury. His flying swords scattered, piercing through the surrounding disciples.

Seizing the opportunity while Xuanwang was blinded, Li Yan swiftly fled dozens of paces away. The mist in Broken Sword Valley blocked Divine Sense. If he put enough distance between them—say, fifty or sixty paces—Old Daoist Xuanwang would struggle to find him with his naked eyes alone.

As Li Yan, the little brat, disappeared into the mist, the surviving Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan and Second Senior Sister Mingyue secretly breathed sighs of relief.

Thank goodness we dodged quickly, they thought. Otherwise, Master would have cut us down along with the others.

Second Senior Sister, still prone on the ground, cautiously asked, “Master, I have water here. Shall I help you wash the powder from your face?”

“No! Poison Numb Powder must not be washed with water! It will boil and burn my skin!” Xuanwang snapped.

With a flick of his finger, Xuanwang summoned a jar of tallow. Using the thick grease, he wiped the Poison Numb Powder from his face.

After removing the powder, Old Daoist Xuanwang ground his teeth in fury. “That traitorous disciple!”

“When he fell off the cliff, if I hadn’t rescued him and brought him back to Tranquil Void Temple, the wolves would have devoured him long ago!”

“Ungrateful wretch! How dare he commit such an act of treachery! Fool!”

The One-Eyed Old Daoist wiped the grease from his face, his expression twisted into a ferocious grimace.

Then he chuckled coldly. “That fool ventured into Broken Sword Valley alone. He won’t last long.”

“Even if he manages to escape, the traitorous disciple doesn’t realize there’s only one exit.”

“As long as we guard that exit, we’ll trap him here to die.”

Xuanwang seemed to be deliberately speaking loud enough for Li Yan to hear. Hidden in the distance, Li Yan could indeed hear their conversation.

Protected by the restrictive mist within Broken Sword Valley, Li Yan was temporarily safe.

He easily avoided the Corpses wandering nearby.

The mist’s side effects actually allowed him to move through Broken Sword Valley with ease.

“Hah, is that old Daoist trying to scare me?”

“With the mist shielding me, that old ghost can’t touch this young master!”

Feeling unprecedentedly secure, Li Yan expanded his awareness to its fullest extent, effortlessly evading every trap hidden within the mist.

He quickly approached the corpse of the Immortal Cultivator.

Upon closer inspection, he determined it was the body of a female cultivator.

The mummified corpse was curled into a tight ball, clearly having endured unimaginable pain before death.

Judging by the corpse’s appearance, the cultivator must have been a beautiful fairy in her prime.

“Alas,” Li Yan murmured to himself, “even the fairest visage cannot withstand the ravages of time.”

As he lamented inwardly, his eyes suddenly lit up when he spotted a ring on the dry corpse’s finger.

“Fairy, you died well!” Li Yan muttered, an unbidden tear trickling down his cheek as he removed the ring and examined it closely.

It was an incredibly rare Storage Ring!

In the Ancient Immortal Arts Era, such rings were as common as pebbles. But now, with the art of crafting spatial Storage Rings lost, the few that remained were relics from that bygone age—priceless treasures that couldn’t be bought at any price.

Modern cultivators couldn’t even produce these rings themselves, making their value immeasurable by wealth alone.

Li Yan assessed the ring’s quality, estimating it to be an Intermediate Grade Storage Ring, likely between Fourth and Sixth Grade.

Having never possessed a Storage Ring before, Li Yan cautiously probed its interior with his Divine Sense.

In an instant, he was awestruck by the vast spatial expanse within and the sheer quantity of items stored there.

“Flying sword sheaths, hundreds of volumes of Ancient Immortal Arts, countless medicinal herbs… I’ve truly struck gold!”

As Li Yan sifted through the contents of his Space Ring, he sensed several Corpses converging on his position.

He quickly put the ring on and fled.

The Corpses weren’t particularly strong, but engaging them would inevitably attract Old Daoist Xuanwang.

Thanks to his immunity to the mist, Li Yan easily evaded the approaching Corpses.

However, their howls had clearly alerted Xuanwang.

Unwilling to blindly rush into the mist, Xuanwang resorted to coaxing.

“Child, where do you think you can run?”

“Just come back and apologize to your Master, and I won’t hold it against you.”

Xuanwang’s voice echoed through the mist, but Li Yan paid him no heed.

While the mist obscured the world for others, Li Yan’s Mind’s Eye revealed Old Daoist Xuanwang standing amidst the fog, shouting like a clown.

Grinning, Li Yan turned to find a safe place to examine the ring’s contents at his leisure.

But as he turned to leave—

Whoosh!

The desiccated corpse of the Fairy materialized before him, blocking his path.