C268 Insignificant Skill
"Poison Cult!"
Ning Ji lay on the ground, his face ashen and his body convulsing.
To the cultivators of the two other continents, the Poison Cult from the Land of Quiescence might not be particularly well-known.
This was because the truly high-level cultivators from the Land of Quiescence have always scorned unorthodox practices such as those of the Poison Cult.
Both the Binders of Shadows and the Poison Cult were categorized in this manner.
The Binders of Shadows' talisman scriptures could harmonize with the world's laws and had their unique merits, possibly earning them some respect.
However, the Poison Cult, which practiced using poisonous insects and toxins, was seen as minor and unorthodox by those haughty experts.
Once a cultivator reached the Solar Spirit Realm, with their pure spiritual energy and vitality, they could forge a Solar Spirit Body and would no longer fear any so-called deadly poisons.
Those in the Unbound Realm and the Primordial Spirit Realm, beings who could transcend the Everlands and roam the Infinite Galaxy at will, were certainly beyond the reach of any Venomcraft.
Thus, to these esteemed cultivators, the Poison Cult was hardly worth a mention.
Yet, the followers of the Poison Cult, moving among the great empires of Aetherius, struck fear into the hearts of many.
The application of Voodoo Magic on those of insufficient realm was always terrifyingly effective.
In warfare between nations, the destructive power of Voodoo Magic, once unleashed, was earth-shattering.
Legend has it that a century ago, an elder of the Poison Cult roamed the Sunblessed Empire. He got into a dispute at an auction over a particular poison.
The elder, lacking in strength and severely wounded, fled the city.
Half a month later, every mortal and cultivator within that city perished from poison overnight.
The incident was horrifying and not only enraged the Sunblessed Empire but also prompted the sects and powers of the Euwrea Continent, including the Devil Palace and Shadow's Keep, to collectively intervene.
Mortals are, after all, the bedrock of both the Land of Quiescence and Euwrea.
The rare accord between the two continents spelled doom for the elder of the Poison Cult who had dealt a deadly blow. With no escape, his spirit was soon seized and confined within the city that had become a necropolis. There, his three souls were tormented by fire day and night, and he wailed incessantly until he met a slow death.
Similarly, the disciples of the Poison Cult who had engaged in the wars between nations, causing the deaths of countless soldiers, were numerous.
As a result, the disciples of the Poison Cult, previously dismissed by the sects' experts of Aetherius and the Land of Quiescence, would now create an uproar upon revealing their identities in Aetherius.
Take, for instance, Yu Yuan's scornful demeanor and tone when he spoke of Wei Feng's affiliation with the Poison Cult. It was a stark contrast to Ning Ji, whose face turned ashen in shock.
"Pfft!" Bai Shenshen, besieged on all sides, coughed up a mouthful of foul blood. Her vitality plummeted, leaving her feeble and powerless. Her Golden Sanctum acupoint, middle elixir field, and Profound Gate no longer responded to her will or spells.
She realized in a flash that the poison had infiltrated her system deeply, damaging her meridians and organs to the point where her body could no longer function normally.
Having recognized Wei Feng's mastery of the Poison Cult's arts, Bai Shenshen knew her time was running out. In haste, she retrieved an emblem from her waist, a symbol of her allegiance to the Sacred Hands, glowing green with a luminous jade sheen.
Desperate to leave a final message within the emblem, she hoped to inform her sect of her encirclement and demise at the hands of the Blackfang Legion, trusting that they would seek retribution.
The eyes of the Blackfang Legion's Subtlety cultivator glinted malevolently beneath his grotesque mask. His massive black halberd transformed into a fearsome black serpent, lunging at Bai Shenshen.
"Forget it," Bai Shenshen exhaled in resignation, lamenting the loss of her chance to uncover the secrets of the Phaseblossom and Bloodbloom, now perishing at the hands of the enigmatic Blackfang Legion. Abruptly, a shrill, piercing screech rent the air.
Ning Ji, Wei Feng, and the entire Blackfang Legion felt a stabbing pain in their ears, prompting them to look around in astonishment.
Yu Yuan's mouth twitched into a barely noticeable smirk as he thought to himself, "It has arrived."
A curved, emerald bone, glowing brilliantly, sliced through the air like a serpentine streak of green lightning. The earth below was torn open, leaving a gully several meters deep in its wake.
With unerring precision, the scimitar-like bone cleaved through the Blackfang Legion general's halberd. The black python, a construct of mingled vitality and spiritual energy, was bisected by the bone, its remnants spraying into the air as a mist of blood and spiritual smoke.
With a resounding "clang," the green bone struck the soldier's dark halberd.
The cultivator, clad in the thick Blackfang Armor and attuned to the Subtlety realm, felt his grip on the halberd shudder violently. A relentless barrage of force, akin to a thundering cavalry charge, surged toward him.
The hand beneath the iron armor burst open in an instant, a blur of blood and flesh. Instinctively, he released the halberd.
As the halberd hit the ground, the previously unleashed power did not fade away but instead tenaciously infiltrated his body. His arm, strained like an overstretched rope, snapped abruptly.
He grunted as he observed the fractures in his arm bone and felt a corrosive force reversing its flow, creeping up toward his neck and aiming for his brain. The Blackfang Armor offered no resistance.
The soldier, possessing the prowess of the Subtlety realm, wasted no time. He drew a short knife from his waist and, through the gap in his shoulder, bit down hard and slashed off his arm.
With a "crack," both the severed limb and the armor dropped to the ground.
Blood spurted from his shoulder, but he staunchly stemmed the flow with his spiritual energy. Gritting his teeth, he let out a hiss of pain and suddenly called out, "Wei Feng! We're up against a formidable foe!"
With a swift motion, the crescent-shaped green bone rebounded off the pitch-black halberd, using the impact to launch itself skyward.
As the bone ascended, it streaked past Bai Shenshen's head.
The bone turned an even deeper shade of emerald, its sheen intensifying by several degrees. Bai Shenshen, in her astonishment, felt as though something had drifted out from within her. Then, to her amazement, the tingling sensation in her body vanished without a trace. The pathways connecting her lower elixir field, the Golden Sanctum, and her middle elixir field were clear once more. She gazed at the soaring green bone, a sense of déjà vu washing over her. It seemed familiar, yet she couldn't quite place where she had seen it before.
"Eh?" Ning Ji, sprawled in a blood-soaked mess, gazed in disbelief at his chest, at the wounds that resembled tiny pores. Minuscule points of light emerged from these wounds, as if drawn out by an unseen magnet, and took flight. A cascade of light beamed towards the bone arching skyward. The deadly poison that had nearly driven him to despair vanished in an instant. The steel needles that remained embedded in his flesh turned out to be mere flesh wounds, causing pain but no significant damage.
Wei Feng, clutching her black dagger, grew solemn at the whistling sound of the bone cutting through the air. When the squad leader was struck with pain and uttered her name, she sensed trouble brewing. She could mystically perceive the toxins within Bai Shenshen and Ning Ji. As the lethal poisons within both of them began to migrate towards the bone, a chill settled in her heart.
"Who is this? Who can neutralize the Poison Cult's venom with a mere bone?" Wei Feng's heart raced with panic, a deep apprehension and unease taking hold of her at the thought of the mysterious bone and its unseen manipulator. Her confidence had always stemmed from the dagger she wielded, but even more so from the poison that coursed through her. Stripped of this edge, her combat effectiveness would plummet, leaving her with no advantage over Bai Shenshen and Ning Ji.
"The Blackfang Legion is truly formidable; I'm thoroughly impressed," Yu Yuan remarked, clapping his hands in admiration. "The decisiveness to sever an arm to prevent the poison from reaching the brain is commendable." As he applauded, his arm had already ceased bleeding. The wounds inflicted by Wei Feng's triple slashes, laced with poison, had also been silently neutralized.
Wei Feng's mastery of her craft was insufficient, and her tenure with the Poison Cult was evidently brief. The toxins she had imbued in her weapon were effortlessly nullified by Yu Yuan's Evil Body Refining technique.
Yu Yuan found it trivial to detoxify himself, though he could not extend the same aid to Zhan Tianxiang using Evil Body Refining.
With the poison purged, Yu Yuan examined his arm. The bleeding had ceased, revealing innumerable flesh and blood fibers, magnified to appear as intertwining dragons and serpents, pulling and twisting together. The wound was miraculously healing by itself.
Yu Zhu's arrival meant that if no stronger members of the Blackfang Legion emerged, everything was under control, allowing Yu Yuan to remain composed.
Nevertheless, the ferocity displayed by the Blackfang Legion, their coldness towards comrades, and their venomous treatment of their own, lent gravity to the situation.
A single Blackfang Legion soldier, adept in the Subtlety realm, had shown such ruthlessness in a critical moment, compelling Yu Yuan to reassess the Legion's commander with newfound respect.
Feeling the poison spread from his arm towards his neck and brain, Yu Yuan decisively amputated his limb without a second thought.
If such resolve was characteristic of the entire Blackfang Legion, their might would be unspeakably formidable.
With merely a hundred soldiers, the Blackfang Legion's esteemed ranking among the Aetherius Empire's armies was well-deserved and not to be underestimated.
"Who's lurking in the shadows?"
Wei Feng steadied her nerves and scanned her surroundings, intent on uncovering the concealed observer.
She momentarily set aside her pursuit of Yu Yuan, armed herself with a crossbow, and stood guard with heightened vigilance.
"Why has your Blackfang Legion traversed the harsh northern lands to reach our Asvetaesi?" Yu Yuan inquired first, fixing his gaze solely on Wei Feng. "Are there other Blackfang Legion squads besides yours?"
The Blackfang Legion numbered only a hundred, suggesting Wei Feng's group was but one contingent.
The presence of additional squads in the vicinity of Asvetaesi and Thylethlume posed a significant latent threat.
Judging by the strength exhibited by Wei Feng's unit alone, should even half of the Blackfang Legion cross the northern lands, they would pose a dire menace to the entirety of Asvetaesi.
All the power families of Asvetaesi combined might still not be a match for the Blackfang Legion. The city could fall at any moment. Therefore, he was determined to find out how many were in the Blackfang Legion and what their intentions were.
"You're not worthy of that knowledge," Wei Feng stated icily.
She ignored Yu Yuan completely, her focus always on her surroundings, her arrows moving with her gaze. The hidden enemies concerned her more.
"Bai Shenshen, Ning Ji, work together to take down those four from the Blackfang Legion. I'll handle Wei Feng," Yu Yuan commanded. "Try to eliminate all four. I'll extract the information I need from Wei Feng."
"You?" Wei Feng raised an eyebrow.
Yu Yuan smiled and affirmed, "Yes, me."
The Evil Body Refining Technique surged into action around him, and a bizarre power materialized at his core.
"Your Poison Cult's toxins are ineffective against me," Yu Yuan stated confidently. "You could strike me three times, and it would result in mere flesh wounds. How do you expect to defeat me?"
