Chapter 324: Admiration Between Rivals
That black-clothed woman was none other than the Poison Master Mu Yingxue from the Western Earth True Heaven Palace. She was not old, and beneath her black garments, her body exuded youthful vitality. Her skin, set off by the black clothes, appeared very fair, white enough to reflect snow, fitting her name perfectly—skin so pale it could mirror snow.
She raised her hand to catch the jade bottle. It was only then that Qin Mu noticed she wore black silk gloves on her hands, very thin, but capable of protecting her skin from exposure to the air.
This pair of gloves should not be ordinary items. Those accustomed to refining and using poisons needed to be extremely careful to avoid touching toxic substances. Qin Mu was certain that her black silk gloves were not made of silk but were airtight, preventing even air from passing through.
Her chest did not rise and fall; she relied on the pores of her skin to breathe and exchange air, to avoid poisoning.
Clearly, her strength lay not in her cultivation or spiritual weapons, but in her poisons.
The level of cultivation had never been the standard for judging an alchemist's skill; even someone of a very low realm could potentially poison a god to death!
Mu Yingxue looked at the jade bottle but did not directly sniff the Lost Fragrance within. Instead, she lifted her arm to let her skin smell it, absorbing a very small trace of the Lost Fragrance. Immediately, she felt half her arm go numb, losing all sensation.
"Excellent medicine!"
Her eyes lit up. She stoppered the jade bottle and tossed it back to Qin Mu, praising, "Though it can't paralyze an expert at the Heavenly Being realm, it can restrict their movements. A very impressive anesthetic."
Qin Mu flipped his palm, and his primordial energy surged out, suspending the jade bottle without letting it touch his hand. Instead, he took a three-legged, green-eyed toad from his Taotie pouch.
The toad opened its mouth, croaked once, swallowed the jade bottle, closed its mouth, and then spat the bottle back out.
Qin Mu set the toad down. The three-legged toad hopped and leaped toward Mu Yingxue.
Xiong Xiyu and the others stared wide-eyed. They only knew that Qin Mu had been gathering herbs in that basin, but they had no idea when he had caught a green-eyed toad and put it in his Taotie pouch.
"Sister Mu's poisons are also extraordinary."
Qin Mu praised, "But your poison is still just a minor art, not yet refined enough for elegant settings, and cannot be called unparalleled in the world."
Mu Yingxue's eyes sparkled as she watched the hopping toad. She flicked her finger lightly, and a strand of primordial energy transformed into a flying insect that buzzed around. The three-legged toad lashed out its tongue, swallowed the insect, and croaked twice. Then, as if inflated, it swelled up rapidly, in the blink of an eye becoming as large as an ox.
Qin Mu took out a spiritual pill. He lightly traced a line across the center of the pill with his finger, and the pill split open. A buzzing sound came from within; the center of the spiritual pill was hollow, and a mosquito flew out.
The mosquito fluttered its wings, flew to the toad's back, and settled there. Before long, the toad grew smaller and smaller, while the mosquito grew larger and larger. The mosquito's abdomen became like a huge water sac, but what it contained was not red blood, but green, oily blood.
Having sucked its fill, the three-legged toad returned to its normal size. It hopped around, flicking its tongue at the mosquito, now over ten feet long, but it was too small to swallow it.
Mu Yingxue was surprised. "Raising insects with spiritual pills? That's interesting."
She lifted her arm, revealing her fair skin. The large mosquito immediately approached, landed on her arm, and bit her. The moment it pierced her skin, the mosquito seemed to shrink rapidly, its color changing instantly. It turned red, glowing with flames, and flew toward Qin Mu.
Qin Mu's pupils contracted. He took several spiritual pills from his Taotie pouch. These pills varied in size and color.
Qin Mu quickly cut these pills into large and small pieces, taking portions according to weight ratios. A ball of flame shot out from his palm, instantly fusing and catalyzing the medicinal power of the different pills, transforming them into another type of pill.
Qin Mu opened his mouth and swallowed this pill, activating its medicinal power. He pulled back the sleeve on his arm.
The red, flame-wreathed mosquito flew over, landed on his arm, and bit him to suck blood. Qin Mu's face suddenly turned bright red, and the muscles and bones of his face all deformed, becoming a red-faced, fanged visage with slanted brows and drooping eyes, like a fierce ghost.
The mosquito, having sucked his blood, returned to its original color, wobbled up, and flew toward Mu Yingxue.
Mu Yingxue sneered. "You didn't poison it?"
Qin Mu's nose suddenly grew much longer, with nostrils turned upward, ugly beyond compare. He laughed heartily, "If I hadn't poisoned it, how could this mosquito smell your scent and fly toward you?"
Mu Yingxue frowned slightly, staring at the approaching mosquito, trying to discern which poison Qin Mu had used.
After a moment, the woman took several medicinal ingredients from her sleeve pocket, deftly prepared a poison, and then smeared it on her arm, letting the mosquito bite her.
The mosquito bit her once. Mu Yingxue's hair suddenly grew wildly, in the blink of an eye, her long hair spread out in all directions like a porcupine's quills.
Pfft.
A soft sound came. Mu Yingxue felt an itch on her rear, and a thick tail grew out from behind her, tearing through her pants and dragging on the ground.
Mu Yingxue's face turned somewhat green. The mosquito, having sucked her blood, had its toxicity altered. It immediately lost interest in her, buzzed up, and flew toward Qin Mu.
Qin Mu's expression changed slightly. He hurriedly took dozens of spiritual pills from his Taotie pouch, cutting and mixing them. By the time the mosquito flew over, he had already prepared the pills.
This time, he swallowed the spiritual pills. The fiery aura on his face instantly vanished, and his features returned to normal.
The mosquito bit him once and then flew off again. Meanwhile, a loud rumbling sound came from within Qin Mu's body, like thunder. Then, lightning and thunder suddenly crackled in the air, and bolts of lightning struck him one after another, in the blink of an eye charring him black.
Mu Yingxue was also refining a poison. She concocted a small bottle of liquid, tilted her head back, and drank it. Her wildly flying green hair immediately fell out, leaving not a single strand, and the tail behind her also dropped off.
The girl pulled up her pants, her face ashen. She exposed her arm and let the mosquito bite her once more.
Mu Yingxue grunted and fell flat on her back. A cracking sound came from beneath her, and eight legs grew from head to toe, like a furry giant spider.
"Your poison is very potent!"
Mu Yingxue was exasperated and shrieked, "Try one of my poisons!"
The mosquito flew toward Qin Mu again. Qin Mu's face changed drastically. He hurriedly prepared a pill, first neutralizing the yin poison in his own body, and shouted, "Do you think I'm afraid of you?"
The two of them dueling with poisons was a novel sight. Xiong Xiyu, Xiong Qier, and the others watched with mouths agape. Their first exchange had involved poisoning the jade bottle, after which Qin Mu used the three-legged toad to neutralize the poison while simultaneously altering its toxicity.
The three-legged toad, affected by the potent poison, thought Mu Yingxue was something delicious and charged toward her with the poison.
Mu Yingxue used her primordial energy to transform into a flying insect, which itself carried another type of potent poison. When the toad ate the insect, the toxicity within it changed again. Qin Mu released the exotic mosquito he had caught in the Western Heaven Palace basin, using the mosquito's original toxicity to suck the toad's blood, causing another mutation, and then sent it to bite Mu Yingxue and poison her.
After Mu Yingxue neutralized the poison, she planted a poison in the mosquito and sent it to bite Qin Mu, testing his skill.
The two went back and forth, each exhausting their methods. On one hand, they had to neutralize the other's poison; on the other, they had to ensure the exotic mosquito wasn't killed by the poison; and at the same time, they had to poison the other party. This required extremely high skill in refining and neutralizing poisons. A single misstep could mean not poisoning the opponent but possibly being killed by their own poison.
Qin Mu looked at the approaching mosquito, frowned, and raised his hand. "Wait a moment. Our skills in refining poisons are about the same. Since we want to decide the winner, why poison ourselves?"
Mu Yingxue was also feeling the strain. Upon hearing this, she immediately looked at Xiong Xiyu and the others and said with a charming laugh, "In that case, you poison Yu Bochuan, and I'll neutralize the poison for Yu Bochuan. I'll poison Nai Kui, and you neutralize the poison for Nai Kui. Don't worry, Yu Bochuan is the current young master of the True Heaven Palace, his status is no less than Nai Kui's."
Xiong Xiyu and the others' faces changed drastically, while Yu Bochuan, lying on the ground unable to move, was secretly lamenting his fate.
The two of them dueling with poisons was dazzling to watch, and even the Poison Master Mu Yingxue had used the famous yin poison, yet she still couldn't overcome Qin Mu. This showed that Qin Mu's skill in toxicology was not inferior to the Poison Master's.
"If they use poison on me, and the Poison Master can't neutralize it, won't I die?" He wanted to escape, but the effects of the Lost Fragrance were still not resolved, and his soul was also paralyzed.
Qin Mu laughed. "Using poison on our own people is not a true skill. Our attainments in the Dao of Poison are both considerable. In that case, we should aim for a stronger target. Poisoning the strongest existence would be a true skill."
Mu Yingxue showed a curious expression, eager to try. "Nai Kui is one of the most powerful existences in the True Heaven Palace. I used Entangling Silk Poison to reduce his cultivation. Isn't my Dao of Poison strong enough?"
Qin Mu patted the large tree beside him and laughed. "That's nothing. If we want to duel with poisons, let's choose this great demon! This great demon is a Root Demon, having absorbed divine blood and demonic blood, possessing both divine and demonic bloodlines, combining the power of gods and demons, extremely extraordinary. To make it poisoned, we need a poison capable of suppressing the divine and demonic blood, a method to poison gods and demons!"
Mu Yingxue's eyes immediately lit up as she examined the Root Demon that had transformed into a large tree, her heart racing. "For those who use poison, the ultimate goal in life is to poison gods and demons to death. Poisoning an expert at the Divine Bridge realm is not a true skill. Fine, I agree with you! Whoever among us can poison this Root Demon to death wins!"
A Heavenly Being realm expert from the True Heaven Palace showed a look of despair and struggled to speak, "Poison Master, the important matter..."
Mu Yingxue glanced at him and sneered, "I don't care about the power struggles within the True Heaven Palace. In my eyes, poison is the important matter. I and this young master admire each other's skills, so naturally, we must have a good duel, to live up to our lifelong learning!"
Suddenly, everyone collapsed to the ground with a thud. Even Dragon Qilin, Xiong Xiyu, and the two white bats fell, and the three Heavenly Being realm experts also fainted from poisoning.
Mu Yingxue looked at Qin Mu and said seriously, "Yingxue rarely meets a fellow Daoist. Today, I must give it my all. The medicinal ingredients I brought are limited; I need to go gather herbs in the Great Ruins. Two days. We'll meet here under this big tree in two days, each employing our methods!"
Qin Mu said generously, "Agreed!" With that, he placed a jade bottle, its mouth half open. The Lost Fragrance would continuously emanate over the next two days, preventing anyone from approaching this place.
The two of them immediately set off separately, heading to other places to search for medicinal ingredients, leaving Dragon Qilin, Xiong Xiyu, and the others behind.
After they left, the large tree shook violently, trying to uproot itself and escape, but it was pinned down by the Azure Dragon Pearl and couldn't move.