Chapter Seventy-Four: The Pavilion of a Thousand Poisons

On the sea vessel, the gathered warriors spent several days collecting information about the Immortal Village. Once again, Ye Mo, Mo Ling, Deputy Captain Gao Jian, and several others assembled inside the ship’s cabin.

“This Donglai Spirit Island spans seventy to eighty miles and hosts a single Immortal Village. Beyond that, there are a thousand or two thousand acres of spirit fields, mainly planted with spirit grain, spirit beans, and medicinal spirit herbs needed by cultivators in the Qi Refining stage.

The remaining area consists of mines and spirit wood groves. Everything on Donglai Island belongs to Lord Zou, the island’s ruler. Even a wild rabbit caught in the thickets is his property.

Normally, the lord overlooks such minor transgressions. But if we offend him, he could use this as an excuse to strictly investigate and enslave any warriors caught hunting wild game on the island.

Therefore, we must not hunt on the island. Only the sea beyond the island, which does not fall under Donglai’s jurisdiction, is open to us for fishing and hunting sea creatures.

To survive on the island, warriors must take on menial labor, earning only gold and silver, never spirit stones. These can buy only items for warriors—common iron weapons, body-honing herbs, and the like, to improve their physical cultivation.

To achieve a breakthrough and form a Nascent Soul, warriors have only two paths: one is to catch the eye of a cultivator and be accepted as a disciple, thus gaining access to Vitality Pills; the other is to slay sea monsters and sell the spoils for spirit stones. But warriors have no means of hunting sea monsters in the open sea. Their only slim chance is when a tide of sea monsters assaults the Immortal Village.”

Mo Ling summarized the intelligence they had gathered.

“A sea monster tide? There are beast tides here too?” Wang Hu was surprised. He had witnessed a so-called beast tide on the nameless deserted island before, but that had only involved a handful of creatures barely worthy of being called sea monsters.

“That’s right. A true sea monster tide is nothing like what we saw on that desolate island. But these tides are infrequent. Waiting for such an opportunity is no easy feat.

Even if a tide does attack the village, how could ordinary warriors like us hope to slay the beasts? Naturally, the immortals of the village take action, and we warriors are hard-pressed to claim any spoils.”

Mo Ling shook his head.

All the warriors looked dispirited. After days of inquiring around the Immortal Village, they still had found no reliable way to earn spirit stones. Without spirit stones, they could not buy Vitality Pills, which meant the path of cultivation was forever closed to them.

“I’ll find a way to get you some Vitality Pills!” Ye Mo said thoughtfully.

“Brother Ye, you’ve only just formed your Nascent Soul and are in dire need of Vitality Pills and other spirit items for your own cultivation! If we all rely on you, won’t that just slow your progress?” Mo Ling’s face was clouded with concern.

“No matter what, I am at least now a genuine cultivator. It’s far easier for me to earn spirit stones than for you. I’ll do my best to acquire some Vitality Pills so you can break through and form your Nascent Souls. Once you do, you’ll be able to find work within the Immortal Village yourselves and earn spirit stones to continue your cultivation.

But for now, let’s keep this between us. There are too many warriors on the ship, and I alone can only help a few of you.”

Ye Mo gave a wry smile as he looked at Mo Ling, Wang Hu, Yang You, and also Gao Jian, Huang Yi, and the others.

These were the warriors who had first followed him on the deserted island, sharing hardship and life-and-death struggles. Though not his formal subordinates, he was recognized as their leader. Now, with everyone in dire straits and only he able to earn spirit stones, it fell to him to help them through this crisis.

“Brother Ye, consider this a loan from you to us. When we become cultivators and earn spirit stones, we’ll pay you back in full. We won’t let your cultivation suffer for our sake!” Gao Jian said earnestly, deeply moved.

…

Donglai Immortal Village.

In a quiet corner of a small street stood a modest shop bearing the sign “Thousand Venoms Pavilion.” Though small, it was the only establishment in Donglai Immortal Village specializing in the crafting and sale of poisons.

Here, both poisonous pills and antidote elixirs were available for purchase.

The importance of antidotes to cultivators required no elaboration. In the world of cultivation, many regions were plagued by deadly miasmas and venomous creatures, making antidotes essential items for travel.

Poisonous pills were also invaluable for those who hunted monsters.

When facing ferocious beasts, coating blades with poison made hunting far easier and safer. Seasoned monster hunters always carried some poison pills when venturing out, especially to deal with sea monsters.

Though tucked away in an unassuming corner, the Thousand Venoms Pavilion was never short of customers.

Monsters possessed formidable vitality and large bodies, with natural resistance to toxins. The only poisons that could affect them were those crafted from high-grade, spirit-ranked poisonous herbs, far beyond the reach of mundane poisons.

Refining poison pills was no easy task.

Only the Thousand Venoms Pavilion in all Donglai Immortal Village possessed such skill; there was no other.

Lin Zhi, calm and collected, sought out the owner of the pavilion and produced a sample of his own concoction, “Ghost’s Despair.”

“You claim to have created a powder effective against sea monsters?” The shopkeeper, a black-robed cultivator in his forties, looked at the young man before him in surprise.

“Yes, senior. Ordinary poisons are useless against monsters, but I combined several ninth-grade mundane toxic herbs to create a potent poison. It once killed a sea serpent!

Of course, it was only because a top-tier expert drove a spirit sword into the serpent’s skull that it was able to act so quickly. I estimate that my poison’s efficacy is about half that of a first-tier poison pill.”

“Ninth-grade mundane poisons effective against sea monsters?” The shopkeeper’s expression shifted subtly.

He studied the lean, cold-faced warrior before him, who wasn’t even at the peak of the ninth warrior level.

“If you can make such poison, why not sell it directly to cultivators? Though weaker than true poison pills, some would still be interested.”

His tone was utterly even, betraying no emotion. To the uninitiated, he might seem indifferent. But had Lin Zhi dared to peddle poisons at will in Donglai Immortal Village, his life would have ended swiftly.

“I have come all this way to Donglai Immortal Village not to profit from mundane poisons, but to study the immortal arts of toxins! Upon arriving, I heard much of the Thousand Venoms Pavilion’s renown and have come to pay my respects, senior.”

Lin Zhi’s voice was calm, his eyes bright, but his face showed no excitement.

“Ha! Well then, since you know your place, I’ll give you a chance. Come with me and we’ll test this poison’s efficacy. If it’s as potent as you claim, I’ll buy your formula. Whatever your request, speak it boldly!”

At last, the shopkeeper’s expression softened and he smiled.