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At long last, Riven’s Poison Cultivation had finally reached the next stage.
Ding!
[Congratulations, the Cultivation Method: [Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra – Poison Accumulation Phase: Stage 2] has Ranked Up to Poison Accumulation Phase: Stage 3: Heavenly Poison Body!]
[Your Titan Mana Heart is responding to this new power, growing strong along with its evolution, but not enough to raise to the next rank yet. However, it is now very close.]
[Vitality, Strength, Endurance, Agility +3,000,000!]
[You have gained an even greater control over the Poison and the Ki within your body, granting the power to create even more refined forms of Poison Ki.]
[You have unlocked the following Ten Thousand Poisonous Heart Sutra Arts: "Karma-Eating Soul-Withering Curse", "Ten Thousand Corrosive Vipers" and "Sovereign Five-Color Poison Cloud".]
"Three new Arts...! And they sound strong too."
The three new arts appeared one after another, but Riven decided to examine or try them out later.
[You learned the Skill: [Heavenly Poison Body – Level 1]: Your Body has been restructured by the Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra into a body remade by five hundred different poisons. Now you require five hundred more to continue growing, ten thousands more until reaching ten thousand. Each Level represents your body further evolving the power of fusing and assimilating with countless different toxins and poisons. Increasing Physical Stats by 200%, Poison Attribute Magic and Poisonous Ki Power by 400%, and Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra cultivation speed by 500%. These bonuses increase with each Skill Level.]
"Heavenly Poison Body?!"
He read the full description without skipping any of the numbers and already noted the next requirement of five hundred more poisons.
[It’s now possible to bind a Compatible Dark Cultivation Method to your Heavenly Poison Body.]
[Three Dark Compatible Cultivation Methods have been found. Which Method do you wish to Connect with the Heavenly Poison Body? It is recommended to choose only one for now to not overwhelm your Heavenly Poison Body.]
The system presented the three choices side by side and gave no further ranking among them.
[Option 1]: [Yin Corpse Bone-Forging Art – Level 4]: Increases Poison Ki Regeneration and Cultivation Speed by 400%. Imbued Cultivated Poison and Ki with Death and Bone Energy, capable of creating unique Cursed Poisonous Arts such as "Bones-Melting Corpse Puppet Incantation".]
[Option 2]: [Malevolent Dragon King of Yomi Embodiment – Level 4]: Increases Maximum Poisonous Ki Capacity by 300%, Pure Ki Capacity by 200%, and Strength and Vitality by 50%. Imbues Cultivated Poisonous Ki with the Dark Dragon Essence of the Malevolent Dragon King of Yomi, granting the power of the Poisonous Dragon King Arts such as "Hundred-Headed Poison Hydra Palm".]
[Option 3]: [Assassination Shadow Blade – Level 4]: Increases Maximum Poisonous Energy and Ki Capacity by 400% and Strength by 100%. Imbues Cultivated Poison with Shadow and Death Mana, capable of Cultivation the Heavenly Poison Body, Mana, Soul, and Shadow together, shapes Poison into shadowy blades capable of dealing critical damage and assassinate foes with a single, deadly strike such as "Soul-Tearing Shadow Blade Poison".]
"?!" Riven was taken aback. "Isn’t this like imbuing a Mana Method to the Titan Heart? So the Heavenly Poison Body can do this..." he thought. "Fascinating..."
He looked at the options carefully; this was a big decision. What should he make his Poison evolve into? Something that can apparently create corpse puppets, a combination of dark dragon power and a powerful palm strike, or turn it all into blades once more, but now much stealthier.
Each path offered a different direction, and choosing the wrong one now would lock him into that style for a long time.
"I do like blades after all, it would be better to continue specializing on this than going for another route for now," Riven nodded, taking his decision quite fast.
He selected the option he wanted the most without hesitation.
Ding!
[You have chosen the Third Option.]
[Your [Assassination Shadow Blade – Level 4] has become permanently connected to your Heavenly Poison Body.]
[The more you improve your assassination techniques and the control of your stealth abilities and shadow aura, the more your Heavenly Poison Body will advance its Poison Cultivation.]
[Your Poison is now being imbued with the Assassination Shadow Blade Essence. You can freely shift your Poison Nature to this Element and Form, increasing all Shadow, Curse, and Sword-Elemental Magic, Skills, Techniques, and Attacks by 500% when channeling this Poison Nature, and your Stealth, Movement Speed, and Camouflage Abilities increase by a further 100%, with a bonus of 250% to damage when surprising a foe.]
The new essence linked itself to the Heavenly Poison Body without any extra steps required from him.
Riven conjured the power of his poison, realizing his appearance had shifted while unleashing his Heavenly Poison Body form, his hair turned long and purple, and for a moment he slightly resembled a younger version of the Ten Thousand Poison Master.
The change stayed limited to the hair and a few lines on his face, yet the resemblance was still noticeable.
"Not a bad Poison Form," said the poisonous ghost of the Ten Thousand Poison Master, living within Riven’s own poisonous powers. "Shaping it into a blade... I guess you’re a straightforward type of guy, huh? Well, much later, you’ll learn to do more with it."
Riven nodded. "Thank you for your help... now, let’s quickly take care of this problem."
He took a step forward and blurred, the remaining Poisonous Spectral Beasts hissed angrily, shaking the ground furiously, only for Riven’s blade to descend like a guillotine, his poisonous fog spreading everywhere, turning into swords of curses, shadows, and poison.
The fog moved with the blade and covered every gap the beasts tried to use to escape.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
This, together with his Spell, Abyssal Guillotine Garden, unleashed complete and utter devastation around his surroundings, the remaining Spectral Poison Beasts annoying everyone were instantly wiped out by the power of Riven’s new Poison Form.
The last of them fell under the combined cuts and left the grassland empty again.
"It’s done..." he sighed in relief, noticing how the specters just disappeared into thin air once they died. "Huh, how bizarre. So these things aren’t even alive?"
He checked the ground where they had stood and found no bodies or residual energy left behind.
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