[You disregarded your safety to resist ‘Intertwined Snake Venom.’ Your Resistance has improved slightly.]
It worked!
I can still improve it!
Zheng Xiu was stunned. He’d never imagined the Snake’s body held such immense potential.
‘What a treasure!’
Feeling like he’d discovered a new world, Zheng Xiu carefully plugged the bottle, terrified of spilling or wasting a single drop. This was a full bottle of venom he’d gone to great lengths to get from the Big White Snake; the creature wouldn’t be so cooperative next time. He weighed it in his hand. The bottle held about half a pound of venom. He’d truly milked the Snake dry this time.
After returning from Lu Town, Zheng Xiu had practiced several times and could now skillfully open a “Passage” in a straight line between two points, using a “Post Station” as an anchor. He called this Passage a “Rift.”
Zheng Xiu spent the whole afternoon pondering. He felt that since his “Constitution” had undergone an exceptional upgrade into “Resistance,” it couldn’t possibly be limited to a niche ability like “Poison Resistance.” How many poison users could there be in the world? If the “Glazed Pure Body” was only good for resisting poison, then the effort he’d put into grinding this Attribute really wasn’t worth the trouble. It was exhausting for everyone involved—just look at that Snake, he’d milked it until it was twitching. It just wasn’t worth it.
The Attributes for the [Prisoner] Path written on the Sheepskin Scroll were straightforward, but they offered no further explanation. He had to discover many of its functions and Abilities on his own. And the word “Pure” in “Glazed Pure Body” made Zheng Xiu think of the dense “Filthy Qi” within the Darkness.
The Filthy Qi in the Darkness didn’t just pollute a person’s Spirit; it also corroded their physical body. It was a twofold assault, damaging both flesh and Spirit, which was why ordinary people couldn’t go near the Darkness.
The Rift was a Passage existing in the seam between the Darkness and the Common World, so its concentration of Filthy Qi was far lower than in the Darkness proper. Yet even Feng Bei, who was a Mystic, had his skin corroded as if by fire after just one trip through the Rift. This was a clear sign of how horrifyingly potent the Filthy Qi was.
Among everyone Zheng Xiu knew, only one person had ever made it out of the Darkness alive: Wei Chen. But the only reason he had survived was because Treasure King Cangyun had sacrificed himself, trading his life for Wei Chen’s. And Wei Chen had paid a terrible price. His body was a twisted mass of scars, leaving him looking like neither a man nor a ghost. Even if he were to stand right in front of Old Wei, the old man would never recognize him as Wei Chen, the illegitimate son who had fled the Imperial City twenty years prior.
After nightfall, Zheng Xiu gave Qing Shisan a heads-up. He said he was going to be doing some “research” and that Qing Shisan shouldn’t bother him unless he heard a huge commotion. Qing Shisan blinked in surprise, but then a look of instant understanding spread across his face—though what exactly he understood was a mystery. He made a perfect “OK” sign with his thumb and index finger.
Entering the Heart Prison, Zheng Xiu sat at the Game Table and glanced at the various Post Stations displayed on its surface.
In the end, he chose the [Executioner Post Station].
He and Feng Bei knew each other inside and out, and Feng Bei was dependably strong. This made Zheng Xiu feel most at ease using the [Executioner Post Station] for his experiment.
In the dungeon, Zheng Xiu meditated with his eyes closed. After sensing the location of the [Executioner Post Station], his mind seized upon the connection. He mimed tearing something open in front of him, and a distortion, barely visible to the naked eye, spread open between his hands.
Twisting, compressing, collapsing—all manner of strange phenomena unfolded in the depths of the deserted dungeon.
“Projection! Zheng Er!”
Zheng Xiu projected the Attributes of [Zheng Er] onto his Main Body. A hint of youthfulness softened his features, and his body shrank by several inches.
He looked at the Rift now open before him, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
The moment he entered the Rift, Zheng Xiu felt the pores of his skin seal shut. A layer of radiance like white Jade enveloped him, pushing the surrounding gray Filthy Qi several inches away from his body.
At that moment, walking through the Rift, Zheng Xiu was like a human-shaped lightbulb. His entire body radiated a pure white light, as clear as crystal, as pure as Jade. ‘Glazed Pure Body, resisting Filthy Qi… Unbreakable Glazed Body!’
Realizing the Filthy Qi in the Rift couldn’t harm him in the slightest, Zheng Xiu laughed boisterously, soaring and dancing through the space. In the blink of an eye, he traversed the Rift and burst out of another distortion on the other side.
SPLOSH!
SPLASH!
Warm water instantly filled his mouth. Zheng Xiu shoved his head above the surface and, wiping the water from his eyes, stared in dumbfounded silence.
Feng Bei was staring, wide-eyed, at the man climbing out of his bathtub.