Chapter 1404: A Fatal Mistake

When the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator had sensed something amiss, she had paused, her body imperceptibly merging with the surrounding spiritual energy. Her cultivation method, circulating on its own, naturally absorbed the spiritual energy around her.

And just as she concluded that her judgment was flawed, that she was merely unfamiliar with the restrictions here, she suddenly felt as though thousands of searing hot needles had been plunged into her pores, forcing a pained groan from her lips.

At the same time, a sharp, cutting pain shot through her throat.

‘There’s… poison here!’

This was the first thought that flashed through the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s mind. When she looked at the deck again, the figure of the old woman surnamed He had grown even blurrier, as if it were about to step through space towards her.

But now she also felt that it didn’t look like the old woman. Her head was spinning.

In a hoarse voice, a mixture of alarm and fury, she cried out and shot back up the stairs, realizing she had fallen into someone’s trap.

This caught the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator completely off guard. Even though she had felt something was amiss outside, she had never imagined where the problem lay.

And now, with everything that was happening, with the fading figure of the old woman surnamed He, she realized this was a trap set for her.

In her mind, it must have been the Spirit Subduing Manor that had turned on her.

Li Yan had prudently removed the “Illusion Formation” but had left behind a large amount of “Illusion Poison,” as well as five other types of potent Fragmented Body poisons.

The Yuan-surnamed female cultivator had never imagined that someone could have tampered with the staircase. And from what she knew of the old woman surnamed He, she was not skilled in the true art of poison.

Moreover, this was a time for cooperation. This was a mission planned by Heart-Refining Valley; their two sects had to work together.

Although the Spirit Subduing Manor’s cultivation arts included some corpse poison, that was an extremely Yin-natured substance, which she could easily distinguish. Her earlier Divine Sense scan had revealed no trace of Yin Qi.

Li Yan’s “Illusion Poison,” even back in his Golden Core stage, could affect the consciousness of Nascent Soul cultivators. Once poisoned, the toxin manifested in one of two ways.

One was for Li Yan, at the cost of his own Divine Sense, to forcibly control what the victim saw, creating illusions under his control.

However, this method consumed a great deal of his Divine Sense. He needed to create the illusionary realm, and his Sea of Consciousness would suffer tremendous shock.

Against cultivators with a weaker Divine Sense than his, the effect was of course excellent.

But used on cultivators with a stronger Divine Sense, it was highly likely that his Sea of Consciousness would be damaged. It was a pyrrhic tactic that would cost him a thousand to harm the enemy by eight hundred.

Moreover, when fighting enemies of a higher realm, the duration he could maintain control was very short. Li Yan had to personally grasp the timing of its activation, which required thorough preparation to ensure the enemy stepped into the trap precisely.

The other way was for Li Yan to simply lay down the “Illusion Poison” and leave it. Once the victim was affected, they would act according to their own subconscious thoughts, which was uncontrollable.

Li Yan had been pressed for time before, and he didn’t want to try to control the Illusion Poison to actively influence the actions of a Late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator. The backlash he would suffer would be incalculable.

In the current situation, Li Yan was walking a tightrope with every step. Even at his peak, he could be finished at any moment.

Without the confidence to eliminate the future consequences, he naturally did not dare to get injured, especially not with a backlash to his Sea of Consciousness.

If he had to risk his life, he would only do so after figuring out the situation on the second floor and formulating a complete plan.

After the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s initial shock, her reaction was instinctual. This was the life-saving instinct of an experienced cultivator.

Her Magical Power surged through her body as she tried to forcibly suppress the several unknown potent poisons inside her. But her external defensive shield had already begun to emit a series of sizzling sounds.

This was because after Li Yan had removed the “Illusion Formation,” he had laid down five more types of potent poison that he believed could threaten Spirit Transformation cultivators. Since he no longer needed to hide, he had used everything he had.

The target was, of course, the Spirit Transformation cultivators on the second floor. So he had placed all the potent poisons he could use here.

The protective light shield around the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator was being continuously corroded by the potent poison, making a constant noise. As she retreated rapidly from the staircase, she had already taken out a bottle of pills with one hand. Without a second thought, she opened the stopper and poured them directly into her mouth.

At the same time, Magical Power surged out of her body like a tide, which also prevented further erosion from the potent poison outside.

But in the short time it took to retreat, her protective light shield had already been corroded down to only forty percent of its thickness. But she had managed to block it.

However, because she had lingered in the area covered by the potent poison, several types of toxins had already entered her body. Even after taking the pills, she still felt dizzy and her vision blurred, as if her internal organs were being cut inch by inch.

However, the pills she had swallowed did indeed have a significant effect. In the end, only four types of potent poison continued to spread within her body. She even staggered and became unstable as she flew.

The Immortal Spirit Realm was the Immortal Spirit Realm after all. The detoxification pills that a cultivator of the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s level could buy were already considered high-grade within this realm.

So, Li Yan’s Fragmented Body poison was not invincible. It was just that he didn’t have enough Spirit Stones to buy all the detoxification pills in the Immortal Spirit Realm to test them one by one and give an answer.

But even so, this horrified the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator. She had never encountered such a powerful poison.

Even years ago, when she was trapped in an ancient cultivator’s Cave Residence filled with deadly corpse poison, where there was a corpse-demon of comparable strength to her, she could still cope with her own strength and pills.

But compared to this moment, she felt that even the ten-thousand-year-old corpse poison of that corpse-demon was not as strange as these potent poisons, which had poisoned her without her knowledge and had such a fierce onset.

In just a moment, some of her organs had begun to ulcerate.

Even Li Yan could not have known this result of her poisoning. Li Yan had never used the Fragmented Body poison to truly deal with a Spirit Transformation cultivator.

He only thought that the other party couldn’t easily dispel the Fragmented Body poison. But he didn’t have a standard to measure how effective it would be.

The means he had set up before were just a subconscious habit of his, a method he hoped to have in reserve when facing an unbeatable enemy.

The Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s cultivation was very profound. Her jade-like palm became a blur of afterimages as several more types of pills were poured into her mouth.

At the same time, her immense Magical Power was circulated to her limbs and meridians, beginning to forcibly suppress those potent poisons.

The three colored lines on her smooth forehead finally began to slowly recede, but the speed was very slow.

All her actions were also incredibly fast. By the time she had done all this, her entire person had already retreated to the second floor of the giant boat.

At this time, when her Divine Sense swept down through the staircase again, the first floor deck was already empty. The old woman surnamed He had not pursued her, but had disappeared again.

Her mind instantly connected with the “Netherworld Demon Vine.” In the next moment, the demon vine’s pressure rushed out of the room, enveloping the second floor deck.

When the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator learned that nothing unusual had happened at the demon vine’s location, she was slightly relieved and told the other party to pay attention to defending the second floor.

She then immediately flickered and arrived at the door of the room where she had previously inquired about the old woman surnamed He. Her eyes, visible through the black veil, were already filled with killing intent.

The ring on her hand, plundered from Chongyangzi, flashed, and at the same time, she struck down with her palm.

“BOOM!”

With a loud bang, the room door was shattered into pieces by her palm. The other party had not set up a new restriction, but had only activated the original restriction on the giant boat.

But under the forceful control of the ring that controlled the giant boat, she had smashed it open with one palm.

This was because the old woman surnamed He had taken her own formation restriction with her when she left.

She was also wary of the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator, so she would only carry the strong defensive formation with her so that she could use it at any time.

But this practice of hers also gave the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator an opportunity. For example, the other party could also easily go to her room and set up a trap similar to the “Netherworld Demon Vine” again.

However, there was nothing to be done about this. Things could not be perfect, and the two sides were still cooperating. It was impossible not to have a bottom line of trust.

After the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator broke open the door with one palm, she saw that the room was indeed empty. Her anger did not diminish, and her figure disappeared again.

Instantly, it was as if a whirlwind had swept across the entire deck.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

After three more loud bangs, the other three rooms were also broken open by her. Then, the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s aura became chaotic.

She stood on the deck, her snow-white, voluptuous chest, faintly visible, heaving violently. Her beautiful eyes also flickered constantly.

“It really was her I saw on the first floor. That bitch, how dare she set up an ambush to harm me…”

At this moment, her mind was still dizzy, and the stabbing pain in her body had not completely disappeared. With her reckless use of Magical Power, the three types of potent poison once again showed signs of spreading.

This forced her to devote about forty percent of her Magical Power to suppressing those potent poisons.

She briefly sensed it. The potent poisons in her body could not kill her yet. She could still use her profound cultivation to suppress them to a certain corner of her body.

At this time, she also had no time to completely expel these potent poisons. There was a big trouble waiting for her here, and she had to solve the immediate crisis first.

When she retreated just now, she felt that the figure of the old woman surnamed He she saw on the first floor deck was a bit blurry. She was still wondering if it was a hallucination after being poisoned.

Therefore, she still held a glimmer of hope that she was wrong and quickly retreated.

The second floor had the “Netherworld Demon Vine.” Although she was poisoned, she still had combat power. With this demon vine, she was more confident in dealing with unexpected situations.

After communicating with the “Netherworld Demon Vine,” she knew that her room was not abnormal, and Chongyangzi was still in a coma. This made her relax a lot.

This meant that it should not be a backup plan left by Chongyangzi. The other party was not a real immortal and could not have predicted that this situation would occur this time. Otherwise, he would not have been captured.

Therefore, the corner of the staircase on the first floor should not be a trap deliberately set by Chongyangyzi. In the past, they had participated in the “Great Nothingness Fruit” scramble quite a few times.

In the past, the first floor only had some defensive restrictions, and the purpose was only to prevent those Nascent Soul cultivators from probing and coming up.

The remaining four rooms, including the room she had previously lived in, were also smashed open by her one by one, but there was no sign of the old woman surnamed He.

This made her both shocked and angry, and she immediately thought of a possibility.

The only one who could set up an ambush on the first floor was that old woman surnamed He. But a thought that made her even more unwilling, or rather, terrified, involuntarily arose in her heart.

“I have never heard of this kind of potent poison. I am a Late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator. How could that old bitch have this kind of potent poison?

Could it be… could it be that Heart-Refining Valley authorized it? Could it be… could it be that they are still not very confident in Heavenly Mountain Garden’s surrender?

So they took out this kind of potent poison to do that thing of killing the hunting dog after the cunning rabbit is dead!

But… but on what basis can they trust Spirit Subduing Manor? Is it because my sect’s overall strength is very strong that Heart-Refining Valley has more scruples…

No! No! This should be that old bitch’s own idea. She wants to monopolize the credit this time and strengthen her sect’s position in Heart-Refining Valley…”

The Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s thoughts raced for a moment. It was true that the old woman surnamed He would not have been able to easily obtain this kind of strange poison, but she could still have bought it after paying a great price.

These potent poisons almost killed her. Now, although she had not perished, her strength had been greatly reduced. The biggest beneficiary here was not Heart-Refining Valley, but Spirit Subduing Manor.

Heart-Refining Valley should not have done such a thing. The “Great Nothingness Tree” was not yet in their hands! And the plan against the Blood Lantern Sect and the Seven Tigers Alliance was only half completed.

They had not yet been able to make Pure Yang Hall completely suspicious of these two sects, nor had they reached the point of further weakening Pure Yang Hall.

Moreover, Heart-Refining Valley had Void Refining Realm experts. They would definitely not be concerned about a sect like hers that had defected to them. On the contrary, they would pay more attention to the stronger Heavenly Mountain Garden.

To put it bluntly, in the next step against Pure Yang Hall or other forces of the same level, her own sect could be considered a sharp blade. How could they turn on her here?

After a quick analysis, the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s mood also calmed down a bit. The unexpected poisoning just now had made her, who was still looking forward to the future, suddenly become shocked and angry, and she had forgotten some things.

In the next moment, she immediately began to perform hand seals and cast spells on the ring in her hand. At the very beginning, she had used this method to notify all the cultivators in the rooms on the first floor.

Now, she had to try again, so that she could confirm her judgment…

In the room, the moment Li Yan saw Chongyangzi bound by a vine, his heart sank.

‘How could this be? This is completely wrong! Previously, it was said that Chongyangzi was injured in a sneak attack by our two sects. Now he is indeed injured, but he is also being controlled. The ones who did it should be Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor. Chen Xingshan and the other Spirit Transformation expert from the Seven Tigers Alliance have probably met with misfortune!’

In a flash of lightning, Li Yan saw Chongyangzi’s state and immediately made a judgment. This kind of thing was too easy to guess.

Of course, Li Yan couldn’t guess the specific reason, but the scene before him meant something completely different for the Blood Lantern Sect and the Seven Tigers Alliance.

Because the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator was also piloting the flying boat here before, she had moved the bodies of Chen Xingshan and the big man to the other side. From where Li Yan was standing, he couldn’t see them.

Otherwise, he would have been even more certain of his judgment.

The concealed Li Yan’s thoughts raced. He was thinking about whether to attack and deal with the spirit plant that was restraining Chongyangzi, and then rescue him.

Even if the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator had seriously injured Chongyangzi, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. The methods of any old monster should not be underestimated. It was very likely that they had unexpected trump cards.

If he could rescue Chongyangzi, it would definitely be beneficial to his side, without any harm. His side was already in such a state. Could there be a worse outcome than this?

And just as Li Yan was about to decide to sneak attack this spirit plant, a cry of alarm, somewhat hoarse and filled with suppressed anger, suddenly came from outside.

Li Yan immediately recognized that it was the voice of the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator who had just gone down.

‘She… she stepped into the trap and was poisoned?’

At the same time, he felt a strong pressure rush out of the main door and envelop the entire second floor deck.

Li Yan’s expression changed. Although he had not released his Divine Sense all this time, the aura released by this spirit plant was right beside him, and he was in the “embrace” of the spirit plant.

Li Yan immediately felt this heart-palpitating and powerful pressure, so strong that it made the restrictions in the room emit “kaka” sounds. His heart suddenly tightened.

‘Damn it, this is a fifth-rank spirit plant!’

Li Yan immediately realized a serious problem. He couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine, and cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.

He had actually mistaken this spirit plant for a fourth-rank existence. This was an absolutely fatal mistake.

‘I actually overlooked such a problem, and right now, I’m within the attack range of a fifth-rank spirit plant!’

Li Yan looked at the dense vines and fine branches around him, and waves of lingering fear surged in his heart. Even for a bold person like him, he felt that this time, he had really walked through the gates of hell.

Showing weakness to the enemy and treating a powerful enemy as weak was something he often made others do.

And the consequence of not being able to accurately estimate the opponent’s strength, just look at the fate of his past enemies, and you will know what the result is.

Looking at Chongyangzi hanging there again, Li Yan thought about it again. In his fear, he already knew that he had made another mistake that he hadn’t seen.

If it were him, would he hand over a captured powerful enemy to two demons for safekeeping?

Absolutely not. This kind of enemy that could turn the tables at any moment would only be truly safe in his own hands.

And that Yuan-surnamed female cultivator had just gone out like that, not at all worried that Chongyangzi would launch a desperate counterattack. This already showed that this spirit plant’s strength could at least suppress, or temporarily suppress, Chongyangzi’s desperate counterattack.

Therefore, the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator was so relieved and dared to leave Chongyangzi here while she went out on her own.

After thinking that this spirit plant was a terrifying fifth-rank existence, some questions were easier to explain.

Li Yan and the others hadn’t seen this fifth-rank spirit plant before. It should be something that Chongyangzi didn’t even know existed at the beginning.

It was secretly brought up by the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator or the old woman surnamed He. Because they were participating in the “Great Nothingness Fruit” scramble, there had never been a problem before.

So, the Pure Yang Hall, which was responsible for this inspection, probably wouldn’t go so far as to search their bodies or check their spirit-storing rings.

It was even possible that this spirit plant had concealed its aura and was treated as someone else’s companion spirit plant.

And after a fifth-rank spirit plant was brought up, if they were carefully designed, they could take the lead by defeating them one by one.

Later, it might become a three-on-two, then a three-on-one situation. Only in this way could it be reasonably explained why there was no major battle among the Spirit Transformation cultivators above, but the current situation occurred.

After confirming that this spirit plant was fifth-rank, Li Yan, while constantly admonishing himself for his carelessness, also quickly sorted out some clues.

In this way, Li Yan did not dare to attack and rescue Chongyangzi. And what to do next, Li Yan was also stuck for a moment.