Chapter 277: Poison Everywhere

Back at the banquet, Third Senior Brother laughed heartily, “Just drinking is boring. Let me do a sword dance to liven things up.”
Third Senior Brother danced around the table with his sword. His technique wasn’t exactly masterful, but it was visually impressive and drew cheers from the others.
In the heat of the moment, his hand slipped, nearly stabbing Fourth Senior Brother. Luckily, Fourth Senior Brother sensed something was off and dodged in time.
“Old Four, are you alright?” Third Senior Brother showed concern, secretly regretting that the poison-coated sword hadn’t even grazed him.
Fourth Senior Brother laughed loudly, gripping a Golden Armor Talisman and raising his sword, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Third Senior Brother, you’ve gotten rusty. Haven’t danced with your sword in a while, huh? Come, let me join you.”
Their swords clashed, and killing intent flickered in both their eyes. They exchanged a glance, and the malice quickly vanished.
With Senior Sister and Junior Brother present, they couldn’t really fight. They could only go through the motions before resentfully sheathing their swords.
What no one knew was that two figures were watching from the sky above.
…
“This table’s full of schemes,” Bai Hongtu shook his head as he observed.
“Wanna guess who’ll be the last one standing?” Jiang Li chuckled.
“Nope,” Bai Hongtu refused. He had never guessed right when Jiang Li asked that kind of question—why bother embarrassing himself again?
Jiang Li shook his head. Old Bai had gotten smarter—not taking the bait.
“By the way, I haven’t been here for a while. How’d that brat end up with his Senior Sister?” Bai Hongtu looked at Jiang Li suspiciously, “Did you guide him?”
Bai Hongtu knew that ever since Jiang Li arrived in the Tongu World, he’d been secretly coaching Yu Feng, trying to help him survive without dying once.
And so far, Yu Feng had made it safely to eighteen years old.
But with Jiang Li’s EQ in romantic matters, he actually guided Yu Feng into a relationship?
If Jiang Li really managed that, Bai Hongtu would step down as Dao Sect Master and go join the Human Sovereign Hall as a commander.
Mentioning this made Jiang Li frown. “I gave Yu Feng all my heart and effort, told him exactly how to pursue Wu Lian. But the brat refused to do anything I said—and still succeeded. It’s baffling.”
“What advice did you give?”
“I told him, since Wu Lian likes sweet beans, teach her how to make them. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. She’d see him as a mentor, and feelings would naturally grow, eventually leading to love.”
“But Yu Feng didn’t listen. He kept making sweet beans in his spare time and just gave them to her.”
“I also told him: women like lies. If she asks ‘do I look pretty,’ you must say ‘not really.’”
“But Yu Feng went and said the mushiest, cheesiest lines. I got goosebumps just listening. To sum it up in two words: ‘so pretty.’”
“Why say so much when a few words would do?”
Jiang Li believed in efficiency—simple methods over convoluted ones.
Bai Hongtu thought to himself, no wonder this guy died tens of thousands of times—his willpower must be absurdly strong to just ignore Jiang Li’s nonsense.
If Yu Feng had listened even once, he’d never have gotten the girl.
…
“The duel between you two was amazing. Looked so real, I thought you were really going to fight.” Yu Feng clapped from the side.
“Junior Brother, you’re such a jokester. How could we possibly fight?” Third and Fourth Senior Brothers laughed and wrapped their arms around each other. Third Brother slapped a delayed explosive rune onto Fourth Brother’s robe; Fourth Brother returned the favor with a rune that triggered fire deviation.
“My technique’s gone rusty—look, tore your robe.”
“Slip of the hand, that’s all. I’m sweating buckets here, drenched my whole outfit.”
They laughed and locked eyes, then casually changed clothes.
“Look, fireflies!” Yu Feng pointed toward the grassy field nearby. Specks of glowing light rose from the bushes, forming a gentle, luminous cloud—it was breathtaking.
“So pretty.”
Everyone was captivated by the fireflies—everyone except Fourth Senior Brother.
Junior Brother had told him that a group of fireflies would be released during the banquet to draw attention. That would be his cue to poison the drinks.
He focused fully on spiking Third and Fifth Senior Brothers’ wine gourds, terrified they might notice.
What he didn’t see was a firefly drifting lazily into his own bowl, gently tapping the surface before flying off.
The Path of Beast Taming could be used on insects, too.
After the firefly show, everyone returned their focus to the banquet.
Unfortunately, Third and Fifth Senior Brothers had learned their lesson. Fearing Fourth Brother might poison them again, they avoided drinking altogether.
Fourth Senior Brother felt unlucky—another chance wasted. He ate in silence, frustrated.
“Come, let’s raise a glass to celebrate Junior Brother’s breakthrough to the Golden Core Stage!” Sister Wu Lian suggested.
Fearing the cup rims might be poisoned, Third and Fifth Brothers pretended to accidentally break their cups and took out fresh ones from their storage rings.
After the toast, Yu Feng warmly served soup to Senior Sister.
“Try this, Sister—it’s stewed chicken with Ficus Simplicissima.”
Sister Wu Lian took a graceful bite. “Delicious.”
…
The banquet ended and everyone dispersed.
Third Senior Brother returned to his room, suspicious he’d been poisoned. He tried circulating his spiritual energy to check—but blood immediately poured from his seven orifices. He died within moments.
Fourth Senior Brother had used a poison called Reverse Toxin. If the victim circulated spiritual power within three hours of ingestion, their meridians would reverse, rupturing them to death.
Knowing that Old Three and Old Five were doomed, Fourth Senior Brother fell asleep contentedly—and never woke up.
The pills Yu Feng had been feeding him all along contained trace amounts of poison. Over time, it built up to a terrifying level.
The poison in the fireflies Yu Feng controlled was also minimal, acting only as a catalyst to trigger the poison already in Fourth Brother’s body.
Lab tests would only show “overuse of pills leading to poisoning.”
Yu Feng wouldn’t get burned—he could prove the poison came not from him, but from Fifth Brother’s spiritual plants.
In the Spirit Herb Sect, whether in alchemy or poisoning, they were masters. Capable of both saving lives—and taking them.
Fifth Senior Brother was cautious. Fearing he’d been poisoned with something that would kill him if he circulated energy, he carefully chose detox pills instead.
His room had a Night Bloom flower, emitting a faint fragrance—his favorite spiritual plant.
What he didn’t know was that its scent reacted with lily and ficus simplicissima inside his body, forming a deadly toxin.
Clutching his chest, Fifth Senior Brother vomited black blood and dropped to his knees, instantly realizing: “D*mn it, I’ve been poisoned!”
“It has to be Old Three and Old Four—they poisoned me!”
“If I don’t make it, you’re all going down with me!” Fifth Brother snarled.
No longer hiding, he opened the secret pouch left by his real Master. It turned into a beam of light shooting off into the distance—inside were the weaknesses of Daoist Tongchen.
If he had any hope left, it was his true Master.
The light from the pouch was a Nascent Soul-level technique. Its brilliance startled Daoist Tongchen from his seclusion.
“Who’s there?!”