Chapter 1000: My Precious
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
In the residence where the hall master resided, Elder Xu was seated by the side with a slight smile on his face.
"You are saying that it is due to a righteous poison master named Sun Qiang who saved you despite the dangers that you are able to return to the Poison Hall?" An old man seated opposite to Elder Xu asked.
With an appearance reminiscent of a person in his sixties or seventies, the old man had an amiable smile on his face. Had one not known better, it would have been impossible to imagine that this old man was actually the head of the Hongyuan Empire Poison Hall, a 7-star poison master!
"That"s right. That Poison Master Sun is a very righteous person, and he possesses both courage and wits. If not for him, I would have died just like Elder Xue…" Elder Xu"s eyes gleamed in admiration and respect as he spoke about Sun Qiang.
To be able to save him from the hands of a Saint 4-dan expert, the courage and wits that were required to do so was something that too few in the world possessed.
"For a Nascent Saint to be able to face an expert of that caliber straight without faltering, he is indeed a rare talent. Alright, I shall approve of the matter. He will be given an opportunity to take the poison master examination to join our Poison Hall!" The old man stroked his beard as he said with a smile.
"Thank you, hall master!" Elder Xu hurriedly stood up and clasped his fist. With a look of confidence, he continued, "Rest a.s.sured, you won"t regret the decision you made today. Poison Master Sun is definitely a trustworthy person whom we can leave our backs to!"
"It is rare for you to offer such high compliments to someone. I will be looking forward to meeting Poison Master Sun then…" The hall master nodded.
Halfway through his words, a person suddenly rushed into the room while exclaiming, "Hall master!"
"Elder Feng, what"s wrong?" Turning around, Elder Xu recognized the person to be a fellow elder of the Poison Hall, Feng Ping.
However, the current Elder Feng was vastly different from how he was usually. His nose was crooked, his face was swollen, and his body was filled with many bloodstains. It was as if he had just undergone some kind of life-and-death situation.
"What"s wrong? You still dare to ask me what"s wrong?" Upon seeing Elder Xu, Feng Ping suddenly felt immense rage coursing through his body. Roaring furiously, he charged at Elder Xu, seemingly wanting to tear the other party apart.
Were it not for Xu You bringing that fellow here, would their Poison Hall suffer such tragic casualties today?
"Elder Feng, it is unseemly for an elder like you to make a move on your peers without any warning! Speak, what happened?" the hall master bellowed with a frown.
"Hall master…" Upon hearing the bellow, Elder Feng hesitated for a moment before stopping. Clenching his jaws tightly together, he spoke indignantly, "Fourteen elders of our Poison Hall have just been killed! The only ones surviving are me, Elder Du, and four others. Even Hall Master Ming had his entire arm severed at the shoulder, and he is still in a precarious state at the moment…"
"What? Fourteen elders have just been killed? Hurry up and explain yourself!" Shocked by the news, the hall master abruptly got to his feet and stared at Elder Feng with narrowed eyes.
There were only a total of 22 elders in the Hongyuan Empire Poison Hall. It was just a moment ago which he had just received news of Elder Xue"s death... and in the blink of an eye, another fourteen elders were killed?
These elders should have been in the Poison Hall, and for them to be killed... could it be that they have been invaded by enemies?"
"The culprit is... the guest whom Elder Xu brought in, Sun Qiang!" Elder Feng spat through gritted teeth.
"Sun Qiang? What happened?" Astonished, Elder Xu staggered.
"This is what happened…"
Elder Feng swiftly explained everything that had happened, including how Duan Ren had challenged Sun Qiang, Vice Hall Master Ming flying into a rage, as well as... how they encircled Sun Qiang, only to be killed themselves.
"How could this be…" After hearing the explanation, Elder Xu suddenly felt the vision before him blacking out.
I know that I said that those within the Poison Hall respect the strong, and you don"t have to show any mercy to them. But... you really don"t have to go to the extent of killing fourteen elders of the Poison Hall!
It was just a moment ago that I said that you are a righteous and trustworthy person, and in the next moment, you caused me such a trouble... How do you expect me to face the other party like that?
"Let"s go over and take a look!" Shooting a cold glance at Elder Xu, the hall master flung his sleeves before hurriedly following Elder Feng out.
Naturally, Elder Xu had no choice but to tag along.
Not too long later, they arrived at the accommodation Elder Xu had prepared for Zhang Xuan, and it didn"t take long for them to notice that the ground was filled with corpses.
These men were Saint 1-dan pinnacle experts, masters of poison. Outside, they could easily rival three to four ordinary Saint 1-dan pinnacle cultivators easily, and yet, within just a few moments... they had turned into cold corpses lying on the ground.
Scanning the area, he soon caught sight of the culprit, Sun Qiang. The latter was still seated cross-legged on the ground, cultivating with his eyes tightly shut, as if he had nothing to do with the horror that had just occurred a moment ago.
"Elder Huang, Elder Li, Elder Liu…" Looking at the corpses on the ground, the hall master felt a lump in his throat. Subconsciously, he clenched his trembling hands tightly into fists.
These were the men who had accompanied him for several centuries of his life, and yet, within just a few moments, they were slaughtered clean by that fellow!
More importantly, the culprit was still dared to cultivate fearlessly on the spot... Wasn"t he snubbing their Poison Hall way too much!
"Hall master, you must kill that fellow and avenge our brothers!" Vice Hall Master Ming rushed forward and pleaded desperately.
He had already had his arm bandaged, and he had consumed some recovery medicine to alleviate his condition as well. However, the injury he had sustained was simply too severe that it was impossible for him to make a full recovery. To put it in harsh words, he had been crippled.
"Hall master, that fellow is simply too arrogant. He doesn"t even bother to open his eyes when he fights us. It will be a calamity to the Poison Hall if we were to leave such an imperious fellow lurking amongst us…"
"We must kill him. Otherwise, how can we face our dead brothers? This is a matter regarding the dignity of our Poison Hall!"
...
The other two vice hall masters and elders roared in agreement.
As one of the most feared occupations on the Master Teacher Continent, others would flee in fright whenever they appeared. When had they suffered such grievance such as to have fourteen of their elders killed by a fellow with his eyes closed?
"Don"t worry. No one has ever gotten away scot-free after causing trouble in the Poison Hall!" Waving his hand grandly, the hall master turned to Vice Hall Master Qian and instructed, "Apprehend Xu You and have him imprisoned. After I deal with this fellow, I will interrogate him personally!"
"Yes!" Upon hearing the order, the elders hurriedly encircled Elder Xu to prevent him from escaping.
"Hall master!" Not expecting the situation to unfold in such a manner, Elder Xu exclaimed in panic. Yet, there was nothing he could do in this situation.
There was no way he could explain himself.
Back when Poison Master Sun accompanied him to the Poison Hall, the other party still seemed perfectly normal. Thinking back, the other party even promised him to keep a low profile... Yet, within the short span of time which he went to report something to the hall master, the other party actually killed fourteen elders...
Is this your definition of low profile?
You are clearly not here to take the poison master examination but to wipe our Poison Hall off the face of the world!
But as stifled as he was, Elder Xu knew that he owed his life to Poison Master Sun. After a moment of hesitation, he still couldn"t help but speak up, "Hall master, Poison Master Sun isn"t the type of person to kill the innocent. There might be some kind of misunderstanding here…"
"Seal his mouth!" the hall master roared furiously.
Fourteen elders of the Poison Hall had been killed, and Elder Xu still dared to play this matter off as a misunderstanding. If a misunderstanding could justify this matter, what else in the world couldn"t be justified?
"Yes!" Vice Hall Master Qian nodded before walking up to Elder Xu. With a tap of his finger, he sealed Elder Xu"s ability to speak.
Seeing that Elder Xu had been dealt with, the hall master finally turned his gaze back to the middle-aged man seated before him and spoke menacingly, "Sun Qiang, is it? To dare to venture alone to the Poison Hall to cause trouble, I have to admit that you do have guts. However... regardless of who you are or what you are here for, since you are already here, you need not think about stepping out of here alive!"
Walking up to Zhang Xuan, the hall master tapped his finger lightly, and a row of beetles, roughly around the size of a fingernail each, flew forth. There were exactly nine of them.
An old gold color sh.e.l.l on their back and wings that reflected sunlight off its body, they had a particularly disconcerting appearance.
"Those are our hall master"s Darkgold Venom Beetles!"
"These beetles contain a lethal poison which can kill even a Saint 3-dan expert easily!"
"Indeed. Our hall master had to pay a heavy price in order to nurture these Darkgold Venom Beetles. Just counting the saint herbs by itself, those beetles had already eaten more than a hundred of them... But fortunately, his investment paid off. It was arduous and expensive, but he managed to nurture nine of them!"
"Each of these nine bugs is able to poison a Saint 3-dan expert to death individually. With the nine of them gathered, even a Saint 4-dan expert would have to flee in fear. To release all of them simultaneously... it seems like our hall master is truly enraged!"
"That fellow is done for. Although I don"t know what kind of antidotes he consumed to render all of our poisons ineffective, there is no way that it will be able to neutralize the Darkgold Venom Beetles of our hall master!"
...
Upon seeing the hall master release his Darkgold Venom Beetle, everyone"s eyes lit up.
Every single one of them had nurtured their own poisonous bug or snake at some point in time, but in terms of deadliness, there was none that could come close to comparing up to the hall master"s Darkgold Venom Beetle.
Just a single one was sufficient to poison a Saint 3-dan expert. It was no wonder why it would be an object of fear for many!
Should the hall master intend to start a ma.s.sacre, these nine Darkgold Venom Beetles could easily bring extinction upon the entire Hongyuan City.
This was the frightening might of a 7-star poison master!
In everyone"s view, regardless of how potent the antidote Sun Qiang had consumed was, the most he could do was to neutralize their poison powder. In face of a poisonous bug as formidable as the Darkgold Venom Beetle, there could only be one outcome—death!
"Wuuuuuuuu!!!"
Forming a stark contrast to everyone look of antic.i.p.ation, however, was Elder Xu"s panicked m.u.f.fled shouting. However, with his ability to speak sealed, he wasn"t able to say anything at all, so he could only cry anxiously by the side.
Ignoring the looks of amazement from the crowd, the hall master flicked his finger grimly, and nine droplets of blood flew forth. The nine Darkgold Venom Beetles swallowed a droplet each, and their colors grew even brighter.
"Go!" With a furious bellow, the hall master pointed his finger towards Sun Qiang on the floor with killing intent seething in his eyes.
Weng weng weng!
Upon hearing the command, the nine beetles flew forward, and in the blink of an eye, they were already right before Zhang Xuan.
Seemingly unaware of the dangers lurking around him, Zhang Xuan remained seated in the ground with his eyes tightly shut, not moving in the least.
Hu!
Seeing that the other party had no intentions of dodging, the hall master sneered coldly. He controlled the beetles remotely and had them land all over Zhang Xuan"s body, be it his arm, neck, or legs, anywhere his skin was exposed.
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
The beetles bit down firmly, and venomous fluid flowed from the beetle"s mouth into Zhang Xuan"s body.
"They have bitten him!"
"As soon as the Darkgold Venom Beetle bites down on its target, venomous fluid will immediately flow from its mouth into the target"s bloodstream, and within just three breaths, the target will meet his demise!"
"To be bitten by all nine beetles simultaneously, it will be a miracle if he can even survive a single breath…"
...
Everyone thought that the fellow would flee in fright after seeing the Darkgold Venom Beetles, but who would have thought that he would remain seated on the floor, allowing the nine beetles act as they pleased. With all nine of the beetles biting him simultaneously, not even the deities could possibly be able to save him anymore!
Hu! Hu!
RIght after biting Zhang Xuan, the nine Darkgold Venom Beetles flew up once more. However, before they could get far, their heads suddenly slanted to the side, as if intoxicated.
Padah! Padah! Padah!
Following which, they abruptly fell to the grounds. Their legs twitched for a few moments before falling still altogether.
Pu!
The hall master"s face paled, and blood spewed from his mouth. He staggered eight steps back before falling weakly to the ground. Raising his gaze, he looked at his fallen beetles with a look of horror.
"My precious…"