Vice Hall Master Xu You nodded as he went through what he had gone through with Zhang Xuan in detail.
“You are saying that… a Saint 4-dan Otherworldly Demon has appeared in Jingyuan City? He tried to kill you, but it was Poison Master Sun who got you out?”
Everyone was astonished to hear the news.
Otherworldly Demons possessed exceptionally strong fighting prowess, and this was even more so for a Saint 4-dan one. For Sun Qiang to put himself in grave danger to save Xu You… Just this courage itself was something they couldn’t compare with.
“Not only so, Poison Master Sun has also imparted me some foundation to utilizing poison on our way here, but due to its profoundness, I was unable to remember too much of it. However, if I could just internalize the small portion which I have remembered, I would surely be able to make huge progress in the Way of Poison…” Xu You couldn’t help but say.
“Share it with us…” Hearing that their founder had actually imparted some of his teachings to Xu You, looks of envy surfaced on everyone’s faces.
Without hiding a thing, Xu You began reciting everything that he remembered.
By the time he was done reciting, everyone around him had their faces reddened in agitation, their clenched fists trembling uncontrollably beside them.
Just like what Xu You had said, even though the content only touched on the foundation, it was directed straight towards the essence of the Way of Poison. Listening to it had left them with a feeling of enlightenment.
“There’s no doubt about it anymore. That soul is definitely our founder… Other than him, there is no one else can possesses such a deep understanding of poison…” After a moment of discussion, Hall Master Ruo Qingyuan nodded affirmatively.
Even though Zhang Xuan’s argument was convincing, and he had believed most of it, he still couldn’t help but hold some reservations regarding the issue due to the sheer incredulity of it. However, after hearing Vice Hall Master Xu You’s explanation, the final reservations he held were vanquished.
Only the real founder of the Poison Hall could possibly command such deep understanding of the Way of Poison, interpreting the most basic cultivation technique in such a profound yet direct manner.
“Alright, have our men quickly repair the demolished buildings. As for Duan Ren and Ming Zhen, have them executed for daring to provoke our founder!” Having confirmed his doubts, Ruo Qingyuan issued several orders.
“Yes!” The crowd nodded in agreement.
It was one thing for Ming Zhen and Duan Ren to embarrass themselves, but to implicate so many of them into it as well, unforgivable!
“Alright, we will stop right here today. Vice Hall Master Xu, you should wait outside the Compendium Hall. Once Poison Master Sun is done reading, call me over immediately…” Hall Master Ruo Qingyuan instructed.
“Alright!” Xu You replied.
Just as he was about to stand up and get moving, a frown suddenly appeared on Hall Master Ruo Qingyuan’s face. The latter flicked his wrist, and a Communication Jade Token appeared in his hands.
The jade token was emanating a warm glow—someone had just transmitted a message over.
Taking a glance at it, Ruo Qingyuan’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly got to his feet, “An envoy has arrived from the headquarters!”
“The headquarters have sent an envoy over?”
Everyone was astonished.
“Indeed. According to the information I have just received, they are two 7-star pinnacle poison masters, and they are about to arrive. Let’s head over to welcome them.”
After saying those words, Ruo Qingyuan quickly left his residence. Not daring to hesitate in the least, the others also swiftly followed suit.
Not too long later, at the elevated platform where Vice Hall Master Xu and Zhang Xuan had landed from their aerial saint beast earlier, the crowd saw a gap appearing in the formation momentarily, and a massive saint beast flew over steadily.
Standing proudly on the saint beast were two elders. Even before coming close, they were already emanating a formidable pressure that forced others to lower their heads before them.
7-star pinnacle poison masters, Saint 4-dan experts!
“Poison Master Bai, Poison Master Hai…” Upon seeing the appearance of the duo before him, Hall Master Ruo Qingyuan’s eyebrows shot up, and he hurriedly clasped his fist and greeted.
The Hongyuan Empire Poison Hall was well hidden from the rest of the world, but it still maintained intimate relations with the headquarters above it. Poison Master Bai Ting and Poison Master Hai Mingjin were extremely formidable figures in the headquarters, and considering their fame, it was only natural for Ruo Qingyuan to have heard of them as well.
Poison Master Bai waved his hands as he landed from the saint beast, and after scanning through the crowd, he frowned, “Where is Hall Master Ruo? He isn’t here to welcome us?”
“Cough cough… I am Ruo Jingyuan!” Ruo Jingyuan said awkwardly.
Disfigured from Zhang Xuan’s pummeling, even his wife and parents might not recognize him, let more these two!
“You…” Poison Master Bai glanced at Poison Master Hai, only to see the latter’s mouth twitching uncontrollably as well. With a frown, he asked, “Hall Master Ruo, what happened to you?”
One must know that Ruo Jingyuan was a 7-star poison master like them! Even though the other party’s fighting prowess was slightly below theirs, there would still be very few in Qingyuan Conferred Empire who could match him. For an expert like him to be pummeled to such a state in his own base, just what in the world could have happened?
Astonished, they subconsciously turned their gazes to the elders, and what they saw caused their eyelids to twitched as well.
They had only made a sweeping glance earlier, but taking a closer look, they realized that every single one of them was injured. There was only one amongst them who could be considered to be fine.
“This… It is a long story. Anyway, for the both of you to arrive personally, could it be that the headquarter has orders for us?” Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Ruo Qingyuan turned to the duo and asked.
It was not that he was intended to hide it from the other party, but it was simply too embarrassing!
“Two thousand years ago, did your branch obtain a booklet from the ancient domain in Firesource City?” Seeing that the other party was unwilling to speak too much about it, Poison Master Bai also decided not to pursue the matter, considering that it was likely to be a private matter amongst them. Thus, he got straight to the matter at hand.
“Indeed!” Ruo Qingyuan nodded.
Poison Master Sun had just asked him about the booklet, so naturally, he still remembered it clearly at the moment.
“That’s good. The headquarter has sent us here to retrieve this booklet.” Hearing that the booklet was indeed here, Poison Master Bai heaved a sigh of relief and said.
“Retrieve?” Not expecting the headquarter to go to the extent of dispatching two 7-star pinnacle poison masters over just to obtain a single booklet, Ruo Qingyuan was stunned for a brief moment before he could reply. “The booklet is currently placed in the Mausoleum of Hall Masters. If the both of you aren’t in a hurry, allow me to invite you to take a seat at the main hall first…”
The booklet served no particular purpose here. If the headquarters wanted it, he had no qualms about giving it to them too.
However, right after Ruo Jingyuan said those words, he noticed unnatural looks on the faces of Vice Hall Master Xu and the others. One of the elders hesitated for a moment before sending a zhenqi telepathy over, “Hall master, our main hall has been destroyed…”
The main hall was one of the unfortunate casualties of the devastating destruction earlier as well.
Honestly speaking, the two envoys had really arrived at a bad timing. It was embarrassing that they had nothing seemly to show them after what that had happened.
“Ah…” Upon the elder’s reminder, Ruo Qingyuan suddenly recalled the matter and said, “Allow me to bring the both of you to my residence to rest then…”
“Your residence?” Poison Master Bai and Poison Master Hai frowned.
If they had come here as visiting guests, there would be no problem for them to head to be hosted in Ruo Qingyuan’s residence. However, they had come in the capacity as envoys of the headquarters this time around, and it was only right for them to be treated as esteemed guests. What was the other party thinking to invite them to his residence instead of the main hall?”
“Allow me to apologize for our discourtesy, but there has been some unforeseen circumstances in the Poison Hall that will make it inconvenient for me to invite you to the main hall… ” Noticing the displeased looks on their faces, Ruo Qingyuan shook his head with a bitter smile. “You will understand very soon…”
To be honest, he really had no idea how he should approach the subject.
Flying the way back to the city, it didn’t take long for the two poison masters from the headquarters to notice the heap and heap of rubble laid all around the half-collapsed city. They couldn’t help but exchange dazed glances.
“This…” Poison Master Hai pointed at the devastation before him, not knowing what he could say.
They were in the Poison Hall, and everyone in here should be their own men. How did such a tragic fate befall it?
“Hai, this matter is really the humiliation of our Hongyuan Empire Poison Hall…” Ruo Qingyuan said.
As the hall master of the Poison Hall, it was indeed embarrassing for him to have allowed it to have fallen to such a state.
Had he not been so reckless then and waited for the other party to explain the situation, such a sight wouldn’t have occurred, and he wouldn’t be making a fool of himself before the envoys of the headquarters at this moment.
“What happened?”
Glancing at the bruised elders and hall masters, and turning his gaze to the rubble all around him, Poison Master Bai couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s like that…” Knowing that it was impossible to hide such a huge matter, Ruo Qingyuan hesitated for a moment before revealing everything that had just happened.
“What did you say? Our founder’s soul is deposited on the body of someone named Sun Qiang?”
Upon hearing the question, Poison Master Bai frowned, “That’s impossible! The founder of our Poison Hall, otherwise known as the [Poison Supremacy], was actually a woman. Back in that era, people used to call her the Fairy of Poison, so how could she possibly have a male voice? Besides, her entire soul had dissipated in that tragic battle back then, so it is impossible for her to have left a fragment of her soul in a Seven Hearts Lotus. No doubt about it, he is definitely a fake!”
“Our founder… is a woman?” Ruo Qingyuan was taken aback.
There were indeed many stories regarding the founder of the Poison Hall going around, but honestly speaking… he was indeed unsure whether the other party was a male or a female!
“Indeed. I haven’t really read any books regarding our founder, but I heard it from an 8-star poison master before. It is said that there is also sculpture of her created by her disciple in the headquarters… To possess a male body and speak in a male voice at that, there is no doubt about it. He is definitely a fake!” Poison Master Hai said grimly.
“But… the Emerald Serenity Jaundice Poison was indeed ineffective against him! Furthermore, his body possesses inconceivable immunity towards poison as well…” An elder couldn’t help but exclaim.
“As formidable as the Emerald Serenity Jaundice Poison is, there are still many ways that one can neutralize it! For example, I have a Heavenly Aroma Detoxification Pill here left behind by an 8-star poison master. Once consumed, one will gain perfect immunity to any grade-7 poison and below…” Poison Master Bai replied.
“Besides, there are also many medicinal herbs and plants in nature that possesses the ability to neutralize poison. Putting everything aside, the Bodhi Saint Tree of the Hongyuan Empire royal family can bear a Bodhi Fruit, which when consumed, grants one near perfect immunity to poison of grade-7 and below, and this is including poisons directed to the soul too!”
“This…” Ruo Qingyuan was taken aback.
They were both 7-star poison masters, but the other party were from the headquarters, and their eye of discernment and knowledge were beyond him.
“So… you are saying that he is very likely to be a fraud?” the elder from before asked with a deep frown.
“That is not necessarily so… there are some parts to the story which I am still unable to make sense of. Despite being at Nascent Saint, that fellow already possesses strength which none of you are able to rival. On top of that, for him to be completely fine after being bitten from your Darkgold Venom Beetle and even poison them to death at that… that is a feat beyond my means as well. Most likely… the other party is on par with an 8-star poison master at minimum! But if that is truly the case, there would be no need for the other party to make up such lies…” Poison Master Bai shook his head.
He felt that there was something amiss with that Sun Qiang fellow saying that the founder had possessed his body, but there were still various aspects to the matter which he couldn’t make sense of it to refute the other party’s claim entirely.
What was the most bewildering was that the other party actually had no request whatsoever! If the other party was intending to pull off something, he would have already attempted to use his standing to force the Poison Hall to comply with his commands. It was impossible that he would feign that he was the founder of the Poison Hall just to read some books!
“You said that the Sun Qiang person is still in the Compendium Hall at the moment?” After some contemplation, Poison Master Bai was still unable to make sense of the situation. Thus, after some contemplation, a glint flickered across his eyes, and he said, “Why don’t I help you test his mastery of poison? If he’s truly the founder, he should be fine after it. Otherwise, for feigning the founder, he deserves death!”
“This…” Ruo Qingyuan hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Alright!”
