Chapter 445: Poison Attack
Translator: Swammped Editor: Hitesh_
The next dawn…
The fifth floor's lobby was bustling as usual. Numerous young elites were sipping wine while chatting in high spirits. The topic of the early morning chat was who the strongest among the younger generation was going to be!
"In the southern sector, with Thunder Princess and the Edict Prince, as well as Astral Spirit son on top, there are few equally reputed as them. But in overall strength, they are somewhat lacking."
"That's right! But, have you thought about who among the three is the strongest?"
"That's hard to pick. I personally favor the Thunder Princess. Her fame has been resounding the most during these past few years, and her talent is monstrous. Edict Prince and Astral Spirit son are somewhat lacking in respect to fame."
"Fame is not the standard for strength. I admit she is strong, strong beyond reason. However, you to admit that since she is in Thunder Region, the strongest region of the southern sector, her fame is bound to be the strongest."
"Edict Prince earned his name long before the Thunder Princess. But, a year ago, suddenly a mysterious woman suddenly appeared by his side. She is exceptionally strong, at least in southern sector's top twenty. You can see how strong Edict Prince is by this fact alone."
"That mysterious woman and Edict Prince are like light and shadow, completely inseparable. Reportedly, she is a beauty that can topple empires, and she has never been seen talking before others." One of the young elites seemed to know some of the inside information.
Hearing their gossip, Ye Chen smiled while sipping his wine. There was no use guessing who was strong and who was weak. As far as a genius was concerned, a span of two years could represent many fortunate encounters. Once they made a breakthrough, the improvement of their strength wouldn't be little, and this was the most brilliant aspect of the geniuses striving against each other. Nobody knew how much stronger the others had become. They could only believe in themselves and consider their improvement to be the biggest and sufficient to defeat others.
"Murong is comprehending the Soul Extinguishing Wave. Adding her sect's profound skill on top, her strength can easily soar to double."
Soul Extinguishing Wave was not an ordinary profound martial skill. It was a frightening killing move directed straight at the soul. Without exaggeration, once she cultivated this skill to a certain level, she could jump levels and defeat those with higher overall strength than her.
"As for me, I still need to prioritize breakthrough in Green Lotus Sword Arts and the ninth style of the Green Lotus Sword Techniques, then focus on the undying body."
There were three breakthroughs needed to go from the Green Lotus Sword Arts' thirteenth to fourteenth layer. In Extreme Yin Region, Ye Chen made the first, and now, the second was loosening up. With this, he was not far away from the fourteenth layer. Once he attained the fourteenth layer, his Zhen Yuan became would become much purer, and would transform his nine streaks of green lotus sword qi into one lotus heart sword Qi. At that time, his strength would increase by a great amount.
The next was the ninth style. Previously he thought that the ninth style was the same as Sky Thunder Cut; but now, he realized his misjudgement. The ninth style was definitely a lot stronger than Sky Thunder Cut. However, the potential of Sky Thunder Cut was not exhausted at this point, since it was only an assimilation of eight styles of the Startling Clouds Sword Technique, and had yet to assimilate the ninth style. If successfully assimilated fully, he would comprehend a trace of the profound, inevitably changing the technique into a low grade profound martial skill.
As for the undying body, he had no hopes for any success in a short duration. Both body imprint and mental imprint were impossible, much less to speak of soul imprint. However, this didn't mean that the undying body had no present use. If his luck was good, he had thirty percent chance of leaving a partial spirit imprint at the position of his heart. If he succeeded, the position of his heart would no longer remain his fatal point.
Apart from these three things, Ye Chen was also cultivating the Void Shattering Finger. Despite entering the void, his Void Shattering Finger was progressing quite slowly. However, as they said, 'Slow and steady progress was the way of a king.'
"I wonder how powerful Thunder Princess, Edict Prince, and that Astral Spirit son really are. I can't wait to find out!"
In reality, Ye Chen didn't care much about empty reputations. What he desired was to find someone in younger generation who could allow him to battle at his full strength; allow him to go crazy with full force, and have a battle to his limits. Although he could also battle against Sea of Soul realm experts, it wouldn't have the same fervour as that of having a great battle with someone from the younger generation.
At this moment, a conversation attracted Ye Chen's interest, "Are you telling me that his strength can be ranked in the top few of the southern sector?"
"He is very strong, absolutely unfathomable."
"True! I reckon top twenty is quite possible."
"Top twenty? Aren't you a bit exaggerating? Apart from the big five, there are so many people close after the Thunder Princess in Thunder Region. The regions of Edict Prince and Astral Spirit son also have many powerful geniuses. Moreover, there will also be powerful geniuses from not only the entire southern sector, but also many neighbouring regions. Top twenty… that's absolutely peak level."
"I don't think I'm exaggerating even one bit. The aura of that one sword finger yesterday, it still makes my heart go faster. Don't you feel the same?"
Everybody went silent.
How could the incident of Ye Chen defeating three geniuses of the Thunder Region be forgotten so easily? This was the first time they had felt such a powerful sword aura, and it had left their very soul trembling.
"Perhaps, this Tea Gathering will bring out one helluva peak of a generation!" Somebody broke the silence.
…
The night descended again, lightning coiling in the night sky occasionally.
Inside an ordinary courtyard in an alley, two mysterious figures were talking. The individual to the left was a thin and tall middle-aged man, wearing a dark, five-colored robe. His face was purple as if poisoned, and his left hand was holding a black spider. In his slightly squinted eyes, a cold light flickered occasionally. The individual to the right was wearing a bamboo hat and a linen robe. He was just sitting there; if one didn't pay careful attention, one might miss his existence. He was a like a viper hiding in the bushes and waiting to strike.
"Five Poison, didn't think you'll also enter the Sea of Soul realm. Relying on your Poison Body Arts, I'm afraid there are no spirit grade experts who can threaten you."
A hoarse voice came out of the linen-robed man's mouth.
The man in the multi-colored robe chuckled and said, "Elder Rain, that kid is not simple not all. I personally saw his battle with Soul Sunder Sect's great elder, Ghost Moon. They were almost evenly matched. Unfortunately, my body and poison arts were locked in inner-conflict. Otherwise, I would have killed him right there."
"Are you confident that you can kill him now?"
"In a frontal battle, I don't have the confidence."
"If I haven't guessed wrong, that little devil has that thing you want!" The linen-robed man spoke.
"Right." The former licked his lips.
He had been one of the people searching for the secrets of the undying body. However, due to having a peculiar identity, he couldn't appear with everybody else out open, and could only move in secret. That day, everything that happened at the Stoneman Array had been witnessed by him. He thought that the disappeared people would return after a few days. Who knew there would be no news even after a month. Later on, when he heard that Tea Gathering was about to begin, he decided to wait for Ye Chen in the Thunder Pool City, since it was a road one must take in order to attend the Tea Gathering. If he didn't appear, he could only consider it as wasting some time.
But, he didn't expect that Ye Chen would really arrive. He had a premonition that the undying body was certainly obtained by Ye Chen, and he was determined to snatch it. With the undying body, his poison attributed Zhen Yuan wouldn't degrade his body, and he could use them as he pleased. As for Elder Rain, he simply ran into him accidently. He hadn't informed the latter about the matters related to the undying body.
He, Five Poison Ghost Commander, didn't trust anybody.
"Go on then! Let me see how your poison arts have progressed." The linen-robed no longer inquired.
"Sure! Tonight will be the day he dies."
Sucking in deep breath, the Five Poison Ghost Commander spread out his hands. A purple Zhen Yuan gushed out, condensing into a massive snake head, looking realistic and without any flaws. Its body had closely packed fine purple scales, and eyes that were cold and without any emotion.
'Sssss…'
The snake head opened its huge mouth, emitting a purple smoke. The purple smoke didn't have a trace of impurity, and seemed as rich as water. It stretched in the void and thinned as it did, ultimately becoming formless and colorless. It floated out of the courtyard's window to the outside of Rainwind Restaurant.
The restaurant's night was also comparatively lively, and an endless stream of incoming guests still persisted. Nobody felt a fatal poison Qi making its way through the entrance, then following the staircase to the first floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor, and heading towards the guest room to the west.
It swayed outside for a moment, as if looking for a gap.
Finding a crack around the corner, the poison qi poured into the room without corroding anything in its way or making any noise. Silently, it floated towards the bedroom, then separated into even finer strands and entered the teacup by the bed.
"I already have a fifty percent shot at leaving behind a spirit imprint in my heart. Once it becomes hundred percent, I can also try reaching out to other positions."
Letting out a breath, Ye Chen reached out for the teacup by the bed. As he brought tea cup by his mouth, his brows creased.
Splat!
His wrist flung, splashing the tea on the floor. A purple smoke rose.
"Poisoned? When did it happen?"
Ye Chen held his breath.
'Not good! There is poison Qi!'
Clank!
Raising the two forefingers of his right hand, Ye Chen pointed towards the void before him. A destruction sword intent accompanied by a swift sword light slashed out.
A cloud of purple mist exploded, radiating poison Qi everywhere.
"Hmph!"
With a snort, Ye Chen's forehead slightly swelled up, radiating out a circular sword halo which dispelled the conspicuous poison Qi, rapidly eliminating it.
…
Inside the courtyard, Five Poison Ghost Commander's face was astonished.
"What happened?" The linen robed man asked.
"This kid is more troublesome than I expected. Even my heartless poison Qi was sensed by him. Damn it! How could he be this cautious even while cultivating? His sword intent can actually restrain my poison Qi." Five Poison Ghost Commander was astonished.
As one of the one hundred and eight Ghost Commanders, his reputation was not undeserved. Even before his breakthrough, his poison Zhen Yuan could corrode majority of his opponents' Zhen Yuan, silently killing them. After breaking through into the Sea of Soul realm, his poison Zhen Yuan had greatly improved. Killing an Astral Reaching expert was like flipping palms for him. After all, this was not a frontal confrontation that relied on breaking through the opponent's defensive power. In any case, Ye Chen's Zhen Yuan was at the Astral Reaching realm without a doubt, while his was at the Sea of Soul realm. The two were simply on whole different levels.