“Pristine Poison King, why are you leaving?” Fang Chen suddenly said.
The Pristine Poison King froze up. He turned around and glared at Fang Chen, “Lad, there’s no grudge between us. You aren’t going to stand up for that Cloudless Monastery’s daoist, right?”
The little hunchback had been staring at Fang Chen since his appearance. He could hardly maintain his composure when he saw how easily Fang Chen killed all those cultivators.
He wanted to somehow relay to Fang Chen who he was, but he couldn’t make a move because the Pristine Poison King was right beside him. He was afraid that Fang Chen would kill him too.
Fear and excitement gripped his mind, causing his face to warp.
“I wouldn’t stand up for someone I don’t know, but I have heard about the Pristine Poison King’s unparalleled poison art that severely wounded even a Foundation Establishment cultivator. I’d like to see if your poison art is more formidable than my sword,” Fang Chen said.
The Pristine Sword King squeezed out a strained smile. “It’s a misunderstanding. That’s merely a rumor. That Foundation Establishment cultivator was already severely wounded by the time I met him.”
His eyes remained fixated on the little sword as the words ‘sword cultivator’ reverberated in his mind.
Damn it! How did I stumble onto this lunatic… The Pristine Poison King cursed.
He had never met a real sword cultivator before, but he had been around long enough to hear about them. Those people were madmen, bloodthirsty, tenacious, and vindictive.
He thought that Fang Chen wanted to fight him because of the rumors, so he decided to dampen the latter’s fighting will through this.
“The Foundation Establishment cultivator was wounded before the fight?” Fang Chen sighed in disappointment.
“Indeed. You have found the wrong person to spar with. I am a poison user; I’m not that adept at direct confrontations,” the Pristine Poison King added.
“I don’t care. Let’s spar since you’re already here,” Fang Chen said.
The Pristine Poison King was infuriated. He had already taken a step back, but the other party continued to bite onto him, insisting on having a spar.
Anger surged in him, and his face turned livid. All of a sudden, he said with a laugh, “Very well. Since you wish to spar, may I know how you intend to go about it?”
While he was speaking, he discreetly scattered his colorless and scentless poison powder toward Fang Chen with his spirit ki.
The next second, his spirit ki jolted. It was as if the poison powder had come to life; it charged at him as if a furious python!
A cloud of dust veiled the surroundings.
When everything finally settled, Li Huafeng was shocked to see a gorge in front of him. It was several meters wide, and it stretched on for at least three hundred meters!
On top of that, the surrounding earth had turned dark green. It was a sign that it had been afflicted with lethal poison.
“Is that all?” The Pristine Poison King scanned the surroundings before bursting into laughter. “Hahaha! I guess that’s all sword cultivators amount to!”
“Congratulations, master!” Li Huafeng was overjoyed too.
Fang Chen is finally dead!
While the Pristine Poison King was feeling gleeful, he suddenly noticed that the little bastard with him was gone. That made him frown. He was so focused on dealing with Fang Chen that he hadn’t realized the movements around him.
“Trying to escape, little bastard? Do you think you can escape?” the Pristine Poison King hissed.
Meanwhile, Fang Chen patted the little hunchback’s head and said, “Wait here for me, and don’t make a noise.”
The little hunchback nodded.
Fang Chen walked out of the forest and calmly looked at the Pristine Sword King, saying, “Surely that’s not all your means amount to? What else do you have? Employ them all.”
The Pristine Sword King gasped in shock, but his shock was feigned.
He raised his hand once more, and a massive python identical to the one from before dove out of the ground to bite Fang Chen. It turned out that he didn’t dissipate the venomous python he had manifested at all. Rather, he had it dive into the ground in preparation for a follow-up attack.
Fang Chen chose not to dodge this time around. He channeled his spirit ki into his little sword, and with a silver flash of light, the massive python was instantaneously reduced to dust.
The python’s lethal poison dispersed upon being slain. They corroded Fang Chen’s spirit ki barrier, and the surrounding grass and trees all visibly withered and melted upon coming into contact.
In contrast, the little sword remained pristine despite being enveloped in lethal poison. It didn’t hinder it in the least.
“My poison art can’t corrode it?!”
The Pristine Poison King was stunned. He was even more convinced that Fang Chen was a sword cultivator now. What he had just witnessed was likely the legendary ‘unraveling all means through swordsmanship’.
Losing all his fighting will, he morphed into a green light and darted into the forest.
Unfortunately, he was nowhere as fast as the little sword.
The moment he tried to flee into the forest, the little sword had already shredded his spirit ki barrier into shreds. He felt a chill behind him before his eyes went dark.
Little sword flew back and cried in distress.
Fang Chen chuckled. It was time to collect the spoils of war.
The deceased cultivators had at least an artifact on them each, and these were all fed to little sword. Aside from that, Fang Chen also found a couple of unidentified pills and fifty low-grade ki stones.
These unaffiliated cultivators are too poor. Even the Pristine Poison King doesn’t have a storage ring.
Li Huafeng lay by the corner of the battlefield, staring at his legs in horror. He had fled too late, such that his legs had been afflicted with the lethal poison. The poison was swiftly creeping up his body.
“S-save me!” He looked at Fang Chen in desperation.
Fang Chen walked up to Li Huafeng, examined his situation, and shook his head. “I’m not a poison user, so I can’t cure you. The person who can cure you is already dead.”
“I’m begging you! I know I have done you wrong. As long as I can live, I won’t go against you anymore!” Li Huafeng desperately begged.
“There’s only one way for you to survive—amputate your legs,” Fang Chen said. “You should do it before the poison reaches your organs, else there’ll really be no saving you.”
Li Huafeng was stupefied. Amputate my legs? That would make me a cripple!
“Have you thought things through?” Fang Chen asked.
Li Huafeng gritted his teeth before replying, “Imperial Duke Fang, please amputate my legs.”
“You asked for it yourself.” Fang Chen nodded.
There was a silver flash of light, and Li Huafeng’s legs were amputated.
Li Huafeng howled in pain. He anxiously tapped a few key acupoints to stop his three legs from bleeding further. Then, he shot Fang Chen a venomous glare and roared, “You’re vicious!”
“Ah, I accidentally cut a bit too high, but at least you survived,” Fang Chen said. He paused for a second before adding, “I have to return to Great Xia now. May we meet again if fate permits.”
Fang Chen returned to the forest and left together with the little hunchback.
Li Huafeng glared at Fang Chen’s departing silhouette before letting out a furious roar.
Having lost his legs and sustained severe injuries, Li Huafeng couldn’t leave this place right away. He could only focus on his recuperation now and make further plans when he was feeling better.
Days later, he saw an old daoist slowly walking over. Li Huafeng was delighted to see the latter. “Master!”