Martial Emperor Reborn Vol 1 Chapter 18

“How should I handle this? Poison? White a.r.s.enic? *Muscle Dispersing Fragrance? These poisons can’t be created here… Actually, white a.r.s.enic… right, white a.r.s.enic is three parts oxygen and two parts a.r.s.enic, formed through the oxidation of a.r.s.enic… As for the matter of oxidation, it’ll be fine if I use pure fire element… but getting some a.r.s.enic will be a bit hard…”
(*TL: name of a poison in the wuxia novel ‘Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’ by Jin Yong, colorless and without smell, it makes all of one’s muscles go limp, causing one to be unable to muster any sort of strength.)

Li Xuan pondered in his mind, causing ripples in his current state. Subsequently, that state of unity gradually began to lose stability, and at this moment, the scenery in Li Xuan’s ‘vision’ began to blur and distort. Very quickly, everything in his sight crumbled instantly as though s.p.a.ce had collapsed on itself, and it was then that he opened his eyes.

An indescribable feeling of exhaustion abruptly surged forth, as though his spirit energy had been drained to a critical level.

Li Xuan took a deep breath and began to meditate upright in silence. Soon after, he took out two elemental gathering pills out of his interspatial ring and swallowed them, continuing to meditate after doing so.

Elemental gathering pills were the most basic medicine for gathering elemental energy, and were cla.s.sified as 1-star lower grade goods. However, even a pill like this was sold for several hundred gold coins apiece, and to most people, it was incomparably valuable.

After a session of cultivation, Li Xuan’s spirit force had already recovered. However, that feeling of weariness and exhaustion allowed Li Xuan to understand that it was a change resulting from the power of the ‘unification of heaven and man’ he had carried from the past world. This kind of power was as if he had opened his ‘mind’s eye’, and it was extremely powerful. But, the burden it placed on his spirit force and elemental energy within his dantian was enormously large, so it couldn’t be maintained for long.

However, Li Xuan was already very satisfied with this kind of power.

Standing up, he stepped into the forest full of th.o.r.n.y undergrowth.

There were many poisonous objects within the forest of all kinds of bright and vibrant colors, and as Li Xuan looked at these, his intention to prepare poison grew even thicker.

Although the most effective and formidable poisons were those like white a.r.s.enic, a.r.s.enic wasn’t easy to find. Not to mention that even if he did stumble across weathered, metamorphic rock, burning it using the fire element wouldn’t necessarily be able to burn much of it out.

Giving up this idea, Li Xuan’s gaze fell upon those vibrantly colored poisonous sources.

If he gathered all these highly toxic poisons together and deposited it without the slightest hint by using the [Rainfall Technique] into the other party’s food or any such thing, taking further action would be much easier. Of course, the matter definitely wouldn’t proceed so smoothly because of the vigilance of those experts and their elemental protective guard. Both these factors hindered Li Xuan’s plans.

Deliberating in his heart, Li Xuan advanced according to where he judged the medicinal herbs he had seen with his ‘Mind’s Eye’ might be. With this in mind as he journeyed along, he carefully searched for and collected those poisonous yet exceedingly colorful plants. The poisonous flora around the nests of poisonous reptile species were paid especially close attention as well.

By utilizing the auxiliary [Wind Soaring] technique as well as the primary [Gravity Reversal] technique of the earth element to support himself, Li Xuan could even glide in the sky for a while. However, he didn’t choose to do so, and instead swiftly advanced through the forest as he unceasingly gathered poisonous plants.

In the depths of the forest, in a gorge adjacent to an approximately hundred meter tall precipice, Li Xuan’s body was floating in the air as his eagle-like eyes fixed on a Black-Backed Iron Crocodile in a marsh. Li Xuan couldn’t determine the strength of this Black-Backed Iron Crocodile, but most Black-Backed Iron Crocodiles were at least in the 3rd Fen realm. Because its growing conditions were so vile, adding its characteristically rough skin and thick flesh, it was extremely difficult to obtain its magic core. Furthermore, the core’s sale price was sky high.

The reason why Li Xuan’s eyes were fixed on this Black-Backed Iron Crocodile wasn’t because it was anything special, but because this magical beast was guarding a corner where a small tree had grown and borne a seemingly ordinary fruit of a deep blue color.

This tree was included in Li Xuan’s vast database of knowledge, and he recognized that the fruit was an Indigo Devil Fruit. The effect of this fruit was comparable to a 4-star grade elemental elixir. Besides being able to heal one’s wounds, the fruit could also stimulate the body to heighten its medical efficacy, allowing the body to temper itself one step further, resulting in increased strength.

No matter if it was medicine or equipment, once the good reached the 4-star grade, it became a precious item that could no longer be measured by gold coins. As such, Li Xuan’s eyes lit up when he spotted the fruit, immediately beginning to calculate in his heart.

As Li Xuan remained floating in the air, the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile below only knew to protect the Indigo Devil Fruit, and had not yet gone on the offense. However, Li Xuan had already begun to continuously compress a fire needle and a lightning needle.

Compress, compress, then compress again!

An immense amount of elemental energy was continually compressing. It compressed to the point that the fire needle and lightning needle in Li Xuan’s two hands had already formed into physical bodies flickering with strange and terrifying aura!

Perhaps it was an expert in detecting elemental waves, but that Black-Backed Iron Crocodile who had just been taking a nap suddenly snorted and lifted its head, its teeth bared as its large eyes stared at Li Xuan. In just a moment, its humongous eyes began to redden with an ominous glint, as savage as a wicked wolf.

It opened its large maw, intending to deliver an earth-piercing attack. However, in the next moment, a bolt of lightning and a fire needle simultaneously pierced violently into its gaping mouth. Meanwhile, Li Xuan’s incredibly powerful soul pressure abruptly exploded, and under that monstrous pressure, the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile let out a miserable cry as its body began to writhe intensely.

Grasping the magic staff, Li Xuan’s two hands formed an archer’s stance as countless compressed fire needles and lightning needles shot out from his two hands. That powerful strength and that swift speed brought about acute sonic booms.

Although the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile possessed strength, its body began to emit black smoke under that dense flurry of attacks. Following that, its skin also began to show traces of burns, and after struggling and writhing in vain, countless fire needles quickly turned it into a roasted hedgehog riddled with gaping wounds and holes.

Li Xuan felt that this whole process was a bit laborious. The Black-Backed Iron Crocodile’s head was extraordinarily solid, and under ordinary circ.u.mstances, Li Xuan’s fire needles and such techniques would not be capable of piercing through, even under compression. In addition, besides the very first attack in which Li Xuan had shot through its gaping jaw and utilized soul pressure to bring about serious injury, the following attacks did little to effectively harm the crocodile.

All these details left a very deep impression on Li Xuan’s mind.

After all was said in done, Li Xuan only had these basic methods and no powerful offensive methods. Based on his current fighting strength, to engage in close combat with such a magical beast was extremely taxing. As such, after having killed the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile, Li Xuan had a much better grasp on his strength. Using a rough estimate, he could probably confront 3rd Fen 3rd layer experts, but any higher than that, then he had no chance.

Of course, this only concerned external battle capability. If he executed an attack from the dark, it was a completely different matter.

Li Xuan pondered deeply, then swiftly dropped into the marsh. Waving his hand, a sharp dagger appeared in his hand.

Li Xuan efficiently cut apart the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile’s head and dug out a fist-sized earthen yellow magic core from within. Only after storing it into his interspatial ring did he cautiously look towards the now dirtied Indigo Devil Fruit.

At this moment, there were eight Indigo Devil Fruits cl.u.s.tered on the tree, two of which had already been partially eaten by the Black-Backed Iron Crocodile, judging from the remaining bite marks. Of the eight fruits, seven of them were already ripe, with the last still immature.

Fixing his eyes on the Indigo Devil Fruits, something slightly flashed in Li Xuan’s eyes. He then used some earth element to stir up some dust to settle on the mature Indigo Devil Fruits to conceal their ripened color. Following that, he carefully dug the fruits out from the root after thorough deliberation.

Taking ahold of it, Li Xuan again activated the [Gravity Reversal] and [Wind Soaring] techniques and began to fly in the direction of Yajia Luojia’s group.