Against The Heavens 31 Corrupted By Poison.

Even after Li Yang snuck away from the spider and continued moving towards the emerald volcanoes, he would still occasionally replay the battle between the three Demonic beasts inside his head. He did not remember Zhao Feng or the others having any poisonous Demonic beasts as pets, but he still could not shake the feeling that the poison he saw them use was familiar.

"Yeah yeah, I know that there is no point in mulling over it. But what else am I supposed to do while we are walking?"

Jinwu released a few low chirps from Li Yang's shoulder, breaking his chain of thought. Li Yang pat Jinwu on the head with a faint smile, discarding the thoughts. Since he could not find an answer, there really was no need to needlessly ponder over it.

"Alright, if my guess is correct, we should be entering the areas where the stronger Demonic beasts reside, so lets put all our focus on staying hidden. Getting found would really not end up being fun."

Li Yang's eyes grew sharp and cautious, the faint smile on his lips vanis.h.i.+ng. With the memories of his past life, he clearly knew that the first nine runes were only the start of cultivation. Even after one finished carving all nine runes, there would still be countless paths one could take to advance their cultivation, whether it was carving more runes, different runes, or by fusing all the runes one had.

Because he knew this, Li Yang had the guess that within this hidden realm, the Demonic beasts that had similar strength to him only occupied a tiny area. Maybe even Demonic beasts that had strength similar to a cultivator with nine runes only occupied a small area.

He could not afford to be careless. He had already underestimated this hidden realm before entering it, he would not make the same mistake while he was wandering through it. Jinwu nodded his small head in understanding, not even daring to let out any sounds in case he made too much noise.

Despite slowly walking past several large boulders and hills that would make for a good cover, Li Yang chose to walk a more roundabout path, using the various forests as cover. The forests were more suited to hindering the eyesight of Demonic beasts and gave Li Yang more options when it came to hiding.

Just like Li Yang thought, only a day after he witnessed the battle between the three Demonic beasts, he had already reached a place where he could not afford to fight any of the Demonic beasts he spotted. His speed dropped drastically once he reached that point, requiring several days to match the distance he used to cross in one day.

Of course, the forests were not devoid of Demonic beasts, so there were times where Li Yang had to hurriedly climb a tree, or quickly dig a hole in the ground beneath him. As he got closer and closer to the emerald volcanoes, he also became more and more certain that the guardian of the emerald volcanoes was a poisonous Demonic beast.

Every Demonic beast he had spotted while walking used poison in one way or another. He had even spotted one that used poison to create lifelike clones of itself. A hostile Demonic beast would eat the clone, and then the poison that the clone consisted of would corrode its body. Strangely enough, Li Yang found that despite the Demonic beasts using poison, they did not seem to be very resistant towards it.

"So they even come in shapes like that?"

The corners of Li Yang's mouth twitched slightly as he observed the spectacle from his hiding place. He had dug himself into the ground and covered the hole with a thin layer of ice, which he then covered with earth, leaving only a tiny hole that he could use to observe the surrounding area.

This was how Li Yang slept whenever he became too tired to continue moving, by digging a deep hole and using ice to secure the walls around him as well as the ceiling above him. Sleeping still carried a large risk, however, so he only allowed himself to sleep once every three days.

The scene that Li Yang was looking at was a very strange one. A Demonic beast in the shape of a large porcupine almost eight meters in length, with each needle on its back dripping with green poison, was laying on the ground and twitching.

Its eyes were glazed over, purple foam running out from its mouth. Even its long fangs, each one longer than Li Yang's arms, were falling out one by one. It occasionally let out some low screams of agony, but it seemed like its throat was slowly closing up because of the poison, so the screams got lower and lower.

The reason the corners of Li Yang's mouth twitched was because he could clearly see what had killed this Demonic beast. On the left front leg of the large Demonic beast was a small bug, only around the size of Li Yang's ring finger. It was a light green and looked just like a straw of gra.s.s. But it was this tiny Demonic beast that was slowly killing a Demonic beast that was almost eight meters in length, it truly made for a strange sight.

It was not like Li Yang did not have any memories about small Demonic beasts that possessed terrifying strength, but that was only when compared to the size of other strong Demonic beasts.

The White Tiger divine beast and Azure Dragon divine beast were such examples. A full-grown Azure Dragon could be so large that its body could coil around mountains or cover the sky when it flew. Yet a full-grown White Tiger, a being that was just as strong as an Azure Dragon, was only slightly larger than a normal tiger.

For something so small to carry poison potent enough to kill such a large Demonic beast, not even giving it a chance at resisting the poison. Li Yang shuddered at the thought of how strong its poison must be. If it managed to increase its strength even further, would it one day be able to use its poison to kill fully grown divine beasts?

While Li Yang was musing over such a terrifying possibility, the sky grew dark, faint rumbling sounds ringing out. Li Yang glanced at the sky, towards the direction of the rumbling sound. Black clouds were starting to cover the sky, even swallowing up the black smoke that was already present in the sky. The faint rumbling sound came from these clouds.

"This hidden realm even has rain? Seems like Zhao Feng and the others really wanted this place to be like a completely separate world."

Li Yang only glanced at the clouds before he returned to keeping an eye on the tiny Demonic beast. He was slightly interested in why the clouds were coming from the direction of the Thunder Flower Memorial, but it was more important to keep an eye on the tiny Demonic beast for the moment.

As Li Yang's eyes landed on the tiny Demonic beast, he could not help but furrow his eyebrows. The tiny Demonic beast, upon noticing the gathering clouds, started panicking. It separated from the dying Demonic beast and hurriedly fled into the distance vanis.h.i.+ng from sight. As for the dying Demonic beast, as it looked at the gathering clouds, its eyes filled with despair.

As Li Yang was about to voice out his confusion, the ground around him lit up with intricate runes and lines, an array that covered the entire forest activating. As the array activated, a deafening rumbling sound rang out, a ma.s.sive bolt of golden lightning shooting out from the black clouds and splitting apart the air.

"Golden lightning!?"

Li Yang could not help but call out in shock. Golden lightning was the lightning he used in his last life, the strongest lightning he was capable of using back then. It was what gave him the t.i.tle of Thunder Monarch. Golden lightning would only occur during a heavenly tribulation, or in people, Demonic beasts, or places that had managed to harness the power of the golden lightning.

None of Li Yang's old comrades were capable of harnessing the power of golden lightning, so how could it be present in the hidden realm that they had created. Despite the bolt of golden lightning striking down on the forest where Li Yang was residing, the array that covered the forest lit up and protected it from harm.

What followed after the golden bolt of lightning was rain. But it was not normal rain that fell down from the clouds. Faint purple drops fell from the clouds and covered the land, golden bolts of lightning occasionally lighting up the sky and reflecting in the purple drops.

It would have made for a breathtaking sight had it not been for the carnage it brought. Anything that was not protected by an array, when touched by the purple drops of rain, started melting and corroding. The golden bolts of lightning tore apart the earth, while the purple rain melted everything it touched.

"Ah, so that is why it was so familiar."

Li Yang let out a low mutter as he looked at the spectacle. The dying Demonic beast had already completely vanished, not even leaving behind bones. What spread out as the purple rain melted everything it touched, was the faint smell of flowers and wood. To Li Yang, it was a very dear and memorable scent.

It was a scent that Li Yang was far too familiar with, a scent that only one person in the entire world could produce. It was the scent of the poison that Fang Ying could create. Her poison did not have the normal fishy or rotten stench, but the faint aroma of flowers and wood, it was her trademark.

Li Yang now realized why the poison that the Demonic beasts in this area used looked familiar because they used the various types of poison that Fang Ying had once used. Li Yang had seen every poison that Fang Ying could use, so he could only call himself stupid for not realizing earlier.

After the rain and lightning continued for a while, it slowly died down, retreating into the distance, towards the Thunder Flower Memorial. Seeing it retreat in that direction, he could not help but wonder, not only his golden lightning but even Fang Ying's poison, was it all located inside the Thunder Flower Memorial?

"I wonder, did the Demonic beasts in this area always use poison? Or were they forced to adapt because of that rain?"

Li Yang could not help but wonder aloud. Since he could not remember Zhao Feng and the others having a poisonous Demonic beast companion, could it be that the Demonic beasts in this area had been corrupted by Fang Ying's poison?

"I guess I'll find out once I reach those volcanoes."

Li Yang turned his gaze towards the emerald volcanoes in the distance as he muttered. Upon meeting the guardian of the emerald volcanoes, he would probably get an answer to his question. If not, he could always try asking the bald golem once he returned to the town.