A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

One had to note that Aksai’s druidic powers were very sensitive to the emotions of people in his vicinity.

He couldn’t exactly read Arkaal’s emotions because of the latter’s more advanced cultivation base. Arkaal also had better control over his emotions in the first place. As such, Aksai could not pinpoint what Arkaal was thinking.

However, Aksai was sure that Arkaal had changed the way he viewed him and his constitution.

’With bigger risks come bigger rewards, they say. Haah. Perhaps people who don’t have expertise in risk management believe in that saying, but I don’t. I’ll accept the rewards first and let this old man deal with the risks himself.’

He decided this before continuing to play his part as a novice Foundation Establishment Expert.

Meanwhile, Arkaal moved to the sides of the formation.

There were four cardinal points around it, each with a small array eye. He began placing poison ingredients into them one by one.

First, a 2nd Order herb.

Then a vial of refined poison liquid.

Then a piece of demon beast organ.

Each ingredient dissolved as soon as it touched the formation. It turned into streams of poison essence that flowed through the glowing lines and gathered toward the center.

Aksai felt it immediately.

The poison essence entered his body through the formation. It was smoother than the lake but also more direct. It did not just surround him—it was guided straight into him.

If the week-long session at the poison lake was Aksai orally taking the poison essence to gradually adapt to it, the formation was like an injection, attacking Aksai’s internal organs and even affecting his soul directly in real-time.

At first, Aksai thought it would not be anything too serious.

After all, he had just spent an entire week absorbing poison from the lake. His body should have been saturated by now, like someone who had eaten too much and could not take another bite.

But he was wrong.

The moment the formation started working, something inside him changed.

The formation did what it was meant to do. It tried to awaken and strengthen his poisonous constitution. It would have been fine if the formation only affected one’s constitution because Aksai did not have any poison constitution. At least not in a traditional sense anyway.

Aksai was about to take a sigh of relief, thinking his cover would not be blown because of the absence of his poison constitution. However, the formation ended up affecting something far greater.

His Druid’s Poison Heart.

Thump.

The second heart reacted strongly. Its beat grew faster, stronger, and deeper. It pulled in the poison essence at an alarming rate. Obviously, it was reacting to poison essence laws in the formation. The formation itself was a 3rd Order treasure that Arkaal painstakingly cultivated/

Aksai’s body trembled slightly.

The poison that entered him did not stay for long. It was broken down almost instantly and turned into pure life essence. That energy spread through his body, strengthening him again and again.

It was fast. Too fast.

Aksai tried to slow it down. He tried to control the flow and reduce the intake. But he couldn’t.

The formation kept pushing more poison into him, and his second heart kept pulling it in without pause. The process fed into itself, growing stronger with each passing moment.

It felt like pouring water into dry desert sand. No matter how much was poured, it kept absorbing more.

Arkaal, who stood outside the formation, slowly widened his eyes.

At first, he thought Aksai would struggle. Then he thought Aksai would barely keep up. But what he saw now… was something else entirely.

The ingredients he placed into the formation were being consumed at a shocking speed. The poison essence did not build up or overflow. It simply vanished into Aksai’s body.

Arkaal stopped for a moment. Then a slow smile appeared on his face.

“Heh…”

The smile grew wider.

“Hahaha…”

Soon, he started laughing. His laughter echoed in the chamber, filled with excitement and disbelief.

“Good! Good! You are even more valuable than I thought.” he said loudly.

His eyes shone with a strange light as he looked at Aksai. This was no longer just a talented junior. This was something rare. Something he needed to hold onto and not let go.

Aksai, sitting at the center of the formation, remained focused. His face was calm, but inside, his body was changing rapidly. Poison essence kept getting converted into pure and digestible Spirit energy that flowed through him like a raging current.

His cultivation base continued to grow. And Arkaal looked at him as if he had just found a treasure beyond price.

The formation continued to glow as more poison essence flowed into Aksai’s body. The green lines around him pulsed slowly. The poison did not come in waves like before. It came in a steady stream, guided and controlled by the formation itself.

Aksai kept his eyes closed and his posture steady. From the outside, he looked calm, as if he was fully focused on absorbing the poison. But inside, he was constantly communicating with Nuri.

He was not familiar with this kind of formation.

It did not feel like a simple refinement setup. There was something deeper hidden within it.

’Nuri,’ he called silently.

In the next moment, a faint spectral screen appeared in his mind. Lines of data and shifting symbols began to move across it as Nuri started analyzing the formation.

Aksai remained still while the analysis continued.

Seconds turned into minutes.

The poison kept flowing into him, and his Druid’s Poison Heart kept absorbing it without pause. At the same time, Nuri gathered more and more data from the formation.

Soon, the results started to appear.

The spectral screen showed a clear deduction. This formation was not just meant to refine poison. It was designed to affect the mind and the soul.

Aksai’s expression did not change, but his thoughts grew sharper.

The formation was slowly trying to overwhelm his consciousness. It worked in a subtle way. It would not harm the body. Instead, it would induce sleep, then push the target into a deep unconscious state.

At the same time, it would keep feeding poison essence into the body.

Over time, this would make the body highly compatible with stronger poison, even 3rd Order or higher. And all of this could happen while the person remained unconscious for months.

The only reason Aksai’s soul wasn’t affected was because he was not completely human anymore. Also, his Druid Poison Heart was different from having a poison constitution. As such, the formation worked on him but it failed to produce intended results.

Arkaal only thought that Aksai’s poison constitution was of a higher grade than he had initially thought. This was why he kept on going without a pause.

By this point, Aksai understood the intent, which was nothing short of being labeled as sinister. This was not just training. And he thought of the worst possibility first.

His thoughts turned serious.

’Is this old man trying to take over my body?’ he wondered at first.

But he quickly dismissed that idea.

’No… that doesn’t make sense,’ he thought calmly. ’His body is not young, but it is not at the point where he would abandon it either. And even if he wanted to, a Core Formation cultivator cannot just leave their body and take another one without facing severe consequences.’

He paused for a brief moment as he continued to think.

’Besides, he seemed genuinely interested in taking me as a disciple earlier. Something changed after my time in the poison lake.’

Aksai’s thoughts moved quickly.

’If it’s not his own decision… then someone else must be behind this. Someone above him.’

The idea settled in his mind.

On the outside, Aksai still looked like he was deeply focused on the formation. His breathing was steady, and his body remained still. Inside, however, he had decided to discard his identity as Naran and escape from the clutches of the royal faction.

Aksai had always been cautious.

He never trusted things at face value, especially not in a world like this. He knew that there were true master-disciple bonds in this world. Bonds where masters treated their disciples like family, and disciples gave their lives for their masters.

He did not doubt that such relationships existed. But he also knew that not everyone followed that path. And he was not someone who would blindly trust another person to guide him.

He had chosen his own path long ago. Following someone else’s footsteps was not something he desired.

Even when Arkaal had offered to take him in, Aksai had agreed for his own reasons. He wanted to learn more about the royal faction. He wanted to see how deep their plans went.

That was all.

He had never let his guard down.

’Hmm…’ he thought quietly.

The formation continued its work. The pressure on his mind slowly increased. It was gentle, almost soothing, like a hand trying to guide him into sleep.

Aksai understood what it wanted. And then, he made a decision.

’If he wants me to lose consciousness… then I’ll just give him what he wants,’ he thought.