A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Aksai spoke honestly, without shame or hesitation.

“I may not have a powerful background, but that doesn’t mean I want to risk my life every time just to sharpen my skills. Frankly, that style of cultivation doesn’t appeal to me.

“Do you think I’m some kind of daredevil with a protagonist’s luck, which would save me from any form of mortal danger at the very last moment? Um… don’t get me wrong. What you see right now… this little Serya coming to my aid. It’s not that kind of luck. I mean not really. These are the trump cards I have been cultivating for a long time.”

Aksai slowly walked behind Serya while speaking.

“Coming back to my previous point– why should I put my life on the line unnecessarily as a Spirit cultivator?”

He started counting on his fingers casually.

“Artifact crafting. Weapon Intent. Alchemy. Talisman making. Beast taming. Summoning arts. Gu insect rearing. Poison harnessing.”

“All those paths only matter when the cultivator is alive.”

His voice remained calm and steady.

“For example, what’s the use of obtaining an inheritance from the Heavenly Poison Sect if you end up dying at the hands of a Dao Beast?”

Arkaal’s face stiffened slightly. Aksai looked at him almost pityingly.

“Your master was right, you know.”

“You truly were not ready to enter that place.”

Arkaal’s fists trembled faintly.

“People like you,” Aksai continued, “who cling to old ideas about pride and honor as Spirit cultivators… who try to find a lucky encounter among countless death traps… they rarely reach true greatness.”

“They either die because of the restraints they place on themselves…”

Aksai’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“…or because of the greed hidden inside their hearts.”

The chamber became silent again. Only the sounds of gu insects killing each other echoed in the background.

Aksai then gently placed both hands on Serya’s shoulders. The little snake girl looked up at him calmly. Aksai smiled wickedly at Arkaal.

“I am not like you traditional cultivators. I have absolutely no shame in hiding behind a young girl if it allows me to kill my enemies without dirtying my own hands.”

Arkaal’s face finally twisted in anger.

“You—”

But before he could continue, Aksai lazily waved his hand.

“Serya,” he said casually, “go ahead and kill that man.”

He stretched his neck lightly as if already tired of the entire situation.

“Let’s wrap this up.”

A grin appeared on his face.

“Ummmm! You know…. I am in a dire need of some good massage. I want to go home already and relax in the company of my beautiful maids.”

Serya looked at Arkaal quietly after hearing Aksai’s order.

There was no anger on her face. No excitement either. Without saying a word, she slowly raised one of her small arms. A faint green light gathered around her fingers.

Hisss.

A soft sound echoed in the chamber. In the next moment, two tiny Spirit snakes appeared beside her. The snakes were only as long as an arm. Their bodies were thin and transparent. They did not look like living creatures at all.

They looked like flowing Dao runes.

Strange green symbols moved across their bodies constantly, forming and breaking apart without pause. Their eyes glowed with a faint golden light similar to Serya’s own eyes.

The two snakes floated in the air soundlessly.

Serya then pointed toward Arkaal.

“Go,” she said softly.

The moment her voice fell—

The two Spirit snakes shot forward.

Whoosh!

They moved so fast that even Aksai narrowed his eyes slightly.

Arkaal’s expression changed completely. Fear exploded across his face.

’What the hell are those things?!’

He immediately turned around and ran.

Boom!

Spirit essence burst from his body as he pushed his movement technique to its limits. His figure turned blurry as he rushed across the chamber. He wanted to undo the seal and run the hell away from the cave.

Unfortunately for him—

The two snakes were faster.

After all, they did not possess mortal bodies. They were not flesh and blood creatures. They were fragments of Dao runes shaped into snakes and given temporary consciousness by Serya’s will.

Their bodies ignored resistance completely as they glided through the air like ghosts. Within moments, they caught up to Arkaal.

“No—!”

Arkaal swung his arm wildly while trying to block them. But the snakes simply phased through his Spirit essence. The next moment, the two snakes wrapped around his shoulders and climbed onto his body rapidly.

One reached the left side of his neck. The other reached the right.

Then—

Bite.

Bite.

The two snakes sank their ethereal fangs into Arkaal’s neck at the same time. His entire body froze.

“AAARGHHHH!”

A horrifying scream escaped his mouth.

His eyes widened in terror. At first, he thought the snakes were poisoning him.

But soon, he realized the truth. The snakes were not injecting poison into his body. They were doing something far worse. They were destroying his ability to withstand poison.

The countless poisons hidden inside his body suddenly became uncontrollable. For centuries, Arkaal had refined poison into his flesh, blood, organs, bones, and Spirit essence. His body had adapted to them completely through cultivation.

But now—

That balance was collapsing. It was as if the anti-poison resistance he had built over hundreds of years was getting burned away bit by bit. The poison inside him began turning against him.

Arkaal stumbled forward. His skin rapidly turned sickly green. Blue veins bulged across his body violently. His eyes became bloodshot red. Then strange dark-yellow Essence Equation runes started appearing on his skin.

The runes moved like living worms beneath his flesh. They slithered across his arms, neck, face, and chest endlessly.

Arkaal’s breathing became rough and broken.

“N-no… no… stop… STOP!”

He tried to move again. But his body slowly stopped responding to him.

His legs froze first. Then his arms. Then even his fingers started twitching uncontrollably. The poison inside him was eating him alive from within.

A foul smell spread through the chamber.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Arkaal slowly looked down in horror.

His flesh was melting.

The skin on his arms began liquifying first. Thick green liquid dripped from his body onto the ground. Soon after, chunks of flesh started sliding off his bones.

“Aaaaaaghhhh!”

Arkaal screamed madly while trying to pull the snakes away from his neck. But the moment his fingers touched them, his hands passed through their bodies.

The snakes were ethereal. They could not be touched physically.

The two Spirit snakes continued biting his neck silently while the poison inside him grew more violent with every passing second.

More flesh melted away. His cheeks sank inward and his lips dissolved partially. One of his eyes bulged outward as veins burst around it.

Arkaal’s body shook violently while pieces of flesh continued dripping from his skeleton. The proud late-stage Core Formation Lord who had controlled poisons his entire life was now being devoured by his own poison cultivation.

And the worst part—

He could do absolutely nothing about it.

Aksai watched the scene quietly from behind Serya. Even he felt slightly disturbed seeing Arkaal die this way.

’Damn. I should have eaten first. That scene just killed my apetitie.’

The old man’s body slowly collapsed to his knees. By then, large portions of his skeleton had already become visible beneath the melting flesh.

Yet the two little Spirit snakes still remained attached to his neck calmly. As if patiently waiting for the poison to finish its work completely.

Aksai stood quietly for a few moments and observed Arkaal’s melting body carefully. He wasn’t someone who would take the risk of checking up on his enemy when he was about to take his last breaths. Why should he allow them to make a comeback at his own expense?

Eventually, the two Spirit snakes finally loosened their bites and slowly dissolved into particles of green light before disappearing completely.

Arkaal’s body no longer moved. His Spirit essence had vanished. His aura was gone. Even his heartbeats had completely stopped.

Only after confirming all this did Aksai finally let out a long breath.

“Haaah…”

The tension in his shoulders relaxed slightly. For the first time since entering the royal faction’s base, he truly felt that the danger around him had lessened.

He stretched his arms lazily.

Crack.

Crack.

Then he rotated his neck clockwise, causing another series of cracking sounds to echo softly inside the chamber.

“What a troublesome old man,” Aksai murmured to himself.

At this point, Serya tugged lightly on his sleeve. Aksai looked down and saw her sleepy golden eyes struggling to remain open.

“Big brother,” she spoke softly, her voice sounding weak and tired. “Can I go now? I… I feel sleepy.”

Aksai immediately nodded.

“You’ve done enough,” he said calmly. “Go rest.”

Serya looked relieved after hearing him. In the next moment, green light wrapped around her small body.

Whoosh.

Her figure disappeared instantly as Aksai sent her back into the Enchanted Everwood Farm.

Aksai then turned his attention back toward Arkaal’s remains. At this point, most of the flesh had already melted away completely.

Only a partly corroded skeleton remained on the ground. Strange poison smoke still rose from the bones occasionally. Aksai narrowed his eyes slightly.

“I should also hurry up and collect his residual soul before it dissipates,” he murmured.

From the very beginning, Aksai had never intended to keep Arkaal alive. Someone like him was too dangerous for the current him. Even if severely injured, a late-stage Core Formation Lord still possessed too many methods.

There was no guarantee that the old man would remain trapped quietly. Aksai did not want to gamble with his own life just to force information out of him.

Dead enemies were always safer than living ones.

And residual souls—

Those were much easier to deal with.

If everything went well, Aksai could turn Arkaal’s remaining soul into a woodland fiend later. Not only would he gain the old man’s memories and knowledge, but he could also strengthen his own forces further.

Thinking this, Aksai slowly started walking toward the exposed skeleton. His footsteps echoed softly through the chamber.

Green Spirit essence slowly gathered around his fingertips as he prepared to start the woodland fiend creation ritual.

However—

Just before he reached the skeleton—

Serya’s sleepy voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.

’Big brother…’

Aksai instantly stopped walking.

Her voice sounded weak and distant now, as if she was already half asleep.

’I… I forgot to tell you…’

Aksai’s eyes narrowed immediately.

’That person… will soon go through Poison Metamorphosis… his last survival mechanism that brings him back from death one time…’

A brief pause followed. Then came Serya’s final warning.

’Be… be careful…’