Chapter 433: Learning The True Purpose Of The Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra!

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Analyzing the monster’s rank only gave him ???, but it was clear that it couldn’t be stronger than Vladimir. Riven tried again, only to get the same result. That wasn’t particularly helpful.

He would have to judge it by what he had seen so far instead of waiting for a rank to appear. It could take his attacks and keep moving, but that didn’t mean it had more power than Vladimir. It just meant he hadn’t found the right way to deal with it yet.

Still, Vladimir had grown very strong, especially after getting his new arms. In terms of power alone, he was likely at S Rank. That was enough to make Riven take the monster seriously, even if he was confident he could win.

There was no point treating it like an easy target just because he had an idea of where its strength came from. He kept watching it while he considered his options. He could have put more power into his attacks, but he wanted to do better than that.

Riven could surpass that once he went all out, though.

But destroying it wasn’t the only thing on his mind. He remembered what had happened to his own Demons after they were slain, and that gave him another reason to keep studying the monster.

If the same thing could happen here, simply getting rid of it would be a waste. He glanced toward the master, wondering whether the old man had already guessed what he was thinking.

"How much do you think he’d cost?" he asked the ghost of the Ten Thousand Poison Master, who was floating behind him.

"Oh? You mean with poisons?" The master laughed. "Hah! So you’ve figured out the true purpose of the Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra? On your own?! I thought I’d have to give you a lesson later...!"

Riven had wondered about it since his own Demons were reabsorbed. They hadn’t just disappeared when he defeated them. They had become something the art could use, despite not being ordinary poisons. He had kept that in mind, trying to understand what connected the two. Seeing the Heart Demon now made the answer seem much less complicated than he had first thought.

"Yeah, I realized that when my own Demons were slain and then reabsorbed as poisons," Riven said with a nod, locking eyes with the monster below. "The Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra isn’t just meant to absorb poisons. It’s an art meant to absorb, compress, and devour all evil within the body, turning the body itself into the ultimate Gu Jar."

He had been thinking of poison as something that came from outside, something he could absorb after coming into contact with it. His own Demons had shown him that there was more to it than that. The art could make use of what was already inside him too. That was the part he had needed to understand, and the master’s reaction told him he was on the right track.

"Through endless torment, it refines that body into the ultimate, most impervious form. Heart Demons are considered ’poison of the heart,’ so they’re the favorite meal of your cultivation art..."

"Hahahaha! So you really figured it out?! Damn kid!" The Ten Thousand Poison Master looked annoyed, but he was clearly proud, nodding and crossing his arms. "Well, that’s right! It’s one of the functions of my art. I created it because I was born sick. I was known as the weakest and sickest of all the members of my species."

He said it without looking away from Riven, as if daring him to find it hard to believe. It wasn’t the sort of beginning Riven would have expected from someone who talked so much about his own strength. But the master didn’t seem embarrassed by it. He looked almost pleased to mention it now, knowing how far he had come from the child everyone had known.

"Being told how weak you are gets pretty annoying after a while," the master continued. "Especially when you already know it. I didn’t need anyone reminding me. What I needed was a way to do something about it, and waiting around wasn’t going to give me one. So I had to try something other people wouldn’t."

"I overcame it by assimilating poisons and risking my life traveling to worlds known to be extremely dangerous and toxic to most. It was my only chance, the only thing I could do to grow stronger."

Riven listened, understanding why the master had made an art out of something most people would avoid. For him, poison hadn’t just been another weapon to use against his enemies. It had been a chance to change what he could do with his own body. That made the endless torment involved in the art easier to understand, even if it didn’t make it sound any more pleasant.

"Back then, nobody would’ve thought it would make me one of the three strongest... but I’m already dead, hah! So none of that matters...!" He smiled defiantly. "Now, Riven, as my successor, show me what you can do!"

Riven smiled and nodded. "Yes, master."

He raised his hands and began drawing on the art, thinking about what the master had just told him. He had understood one of its purposes but understanding it and putting it to use weren’t the same thing. Now he had the chance to show that he could do both. He glanced at the old man, who was still watching with his arms crossed, clearly expecting more than an explanation.

His aura erupted, turning into dozens of coiling, hissing serpents.

They wound around his arms and shoulders as he brought more power into the technique. Riven watched one coil around his raised hand, then directed it back toward the others. He didn’t need to rush and lose control just because the master was watching. The old man had asked him to show what he could do, and he intended to do it properly. He kept his hands steady as the change spread through his body.

His appearance shifted as his hair grew long and purple and his frame became taller and more muscular. Purple tattoos resembling snakes biting their own tails appeared across his body, and his eyes turned a sharp red.

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