Chapter 1739: What Is That?

"You... you dare to plot against me, you’re definitely not in the Cloud Ascending Realm Middle Stage!"

Feeling the rampant poison raging inside his body, Gu Zhixuan’s eyes were fixed on the young woman opposite him. This sentence was almost squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with intense unwillingness.

Unable to neutralize the poison within his body, Gu Zhixuan instinctively attributed the cause to the opponent hiding her true strength. If he were to lose here, perhaps he could feel a bit better.

"What? Does Young Master Gu find it hard to accept defeat?"

Liu Hanyi neither confirmed nor denied Gu Zhixuan’s words, just asking this question in return. For some reason, upon hearing this retort, the few people beside them felt a bit strange.

When Liu Hanyi first issued the challenge, everyone in the Thousand Poison Pavilion thought she was overestimating herself. How could a little girl whose name was unknown possibly be a match for the famous genius of the Wansu Sect?

Who would have thought that the outcome at this moment would leave everyone’s suspicions unfounded? The genius of the Wansu Sect was actually defeated in the Poison Meridian Skill competition by an unknown girl. This was truly unexpected.

"Young Master Gu, don’t blame me for not reminding you, if you don’t admit defeat, I’m afraid even I can’t control the deadly poison in your body!"

At this moment, Liu Hanyi wouldn’t waste too many words with Gu Zhixuan. Hearing her cold voice, the face of this Wansu Sect genius turned even more grim.

No matter how furious and aggrieved Gu Zhixuan felt, he couldn’t change the situation in front of him. The poison raging within his body made him unbearably miserable, and the Poison Meridian Skill he learned in the Wansu Sect seemed completely useless.

Whoosh!

Just then, as Gu Zhixuan was conflicted about whether to admit defeat, the sound of wind breaking suddenly arose, and a familiar figure appeared beside Liu Hanyi.

"It’s Du Qi!"

When Gu Zhixuan saw the figure due to the commotion here, he was both surprised and delighted, secretly thinking that despite being poisoned, Du Qi was still in perfect condition.

Gu Zhixuan knew clearly that his house slave’s cultivation had reached the Lingyun Realm Late Stage. With such cultivation, handling a woman in the Cloud Ascending Realm Middle Stage should be no problem, right?

Although Gu Zhixuan was accusing Liu Hanyi of not being in the Cloud Ascending Realm Middle Stage, he dismissed the notion after calming down a little.

If that woman were truly a Heavenly Realm powerhouse stronger than him, why bother provoking him into the Poison Meridian Skill competition? She could just overpower him directly with her Meridian Qi.

At this moment, Gu Zhixuan was suddenly struck with enlightenment, believing he had figured out everything. That woman indeed only had Cloud Ascending Realm Middle Stage cultivation but managed to obtain a potent poison from somewhere, which led to his downfall.

On this continent, what a Poison Vein Master uses isn’t necessarily a poison they’ve refined themselves. Even some ordinary cultivators can obtain powerful poison from high-rank Poison Vein Masters, often defeating the strong with the weak.

The reason was that Gu Zhixuan was too confident in his own Poison Meridian Skill. As a genius of the Wansu Sect, how could he consider an unknown girl’s capabilities?

Gu Zhixuan’s speculation was close to the truth, but he believed the potent poison Liu Hanyi obtained from another high-rank Poison Vein Master was actually her own Immortal Embryo Poison.

In the blink of an eye, as Gu Zhixuan’s mind was racing, thinking that once Du Qi, his Lingyun Realm Late Stage house slave, took action, he could definitely subdue that woman and force her to hand over the antidote, the sudden attack was already within inches of Liu Hanyi.

"Beware of her poison!"

Having suffered a major loss earlier, Gu Zhixuan became more cautious. Du Qi was his last hope, and he couldn’t allow any accidents in this move, so he raised his voice in warning.

In Gu Zhixuan’s view, the woman merely had a potent poison acquired from elsewhere. If it came to comparing Meridian Qi cultivation, she couldn’t possibly be a match for Du Qi.

The world was not such that everyone was like Yun Xiao, possessing a heaven-defying ability to fight across ranks. At least in Gu Zhixuan’s mind, this girl in front of him could by no means possess such an ability.

In fact, without Gu Zhixuan’s reminder, upon seeing his previous mishap, Du Qi had already become extremely cautious. Therefore, the moment he struck toward Liu Hanyi’s head, it was actually a feint.

Whoosh!

Du Qi, worthy of being a Lingyun Realm Late Stage strongman, changed his move with unparalleled speed. Before Liu Hanyi could react, his wrist moved suddenly, and the hand aimed at her head turned into a claw, grasping toward Liu Hanyi’s throat.

"Give up your resistance!"

Du Qi had boundless confidence in himself, and with such a surprise attack and the sudden change of moves, even a cultivator of the same Lingyun Realm Late Stage might be caught unprepared.

What this house slave of Young Master Gu feared was merely the poison that might have reached the Heavenly Rank Advanced stage. He was confident that as long as he guarded against it, he would surely succeed easily.

"Heh, is that so?"

To Du Qi’s surprise, his seemingly foolproof claw strike ultimately failed, as he heard a faint chuckle, followed by a gentle breeze seemingly brushing his back.

Du Qi was extremely shocked, and when he paused and turned his head, he found that the woman who was supposed to be in his grasp had somehow retreated several feet away.

What Du Qi didn’t know was if he had directly used Meridian Qi to suppress, or hadn’t changed moves earlier, Liu Hanyi might not have had time to react.

Yet Du Qi acted cleverly, or perhaps it was Young Master Gu’s loud shout that made him instinctively switch from palm to claw, giving Liu Hanyi time to respond.

With the Immortal Poison Body constitution, Liu Hanyi’s Poison Meridian Skill was unlike ordinary people’s, and her soul power cultivation was much stronger than meridian refining masters of the same rank.

Du Qi’s sudden attack indeed startled Liu Hanyi, but she hadn’t expected him to change moves halfway, allowing her to keenly seize the brief moment to react.

In the blink of an eye, not only did Liu Hanyi evade Du Qi’s claw strike, but she also took the opportunity to lightly brush Du Qi’s hand with her left fingertips.

The Immortal Embryo Poison erupted at this moment.

Regardless, Du Qi was only a cultivator of Lingyun Realm Late Stage, and unlike Young Master Gu, he hadn’t reached a level that Liu Hanyi couldn’t counter.

Plus the unintended consequence in the invisible, Du Qi’s sudden ambush at this moment made him fall into a passive situation, just like Young Master Gu, affected by the Immortal Embryo Poison.

"Tsk, tsk, a so-called genius of Wansu Sect, to act so inconsistently is truly disappointing!"

Liu Hanyi, who had retreated several steps, didn’t even glance at Du Qi, who was shaking his arm, but shifted her gaze to Gu Zhixuan, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"You brat, I am a genius of Wansu Sect, dare you kill me?"

At this moment, Gu Zhixuan had no more qualms, refusing to bow down to an unknown girl with his prideful nature, he would never do so.

Therefore, Gu Zhixuan immediately revealed his most powerful background. Such a background, if heard by some ordinary cultivators or even novices who had ascended to the Sanctum, might invoke fear.

After all, with Wansu Sect’s reputation and many Poison Vein Masters emerging from it, it had more influence than ordinary top sects. Furthermore, it seemingly had connections with Emperor Canglong Palace, making it intimidating to many.

Gu Zhixuan, having traveled the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud, had unintentionally offended some stronger individuals, but at every critical moment, merely revealing his identity made others hesitant.

Legend has it that Wansu Sect’s elders were extremely petty-minded; even if disciples committed wrongs outside, others weren’t allowed to summarily punish them, decisions had to be made back at Wansu Sect.

If anyone dared to attack Wansu Sect’s disciples, even if the fault was not theirs initially, Wansu Sect would maintain its prestige first, and though its disciples would receive severe punishment, outsiders exercising personal justice wouldn’t meet a good end either.

Over time, most cultivators in the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud would choose to avoid encountering Wansu Sect’s disciples, since their strength might not necessarily be inferior to those disciples, but causing troubles could be endless.

The fat shopkeeper and the observing elder believed that once Gu Zhixuan spoke, even if the girl took the mysterious wood, she would eventually hand over the antidote.

"Wansu Sect? What’s that?"

Yet unexpectedly, the next moment, from the mouth of the unknown girl came a cold voice, leaving the two onlookers stunned and making Gu Zhixuan and Du Qi’s faces extremely grim.

Actually, Liu Hanyi originally hadn’t intended to kill, if only Gu Zhixuan would surrender voluntarily, she indeed would’ve placed the antidote in a safe place after taking the piece of wood, allowing him to retrieve it himself.

But once Du Qi attempted a sneak attack, Liu Hanyi naturally dismissed that idea; she wasn’t saintly by any means, during her time on Tenglong Continent, countless strong individuals perished under her Immortal Embryo Poison, making her a feared venomous charm of Lianyun Mountain.

Moreover, Gu Zhixuan was now using threats; Liu Hanyi does not respond well to hard tactics, she might negotiate if approached cordially.

However, now Gu Zhixuan wished to pressure with his background; having just arrived at Nine-layered Dragon Cloud, she really didn’t know what lousy Wansu Sect was, so why would she have any fear?