Chapter Fifty-Two: Poison Pill!

What a pity!

Fang Jinrui spoke with great conviction, but things were never so simple. The sense of crisis within the city of Yellow Clouds had lessened only slightly, yet it still pressed upon everyone like a mountain, making it hard to breathe. And this was in the heart of Yellow Clouds City, the main stronghold of Purple Camel Peak, a place fortified with years of restrictions by a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator. If they were to leave the city and travel the road to the Grand Void Mansion, who knew how many perils awaited them? Did they really think a group of mere Body Tempering cultivators could make it through? Utter fantasy!

If not for the fact that the Three-Colored Cloud Blossom was so precious, and was meant as the betrothal gift prepared by Purple Camel Peak, he might have demanded the flower outright and left immediately. Though these thoughts churned within him, he did not reveal a trace of them on his face.

“Elder Fang, your words are reasonable. In fact, I was thinking the same. After all, the Lord of Grand Void Mansion is truly a figure of great stature, and such people care deeply for their reputation. Marrying the city lord might indeed seem a little disgraceful, but it was a match arranged by their elders, a joyous affair. If one were to resort to despicable means, it would only invite criticism,” Tu Lu said with a light laugh.

Fang Jinrui nodded, saying no more.

Afterwards, Tu Lu selected a low-grade magic treasure, the Thousand Mechanisms Umbrella, and a vial of Purple Cloud Elixirs from the treasury. Taking the city lord’s token, he bid farewell to Fang Jinrui and took up residence in an inn within the city.

Once settled in his room, he drew out the vial containing the Purple Cloud Elixirs and examined it for a while before removing the stopper. Instantly, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out. Taking a few sniffs, his cheeks flushed red. Yet, he did not consume it immediately; instead, he pulled a mouse from his sleeve and fed one of the pills to it.

As soon as the Purple Cloud Elixir entered its stomach, the mouse seemed to be floating in ecstasy, as if drunk. But after a moment, its body shuddered violently, blood seeping from its seven orifices, and it toppled over on the table, dead.

Tu Lu’s expression darkened. With a cold snort, he crushed the remaining elixir to dust.

The key to breaking through from the Filling Sea realm to the Purple Mansion lay in condensing one’s spiritual power into tangible form, establishing a Purple Mansion within the dantian, where the laws of heaven and earth would be inscribed with one’s personal Dao. The Purple Cloud Elixir was designed to assist in this crystallization of spiritual power; a mouse with no spiritual power should not have reacted to it at all.

This was not a true Purple Cloud Elixir, or at least not a normal one. Someone wished him harm!

Who was it?

Several suspects flashed through his mind: first, the forces within Yellow Clouds City who sought to assassinate those of Purple Camel Peak; then Fang and Jin; and finally, Purple Camel Peak itself.

Of these three parties, Purple Camel Peak had the least motive. The other factions had motive but lacked opportunity, while Fang Jinrui had the best opportunity—the elixir had passed directly from his hands to Tu Lu. As for motive… that was not impossible either.

But was it really so?

“Hmph, whatever the truth, since someone wants me dead, I’ll return the favor.”

With that, he quietly slipped out of the inn and left Yellow Clouds City.

Half a day later, a sudden crack of thunder echoed through a mountain valley outside the city. The entire gorge was engulfed in a sea of lightning; rocks split and shattered, trees were reduced to ash.

A lone figure emerged from the valley and, before any cultivator could arrive, slipped away unnoticed. He had finally refined the Thunder Vine into a Thunder Avatar. His cultivation had reached the peak of the Filling Sea realm, and his six avatars had all advanced to the late Filling Sea stage. If he were to merge his true body with his avatars, even Fang and Jin, who were half a step into the Purple Mansion realm, would not daunt him.

“It should be about time,” he murmured as he re-entered Yellow Clouds City, a faint smile curling his lips. Changing his appearance, he quietly approached the inn he had rented.

“They say someone died—a cultivator, no less!”

“That can’t be! If something happened to a cultivator, how could there be no commotion?”

The crowd outside the inn buzzed with speculation, pointing and whispering. The innkeeper stood outside with a mournful face, waiting for the city lord’s men while trying to explain matters to onlookers.

“Make way! Official business from the city lord’s mansion!”

“All unrelated persons, stand back!”

At that moment, the city lord’s guards surrounded the inn, sealing it off completely. In no time, they dragged out Tu Lu’s “corpse.”

“Wait, he’s still breathing!”

“This cultivator isn’t dead yet!”

Suddenly, someone cried out. The head guard, who was hauling the body, frowned at the discovery.

“Lord Tu is an esteemed guest of the city lord. Take him to the mansion at once and use the finest healing elixirs to save him!”

“Yes, sir!”

The guards hurriedly carried Tu Lu’s “corpse” toward the city lord’s mansion.

Standing on the edge of the crowd, Tu Lu watched coldly.

This was his third Sunflower Avatar, matured to his apparent age by forcefully stimulating it with the vitality of a century-old mother mushroom. In both appearance and the aura of its soul, it was now identical to him.

“Now, let’s see who truly seeks my life.”

Taking a room in an inn near the city lord’s mansion, he sat in meditation, focusing his spiritual senses entirely on the Sunflower Avatar.

The Eighteen Shadow Guards’ arts of plant avatars and artifact refinement each had their strengths and weaknesses. The plant avatar technique allowed the merging of avatar and main body to boost combat power, even pushing one’s blood energy to break through bottlenecks. However, the avatar could not stray too far from the true body. If it did, two outcomes were possible: either the soul within the avatar would dissipate, and the avatar would revert to its pre-spirit state, or the soul, having lost its origin, would persist independently—as with Gongsun Yan and Little Cai—essentially becoming another person with the same memories.

Though the inn was not far from the city lord’s mansion, it still required great effort to maintain the bond between his main body and the avatar.

Within the city lord’s mansion, the Sunflower Avatar was brought directly before Fang Jinrui.

“Lord Fang, this is the cultivator you spoke of. He’s still alive, though barely.”

“Hmph, any cultivator who might pose a threat to the city lord should be killed!” Fang Jinrui snapped.

“Yes, sir!” The head guard nodded and prepared to act.

“Wait!” Fang Jinrui suddenly seemed to recall something and called out.

The head paused.

“I’ll handle this myself. Withdraw, and see that all involved remain silent. Not a word of this must reach the young city lord.”

“Yes, sir!”

Once the head guard had left, Fang Jinrui rubbed his hands together and finally turned his gaze on the Sunflower Avatar.

Back in the distant inn, Tu Lu narrowed his eyes. He had initially intended to act, but now restrained himself—something felt off.

He watched as Fang Jinrui sneered, lifted a vase from a nearby bookshelf, and revealed a hidden passage. He hoisted the Sunflower Avatar and carried it into the passage.

Inside, Fang Jinrui took out two red pills and forced them into the avatar’s mouth before sealing the passage once more.

Moments later, the Sunflower Avatar opened its eyes and sat up. Preparing to spit out the red pills, it suddenly paused.

To deceive these people, he had indeed swallowed several of the Purple Cloud Elixirs. As a plant avatar, his resistance to toxins was far greater than that of a human cultivator, so he hadn’t been seriously harmed. Still, he could not entirely neutralize the poison, and some residue lingered in his body.

Yet now, under the influence of the red pills, he discovered that the remaining toxins were dissolving, little by little.

“Something is definitely amiss…”