The black iron token felt cool in Wei's palm. It was a tangible link, a thread pulling him deeper into the Blackwood Sect's web. The death of the five disciples was a minor affair, an experiment. The rendezvous point marked on this token, however, promised a far more valuable prize. A Nascent Soul expert. The thought sent no thrill of excitement through him, only the cold, satisfying hum of a predator that has caught a promising scent.
He did not rush. Haste was the enemy of a perfect hunt. He spent the rest of the day in the blood-soaked clearing, not resting, but preparing. He sat in a meditative posture and began to feed the Cauldron of Myriad Venoms. One by one, he introduced the toxic herbs he had gathered from the Shadowfen Marsh and the Crimson Cloud Valley. The swirling, dark-purple cauldron pulsed with a greedy light, consuming each ingredient and converting a portion of its essence into streams of pure spiritual energy that flowed into Wei's body.
His spiritual sea, already vast, churned as the new energy was absorbed. The barrier to the Spirit Emperor realm, a wall of solid diamond he had been unable to crack for decades, felt infinitesimally weaker. It was a minuscule change, but it was progress, something he had not felt in a very long time. The system, and the path of slaughter it demanded, was undeniably effective.
By nightfall, he was at his absolute peak, his spiritual reserves full, his mind sharp and clear. He stored the now-humming cauldron and stood up. With the map from the token burned into his memory, he began his journey, melting into the crimson shadows of the valley.
His movement was a study in stealth. He did not fly or even run. He walked, his steps silent, his body seeming to phase through the reddish mist. He utilized a low-level concealment art purchased from the system store for a handful of points, one that didn't make him invisible but rather bent light and sound around him, making him appear as nothing more than a trick of the eye, a shadow that didn't quite belong. He moved like a phantom, his spiritual sense constantly scanning, not in a wide, arrogant wave, but in a series of tight, focused pulses, tasting the air ahead of him before he ever set foot there.
He bypassed two Blackwood Sect patrols, groups of disciples who swept the area with a lazy, confident air. He was so close to them that he could hear their muttered complaints about the boring duty, yet they never sensed his passage. He was a ghost in their own backyard.
The rendezvous point was located in the heart of the Blackwood Sect's territory, a place marked on the map as the 'Serpent's Maw Cave'. It took him the better part of the night to reach it. The cave was nestled in a sheer cliff face, its entrance obscured by a thick curtain of blood-red vines. Below it was a deep, murky lake, home to several powerful and aggressive water beasts. It was a well-chosen location, easily defensible and difficult to approach unnoticed.
Wei did not approach. He found a position in the dense canopy of a massive crimson tree on the opposite side of the lake, over a mile away. From here, he had a perfect, unobstructed view of the cave entrance. He settled onto a thick branch, his breathing slowing until it was almost non-existent, and began to watch.
His patience was inhuman. He remained utterly still for a full day and a night. He watched the sun rise and set, watched the predatory beasts in the lake hunt smaller creatures, and watched the wind rustle the blood-red vines. On the morning of the second day, his target appeared.
A man in the robes of a Blackwood Sect elder emerged from the cave to greet the dawn. He was tall and gaunt, with long, grey hair tied back in a severe knot. His spiritual pressure, even when relaxed, was a palpable force, sharp and aggressive. This was a cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, a being leagues beyond the Core Formation disciples Wei had dispatched earlier. This was Elder Gu, a man whose name was known for his ruthlessness and his mastery of venomous beasts.
Wei observed Gu's routine. The elder would emerge in the morning, perform a series of breathing exercises that drew in the valley's unique energy, and then retreat back into the cave for most of the day. In the evening, he would emerge again to feed the beasts in the lake below, tossing large chunks of meat into the water and watching with a cruel smile as the creatures fought over them.
This routine was his weakness. It was predictable. And the feeding of the beasts was the perfect opportunity.
Wei began to formulate his plan. A direct assault was, of course, an option. As a Spirit King, he could crush a peak Nascent Soul expert like Elder Gu with overwhelming force. The fight would be brief and decisive. But to Wei's mind, such an approach was crude, inefficient, and an utter failure. A battle between experts of their level would leave behind a storm of spiritual residue and obliterate the landscape. It would be a signed confession, screaming to the Blackwood Sect that their elder had been assassinated by a powerful foe. Wei didn't just want his target dead; he wanted the death to be a mystery, an accident, a quiet ripple in the water. His poison had to be delivered in a way that Gu would never suspect, ensuring the kill was perfect.
He spent another day in observation, confirming the routine was unchanged. Then, on the third night, under the cloak of a moonless sky, Wei began his work. He descended from the tree and circled the lake, his movements as silent as a falling leaf. He approached the water's edge at the point furthest from the cave. From his storage ring, he produced a small, clay pot. Inside was a thick, viscous paste, a highly concentrated bait made from the glands of a dozen different spiritual beasts, designed to be irresistible to aquatic predators.
But this bait was special. Wei uncorked a tiny vial and let a single drop of colorless liquid fall into the paste. This was 'Beast-Frenzy Toxin'. It was not lethal. Instead, it was a powerful psychotropic agent that, when consumed by a spiritual beast, would bypass its natural instincts and drive it into a state of uncontrollable, suicidal rage against the most powerful life force in the vicinity.
He mixed the poison into the bait and then, using his spiritual threads, he cast small chunks of it into the far side of the lake. He did not poison the entire lake, only the beasts furthest from the cave, ensuring Elder Gu would not notice anything amiss during his evening feeding. The baited creatures, massive, serpent-like beasts with armored scales, devoured the offerings greedily.
Wei then retreated back to his perch in the crimson tree and waited for the evening.
As dusk settled, casting long, dark shadows across the valley, Elder Gu emerged from his cave as expected. He stood on the ledge, a large sack of bloody meat in his hand. He began to toss the chunks into the water near the cave entrance, and the beasts he usually fed surged forward, their powerful bodies churning the murky water.
But then, from the far side of the lake, a commotion began. Three of the armored serpents, their eyes glowing with a manic, red light, ignored the meat. Their senses, amplified and twisted by the Beast-Frenzy Toxin, locked onto the most potent source of spiritual energy in the area: Elder Gu. With enraged roars that echoed through the valley, they launched themselves from the water, not at the meat, but directly at the ledge where he stood.
Elder Gu was shocked. His own beasts were attacking him? The sudden, unexpected assault forced him to react instantly. "Insolent creatures!" he bellowed, his Nascent Soul energy flaring as he unleashed a powerful blast of dark energy, vaporizing the head of the first beast.
The other two were upon him, their massive bodies slamming against the ledge, claws and fangs tearing at his protective spiritual barrier. The attack was a chaotic, violent explosion of water, scales, and spiritual energy. It was the perfect distraction.
While Gu was completely occupied, his attention and spiritual sense focused entirely on the two frenzied behemoths trying to tear him apart, Wei acted. His mind became a razor, his focus absolute. From his fingertips, the Thousand Phantom Threads shot across the mile-wide lake, not to bind, but to carry a payload. Suspended in the nearly invisible web of threads was a single drop of a viscous, black liquid: the 'Corpse-Weeper Vine' sap he had collected.
Gu's furious roars and the explosive sounds of battle completely masked the silent approach of the threads. His senses were overwhelmed by the immediate, life-threatening danger before him. He was not looking for a subtle attack from a mile away; he was fighting for his life against two powerful beasts. The web of threads, nearly invisible in the dim light, collapsed around him, and the single drop of black sap landed squarely on his chest.
At first, it seemed to have no effect. Gu blasted the second beast back with a powerful palm strike, his rage at its peak. But then he looked down and his eyes widened in terror. The sap was not burning him; it was dissolving him. His protective spiritual energy, focused on repelling the physical attacks of the beasts, was useless against this type of insidious, biological poison. His flesh and robes began to liquefy, turning into a black, foul-smelling ooze. He let out a final, horrified scream as the poison reached his dantian, dissolving his Nascent Soul.
Wei watched calmly as the once-powerful elder melted into a puddle of black sludge that dripped from the ledge into the lake below, just as the last frenzied beast collapsed, its life force extinguished.
[Target confirmed deceased. Cause of death attributed to Host's poison.]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[Target Cultivation: Nascent Soul Realm, Stage 9.]
[Host has received: 8,000 Sovereign Points.]
[Bonus reward for utilizing the environment and indirect tactics: +2,000 Sovereign Points.]
[Host has received: Poison Recipe - 'Beast-Frenzy Toxin'.]
A massive influx of 10,000 points. Wei felt the power of the system course through him. He waited for an hour, ensuring no one else was coming, before he flew across the lake. He landed on the ruined ledge. The only thing that remained of Elder Gu was his storage ring, which had fallen from his dissolving hand and lay glinting on the rock.
Wei picked it up without ceremony. He then used more corrosive powder to erase the last traces of the black sludge, ensuring nothing remained. The scene was now perfect: a tragic, accidental death where an elder was killed by his own frenzied beasts.
He retreated back into the forest to inspect his loot. Elder Gu's storage ring was a true treasure trove. It contained hundreds of high-grade spirit stones, several powerful spiritual artifacts, and a collection of rare herbs from the valley. But it was a small, unassuming jade slip that caught his attention. He infused it with his spiritual sense.
It was not a cultivation manual. It was a coded message. It spoke of a "final purification" that was to take place on the day of the Verdant Serpent Sect's Grand Competition finals. It mentioned "seeding the clouds" and a "crimson rain" that would "cleanse the unworthy."
Wei's blood ran cold. This was not about a territory dispute. The Blackwood Sect was planning a massive, indiscriminate poison attack on his sect, using the competition, when all the disciples would be gathered, as the perfect target. Elder Gu was not just a rendezvous agent; he was the overseer of the entire operation.
And Wei had just killed him, leaving the plot in disarray. But the plan itself was still in motion. He now held the key to stopping it, and to profiting from the chaos that was about to unfold.