"Sister Little Fairy Doctor, don't worry. Tomorrow I'll definitely bring Brother Xiao Ting here, and I'll make sure he gets to know you."
"Brother Xiao Ting knows so many things; he must know a way to resolve the Woeful Poison Body."
"You know who I am. I'll also have people investigate on our side and see if there's any way to help you."
Xun Er's promises were like timely rain after a long drought, easing the crushing weight in Little Fairy Doctor's heart.
For the daughter of a clan leader from an Ancient Clan—a nine-star late-stage Dou Saint's only child—to say she'd help… there had to be at least a sliver of hope.
"Thank you, Xun Er. I'll never forget what you're doing for me," Little Fairy Doctor said sincerely, her gaze on Xun Er now holding a unique brilliance.
No matter what motives Xun Er might have, the fact remained: she was willing to offer help. That was an experience Little Fairy Doctor had rarely had since childhood.
"No need for thanks. We're friends now, aren't we?" Xun Er squeezed her hand.
"Friends…" The word lit up Little Fairy Doctor's eyes. This was something she had longed for since she was small, yet had never obtained.
Once the Woeful Poison Body truly awakened, she probably would never have a chance at friendship again.
She never expected Xun Er to willingly become her friend. She nodded heavily. "Yes. We're friends!"
The two newly minted friends chatted idly in the private room for a long while. Only when Xun Er felt that Little Fairy Doctor's mood had mostly stabilized did she mention that she needed to return to the Xiao clan.
With her natural grace and intelligence, Little Fairy Doctor spoke first. "I came here with the Thousand Medicine House caravan as the apothecary responsible for checking the medicinal ingredients. I should head back as well."
"All right. Then we'll meet again tomorrow," Xun Er replied easily.
After Little Fairy Doctor left, Xun Er walked to the window, cracked it open, and watched the doctor's slim figure recede into the distance.
As for helping her, she was sincere and would do her utmost. After all, Little Fairy Doctor was sure to become one of Xiao Ting's cherished confidantes.
Xun Er simply judged others by her own standards. If you met someone too stunning in your youth, you'd never forget them in your lifetime, and everyone else would feel like a compromise.
She herself refused to compromise—and she believed that anyone worthy of an Observation Copy wouldn't either.
If a man obtained a copy of the Journal, he would definitely want to become Xiao Ting's sworn brother.
Because as an opponent, with the Journal restricting them, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"If only a member of the Hun Clan—especially Hun Tiandi—had a Journal copy," Xun Er suddenly thought.
If that were the case, no one in the entire Hun Clan would be able to harm Xiao Ting.
Because of the Journal's constraints, she didn't feel an urgent need to know exactly who else had Observation Copies.
"Aunty Ling," Xun Er said lightly.
"Miss," a woman in black appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye, dropping to one knee. This was Ling Qing.
"Send a message back to the clan. I want all records we have on the Woeful Poison Body, including any possible ways to resolve it." Xun Er closed the window again, her tone calm, as if discussing something utterly trivial.
"Yes!" Ling Qing accepted and withdrew.
...
She worked quickly. By the time Xun Er had returned to her courtyard in the Xiao clan estate, Ling Qing had already appeared again, handing her a jade slip.
"Miss, the records have been transmitted."
Xun Er took the slip, infused it with Battle Qi, and pressed it to her forehead.
A moment later, countless pieces of information poured into her mind—records of all known Woeful Poison Body wielders over the past thousand years.
Because their eventual explosion would turn wide regions into deadly poison fields, any exposed Woeful Poison Body wielder would inevitably become the target of countless hunts.
Most perished in various ways around the Dou Emperor realm; very few died before that. Those who survived long enough generally made it to Dou Ancestor, but further progress became much more difficult.
After all, people with the Woeful Poison Body relied on ingesting poison to grow stronger, and high-rank poisons were extremely rare.
To seek out more poisonous materials, many Woeful Poison Body Dou Ancestors, enslaved by their craving for toxins, committed massacre after massacre.
"Oh?" Xun Er's willow brows rose.
The most recent Woeful Poison Body wielder to appear had emerged less than forty years ago—and had even crossed paths with Yao Lao.
At the time, she had only been a five-star Dou Emperor. In a rage over having her poison stolen, she turned an entire empire into a thousand-mile sea of toxin, drawing an encirclement of countless Dou Emperors. Yet she easily suppressed all of them, including a half-step Dou Ancestor. Only when several previously hidden Dou Ancestors joined forces did she finally retreat, grievously injured.
But she did not die. Instead, she recovered from her wounds, reached the peak of Dou Ancestor, and then returned for revenge—leaving that afflicted Dou Ancestor, who had spent ten years purging poison from his body, no chance to enjoy his reprieve.
Later, while both fought over a single seventh-tier poisonous herb, the Woeful Poison Body wielder clashed with Yao Chen, who would later be known as Medicine Venerable. In the end, she could not prevail over someone who controlled a Heavenly Flame and wielded multiple Earth-rank battle skills.
Yao Chen, however, did not kill her. On the contrary, they spent some time as companions—more precisely, the Woeful Poison Body wielder clung to him, an 8-rank alchemist.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Before too many years passed, her body exploded in a Woeful Poison Body outburst. Thanks to Yao Chen's intervention, though, no innocent lands were ravaged.
"As the continent's top 8-rank alchemist at the time, Yao Lao must have done plenty of research on the Woeful Poison Body," Xun Er thought, committing that fact firmly to memory.
She then turned her attention to the Ancient Clan's collected methods of "resolving" the Woeful Poison Body.
Method One: Before the Woeful Poison Body awakens, have the wielder take a seventh-rank pill (the Clear Origin Pill). The Woeful Poison Body will never awaken.
Method Two: Before the Woeful Poison Body wielder reaches the Dou Ancestor realm, have them take an eighth-rank pill, the Xuan Origin Primordial Pill (with at least three-colored Pill Lightning). There is a 50% chance of death by explosion, and a 50% chance of completely purging the poison. Success, however, means the wielder's cultivation will never advance beyond that level in their lifetime.
Method Three: After the wielder reaches Dou Ancestor, have them take the Xuan Origin Primordial Pill (with at least five-colored Pill Lightning). Their poison will be purged with certainty, and they will be unable to cultivate normally. They can then continue taking poisons to raise their strength, but once they try to break through to Dou Venerate, that will trigger the final Woeful Poison Body explosion.
Method Four: Theoretical…
Method Five: Theoretical…
…
Method Ten: Hypothetical…
The Ancient Clan did not disappoint. Right from the start, they had three fully tested methods, two theoretically feasible approaches, and five speculative possibilities.
But instead of feeling delighted, Xun Er's frown only deepened as she read. At last, she let out a long sigh. "No wonder none of the great Ancient Clans cultivate Woeful Poison Body wielders. It's not that they never thought of it—they tested it, and discovered it wasn't worth it."
Method One required the wielder's parents to be at least Dou Ancestors—possibly even Dou Venerates or Dou Saints—to detect the talent before awakening and then spend a seventh-rank pill to suppress it.
Little Fairy Doctor had already partially awakened. This method was no longer usable.
Methods Two and Three involved using eighth-rank pills—the hard currency traded by Dou Venerates and Dou Saints.
If the Woeful Poison Body's talent remained intact after treatment, then the Ancient Clans wouldn't have minded the investment.
But taking the pill before reaching Dou Ancestor meant a fifty-fifty chance of death, and even success would cap the wielder at the Dou Emperor level forever.
Taking it after reaching Dou Ancestor guaranteed success, but also guaranteed that the wielder would never step beyond Dou Ancestor.
No Ancient Clan would willingly spend an eighth-rank pill to buy a permanent Dou Emperor or Dou Ancestor.
…