Immortality Starts With Generosity

The Blue Shadow Viper was a common serpent in Zumulu. Apparently, they had been a favorite of the Snake King, and his favor and the species’ propensity to lay large clutches meant they soon spread all across the South. Of course, the reason the Snake King preferred them was thanks to their venom. On its own, Blue Shadow Viper Venom only killed the cells in the lungs and forced a person’s whole respiratory system to shut down. That was when it was only used by itself. Apparently, the venom was easily mixed with other toxins. So easy, in fact, that it was used in damn near every recipe that called for more than one poison because why not? Take whatever poison you wanted, add Blue Shadow Viper venom, and you had baby’s first complex poison.

Chen Haoran eyed the small finger-sized vial of smoky blue venom in front of him. It was the first time he’d ever held snake venom before in either life. It was a bit strange knowing he could right now take the vial in his hand and go an make a toxic cocktail that could kill a man. It just seemed too simple.

He uncorked the vial and drank it in one gulp.

“Well, how is it?” Xie Jin asked.

Chen Haoran smacked his lips. “Tastes like blue Gatorade.”

“I mean how you feel, not how it tastes. What the hell is Gatorade anyway?”

He looked inward and followed the venom’s circulation within his body. It entered his lungs and settled, but he didn’t feel any discomfort. Instead, he watched the venom be slowly broken apart and absorbed.

“Looks good.” He burped. “Not even a tingle.”

After his dip in the Mourning Pool, Chen Haoran had taken a few days to consolidate his cultivation and let the effects of the pool settle in. He and Xie Jin then went over to the training ground so that Chen Haoran could work his way through a liquor cabinet’s worth of poisons and venoms in order to test his new immunity.

The verdict: He was pretty immune.

“Just so we’re clear when your grandfather said I’d get Immunity to a Hundred Poisons, he wasn’t being literal, right?” Chen Haoran asked.

“No, that’s just a shorthand,” Xie Jin said. “It’s a lot more than a hundred. Most of the simple stuff won’t affect you anymore. If someone wants to harm you with just one poison, it’d have to be something pretty special or from a much higher realm.”

“Does that mean someone can still hurt me with more than one poison?”

Xie Jin waggled his hand. “Sort of. The shoddily mixed stuff won’t do much, but poisoning is a refined craft in Zumulu. We’ve had a long time to figure out how to get around Hundred-Poison Immunity, and it’s only effective against animal and plant-based poisons. If it’s a metallic poison, you’ll be out of luck.”

“What about a Gu’s miasma?”

Xie Jin looked at Chen Haoran as if he had asked something particularly dim. “Gu poison is one of the best to come out of Zumulu. Even Thousand-Poison Immunity would only give you a little resistance. Don’t let the word Immunity go to your head. You wouldn’t be the first to die because of it.”

Chen Haoran accepted the warning for what it was. “So, just how good is the Stainless Purity Lotus in this situation?”

“Well, whatever the Hundred-Poisons Immunity can’t resist, the Stainless Purity Lotus will solve it.” Xie Ling rubbed his chin in thought. “You’ve basically got the most complete protection against poison as there can be in Zumulu. The types of poisons that can overcome a Stainless Purity Lotus, especially one as old as you have, are rare even here. Of course, if someone is really using something on the level of the Green Hell’s Three Killers on you, then you’ve got other problems.”

“You’re not just gonna drop that and not explain it are you?”

“Maybe.” Xie Jin rubbed his fingers together. “For a price.”

Chen Haoran pretend to reach into his storage bag, summoned a blue pill from his reward space, and threw it to a surprised Xie Jin.

“I was joking—” Xie Jin began before widening his eyes. “An Earth-Rank Pill?”

“Oh, you could tell?”

He pointed to the faint mist wrapping around the pill. “Does this look normal to you? Why do you have—no forget why, take this back.”

Well, nothing really looked normal to Chen Haoran in this world, just different degrees of weirdness. Whether it was Earth-Rank Fathomless Pond Pill or the Profound-Rank Deep Well Pill it was improved from, they were both weird to him.

“Keep it,” Chen Haoran said. “I still have nine more from the auction.”

Well, right now, he only had six left. But he did have nine at one point, so it wasn’t completely a lie. He used three for himself in the days following his advancement to the Second-Layer.

“I was planning on giving it to you anyway,” Chen Haoran continued. “Hurry up and advance, I need a punching bag.”

Xie Jin’s face went through a plethora of interesting expressions before settling on determination. He clasped his hands and bowed. “I won’t let you down, Brother Chen.”

Chen Haoran scratched his head. Xie Jin was beginning to sound a lot like Lan Fen now. The gratefulness wasn’t a bad thing, but the mentality of being in his debt would make it that much harder to Gift things if he chose to connect with Xie Jin. “Don’t worry too much about it. Who else was I going to give the pill to? Phelps?”

“With what I’ve seen you feed him, yes,” Xie Jin said. “In fact, it kind of bothers me that I’m so happy to be treated the same way your pet is. Where is he, by the way?”

“Oh, he’s….”

Received Hundred-Fold: 30-thousand-year-old Stainless Purity Lotus

“….sleeping. So about that three Green Hell Poison.”

Xie Jin laughed. “It’s Green Hell’s Three Killers. Not many come back from the Green Hell, but those that do always bring back treasure. The Three Killers are powerful poisons only found in the Green Hell: Prince Killer, Nature’s Exile, and Trial of the Heart. Not many samples have been brought back, but every time they’ve been used has caused a storm in Zumulu.”

“So if they’re too strong for a 300-year-old Stainless Purity Lotus, what about something older? Say… a 30-thousand-year-old lotus?”

Xie Jin shook his head. “You’d have to find one that old first. You can’t just grow plants like the Stainless Purity Lotus with time. Every single lotus needs to grow in a toxic place. If the environment isn’t poisonous enough, it just stops growing. Even in Zumulu, it’s not easy to find places like that. At least the Basin doesn’t have any.” He opened his hand and stared at it as if there was an actual flower sitting on his palm. “But if you actually had a lotus like that, then I can’t imagine ever being afraid of any poison ever again.”

Right. So don’t show the one he just got until absolutely necessary. Chen Haoran did find it a little funny how he’d assembled a pretty complete means of self-preservation. Toughness with the Stygian Lotus, healing with the Paradise Pomegranate, and now a complete means of protection against being poisoned. He was turning into quite the cockroach now.

“Brother Chen, if that’s the sort of face you make when you’re happy, then please do the world a favor and stay miserable.”

“Motherfu—”

A black snake poked its head out of the ground between them and spoke to them with Xie Ling’s voice.

“Boys, I would like a word.”

Xie Ling was waiting for them in the temple sitting in his usual seat. Behind him was a blank wall where the doorway leading to the Mourning Pool had once been. With him was an unassuming, brown-haired girl that Chen Haoran had never seen before. She stood respectfully to the side of Xie Ling and, as they entered, nodded and smiled toward Chen Haoran. He nodded back and racked his brain to find if he had met her somewhere before, but came up empty.

Xie Ling gestured to the cushions in front of him. “Sit.” His eyes roamed over Chen Haoran. “I see you’re adjusting well.”

Chen Haoran bowed. “It’s all thanks to the tribe’s Mourning Pool. I’m incredibly grateful.”

Xie Ling waved him off. “It was an equal exchange. There’s no need to feel indebted.”

“Are you going to tell us why you called for us or not?” Xie Jin impatiently said.

“Perhaps I should ask Ren to come here instead.” Xie Ling stroked his beard and looked up as he talked to himself. “It’s not like my ungrateful grandson would be interested in taking a long trip outside the Basin.”

Xie Jin scowled. “I get it. I get it. Sorry.”

“Better.” Xie Ling’s small smile faded. “I trust you remember the visit those two little Peach River Swordsmen paid us.”

Chen Haoran immediately became uneasy, and his worries were quickly proven valid with Xie Ling’s next words.

“They left a question for the Black Bone tribes that requires an answer. I’ve already conferred with the other elders. Bao Si will be taking our response to Reservoir Town and meeting with their representatives. I would like the two of you to join her.”

Xie Jin frowned. “I understand why I’m going, but why Brother Chen? Why not Ren?.”

Chen Haoran was glad Xie Jin asked because he wanted to know too.

“For safety’s sake, I would prefer a Liquid Meridian to accompany you. I would send Ren, but he still has his duties here, and I don’t believe Friend Chen here is worse than him in terms of protection.” Xie Ling locked eyes with him. “You have also spent the most time with the Swordsmen and can be said to have a relationship.”

“No offense, sir,” Chen Haoran said. “But it wasn’t that much of a relationship, and we didn’t exactly part on good terms.”

“No matter how incidental it was, you still know more about them than anyone else I could send. There is still much we don’t know about the resurgence of the Peach River Sword School. An old man like me has to look for any assurance he can in a situation full of unknowns such as this.”

Chen Haoran hesitated. “It’s not that I don’t want to, sir, but I’m still a wanted man. Things would just be unnecessarily difficult if I go.”

“I would not be too worried in that regard,” Xie Ling said. “I’ve had the tribesmen outside keep an eye out. There’s been no bounty announced and no pictures of your likeness circulating. I believe for the sake of not creating more competitors for themselves. The Garrison has kept your information to themselves and their subordinates. If you believe the conditions are right, then after meeting the Peach River Sword Sect, you can leave Zumulu through the official road.”

Well, wasn’t that just perfect? He only had the occupying military force pursuing him instead of the entire region, and if he were lucky, he’d be able to leave on the road no doubt full of checkpoints that would know what he looked like. He wasn’t fool enough to voice those thoughts to Xie Ling, however.

Old retail instincts kicked in, and he put on a polite but professional smile. “I’m sorry, sir, but the risk of my face getting recognized is still too high, especially since I’ve been told Reservoir Town is the center of the Empire’s operations in Zumulu. Xie Jin and Bao Si would be put at too much risk if I went.”

Xie Ling snorted. “Despite what my fool grandson may tell you, I’m not senile. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there weren’t a way to deal with that issue.” He stood up and walked toward the wall behind him. “Bao Si will explain and fill you in on the rest of the details.”

Xie Ling walked straight through the wall and disappeared, leaving Xie Jin and Chen Haoran alone with the brown-haired girl.

Chen Haoran frowned and cast his sense out. There was no one else in the room. He settled on the brown-haired girl. Qi Realm Ninth-Layer. “Excuse me,” he asked. “Do I know you?”

The girl giggled. “You may not remember, Young Master Chen, but I have not forgotten.” Her voice was low and mellow, and Chen Haoran knew it was the first time he ever heard it.

Xie Jin loudly sighed. “Hurry up and take that off.”

The girl pouted, and her voice changed into one much more familiar to him. “You’re no fun, Jin.” She grabbed her face and peeled it off.

“Surprise,” Bao Si said.