Chapter 126: Entering the Valley

A flying carriage flew through the clear sky.

The young, pretty woman driving the carriage chuckled, her laughter like tinkling bells.

“Prince, where are we going next?” the young woman asked as she poked her head into the carriage behind her.

“I told you to just keep going straight. Don’t ask so many questions,” Su Chen replied without even lifting his head.

“Fine.” The young woman frowned, but her eyes continued to dance playfully.

As she drove the carriage, she actually began to hum.

She didn’t know that there was an Arcana Master quietly following along with them and even conversing with Su Chen.

“It’ll be one more day before we reach the Thousand Poisons Mountain. The Fate’s Hands’ headquarters and the Spiritual Light Institute are both there.”

“I never would have expected that a powerful organization like Fate’s Hands would actually live in that kind of a barren place. You guys really know how to keep yourselves hidden,” Su Chen chuckled.

The Thousand Poisons Mountain was known to be a highly toxic environment.

If it was merely poisonous, that wouldn’t have been such a big deal. However, there was a large variety of poisons that could be found on the mountain and that freely mixed together. This would be a serious test to any individual that would live there.

After all, curing one poison might not be difficult, but curing ten or even more poisons all at once was not easy.

There would always be one kind of poison that was extremely hard to deal with.

For this reason, the Harpies considered Thousand Poisons Mountain to be off-limits.

“There’s nothing we can do about that. If it weren’t for the fact that this area is so dangerous, the Harpies probably would have already come hunting for us.”

“So how does Fate’s Hands deal with the poisons in the mountain?” Su Chen asked.

Inigo revealed that there was a Harpy who studied poisons and had been researching a universal cure for all poisons, wanting to make the entire Thousand Poisons Mountain a hospitable environment and eventually turning it into a major city. Though he had succeeded, this Arcana Master refused to distribute it, instead trying to sell it for an astronomical price to other Harpies.

Because he was asking for far too much, the Harpies never agreed to his conditions, and they reached a stalemate. The Harpies believed that only they would need this technique, and the Arcana Master felt that he was the only one who could provide the Harpies with such a technique.

Both parties believed that they had the upper hand in the negotiations and refused to back down.

When Fate’s Hands found out, they realized that they had an opportunity.

They weren’t Harpies, so they didn’t need to act dignified. If they couldn’t afford it, then they would steal it.

Fate’s Hands had sent some powerful experts to track down the Arcana Master and seize the item from him. Unexpectedly, that Arcana Master wasn’t weak, and he actually managed to escape from the clutches of a few powerful Arcana Masters. Even so, he was still badly injured, and he succumbed to his injuries not long after. The universal cure that he had invented disappeared along with him.

However, Fate’s Hands hadn’t made that trip in vain. They were able to discover a recipe in that Arcana Master’s research lab.

The recipe was an early creation of the Arcana Master, which he had developed to handle the Thousand Poisons Mountain as well. Even though it couldn’t nullify all poisons, it allowed any individual who possessed the medicine to travel as they pleased through most of the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

“So that’s how it is. If that’s the case, then this universal cure is gone now?” Su Chen asked.

Inigo replied, “Yes. All we know is that it appeared to be some kind of item that devoured any kind of poison in close proximity. Unfortunately, after he took it away, no one was able to find it again.”

Hm?

How come this sounded so familiar to Su Chen?

That sounded an awful lot like the sheepskin scroll he had obtained from the auction in Long Coiling City.

More specifically, the item contained many microscopic organisms that survived off of devouring poison. When there was no poison to be found, they would hibernate.

Su Chen hadn’t encountered many poison cultivators in the past few years, so he had never found an opportunity to use the scroll. Now, Inigo’s words reminded Su Chen of this treasure that he possessed.

It can’t be this sheepskin scroll, right? Su Chen thought to himself.

But the more he turned it over in his mind, the more he was convinced that it was possible.

If that was the case, then the situation had suddenly taken an interesting turn.

These poison-eating bugs could not only eat poison but also unleash it, and were very powerful under the right circumstances. However, Su Chen had never studied them meticulously, so he hadn’t figured out the most optimal way to use it. But now that he was going to the Thousand Poisons Mountain, an opportunity to try it out presented itself. Would the poisons in the mountain become its food, or were there some poisons that even the sheepskin couldn’t devour?

The Thousand Poisons Mountain quickly approached.

Off in the distance, the Thousand Poisons Mountain could be seen coming into view. It was covered in a red, poisonous plant known as Thousand Years Flower. Its entire body was covered in poison, and anyone who came into contact with the flower would find their flesh corroding and would die on the spot.

Youthful Abundance immediately knew where she was when she saw the familiar plant.

“Prince, this is the Thousand Poisons Mountain. The ground below us is extremely poisonous, and even the air above the mountain is incredibly poisonous. We can’t get any closer than this!”

Su Chen tossed a jade medallion at her. “Don’t waste your breath. Keep flying.”

The jade medallion had been given to him by Inigo and contained a special kind of medicine that had been constructed based on the recipe given by the other Arcana Master. With this medicine, the user would be able to ensure that most poisons remained at least thirty feet from them.

The medicine was volatile, so it needed to be changed out every so often.

Fate’s Hands relied on this method to defend themselves. Even if they were betrayed by one of their members, it would be impossible for them to do much harm.

Even though Flaming Femme had managed to infiltrate Fate’s Hands, she was only able to take one or two vials with her, which couldn’t change the overall situation at all.

Youthful Abundance guessed that this was an item that would nullify the poison, but she was still scared. She turned to gaze at Su Chen pleadingly but discovered that she was actually unable to move. The carriage descended automatically and flew into the mountain.

When Youthful Abundance saw this, she shrieked in fear. Only when the carriage descended and she found that she was unharmed did she say in surprise and happiness, “So nothing really happened?”

“You never listen to me.”

Youthful Abundance stuck her tongue out. “I got it. Next time you ask me to do something I will do it, even if you ask me to jump into a sea of flames.”

“Fine. Do you see the big rock in front of you? Use your head to break it.”

“What? Why?”

“Didn’t you say that you would jump into a sea of flames if I asked you? Are you not even brave enough to knock your head against a stone?”

Youthful Abundance giggled. “I was just saying. Why take it so seriously?”

Su Chen sighed. “Unfortunately, I was being serious.”

He stepped forwards and actually knocked on the same rock.

The rock actually opened automatically, revealing a large door behind it that opened up to a cave.

“This is……” Youthful Abundance’s jaw dropped.

“The Spiritual Light Institute.”

“Fate’s Hands?” Youthful Abundance blurted out.

“That’s right,” Inigo said to Youthful Abundance with a smile as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“AHH!” Youthful Abundance screamed in fright.

She never would have expected the violent, sadistic individual from Jade Clearmist’s secret realm, a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, to suddenly appear here.

The first thing she did was actually place herself in between him and Su Chen. “Prince, get out of here! I’ll try and hold him off!”

Even Su Chen was rendered speechless by her desire to protect him.

Su Chen glanced at Inigo before saying, “From today onwards, she’ll be your student.”

“Understood, Master,” Inigo replied respectfully.

“Mas…… Master?” Youthful Abundance was stunned.

It was only now that she discovered that she had never truly understood this person known as Azure Mark.

She stared blankly at Su Chen and found him smiling slightly at her.

He said, “Go and study diligently with Sir Inigo. Your future will be better that way.”

With…… Inigo?

Youthful Abundance suddenly realized something. She yelled, “Prince, don’t abandon me! Don’t abandon me!”

Su Chen, however, waved his hand, and Inigo grabbed her and took her with him into the valley.

As he watched her leave, Su Chen sighed. “Sorry, but this is the best way to end things.”

There was no good outcome to bringing Youthful Abundance with him, and he was never planning on adding more members to his harem anyways. Resolving the matter like this was pretty good.

As he watched Inigo take Youthful Abundance away, Su Chen also stepped foot into the cave.

He didn’t have Inigo introduce him because he wasn’t planning on disguising himself at all.

According to what Inigo had said, the Spiritual Light Institute’s most powerful individual was an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master.

Eighth-Ring Arcana Masters were already insignificant in his eyes. What did he have to fear?

He could just brazenly walk in and take the treasures for himself.

As such, Su Chen decided to just walk into the cave.

As he walked in, the cave very quickly began to sound with alarms.

The instructors of the Spiritual Light Institute flew over. When they saw Su Chen, they didn’t even bother calling out to him. They immediately opened fire with their most proficient Arcana Techniques.

Fate’s Hands were wanted fugitives for the Harpies, so they were incredibly cautious. Anyone who broke into this place without permission would be viewed as an enemy and slaughtered.

Since the Spiritual Light Institute belonged to Fate’s Hands, this principle naturally applied to them as well. They attacked without remorse.

Su Chen smiled slightly. The wings on his back unfurled as the power of wind and thunder suddenly began to gather into a massive ball of thunder. A moment later, Su Chen hurled this ball of thunder at his opponents.

Those Arcana Masters had never seen a combat style like that before and were all badly startled, choosing to strategically retreat. However, Su Chen was faster than them, so these balls of thunder all hit their targets. The tendrils of lightning were like hands grabbing at the Harpies. In the blink of an eye, ten or so of the oncoming Arcana Masters were tied up by the tendrils of lightning.

None of them had seen this kind of technique before, so they were all shocked.

That was to be expected. After all, this technique was born out of Su Chen’s breakthrough in his comprehension of lightning.

Those totems contained a deeper kind of power that was harder to come into contact with and even harder to grasp.

Now, he was an expert in fire, thunder, and wind, and his field of view was much broader as well. Especially after obtaining the power of wind and thunder, Su Chen began to understand why he had been able to activate the Wind Spirit and Thunder Spirit Totems.

But through these three totems, Su Chen was able to advance his comprehension in leaps and bounds. The skill he had just unleashed was one of the tools he had obtained during this period of time.

These tendrils of lightning were actually a fusion of Su Chen’s Air Tentacles and lightning Origin Energy. The combination resulted in the formation of a new Arcana Technique. At the same time, Su Chen was able to open up a completely new door for himself.