Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The old man in the ancient chinese robes that bought the Heart of the Ocean?

Hearing Yang Ling say this, the masked man shuddered. He was surprised that Yang Ling, who had only seen him once, had discovered his true identity. He pulled the black cloth from his face to reveal a square shaped jaw. He had a sharp gaze and a high nose bridge. He was old, but he did not look like he was over a century old. Yang Ling did not know if that was due to his training or if he was wearing a mask.

“How unfortunate!” the black robed elder known as Flowing Venom laughed, a cold glint in his eyes. He began muttering softly. Immediately, Yang Ling felt a searing heat spread throughout his body, colliding with his innards as its temperature rose.

“Not good, I’ve been poisoned!” Yang Ling thought, shocked. Even though he did not know what was going on with him, it was clear that drinking the water from the lake was not good for him.

Yang Ling summoned his Magical Beast army to protect himself, and plopped to the ground, trying to circulate the Wizard Power in his body. He hoped to force the poison out. The other party had abilities deep beyond his comprehension, and retreating would only expose more of his weaknesses and give the other party more opportunity to attack.

Is this a curse of a mental spell?

Yuna was alarmed when she saw Yang Ling suddenly redden, his brows locked tight. She nervously put herself between Flowing Venom and Yang Ling, clutching her staff tightly. She was filled with worry, and she glared at the black robed elder.

Just like Yang Ling, she could not feel any Battle Energy or Magical Energy coming from the other party. She could understand how Yang Ling would fall for the sneak attack.

Yang Ling clenched his teeth, trying to circulate the Wizard Power in his body. But far from forcing the poison out, things seemed to get worse: the searing heat became more and more intense. Sweat covered his body, as if he was immersed in a raging flame, or he had been dropped into the mouth of a volcano with magma boiling underneath.

Every breath he took felt as though he had swallowed a mouthful of flames. His throat became dry and painful. He glanced at Yuna, who looked worried. He looked back to the black robed elder slowly walking toward him, his bloodlust soaring. Yang Ling suddenly remembered the rest of the Water from the Spring of Life that he had stored safely in his Space Ring. He retrieved it and gulped down the remainder of the water.

Ahhh… He could not help but grunt with pain. He felt an icy cold spreading throughout his body as soon as he swallowed Water from the Spring of Life. But not only did the searing heat not recede, it became more intense, as if a ball of fire was crashing into every part of his body. Everywhere the heat passed, pain lingered. Needle-sized blisters opened in his skin, as if even the blood in his body was boiling.

Water from the Spring of Life?

Looking at the bottle that Yang Ling had thrown to the ground and catching a whiff of the faint fragrance in the air, Flowing Venom was surprised, stopping in his tracks. After a moment’s hesitation, seeing that Yang Ling had been unable to purge the poison and was instead in even more pain, he smiled coldly.

As an elder of the Association of Assassins, he had not undertaken a mission in twenty years, electing instead to spend his time training in Montson under the identity of a wealthy merchant in the hopes of breaking through the bottleneck to sage level and one day becoming a Night Vision Assassin. Then, he would be able to kill the powerful fighters in the territory with ease, and he would become the greatest assassin to exist on the continent in thousands of years.

Unlike other assassins, his greatest skill was not teleportation-like magic, or powerful attacks, but a poison technique that instilled fear in the hearts of many. The poison he created was not only colorless and nearly odorless, he could even control the timing of its activation. He could store the poison inside his target for ten years before activating it, or activate the poison in an instant and cause the target to die on the spot.

On the Tailun Continent, there were people who had broken through to sage level with their powerful Battle Energy, and there were also people who broke through to become sage level Spellcasters using vast Magical Energy. But Flowing Venom was different. He was going to use his powerful, mysterious poison techniques to reach sage level, taking a different path. He had achieved the level of Lesser Sage already, and even that level was unusual. He was certain he could attain sage level.

But Flowing Venom wouldn’t act carelessly despite his powerful abilities. According to the intelligence he had obtained, Yang Ling had managed to kill three Heaven-ranked Assassins and a large number of elite killers in just three days, and was no simple Summoner. He knew he should approach Yang Ling with caution.

Over the years, he had accumulated an alarming fortune. Crystal coins no longer held any allure for him. While he pretended to be a wealthy merchant training in Montson, other than concentrating his efforts on developing his powerful poison techniques, he had also sometimes explored the auction halls and obtained several strange treasures.

But despite no longer having any interest in crystal coins, he still had many connections with the Association of Assassins. The association expanded their influence using his name and employed him to dispose of powerful targets. He used the association’s influence to source rare ingredients, receiving a steady stream of support for his research.

When he was assigned the mission to assassinate Yang Ling, he had used a Magical Teleportation Scroll to go directly to the Aila Mountain Pass where Yang Ling would have to pass by to return to the Magical Beast Territory, and poisoned the water. He dredged the dead marine life and erased all traces of them, creating a perfect disguise. As expected, Yang Ling had drank a mouthful of the water poisoned with the Dragon Tongue Orchid.

The Dragon Tongue Orchid was a poison only Flowing Venom possessed. It was colorless and odorless, made using precious ingredients such as the saliva of a Poison Dragon, Blue Plumed Flowers and Siberian Bloodgrass. The poison rapidly expanded as it absorbed the energy of its target, turning from one drop to two, two to four, then to eight…

Flowing Venom could control the rate of the Dragon Tongue Orchid’s expansion using his mental energy. The greater the strength of the mental energy he released, the faster the rate of the Dragon Tongue Orchid’s expansion. Dozens of years ago, a Sword Saint unintentionally became poisoned, and his body expanded rapidly. Eventually he exploded, his body turned to paste.

Flowing Venom looked from Yang Ling, who was crumpled on the ground writhing, to Yuna, who was shifting nervously from foot to foot. Flowing Venom approached them slowly, waiting for the right moment to deal the fatal blow. He wanted Yang Ling to experience as much pain as possible so that his death would occur at the peak of delirium.

Flowing Venom was old and crafty, but Yuna was not stupid. She noticed the other party mutter something from time to time, then watched Yang Ling’s face reddening more, with drops of blood oozing from his pores. Yuna understood that the longer this dragged out, the worse the situation would be for herself and Yang Ling.

Yuna gathered up her energy, and murmured her countermeasure, holding her staff tightly. Soon, Magical Energy began to amass in the sky above her, and the trees around them moved, despite the absence of wind…

“A space element spell?” Flowing Venom’s expression changed dramatically when he felt the ripples of energy in the air. Space element magic was the most mysterious, and made the most powerful magic spells on the continent. The intelligence he received indicated that Yuna was a fire element Spellcaster. He could see that this information was incorrect, and that Yuna was a powerful space element Spellcaster!

Feeling that this information radically altered the tides of the confrontation, Flowing Venom whipped out a dagger treated with lethal poison. He would dispatch Yuna first, who stood between him and Yang Ling. His dagger could kill with just a nick; this would still be over soon.

Flowing Venom reacted quickly, but Yuna’s movements were quicker. She raised her right hand and cast the Magical Illusory Spell Formation that she was most adept in. In that instant, Flowing Venom’s vision went black as he found himself in a boundless desert.

Chitter…

Just as Flowing Venom was cautiously observing his surroundings, a strange sound came to him on the air. Soon a dark figure appeared in the distance, boiling toward him like water, its speed seeming to increase with every passing moment! Squinting into the distance, Flowing Venom found that the black mass was in fact a horde of Horse Spiders, baring their fangs with bloodlust.

“Hmph, you’re asking for death!” he grunted dispassionately. Flowing Venom patted his pockets, and finally produced from an inside pocket a packet of medicine, which he scattered around him on the ground. Then he sat, pondering his escape from the space element magic.

After successfully casting her Magical Illusory Spell Formation, Yuna used her mental energy to simulate illusory Horse Spiders to attack. In the Magical Illusory Spell Formation, the simulated Horse Spiders were very lifelike.Though they did not have physical attacks, they were still powerful hallucinations to an enemy, and could make the enemy attack them, depleting their energy. Through that, Yuna could trap the enemy and, if necessary, exhaust them to death.

Under her command, the illusory Horse Spiders charged toward Flowing Venom. But just as they stepped into the area where he had scattered the medicine, something unexpected happened. The illusions dissipated instantly upon contact! At the same time, Yuna’s head throbbed in pain, as if she was being attacked.

Could this be the so called Magical Illusory Spell Formation? Flowing Venom had scattered the powder to keep the Horse Spiders at a safe distance and buy himself some time as he searched for a way to dispel the magic. He had no idea that the Horse Spiders would actually disappear. Then he remembered a historical record that he had seen many years ago.

The book that the Association of Assassins treasured had records of many things that an average person would not know of, and amongst those records was the mysterious Magical Illusory Spell Formation of the Heavenly Foxes. According to the the records, all he had to do was deplete the other party’s mental energy and the Magical Illusory Spell Formation would dissipate on its own. In fact, he could even use this opportunity to severely injure his opponent.

Thinking back to Yuna’s appearance, then looking at the strange Horse Spiders and the boundless desert, Flowing Venom became more certain that this was the fabled mysterious Magical Illusory Spell Formation. He pulled a blood red liquid from his Space Ring, then shook it well. Then he began slowly pouring it on the ground. He then recited an ancient curse.

The moment it came into contact with the desert, the liquid spread outward rapidly. It soon spread toward the distance like the tide. Wherever it passed, the ferocious Horse Spiders vanished. After a moment, a ripple of mental energy materialized in the sky.