Chapter 55: Poison

"It is poverty that limits my imagination." Meng Yifan shook his head helplessly. He had thought that carrying over four thousand taels in Silver Notes made him a rich man, but he hadn't expected that he wouldn't even be able to afford a single set of medicinal ingredients.

According to Liu Zhongyong, century-old medicinal ingredients were things one could only encounter by luck, not seek out. Even if Meng Yifan truly brought out five thousand taels of silver, there was no guarantee he could buy those five types of ingredients with sufficient age.

"Uncle Liu, it's too expensive; we really can't afford it. How about this: you prepare more of that poison from last time that made the Third Grade Tiger Demon vomit and have diarrhea, and left its whole body paralyzed. Although that can't poison a Third Grade Demon Beast to death, it can significantly reduce its combat power. If used well, it's also very effective," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Yifan and Meng Dayong had taken advantage of the night to wipe out the entire family of Lv Fugui, but one cannot expect to keep others in the dark if one has done something wrong. Meng Yifan now had to prepare for the worst. In the event that County Magistrate Lv discovered that it was the father and son who had done it and sent Zhang Butou to arrest them, they needed to know how to respond.

A Third Grade Martial Artist possessed extremely formidable strength. If it were a fair duel, Meng Yifan would certainly be no match for Zhang Butou.

In order to survive the conflicts that might occur in the future, Meng Yifan had to find ways to enhance his own strength on one hand, and prepare some auxiliary means on the other.

Using the Elm Cannon to fight was one method, but the Elm Cannon was too troublesome to reload; in a battle, one could basically only fire it once.

Meng Yifan knew the Lingbo Microsteps Lightness Skill, but Zhang Butou was a Third Grade Martial Artist and a government official, so he surely knew Lightness Skill as well. Therefore, even though Meng Yifan had Level 2 Shooting Technique, he could not guarantee he would definitely be able to blast Zhang Butou.

To defeat a Third Grade Martial Artist, one had to find another way. If he could poison Zhang Butou and weaken his strength, then who would emerge victorious would be uncertain.

"Yifan, the main ingredient for that poison last time was a Century-old Datura Flower I picked in Jiguan Mountain years ago. It has already been used up. Without the ingredients now, it is impossible to prepare it."

Liu Zhongyong gave a bitter smile. He had watched Meng Yifan grow up and knew that the Meng father and son were under great pressure. He also wanted to do his best to help them, but without ingredients, even if he mastered the preparation method, he could not produce the poison.

Meng Yifan scratched his head, knowing he was being a bit unreasonable. Century-old medicinal ingredients were indeed too expensive. Although he had some silver now, he had other important uses for it and could not spend it all on buying ingredients.

That kind of poison capable of killing a Third Grade Martial Artist instantly was definitely something he couldn't afford, but the poison with the Century-old Datura Flower as the main ingredient was worth considering.

Meng Yifan currently had over four thousand taels of silver; taking out one thousand taels to buy ingredients was feasible. It was just that century-old ingredients were priceless and hard to find; he didn't know if the pharmacies in Luolong County had any for sale. He would go and see once it was dawn.

"Uncle Liu, how effective is the poison you mentioned that is prepared with fifty-year-old ingredients?" Meng Yifan asked.

"If you apply the poison to a weapon, as long as it scratches the skin of a Second Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist, unless he is brave enough to cut off the injured part without hesitation, he will die for certain within three seconds as the toxin attacks his heart."

"If a Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist is poisoned, he can barely suppress the toxin's onset by exerting his True Qi with all his might, but while poisoned, he cannot mobilize his True Qi to fight."

"If a Second Grade High Stage Martial Artist is poisoned, he can use half of his True Qi to suppress the toxin and the other half to continue fighting; overall, his strength will be weakened by half."

"As for a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist, the effect is very weak, but it still counts for something; it can weaken a Third Grade Martial Artist's strength by about ten percent."

Liu Zhongyong was very familiar with the effects of the poison, as if he had conducted many experiments in this regard before.

"This effect is quite good." Meng Yifan was tempted. Although it could only weaken a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist by ten percent, at a critical moment, weakening them by ten percent might just decide the outcome of the battle.

Meng Yifan asked: "Uncle Liu, just tell me, what is the market price for these fifty-year-old ingredients?"

Liu Zhongyong had been a barefoot doctor in Qinghe Village for over twenty years. Besides picking herbs in the mountains himself, he also needed to go into town to buy the ingredients he used to see patients and treat them, so he was very familiar with the prices of medicinal ingredients in Luolong County.

"Fifty-year-old ingredients are not considered rare; the pharmacies in Luolong County have them for sale. The normal market price ranges from three hundred to four hundred taels. Just calculating by the average price of three hundred and fifty taels, five types of ingredients would require one thousand seven hundred and fifty taels of silver. Adding in other common ingredients for the mixture, it would take a total of one thousand eight hundred taels of silver to prepare the poison I just described."

After hearing this, Meng Yifan calculated and felt that this price was also very expensive, costing almost half of his assets. However, to win in battle, money that needed to be spent had to be spent; if he were killed, all the money would belong to someone else anyway.

Meng Yifan nodded and said: "Uncle Liu, tomorrow I will go to the pharmacy to buy the ingredients. You first use the ingredients you have on hand to prepare some poison and have them apply it to the traps and mechanisms."

"Alright." Liu Zhongyong nodded and went to tinker with the poison.

Everyone was busy. Ten minutes later, the traps and mechanisms for the entire small courtyard were basically set up. Meng Yifan arranged for people to take turns keeping watch, and then everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

The Meng father and son returned to their room. Meng Dayong took a Condensing Qi Pill, then sat cross-legged and began to practice his cultivation.

Meng Dayong's aptitude was slightly above average, which was considered quite good among ordinary people. His cultivation had been stuck at the First Grade bottleneck for over a dozen years without any progress, but he still practiced diligently every day, which made his foundation extremely solid.

This time, Meng Dayong had broken through the bottleneck. The foundation he had solidified through over a decade of hard work allowed him to accumulate and then burst forth, ushering in a period of rapid improvement in his cultivation.

Coupled with taking the Condensing Qi Pill to assist his cultivation, Meng Dayong's cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. Every time he completed a Great Heavenly Cycle, his True Qi would increase by a large margin. At this rate, in less than a month, he might become a Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist.

Meng Dayong was practicing hard, and Meng Yifan was not idle either. He held the "Hunyuan Strength" technique and carefully pondered it, word by word.

This Yellow-grade Upper-tier Technique was indeed much more profound than the "Savage Bull Strength," but having the foundation from practicing the Savage Bull Strength, he was basically able to understand the Hunyuan Strength technique.

Regardless of the martial arts technique, the basic principles were the same: all involved breathing and exhaling, circulating the Qi and blood within the body, condensing True Qi, and then using True Qi to nourish the skin, muscles, bones, and other parts of the body, causing the human body to gradually evolve, be Reborn and Transformed, and unleash extraordinary combat power.