Chapter 623: Poison Goose Rises to Power: Who Are You Looking Down On?

"The Venerable has arrived, make way!"

The area where Ying Feng was located was filled with Poison Martial Arts practitioners.

Those who practice poison are ruthless and daring, knowing that the appearance of one of the Nine Insects is a heaven-sent opportunity.

It was highly likely that Du Taiyue was hiding nearby; once Lu Zhigang engaged him in battle, the chance of a 'loot box drop' would be high.

When Lu Zhigang arrived at the scene, the poison practitioners bowed one after another, some even kneeling to welcome him, appearing extremely submissive.

Originally, these people had wanted to address him as 'Old Ancestor' just like they did Du Taiyue, but Lu Zhigang rejected it; he wasn't some decrepit old man, so why call him Old Ancestor?

"All of you, move aside, don't throw your lives away here."

As soon as Lu Zhigang spoke, the poison practitioners tactfully retreated, though they did not leave too far away.

Many looked at Lu Zhigang's back, clicking their tongues in wonder that Lu Zhigang was truly extraordinary after rising to power; he had originally been an inner Disciple who cowered and suffered under Du Taiyue, yet now he dared to face the man directly.

With Ying Feng here, Du Taiyue was very likely nearby; if they met, it would surely be a cataclysmic battle.

However, it was not as one might have imagined.

Lu Zhigang knew that Du Taiyue was already dead, and Ying Feng was a masterless poison pet wandering here.

He had come on this trip specifically to subdue it.

The Nine Insects were a very important part of Du Taiyue's combat power; with the Nine Insects in hand, he could exert the strength of a Strong Martial Fourth Heaven, remaining undefeated even when facing a siege by many Strong Martial practitioners.

But once he lost the Nine Insects, the situation would instantly take a turn for the worse, leading to defeat, flight, and eventual death.

"Ying Feng!"

Buzz, buzz, buzz—this stretch of marshland was covered in sharp, straight cutting marks; even the black water and silt were sliced to pieces by the sharp air currents visible everywhere in the air.

Broken corpses were slanted in the sludge, sinking while bubbling, and young poison insects were desperately licking the blood floating on the black water.

A massive creature hovered in mid-air, its wing-flapping frequency so fast that its wings appeared transparent.

One of the Nine Insects, Ying Feng.

Ying Feng sensed Lu Zhigang's arrival and, without ceremony, whipped up a violent gale; this gale was not naturally generated, as countless toxins condensed into rotating blade-wheels, covering the area and sweeping over.

"Well come!"

Lu Zhigang did not stand on ceremony with it either; the Ying Feng swallows the Poison Dragon, possessing a natural, predator-like restraint over various poison insects.

He immediately unleashed his innate ability, "Startling Cry," the piercing phoenix cry falling like a heavy hammer.

The gale whipped up by Ying Feng was smashed to pieces on the spot; startled, it let out a shriek and rolled onto the ground in terror, curling into a ball.

It had knelt too quickly for Lu Zhigang to comment, so he calmly stepped forward and landed on Ying Feng.

This poison insect was too severely frightened and was still trembling, fearing it would be eaten after the phoenix cry.

It seemed to have been subdued, ha! But in reality, it was not; Ying Feng's submission was a surrender to a natural predator, which could not override the relationship established by Du Taiyue, who had raised it from a young age and controlled it with secret techniques.

Once it recovered from its fear, it would surely rebel and try to turn the tables.

"Seal Character 'Control', controlling beasts works, and 'controlling insects' works too."

Lu Zhigang ground up a piece of Danqing Stone and immediately inscribed a massive Seal Character 'Control' onto Ying Feng's body.

This Seal Script sank deep from its shell, firmly branding itself into the depths of Ying Feng's flesh and bones, completely subduing it.

Before long, Ying Feng lay obediently at Lu Zhigang's feet, looking as docile as a loyal dog.

Since it was obedient, it was time to start training.

Lu Zhigang was refining his Poison Palm for the second time, which was also approaching the level of a Flood Dragon, so he immediately executed the palm technique: "Stepping Heaven Flood Dragon Subduing Palm, Poison Pet transforms into palm power."

Ying Feng was familiar with this; without needing a prompt, it took the initiative to leap and merge into the palm power. The Flood Dragon shook its head and wagged its tail, transforming into a Poison Dragon.

Next was the familiarization phase; the Ying Feng phantom flew out, opening its mouth to swallow the Poison Dragon, but this step got stuck.

An awkward scene occurred: the Ying Feng could not swallow the 'Poison Dragon', or rather, the Poison Dragon produced by the poison pet's palm power was of too high a level, exceeding the Ying Feng's limit for consumption.

"..."

Ying Feng looked at Lu Zhigang with an innocent expression—it wasn't that it wasn't cooperating, right? —and then obediently waited for his next command.

So that was it; the Nine Insects were already of a high grade under Du Taiyue, and after merging with the palm power, they possessed the strength of a Strong Martial Fourth Heaven.

Even without a master, the Nine Insects were roaming in the wild, and their level had not dropped.

For Lu Zhigang to want to swallow the Nine Insects to nourish the Ying Feng, he would need to be at least at the Strong Martial Second Heaven level to begin.

Conservatively estimated, after swallowing the Nine Insects one by one, the Ying Feng Swallowing Dragon Art could at least be raised to the Strong Martial Third Heaven, which was Du Taiyue's level when he was alive.

Fine, he would just have to find them one by one, intimidate them, subdue them, and keep them as reserve rations for the Ying Feng.

"The Venerable has come out, isn't that Ying Feng?"

Reading the original text!

"He actually subdued the Old Ancestor's poison pet—ah, ptooey, I mean Du Taiyue's poison pet."

"It seems Du Taiyue is finished; after being heavily injured, he can't even defeat his own Disciple. Let's not count on him anymore; from now on, we will loyally serve Venerable Lu."

In the following days, Lu Zhigang focused on two things: first, repeatedly refining his Poison Palm, and second, searching for the whereabouts of the Nine Insects.

In fact, the Nine Insects were massive, and every time they fed, they caused such a stir that it was difficult to hide their tracks.

The Poison Martial Arts practitioners scattered to explore the Wanli Zhaohai, and the clues they collected were increasingly gathered into Lu Zhigang's hands.

The rest of the work was much easier.

Find one, use "Startling Cry" to terrify it, and then inscribe the Seal Character 'Control' to subdue it.

It started with Ying Feng, then Qihei, Huan Yong, Huiru, Pan Shi, and so on...

As each of the Nine Insects was subdued, the news spread outside that Lu Zhigang was advancing triumphantly, having beaten Du Taiyue until he threw away his armor and fled, even seizing his poison pets.

By the time news spread that Lu Zhigang had collected all the Nine Insects, all the surrounding forces knew that his momentum was unstoppable.

Du Taiyue's poison arts, when combined with the Nine Insects, could exert power beyond his realm; this meant that now that Lu Zhigang possessed the Nine Insects, he could unleash the strength of a Strong Martial Second Heaven.

Conversely, for Du Taiyue, after being heavily injured, a drop in realm was certain; the most optimistic estimate was Strong Martial Second Heaven, and if things went poorly, he might drop directly to Strong Martial First Heaven. Previously, having the Nine Insects by his side made him somewhat feared, but now he didn't even have the Nine Insects.

"The era of Du Taiyue has ended; from now on, the Poison Martial Arts world will look to Lu Zhigang."

The day after this suggestion was made, rumors began to spread that someone had proposed Lu Zhigang join the battle against the Sorcerer People.

Hmm, this is clearly a case of tailoring the treatment to the person.

Previously, when Du Taiyue occupied the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop, the noble families didn't dare to make a peep; they had to use soft and hard tactics and offer heavy gifts to beg Du Taiyue to take action, and even then, he didn't fight himself, merely having Fu Manlun carry the Doll Gu to walk a circle around the battlefield.

Now that it is Lu Zhigang's turn, they want him to enter the battlefield in person.

Who are they looking down on! Lu Zhigang has almost entirely inherited Du Taiyue's capital; the Doll Gu and the Nine Insects are all in his hands, and the rest are also being digested.

He is holed up within the Wanli Zhaohai, and no one can do anything about him.

The Thousand Faces Hall's long-distance raid on the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop and the miracle of beheading Du Taiyue are destined not to be replicated.

After all, the most important Heavy Talismans cannot be seen anywhere now.

Even if there were Heavy Talismans, the few people around Lu Zhigang have unpredictable movements, and spies cannot be planted, so there is no way to track his location.

(End of this chapter)