Chapter 1086: Settling the Account

Three days ago, when he flattened Green Scale Peak, he searched the storage bag of the deputy peak master in a purple robe and retrieved half a jade slip. The jade slip recorded the whereabouts of the ancient green‑scaled monster.

That old thing hadn't died; instead, he entered the Dao through poison, cultivating into a half‑human, half‑demon form. He now sleeps in the Scale‑Transforming Pool deep within the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, and Green Scale Peak is merely the offspring he left to guard his lair.

"Slept ten thousand years, it's time to wake," Han Wuxian's gaze was as cold as the gale on the Fallen Star Cliff. He felt no grudges toward any sect; even if the ancient green‑scaled monster hadn't betrayed the Star Dao Sect, as long as the Bone‑Eating Azure's debt was on that old creature's head, he would still swing his blade to cut it down.

Passing through a canyon choked with poisonous vines, a bubbling black marsh appeared ahead. In the marsh's center rose a high platform piled with white bones, upon which a bluish‑gray figure could be faintly seen, soaking in water that glimmered with a faint azure sheen.

"Scale‑Transforming Pool…" Han Wuxian squinted. The intel said the pool was forged by mixing the Star Dao Sect's Earth Vein source power with the Valley's poisons, and the ancient green‑scaled monster used it to sustain a semi‑immortal state. Dozens of cultivator skeletons lay around the pool, their bones bearing uneven bite marks, clearly gnawed by something alive.

"I didn't expect that after ten thousand years, remnants of the Star Dao Sect would still dare to intrude," the figure in the water slowly lifted its head, revealing a face covered in green scales, eyes murky yellow, pupils vertical like a snake's, "Are you here to avenge your dead master?"

Han Wuxian was too lazy for idle talk; the Shattered Star Blade suddenly slipped from his hand, swelling to a length of about a zhang under star energy, emitting a sharp roar that tore the air, and slashed straight at the Scale‑Transforming Pool.

"You know nothing of heaven's height or earth's depth!" the ancient green‑scaled monster sprang up from the pool, the surrounding poison water turning into dozens of teal water whips that forcibly coiled around the Shattered Star Blade. Scales on its neck flipped outward, exposing writhing dark‑red veins beneath, "Back then I could betray once, and I can annihilate you again!"

Han Wuxian didn't catch the returning Shattered Star Blade; instead he formed his fingers into a sword, and the power of the Star‑Earth Seed surged from his fingertips. The ground trembled, and countless fragments of star marrow veins erupted from the marsh like teeth breaking through soil, lashing at the ancient green‑scaled monster's limbs.

This was a technique he had learned from the Earth Vein Classic; regardless of which sect's secret art it was, if it could kill, it was a good method.

"Earth Vein Technique? You've even fused the Star‑Earth Seed!" a greedy glint flashed in the ancient green‑scaled monster's eyes, "That thing rightfully belongs to me! If that old creature hadn't been sealed to death back then, the Star Dao Sect's inheritance would have long been mine!"

He roared, tearing free the shackles of the star marrow vein, and half his face split open, revealing a writhing poison sac inside. The aura of Bone‑Eating Azure surged like a tsunami, tinting even the air a deep azure.

Han Wuxian smiled. His flesh, tempered by the star marrow origin, had long regarded the toxin of Bone‑Eating Azure as a supplement. As the poisonous mist brushed his barrier, star energy broke it down into pure spiritual power, feeding his meridians.

"Seems you slept through the fog," he said, raising his hand to catch the returning Shattered Star Blade. Infused with star energy, the blade's starlight flared suddenly, "When you first created this poison, you probably never imagined anyone could digest it outright, did you?"

The ancient green‑scaled monster's pupils snapped shut. He sensed that Han Wuxian not only feared not the Bone‑Eating Azure, but was actually absorbing its power. This defiance of common sense caused his ten‑thousand‑year pride to collapse in an instant.

"Impossible! This is my signature poison!" he lunged like a madman, his ten fingers turning into dark‑green claws, the tips dripping venom that corroded the ground into deep pits.

Han Wuxian sidestepped the claws, the Shattered Star Blade slashing diagonally, striking precisely at the ancient green‑scaled monster's scapula. With a 'Puff', a string of blood beads mixed with scales was flung. As those beads were about to burst into poisonous mist, the blade's star energy purified them on the spot.

"Your poison is useless against me," Han Wuxian pressed forward, each swing of the Shattered Star Blade carrying the momentum of stars shattering and earth cracking. He cared not for any sect's glory, nor to cleanse the Star Dao Sect's gates; he was only after revenge.

For himself, who had nearly been poisoned to death on the Fallen Star Cliff, and for the innocents tormented by Bone‑Eating Azure.

The ancient green‑scaled monster was driven back repeatedly, its scales shedding, exposing foul, blood‑soaked flesh beneath. He let out a strange laugh as the surrounding poisonous mist began to swirl, coalescing behind him into a massive illusion of a green‑scaled python.

"Since you can digest Bone‑Eating Azure, try this!" the monster tore open his own chest, cradling a pulsating dark‑blue heart in his hand, "This is a poison core I refined from the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons' Earth Vein; today I'll let you taste the feeling of your meridians being burst by primal toxin!"

As soon as the poison core left his body, the entire Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons began to tremble. The toxins hidden in the marsh surged out, swarming toward Han Wuxian as if to tear him apart and sacrifice him to the poison core.

Han Wuxian suddenly sheathed his blade. He stared at the dark‑blue poison core, the Star‑Earth Seed thundering wildly within his body.

It wasn't fear, but excitement. The Earth Vein Power contained within the poison core shared its origin with the secret realm of the sinking stars, only tainted by toxin for ten thousand years.

"Perfect, my Star‑Earth Seed still lacks some nourishment," he advanced instead of retreating, star patterns swirling in his crimson‑gold eyes as he reached out toward the poison core.

The ancient green‑scaled monster's smile froze; he had never seen anyone dare touch a poison core with bare hands. Yet in the next instant, he witnessed a sight he would never forget.

The moment Han Wuxian's palm touched the poison core, Dark Gold Material surged like a tide, enveloping the core layer by layer. The all‑corroding dark‑blue toxin was gradually stripped and purified, ultimately becoming pure Earth Vein Power that flowed up his arm into his body.

"No! That's mine!" the ancient green‑scaled monster's eyes widened, lunging to snatch it, only to be struck in the chest by Han Wuxian's backhand palm.

"Yours?" Han Wuxian crushed the last trace of toxin, feeling the surge of power within, as the Shattered Star Blade shot skyward, turning mid‑air into a cascade of star rain, "It stopped being so since the moment you used this poison to kill the first person."

The star rain fell, each beam of starlight piercing the ancient green‑scaled monster's scales, pinning him to the stone wall of the Scale‑Transforming Pool. His body withered at a visible speed, the green scales, deprived of poisonous nourishment, crumbling into ash.

"You're not of the Star Dao Sect..." the monster whispered in his dying breath, finally seeing the cold indifference in Han Wuxian's eyes.

It was not the fury inherited from sect grudges, but pure, cold vengeance born solely of revenge.

Han Wuxian gave no reply. He watched the monster turn entirely to ash, then turned and left the Scale‑Transforming Pool. The Poison Miasma of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons was dissipating, the purified Earth Vein began to emit a gentle tremor, and the toxins, freed from control, regained consciousness and retreated into the dense forest.

He had no interest in the Valley's Earth Vein, nor any intention of rebuilding the Star Dao Sect. Sheathing the Shattered Star Blade back at his waist, he glanced at the lingering Dark Gold sheen in his palm.

The Star‑Earth Seed, having absorbed Earth Vein Power, had become more condensed, but so what?

"The account is settled," Han Wuxian leapt out of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, marshes behind him reviving, and a vast sky ahead.