Chapter 80

The poison spread quickly!

Within a few breaths, He Pingsheng felt the numbness intensify.

With a thud, he collapsed onto the ground and lay motionless.

Thirty zhang away, behind a tree as thick as two arms clasped together, the Zhu family’s female disciple cautiously extended her spiritual sense to sense.

Confirming He Pingsheng had no breath left, she calmly stepped out from behind the tree.

“Hehe…”

As she walked, she laughed softly, murmuring quietly: “You really thought I was easy to bully?”

“Fool… die!”

“Now, everything belongs to me!”

“Hehehe…”

These three poison needles were her true trump card—something even her senior brothers didn’t know about, let alone her sect’s elders.

Today, this thing saved my life.

The woman had full confidence in her hidden weapons and walked straight toward He Pingsheng.

When she was still one zhang away from He Pingsheng, she raised her hand and summoned her flying sword.

“Slice…”

One slash descended.

But!

To the woman’s utter shock, a pale yellow defensive aura suddenly appeared around He Pingsheng’s body.

The aura effortlessly blocked the flying sword, then three fire crows flew out and slammed into her chest with lightning speed.

Thud… thud…

The other two fire crows struck her back.

The Zhu family disciple was dead!

Likewise, He Pingsheng didn’t know her name.

He Pingsheng rose from the ground.

Correct—he had faked being poisoned.

He had indeed been poisoned, but thanks to the cultivation of the [Nine Poisons Golden Body] technique, which granted him immunity to all poisons, this poison could not cause him much trouble.

He had already neutralized seven-tenths of it.

Now, only three-tenths remained inside him.

“This poison isn’t from a Qi Refining cultivator!” He Pingsheng frowned slightly.

If this poison came from a Qi Refining beast, he would be completely immune—no residue would remain.

The fact that some residue still lingered meant this poison’s rank exceeded Qi Refining.

Perhaps it was Foundation Establishment level.

But it didn’t matter!

He Pingsheng took out the [Tiger-Striped Golden Bee Nectar] and drank a single drop.

The Tiger-Striped Golden Bee Nectar also possessed some detoxifying properties.

At the same time, the [Nine Poisons Golden Body] technique activated within him, and within a few breaths, the remaining poison was completely purged.

Pick up the woman’s treasure bag!

Then run to where the man had been shot and retrieve his treasure bag.

He Pingsheng immediately summoned his paper crane and flew off in a blur, then casually found a hidden spot and laid out array materials to form a top-grade array.

Entering the array, He Pingsheng emptied all items from both treasure bags.

Let’s take stock of the spoils.

First, spirit stones.

Not much!

Combined, the two of them had only two hundred and some spirit stones.

One flying sword—low-grade magic treasure.

One black spear—mid-grade magic treasure.

One silver shield—low-grade magic treasure.

Only three magic treasures total!

Aside from these three, the rest were a few jade slips.

“How poor!”

He had expected a major haul from this loot tally.

And this is all?

Not a single valuable item.

He Pingsheng nearly pinched his nose in disgust—these two were barely better than the Black Wind Trio.

They were at the peak of Qi Refining, and still this poor?

Are all disciples of cultivation families this destitute?

He Pingsheng shook his head and stopped pondering.

Fortunately, though these two cultivators were poor, over two days in this secret realm, they had gathered quite a few good items.

Dozens of first-grade spiritual herbs.

Nothing else.

After sorting and storing the items, He Pingsheng’s gaze fell on the jade slips.

Two cultivation techniques—very ordinary rank.

He Pingsheng ignored them outright.

One jade slip recorded a technique: Zhu Family Thirteen Spears.

Called a technique, but it was merely a spell.

Only its rank was somewhat higher.

This one can be kept—later, strengthen it with the Treasure Basin, and it might evolve into a stronger spear-related spell.

The last jade slip recorded a map of all treasures within the secret realm.

Such maps existed in every sect.

But each sect’s map differed.

Because sect maps were compiled from disciples’ repeated explorations, and sects never shared information, so every sect’s map was unique.

The Zhu family’s map was nearly identical to the Grand Void Gate’s.

The only difference: the Zhu family map marked a second-grade spiritual herb’s growth point.

Cornus fruit.

And according to the map, the cornus fruit grew near the lake where the Water Spirit Apricot was located.

He Pingsheng put away the map, with no intention of going to the mountain where the cornus fruit grew.

Only Zhu family members knew of this spot—there would surely be Zhu disciples guarding it.

If I rushed over carelessly and ran into a group of Zhu disciples, wouldn’t they suspect me?

Better to search myself.

He Pingsheng traveled north; when blocked by mountains or rivers, he summoned his paper crane to fly over, otherwise he walked.

Walking made it less likely to miss rare herbs and treasures.

After one day’s travel, his harvest was decent—he collected dozens of first-grade spiritual herbs and three second-grade ones: [Rehmannia Root].

Rehmannia Root is one of the main ingredients for the second-grade elixir [Spirit Gathering Pill].

The Spirit Gathering Pill has the same effect as the Qi Gathering Pill, but it is the primary elixir taken by Foundation Establishment disciples during cultivation.

As night fell, He Pingsheng found a flat high ground, pulled out his top-grade array materials again, and quickly constructed a top-grade defensive array.

Searching for rare herbs at night was impossible—he could only rest.

Of course, He Pingsheng also brought out the Treasure Basin.

This time, two items were placed inside.

One gourd of [Tiger-Striped Golden Bee Nectar], and one silver shield.

The shield was taken from the Zhu disciple—a low-grade magic treasure; after strengthening, it could be used.

One night passed.

He Pingsheng’s spiritual power was fully restored.

He opened his eyes and looked into the Treasure Basin.

One gourd had become two.

And the gourd’s quality had changed.

Originally, the gourd was just an ordinary gourd; now it was still an ordinary gourd, but tiny golden glimmers shimmered across its surface.

Thud…

He Pingsheng picked up one gourd, opened it, and a rich fragrance filled the air.

Inside the gourd was filled completely with golden nectar.