The Immortal’s Poison

Zhui Zi's emotion sank into the final memories from her past life once again, with the fear that was beyond comparison shining in her eyes.

Her primordial spirit was stripped away. When she suddenly witnessed her dharma body that was supposed to have turned into a zombie could no longer move, was crying in a ghastly manner, her finger stabbed into the area between Kong Nuer's god-level body ferociously.

Zhui Zi's dharma body was completely unscathed, filled with vim and vigor, while Kong Nuer's god-level body was exhausted, he was weak to the greatest extent. With the deterioration of one's health and the improvement of the other's health, Kong Nuer could only give out half an agonizing scream, before his body fell limply.

A dash of golden light shot from the area between Zhui Zi dharma body's glabella, Kong Nuer's glabella in lightning speed.

Zhui Zi's body fell limply, Kong Nuer shivered once and stood up once again.

This was a battle of seizing abode of high danger.

Chang Li heaved a sigh from the side, she stretched out her hand and wrapped around Zhui Zi's shoulder, interrupting Zhui Zi's description of her past. She turned to Wen Leyang and asked, "Foolish young lad, so do you understand now?"

Wen Leyang's heart was beating loudly, but there was still a crucial part that he could not quite figure out yet. 

Hanba who was kneeling in front of them seemed to have understood Wen Leyang's puzzlement. "There are two greatest advantages to the embodiment of true water, the first one is, the true water is formless, it allows one to move and hide without a trace, such that it is very difficult for the enemy to notice one's presence. The second one is that water moistens everything under the heaven, and nourishes all things on earth, using the embodiment of true water to grow a soul, it is the most suitable method of all! On the other hand, the embodiment of true water is also capable of separating the connection between two different primordial spirits," he said in a deep voice of reminder. 

As he was saying that, Hanba paused for a moment, then he spoke dully again, "After the split body died in Xiang Liu's hands, his soul hid into Zhui Zi's body. While in the perspective of the god level body, his split body was killed, the primordial spirit was trapped by Xiang Liu, that was why the god level body lost all connection with the split body's primordial spirit. This is a very common situation."

At the sound of an explosive pop, Wen Leyang felt a strong pain radiating from his hand. Without noticing, he had held his fist so ferociously tight till he had forcefully broken a finger.

Wen Leyang finally understood what this was all about – after the human body of the split body was shattered, he hid his primordial spirit in Zhui Zi's body, it waited until the timing was perfect to launch a successful attack, and seized the god level body's dharma body. 

Zhui Zi's expression was mournful, yet pity rippled on her forehead. She gently stroked Wen Leyang's broken finger with her icy cold hands.

Chang Li patted Zhui Zi's shoulder gently, calming her down and signalling it was time to take a break.

The demon cat inhaled a deep breath. She helped Wen Leyang to connect the dots in this story so he could understand thoroughly, "When Zhui Zi was murdered back in those days, no doubt it was still related to the condensation of the demon-suppressing ice cone nail. However, in the final analysis, it was still because Kong Nuer's split body wanted to take advantage of her embodiment of true water to deal with the god level body! This entire incident, was that split body's scheme from the beginning to the end!"

Kong Nuer's split body brought Zhui Zi to spy on the nine-headed snake, and intentionally died in Xiang Liu's hands, his primordial spirit quietly possessed Zhui Zi when his dharma body was shattered.

The split body feigned his death to coerce the god level body into making an appearance, Zhui Zi abided the last testament of the split body to ignore any oracle-delivering spiritual crane, while the god level body killed Zhui Zi to strip away her primordial spirit in order to complete the great formation. Afterwards he exhausted his life vitality to retrieve the heavenly water spirit.

After Zhui Zi's primordial spirit was stripped away, the split body's primordial spirit first seized Zhui Zi's dharma body as his abode. Finally he seized the opportunity when the god level body was exhausted to launch an attack and ambushed the god level body, once again passing his primordial spirit from Zhui Zi's dharma body into the god level body's dharma body. 

All sorts of schemes, twice the act of seizing abode, the split body turned himself into the god level body!

Wen Leyang was feeling shocked and infuriated in his heart. He was infuriated by Zhui Zi's tragedy in her past life, and was shocked at the action of Kong Nuer's split body - the entire plot!

Zhui Zi's expression was calm now. The final memories of her past life, was a combination of conspiracies that was nauseating and filled with deep enmity as heavy as heaven and earth. Yet in this lifetime of hers, she had the utmost arrogant and rampant Chang Li, and also the kind-hearted poison-infused body Wen Leyang by her side! Zhui Zi leaned her body into Chang Li's cradle, she continued, "The split body seized the abode, he seized the god level body, moreover he was using my embodiment of true water as a catalyst, this matter had completely dumbfounded me. But at the time I had a strand of hope, I thought that split body was going to help me to return my soul."

Wen Leyang did not know what to say. He had already predicted the event, if Kong Nuer was willing to help Zhui Zi to return her soul, then she would never become that demon-suppressing heaven's cone nail in the Black and White Island for thousands of years. 

With regards to her past life, Zhui Zi's final memories were of after Kong Nuer success in seizing the abode. He broke into violent lamentations towards her, with tears streaming from his eyes. In the end, he conjured a magic spell to seal her memories, followed by boundless darkness that approached her. By the time Zhui Zi had awakened, she was already a demon-suppressing heaven's cone nail on the Black and White Island!

He broke down once again. When Kong Nuer framed Zhui Zi, he needed to wail bitterly, and when he framed Qing Ren, he needed to do so as well. 

If it was not for Zhui Zi's personal encounter, the chain of conspiracies from Kong Nuer's split body was something that Wen Leyang could never even dream of, but until this point, Wen Leyang still had two parts that he could not quite understand right now.

The first being, why was the split body planning to kill the god level body out of nowhere?

The second part was rather normal for the split body to predict that Zhui Zi would abide by his words, yet how could he be that certain, that the god level body would certainly make an appearance and led all the heroes after his death, in an attempt to deal with Xiang Liu?

Zhui Zi removed the jade box that she retrieved from Geladaindong Peak from her chest pocket and passed it to Wen Leyang, "Take a look at the item inside the box, then you will understand."

Wen Leyang received the box and was stunned for a moment, there were many fissures in a messy pattern that appeared on the box since an unknown time, the box was akin to a walnut that was crushed repeatedly, as if it would shatter at any moment.

Chang Li refrained herself from laughing as she explained to him, "The box was sealed with a magic spell, the prohibition spell's power was albeit not too strong, but it was very complicated. Depending on our abilities alone, no one was capable of breaking the box, however the Wen family's Faulty Punch is capable of breaking any magic spell."

Wen Leyang was suddenly enlightened, "The Ninth Uncle and Thirteenth Uncle?"

Chang Li nodded and spoke, "That is correct! But they could not control their strength properly, they almost shattered the box when they broke the prohibition spell."

Wen Leyang laughed silently, "Why do you have to go through such troubles, you could have asked me to use the Faulty Punch to open the box back then." He understood what happened in his heart. 

Kong Nuer admitted personally back in those years, this box was related to the place where he was heading to hereafter. Zhui Zi and the rest were certain they could find Kong Nuer, by depending on this box.

In order to prevent him from going through dangers again, the demon immortals did not mind launching the ghost formation to entrap him, of course they would never allow him to open the box. If Wen Leyang were to find out Kong Nuer's whereabouts when he returned ten years later, of course he would follow this clue and continue searching.

Wen Leyang was immersed in Zhui Zi's memories all along earlier. It was only when he received the box, that he recalled that the demon immortals were planning to look for Kong Nuer. He hastily asked Chang Li, "Within the past four years, have all of you found Kong Nuer already?"

The few demon immortals were idling in the Wen family village for some unknown reason. It was not known if they returned with the triumph of defeating and killing Kong Nuer, or that they ran away after being defeated, or that they simply did not look for Kong Nuer from the beginning. 

Chang Li panted hoarsely in an apparent manner, she asked him uncourteously, "I will tell you about the matter in steps. First, you open the box, then you will find out about what actually happened, between Kong Nuer and the split body in the beginning!"

Wen Leyang too did not inquire anymore. He cautiously opened the box, there was a piece of red-colored jade inside. Wen Leyang had been dealing with the cultivation world for a long time, he recognized that this form of jade was frequently used to record some important messages, and could only be read using a cultivator's primordial soul. 

Wen Leyang was laughing from rage, he did not have a damn primordial spirit. Even if he were to chew the jade into a mush and swallowed it, he would never know what was recorded within the jade. 

Chang Li burst out laughing from the success of her prank. Even Zhui Zi with a dull expression could not help but to purse her lips, revealing a few pleasant smile lines.

Zhui Zi smiled as she stretched out two of her fine fingers. She flipped up the base of the jade box, and removed a square of silk in between her fingers. It was only then Wen Leyang had realized that, there was something else under the jade. 

Zhui Zi held the fine silk in between her fingers as she shook it against the wind, she smiled as she spoke to Wen Leyang, "The message that is recorded in the jade, we have transcribed it. Otherwise there can only be one person who can watch it which would be very troublesome."

The silk was made of some unknown material. It was as thin as a cicada's wing and was folded in many layers. It was originally the size of a child's palm when it was in the box, but now that it has opened up and spreaded out in layers, it suddenly turned into a long silk that was dozens of meters in circumference!

The long silk was drenched in Chinese brush ink. It appeared to be a map of the traditional Chinese painting of mountains and waters, but it was drawn in a mess. Wen Leyang could only see that the drawing was filled with black ink spots, he could not understand the meaning of the drawing. But in the midst of the mountains and waters, there were countless rows of little words labelled on it, written in a graceful and subtle manner.

Wen Leyang peered at Chang Li, Chang Li was feeling rather self-conscious, she hastily nodded, "I am the one who drew the painting of the mountains and waters." Upon saying that, she felt that the painting that she drew was truly hard to be justified and laughed, "Just look at the artistic uniqueness".

Wen Leyang could not see it, he only felt dizzy from looking at the painting, he sniggered, "Where is the artistic uniqueness?"

Zhui Zi was completely amused by their conversation. She regained that exuberant charm in between her brows, pointed to the long silk and laughed, "Of course there is artistic uniqueness in the painting, you are too foolish to see it!" Following that she paused intentionally, before continuing, "The silk is white, the ink is black, the contrast is precisely the painting's artistic uniqueness!"

Chang Li was the idiot who could not differentiate if the words were kind or evil/ She held Zhui Zi's shoulders and burst out laughing, "It is as such, you are still the one with the better insight!"

Wen Leyang was not foolish as well. He pondered over Zhui Zi's words slightly before he understood. He pointed to the long silk and spoke in astonishment, "The place that is drawn in this painting... is the Black and White Island?"

Zhui Zi nodded in all apparent seriousness, "This painting here, is precisely the formation chart of the Black and White Island's demon-suppressing great formation! While in those labels, the words that are written horizontally are from when the split body first received this formation chart, the annotations that are available on the original chart. The words that are written vertically, are some ideas that are figured out by the split body himself!"

Wen Leyang was a little confused at Zhui Zi's words all at once. Zhui Zi smiled as she explained to him, "I am certain that this jade was passed down by the god level body to the split body. There was only supposed to be one formation chart in there. On the other hand the god level body made some labels and explanations on the formation chart, while the split body was studying this chart in detail, he came up with some other ideas, and those ideas were recorded conveniently into the jade. That is why there is the difference of wordings in horizontal and vertical position."

Wen Leyang nodded. Before he looked at the formation chart, he could not help but to point at those graceful little wordings and asked Zhui Zi, "Are you the one who wrote all these words?"

Hanba who was kneeling in front of them all along gave out an icy cold scoff, "I wrote that!"

Wen Leyang was filled with profound respect.

Chang Li laughed for a little while more, only then she reminded Wen Leyang softly, "The formation chart is still on the second place. The most crucial part are those ideas of Kong Nuer's split body at the time. Those ideas are all very important. After you have read through, you ought to understand the essential sequence of events then!

In simpler words, the message that was recorded in this jade, consisted of the initial formation chart of the Black and White Island, and also the understanding of the split body. There were also the ideas that were similar to diary and notes, the content was more than enriching. In the end the few demon immortals completely restored the content onto this piece of long silk. 

The long silk was enormous, the wordings were extremely small, if one were to tidy up everything there, it was afraid that the content was enough to fill half a book. 

Wen Leyang was uninterested in the principles behind the formation chart and the magic formation. He lowered his head to read the content that was written vertically, but these were just some threads of ideas written by Kong Nuer's split body, some were incomplete, some were inaccurate at conveying his thoughts, the sequence was also messy to the greatest extent, he could not understand without spending a great deal of time and effort to read through. 

The act of allowing Wen Leyang to read and understand by himself, was not because the few demon immortals were intentionally keeping him at suspense, but because the matters that were involved in this long silk, was not so easily explained in a few words. Many matters belonged to the situation where it was best sensed but not explained, after he had read through, he would understand better than just listening to other explanations. 

Anyhow he had the time, moreover this long silk was almost the final answer capable of solving all the doubts and suspicions, except about the grand master Tuo Xie's whereabouts. Wen Leyang's state of mind was soon completely attracted by the painting. The only flaw in this otherwise perfect painting was that – if only there was Hanba's labels on the long silk, but without Chang Li's painting skill, then it would be even better.

The three demon immortals saw that Wen Leyang was completely engrossed, so they no longer disturbed him. Hanba was missing his daughter, so he bid farewell to Chang Li and Zhui Zi before he rushed towards Qinling Mountain. He wanted to bring his daughter back to the Wen family village. 

Wen Leyang was pacing back and forth on the thin long silk. He followed along the notes that were left behind by Kong Nuer's split body as he continuously pondered. He began from the morning until the moon shone in the night sky, only then he finally understood thoroughly. He completely clarified all sorts of intercourse between Kong Nuer's three split bodies and god level body before the Black and White Island's great formation was completed. 

Kong Nuer's god level body cultivated in the heaven and earth magic art of the profound sect, he understood the power of the heaven and earth in regards to the change of star position and the sunrise and moonset through mediation. He had already achieved mastery in cultivation since the ancient times, needless to say about this god level body, even his other three split bodies, did not have any worthy enemy amongst the human cultivators.

Under the intentional refinement of the god level body, other than being well skilled in profound magic arts, the three split bodies each had his strength. The First Brother was skilled in the savage Art of Devilry, the Second Brother was skilled in the Magic of Talisman, while the Third Brother was proficient in the Art of Soul and Magic Formation. 

Many years ago, the god level body had already stopped setting foot in the mortal world. He wandered into the depths of the mountain to become a living immortal, while his three other split bodies were living and cultivating in the mortal world. Occasionally, the god level body would deliver an oracle, and instructed the three of them to run some errands for him. 

Once the First Brother received the god level body's oracle, he went to run an errand, yet not long after, he vanished. 

The split bodies came from the same body, they could sense each other's presence, so theoretically as long as the person was not dead, this sensation would never be discontinued. If the First Brother's body had died, the god level body and the other two split bodies would be injured simultaneously. 

Second Brother and Third Brother were in good health and were uninjured, yet the First Brother had genuinely vanished somehow. He had suddenly disappeared from the two split bodies' detection. 

The god level body too did not explain about this matter anymore, but he only instructed the other two split bodies to continue cultivating properly. At the same time he instructed them to spread their lineage, to formally accept many disciples, so they could pass down Kong Nuer's lineage of supernatural power.

Another period of time had passed, the Second Brother brought along his trusted disciples. They were sent out to run an errand by the god level body. Not long after, just like the First Brother, he disappeared without a trace.

The Third Brother was already suspicious in his heart, but he was only making senseless guesses. He did not attempt to get to the bottom of things, after all, the god level body was capable of tracking his split bodies' whereabouts at any time. If he truly had the intention to harm them, he could execute them in a flash. There was utterly no need for him to play any tricks. 

The First Brother and the Second Brother disappeared in succession, Kong Nuer had only one split body left in the mortal world to help him with errands. But for a long period of time, the god level body did not contact the Third Brother. The former cultivated quietly in the mortal world, he had formally acknowledged a few disciples as well.

It was until a few thousand years after the Second Brother's disappearance, the god level body suddenly delivered an oracle to Third Brother, he instructed the Third Brother to walk across the world, and gathered the top master cultivators from the nine genera of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, sun, moon, star and chaos. The Third Brother acted accordingly, he spent a thousand years and gathered the eight sect's master cultivators under his leadership. On top of that, he also solicited another batch of master cultivators to serve him loyally, to this point, out of the nine genera, there was only Qian Ren from the wood element who did not formally acknowledge him as a master teacher, but the Third Brother and Qian Ren too had become the most intimate of friends. 

After the Third Brother was done with all the preparations, he then passed down the formation chart of the Black and White Island's nine elements heaven's cone nails for the demon-suppressing great formation. The god level body instructed him to follow strictly to the formation chart's design, to condense the nine demon-suppressing heaven's cone nails, the Third Brother could easily predict from there that the god level body was planning to deal with the nine-headed monster Xiang Liu. 

The Third Brother knew the god level body's personality like the back of his hand. Kong Nuer was not considered a bad person at the time, but he was absolutely, not a good person. One could say that he could not even be regarded as a person. He had since achieved mastery in his cultivation, he had an apathetic temperament, he had no care for the instability of the human affairs, so he would absolutely never make a move to enforce justice on behalf of heaven by dealing with the nine-headed Xiang Liu for no good reason. 

The Third Brother pondered. There could only be one reason for the god level body to wish to deal with the nine-headed Xiang Liu – the two peerless great monsters of the world had formed an enmity.

However, these matters were not governed by the Third Brother, anyhow the god level body passed down the formation chart. He would only need to follow the chart and make the necessary preparations. The primordial spirits of the top cultivators were needed to condense the heaven's cone nails. Then, he would prepare to strip away the primordial spirits of his inferior disciples. After the Black and White Island's great formation was completed there was a need for master cultivators' protection, then he would instruct his disciples to prepare to move there. He even helped to make alterations to the wood element cone nail's design on behalf of the god level body, because he still had one 'Gou Mang's spiritual seed' in his hand. He proposed to use the seed's immortal root to condense the wood element cone nail. It was stronger than using Qian Ren's primordial spirit, and could vastly enhance the magic formation's power.

However, before performing these tasks, the Third Brother discovered a small issue that was not considered a flaw in the god level body's formation chart. 

Nine heaven's cone nails were condensed in accordance with the genera of Xiang Liu's nine heads, while simultaneously complemented with the magic art of the nine incredible sects. After the cone nails were launched then the nails would guide the power of the heaven and earth to suppress the monster, this magic formation's design could be described as superb beyond comparison. But there was only one weakness in it – in comparison to the monster that was about to be suppressed, the formation's foundation was slightly weak. 

Xiang Liu was an evil creature that lived and died with heaven and earth. Needless to say about the magic arts gifted to it, it's strength was so strong it was boundless. The power of the nine heaven's cone nails own bodies were still in second place, but the power of heaven and earth that was guided in was strong enough to collapse the mountain and sink the land.

Once the great formation had taken form and Xiang Liu was suppressed, these two gushes of tremendous force would then continuously entangle and collide with one another. The Black and White Island that was acting as the formation's foundation was of course reinforced through magic art, but under the constant collision of the two gushes of tremendous force. The island would be able to withstand for a few millenniums. If it was lucky it could pull through until the beginning of a mega-annum, but sooner or later it would collapse and sink. By then, the nine-headed Xiang Liu would then see the light of the day once again. 

For the rest of the cultivators, it was already a heroic and meritorious achievement to be able to suppress Xiang Liu for a few thousand years. In the entire world, it was utterly impossible to find a location capable of sustaining and resisting this form of tremendous force for eternity. Yet the Third Brother was not satisfied, at least according to his own recordings. He was motivated by his earnest and responsible attitude to serve the god level body. He started studying on the method to make alterations to the formation chart, such that he could ensure that the Black and White Island's great formation stayed efficacious forever, and suppressed Xiang Liu for eternity. 

The principle behind Third Brother's method to improve the magic formation was actually very simple. Since there was no other location capable of withstanding the tremendous forces, he then figured out a way to remove the force that was produced from the two strong parties' fight. 

From then on, the Third Brother tried to come up with every possible way. In an attempt to open up a discharge tunnel for the magic formation, such that the Black and White Island could avoid the constant blasting of the tremendous force. Yet no matter how he altered the design, there was no way he could satisfy the two conditions of preventing Xiang Liu from struggling free and ensuring the avoidance of forces for the small island. In the end, when the Third Brother shifted his gaze from the entire magic formation back to the heaven's cone nails. He finally thought of a way to remove the force, while scaring Third Brother so much he was covered in cold sweat!

Third Brother was obsessed with magic formations on his own. When he was researching this demon-suppressing great formation, he had already forgotten about the enmity and conflict between the god level body and the nine-headed snake. But he regarded the magic formation's improvement purely as a riddle that needed to be solved, he concentrated his entire time and effort into doing such. During that period of time, Third Brother completely forgot about himself and other matters, there was only this one riddle to be solved in his eyes!

Finally, he managed to solve this riddle. The only way he could ensure that the Black and White Island remained unaffected by the force, was to sacrifice his own life!

If the person who was conjuring the magic formation, could strip away the primordial spirit of his other split body and refined the primordial spirit into these nine heaven's cone nails; then complemented the process with a set of crooked way's magic art. After the refinement was completed, the demon-suppressing heaven's cone nails would be in a state. A state that was in the middle of being a treasured weapon with a Sword's Resolve and the human form split body for the person who conjured the magic formation. 

The tremendous force that was produced from the heaven's cone nails and nine-headed snake's fight would be turned into a life vitality that echoed to the genus, and passed from the heaven's cone nails into the person who conjured the magic formation. 

If Third Brother's idea was adopted, it was equal to turning the heaven's cone nails into a special split body. This converted the act of suppressing Xiang Liu into special cultivation and received the life vitality force from there as a result. As long as the god level body was willing, then he could completely harvest it for his own use. 

So the most essential condition to solve this difficult riddle was to refine the split body into the heaven's cone nail!

The Third Brother was dumbfounded. The person who was going to conjure the Black and White Island's great formation, was precisely Kong Nuer's god-level body, while he was precisely that split body! Moreover, the set of crooked way's magic art that refined a human form's split body that was already resurrected into a treasured weapon, was also Kong Nuer's expertise.

The long silk's recording that was pieced together was as such. On the other hand there were still some completely meaningless ravings and confusing questions. Most of those were the Third Brother's own wild ideas, but there was one phrase there that was circled with a red pen by one of the demon immortals. It caught Wen Leyang's attention.

The Third Brother's written phrase was – why is he still staying in the mortal world?

Wen Leyang was done reading all the recordings, he was dumbfounded too.

Chang Li and Zhui Zi sat on each of his sides. They chuckled as they looked at Wen Leyang who was staring in bewilderment. They waited for a long while, then they asked in unison, "Do you understand now?"

Wen Leyang felt like he was awakened from a dream. He exhaled a long breath, "I understand basically." 

Following that, he did not wait for Chang Li and Zhui Zi to inquire closely anymore, he continued talking on his own, "Actually, the Third Brother could not be certain in the end too, whether the god level body would refine him into the heaven's cone nail actually. It was only that, he dared not take the risk still."

Indeed, Third Brother truly did think of a way to remedy the magic formation's flaw, but he could not be certain that, whether the god level body was intentionally hiding the way from him, or the god level body utterly did not consider this much. He was only planning to suppress Xiang Liu for as long as he could.

However, when Third Brother thought of Second Brother and First Brother's baffling disappearance, that they apparently had not died yet they lost contact with him, he associated the formation chart in his hands now. He had already scared himself so much he was covered in cold sweat!