The Immortal’s Poison

In between the sky and the sea, was a rage so intense, it was already completely boiling, one that could only belong to the great sea.

The monstrous waves were enough to split a lone island, the vortex was strong enough to swallow a hill, and the silver-colored waves were stretched as far as the eyes could see, all amidst the boiling sky and land! Zhui Zi on the other side pulled Wen Leyang along as they walked faster and faster, and soon enough, she was leaping and flying, akin to an arrow that flew sideways under the protection of her layers of waves. She shuttled past the monstrous waves without hesitation. 

Wen Leyang was dizzy from witnessing the water element's magic power. He could not help but feel his blood boil with righteous indignation. Just as his state of mind was distracted, a forceful and sonorous dragon's roar suddenly echoed from the side of his ear. Wen Leyang was startled for a moment before he realized that he had summoned his dragon-shaped bony Ning Jiao.

The bony Ning Jiao's mouth opened and closed at the sound of a crack. It turned around and protected Zhui Zi and Wen Leyang; its empty eye sockets were shimmering with pitch-black excitement. It was roaring loudly under the murky waves. Zhui Zi, who was initially urging her magic conjuration gestured continuously to resist the entire great sea, managed to stretch out to grab onto the Bony Ning Jiao's tail in the midst of the pressing affair. At the sound of a 'thud', she tossed it into the sea while complaining pitifully, "Its voice is too hoarse!"

The Bony Ning Jiao's actual power was on par with Zhui Zi, but without Wen Leyang's instruction, it could only be tossed into the great sea with no complaints. 

After Zhui Zi tossed away the Bony Ning Jiao, she spoke to Wen Leyang, "I have already used my embodiment of true water to conceal our vital energy. After entering the island, if it is not the last resort, you are neither allowed to use the magic spell nor allowed to use your telegnosis ability, lest you break my magic spell. You can only see and hear everything. We're only going to take a stroll on the island and count how many heaven's cone nails there are left before we leave!"

Wen Leyang nodded, "May I speak?"

Zhui Zi laughed in the most pleasant manner, "You may only speak softly next to my ear!"

Wen Leyang and Zhui Zi made their way forward. There were always monstrous waves that came pouncing over with hostility but were churned into pieces by Zhui Zi's waves. Gradually, Wen Leyang had even felt waves upon waves of rolling seawater which seemed to falter yet still imposing, akin to fireworks… Even though they were not magnificent enough, it was enough to invoke a sense of excitement!

The prohibition spells surrounding the Black and White Island were incisive, but it was more than sufficient for Zhui Zi to deal with. The two of them joined hands and stood side by side, all the way towards the evening. Zhui Zi suddenly laughed melodiously, "We have arrived now. Be careful in everything you do!" She then pulled at Wen Leyang and leaped up high into the air!"

Wen Leyang was feeling very odd as if he had dived head-first into a balloon. His entire body felt slightly tightened, but soon loosened up, while his feet had already stepped onto the hard soil ground. 

When he turned around and looked towards where he had just come from, the surface of the sea had already regained its serenity. Not even foam was left behind by the monstrous wave. The setting sun hung on the sky afar and left behind a bright red streak on the surface of the water that seemed like a lifeless road taken over by moss. 

From a bird's eye view, the Black and White Island was as huge as a city; while its mountains were neatly arranged from the south towards the north. 

Back when he was at the Goddess Peak, Wen Leyang had known that the mountains on the Black and White Island were transformed from Xiang Liu's dharma body, that split out from the middle of the island and sprawled all the way to the nine mountain ridges on the south pole. That was the monster's nine snake necks, while the part that looked like a giant hill overgrown with tumors on the north, was Xiang Liu's lower body. 

It was complete silence on the Black and White Island. Even the sound of wind seemed to have frozen over. The surrounding area was certainly not as described by Red Pot, for being continuously rumbling with loud noises echoing through the entire sky. 

As Zhui Zi launched her true water magic spell to conceal their figures, the two people dared not use their telegnosis ability, and neither did they dare to urge their cultivation power to speed up their walking even more. They could only jog all the way, as they headed stealthily towards the south where the snake's neck mountain ridge was closest to them. 

Zhui Zi studied the formation chart before; personally, she was also the demon-suppressing cone nail for thousands of years before. She understood the great formation of the island like the back of her hand. It was until the two people moved stealthily side by side, that she put her little mouth next to Wen Leyang's ear and explained the demon-suppressing great formation to him softly.

The nine heaven's cone nails were used to suppress the nine snake's heads. Even on the surface, it appeared that a heaven's cone nail was nailed onto one snake's head, yet the great formation was actually an entirety that guided the power of the heaven and earth to pin down the entire monster. Even so, one or two of the heaven's cone nails were broken, and the responding snake's head and neck were still shackled by the power of the magic formation. It could not budge at all. 

After more than half of the heaven's cone nails were ruined, the power of the great formation was completely destroyed. The remaining power that suppressed Xiang Liu only came from the surviving heaven's cone nails, while the rest of the few snake's heads that lost the suppression of the heaven's cone nails could move about freely.

Zhui Zi's breath smelled like the scent of orchid; she exhaled so hard and made Wen Leyang's heart float amongst the clouds, "If there are still five or more heaven's cone nails remaining right now, we will be safe and sound, but if there are only four remaining heaven's cone nails, and Xiang Liu's three heads are alive now, you and I are in grave danger!"

Wen Leyang stretched out his hands. He had precisely nine fingers; it was very convenient for him to calculate…

Zhui Zi was cautious in her movements, but her expression did not show anxiousness. She brought Wen Leyang as they walked in quick strides stealthily along the snake head mountains. They examined the heaven's cone nail that was nailed onto each snake's head in an orderly manner.

Even though they could not dash at full force, the two of them did not walk slowly. From the dusk to midnight, they had already examined three mountain ridges, and every time Zhui Zi arrived at a location, she would explain to Wen Leyang softly that the three snake's necks were respectively made of three elements of metal, fire, and earth. The fire cone nail had already been broken, but the two heaven's cone nails of metal and earth elements were still standing upright and firm. 

The demon-suppressing heaven's cone nails were not considerably enormous in size, but the cone nails appeared not that different from utility poles. They were adorned with scriptures, occasionally circulating with sharp, or thick divine radiance that extinguished in a flash. 

The next mountain ridge they visited, as compared to the three prior ones, was obviously more desolated. Streaks upon streaks of enormous yet savage fissures sprawled out in all directions. It made one feel cold and bleak when seen from afar. When he was right in the middle of the fissure, Wen Leyang could only feel his breathing oppressed; the air was filled with sticky oppression. 

Moreover, when they passed through the three element genera of metal, fire, and earth snake's neck mountains, every mountain corresponded to its element's genus. The fire element mountain was scorching hot; even breathing felt like swallowing fire. The metal element mountain was filled with sharp forces. Even though there was no wind, when the air slowly flowed according to footsteps, it made one feel as if there was a sharp blade gently shaving against one's skin...

The desolated mountain ridge before his eyes did not contain even a little power of element. 

"This snake's neck is made of the wood element. The evil soul was already dead four years ago, that's why this neck lost its vitality - it is desolated as such! There's no need to examine anymore!" Zhui Zi's mouth cracked into a peculiar smile, "The next ridge is of the water element."

Wen Leyang chuckled, "Then we must go there. I must stand at the spot where you suppressed the demon thousands of years ago." He paused for a moment and added, "By then, I shall take a photo for you, then add a postscript behind it – Wen Leyang suppressed the demon here…"

Zhui Zi cracked into a smile, "And then I shall engrave the snake's head with – Zhui Zi was here."

The two of them were chatting and laughing, when rustling noises suddenly echoed from all directions without a sign. Wen Leyang thought that there was an incoming enemy; he immediately wanted to circulate and expel his poison when Zhui Zi hastily stopped him, "There's no harm, the true water is formless. These ghostly creatures cannot see us!"

Meanwhile, they were still on the wood element snake's neck mountain ridge. Wen Leyang dared not use his telegnosis ability recklessly, as he could only focus his attention, hold his breath, and listen to the noises that came from beneath his feet attentively. The loud noises in the surroundings sounded closer and closer as if there were countless Mourning Sect's corpse figurines digging up the earth strenuously, attempting to struggle to free out of the earth.

After a short while, with the sound of muffled poofs, ghost-faced monkeys with skinny and weak bodies, with skin akin to withered tree bark, crawled out, one after another, from the fissures that densely covered the mountain ridge. 

These ghost-faced monkeys' body size was not that different from ordinary monkeys, but their movements were rigid and stiff. Their bodies appeared not to be forged from flesh and blood, but they appeared to be pieced together by wood. In between their movements, they let out a rigid sound of occasional clunking. 

As mentioned by Zhui Zi, the ghost monkeys bored out from the ground close by, yet the monkeys did not even glance at them. After the monkeys crawled onto the surface of the ground, they formed into troops and walked from the wood element mountain ridge towards the water element mountain ridge. Each of the monkey's hands was holding a potato-like fruit. 

Wen Leyang felt that these monkeys' appearances seemed familiar, and after he recalled attentively, he suddenly remembered that back when he was at the Gold-consuming Lair, he saw a troop of similar spirit monsters, but the ghost-faced monkeys in the Gold-consuming Lair had golden bronze-colored bodies instead. Guo Huan told him at the time that those ghost-faced monkeys were known as the 'Metal Mountain Demon', which was a species of mountain ghosts. 

Zhui Zi seemed to have seen through Wen Leyang's thoughts. She explained to him softly, "These monsters are known as the Wood Mountain Demons. The wood element snake's head is already dead. The malevolent energy accumulated in its death transforms into this species of spirit monsters. It's nothing remarkable actually."

Wen Leyang suppressed the shock in his heart and pointed to the potatoes that were tightly grasped in the Wood Mountain Demons' hands, "What are they trying to do there? Send meals to their relatives?"

Zhui Zi shook her head and waited for the Wood Mountain Demons to leave before she pulled at Wen Leyang, "We shall find out by following them!"

There were roughly four to five hundred 'Wood Mountain Demons'. When they gathered together and walked, the clattering sound of their footsteps connected into a stretch as if a box of matches was shaken continuously in one's eardrums. 

Wen Leyang and Zhui Zi's footsteps were lighter than fallen leaves. They followed behind the Wood Mountain Demons as far as a hundred meters away all along and followed the monkeys as they walked towards the water element snake's neck. 

The monkeys walked at an extremely slow pace; their speed was no faster than that of ordinary humans. Wen Leyang and Zhui Zi had no choice but to slow down; they walked from midnight until dawn broke. Only then did they walk out of the wood element snake's neck that was already dead into the water element mountain ridge. 

The moment he entered the mountain of the water element, Wen Leyang could feel that his entire body was chilly as if he was in a cold and humid crypt. After he walked for a while, Wen Leyang suddenly shivered. It was not because his surroundings were all cold and chilly, but because… this mountain ridge was steep and treacherous. It was completely unlike the desolation of that lifeless wood element mountain!

Zhui Zi's expression too turned desolate subconsciously, as she turned her head to the side and peered at Wen Leyang once, "This snake's neck is still alive… the water element evil soul isn't dead yet."

Whether it was still in the snake's head or not, as long as the evil soul was still alive, the corresponding snake's head and neck would not be dead as well.

According to Red Pot's statement, the water element evil soul that was sealed in Hanba's body had been refined and dissolved by itself four years ago…

The water moistened the wood, and the moment that troop of Wood Mountain Demon in front arrived at this water element mountain ridge, they grew high-spirited. They walked faster than before; Wen Leyang could not care about pondering over Red Pot's matter anymore, so he joined Zhui Zi in following closely behind the back of these monsters. 

They walked for another two more hours, and by noon, the Wood Mountain Demons finally walked from where the long snake's neck was until its head. 

Xiang Liu's head was no less inferior than Guo Huan's stone tower. Perhaps it was because it was sealed for too long, Wen Leyang could not even see the facial features of the snake's head. At the end of the snake's neck was an oval-shaped giant river. The Wood Mountain Demon did not linger when they ran below the snake's head, but instead, used their three unoccupied limbs to start climbing up, while their occupied hands firmly grasped at the potatoes. After they climbed for a while, all of them bored into a fissure located in the mountainside. 

Wen Leyang analyzed the position and asked Zhui Zi softly, "Is this… the snake's mouth?"

Zhui Zi nodded; she furrowed her brows with puzzlement.

On the outside of that mountain fissure, there were still seven or eight Wood Mountain Demons on guard, as if they were protecting something. After they saw that their companions were crawling up from below, only then did they give way to the path. 

After all the monkeys that were holding a potato each bored into the mouth of the water element snake's head, Wen Leyang and Zhui Zi waited for a moment and they did not notice any more movements. The both of them too climbed onto the mountain, and they were about to bore a hole into that streak of fissure when the monkeys crawled out in a mess and returned to their previous course to the wood element mountain. The potatoes in their hands had already disappeared.

Both of them were concealed by the magic spell. They were completely not worried that they would be discovered by the monkeys, so they did not acknowledge the troop of monkeys at once. They somersaulted and leaped into the snake's mouth. 

If he did not already know that he was entering one of Xiang Liu's nine heads beforehand, Wen Leyang still truly thought that he was only entering a mountain cave. The inside of the snake's mouth was even more humid, yet the surroundings were no different from any rock cave or ore cave. The two of them gazed at one another, held their breaths in unison, and walked towards the depths gently without so much as a sound. 

But after they walked for three to five steps, the sunlight had already completely vanished. Even so, with Zhui Zi and Wen Leyang's power of sight, they could only see dozens of meters of their surroundings clearly with great effort. Wen Leyang exercised complete vigilance and made up his mind secretly, that if the situation became dangerous, he would first stretch out his hand and toss Zhui Zi out of the snake's head before he made his next move. Yet unexpectedly, as Zhui Zi was walking in front, she was also holding Wen Leyang's hand. She used her long and fine finger to write something repeatedly on his palm; it felt ticklish. 

Wen Leyang followed Zhui Zi's strokes as he attempted to read in silence. Finally, when Zhui Zi was writing for the third time, he finally read her words – do not even try that!

In the darkness, Zhui Zi's eyes were bright yet pure, akin to the star and the moon.

Zhui Zi realized that Wen Leyang had read the words that she wrote; her mouth cracked into a relaxed smile as she turned and held his hand. As they continued to walk side by side towards the darkness, it took only a while before both their palms were covered in a cold sweat. 

They walked for another three to four minutes when a gush of crisp sounds that sounded like someone was chewing on apples, echoed from the depths of the darkness indistinctly. 

They both exchanged glances and inhaled a deep, silent breath at the same time. They chased after the unknown crisp sound, and soon, a strange man with ragged garments and a hunchbacked body appeared before them.

The strange man had disheveled hair; there was no way to describe his facial features. He was holding a potato and was chewing it out of boredom, and behind his back was a small hill of potatoes that stretched as far as the eyes could see. Wen Leyang's heart was filled with astonishment; the Wood Mountain Demons earlier were truly sending meals to this man here. Moreover, this man's appetite appeared to be… not very small. 

That man was chewing the potato when his gaze accidentally swept towards their direction. Just as Wen Leyang still thought that he was concealed by the embodiment of true water and that the other party could not see him, that man suddenly stopped chewing and squalled as if he was almost in tears, "Wen Leyang, why did you come here?" The man jumped up strenuously as he spoke, staggered, and ran towards them. 

Zhui Zi's reaction was much faster as compared to Wen Leyang's. The moment she realized that their magic spell was exposed, she waved her hand within the crisp sound of a shout. She was about to summon the icicles and freeze the enemy first, yet unexpectedly at the same time, she urged her life vitality. Her face turned ghastly pale abruptly. The power of the water element in her entire body did not respond, much to her surprise!

While the Poison of Life and Death in Wen Leyang's body was circulating rapidly at this moment, he took a step forward and shielded Zhui Zi. He turned his hand and brandished the Snake Knife, shimmering with murderous intent as he aimed at the enemy. 

When that strange man who was chewing a potato realized that the two monsters were launching an attack together, he was scared out of his wits. He staggered and tumbled onto the ground. One of his hands parted the long hair that covered his face desperately, while he squalled with a hoarse voice, "It's me, it's me!"

Wen Leyang's hand that was holding Ning Jiao's sting was firm as a rock. He cautiously approached the man by half a step, concentrated and looked at him for a while, when his face suddenly revealed astonishment, "You are… Wen Shulin!"

Ever since the tangled warfare of Mount Hua's Goddess Peak, Wen Shulin had since lost his tracks. The crowd once searched for him for a while too, but they still did not manage to find even one clue all along. In addition to the true soul that was already executed, the crowd temporarily did not need the three baffling items of 'big flat cake, broken gong, dog' to deal with the nine-headed monster, that was why they pushed the matter aside temporarily.

Before he entered the cave, Wen Leyang had even once guessed that the person who was hiding inside Xiang Liu's water element head was the immortal master teacher, Kong Nuer, but he did not expect it to be Wen Shulin chewing on a potato. 

Zhui Zi too recognized Wen Shulin, she was perplexed to the greatest extent. She scratched her head out of unbearable confusion, and in her exquisite capacity for clear thinking, she could not understand why her spiritual vitality was not following her commands, and she could not figure out why this old man was even here. She widened her little mouth, stunned, as she spoke ferociously, "Do not move recklessly if you want to stay alive!"

Similarly using death as a threat, Zhui Zi's imposing mannerism, when she shouted, was much weaker than Chang Li's. Perhaps it was because the depth of her pupils had always appeared piteous as usual. 

Wen Shulin still dared to 'act coy' with Wen Leyang, yet he dared not go against Zhui Zi's instructions regardless. He immediately lay at the same spot without moving a muscle; the wrinkles on his old face and his dirty long moustache were quivering in fear, as he was still grasping tightly onto half a potato in his hand. 

It was only then that Zhui Zi revealed a satisfied smile. 

The water element magic spell was already broken, and the pores on Wen Leyang's entire body widened and shrunk. His telegnosis ability spread out to all directions akin to water, and the situation in the snake's neck was completely revealed to him. 

Yet when his telegnosis ability could detect the snake's mouth, he was blocked again. The situation on the outside could not be seen clearly even in Wen Leyang's telegnosis ability that stripped him away from the world. 

The nine-headed snake's body formed its own world; it was isolated from the outside world. 

Wen Shulin was so anxious that his old face reddened. He was panting heavily, and after a while he finally spoke strenuously, "I… have never committed any bad deeds before!"

Zhui Zi raised her charming brows slightly and shouted with a smile, "Don't talk nonsense! I shall ask you first, how did you see through my formless true water?" As she was saying that, she waved her hand, signaling Wen Shulin to sit up and speak. 

Wen Shulin hastily turned his body and sat up, trying hard to straighten his back. He stuttered and answered, "In Xiang Liu's body, the mortal world's magic spell and life vitality are more often than not, useless. Any profound cultivator here is only slightly stronger than an ordinary person."

Zhui Zi frowned, Wen Shulin hastily added, "Your form of true water lost its effect the moment you entered the snake's mouth, but you just don't know it."

Wen Shulin barely spoke for the past few years. His pronunciation, enunciation, and accent sounded a little choppy.

Zhui Zi urged her spiritual vitality once again, but there was still no response at all. She nodded gently and continued to ask, "Tell me, what's going on? How did you end up here?"

Wen Leyang reminded softly from the side, "Tell us the truth. The friendship of you gifting Xiaoyi that big-muzzled weapon - We still frequently think about that, but as long as you do no evil, I will not harm you."

Zhui Zi shot him an evil stare with a spurious expression. Wen Leyang replied with a forced smile, "I mean it in all seriousness"