I became a prince in a martial arts world.

Chapter 71 Master of Poison

The innkeepers were terrified, and even the diners who had come closer to watch the commotion quickly moved away.

Meng Wei was startled. "He only dipped his tongue in some tea, right? There was no blood, he didn't even drink it, how could he be poisoned?"

Fang Shaobai shook his head, "I didn't understand it either."

Qianqian's eyes flickered. Seeing that Wang Yu seemed interested in the young man in hemp clothing, she whispered a reminder, "It's either seeping into the skin or the smell of spilled tea, but either way, the poison shouldn't take effect so quickly."

"But Flying Eagle Pang Qingyun has indeed fallen," Wang Yu said.

Qianqian nodded. "It's clear that this person is incredibly skilled in using poison. There aren't many people in the world who have this ability. I wonder when such a master of poison appeared in the world."

Qianqian comes from a demonic sect, and her master is a martial arts grandmaster. They also follow a clandestine path, so she definitely knows more about this than Fang Shaobai. What she said must be true.

Seeing Pang Qingyun collapse, the young man in hemp clothing sat back down. Seeing the fear on Pang Qingyun's face and the way the people of Kucha wanted to approach but dared not, he pointed at him and said, "Drag him away. He will heal himself in three days."

The people of Kucha then stepped forward to help Pang Qingyun up and retreated in a sorry state.

Pang Qingyun's face alternated between pale and flushed. Although he couldn't even lift his hand, he still managed to say, "Thank you for showing mercy."

Pang Qingyun was a top-notch expert back then. Traveling in Hexi, how could he not know how powerful this young man in hemp clothing was? With the other party's use of poison, killing him would be almost effortless.

"Impressive!" Meng Wei grinned. "No wonder he wasn't worried at all. With that kind of poison skill, where in the world couldn't he go?"

Generally speaking, martial arts practitioners are relatively wary and distant of masters of poison, since a single slip of the tongue or a minor cut to the skin can be fatal, making it virtually impossible to guard against.

However, the young man in hemp clothing showed mercy even after Pang Qingyun tried to kill him, which shows that he is kind-hearted and has no intention of killing indiscriminately.

"However, in the martial world, being too soft-hearted is not a good thing." Shen Zhijun glanced at the two tables of Wulanbao and Linfengzhai. "That's why they chased us all the way from Xingxiuhai to the Western Regions."

Seeing Pang Qingyun fall down after just one sword strike, there was quite a stir at the table in Linfeng Village. The gloomy man stared intently at the young man in hemp clothing, full of apprehension.

Wu Changluo, however, was also skilled in using poison. He stood up slowly and said, "Pharmacist Sun, if you want aconite powder, just ask, and Wulanbao will gladly offer it to you. Why bother stealing the golden aconite that my fortress keeps?"

Pharmacist Sun said calmly, "It's enshrined on Mount Jinhai, a full hundred miles away from Wulanbao?"

"Pfft!"

A soft laugh rang out; it was a young girl singing in the inn who couldn't help but laugh out loud. Her father was startled and quickly covered her mouth.

With a flick of his finger, Wu Changluo sent a nail flying straight into the girl's heart.

With a leap, Pharmacist Sun grabbed the Death Nail in his hand.

"What, you think others can't laugh at what you've made?" Pharmacist Sun toyed with the Death Nail in his hand. A faint blue light flashed from the tip of the nail, clearly indicating that it was coated with a deadly poison.

Wu Changlu stared at Pharmacist Sun's hand, then slowly stepped forward and said matter-of-factly, "That's right, it's enshrined on Jinhai Mountain, a hundred miles away. The entire area within a hundred miles is the territory of my Wulanbao."

Pharmacist Sun casually tossed the Death Nail back to Wu Changluo, saying, "So domineering, no wonder he chased me all the way to the Western Regions."

Wu Changluo's eyes flashed, and he held the Mourning Nail in his hand, standing a zhang away from Pharmacist Sun. "Give me back the Golden Leaf Aconite, and we'll leave immediately."

Pharmacist Sun shook his head. "You shouldn't have attacked innocent people."

Wu Changluo frowned. "What do you mean?"

Pharmacist Sun looked at Wu Changluo quietly. "I hate nothing more than those who implicate the innocent and those who plot against the innocent."

Seeing the look in Pharmacist Sun's eyes, which seemed to regard him as a dead man, Wu Changluo's pupils shrank. He immediately looked at the Mourning Nail in his hand and saw that there were two iron filings on the nail, which had rubbed a little off his hand. There was also a flash of golden light on the wound.

"Golden crow?" Wu Changluo suddenly looked up, and the person in front of him noticed that his eyes had almost turned completely black, and his entire face had also turned bluish-black.

Wu Changluo flicked his wrist and fired seven death nails, but these nails only flew halfway before falling to the ground.

Wu Changluo staggered two steps, a look of disbelief on his face. "So fast? Impossible?"

Several men from Wulanbao rushed to his side and helped him up. Wu Changluo hissed, "I've been looking at your hands the whole time. When did you poison them?"

Pharmacist Sun said, "I had just caught your Death Nail and was about to reach back to grab it when it was already down."

Wu Changluo suddenly realized what was happening, then his entire face turned black, he fell backward, and died.

Those around him were both shocked and terrified. "My elder brother has turned himself into a poison man—"

Pharmacist Sun finally revealed a hint of disdain, "It's just some aconite powder, what kind of poisoner is he? Golden aconite is a hundred times more potent than ordinary aconite powder, even if he eats his fill of aconite powder, he still can't resist it."

The people of Wulanbao hurriedly left with Wuchangluo's body.

Shen Zhijun clapped his hands and laughed, "Polite and measured, killing when necessary, not bad."

Pharmacist Sun turned to the last village, Linfeng Village, and looked at the sinister-looking man. "Vice Village Chief Lin, I treated your village chief's long-standing injuries. Your village chief has agreed to let me choose one item from the village as payment."

The sinister-looking man snorted, "The Seven Star Yellow Medicine has been potent for hundreds of years and is the most precious treasure of our village, so it is an exception."

Pharmacist Sun shook his head, there was no point in arguing anymore, "If you want Seven Star Yellow, use your knife to take it."

But the sinister man dared not.

Although he believed his martial arts skills were no less than Pang Qingyun's, he was no match for Sun Yaoshi's invisible poison. Wu Changluo was a famous poison master in Xingxiu Sea, but he was also unknowingly poisoned and even lost his life.

If Wu Changluo hadn't asked and Sun Yaoshi hadn't explained, he wouldn't have even realized when Sun Yaoshi had administered the poison.

"Pharmacist Sun, you are highly skilled. Why not join Linfeng Village?" the sinister man said earnestly. "Once my chieftain takes the Seven Star Yellow, the two of you working together will be invincible in Xingxiu Sea. Even the abbot of Xita Temple will have to give way."

Sun the Pharmacist said calmly, "I took the Seven Star Yellow to prevent your chieftain from wasting it. He is dull-witted and has no chance of breaking through to the Innate Realm. Let him give up on that idea."

The sinister-looking man was speechless for a moment.

After finishing the last bite of his meal, Pharmacist Sun picked up his bundle and went upstairs. The sinister man gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, but ultimately did not dare to make a move. Instead, he turned and left the inn with his three subordinates.

As night fell, Wang Yu was alone in his empty room when he suddenly heard several screams coming from the inn, followed by a series of flying sounds, before everything fell silent again.

-

The next morning, everyone discovered that the people of Linfeng Village were gone, and so was the Pharmacist Sun.

"I can understand the people from Linfeng Village fleeing overnight, but why did that Pharmacist Sun also leave?" Wang Yu asked.

Shen Zhijun said, "He didn't leave overnight; he left at dawn."

Meng Wei had clearly witnessed the commotion last night. "That Lin fellow has wasted his life for decades. He actually went to ambush that Pharmacist Sun at night. I could have predicted that. How could they not have been on guard?"

As a result, he ran into a brick wall. According to Meng Wei, the deputy chieftain Lin broke into Pharmacist Sun's room and left with a scream, covering his eyes. He was helped away by several of his men and fled the city overnight, probably spending the rest of the night in the wilderness.

"Three people, three kinds of poison, I didn't expect this person to have so many tricks up his sleeve," Li Yunxiu remarked.

Li Yunxiu looked at Wang Yu and recalled their journey to Longshan Prefecture, where they had also encountered a master of poisons, but the other party only used one type of poison from beginning to end, which could be described as monotonous.

Meng Wei chuckled, "Although I don't know if he has any other poisons on him, he didn't use poison to deal with that Lin guy."

"What is it?"

Chili powder!

Everyone looked bewildered, except for Wang Yu, who was full of praise: "She knows how to save money where she can; she's a thrifty person!"

Amidst the commotion, Wang Yu laughed and said, "After the two battles during the day, that Deputy Chief Lin was already a frightened bird. To put it bluntly, that sneak attack at night was his last attempt out of desperation."

In this situation, if anything goes wrong, he might flee. If it were me, I wouldn't waste poison on him either, except I wouldn't use chili powder, but rather lime powder.

Li Yun's lips curved slightly, and she almost couldn't help but smile.

"That makes sense!" Meng Wei gave a thumbs up. "That's the downside of using poison. If you run out of poison, you're at their mercy, unlike us—"

Wang Yu chimed in, "Only when one's internal energy is exhausted will one be at the mercy of others."

Meng Wei choked, nearly choking himself.

Fang Shaobai and Shen Zhijun burst into laughter.

Shen Zhijun said, "If the sword breaks, our combat strength will be reduced by 30%."

Fang Shaobai thought for a moment, "Even if there's no wine, we should reduce our fighting strength by three points."

Meng Wei and Shen Zhijun exclaimed in unison, "That's you!"

Everyone laughed heartily, then ate breakfast and rode their horses out of the city.

They did want to meet that Pharmacist Sun again. They had tried to chat with him yesterday but missed the opportunity. As a result, he left early in the morning, and they did not see him again on their way north until they found an inn to stay in when they arrived at Cheshi Royal City.

They had obviously arrived early. Wang Yu accompanied the two women around the capital of Cheshi for two days before finally seeing a young man with a square face talking to Meng Wei at the door on the evening of the third day.

"Brother Zhao, you're finally back. Brother Fang and Brother Shen have already left." Meng Wei waved and then introduced Wang Yu, "This is Brother Xu Qingquan from the Qingyang Sect."

Wang Yu asked, "What happened?"

Meng Wei said, "Brother Xu and his companions also met some friends on the road. Coincidentally, one of their friends had his horses, which he had purchased from the Western Regions, stolen by bandits. Several of the fine horses were given to Morbas, a swordsman from the Western Regions."

Namorbas, a native of Liefeng Fortress, disliked martial artists from the Central Plains. He not only refused their request for their horses back but also injured one of them. On their return, they happened to meet Brother Liu, who then prepared to take them to Liefeng Fortress for a visit. He asked Brother Xu to return and report the news, and Brother Fang also took Brother Shen to help.

Meng Wei asked Wang Yu, "Brother Zhao, are you going?"

Wang Yu nodded decisively, "Go!"