The poison cultivator's expression froze. He narrowed his eyes at Shi Yu and let out a soft tut. At the same time, the slender green snake in his hand raised its triangular head, flicking its tongue with a hiss, its vertical pupils reflecting Shi Yu's figure with a hint of coldness.
Just then, the silver snake scale hidden beneath Shi Yu's eye glowed faintly. As if frightened by something, the slender green snake instantly lost its spirit, wrapping tightly around its master's wrist and burrowing into his sleeve.
Seeing this, the poison cultivator stroked the little snake in surprise and suspicion, his brow furrowing tightly.
The others had not noticed the movement between the poison cultivator and his snake, their thoughts all focused on what Shi Yu had said.
Xie Han was unfamiliar with the Dao of Alchemy and Artifact Refining, only half-understanding her words, but judging by the reactions of the others, he knew her suggestion was feasible. He spoke up, “Is this Fanxiao Powder a rare item?”
Shi Yu felt a strange chill in the scale beneath her eye, but she paid it no mind, shaking her head. “The Refinement Association should have it readily available.”
Thus, Xie Han hurriedly dispatched someone to request the material from the Refinement Association.
Fearing it might take too long, they even deployed a cloud boat. Rush as they did, the messenger returned within less than an hour, carrying a pouch of Fanxiao Powder.
Xie Cheng took the Fanxiao Powder and presented it to Shi Yu. “Miss Shi, if you please.”
Shi Yu nodded, opened the pouch, pinched a bit between her fingertips, and carefully sprinkled it into the poisonous blood.
The moment the Fanxiao Powder landed, the toxic blood began to boil. The pinkish-red liquid abruptly transformed, rapidly shifting through an array of colors—red, orange, yellow, green, and more—flashing past so fast it was almost impossible to process.
With the traits of all nine toxins inverted, the mutual checks and symbiotic enhancements between them completely shattered. No longer were the toxins tightly interwoven into a single whole, leaving them knowing nine toxins existed without being able to isolate a single one for analysis.
In this state, separating the toxins one by one was no longer a difficult task.
“To think a material used in artifact refining could have such a miraculous effect.”
“Miss's ingenious idea fills us with admiration.”
Outside the crowd, the poison cultivator scoffed quietly. “Interesting. I underestimated you. However... I'd like to see what you do next.”
Once Shi Yu finished her demonstration, the crowd divided the Fanxiao Powder among themselves, following her lead by sprinkling it into their cups of toxic blood to begin their own research.
In the hall, maidservants brought out various spiritual flowers and herbs. The variety was so rich and complete that it rivaled even the storage of the Alchemist Association.
These were provided for everyone to test and identify the poisons. The Xie Clan managed a massive auction house alongside countless other businesses, so gathering these materials was naturally no trouble at all.
In an instant, everyone began selecting spiritual flowers and herbs based on their own thoughts or guesses, checking for special reactions to verify the toxins.
...
Shi Yu was not idle either. Her eyes never left the boiling toxic liquid as she held paper and brush, silently recording symbols that no one else could understand.
As the color of the toxic liquid changed, its scent subtly shifted as well. Relying on her sharp senses, she observed and recorded every detail before silently noting down the toxins that might correspond to each variation.
This relied entirely on her intimate knowledge of the medicinal properties of various spiritual plants.
She was in no rush to use the herbs and flowers in the hall, knowing that if a guess was wrong, rashly adding a new ingredient would only make the medicinal properties even more chaotic and complex.
Thus, among the busy crowd, she appeared particularly unique—aside from making marks with her brush, she spent most of her time with lowered eyes, lost in thought.
Fortunately, Changyuan Prefecture was, after all, merely a small corner of the vast Origin Realm.
Having gained a lead, she thought to herself, “The person who administered the poison back then may have put a lot of clever thought into blending it, but individually, the nine toxins used are ultimately rather ordinary.”
She gathered a few spiritual flowers and herbs, ground them into juice, and dripped them in. The reactions matched her expectations exactly, verifying them one by one.
“Demon Spider Flower, Cold Snake Grass, Heart-Eater Ghost Vine...”
None of them were particularly rare or exotic toxins. If she could reach Tier-4 Alchemist, a single Tier-4 Void Detoxification Pill would cleanly and directly neutralize the poison.
Of course, for now, she still had to formulate a detoxification pill specifically targeted at this poison.
Shi Yu looked up and said to the crowd, “I have identified all nine toxins.”
What?!
The people had all been buried in their work, but now they raised their heads to look at each other in astonishment. Looking at their own busy efforts that had yielded little result, they felt a wave of shame.
The poison cultivator sneered, “So fast? Don't just make blind guesses and end up harming yourself and others.”
Shi Yu glanced at him, not bothering to pay him any mind, and listed off all nine toxins one by one.
Halfway through her list, the poison cultivator's expression began to turn strange. By the time Shi Yu finished, his face had darkened entirely.
President Song decisively took the lead in verifying the toxins according to Shi Yu's list, and the results proved to be completely spot on!
Everyone was completely convinced, while Xie Han looked at her with even greater appreciation, sighing emotionally, “Heroes truly come from the youth.”
President Song said solemnly, “With this, the identification of the toxins is settled. What comes next is the actual detoxification.”
However... this involved another extremely difficult issue.
“In what proportions should the antidote be formulated?”
These nine toxins either kept each other in check or amplified one another, creating an intricately complex web of interactions. Formulating an antidote required taking every single one of these changes and reactions into account.
When neutralizing the poison, if the ratio of the antidote was even slightly off and disrupted the balance, the medicinal properties would suddenly turn violent, inflicting severe damage on the body—or even taking Xie Zhixun's life directly.
Master Ji stroked his beard with a frown. “To neutralize it, all nine toxins must be cleared simultaneously.”
This meant they also needed to know the exact proportion of each toxin.
If it were only two or three toxins reacting with one another, it might still be manageable. But this was a full nine toxins; deducing their potency and exact proportions was no easy task.
Someone suggested, “Since all nine toxins are now known, we can take their respective antidotes and use exhaustive trial and error to test the antidote ratios one by one!”
If there truly were no other way, that would be the only option. However, doing so would consume far too much time... and no one knew if Xie Zhixun could hold out that long.
The crowd frowned in deep thought, falling into a stalemate once more.
The poison cultivator chuckled softly to the side, leisurely waiting to see Xie Han's look of disappointment and distress. Yet when he turned his head, he found the elderly face as calm as ever, causing him to clench his fingers tightly into his palm, his gaze turning icy.
Noticing everyone's expressions, Xie Han spoke slowly, “Making progress is already an unexpected pleasant surprise. There is no need to rush, everyone.”
Be that as it may... President Song frowned, unable to think of a better method for the moment. Turning his head, he saw Shi Yu lost in thought with lowered eyes, her expression distant, and could not help asking, “Girl Yu, do you have any ideas?”
This girl was quick-witted; perhaps she might bring another surprise.
Shi Yu remained silent, her mind spinning rapidly.
At her core, she was an alchemist with an almost maxed-out experience bar; her vision and thinking were naturally vastly different from ordinary low-tier alchemists.
The method of refining these nine toxins into a unified whole was somewhat ingenious, but once the exact nine toxins were identified, the remainder—while perhaps perplexing to others—was no major problem for her.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Shi Yu snapped back to reality, raised her eyes to smile at the crowd, and gave the required antidote proportions: “One part Quiet Orchid Dew for the Demon Spider Flower, one part and seven-tenths Tianxin Grass for the Cold Snake Grass...”
Rate on N.U.
