Li Yan looked at He Manzi's crimson eyes and simply said calmly, "What do you think? Do you agree to my proposal from before? If you agree, you can follow us to the Huchen family. On the way, I will give him the antidote. By the time we reach our destination, his poison will be completely cured."
With these words from Li Yan, everyone present was of course certain that Li Yan had indeed left a hidden trick on He Manhua. Huchen Wuding's eyes, in particular, lit up, and he muttered to himself, "I've really met a kindred spirit. Even now, based on the symptoms, I can't even tell what poison He Manhua was afflicted with. Is it the poison of Azure Stone? No, no, although Azure Stone has similar symptoms, the poisoned person would emit a strong earthy smell. Is it Raw Horse Tooth Powder? That's not right either. This powder requires the teeth of a hundred-year-old, third-tier Raw Horse demonic beast, which has the terrifying cultivation of a Golden Core cultivator. It's not something you see every day. And those poisoned by it would also show signs of demonization. Could it be..." For a moment, Huchen Wuding stood beside the hunchbacked old man, lost in thought, having long since forgotten the perilous situation he was in. When Li Yan, from a distance, heard his muttering and saw his dazed expression, he couldn't help but be stunned. The hunchbacked old man, however, seemed to be used to it. He just shook his head slightly, but his eyes were full of affection.
Li Yan quickly withdrew his gaze from Huchen Wuding. Although he had harbored some illusions before, how could he really let the other party go? The moment his palm had hovered over He Manhua's head, he had used the flickering black spiritual energy from his palm to cover a faint water mist, injecting a trace of "Branches of the Same Breath" into his body. Back then, in the inter-peak competition, Lu Qiutong from Lord Lao Peak had suffered because of this poison. Once the poison entered the body, it would quickly dissolve into the blood and spread to all the meridians and collaterals in the body, continuously devouring the spiritual energy in the blood and growing stronger until it was all consumed, causing the person to suffocate to death.
During the sect's competition back then, wherever Li Yan went, his opponents didn't dare to set foot. Not to mention this time, he was so close to He Manhua. However, what he said about the antidote was also true. He had better poisons to control the other party, but he only had antidotes for three of the poisons from the Fragmented Poison Body. He had spent a great deal of effort to research these three antidotes. After weighing his options, he still felt that among the three poisons, this one was relatively mild.
"I agree with your mother's rotten head!" Unexpectedly, He Manzi, seeing his brother's fading breath, had long since become ferocious. And since Li Yan had just said that he had the antidote on him, he could just snatch it.
As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a rope flashed out from his hand, directly tying He Manhua to his back. This time, he was not at ease leaving his brother aside. Then, with a flicker, he charged towards Li Yan. At the same time, he shouted to Bloodhand Flying Sickle, "Fellow Daoist Lin, make your move! You deal with that old man. Don't let him take the opportunity to recover. Just hold him off for a moment, and I'll come over after I kill this kid." Then he formed a hand seal with one hand and pointed forward. The emerald green abacus bead that had been circling above his head shot directly at Li Yan's face.
Hearing this, Bloodhand Flying Sickle was overjoyed. He felt that the hunchbacked old man had already recovered somewhat. He immediately shook his folding fan and attacked the old man.
The hunchbacked old man sighed helplessly in his heart and had no choice but to block in front of Huchen Wuding again. Huchen Wuding had also come to his senses and was holding the Jade Purification Vase as before, a wary look on his face.
Li Yan looked at the whistling emerald green bead. As it flew, it had already grown to the size of a washbasin. And on the bead, the face of a woman full of venomous hatred appeared. She suddenly opened her mouth wide inside the bead, and in an instant, her entire face was occupied by a huge mouth. Then, a "wuwu" sound came from her mouth. Li Yan felt the space around him twist. As the emerald green bead approached, a thick, gloomy wind blew out from the surrounding space, making him feel as if he had instantly fallen into the Styx river of the underworld. The moment this gloomy wind blew out, the gravel and soil on the ground that were swept up were like residual snow seeing the scorching sun, directly turning into nothingness in the air. The moment the spiritual light shield on Li Yan's body lit up, this gloomy wind gathered from all directions and directly hit it, causing the spiritual light shield to flicker unstably. Then, it emitted a "kaka" sound, as if it would shatter at any moment.
Seeing this situation, He Manzi's face was ferocious. "Kid, if you have any helpers, call them out quickly. Otherwise, you'll run out of time soon." As he said this, although his face was arrogant, he was actually already on full alert, his Divine Sense fully extended to the surroundings. But to his surprise, under his attack, Li Yan's cultivation was still at the Qi Condensation stage, without any change. And there was no one else coming in his Divine Sense.
With Li Yan's Qi Condensation cultivation, if he had attacked with all his might just now, Li Yan's spiritual light shield probably wouldn't have lasted for even a single breath. It was just that he had always felt that Li Yan was so bold that he must have something to rely on, so he had only launched a probing attack at first. But even so, he estimated that Li Yan's spiritual light shield would break in three breaths at most. At that time, even if someone wanted to rescue him, it would be too late.
After He Manzi finished speaking, he felt even more uneasy. Because seeing that the spiritual light shield was about to break, the kid was still standing there calmly, with his hands behind his back, just quietly looking at him. This made He Manzi's scalp tingle and his heart race, as if someone would strike from behind him at any moment. But there was no one in his Divine Sense.
And at this moment, a warning suddenly flashed in He Manzi's mind. A flash of understanding went through his brain. But just as this thought arose, he felt his arms being firmly held by someone. He quickly tried to struggle free, but found that the other person's strength was surprisingly great. He struggled a few times but couldn't break free. With this, the emerald green abacus bead in front of him lost the control of the hand seal. With a whimper, it shrank dramatically. The large mouth on it once again transformed into a woman's face. But this time, her face was full of fear. She let out a series of shrill, sorrowful cries, as if unwilling to disappear again. Finally, with a "plop," it fell to the ground.
And on the other side, He Manzi's voice was full of fear. "Second Brother, Second Brother, what are you doing? Let go, quickly... Ah..." As he spoke, he let out a shrill scream.
On the other side, the battle between Bloodhand Flying Sickle and the hunchbacked old man had just begun when they heard the change over here. The two sides quickly leaped back. They looked towards the sound in unison. But what they saw made the three of them's faces twitch. Over there, He Manzi was now kneeling powerlessly on the ground. His brother was still on his back. But at this moment, He Manhua's eyes were a pure white. Where was the listless look from before? His hands were tightly wrapped around He Manzi's arms, making him unable to move. And at this moment, his mouth, full of blood, was biting on his brother's neck vein. Streams of blood were constantly flowing from the corner of his mouth. A "hehe" sound came from his throat. In this endless moonlit forest, it was extremely bizarre, giving rise to a feeling of infinite fear in one's heart.
And He Manzi's head was half-bowed. With the large amount of blood loss from his neck, he had lost the strength to scream. He was panting heavily, his eyes staring deadly at Li Yan, as if he wanted to stare Li Yan to death right there.
"You... you... who are you? Really... really good scheming. This poison... I've never... heard of it. After making someone feign death, it can confuse the mind... and... and cause them to violently attack people. I have to say, Your Excellency is a good... schemer. To even calculate that I would tie my brother to my back... you, who, are you?" He Manzi panted heavily, his face full of boundless venomous hatred as he asked.
Li Yan did not answer. He just let the other party stare at him, and he just quietly stared back. His expression at this moment made people feel that he was cold and ruthless, without any emotion.
"Who... are... you...? ...." Seeing that Li Yan did not answer, He Manzi's bowed head struggled to lift, as if he wanted to stand up. But He Manhua behind him also noticed that the person in front seemed to want to struggle free. His snow-white pupils widened in anger. A series of low roars came from his whimpering throat, and he began to suck blood even more frantically, causing the wound on He Manzi's neck to widen by several points. More blood was no longer flowing out, but shooting out like a bloody arrow.
He Manzi felt the little bit of strength he had just gathered disappear again. He couldn't help but kneel on the ground again. But this time, his head was bowed even lower. And at this time, what came out of his mouth was a mumble. "Brother, brother, big brother is... going... first..." Then there was no more sound.
And He Manhua behind him, after sucking a few more mouthfuls of blood, suddenly seemed to have had his bones and tendons pulled out. He directly collapsed onto his brother's back. Then, after a series of convulsions, he let out a long breath, his face covered in blood, and he was gone.
It was just that when he let out his last breath, a trace of clarity appeared in his eyes. His eyeballs rolled. When they swept over He Manzi's back, his eyes were full of remorse. Finally, they fixed on Li Yan. His eyes were full of infinite fear, and deep hatred. He seemed to have let out a low whisper. "You... will not... die a good death."
Li Yan looked at all of this, his figure still motionless. But in his heart, he said to He Manzi, 'I didn't calculate it accurately. I left a backup plan.'
He had not just put one poison on He Manhua, but three. Two of them were injected into He Manhua's body. These two poisons were both potent poisons from Li Yan's early "Fragmented Twelve," for which he had antidotes. One was "Branches of the Same Breath," and the other was "Flirtatious Glance." Once one was poisoned by the latter, one would lose one's mind and attack anything one could attack, without any reason at all. With Li Yan's current control over his poison body, although he couldn't precisely control the time of the outbreak, he could still control the order.
The other poison was put on He Manhua's clothes. When He Manhua returned, He Manzi had supported his staggering brother's shoulder. At that moment, he was poisoned.
Normally, even a Qi Condensation cultivator would feel something when a general poison entered their body. Their spiritual energy and Divine Sense would fluctuate somewhat due to discomfort. But the reason why Li Yan's Fragmented Poison Body was so highly valued by the Malevolent Spirit Sect and listed as one of the three great poison bodies of the sect had a fundamental reason. For a sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect, which had been dealing with poison for at least several hundred thousand years, apart from the ancient poisons that were too rare and had almost become extinct in their inheritance, they wouldn't even pay attention to most of the ancient potent poisons. The Fragmented Poison Body was almost revered by them to the fundamental status of the sect's founding, which showed that the three great poison bodies were the most terrifying. The poison was born in the body and would continue to evolve and change as the master's realm improved. So when Li Yan used these three poisons among those of the same rank, it was almost impossible for anyone to detect them. What he needed to find was the opportunity to administer the poison. But this kind of opportunity also required the right time and place. Otherwise, wouldn't it mean that Li Yan was invincible among those of the same rank?
The poison on He Manhua's clothes was a new potent poison from the Fragmented Poison Body that was generated after Li Yan reached Foundation Establishment. Its nature was gentle and easier to hide. Its greatest function was to isolate spiritual energy, causing the poisoned person to lose control of their spiritual energy for a short period of time.
So when He Manzi said that Li Yan was extremely scheming, to the point of even calculating that he would tie his own brother to his back, Li Yan denied it in his heart. He had guessed that when He Manhua's "Branches of the Same Breath" acted up, as his older brother, He Manzi might carry his brother with him, and even put him in a "Spirit-Storing Pouch" if he had one. So Li Yan didn't expect that once the other party turned on him, He Manhua would have the chance to ambush his brother. So he applied the third poison. When He Manzi was held by his brother's arms just now, he couldn't struggle free. Another reason was that the poison on his body had also acted up, and he had lost control of his spiritual energy.
But only Li Yan himself knew all of this. He had set up a trap within a trap. But to others, Li Yan was undoubtedly mysterious to the point of being calculating at every step, his scheming making people feel terrified and chilled to the bone.
The three people in the distance looked at the lone figure standing there under the moonlight, cold and silent, just watching the He brothers slowly die. This scene made them feel a sense of extreme fear and eeriness towards Li Yan.