Chapter 278 - Xiquan Chong Confronts Beiwei Jinguo

Dusk had fallen, but the darkness was kept well away by the numerous lamps that lit up the streets.

Lu Tianzi and Beiwei Jinguo halted their steps after arriving in front of the Fireaxe Inn.

"Here we are," Lu Tianzi said.

"Yeah," Beiwei Jinguo took yet another look at the letter in his hands, making sure that he did not get the time or location wrong. "The gathering should be right inside."

The night before, Beiwei Jinguo had received a letter from Xiquan Chong, inviting him to attend a gathering for excellent poison masters of the younger generation.

Since Xiquan Chong was the son of the leader of the Healer Circle, Beiwei Jinguo saw no reason to reject the invitation.

Thinking that he would be able to expand his knowledge there, Lu Tianzi had asked to come along as well.

Furthermore, the fact that the event was to be held in the Fireaxe Inn only served to pique his curiosity even further.

They had already arrived at Wondertrap Mountain for a few days now, but Lu Tianzi had still yet to take a single step into Fireaxe Inn. Since there was an opportunity now, he certainly wanted to go take a look.

As for Nanlan Qianxue, she had opted out of joining their discussions every night, so it came as no surprise to Lu Tianzi that she was not interested in coming for this event. After so many days, she was probably already tired of listening to all that talk about herbs and poisons.

"I wonder if that young lady from a few days ago will be surprised to see you here?" Lu Tianzi smirked.

"…" Beiwei Jinguo could not help but recall once again how he had been snubbed when he first arrived.

"Hahaha, I'm just joking. Relax a little," Lu Tianzi patted his shoulder casually. "Let's enter."

Beiwei Jinguo let out a deep sigh before walking up to push open the front door.

"Welcome, Sir Beiwei and Sir Tianzi!"

Immediately after they stepped through the door, two young ladies greeted them with a bow from both sides, catching the duo by surprise. The young ladies looked to be in their late teens and had beautiful features. The uniform for all employees of the Fireaxe Inn hugged their bodies closely, accentuating the curves on their figure.

Lu Tianzi had naturally sensed their presence before entering, but the fact that they knew his name was still surprising to him.

As expected of the prestigious Fireaxe Inn.

Their employees not only looked good, but were well prepared as well!

"T-Thank you," Beiwei Jinguo stammered a little from the surprise.

"You must be here under Sir Xiquan's invitation? Please follow me," one of the young ladies said.

Under her lead, they walked through a long corridor before finally stopping before an unremarkable door. But when the young lady pushed open the door to usher the two of them in, Beiwei Jinguo could not help but widen his eyes in marvel.

Behind the door was a huge chamber decorated with beautiful banners, big enough to fit a thousand men within. The high ceiling was supported by great pillars adorned with intricate carvings, and even the wooden floors had been polished to a shine.

There were at least hundreds of people present, all of them mixing around and chatting in multiple small groups.

Most of them looked to be younger than thirty years of age, but many were accompanied by individuals who looked significantly older, likely to be their guardians of sorts.

Long tables were laid out, filled with a generous variety of snacks. Employees of the Fireaxe Inn were weaving in and out, bringing with them food and beverages.

"How grand…" Beiwei Jinguo subconsciously muttered out loud. This was the first time he had ever seen such a spectacular looking restaurant room.

The employee who led them here chuckled before taking her leave, closing the door behind the duo.

"Sir Beiwei, you are here!" the voice of another young female called out from one corner of the chamber.

"Lady Ruolin!" Beiwei Jinguo clasped his fist towards the young lady.

It was none other than this Lady Ruolin who delivered the invitation letter to him the night before, and he learnt her name then.

"Sir Beiwei, Sir Tianzi," Lady Ruolin returned the greeting with an amiable smile. "Let me bring you to Brother Xiquan. He has been looking forward to seeing you."

"Sure," Beiwei Jinguo nodded, allowing the young lady to lead him straight to the centre of the chamber where the biggest group had gathered.

"Brother Xiquan, Sir Beiwei is here!" Ruolin called out.

"Please excuse me for a bit," Xiquan Chong smiled apologetically to the person whom he was chatting with before heading over. "So you are the famous Sir Beiwei! It's my honour to finally meet you!"

Xiquan Chong walked over with a big smile on his face, clasping his fist in respect.

"Sir Xiquan is exaggerating, it is my honour to be here instead," Beiwei Jinguo hurriedly returned the greeting.

"Sir Beiwei sure is humble," Xiquan Chong shook his head. "Elder Beichang's excellence in the poison arts is already common knowledge among the people present. How can his student ever be lacking? Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Our thoughts exactly!"

"Sir Beiwei, please don't be overly humble. Otherwise, you are just making the rest of us feel bad."

The crowds laughed in a jovial manner.

"See? Everyone agrees," Xiquan Chong smiled. "Sir Beiwei should just accept the compliments."

"Since Sir Xiquan says so, I shall thank everyone for the compliments then!" Beiwei Jinguo clasped his fist towards the many people present.

"That's more like it!"

"We are looking forward to seeing Sir Beiwei's performance in the upcoming Healers' Meet as well!"

"Speaking of the Healers' Meet…" Ruolin interjected at this moment. "This gathering is originally meant for us poison masters of the younger generation to get to know each other and exchange ideas. And since we are only a couple of days away from the Healers' Meet, why don't we take this opportunity to learn a little more from the two most famous poison masters of our generation?"

"Oh?" Xiquan Chong revealed a look of surprise. "By that, may I know who you are referring to?"

"Hahaha!" Ruolin answered with a laugh. "I am sure everyone here would agree with me that among us, Brother Xiquan and Sir Beiwei are the ones with the greatest renown right now. Why don't the two of you say some words to enlighten the rest of us a little?"

"Eh? Me?" Beiwei Jinguo was stunned by the sudden turn of events. "No way! This is too sudden, I have nothing useful for everyone here at all!"

"Sir Beiwei, we were just speaking about not being overly humble, but here you go again," Xiquan Chong shook his head in disappointment. "Since they have already said so, we might as well just oblige and say whatever comes to mind."

"But I really have no idea what to say!" Beiwei Jinguo admitted.

"Since that is the case, let me lend Sir Beiwei a hand," Xiquan Chong smiled. "What does Sir Beiwei think is the most important attribute belonging to a good poison master?"

"This…" Beiwei Jinguo looked at Xiquan Chong before letting out a helpless sigh.

From the looks of it, he would have to go along with this if he did not want to ruin the jovial atmosphere. And since Xiquan Chong was taking the lead, all he had to do was to follow along.

That shouldn't be too difficult?

"If you ask me, the most important attribute would naturally be knowledge," Beiwei Jinguo answered. "Without knowledge, how can one even call himself a poison master?"

"Sir Beiwei makes sense, knowledge of the poison arts is something that every poison master must possess," Xiquan Chong nodded. "But in this case, we are not talking about just any poison master, but a good poison master. Because of that, my thoughts differ from Sir Beiwei's."

"Oh? What does Sir Xiquan think then?" Beiwei Jinguo asked.

"In my opinion, the attribute that all good poison masters must possess is individual strength," Xiquan Chong answered. "All the knowledge in the world is useless without sufficient individual strength to put it to good use."

"Individual strength?" Beiwei Jinguo rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"That's right," Xiquan Chong continued. "To make things easier to understand, let's just talk about the inherent poison of the Windfrost Pollen. Everyone knows that the poison of the Windfrost Pollen can be easily neutralised with a mixture of the Silver Plum and Razor Bat meat. It is a tried and tested method that is guaranteed to work. However, even if armed with this knowledge, will an Essence Building realm martial artist like Sir Beiwei be able to do it?"

Beiwei Jinguo frowned.

Why did Xiquan Chong's tone suddenly sound so condescending?

"The answer is no," Xiquan Chong answered his own question with a satisfied grin. "In order to mix the Silver Plum with Razor Bat meat, one would first have to extract the seed of the Silver Plum, a process that requires at least an Essence Condensation realm cultivation level. With this example alone, it shows that individual strength is still the most important. A poison master at the Essence Building realm is simply not enough, much less one who had yet to reach the Peak Essence Building realm!"

Lu Tianzi smirked as he watched from the side.

So that's how it was, Xiquan Chong had been out to put down the Intermediate Essence Building realm Beiwei Jinguo from the very start.

He was not sure if this entire gathering was a farce set up just for that reason alone, but it was more than likely to be the reason why Beiwei Jinguo had been invited in the first place.

By now, Beiwei Jinguo had come to the same understanding as Lu Tianzi.

Even if the smug look on Xiquan Chong's face was not telling enough, the looks of schadenfreude on the others's faces more or less confirmed his conjecture.

The only thing was that no matter how Beiwei Jinguo thought about it, he could not think of how he could have offended Xiquan Chong in the past. After all, this was still the first time Beiwei Jinguo had ever spoken to him!

But even so, he was not about to let himself be put down this easily!

"That is the most common method indeed, but Sir Xiquan seems to have forgotten that there are other ways to neutralise the poison of the Windfrost Pollen as well," Beiwei Jinguo retorted. "Specifically, the essence extract of Wolfang Honey can also be directed down the bloodstream to cleanse the poison. This shows that with the right knowledge, there are always viable solutions. Then again, this method is more demanding on energy control and knowledge of the meridians, so I can understand why even Essence Condensation realm poison masters like Sir Xiquan might subconsciously avoid it due to an innate lack of confidence in their capabilities!"

Xiquan Chong revealed a look of surprise. But before he could speak, someone had already shouted out on his behalf.

"What did you say?" Jiesheng called out in disbelief. "Did you just try to mock Brother Xiquan? Know your place! I dare you to repeat what you just said!"

"Calm down, Brother Jiesheng," Xiquan Chong raised a hand to stop his lackey before turning back to Beiwei Jinguo. "We all know that the method Sir Beiwei speaks of has its risks. If Sir Beiwei wants to pretend as if it is certain to succeed, then I can only concede. But if we want to talk about extremities like that, a true powerhouse with absolute strength would have been able to purge any poison with pure strength anyway. Talking of such matters is pretty much meaningless, isn't it?"

Before Beiwei Jinguo could get another word in, Xiquan Chong continued to speak. "I agree with Sir Beiwei that there are many different approaches to the poison arts, and it is good to see today that there are still people who prefer to walk the paths less travelled. Even so, as Sir Beiwei can see, the mood here is a little awkward now that we have realised that your path does not match ours. For the sake of everyone, perhaps you should take your leave."

"Are you chasing me away now?" Beiwei Jinguo almost could not believe what he was hearing.

Did they seriously invite him here just for this?

Yes, he might have been overly emotional earlier and retorted a bit too harshly.

However, he had a feeling that no matter how much sense he made, they would simply insist on their views to denounce him as a poison master anyway. After which, he would just be asked to leave like what was happening right now.

"Sir Beiwei is being too serious," Xiquan Chong shook his head with a smile. "In any case, I wish Sir Beiwei all the best on your future path. Of course, with an Overlord looking out for you, you would be safe even if you eventually fail."

"Even though I don't have an Overlord looking out for me, I will still be fine. That is because my path is the orthodox one, and I am sure Sir Xiquan knows that as well," Beiwei Jinguo retorted. "But since I am not welcomed here, I shall not stay any longer either."

"Farewell, Sir Beiwei," Xiquan Chong clasped his fist. "Please see Sir Beiwei out."

"This way please, Sir Beiwei," an employee of the Fireaxe Inn came over to lead him out.

"Let's go," Lu Tianzi took one last look at Xiquan Chong before leaving with the employee.

"I will see you guys again at the Healers' Meet," Beiwei Jinguo spoke coldly as he left.

Watching as they left, Xiquan Chong could not help but let out a triumphant smile.

Even though Xiquan Chong intended to assert his dominance over Beiwei Jinguo, he was not nearly foolish enough to do so by force.

An Overlord was no pushover.

If he ever gave a powerhouse like that a reason to act, his life would be over before he even knew what hit him.

That was why Xiquan Chong had gone to such lengths, having so many people bear witness as he put down Beiwei Jinguo, intending to crush him psychologically instead.

In fact, Xiquan Chong's guts only grew big enough to follow through with this plan after hearing his father's conjecture that accompanying Beiwei Jinguo was likely an excuse, and that the Overlord realm powerhouse probably came for either Wuye Mingxuan or the secret of the Healers' Meet.

And from how Beiwei Jinguo came without the company of the Overlord, perhaps that was truly the case!

The Overlord might not even care about Beiwei Jinguo!

Just as he was relishing in the feeling of triumph, Xiquan Chong felt a message come in through his communication ring.

"Come see me right now," Elder Xiquan's voice rang out in his head.