Chapter 286 - Basking in Poison

For the next few moments, silence fell over everyone as they continued to stare blankly at the skeletal remains that were quickly corroding away.

"This poison is not at a level where we can handle on our own. We would need to work together to break through."

"Indeed, there's no poison I know of that can kill an Origin Core realm martial artist this quickly. Let's work together to go further."

The poison master quickly came to a consensus.

They had been trying to identify the poison mist for a while now, but not a single one of them had managed to do so.

Now that they realised just how lethal this green mist actually was, they finally gave up all hopes of trying to neutralise the poison.

All of them still remembered the scene where Wuye Mingxuan blew apart the green mist, forming a gap for people to pass. With that as precedence, they knew for sure that this obstacle could be cleared by force.

Even though they did not possess the strength of an Overlord, it might not be impossible for them as long as they worked together!

With that, the poison masters started to form up in groups.

Most of them were established poison masters in their own right and had been attending the Healers' Meet for years now. Thus, they knew each other from the start and did not take long before joining up with the ones they were most comfortable with.

Soon, they started to discuss the methods that they were going to use to deal with the green mist.

Even at this point, none of them approached Lu Tianzi.

Disregarding the fact that it was Lu Tianzi's first time here and had absolutely no relations with any of the others, Elder Xiquan showing his hostility towards Lu Tianzi earlier was enough of a deterrence to alienate him from the others.

After all, none of them wanted to be associated with Elder Xiquan's enemy and risk getting on the bad side of the leader of the Healer Circle.

"These people…" Beiwei Jinguo fidgeted uncomfortably.

From how everyone simply pretended as though their group was invisible, Beiwei Jinguo was easily able to guess their thoughts.

He wanted to say that they would be able to do it even with the help of others, but he simply could not think of any ideas to do so.

"What now?" Nanlan Qianxue asked Lu Tianzi.

"Let me take a look first," Lu Tianzi said before walking up towards the green mist.

"Hmm?" everyone's eyes fell upon him.

Just because nobody wanted to group up with him, was he intending to challenge the obstacle by himself?

That was tantamount to suicide!

Of course, none of them would mind even if Lu Tianzi just dived straight into the green mist. That way, they would at least get to observe the effects of the green mist once more and refine their plans further.

But to their disappointment, Lu Tianzi stopped right before the green mist before getting down on one knee, reaching out to place a hand on the ground.

"Is there something there?"

"How can there be anything? Forget about that guy, he is just trying to act all mysterious to gain attention. If you go ask him about it, he will probably say something like if you want to know, you would have to let him join the group first."

"Hahaha, I guess you are right. Let's continue our discussion."

Seeing that Lu Tianzi was not really intending to challenge the green mist, the other poison masters quickly lost interest in him as well.

"How is it? Found something?" Nanlan Qianxue asked as she and Beiwei Jinguo squatted down beside him.

"I'm not too sure either," Lu Tianzi answered. "Give me a moment."

"You can take however long you need, we are not in a hurry," Nanlan Qianxue shrugged.

Lu Tianzi let out a chuckle in reponse. "That's true."

After that, he looked around to observe his surroundings, a silver light flashing across his eyes. It did not take long before a smile crept across his face.

Since earlier, he had been suspecting that there was a formation in place, responsible for governing these obstacles in the tomb.

This was further corroborated by the fact that there were countless flows of energy flowing underneath the tunnel, probably part of a complex network that even he was unable to see through in its entirety.

But now, Lu Tianzi finally found something.

Right under the cloud of green mist, there was a smaller network of energy flow that was connected to the greater network, yet seemed to be operating on its own.

It was something that Lu Tianzi was quite familiar with – a detection formation.

If not because of his familiarity with formations on a whole, it would have been difficult for him to detect the existence of this isolated formation.

Lu Tianzi grinned.

There were two uses for detection formations. The first was to identify friend from foe, while the second was to reveal hidden enemies.

Since the green mist was blocking the entire tunnel, there would be no need to reveal hidden enemies at all.

So this detection formation could only be meant for identifying allies.

That being the case, if he could somehow make the detection formation work in his favour, there was even a chance that he could walk right through the green mist without being harmed!

But when Lu Tianzi examined the detection formation further, he could not help but frown.

The detection formation was inactive at the moment, and would require an influx of energy to work. However, when Lu Tianzi drove his Slaughter Essence origin core to direct his Essence energy within, his Essence energy actually bounced right off the formation instead of being absorbed into it.

It doesn't operate on Essence energy?

While Lu Tianzi was still trying to figure out how to activate detection formation, the first group of poison masters had already stepped up beside him, ready to challenge the green mist.

All six of them drove their Slaughter Essence origin core to the limit, and their Origin Totems appeared behind them.

"Do it!" the leader of the group shouted.

Everyone in the group immediately fired out with their strongest attacks, aiming at the green mist before them.

Whoosh-!

Their combined attack tore right through the green mist, directly ripping a gap open.

It might not be comparable to Wuye Mingxuan's, but it was still fearsome in its own right!

"It worked!"

Everyone's hearts raced when they witnessed this sight. It was validation, confirming the fact that it was possible for them to clear the obstacle by force!

"Let's go!" the leader of the group made the call, and the members of the group charged forward all at once.

All eyes were on them as they rushed right into the midst of the green mist, heading straight for the gap.

But they soon realised that something was amiss.

"Not good, the gap is closing too fast!" a member of the group exclaimed in shock.

Indeed, their attack was still too weak as compared to that of Wuye Mingxuan, and the gap in the green mist was quickly closing.

At this rate, they would be not able to clear the obstacle before the gap closed completely.

The leader of the group frowned. "Guard yourselves!"

They reacted immediately, shrouding themselves with Essence energy as they braced themselves for the inevitable.

The green mist flooded into the gap, shrouding over the group in an instant.

Their Essence energy was rapidly worn down the moment they came into contact with the green mist, corroded away at a terrifying pace.

Thankfully, they were already almost through by then.

Just as most of their Essence energy protective layers gave way, the group passed through the green mist, getting through to the other side.

Once they got through, all of them fell to the ground in a miserable state.

Their clothes were in tatters and their skin was torn, some of them coughed out blood and some even had their bones exposed at some parts.

But as Origin Core realm martial artists, all of them had their means of recovery.

As long as their lives remained intact, such injuries were not going to stop them for too long.

"They got through!"

"Let's go too!"

The rest of the poison masters moved immediately, challenging the green mist group after group.

Energy undulations filled the entire tunnel as the poison masters released their strongest attacks. Everyone's eyes were glued to the participating group, trying to take the chance to discover whatever pattern they could about the green mist.

Some of them managed to clear the green mist safely, while some suffered losses similar to the first group.

Some of them outright failed and lost their lives to the poison.

All this time, Lu Tianzi continued to examine the detection formation with a deep frown on his face.

No matter how he tried, he simply could not direct his Essence energy into the detection formation.

Right as he was at a complete loss, a bolt of realisation suddenly dawned upon Lu Tianzi.

Wait, could it be…?

Lu Tianzi took a side glance at the group that was currently challenging the green mist obstacle.

When they unleashed their combined attacks to cut open a gap in the green mist, Lu Tianzi took the chance to summon forth his Essence energy once more.

But this time, he drove the Spiritual Essence in his inner world instead.

Under the crazy output of the group of poison masters challenging the green mist, as well as the prospect of learning more about the green mist to increase their own chances, not a single person paid attention to Lu Tianzi.

And this time, the detection formation no longer rejected Lu Tianzi's Essence energy, devouring everything like a hungry beast.

Before he knew it, an ancient emblem of light appeared on the ground, hidden under the cover of the green mist.

Apart from Lu Tianzi who had been paying attention, not a single person noticed it.

Lu Tianzi grinned before turning to look at Nanlan Qianxue and Beiwei Jinguo. "Let's go next."

"We are going?" Beiwei Jinguo forced a smile. "Do you mean going into the green mist? Or do you mean going out?"

"What do you think?" Lu Tianzi laughed.

"Are you confident?" Nanlan Qianxue could not help but feel slightly nervous as well.

She knew just how strong Lu Tianzi was, but she had also seen with her own eyes how other Origin Core realm martial artists had succ.u.mbed to the poison mist without being able to put up any form of resistance.

"Yeah," Lu Tianzi nodded.

"Then I will follow your lead," Nanlan Qianxue smiled.

"I-I will as well…" Beiwei Jinguo stuttered a little before steeling his resolve. "I don't know what plan you have in mind, but hopefully it really works!"

"Hopefully so," Lu Tianzi laughed before standing up.

Hearing his ambiguous reply, Beiwei Jinguo felt the corner of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.

By now, the previous group had cleared the obstacle perfectly, not coming into contact with the green mist at all.

Seeing Lu Tianzi approach the green mist along with Nanlan Qianxue and Beiwei Jinguo, the other poison masters could not help but laugh in their hearts.

None of them was in a hurry to clear the obstacle.

As long as there were people willing to go first, they would gladly let them do so. This way, they would have more chances to learn about the properties of the green mist.

They looked on in schadenfreude, ready to witness the corrosive power of the green mist once again.

"Wait, what is he doing?"

"He's not even trying to open a part through the poison?"

The poison masters watched in shock as Lu Tianzi reached out towards the green mist with his bare hand.

But the next moment, all of their mouths fell open in disbelief.

When Lu Tianzi's hand came into contact with the green mist, nothing happened at all.

That terrifying corrosiveness of the green mist that everyone was wary of never came.

Instead, the green mist simply wrapped around Lu Tianzi's hand, as though it was nothing but harmless vapour.

Beiwei Jinguo widened his eyes in incredulity, while Nanlan Qianxue could not help but let out an amused chuckle.

She did not really understand how, but Lu Tianzi had once again surpassed all expectations and accomplished the seemingly impossible.

"Let's go!" Lu Tianzi called out to them after having confirmed that the green mist was not working anymore.

Lu Tianzi shrouded the two of them in his Origin Force, bringing them along with him straight through the green mist.

As they did, the green mist shrouded over their bodies and came into direct contact with their skin. Yet just like before, it did not do a thing to them.

It was a surreal sensation, one that simply went against the logic of poisons.

They could actually feel the poison on their bare skin, something that should never have been possible without suffering, especially when the pure corrosiveness of the green mist was considered.

Goosebumps appeared all over their skin, almost as though even their bodies were instinctively terrified by the green mist that was shrouding over them.

But that did not matter.

Others had to put in their greatest efforts just to get through the green mist, and some of them even suffered grievous injuries in the process.

Yet here they were, swimming through the green mist and basking in the lethal poison, and all they had to sacrifice in return was to get some goosebumps.

There was no better outcome than this.

Just like that, under the absolute bewilderment of every other poison master, the three of them effortlessly cleared the green mist obstacle and arrived at the other side.