Chapter 15 Bone Numbing Powder

"This…" Uncle Ye was stumped, unable to bring himself to reject his precious daughter.

"Sis Xiangyuan, that might be a little inconvenient," Lu Tianzi saw the expression on Uncle Ye's face and immediately realised that he would have to be the one to convince Ye Xiangyuan otherwise.

"Why would it be? Don't worry, Ah Zhan. I will directly tell Gong Shengjie not to bother us anymore and that I will never like him even if he dealt with you!"

"But that will only make him hate me even more…" Lu Tianzi shook his head helplessly. "If Sis Xiangyuan truly wishes to help me, then not doing anything to interfere will actually be better."

"What? Are you saying that I will only create more trouble for you?" Ye Xiangyuan's voice trembled a little, the frustration in her voice apparent for all to hear.

"Oh Yuan'er, that's not what Ah Zhan meant! He is just saying that it might be a little awkward for you to appear during this meeting since all the arrangements have already been made!" Uncle Ye immediately walked up to console his daughter.

"Ah, yeah, that is exactly what I meant," Lu Tianzi smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Fine! I won't go then!" Ye Xiangyuan obviously knew what the two of them were actually thinking, and slammed the room door behind her in a rare outburst of anger.

"I have already tried to be tactful there, was it still too harsh?" Lu Tianzi asked with uncertainty.

"Don't worry about it. She will probably understand after thinking about it for a while. Let's just have dinner and go to bed," Uncle Ye gave him a pat on the back before leaving for the kitchen.

Lu Tianzi let out a helpless sigh.

Ye Xiangyuan had always treated him as a younger brother, treating him with respect and concern far exceeding what would be expected of her, considering the significant lack of interaction between the two. After all, Lu Tianzi had only been here for a few days, and only had only been seeing Ye Xiangyuan for breakfast and dinner every day.

Even this time, Lu Tianzi knew that Ye Xiangyuan's outburst was largely due to her concern for him.

No matter what, Lu Tianzi was only 15 years old, and he had a relatively weak control over his emotions.

After experiencing the betrayal from Hu Yuanbo, this unexpected act of kindness from Uncle Ye and family felt like it was amplified countless times in the heart of the teenager, making Lu Tianzi appreciate them even more.

Subconsciously, he had already started thinking of Ye Xiangyuan as someone important to him as well. Thus he could not help but feel bad about offending her.

But even if he wanted to appease Ye Xiangyuan, the rational side of him understood that he simply did not have the time to spend on such matters right now.

There was only one night left before Yan Bingren would be named as Holy Guardian. Lu Tianzi definitely had to make full use of this remaining time to finish up his preparations.

For this final night, Lu Tianzi did not immediately dive into cultivation.

Just last night, he had finally exhausted the energy within the Essence Stone. With the final wisp of energy being drawn out of the Essence Stone, it promptly cracked into two, instantly losing its glow.

Some might feel like it was a waste in the long run. If Lu Tianzi had not been so greedy, he could have continued cultivating by basking in the light of the Essence Stone.

However, Lu Tianzi had no regrets about his choice.

After all, what he wanted was to kill a martial artist at the Origin Core realm!

If he merely cultivated by basking in the light of the Essence Stone, how long would it take before he could finally achieve his goal?

Despite that, it was a fact that his cultivation speed had suddenly experienced a dramatic decrease after the loss of the Essence Stone.

Even though he felt like he was already touching on the boundary of the Peak Essence Building realm, Lu Tianzi knew that even if he cultivated through the entire night, unless a miracle were to happen, it would be unlikely for him to break through.

Since that was the case, Lu Tianzi decided to spend his time on something more effective.

After latching his window and door as always, he took out a few small pouches and carefully poured out their contents into separate piles on his table. They were different types of plants that he had gathered over the past few days.

By now, Lu Tianzi could be considered as a decently skilled herbalist, and tonight he was intending to tap onto the less respectable side of herbalism.

Poison making.

Among the myriad of plants and herbs, there was no lack of those that contained traces of poison. But under the skilful hands of a herbalist, these traces of poison could be amplified multiple times, creating lethal poison that could quickly bring one to the verge of death!

Lu Tianzi did not know how strong were the enemies that he was about to face, but there was no way that they would be weaker than the previous three demons.

After his body had been enhanced from the night in the underground cavern, Lu Tianzi had been able to easily defeat martial artists of the same cultivation realm. With that in mind, he was confident that his current self would be able to at least match a Peak Essence Building realm martial artist on even terms.

However, Lu Tianzi was not so arrogant as to believe that he could defeat a Peak Essence Building realm martial artist while under the simultaneous attacks of his companions.

Under such conditions, Lu Tianzi had immediately thought of using poison as a way to increase his odds of winning. This ability of using poison as a way to overcome stronger opponents was also the main reason why he had been so eager to advance in the field of herbalism.

Unfortunately, time was not on his side.

Over the past few days, he only managed to gather a pitifully small amount of materials. In order to make up for the small quantity, he had to make sure that none of it went to waste!

Even for experienced herbalists, it was impossible to have a 100% success rate in their processing of plants and herbs.

After all, even among different samples of the same type of plants, there were slight differences that herbalists could miss. At the same time, environment and human factors impacted the results just as much.

Thus Lu Tianzi had to invest all of his concentration in order to minimise such errors. Only then would he be able to yield a decent amount of poison that could be used in battle.

After some contemplation, Lu Tianzi had ultimately decided on concocting the Bone Numbing Powder.

When affected by Bone Numbing Powder, victims would feel their strength being rapidly drained from their bodies. Every step they made and every breath they took would require far more strength than usual, as though their bones and muscles were rapidly growing numb by the second.

Even though it was not a lethal poison, one advantage that the Bone Numbing Powder had over most other poisons was that it did not need to be ingested. Just the inhalation of a trace amount of Bone Numbing Powder would be enough for the poison to take effect.

That made it much more suited for use in battle as compared to most other poisons.

Of course, martial artists were able to drive the Spiritual Essence within them to mitigate a portion of the effects. So Lu Tianzi had no doubt that demons would be able to do the same with their Slaughter Essence system.

But no matter what, it was impossible for someone below the Essence Condensation realm to completely ignore the effects of the Bone Numbing Powder.

In a close fight, every bit of advantage could serve to tilt the balance in either way.

However much he could slow down his opponents would mean that much more of a chance at victory for Lu Tianzi!

The formula for Bone Numbing Powder was relatively simple and did not require many steps.

However, each step had to be done in a precise manner. Otherwise, the end product would not be able to display the intended effects, and would be considered a failure.

Determined not to make any mistakes, Lu Tianzi drove the Spiritual Essence within his inner world to stabilise his hands as he proceeded to process the materials. If everything went smoothly, he would have been left with 10 portions of Bone Number Powder.

However, this was after all his first time trying to concoct poison, and it was far too difficult to achieve a perfect success rate.

After a long night, Lu Tianzi was finally able to prepare 5 portions of Bone Numbing Powder, with half of the materials unfortunately going to waste.

Looking at the wasted materials, Lu Tianzi could only sigh helplessly.

Even though his skills were already considered quite decent, that was only in comparison to ordinary workers like Uncle Ye. When placed alongside peak herbalists, he was still far from capable enough!

But no matter what, having 5 portions of Bone Numbing Powder was still better than nothing.

With them on hand, at least Lu Tianzi would have one more card up his sleeves for the upcoming battle. Still, it would be for the best if he did not have to use them.

After he was done with the Bone Numbing Powder, Lu Tianzi went into deep meditation to condition his mental state. In order to deal with the long day ahead, he had to ensure that he was at his peak state!

When the first light appeared over the horizon, the citizens of Ivory Rock City immediately grew lively as they prepared to leave their houses.

Everyone, be they from the Workers District in the south, the Academic District in the east, or even the Military District in the west, all headed northwards, towards the Officials District.

It was finally the day when Ivory Rock City will name a second Holy Guardian within a year!

It was a day that was destined to go down in history!

Of course they had to personally bear witness to this moment! In the future, they would be able to proudly tell their descendants that they were there when humanity took its first step out of the shadows!

Uncle Ye and family were just as excited, having a quick breakfast before they headed to the Officials District.

Lu Tianzi, on the other hand, chose not to attend.

There would be far too many familiar faces at the event. Even though he could try to blend into the crowds, there was no guarantee that nobody would be able to spot him.

Rather than taking that risk, Lu Tianzi decided to leave for the South Gate as he had always done over the past few days.

When asked by Uncle Ye, Lu Tianzi explained that he still had not come to terms with not being able to hunt an animal successfully, and was determined to catch one before he could fully delve into the study of herbalism.

He even went as far as telling Uncle Ye that he would not be returning tonight unless he managed to succeed.

When Uncle Ye heard that, he had been extremely worried. After all, it would be an understatement to say that staying out in the wilds after dusk was dangerous. Even the sentries stationed on the city walls would not be able to see far into the darkness of the forest, so they would naturally be unable to warn of any approaching beasts.

However, Uncle Ye relented after seeing the resolution in Lu Tianzi's eyes. After all, while they had gotten closer over the past few days, Lu Tianzi was not his son. As such, Uncle Ye had no right to tell him what to do.

All Uncle Ye could do was to remind Lu Tianzi to prioritise his own safety before they parted ways.

After a few days, the city guards had already gotten used to Lu Tianzi's figure passing through the South Gate.

Apart from Lu Tianzi, there were also some rare ones who had no interest in the naming of Holy Guardian, choosing to go about their daily activities instead.

Thus even though the guards were surprised that Lu Tianzi did not join the celebration in the Officials District, since it was not like he was the only one heading out of the city, the guards naturally paid him no mind.

Lu Tianzi had no idea how differently everything would play out this time. But judging from his personal experience, it would probably be night time when they finally exit the city gates.

It would be difficult for both sides to discuss exact coordinates to meet up in the forest, so it was likely that they had always used the same location for handing over the sacrifice.

During this remaining time, Lu Tianzi would have to carefully prepare himself, examining the terrain for anything that he could use to his advantage.

Of course, he did not assume that he would definitely be right.

Before night fell, Lu Tianzi returned to an area near Ivory Rock City where he would be able to spot anyone exiting from the gates. It was impossible to watch all three gates simultaneously, so Lu Tianzi chose to keep watch over the West and South Gates.

If they had knocked out Yan Bingren like what they had done to him, passing through the Academic District could be a dangerous move.

There were countless martial artists there who knew Yan Bingren on a personal level, and many of them practised throughout the night.

These were people who had a level of perception that far exceeded that of mortals.

Who knew what would happen if those people from the City Lord Manor were to drive his unconscious body through the Academic District, drawing even more attention by leaving through the East Gate in the middle of the night?

Anything could go wrong!

For that reason, Lu Tianzi was confident that the people from the City Lord Manor would not go for such a risky option.

Resting himself on a tree for a higher vantage point, Lu Tianzi waited patiently as the last ray of light finally disappeared over the horizon.