"[Reptilian] I beg you, spare me! I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"
With a quivering voice, Qr Yochti spoke. "It was M-Master Kai from the Corpse Poison Sect who used the Heart Piercer Poison Gas on me and Junior Brother Gu! You have to understand, he's the only one with the antidote! We had no choice either!"
Tai Liu frowned slightly and explained to Aiden. "Master Kai, or Dorah Kai is the current leader of the Corpse Poison Sect's local expeditionary force. He is a top notch Rank 4 Martial Master realm powerhouse with a deep mastery in poisons… Also he is a savage person."
Aiden was expressionless and nodded. Though the power stages of this world's energy system was still somewhat new to him, he more or less understood the rough basics after absorbing and processing the knowledge of the 'willful donators' in the past. Whilst they were each considered to be in the Mortal Realm, there were several major stages that each and every disciple or cultivator of said energy '[Mana]' could reach. There were four major stages, ranging from Martial Apprentice, the Martial Warrior, to Martial Master and to the peak and extremely rare old fogies at the Martial Grandmaster stage. Inside each stage there are several ranks, or so called levels they could reach, each going from Rank 1 to Rank 9.
As such, Master Kai from the Corpse Poison Sect with his cultivation of Rank 4 Martial Master was considered an incredibly talented and strong powerhouse.
Listening to Tai Liu explaining, Aiden calmly nodded with his usual carefree, and somewhat aloof-looking smile plastered on his face. He did not seem affected by the news at all.
When he saw that everyone ignored him, Qr Yochti turned even more fearful and said hurriedly.
"[Reptilian] Furthermore, I haven't done anything that betrayed the sect or harmed our fellow disciples! M-Master Kai was merely targeting this outsiders group and said that he'll give us the antidote as long as we can kill one of them."
By that point, most of the doubts that everyone had were answered. The Azure Myst Sect disciple that was killed by Lady Pyre earlier was also inflicted by the 'Heart Piercer' Poison Gas of the Corpse Poison Sect. That explained his illogical actions earlier.
The old man laughed coldly. "[Reptilian] You have already betrayed the sect by waiting until now to tell us everything! I'm afraid that you probably won't hesitate either if Dorah Kai asked you to kill your fellow sect mates in exchange for the antidote."
Many Azure Myst Sect disciples felt their hearts skip a beat and lingering fear.
"[Reptilian] N-no! No, I would never!" Qr Yochti was frantic and shook his head repeatedly.
Tai Liu said with regret in her face. "[Reptilian] Sigh… fellow disciple Qr, you know that the Heart Piercer Poison Gas is not even one of Poison Sect's most fatal toxins. Although we don't have the antidote, we can ensure you won't lose your life until we return to the sect. Given the capabilities of our sect's elders, they will be able to help you remove the Heart Piercer Poison Gas with ease. Unfortunately for you…"
"[Reptilian] No! Please give me another chance! I was wrong! I know that now!" Qr Yochti begged continuously.
Tai Liu frowned in reluctance when she saw his wretched state. The Old Man could only sigh and shake his head.
He could see it. Tai Liu still lacked the determination to kill at the end of the day. No sect or clan would spare someone like Qr Yochti easily!
Just as the old man was about to step forward and make the decision to kill the traitor Qr Yochti on the spot for Tai Liu's sake, Aiden's voice sounded darkly. "[Reptilian] Since you're so afraid of death…"
Suddenly, his right hand blurred, as it shot forward. Before anyone could react it tore through the shocked long-faced man's chest and grabbed both his heart and his crystal core at the center of his chest before it continued on its destructive path all the way until it tore through the scaled back and presented its gory, blood covered loot to everyone.
"[Reptilian] You can die then."
Qr Yochti spurted out several mouthfuls of blood. He wanted to scream as an unimaginable amount of pain burned deeply in his mind yet, he found unable to do so.
"Absorb." Before the situation could calm down, another strange word was uttered that made no sense to these reptilians. It was uttered in an unknown language, something that none of these [Draconic Skink]'s could understand.
Yet, to their horror, in the next instant, suddenly, Qr Yochti's lifeless body began to quiver and with a loud snap, lost its form. Before his face was crushed by some unknown force, utter horror and pure terror was frozen on the just deceased man's face before it lost all shape and in a mere blink returned to an amorphous black gooey blob that swiftly seeped into the grey robed young man's body and vanished from this world in a mere instant.
Everyone present was shocked and some even scared stiff at the horrific display of force. They did not know what just happened or what they should do… Yet, none dared to step forward or even utter a word. They merely stared at the strange man with a newfound light…
At the same time, Aiden's eyelids were trembling as information was rapidly processed before his mental eyes. He flicked through the young [Draconic Skink]'s memories whilst his body converted the newly gained excess life essence into restoring all the used up [Soul Power].
Tai Liu opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something. However, in the end, she merely sighed without saying anything.
"[Reptilian] Urgh… W-what…"
Right then, in the corner, Madam Dara, who was initially sleeping, let out a drowsy sound.
In that same instant, Aiden's eyelids snapped open and he hurried over and squatted down before the buxom woman. He placed his palm against Madam Dara's forehead before asking gently. "[Reptilian] How are you feeling?"
"[Reptilian] M-master?" Madam Dara opened her eyes slightly and could not see what was before her clearly yet, merely replying instinctively due to the familiarity of the voice.
"[Reptilian] Yes, it's me." Aiden smiled and grabbed Madam Dara's hand.
A familiar warmth surged into her heart and instantly, Madam Dara felt much more awake. She tried her best to open her eyes and her lips twitched as she smiled. "[Reptilian] Master, you're back? I'm fine, don't worry."
She was still too tired and drowsy to be acting out her usual shenanigans.
Aiden found himself smiling uncontrollably when he saw her warm, weak smile. Gently caressing her forehead endearingly, he asked with a slightly reproachful sounding tone. "[Reptilian] Tell me, why were you so careless?"
In response, Madam Dara's face turned bright red, and she stuck out her tongue.
Coming towards them, Tai Liu took out a crystalline bottle.
"[Reptilian] This is a Lesser Healing Elixir. Let your friend, Dara consume it. Her body has just only purged away the poison and is still weak."
"[Reptilian] Thank you so much." Aiden nodded and received the crystalline bottle before pouring out an elixir the size of a fingernail and feeding it to Madam Dara.
There were still many things on Tai Liu's mind as she could not help but ask one them, what plagued her the most. "[Reptilian] I have to ask and I hope you are not offended… but did you guys have any feuds with the Corpse Poison Sect before?"
Standing up, Aiden frowned at the question as he tried to recall all the events that have transpired since he arrived to this world a little less than a month ago. In the end, he could not recall anything and shook his head.
"[Reptilian] I don't think so. I only heard of their name now from you guys."
"[Reptilian] Hmm… Strange." Tai-Liu muttered, deep in thought. "[Reptilian] Normally, the Corpse Poison Sect disciples are sinister and vengeful. Any cultivator that's able to use the Violet Haze Flower Poison must have a very high position within the sect. That person has most likely arrived at the city to poison all of you to death. This was definitely not a random act, but planned well ahead…"
In truth, Tai Liu's guess was rather close. The Corpse Poison Sect cultivator's name was Das Nes and he was at the Rank 8 Martial Warrior realm. He was sent here to poison Aiden's group to death but he ended up coming across a fiery tempered monstrous woman.
The Violet Haze Flower Poison proved to be completely useless when used on Lady Pyre! Her ever burning internal flames completely annihilated the poison in her body.
In the end, Das Nes, the assassin could not even survive a single round before he was killed by Lady Pyre on the spot!
His body was burned to crisps and turned to ashes before the Azure Myst Sect disciples could find them.