Chapter 21 Nine Venom Mandrake Poison

“Hey look, one of the alchemist apprentices is coming down into the square. He must really want one of the precious resources. Hahaha. He is going to die, painfully.”

“Ah, but he is an alchemist. Everyone knows that alchemists don’t fight. If he comes down here willingly on his own we are allowed to attack him right?”

“Just another victim for the meat grinder. Besides as an apprentice alchemist he is bound to have some other alchemical aids on him. This could be a very good day for whoever kills him.”

Khyree kept his cool as he walked to the square confidently, and with his head held high. He wasn’t fazed at all by the comments of the other neophytes. He was fully aware that the coming conflict would be fierce, brutal and extremely dangerous but in regards to dealing with Immortals what else was new. He would never dream of letting them see him sweat. As far as he was concerned he had a mission, and he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to acquire the poison.

As he moved into the place he had chosen, he could see the other neophytes creating some room around themselves. They went through the motions of limbering up, and eyeing each other with wary gazes. Khyree could feel the tension in the air ramp up sharply.

Upon noticing one of the apprentice alchemists making his way into the gathering, Elder Hakeem Bey paused as he watched the development with a slight smile on his face. He had lived for a very long time, and in his advanced age he had thought that he had long since seen everything under the heavens. It only took a second for the old man to rifle through his memory regarding the latest addition to the alchemy division. “Khyree Mourntree. A cousin of Daquan Mourntree. Up until you were just a servant. I wonder what makes you think you have what it takes to fight senior neophytes,” the elder thought to himself. “Well I guess we will soon see if you are capable of surviving this melee.”

Deciding that he had kept the gathered students in suspense for long enough, the elder raised his hands as if he was making an offering to the heavens, and the resources poured out of them as if from a spiritual wellspring. The True Steel Spears were scattered over the western section. The Essence Gathering Pills were dispersed among the southern section. The Battle Focus Pills went to the northern section, and then the Nine Venom Mandrake Poison was sent to the eastern section. Where the resources landed they hovered in the air, wrapped in a thin field of essence, just ripe for the taking.

When the first three resources were scattered about, the crowd of neophyte students immediately launched into action. Fights broke out everywhere, as the once calm but eager students rapidly turned into vicious fighting fiends. Immortal Techniques were on full display as the combatants went after the blood of their fellow students. It had only been seconds since the first scattering and already the stench of blood wafted in the air. Khyree watched as one student would snatch a cultivation pill from the air, only to be brutally mobbed and attacked by their peers. He wondered how many students would die on this day.

As fierce and intense as the fights were, there were isolated pockets of peace within the field of chaos. Inside those peaceful pockets, stood coldly arrogant neophytes that emanated a killing intensity. Their presences were so striking and sharp, that the other students gave them a wide berth of space. Khyree had no doubt that they were indeed the upperclassmen of the second tier. The rank four and rank five Immortals of the first stage.

Khyree maintained his space as watched everything with an impassive gaze. But as soon as he saw where the poison was sent off to, he too made his own move. Khyree blurred into action as blitzed through the ranks of the battling neophytes. Often he would leap clean over one in if he couldn’t safely make his way around. Others, he slid into their blind spots and with a quick grab and toss he would shove them into nearby opponents thus clearing the way for him to move forward.

Dozens of attacks were launched in his direction as he sped through the crowd, he elicited many cries of frustration and shouts of pain as the many vicious attacks aimed against him landed instead on the other distracted fighters. The sheer number of students in the square prevented him from moving too quickly, as he was forced to manually punch his way through. But the bulk of students did provide him with plenty of unsuspecting bodies to use as impromptu shields. Much to their own despair.

“Just my luck,” Khyree thought to himself as he slid to a stop just in front of one of those isolated pockets. Standing in front of Khyree was a neophyte that reeked of arrogance in his pristine white robe. The space for a dozen meters in any direction around him was free of any other students. The neophyte was clean shaven, with a very neatly groomed goatee, he had wide shoulders and a muscular physique that strained the limits of his robe. Khyree thought he looked only a little older than himself, but he had been learning that reading one’s age based on physical clues alone did not often work on Immortals. Khyree thought the student resembled a solid slab of granite. “Is it possible to have muscles on top of muscles,” Khyree wondered.

Instantly, Khyree quickly scanned the senior student to view his stats.

Name: ???

Age: 29

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Weight: 90kg

Height: 185cm

Health: 100/100

Immortal Rank: Stage 1, rank 4.

The Nine Venom Mandrake poison contained inside of a crystal tube hovered in the air just mere centimeters in front of the senior neophyte. The neophyte that eyed the crystal tube and smiled condescendingly at Khyree. He had plenty of opportunity to claim the poison, but instead he waited to see who would step up. Khyree knew a challenge when he saw one. Growing up in the Wilds with Essence Beasts, he had had to endure quite a few challenges back in his day. Khyree knew that if Daquan was in his place right now, that he would instantly retreat instead of challenging the senior student. But Khyree was not built like that.

Kawhi Oturu had been a neophyte student for almost ten years at that point. It wasn’t that he was lacking in talent when it came to cultivating, but that at his rank he needed a lot of essence to break through to the next level. With the relative essence on the second tier being what it was it was always a challenge for an Immortal ro rank up. He had heard of other students taking as long as thirty years to graduate to the third tier. But thirty years was far too long for Kawhi to wait. He was bound and determined to leave the second tier by his fifteenth year in the Sect.

As such he was always on the prowl for the limited cultivation resources periodically handed out by the Sect. Never to let a good opportunity pass him by, he had long learned that strength makes right in the Immortal World. So whenever Resource Day came around he would park himself next to the most valuable resource given and kill any and all challengers for the right of it. But of course he never stopped there, afterwards he would help himself to whatever belongings his fallen prey had dropped. The only limitation he faced in this arena were the few other high ranking neophytes on the tier. But as long as he kept to his own section, they left him alone as they had already previously divided up the field.

Kawhi was pleasantly surprised to see one of the protected alchemist apprentices make their way through the gathered students of the square. His God’s Eye had long since spotted the young neophyte swiftly making his way in his direction through the gathered mass of students. Kawhi watched as the apprentice slipped attacks and skillfully avoided being overwhelmed on his approach. “So not your regular apprentice hmm,” Kawhi wondered to himself. “Oh well he will be just another nobody who failed on his path of Immortality.”

“Ho ho ho, well look who decided to venture out into some dangerous waters today,” called out Kawhi.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Khyree smiled tightly as he responded back to the neophyte. “Forgiveness senior, but as you do not seem to be interested in that poison, I will just claim it and go about my business.” Khyree eyed some of the other nearby students who remained just outside the pocket of peace. He saw them watching him and the senior student with eager expressions. This was obviously something that they had witnessed before.

“Well, aren’t you a brave one, young blood,” Kahwi said with a short chuckle. Kawhi jumped in place a few times to loosen and warm up his muscles. “Well you see this little poison over here is free for the taking. You just have to go through me first to get it.” What was unspoken, but clearly conveyed in his eyes, was that the winner would take all.

Khyree nodded his head in acknowledgement. “If that is the only way, then so be it. Though I would prefer not to fight you. But I will go through you if I have to. Before this day is done, that poison will be mine. Mark my words.” Khyree would have preferred to not fight a senior Immortal at this point, especially not one that was two or three ranks higher than himself. But he came into the square knowing that he would have to fight. He just hoped that his training in the ancient pocket realm paid off.

“You’re feeling pretty confident huh? Well I do like your spirit. It’s a damn shame that I’m going to have to break it though. But before we get started, let me tell you my name. You know just so you have someone to curse in the afterlife,” Kawhi said with an easy smile. He had no doubt whatsoever in his mind that he would defeat this brand new neophyte. The fact that this alchemist apprentice would even challenge him, spoke of his unfamiliarity with Kawhi’s reputation.

“Oh no need for that, senior,” Khyree replied, while looking up at the sky. It was a clear morning sky, with not a single cloud in sight. The only thing that could be seen were distant flying creatures going about their business.“Today is not the day that I die.”

“This young pup must have lost his mind,” Kawhi thought to himself. It was clear to him that the neophyte had been exposed to one too many fumes, while assisting to concoct alchemical formulas.. It was the only thing that made sense to him. Alchemists, apprentice or otherwise, don’t fight. While not a stated rule in the Sect, it was a piece of knowledge that had been around for so long that people just accepted it as if it were some sort of holy gospel.

“Well come on then, I’ll even let you throw the first punch,” Kawhi taunted.

In truth, the reason why the apprentice showed up to compete mattered not in the least to Kawhi. It was enough that he showed. For Kawhi that alone was a good enough reason for why the junior neophyte would die on this day. Kawhi maintained his relaxed pose and waited for the apprentice to make the first move.

Once Khyree was within a few meters of the senior student, he blitzed into motion so fast that he would have shocked his former self, back when he was still mortal. He knew that he would only have one chance against the older student, and that was to go all out from the beginning. So he channelled all of the ka he had in his system into fueling his Immortal Techniques. First he felt the moisture in the air begin to coalesce into a thin near invisible field around his entire body. He had learned that the further he pushed it out, the more energy intensive it became, so he kept the field a mere centimeters from his flesh.

His breathing changed as he subvocalized the harmonics necessary to make full use of his techniques. The very air around him began to distort as Khyree flowed into a series of very aggressive winding sinuous movements. The classic hallmarks of his first Immortal Technique. But he was positive that he still needed more, so Khyree pulled on his Ka again as he forced the darkness essence to concentrate around his hands. Layer after layer he wrapped the Ka, until he felt like he had almost no more to give. Then he pushed himself, and managed to form a few more layers.

It was only in the last few seconds before Khyree’s fist struck him in the chest, that Kawhi felt his God’s Eye pulse in alarm. Kawhi’s eyes widened as a sense of imminent danger began to fill his soul. But before he could take a single step back, or respond with a technique of his own, Khyree’s fist made contact with a thunderous impact. Kawhi felt the impact of the blow hit him with the force much greater than expected. He actually felt the skin of his chest cave in two centimeters before coming to a halt. The residual force was absorbed by his muscles and skeletal structure.

As Kawhi was surprisingly rocked backward by the attack, he counted himself fortunate that he had already reached the fourth rank of condensation. He knew that had he not been infusing his skin with his ka for the last few years that his chest would have been completely caved in. Indeed, even with the essence infusions he still felt his ribs pushed almost to the point of breaking.”What shocking strength from a second rank!” Kawhi thought to himself, as he worked to stop his backward sliding motion.

But there was no way that Khyree was going to give up the momentum of the fight if he had any say about it. He knew what was on the line, the poison and his life. Neither of which he was willing to lose on this day. So with zero hesitation, Khyree continued to relentlessly pound on his opponent. Unleashing one devastating punch after the other. He never so much as allowed for more than a half a meter to separate him from the senior student.

Kawhi acknowledged that the new neophyte was no mere alchemist apprentice, no he was like a beast in the form of a man. It had been quite a long time since Kawhi had been pressed so intensely. But what really baffled him was that with his God’s Eye he could tell that the lowly rank two neophyte was clearly using more than one Immortal Technique. Immortals at the second rank had abysmally low reserves of Ka, so unless he was wearing some kind of Immortal Tool to boost his levels, or had taken some alchemical pill or something the young neophyte had to be swiftly coming up on his limit.

Not that Kawhi would just stand around and continue to let himself be attacked. Still though he was shocked to discover that the young apprentice had progressed so quickly in his mastery of the one Immortal Technique he recognized: The Immortal Fists of the Gods. Kawhi knew it to be a brutal art capable of devastating one’s foes. It was an Immortal Technique that targeted not only the physical body but also the Etheric body as well. Kawhi had seen lots of other neophytes choose that technique as their first combat art over the years. While Kawhi’s physical body was strong enough to ignore most of the physical damage, he did notice that his Etheric Channel was taking some damage.

But as merciless as the art was, Kawhi knew that it had a fatal weakness. The technique required the Immortal wielding it to be in constant motion. It was a weakness for which Kawhi’s own prized Immortal Technique was the perfect foil for: The Holy Defiant Spotted Python Grappling Art. It was labeled as a defensive technique, but Kawhi had learned that it was a great art for both offensive and defensive purposes.

Kawhi quickly tried to step in closer to Khyree and attempt to ensnare one of his limbs in a hold, but he soon found that Khyree was as slippery as an oil slicked seal. No matter which limb he tried, he couldn’t even get his fingers to lock around a single joint. It was as if there was something preventing him from getting the neophyte in a hold.

Meanwhile Khyree continued to assault the senior student. Even as he felt his ka begin to rapidly drain as the older student tried unsuccessfully to apply pressure on him, Khyree did not stop fiercely sending out one blow followed by another. His face was a study of a rictus snarl as he rabidly attacked his opponent.

The fight had only been going on for a few minutes but in that time, Khyree figured he must have landed somewhere in the vicinity of hundreds of blows. And yet, he could sense that he was barely causing any damage to the older student. “Damn it to all abyss, these rank fours and fives are beyond terrifying to deal with,” Khyree thought to himself. “How wide must be the gap that separates second ranks from them.”

Finding that his supreme grappling skills were not as effective as he thought they would be against this particular opponent, Kawhi then began to just trade blows with the younger neophyte. As a massive specimen standing nearly two meters in height and weighing in at close to a hundred kilos of solid well defined muscles, Kawhi knew that his punches were strong enough to pulverize small to medium trees. So after the first full exchange of punches, he was shocked to see not only was the apprentice still standing, but that he was still fighting.

“Impossible!!!” Kawhi thought to himself. But sure enough every time he landed a blow on the neophyte it was as if he was punching into a watery cushion. As if on impact the entire force of his attack was fully absorbed and equally distributed across a wide surface. Still even with that, he was pleased to note that hits were an effect on the young aspiring alchemist. Deep purplish bruises had started to appear on the neophyte, he was sweating profusely and had even started to slow down in speed. “Just a little more,” Kawhi thought to himself.

Khyree knew that he was running out of steam. The fight had already drawn out longer than he had originally anticipated. He had hoped that the confrontation would have been determined with the first few blows, but he now saw the incredibly vast difference in the ranks. Even with his Heavenly Dance of Misty Springs defensive technique running at full steam, he was taking on injuries with every blow he took from the senior students. Already he had had to swallow three mouthfuls of blood.

As the two combatants fought back and forth over the span of just a few meters, the nearby crowd of students watched on with faces filled with anticipation.

Out of the corner of eye, Kawhi glimpsed an opportunity to quickly end the fight, and so he skillfully retreated in such a way to bring him closer to his goal. Right after ducking a vicious overhand swing, Kawhi spun out, grabbed the vial of the Nine Venom Mandrake Poison, and with a forceful knee to the abdomen was able to lift Khyree up into the air and gasp out in pain and surprise. As soon as Khyree landed, Kawhi tripped him and slammed the vile poison down Khyree’s throat, and just to make sure that the youth died, he then stomped on the apprentice’s throat.