The cold snow fell on the vast field of white. There was no wind, just the steady descent of snowflakes. Yet, an unnatural chill lingered in the air.

Hu Jin stood atop the wall of Red Lotus City, clad in the uniform of the Blazing Sun Sect. Around him, fellow disciples stood shoulder-to-shoulder, their eyes distant and forlorn.

Many had lost friends, and some even family. Escape was not an option, as the monstrous beasts ensured no humans could flee. This forced the cultivators to constantly play defense.

And what a defense it was...

The stone wall was unremarkable. Some stones were uneven, and there were rough patches where monstrous beasts had broken through.

Hu Jin's gaze pierced the distance, where a horde of monstrous beasts began their relentless charge. The ground quaked under their weight, threatening to crumble the wall. The beasts stirred up a blinding snow cloud, resembling a merciless avalanche hurtling towards them, their roars echoing with a chilling ferocity.

Until now, they had faced only minor skirmishes, never waves of this magnitude.

Hu Jin glanced around at the fortified walls. Traps were set at the base, and pots of strange liquids were ready to be hurled at the beasts. He guessed they contained poison.

Poison had become a routine weapon against the monstrous beasts. Hu Jin's master constantly kept bragging about poison and things like that.

Despite their preparations, Hu Jin knew their chances were slim. A Core Formation monstrous beast was among the horde, sealing their fate. Of course, no one had taken any countermeasures against that...

He had warned everyone, but as an outer disciple with no notable feats, his warnings were dismissed. The delay in the beasts' attack had made him seem like a liar.

"Monstrous beasts are using strategies and plans, just like they did when they conquered the central continent," his master's voice came from the coin. "If that monster from the central continent is here, we're all dead."

"What monster?" Hu Jin whispered.

"When a whole continent falls, there's always a monster or two involved—both literal and metaphorical. If you ever thought about going on a wild adventure, don't even think about heading to the central continent," his master advised.

"I wasn't thinking that. There are already enough problems here," Hu Jin sighed.

"Then keep your eyes ahead. The monstrous beasts are close, and there are some troublesome ones among them," the old man in the coin said before falling silent to let Hu Jin focus on the impending battle.

The monstrous beasts were now within range. Roaring flames, ice spikes, wind blades, rocks, and various ranged attacks rained on them. The beasts were so densely packed that it was hard to miss.

Hu Jin looked on with a worried gaze. Despite his warnings falling on deaf ears, one of his new friends was the son of a Clan Leader in the city, and his father had built additional fortifications on the walls. This should allow them to hold out longer, but it wasn't enough. They were going to be crushed.

"Ugh, so this is why the Sect Leader decided to send me here?" A man beside Hu Jin grumbled.

Hu Jin turned toward the speaker and saw an old man, easily two heads taller than everyone else.

The man had a bald head like a monk and was built like a bear, with rippling muscles. His thick, spiky white beard resembled a lion's mane around his jaw. Despite the weather, he wore a red robe that was open in the middle, showing off his rock-like physique.

"Careful of this one," his master muttered, something only Hu Jin could hear, and he gave a slight nod.

The large man turned toward Hu Jin, noticing his gaze. "What're you looking at, kid? Never seen a real man?"

Hu Jin was about to turn away when his master in the ring suddenly added, "Follow my instructions from now on and say what I say."

Unsure of his master's intentions but trusting him implicitly, Hu Jin repeated, "How does someone even move around with such deadly poison running through his veins?"

At that moment, the old man put his meaty hand on Hu Jin's shoulder. The weight of it felt oppressive. Hu Jin's eyes turned bloodshot like they were about to burst. His mouth was shut, and his teeth chattered like they were about to shatter due to the invisible weight.

What was this power? He couldn't even open his mouth!

"That's not the kind of thing you say in public, young man," the muscular elder whispered, his sharp gaze fixed on Hu Jin. Some of the others around them turned to watch.

But then Hu Jin felt a surge of power as his master remotely activated the Qi inside his body. He flinched, and his teacher whispered hurried instructions. Hu Jin repeated his master's words out loud.

"I can help heal you before the battle starts," Hu Jin spoke through gritted teeth as the pressure around him increased.

"Oh?" The old man smiled, but despite his nonchalant demeanor, the pressure grew stronger. Hu Jin felt like he was going to be crushed. "And pray tell, why would you do something like that?"

The old man's tone made it clear he didn't trust him. Anger sparked within Hu Jin's chest. He had been working hard, doing everything he could, yet people still didn't listen to him and treated him like dirt.

"Because I don't want you to get injured in a battle that will involve my life if you lose!" Hu Jin yelled, this time without his master's help, driven purely by willpower. "So shut up and take my help, old man!"

This was it, Hu Jin thought. Was this how his life was going to end? No, his master would likely come out and save him somehow; he always did. But he was tired of people looking down on him all the time.

Instead of growing angrier, the elder, a towering figure with a weathered face and a glint of mischief in his eyes, laughed loudly, his voice echoing through the courtyard. The pressure around Hu Jin dissipated instantly. "I like your guts, kid!" he boomed. "Come show me what you've got!"

"Ah…" Hu Jin was surprised and couldn't believe his eyes. The old muscular man was smiling from ear to ear.

"By the way, my name is Zun Gon," the old man introduced himself. He picked up Hu Jin and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Hu Jin wiggled around, his voice filled with a mix of frustration and defiance. "Hey! Drop me down, old man! I can walk on my own!"

The other cultivators atop the wall whispered among themselves, glancing at them. However, they didn't have the leisure to continue as the monstrous beasts got closer.

Despite his complaints, Zun Gon didn't put him down and carried him to one of the vacant houses near the walls. There, he plopped Hu Jin down and looked him in the eyes.

"Did you really mean what you said up there, brat? Can you really heal me from my injuries? If you were just talking big, now is the time to admit it. I wouldn't kill a disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect for something small like that," Zun Gon frowned as if recalling something unpleasant. He pulled aside his robe, revealing a dark, pulsing wound that seemed alive just below his left rib. "Can you handle something like this?"

The wound, a grotesque sight, exuded a foul aura and writhed like worms, though an invisible force seemed to halt their advance.

"Thousand Snakes Biting the Mournful Heart, that is the name of the poison," his master said. "It was created by a man with the Thousand Poison Extreme Physique. He was destined to die young, but he had a girl who grew up with him, and they promised to always be together. As they grew up, the girl forgot her promise and married a lumberjack from the village. The man with the Thousand Poison Extreme Physique, consumed by heartbreak and betrayal, created this poison and made her drink it, and in the end, drank some himself… It was then discovered that poison-type extreme physiques can resist even the strongest poisons."

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Hu Jin listened to his master's story about the poison's origin. He didn't care about such details, but he couldn't stop his master since Zun Gon was there, and he couldn't speak out loud.

"Anyway, it is quite impressive that someone at the Core Formation Realm could resist something like this," his master nodded. "Ask him where he got injured. There shouldn't be many poison masters nowadays capable of making a poison like this."

"Where did you get poisoned like this?" Hu Jin frowned, approaching to get a closer look at the wound. "It is impressive for a Core Formation Cultivator to resist something like this so seamlessly."

"Well, it isn't as easy as it looks," Zun Gon chuckled. "I got this injury 150 years ago from an elder of an enemy Sect. It's a relentless poison, constantly trying to reach my heart. Though the bastard who did this to me had it worse."

"Lay down, and I'll start by making a couple of pills to prepare your body," Hu Jin said, keeping his voice even. As someone who had fallen from the status of a genius, he knew how to hide his feelings.

Zun Gon looked him up and down, assessing him. He shrugged and went toward one of the house's bedrooms, returning shortly after. With a wave of his hand, a one-person bed appeared, and Zun Gon lay on it.

The bed creaked and groaned, its wooden legs shaking under the weight of a man with more muscles than Hu Jin had ever seen. The bed was not big enough to fit his entire frame—his shoulders and legs almost up to his knees stuck out—but somehow, the bed held.

"Let's get this over with fast. I have a war to win," the old man said confidently as he settled in. With each movement, the bed creaked more, and Hu Jin expected it to break at any moment.

"Get to work," his master said, breaking his thoughts. "It's only a matter of time before the monstrous beasts get close. While you wouldn't be that useful in the fight, this big guy will."

Hu Jin nodded, following his master's instructions. He pulled an old dark pot with a lid from his storage ring. This was an Alchemy Furnace, one of the lowest grades, but it would get the job done. Any other Alchemy Furnace was way above his budget.

"This time, I will help you make the pill. It will be a high-ranking healing pill, and the other is a low-ranking poison pill," his master said, manifesting next to Hu Jin. "I will take some of your Qi, so don't try and resist too hard."

Alchemy was a complicated process; his master called it cooking fire with Qi. It wasn't a bad description, but Hu Jin saw it more as burning money. The success rate for the average Alchemist was depressingly low.

Hu Jin had been practicing for almost a year and was barely an Alchemist by his master's standards. His master even said he shouldn't make pills in front of anyone else, or he would shame his name.

Hu Jin thought his master was being a bit too grumpy about these things. After all, his master was known for his poisons, not alchemy.

As the Qi drained out of Hu Jin's body, he winced, feeling a wave of exhaustion crashing over him. Even though he couldn't sense his own Qi, he could feel its almost depleted effects.

He wanted to yell at his teacher to be careful. Hu Jin still had a battle to fight and didn't want to face it while exhausted. But with another man in the room, speaking to himself wouldn't be a good indicator of sanity.

The muscular elder was already taking a risk by having a kid make his cure. He barely trusted him to be competent at alchemy at such a young age. But a kid who talked to himself? That would cross the line from trust to recklessness on the old man's part.

The Qi flowed into the alchemical furnace, making it rattle as herbs and treasures levitated, drying and breaking up. Small pellets of liquid were extracted from the herbs.

Wait, why was his master using these things? He had gone through quite a bit of work to get these things!

A sweet aroma filled the room as the furnace turned red-hot, rattling and whistling. Hu Jin felt a rushing sensation in his ears, like being underwater.

"This kind of poison has no existing cure. Most poisons made by previous Poison Extreme Physique cultivators don't have official antidotes. That's why we'll use another poison to kill the poison and then cure that poison," his master explained. "I even have a technique that can somewhat increase cultivation speed. It involves poisons clashing in the body and can almost double cultivation speed. I left it as an inheritance. Hopefully, no one has found it and started using it."

Hu Jin tilted his head in confusion, signaling he didn't understand why his master would say that. Someone else using the technique could be bad, but that didn't mean it was entirely negative.

"It's a Sky Grade Technique," his master said as if that explained everything. "While being the only user is advantageous and can compensate for bad talent to a certain extent, it loses almost all its efficiency if two or more people use it. That loss of efficiency is even worse than with most other Sky Grade Techniques because it is a technique that helps with cultivation."

His teacher was in one of his mentoring moments, but Hu Jin lacked a lot of context. He planned to ask for more details if they ever escaped this ordeal. His master had never elaborated much on Sky Grade Techniques.

After some time, the furnace whistled and cooled down. When it was done, two pills flew out—one green and one sky blue, both the size of a thumb.

"Take the green one first. It's a strong poison that will kill the poison within your wound. Then the blue one will deal with that second poison," Hu Jin said, offering the pills to the elder.

The muscular old man glanced at the pills, his face solemn. He met Hu Jin's gaze and asked, "Are you saying that you plan to poison me?"

"Yes," Hu Jin answered immediately.

Zun Gon's eyes narrowed, his sword-like brows furrowing. He looked like a mighty tiger ready to pounce. Hu Jin's heart began to race.

Just as Zun Gon seemed ready to unleash his Qi, Hu Jin's master gathered Qi for a potential fight. But Zun Gon suddenly laughed loudly, "You have guts, kid! This is refreshing compared to those schemers in the Inner Sect. I'll trust you on this."

Before Hu Jin could react, the bald old man grabbed the pills from his hand and popped the green one into his mouth. Immediately, the old man's face turned pale, and he coughed up a mouthful of black blood onto the floor.

Where the blood landed, the stone floor sizzled like a chicken dropped in hot oil. Hu Jin's eyes widened, realizing the severity of the poison within Zun Gon.

The veins on the elder's face popped up and turned green, and blood began dripping from his nose. Despite this, the elder stood calmly and asked, "When should I take the second pill?"

Hu Jin waited for some time, watching the elder's face contort in pain. When his master told him it was time, Hu Jin said, "Now!"

The elder immediately swallowed the blue pill. Everything was quiet for a moment until a burst of black blood erupted from Zun Gon's nose. His pale face slowly regained its natural color, and the elder smiled, revealing bloody teeth. He glanced at his ribs, where the poison had been, and saw only tanned skin.

"Heh, a poison I've been struggling with for over a century was healed by some random kid," Zun Gon chuckled. "I owe you one, kid. What's your name?"

"Hu Jin."

"Well, Hu Jin, what do you think about becoming my personal disciple? I need some friends who aren't snakes," Zun Gon offered, his voice filled with a mix of seriousness and humor.

"You should accept," his master said. "He seems like a good man. You could gain a lot from him and also protection."

Hu Jin's gaze lingered on the weathered face of the muscular old man, a flood of memories washing over him. He recalled the time when his cultivation was shattered, and the relentless torment that followed. Everyone loved to beat on a fallen genius.

Hu Jin clasped his right fist with his palm and he lowered his head in a respectful bow, his voice filled with determination. "Sorry, I will only have one master in this life."

His master's ghost smiled next to him, stroking his long beard before retreating back into the coin.

"Oh, I didn't know you already had a master. Well, I can respect that. A man must be loyal and stick by his word, or he isn't a man!" Zun Gon declared boldly. Then he frowned and looked toward one of the house's walls, toward the battlefield.

Without another word, he walked toward the wall, slamming through it and stepping out into the snowy ground. He looked up, frowned, and suddenly disappeared.

Hu Jin was left alone, unsure of what he had just witnessed or what he was supposed to do. He felt exhausted before the battle had even started, knowing most monstrous beasts had the power of a Qi Gathering Cultivator.

"Go to the wall," his master commanded.

Hu Jin's feet moved before he could think about what his master meant. He climbed the stairs to the wall and was shaken by what he saw. The monstrous beasts, with their hulking forms and glowing red eyes, were dangerously close, their roars making the hair on the back of Hu Jin's neck stand up.

Explosions rang out everywhere. Flying monstrous beasts, with their razor-sharp claws and fangs, grabbed cultivators off the walls. They dropped them, their bodies landing with a wet, crushing sound, turning into red smudges on the ground.

The air was thick with the stench of blood and the cries of the wounded.

There was a metallic smell in the air that Hu Jin had grown somewhat familiar with.

Before he could fully immerse himself in the battle, a shadow descended over the field. Hu Jin looked up, and what he saw made him freeze in place. It was a giant snake monstrous beast that towered over the clouds.

The snake had a scar running from its chin to the tip of its tail. Its pure white scales seemed to reflect the sun. Four red eyes wandered around, looking for prey.

A deadly aura surrounded the creature, making Hu Jin's skin crawl.

The snake opened its mouth, releasing a red mist toward the walls.

"It appears the little snake has come to play again," Hu Jin's master's soul emerged from the coin. There was a slight shine in his translucent soul. "Well, it seems like I won't get to slap it around a bit this time."

As he said that, there was a thundering roar and two figures appeared in the sky. Both wore crimson robes, but they couldn't have been more different in build. One looked like a thin, starving young man. The other was someone Hu Jin was familiar with—Zun Gon.

Zun Gon pulled his arms out of his robe's sleeves, letting the upper part hang down and revealing his sculpted upper body.

The white snake narrowed its eyes at him, and all the red mist concentrated into a large bead that shot toward Zun Gon with a thundering boom, the air around it rippling.

Zun Gon clasped his hands, and an invisible, heavy pressure descended. The earth below cracked, causing many monstrous beasts to fall through the fissures. A tidal wave of lava rose up, forming a giant human head made of lava. A wave of heat washed over the fields, making Hu Jin feel like he was in a sauna. The snow melted, and some of the grass beneath the snow caught fire.

As the red sphere reached the lava head, the structure opened its mouth and bit down on the red sphere. A sizzling sound rang out, and the lava head popped like a balloon.

Lava splattered everywhere, causing panic among the people on the walls. But before the molten rock could reach them, the thin man standing next to Zun Gon waved his hand, and a wall of fire almost reaching the clouds formed, burning the lava to a crisp.

No one stopped the falling lava on the monstrous beast's side. Lakes of lava formed, and the monstrous beasts burned. Their yelps, yells, roars, and cries of pain echoed briefly before they died quickly.

Hu Jin's eyes were wide as saucers as he witnessed the battle. He knew without a doubt that these were Core Formation powerhouses. They could easily change the tide of war and destroy armies.

The Sect had sent two Core Elders!

Hu Jin smiled, realizing they had listened to his warnings. The Sect might have kept it hidden to avoid alerting the monstrous beasts.