While Xiao Lu’s first body had briefly been indisposed as the system rearranged his soul, when he woke up, he had been pleasantly surprised to find that the world had not ended in his absence.

“Xiao Lu, you’re finally awake!”

Xiao Lu felt the lingering fatigue and disorientation leave him as he picked up on the worry in Xin Mei’s voice. He got up on his legs and bobbed up and down in what he hoped was both a reassuring and inquisitive way.

“You’ve been asleep all day, I thought you might be sick. Don’t be so lazy!”

Xiao Lu lifted two small forelimbs up and down in an approximation of a shrug. He couldn’t help what the system did. Xin Mei narrowed her eyes.

“Do you still want Jade Spirit Crickets?”

Xiao Lu bobbed emphatically.

“Hmph,” Xin Mei snorted coldly to express her dissatisfaction. “Then you’d better shape up!”

Xiao Lu tried to stand straighter, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that he was a spider. It seemed that it was enough for Xin Mei, though, as she gave a warm snort of satisfaction before continuing.

“I only have three days to attain initial mastery in the first stage of the Nine Venom Scripture. After Bai Hao brought me to my brother—yes?” Xin Mei stopped, noticing that Xiao Lu had held up one forelimb like a curious student.

Xiao Lu brought two forelimbs in front of his face, and then moved them forward expansively, as if to say, “What?” Xiao Lu wished he had eyebrows he could arch to go along with the gesture.

“Oh, Bai Hao is the name of the white-robed cultivator who interrupted my battle with that fool Cong Wen. He is kind of a stick in the mud, and incredibly boring.”

Xiao Lu brought his forelimbs together in thanks and then gestured for Xin Mei to continue, glossing over the way Xin Mei casually besmirched her benefactor.

“Right, anyway, after Bai Hao brought me to Elder Brother Gui, I received some guidance. Brother explained that Elder Zhao is a fanatic who is obsessed with oddities and exceptions. That means, if I want to assure my place in the sect, I need to cultivate the Nine Venom Scripture in an exceptional way. And the first step in the Nine Venom Scripture is … refining a venomous creature.”

Xin Mei’s eyes glimmered, and she looked at Xiao Lu meaningfully. Xiao Lu shook and hurriedly backed away. Xin Mei rolled her eyes and operated the beast controlling method of the Spirit Beast Companion Art, causing Xiao Lu to stop in his tracks. With another hand sign and a slight change in the circulation of her qi, she enticed Xiao Lu to return to her side like a docile puppy. She scooped him up in the palm of her hand and grinned.

“Relax. I’m just going to marinate you in some poison to increase the efficacy of your venom.”

Xiao Lu trembled.

“There’s just one problem … I’m not sure where to get poison.”

Xiao Lu relaxed, and then perked up. He waved his legs.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“Oh, you have an idea?”

Xiao Lu bobbed.

“Alright, show me!”

Xiao Lu hopped off of Xin Mei’s hand and ran out of her small wooden abode. He led Xin Mei to the kitchens where meals were prepared for disciples with low cultivation that still needed mortal sustenance. He was a small spider, but he had also cultivated to the third stage of the qi refining realm, so he had no trouble opening the cupboards by himself and rummaging around as a bemused Xin Mei followed him around, occasionally menacing mortal servants that strayed too close.

Finally, Xiao Lu found what he was looking for. He climbed on top of the bottle, and gestured triumphantly.

“Pfft. This isn’t poison. This is food. What good could cooking wine do?” Xin Mei asked, suppressing her laughter to spare her spirit beast’s feelings.

Xiao Lu waved his forelimbs insistently. His resolve was as firm as iron. If he had to take a bath in poison, he would choose to drown himself in alcohol.

“Alright, fine. We’ll try it. But not with this commoner’s fair. We can get spiritual wine from one of Elder Brother’s friends.”

In the time it takes a joss stick to burn, Xin Mei had Xiao Lu swimming in a cup of wine fermented from spiritual fruits. Before long, Xiao Lu was waving his legs like a drunkard shaking his fist at the injustices of the world. However, he was not discontent. He had avoided being submerged in a paralytic or some other unpleasant type of poison. That alone was a reason to celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than swimming in a teacup filled with magical alcohol? If anything, he found the refining he was currently undergoing to be an enjoyable process.

Of course, the refining method described in the Nine Venom Scripture was more complicated than a simple marinade. Even if Xiao Lu had not been leisurely swimming around the cup, he would have been moved around by the qi fluctuations Xin Mei was inducing.

Normally, a qi refining realm practitioner would not be able to manifest their own qi. Indeed, Xin Mei could not expel qi from her body. However, the Nine Venom Scripture’s beast refining method was sophisticated enough to allow even qi refining realm practitioners to exert their will on the external world. It did so with the help of a rudimentary array formation. It had taken several tries for Xin Mei to get the pattern right, so her small abode was covered in chalk marks.

The girl in question was not only covered in chalk herself, but her face was also scrunched in extreme focus. Beads of sweat were dripping down her round cheeks and stinging her eyes.

“Xiao Lu, could you stop fooling around? I need to concentrate.”

Xiao Lu obediently stopped doing what could loosely be described as pirouettes in his special cultivation teacup. He waited patiently, taking small sips of alcohol to pass the time. He had the Extreme Omnivore physique, after all. It would take more than spiritual wine to turn his stomach.

He found it interesting that one body could be experiencing the effects of alcohol while his other bodies were completely unaffected. They were currently searching fruitlessly for a plot-relevant item in the forest oasis tiger cave, and totally sober. The poor bastards.

A day and night passed before the refinement process was finished. By the time Xiao Lu was allowed outside of the teacup, he had grown tired of drinking, and was now cursing the good fortune of his counterparts for not having to experience his debilitating hangover. He felt like a wet rag that had been rung out and left to dry. He was never going to drink again. It wasn’t worth it.

“Finally!” Xin Mei exclaimed, exhaustion evident in her tone.

Xiao Lu moved to cover his ears, and then gave up halfway when he remembered he didn’t have any. He elected to slump over onto the table like a slug instead. He felt it was appropriate. He was certain that this was what it felt like to be a slug.

“Extreme Omnivore, my abdomen!” Xiao Lu thought viciously. Then he rolled over, wishing he could groan or at least stop existing for a little while.

“Alright, Xiao Lu, next we need to refine the venom. Bite this,” Xin Mei said, and proffered a thimble-sized cup with an opening that had been covered in a leather-like substance. After a moment's hesitation derived from a preoccupation with his own suffering, Xiao Lu chomped obediently on the small venom receptacle. Feeling his venom sacks activate was oddly soothing. When he was all out of venom, Xin Mei let him go, and set about arranging the next array for the venom refinement.

His job done for the time being, Xiao Lu allowed his original body to slip into blessed unconsciousness.