After examining his spear for a while, Li Lang returned to Ruby’s artifact space. He then got onto his computer and opened up the CAD software.

One could see a spear pulled up on his screen. He fidgeted around, creating internal compartments in it without affecting its structural integrity too much.

Working with a primitive weapon with no need to care for delicate circuitry meant it was just a quick job for Li Lang. He wasn’t even an expert in this department, which showed how simple the design was.

He was essentially creating an oversized needle, but with hidden compartments. The only difficult part was due to him wanting to have multiple compartments for different types of poisons. There was also a mechanism to coat the spear tip with poisons, but those seemed trivial in comparison.

The catch was how to create such a spear in the real world. Li Lang didn’t have access to the various metals or precise machinery. He would have to rely on old-school craftsmanship to get his way.

The next day, he got up early and sought Long Yi’s help. The man had been taking the artificer trials, so it was a given that he had carried some materials.

“Are you sure just Aqua Night Iron would do? I didn’t really have a large selection of materials because my mentor made me work with the same few types of metals all the time.”

“It’s fine. I just want to know if you can bring this design to life,” Li Lang laid out the sketches he had traced down from the CAD software.

“Hm, it should be fine.”

With those words, Long Yi disappeared into a room. It was an artificer workshop. Unlike alchemy or brushweaving, the forge artificers used were much too large to carry around. The pocket realm seemed to have taken this under consideration and provided a few rooms equipped with a forge.

Li Lang would rather not get in the way, so he returned and began brewing the various toxins he could create with what he had.

He was a biodefense expert, which meant he was familiar with various exotic poisons, too. However, he was a complete beginner when it came to Qi poisons. He had no idea where to get started. That was why he simply crafted his mundane poison as usual and only added his Qi as an afterthought.

His supplies of materials were limited, so he only produced three small vials, each consisting of different compounds. It didn’t help he had limited tools, so he couldn’t create anything sophisticated.

All this work only took one day. He was soon left with a spear and bottles of poison. The thought of experimenting with his new toys began to take over Li Lang’s mind. Any plans to take the trial had been thrown out the window.

The next morning, he didn’t hesitate to exit out into the wilderness once more. This time, he didn’t plan to stray too far away. That meant the Qi beasts he would encounter would be far weaker than before. Only those of low level hung around the mountain they had been transported into.

Li Lang confirmed his new spear worked one final time by pushing a hidden button on the hilt. Immediately, a mysterious liquid was secreted from the spear tip.

A giant mouse of some sort descended on Li Lang, and he quickly got to testing. If an uninformed spectator was present, they would have trouble identifying the aggressor. He had no qualms about exerting the full power of a sixth stage Energy Gatherer despite facing up against a lower-stage Qi beast.

He hungrily stabbed his spear into his victim and pressed the button. A wail could be heard from the Qi beast before it swiftly recovered. Li Lang could see it had reflexively defended itself with Qi.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He theorized the moment an external substance comes into contact with the owner’s Qi, it would immediately cleanse the harmful substances. It was the holy panacea of cultivators that could defeat all detrimental substances with ease. It was a reason why cultivators were gods among mortal men. There was nothing they could do to go against them.

That was why Li Lang decided to test the second cartridge in his spear next. It contained the poison that was infused with his Qi after the crafting process. It was eerily similar to infusing Qi into an ink stick.

He was currently only equipped with one type of poison in his spear. The other two types could wait. Right now, he needed to test if the quantity of Qi infused mattered, and if so, how much it mattered.

The first attempt contained zero traces of Qi, which understandably, was easily countered by the beast. The second attempt fared better. The weakly infused poison managed to persist in the Qi beast’s system for several breaths before it was terminated. The effects were weak, but were indeed present.

The next tests showed a similar result. The more Qi infused, the more effective the poison was and the longer it lasted.

Hmm, I should pay attention to the onset time with the next few tests. I need to see if infusing it with Qi would affect it in ways other than duration.

The research was tedious. Many things had to be recorded other than their reaction to the poisons. This included the characteristics of the Qi beast, its cultivation, size, and much more.

Li Lang didn’t end it with just one day of testing. He went through with it for an entire week. This was due to how absorbed he got into his studies and was supported by the pocket realm for not deducting his trial points over the duration of the tests.

He got to the point of wanting to capture these Qi beasts himself, just like demonic cultivators did for trade. However, the only thing stopping him was the lack of space, cages, and feed.

This meant there was a limit to how accurate his results were. He wasn’t able to make observations twenty-four-seven. Despite that, he still polished up his theories from the results.

The results were straightforward. The more Qi infused into the poison, the harder it was for the infected to cleanse it with their Qi. With his cultivation being at the sixth stage, the most powerful‌ poison he had made managed to affect a Qi beast in the third stage for over ten minutes.

The only thing that made him scratch his head was exactly how much weaker the poison was compared to what he knew and why. The aconitine poison he made was supposed to induce rapid paralysis or even death. Its effects against Qi beasts were severely weakened. It only managed to slow down their movements.

Li Lang believed that infusing Qi left the poison with some means to defend itself from the internal Qi of its target. It was like sneaking a bunch of saboteurs with armed guards. The more Qi, the stronger the defensive detail.

The body of whoever was poisoned would have the home ground advantage, enabling them to send wave after wave to eliminate the threat. This resulted in the poison inevitably being neutralized sooner or later.

He logged every detail about his research activities before compiling some detailed notes to help him pick it back up in the future. For now, his resources were limited, and he would rather not trade trial points for more materials.

That wasn’t the only reason he paused his poison research. If it were just resources he was lacking, he could’ve attempted to trade with other cultivators or ask a favor from his acquaintances. The other reason was that he planned to capture or buy Qi beasts for long-term study and experiment with other poisons.

Being able to observe them long-term was much more conducive to his studies.

That was why he decided to redirect his efforts to other pursuits that produced faster results.

With his matter settled, Li Lang took another tack to hone himself before he headed for the martial trials.

He had passed by the rooms for these trials several times already as he exited the facility. It took him no time at all to arrive in one of these rooms, where a lone sword was embedded into the ground.

He repeated what he had seen others doing and placed a hand on the hilt. Instantly, the familiar lights appeared before him and formed words. There wasn’t any fanfare where he got transported somewhere else. The combat trials were straightforward and got to the point.

“Hunt down seven Spiral Stags and collect their horns.”

Li Lang was familiar with the QI beast in question. They were one of the many species around the vicinity of the mountain and were low-level Qi beasts. In fact, he had experimented on several of them during his last week of research.

Well, it’s time for some exercise. I have been indulging in a little too much desk work recently.