The two captured Blackwood Sect disciples writhed against their bonds, their faces pale with terror. The swift, silent death of their companion had shattered their arrogance, replacing it with a primal fear. They were Core Formation experts, figures of authority in their own right, yet before this unassuming scholar, they were as helpless as mortals caught in a flood. The spiritual threads were like chains of adamant, and the needles in their joints sent waves of agonizing, paralyzing energy through their bodies with every struggle.
Wei's cold gaze fell upon the leader, the man with the prominent scar. "You have one chance," Wei said, his voice a calm murmur that was somehow more terrifying than a shout. "Tell me who hired you to sell the Iron Rot Spore. Give me a name, a location, and a reason. If your information is satisfactory, I will grant you a quick death. If you lie, or if you refuse, I will spend the next three days showing you the true meaning of the word poison."
He wasn't bluffing. In his mind, he had already cataloged a dozen different concoctions that could keep a man alive and conscious while his nerves were set on fire or his flesh slowly rotted from his bones.
The man with the scar, whose name was Huo Tian, grit his teeth. A flicker of defiance remained in his eyes. "The Blackwood Sect does not fear you! Our elders will avenge us!"
Wei sighed, a soft, disappointed sound. "A pity."
He made no grand gesture. He simply raised a finger, and a single, hair-thin soul needle, previously embedded in Huo Tian's shoulder, began to glow with a faint, sickly green light. It was coated in a poison of Wei's own design, one he called 'Nerve Fire'. It didn't damage the body, but it amplified the sensation of pain a hundredfold.
"I will ask again," Wei said, his tone unchanged. "Who hired you?"
Huo Tian opened his mouth to spit another threat, but it came out as a choked, bloodcurdling scream. His entire body convulsed. To an outside observer, he was merely trembling. But inside his own body, every nerve ending felt as if it were being seared with a white-hot poker. The pain was absolute, overwhelming his senses and shattering his will in an instant. Sweat poured down his face, and his eyes rolled back in their sockets.
The third disciple, a younger man named Lin, watched this display, his face ashen. He had never witnessed such a refined, silent form of torture. There was no visible wound, no burst of spiritual energy, just pure, unadulterated agony.
After ten seconds that felt like an eternity, Wei deactivated the poison. Huo Tian slumped against his bonds, gasping and sobbing, his spirit completely broken.
"The name," Wei repeated, his patience seemingly infinite.
"Deacon... Deacon Yao!" Huo Tian blubbered, the words tumbling out of his mouth. "He's a deacon of your own sect! The Verdant Serpent Sect!"
Wei's calm expression finally flickered with a hint of genuine surprise. A deacon from his own sect? This was an unexpected complication. An internal conflict was far more dangerous and difficult to navigate than a simple inter-sect rivalry.
"Which hall does this Deacon Yao belong to?" Wei pressed.
"The Beast Hall!" Huo Tian cried, eager to please. "He... he approached us a month ago at Blackwater Crossing. He said he had a rivalry with Elder Mei. He wanted to cripple her most prized beast to make her lose face and stall her advancement. He knew we had access to the Iron Rot Spore. He paid us a fortune in high-grade spirit stones!"
It all clicked into place. Elder Mei was not just a beast master; she was a rising star among the elders, her cultivation approaching the peak of the Spirit King realm. Deacon Yao, as a member of the Beast Hall, would be directly under her authority. It was a classic case of bitter professional jealousy. Yao likely saw Mei's success as a barrier to his own promotion and sought to sabotage her. Using an external party like the Blackwood Sect was a clever way to hide his involvement.
"How were you to contact him after the deed was done?" Wei asked.
"We weren't! He said it was a one-time transaction. No contact, no trail. He was very clear about that," Huo Tian explained frantically.
Wei fell silent, processing the information. The story was plausible. It was petty, vindictive, and perfectly in line with the sort of internal strife that plagued every large organization. Deacon Yao had made a critical mistake: he had trusted outsiders to be discreet.
He looked at the two broken men before him. He had the information he needed.
"You have been helpful," Wei said to Huo Tian. With a thought, a needle shot from Huo Tian's knee to his heart, coated in the same fast-acting poison that had killed the first disciple. The man's eyes went wide with a brief flash of surprise before he slumped over, dead.
[Target confirmed deceased. Cause of death attributed to Host's poison.]
[Host has received: 950 Sovereign Points.]
[New poison detected in target's system: 'Blackwood Miasma'. Analyzing... Analysis complete. Host can now convert 'Blackwood Miasma' into spiritual energy.]
The influx of points was substantial. Killing stronger opponents was clearly the fastest path to power. The warm current from the absorbed miasma was also stronger this time, pushing his cultivation base a small but tangible step forward.
Now, only Lin remained. The young man was shaking, tears and mucus streaming down his face. "Please," he begged, "I told you everything! I'll do anything! I can be your servant, your slave!"
Wei looked at him with an almost pitiful expression. "I promised your companion a quick death for his cooperation. It would be unfair of me not to extend you the same courtesy."
Before Lin could even process the words, a needle ended his life.
[Target confirmed deceased. Cause of death attributed to Host's poison.]
[Host has received: 700 Sovereign Points.]
[New poison detected in target's system: 'Blackwood Miasma'. Analyzing... Analysis complete. Host can now convert 'Blackwood Miasma' into spiritual energy.]
Wei stood over the three bodies, his mind already working on the next phase of his plan. His total Sovereign Points now stood at 2460. A respectable sum. He could afford a powerful 'Rare' poison recipe or even a mid-grade artifact.
He methodically cleaned the scene. He didn't just hide the bodies; he erased all traces of their existence. He used a corrosive powder from his storage ring that dissolved the corpses, clothes, and even their spiritual artifacts into a foul-smelling sludge that he then dispersed into the swamp. He used his spiritual energy to smooth over the ground, removing any signs of a struggle. Finally, he used a specific nectar to attract a swarm of flesh-eating marsh flies to the area, which would devour any remaining biological residue. Within an hour, it was as if the three Blackwood Sect disciples had never existed. No one would ever find them. Their disappearance would be a minor, unsolved mystery.
His work done, Wei turned his attention back toward the Verdant Serpent Sect. Deacon Yao. This was a delicate situation. He couldn't simply march into the Beast Hall and kill a deacon, no matter how justified. An elder killing a deacon was a major crime that would trigger a thorough, high-level investigation. He could not risk that kind of scrutiny.
His approach had to be flawless, subtle, and leave him completely above suspicion. He needed a poison that was both powerful enough to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator—a deacon would be at least at that level—and esoteric enough that no one in the sect, save for himself, could possibly identify it.
He opened the system store in his mind, his eyes scanning the 'Rare' poison recipes. He bypassed the fast-acting, destructive poisons. He needed something elegant. His gaze landed on a recipe that cost 2000 points. The name alone was intriguing: 'One Moment's Dream'.
The description was chillingly simple. It was a poison that attacked the soul directly. Once ingested, it lay dormant, completely undetectable. It did nothing to the body, the meridians, or the spiritual sea. However, the next time the victim entered a deep state of meditative cultivation, the poison would activate. It would create a flawless, hyper-realistic illusion within their mind, a dream state from which they could never escape. To an outside observer, the victim would appear to have entered a state of terminal seclusion, their body alive but their consciousness lost forever in a phantom world. They would slowly wither and die over months or even years from what would appear to be natural causes. It was the perfect, untraceable assassination tool.
"System, purchase the recipe for 'One Moment's Dream'," he commanded.
[Deducting 2000 Sovereign Points. Recipe for 'One Moment's Dream' acquired.]
The intricate knowledge of the poison, its ingredients, and its complex brewing process filled his mind. It required seventeen different rare and spiritual herbs, some of which he had, others he would need to acquire. The most crucial ingredient, however, was a single petal from a 'Soul-Whisper Orchid', a flower that grew only in areas with extreme concentrations of yin energy.
Wei knew of such a place. A desolate, haunted valley on the northern border of the sect's territory, known as the 'Valley of Whispering Phantoms'. It was a place most disciples avoided, rumored to be filled with resentful spirits.
His plan was now set. He would return to the sect, feigning the end of a fruitless investigation. He would report that the trail of the Blackwood Sect disciples had gone cold in the vastness of the marsh. Then, under the guise of searching for rare herbs for his research, he would travel to the Valley of Whispering Phantoms. Once he had the final ingredient and had crafted 'One Moment's Dream', he would find a way to administer it to Deacon Yao.
He summoned his bee-cloud from the edges of the marsh and began the long journey home. He was no longer just a hunter; he was an executioner, preparing to carry out a silent, secret sentence on one of his own.