Chapter 57: Bitten by a Venomous Snake Due to Carelessness

Hearing the sound, Qin Anyu knew that the stone wall had collapsed.

Turning his head, he saw that the stone wall had indeed caved in, leaving behind a massive opening.

Amidst the pile of rubble, he spotted various high-grade mineral deposits, as well as white stones rich in primordial Qi. Though these stones contained slightly less primordial Qi than spirit stones, they were by no means inferior to those found in the secret realm.

Inside the opening, a snake's head stretched inward. Judging by its appearance, it belonged to a beast in the late stage of the Qi Condensation realm.

Far from panicking at this sight, his heart surged, and his whole body trembled with excitement.

He had finally laid eyes on a late-stage Qi Condensation beast; he could now put the beast essence blood he had previously collected to use.

The ancestors had once said: "Alien races possess diverse living conditions and unique innate talents, and their essence blood is a supreme material for body tempering."

Of course, this teaching was passed down only among the upper echelons of the Qin clan and remained unknown to the outside world. Even the lower-tier clansmen who used this method for body tempering only knew how to do it without understanding the underlying principles.

Drawing the blunt sword from his back, he charged forward and thrust it straight into the center of the serpent's head, driving it in until only the hilt remained outside.

The serpent had been agitated by the smoke filling the tunnel. Unable to move forward and wishing to check the situation below, it had accidentally brushed against the stone wall while turning around, unexpectedly smashing a hole through it. It had caught a whiff of fresh air and spotted the four humans outside.

Taking in the situation at a glance, the serpent realized these humans were harvesting the wild-chicken vines.

This would never do! Its entire clan depended on these wild-chicken vines to elevate their strength. Even if it did not consume them directly, it would at most eat the fallen flowers and fruits.

It therefore hurriedly mobilized its body, intending to crawl out, devour these four humans, and then eat the wild-chicken vines along the way.

Since they had been dug up to this extent, the wild-chicken vines had no hope of survival and could only be eaten.

Little did it expect that just as it began to maneuver its body, this human would rush forward with a sword, piercing its skull. This blurred its already poor vision further and caused its entire body to twitch involuntarily.

It knew its time was up.

If it was going to perish, it would make sure this human went down with it.

With great difficulty, the serpent opened its jaws, and a puff of pale cyan liquid immediately sprayed forth—it was venom.

Seeing the serpent open its mouth, Qin Anyu knew trouble was coming and roared instantly, "Watch out for the venom!"

Without dodging, he blocked the path directly in front of the serpent's mouth, intercepting the vast majority of the venom.

The moment the venom touched his body, he felt an intense itch across his front, followed instantly by excruciating pain. He watched in horror as his skin began to smoke and melt, followed by his muscles and bones. His abdomen vanished almost instantly, and the venom was actively corroding his internal organs. *Was this going to reduce a dignified Immortal Emperor to ashes?*

Subconsciously, he began to circulate the *Heaven-Opening Primordial Art*.

Behind him, Qin Lingxue also let out a cry of agony: "Eldest Brother, Youqin and I have been splashed with the poison. It keeps spreading through our bodies, and it hurts so much!"

He turned his head with great difficulty and saw several corroded spots on their bodies, even revealing bone. Qin Wushuang, on the other hand, had been in a favorable spot that allowed him to completely avoid the venom, but he was currently in a daze, staring blankly as smoke rose from the girls' bodies.

In just these few short seconds, Qin Anyu felt the corrosive potency of the venom against his body diminish. He could not help but marvel inwardly at how truly miraculous the ancestors' cultivation technique was, though aloud he shouted, "Little Sister, Youqin, hold on! This is an opportunity! Wushuang, go boil three pots of water!"

Hearing this, Qin Youqin immediately understood Qin Anyu's intent. She began circulating the *Heaven-Opening Primordial Art* and simultaneously produced three large cauldrons.

Rousing from his stupor, Qin Wushuang hurriedly fetched large stones to build a temporary stove.

Qin Lingxue finally reacted as well and immediately circulated the *Heaven-Opening Primordial Art*, the panic instantly vanishing from her expression.

Qin Anyu filled the three cauldrons with water.

This water had originally been brought along to flood the snake tunnels. Not expecting it to lead to a broader passage, he had kept it on his person all along, and now it was finally coming in useful.

After filling the three cauldrons to the brim, he turned around to drag the serpent.

Essence blood had been delivered right to his doorstep, and being a desperately needed resource, it could not be wasted.

Qin Lingxue came over to help, but upon seeing Qin Anyu's internal organs exposed to the air, tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. "Eldest Brother, you must not be alright."

Qin Anyu forced an ugly smile. "Rest assured, I'll be fine. I told you, this is our opportunity, and it might well be our greatest opportunity in the Spirit Bridge Plane."

Dragging half of the serpent over, Qin Anyu dissected it and extracted its heart blood—the so-called essence blood.

Then, fighting through the pain, he tossed medicinal herbs and excavated rubble into one of the cauldrons. Once it was a third full, he could no longer hold on and collapsed limply to the ground, though his mouth did not stop moving: "Quickly, gather those white stones! Pick up as many as you can. Youqin, pull out the wild-chicken vines and put them into the second cauldron. Don't be afraid of breaking the roots; for fresh herbs, the loss is negligible."

As Qin Youqin pressed all the wild-chicken vines into the cauldron, he directed her to add medicinal herbs to the third cauldron.

Once Qin Youqin went off to dig up the white stones, Qin Anyu acted as the cook, tending the fire and brewing the medicinal soup.

As the three of them dug, they accidentally breached another stone wall, connecting it to an inner tunnel that revealed a vast expanse of white and dense rows of snakes that were either unconscious or paralyzed.

This time, Qin Wushuang did not panic or retreat. Working alongside Qin Youqin and Qin Lingxue, he killed all the snakes that still retained a shred of consciousness, tossed them down into the lower tunnel along with the unconscious ones, and then sealed both ends of the tunnel to carve out a spacious area.

When the medicinal soup was nearly ready, Qin Anyu took out his own "bathtub," instructed the others to retrieve theirs as well, and told them to surround the "bathtubs" with white stones.

Having already discovered the immense richness of the primordial Qi contained within these white stones, they were so excited they nearly flattened the rugged ground in their eagerness.

Next, Qin Anyu arranged the distribution of the medicinal soup. The second and third cauldrons were identical, but the first cauldron was different: Qin Wushuang's share was the smallest, accounting for only half a portion, while Qin Anyu took the largest share at eighty percent.

After dividing the medicinal soup, he mixed in the previously acquired essence blood of nine types of beasts along with the serpent's essence blood, and distributed the blend. Qin Anyu took sixty percent, Qin Wushuang took ten percent, and the remaining thirty percent was split equally between Qin Lingxue and Qin Youqin.

Seeing the final mixture, Qin Wushuang wore a conflicted expression on his face, but ultimately, he gritted his teeth and stepped inside.

Before entering his "bathtub," Qin Youqin asked worriedly, "Eldest Young Master, your intestines are visible—won't you be alright?"

He smiled and replied, "My fascial membrane hasn't broken; I'll be fine."

He had just discovered that the abdominal fascia previously melted away by the venom was actually regenerating.

As expected of the number-one cultivation technique in the immortal realm, and the enduring foundation upon which the Qin clan proudly stood unshaken for ages.

Once everyone had stepped into their medicinal baths, he did not practice the *Nine Transformations Body*. Instead, he drank a bowl of the mixed wild-chicken vine soup and third-cauldron soup before immersing himself in his own "bathtub."

The pain this time was excruciating—unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life.

The scars corroded by the snake venom had only just begun to heal when they were subjected to a body-tempering soup of far more violent potency.

Even with the technique of "separating soul from body," he still felt an agony worse than death.

While they were engrossed in their medicinal baths, they remained entirely unaware that they had already been targeted.