On the ninth day, Long Chen’s expression suddenly changed.

There was simply a monkey at the top of a large tree. It wasn’t very large, but its throat was extremely thick. It was looking at Long Chen guardedly.

Long Chen immediately didn’t even dare to move a muscle. He couldn’t help but feel endless regret. Having played around with Marquis Ying with that ‘gift’ before, he had actually grown too careless.

That monkey was just an ordinary beast. It didn’t have any attacking strength, but it was precisely this monkey which caused Long Chen to enter a huge crisis.

That monkey was a beast that liked to live in large groups. This part of the forest was obviously their territory, and that monkey should be a sentry.

As soon as they sensed intruders or danger, they would immediately let out a loud howl to alert their comrades.

Long Chen hadn’t been paying enough attention to his surroundings and ended up running into their territory. He immediately realized he had made an inexcusable mistake. He began to slowly retreat, showing that he was leaving immediately.

But it was already too late. That monkey let out a loud howl from atop that tree, its voice immediately spreading out dozens of miles.

Long Chen’s expression sunk. If he had been in range, he definitely would have immediately crushed that monkey in anger.

The entire forest began to echo with more alarmed calls.

Long Chen’s pupils suddenly shrank. In the distance, a figure was rushing over straight towards Long Chen.

He could now see Marquis Ying whose eyes were brimming with killing intent. Now that Marquis Ying had already found him, running would be useless.

Long Chen directly gave up any thoughts of escaping. Since he was already found, other methods were now useless. The only option left was to risk his life.

“Long Chen, if I don’t turn your bones to ashes then I won’t be surnamed Ying!” Marquis Ying arrived in just the blink of an eye.

The current Marquis Ying’s eyes were practically about to spit flames. Each one of the past eight days had felt like a year. In particular, that gift, which Long Chen had sent him, had caused the extremely immaculate Marquis Ying to almost want to kill himself.

Although he hadn’t eaten a thing in the last eight days, he was still constantly vomiting. It seemed as if he wanted to even vomit out all of his stomach contents.

In fact, at this time, Marquis Ying’s hatred of Long Chen had already surpassed his hatred for Long Tianxiao. Seeing Long Chen standing right in front of him now, his body was incessantly quivering. As for the reason for that, perhaps only Marquis Ying knew it.

“Whether or not you’re surnamed Ying has nothing to do with me. I’m not your dad.” Long Chen shook his head. The broadsword once more reappeared in his hands.

Words had no meaning anymore. Having been on edge constantly over the past few days, his heart had actually calmed down now that he was facing Marquis Ying.

He sensed that his current state had already reached his previous peak, so there was nothing to fear. It even seemed as if his cultivation realm had increased a level.

That was an extremely mysterious feeling. He couldn’t clearly explain it. But under Marquis Ying’s constant pursuit, the scent of death had never been far. He felt as if he had transformed after that experience.

“Hahahaha, are you provoking me now in the hope of me giving you a quick death? Stop dreaming. I’ll make it so you live a life worse than death, a life that will make you regret ever being born in this world.” Marquis Ying’s face was extremely sinister.

“I don’t need to provoke you. How was the taste of the gift I sent you last time?” Long Chen asked lightly.

Hearing the word ‘gift’, Marquis Ying’s face immediately whitened and his stomach once more began to heave.

“I’ll kill you!” Marquis Ying angrily shouted, and his sword sliced through the air towards Long Chen.

Long Chen had long since been prepared. He also sent his sword slashing forward.

BANG! Long Chen was sent back a dozen of steps before being able to stabilize himself. His blood and qi were in an upheaval inside.

Looking at Marquis Ying, he saw that he had only taken three steps back. He sighed; Tendon Transformation experts truly were a huge level above.

His current strength had recovered to over ninety percent, but he was still not an equal match for Marquis Ying. Even in terms of his brute strength, he was completely outmatched by Marquis Ying.

That was a clear difference. That was also why amongst the countless cultivators in Phoenix Cry, Marquis Ying was at the absolute apex.

On the other side, Marquis Ying’s eyes narrowed when he saw that Long Chen was actually able to block his blow. Alchemists truly did have ample preparations; when Long Chen had fled back then, he had already been halfway dead. But now he had mostly recovered.

It was obvious Long Chen had consumed quite a few medicinal pills. But as for Marquis Ying, he wasn’t an alchemist and his cultivation base was too high for most medicinal pills to work on him, so effective medicinal pills were extremely rare treasures for him.

This caused intense envy inside of him. If he was also an alchemist or had such medicinal pills, how would it be possible for him to have still not yet recovered to seventy percent even after all these days?

Thinking of that, Marquis Ying felt that the heavens truly were unfair. Within the same generation as him was Long Tianxiao who had completely suppressed him, making it difficult for him to stand out.

And then Long Tianxiao had an amazing son who had become a Pill Adept at a young age and was also a shockingly talented genius in terms of the martial path.

Compared to Long Tianxiao, he was an absolute failure. His eyes reddened and green veins exploded out on his body. Coldly shouting and raising his sword, Sword Qi filled the air and shook the heavens.

Long Chen took a deep breath. The current Marquis Ying was acting like a madman. Now that he was using his full strength to attack, Long Chen would be unable to block him.

Touching his ring, he took out two medicinal pills. He threw one of them into his mouth and swallowed it.

The other one was rubbed along his broadsword using his Spiritual Strength. Marquis Ying had been able to see him swallow a medicinal pill, and he assumed that Long Chen was using it to heal injuries.

But the second medicinal pill had been hidden and silently spread across the broadsword’s back. It had been impossible for Marquis Ying to see.

Marquis Ying’s sword was already crashing down upon him. Long Chen roared and also slashed out.

In terms of sword techniques, Marquis Ying could play around with Long Chen as much as he wanted to. But the broadsword in Long Chen’s hands was so long that it was a perfect counter to such a thing. So, Marquis Ying’s exquisite techniques were completely useless.

BOOM!

The two swords collided and there was a huge explosion. A faint red gas immediately spread out and enveloped an area of thirty meters. The two of them were both swallowed by it.

“AHHH!”

That red gas invaded Marquis Ying’s body and he immediately let out a miserable scream. His exposed skin felt as if hot iron was branding it and the intense pain was simply unbearable.

Not only that, but the red gas seemed to come alive and was doing its best to force its way into his body through his skin. Even though he had reacted at the very first moment and stopped breathing it in, it was absolutely useless.

And that red gas also possessed an extremely terrifying corrosive nature. Blisters were quickly appearing on his skin. His flesh was rotting at a speed he could see with his naked eye.

“You used poison?” asked the shocked Marquis Ying angrily.

“What do you think?”

Long Chen coldly laughed, but he also wasn’t that well off. The poison pill refined from the Heart-Rot Grass was extremely powerful. Even he himself was unable to block it.

Although he had taken an antitoxin pill, he was unable to completely defend against that poisonous gas. His body was also harmed and turned red as if he was being boiled.

But he was still better off than Marquis Ying. That antitoxin pill allowed him to not have to worry about the poisonous gas corroding his heart. That was the most terrifying aspect of the poison pill refined from Heart-Rot Grass.

That poison pill was his strongest life-saving measure. Marquis Ying truly was too powerful, so he had had no choice but to use it.

Marquis Ying angrily roared and tried to send a full force attack at Long Chen. But his expression greatly changed; just as he began to circulate his spiritual qi, the poisonous gas that had just entered through his skin suddenly spread throughout his body quickly and then went straight for his heart.

This completely terrified Marquis Ying. If such a powerful poison invaded his heart, even he, a Tendon Transformation expert, would not be able to live for more than a few moments. He hastily took out a medicinal pill from his ring and swallowed it.

When Long Chen saw that pill, his expression changed. He hadn’t expected Marquis Ying to possess such a medicinal pill.

Just from its luster and the fragrance being emitted from it, Long Chen could identify that pill to be a Snow Toad Yaowan[1].

The Snow Toad was an extremely rare Magical Beast. It didn’t have a crystal core like other Magical Beasts. All its essence was focused on its Neidan[2].

The Snow Toad was also a kind of poisonous beast. A matured Snow Toad was a second rank Magical Beast. The poisonous mist it spat out could immediately cover an area of hundreds of meters.

That poisonous mist was able to poison other Magical Beasts to death and cause all vegetation to wither away. It was extremely frightening. But it was precisely because its poisonous gas was so powerful that even it was unable to endure it. Thus, its Neidan was used to help it survive even its own poison.

Snow Toads were an extremely rare kind of Magical Beast from which both poison and antitoxins could be extracted. The Snow Toad Yaowan that could be refined from the Snow Toad’s Neidan could cure hundreds of poisons.

It was an extremely precious medicinal pill, which was why it was extremely surprising that Marquis Ying possessed it.

Although it was said to resolve hundreds of poisons, it was mostly just a partial cure. But just resolving part of the poison was enough to reverse a person’s fate.

“Long Chen, you actually forced me to use a precious pill that I’ve hidden away for half of my life. Give me your life as the price!”

Marquis Ying’s face was extremely twisted now. That pill was something he had obtained as a youth and had continuously hidden. But now because of a Qi Condensation weakling like Long Chen, he was forced to use it. His heart was practically dripping blood.

Long Chen was greatly alarmed to see that the Snow Toad Yaowan was actually able to temporarily suppress the poisonous gas’s attack on his heart. Marquis Ying charged at him, and in response, all twelve of his cyclones began to wildly spin, releasing his full strength. His sword danced in the air, meeting Marquis Ying’s blows head on.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Consecutive exchanges caused explosive qi waves that flattened the huge trees around them, the power of just the aftershocks being absolutely shocking.

Long Chen felt his arm turn numb under Marquis Ying’s full force attacks. Blood stained the corner of his mouth and his internal organs were starting to be affected.

But at this time, Long Chen still ground his teeth and continued to endure. He knew that the Snow Toad Yaowan would not be able to suppress his poison pill forever.

BANG!

Long Chen was sent flying, vomiting blood. But Marquis Ying didn’t have the slightest happiness on his face. Instead, he was filled with horror.

“Hehe, have you finally noticed? Did you really think the poison pill refined by me, Long Chen, was so easy to resolve?” Long Chen wiped off the blood on his mouth and coldly laughed. The moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

The Snow Toad Yaowan could resolve hundreds of poisons and its effectiveness was definitely shockingly high. But that was mostly for beast poisons. Long Chen’s poison pill had been mostly refined from the Heart-Rot Grass. This caused the effectiveness of the Snow Toad Yaowan to sharply drop.

A murderous aura overflowed from Marquis Ying. Taking a deep breath, he raised his sword and a terrifying aura filled the sword. Killing intent engulfed the forest.

“Even so, I’ll still kill you!”

His sword shot through the air. The terrifying power behind it cut through the space and released a sharp splitting sound. With endless killing intent, it slashed towards Long Chen.

“Void Breaking Slash!”

[1] Yaowan meaning medicinal ball/pill.

[2] A Neidan should be similar to a Dantian. Nei=Inner, Dan=Pill/Ball. A ‘Neidan’ is actually a ‘real thing’ in the same sense that a Dantian is a ‘real thing’. The Neidan is part of the school of thought that considers Heaven and Man as integral parts of a whole. Use the body as a cauldron and use your essence, spirit, and qi as medicinal ingredients. Use Heaven as the heat to refine the medicine inside the body into a pill (the Neidan).