After some negotiating, Sage downgraded his quarters to a little shed up against the outer wall of the mega building they inhabited. Little more than a woodshed, Guan Zhenyan was even charging him a Spirit Stone per day to stay in it. He claimed that land on the ‘steps’ as they were known in town was worth an exorbitant fortune. Renting out space here for such a cheap price was a steal! Sage didn’t want to be on the steps, but Guan Zhenyan denied his request to move down to the cheaper parts of the city. Sage tried to ask more questions, but he’d also made a deal with Guan Zhenyan in which he couldn’t be charged for anything without first being informed of the price.

“Knowledge about the city or its occupants will require a fee based upon the importance of the information.”

Sage stopped asking. The man was such a ridiculous miser. Sage would rather stay ignorant than fall into his money traps.

“So, how much have I made?”

“Made? Not much. When you’re poisoned, you’ll get ten thousand for letting me observe the process. Up to another forty thousand for describing the process in detail, and sixty thousand for the full examination of your body afterward. Most lucratively, at times I’ll have you merge poisons and depending on the end result you can get up to a million Spirit Stones for producing it.”

Sage felt the claim of being a ‘test subject’ was no longer an idle joke. He only wondered why Guan Zhenyan needed him for this task. Couldn’t he just get condemned criminals or beasts to use for testing? He couldn’t help it and asked Guan Zhenyan directly.

“Hah. Fire Bellied Cobras are quite rare and troublesome to breed. Even when controlling their minds, it's very difficult to get them to waste their cultivation base and expel their poison. From birth they have to be kept isolated and carefully fed. Each Fire Bellied Cobra is usually only good for a single substance and its difficult to raise and maintain. You, on the other hand, can dispel your poison cultivation on a whim and even give me a detailed account of the poison’s effects firsthand. Which reminds me. Time for you to practice. Expel as much of your poison as possible and then collapse that second dantian in your poison gland. That Skin-eating Heart Fire was just to test you, I don’t have any further use for it.”

Previously, he’d realized his position was not going to be good, but only after experiencing it, did he truly understand. He’d only barely recovered from the agony of the Skin-eating Heart Fire and now he had to ruin his second dantian. The second dantian corresponded with his second set of meridians. Due to its nature, it was placed within his poison glands. It seemed that Guan Zhenyan truly valued him because of this feature. The power of the Fire Bellied Cobra to consume poison or medicine and in the future excrete it was truly miraculous. Sage had paid a large sum to acquire one because of this exact reason. His choice seems to have paid off, as it likely was the reason he caught Guan Zhenyan’s eye back at the Shou Empire.

Not wanting to be taken advantage of, Sage purchased a few Storage Treasures and started filling them with Skin-eating Heart Fire. The Blood of Fire cultivation technique drew in poisons from the body to his second set of meridians, drawing it to the second dantian where it merged them with the poison already there. When cultivated, Blood of Fire converted the energy of the Heavens and Earth into more poison within his second dantian. It was for this reason that he couldn’t ever truly run out of poison, he’d just have to cultivate and slowly build up a new reserve. Since he was now ordered to expel it all, he might as well collect it. There was no sense in wasting money, though he was also worried that Guan Zhenyan might deny him from selling it. Also, there was a little issue of morality. Certainly, he wouldn’t shy from using poison on someone who wished to harm him, but what if those he sold it to had no reservations about who they used it upon?

Even if he couldn’t sell it, the poison was still terribly strong so he kept it all. After an hour, his second dantian was completely empty and it was much easier for him to dispel his ‘cultivation’. The tricky part was that when he cleared away his Blood of Fire, if there were still any toxins remaining they would enter his body directly. He could again start cultivation for Blood of Fire, but it wasn’t instantaneous. He would still suffer damage from the poison and also be back where he started with poison in his body. Since it was his first time attempting it, he nearly failed. It turns out a small amount of the toxin was still in his body that he hadn’t noticed and when he collapsed his second dantian he was instantly struck with a burning pain.

The huge cobra swung its tail with a loud whip crack of speed, smashing against its own chest and then vomiting out a huge mouthful of black blood. The sludge like black substance on the floor was sizzling, rapidly evaporating into a purple colored mist before fading away. Thankfully, Sage was able to expel the remainder of the poison and he didn’t have to use Blood of Fire to recapture it. Smashing apart a cultivation base like that wasn’t a painless and easy activity. It would take him a few minutes to recover enough to start over. It was another reason that he was lucky he hadn’t failed too badly. If the poison was allowed to rampage through his body for a few minutes it would cause him pretty serious injuries.

Sage wanted to take some medicinal pills to hasten his recovery, but he’d used nearly all of them on his escape to the Shou Empire. He’d only had access to basic supplies he’d picked up along the way. The Universe Ring had been taken from him long ago and he was fearful of security measures on Black Saber’s Storage Ring. Even now he hadn’t tried to open it up yet. He made a note to look into it as soon as he acclimated to his new living conditions. Smashing apart his poison cultivation was pretty painful and stress inducing, but it wasn’t much in comparison to the pain from the Skin-eating Heart Fire. One of them was like chopping off a toe, while the other was like being lit on fire from head to toe. Losing a part of his own body was a dreadful feeling, but it couldn’t compare to the slow burning of his entire body.

A few days later, he was put to work once again. Guan Zhenyan came to his little shack this time, at Sage’s request to be at a place where he couldn’t damage expensive things. Instead, they stood beside the little shack and Guan Zhenyan gave Sage an ‘injection’ with a small hollow needle that floated through the air without anyone touching it. The little silver point stabbed into Sage’s chest and released the poison into his body. Quite the opposite of the Skin-eating Heart Fire, this new poison didn’t cause a burning pain. Instead, he felt cold all over and as time passed, Sage started to lose feeling in his body. At the same time, he also felt himself slowing down. Without the constant feedback from his sense of touch, it became foreign to move his limbs. A numbed face from a trip to the dentist would make it hard to keep yourself from drooling. In that same fashion Sage’s whole body became difficult to control. Only, instead of drooling, Sage stumbled and fell to the dirt beneath him.

“How do you like my ‘Sweet Snow Slumber’?”