“Not right?”

Luan Yu, who was following closely behind him, was the first to hear and asked puzzledly: “What’s not right?”

Shadow, Ba Ji, and Chun Yan, who were slightly behind the two, also cast questioning looks at Xu Qi An.

Xu Qi An frowned deeply. Of course, something wasn’t right—it was too simple. Xu Ping Feng knew the Poison Tribe’s importance; their choice could likely determine the outcome of the Central Plains war.

For such an important force, merely sending a disciple with verbal promises and throwing out some conditions the Poison Tribe couldn’t refuse… Yes, these conditions were enough to make the Poison Tribe agree to an alliance. If he hadn’t intervened, the Poison Tribe would have successfully allied with Yun Province by now.

But Xu Ping Feng knew he was in the Southern Borderlands.

Moreover, his journey collecting dragon qi had relied on bizarrely powerful poison arts. Xu Ping Feng knew this intelligence.

As someone who schemed meticulously for control of the Central Plains, would he ignore such unusual poison arts?

“Xu Ping Feng might not know what the Seven Fatal Poisons are, but he can guess my poison arts come from Elder Heaven Poison’s contingency arrangements. I’m here in the Southern Borderlands with connections to the Poison Tribe, and the Poison Tribe is so important, yet he only sends one disciple to persuade them…

“This doesn’t match Xu Ping Feng’s style.”

Analyzing his heart, Xu Qi An concluded:

Either Xu Ping Feng had another purpose, or he had a way to restrain the Poison Tribe, making the alliance fail and preventing their experts from leaving the Southern Borderlands.

Following this line of reasoning, Xu Ping Feng’s means of constraining the Poison Tribe wasn’t hard to guess—the Extreme Abyss.

Thinking of this, Xu Qi An turned around, walked back to Granny Heaven Poison, and said:

“Granny, I remember you said that Elder Heaven Poison joined forces with Xu Ping Feng to steal national fortune back then to repair the Confucian Saint’s statue and seal the Poison God.”

Hearing him speak of matters related to the Poison God, Luan Yu who had followed behind shed her seductive manner and became serious.

Chun Yan and the other leaders also showed grave expressions, looking at him and Granny Heaven Poison.

Granny Heaven Poison calmly nodded:

“Yes, everything the Poison Tribe does is to seal the Poison God.”

Luan Yu hugged one of Xu Qi An’s arms:

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

Her Central Plains official speech wasn’t standard, but her voice was soft and pleasant, with the magnetism of a mature woman.

“The Extreme Abyss—the Supervisor’s senior disciple’s target is the Extreme Abyss.”

Xu Qi An didn’t conceal anything, stating directly: “If Yun Province and the Poison Tribe fail to ally, he might try to shake the Confucian Saint’s seal.”

Heart Poison Master Chun Yan shook her head slightly: “The Confucian Saint’s seal cannot be shaken by ordinary people—even Granny has no way to disturb it.”

The several leaders nodded, looking at Xu Qi An, thinking he was overthinking.

Xu Qi An’s expression was serious as he said in a deep voice:

“Don’t ignore my words. The Confucian Saint’s seal is related to fortune, which is why Elder Heaven Poison needed to steal Great Feng’s national fortune.”

He paused, scanning the gathered leaders:

“Ritualists’ control over fortune exceeds that of Confucians.”

Luan Yu and the others’ expressions changed slightly.

Xu Qi An continued: “Xu Ping Feng may not be trying to shake the seal, but he has some purpose. We can’t be careless—quickly, to the Extreme Abyss.”

As his words fell, the leaders rose into the wind one after another, their expressions ugly as they streaked toward the Extreme Abyss.

…

“So powerful it brings despair…”

Deep in the primordial forest, Ge Wen Xuan leaped through the miasma-filled dense woods, reflecting on the battle he had observed earlier, feeling deeply moved.

Witnessing Xu Qi An defeat five Poison Tribe leaders, Ge Wen Xuan’s first reaction was enormous anger and frustration—five Transcendents together, yet they were restrained by the surnamed Xu, subdued without paying much price.

Then, anger and frustration were replaced by fear, generating a strong desire to retreat.

Leave the Southern Borderlands and never return.

But he still had an unfinished task. With the alliance falling through, the next plan would activate.

In Ge Wen Xuan’s mind echoed his teacher’s words before departure:

If Xu Qi An interferes and the alliance fails, take my items to the Extreme Abyss.

“Teacher truly calculates brilliantly—when one thing fails, he plans another, never returning empty-handed…”

Ge Wen Xuan used his agile movement techniques, sometimes running through the dense forest, and sometimes leaping through the treetops.

The poisonous insects and beasts along the way avoided him completely, rustling away.

Ge Wen Xuan excelled at deploying troops and formations. Being only a Fifth-Rank Energy Condensation expert and Sixth-Rank Alchemist himself, he normally couldn’t penetrate deep into the primordial forest.

But don’t forget, the ninth rank in the Ritualist system is called “Healer”—medicine and poison are inseparable. He had taken antidote pills beforehand, allowing him to brave the miasma.

Then he applied powder that repelled poisonous insects.

This allowed him to penetrate from the poison-force-covered area into the Extreme Abyss.

In other areas, he would have been killed by the poisoned insects and beasts before even approaching the Extreme Abyss.

Gradually, the surrounding trees began to thin, exposing large patches of black soil on the ground, like black spots.

But as Ge Wen Xuan crossed this forest, a great ravine appeared before him. The ravine’s width was impossible to estimate—Ge Wen Xuan gazed as far as he could but couldn’t see the opposite shore.

The ravine’s edge wasn’t steep, but rather a continuous downward slope.

“The plants are starting to become deformed…”

Ge Wen Xuan stood at the ravine’s edge, looking down to see a cluster of shrubs growing on the left slope below. The shrubs’ leaves were like tiny infant hands, and the flowers blooming among them resembled children’s smiling faces.

Though the primordial forest outside the ravine also had mutated plants, their appearance wasn’t so deformed.

Ge Wen Xuan took down the pouch hanging at his waist while staying alert to his surroundings as he took out magical items one by one.

A brass-cast heart-protecting mirror hung at his chest, its pale yellow light expanding with a sense of heaviness—this was a supreme-grade magical item for protection.

Then he swallowed poison-dispelling pills and applied powder that repelled poisonous insects. After that, he put a white jade-carved leaf under his tongue. A spicy taste spread across his tongue tip, making his spirit excited—this was to guard against Heart Poison’s manipulation of the spirit essence.

The third magical item was a pitch-black banner that emitted a nauseating corpse stench. Its pole was made of white bone, its fabric of human skin, black from being soaked in fresh blood for too long.

This banner was called the Yin-Gathering Banner, capable of summoning spirits, nurturing ghosts, and controlling corpses.

“Right, must also guard against emotional poison.”

Finally, Ge Wen Xuan took out a set of silver needles, pinched them with his fingertips, and accurately inserted them into acupoints at his lower abdomen, waist, back, and other locations.

The purpose of the needles wasn’t to block emotional poison, but to block certain functions, making it impossible for him to feel any “interest” when poisoned—a kind of temporary self-castration.

The side effect was that he might have no interest in women for the next half year.

As long as you’re harsh enough on yourself, no one can defeat you.

These magical items were all gifts from his teacher, each valuable and of extremely high rank.

After all preparations were complete, Ge Wen Xuan followed the gentle slope deeper into the Extreme Abyss.

After walking downward for half an incense stick’s time, a piercing whistling sound arose. Ge Wen Xuan executed a beautiful one-handed ground-supported flip, avoiding an attack from the side.

After steadying himself, he looked back to see his attacker was a small black-scaled snake, only a foot long, with two small horns on its forehead and dark golden vertical pupils full of violence.

After missing its strike, the small snake sprang up again, transforming itself into a whistling arrow shooting toward Ge Wen Xuan.

The Fifth-Rank Energy Condensation expert Ge Wen Xuan drew a short blade with his backhand, cutting it in two.

“Plop…”

The snake fell in two pieces, twisting frantically on the ground. At the cut, silkworm-like sticky material grew, seemingly trying to forcibly reconnect.

Force Poison, ordinary strength… Ge Wen Xuan calmly watched the snake struggle for a moment before completely dying.

At this time, dense whistling sounds whooshed in—from the left and right sides and the slope below came a dense rain of arrows.

Buzz buzz buzz… The arrows struck the light screen raised by the heart-protecting mirror, creating rippling halos of light.

Ge Wen Xuan endured the arrow rain, fleeing with his head down, leaving the snake group behind.

Just that wave of “arrow rain”—without the heart-protecting mirror’s protection, he estimated it would have been tough. Even if he could escape with his bronze skin and iron bones, he would have been somewhat injured.

And this was just entering the Extreme Abyss.

Unfortunately, fortune-viewing techniques couldn’t be used in the Extreme Abyss—there was no way to avoid dangers ahead in advance. Using fortune-viewing techniques in the Extreme Abyss would inevitably mean seeing the Poison God’s fortune. Examining a Beyond-Rank being’s fortune would instantly scatter my soul… Ge Wen Xuan grew increasingly cautious, maintaining a steady pace downward.

After another cup of tea’s worth of time probing downward, avoiding attacks from many poisonous insects and fierce beasts along the way, the surrounding light gradually dimmed.

Suddenly, Ge Wen Xuan caught a sweet and cloying scent, and his heart immediately began racing, his blood surging—he knew he had been hit by emotional poison.

The wild heartbeat made him slightly dizzy, but that was all. The intense emotion poison couldn’t generate any lustful thoughts—his lower body remained as steady as Mount Tai, unmoved.

He looked around and saw the poisoned beast that had released emotional poison at him—it was a black-furred, dog-like animal.

Seeing Ge Wen Xuan look over, it turned its body around, pointing its rear end at the white-clothed human, trying to use its “secret weapon” to seduce him.

…Ge Wen Xuan’s mouth twitched once, his expression blank as he circled from the side, completely ignoring the “black dog’s” secret weapon, unattracted.

Continuing along the gentle slope, in the journey ahead he encountered Dark Poison’s ambush, Force Poison’s pursuit, Emotion Poison’s seduction, Heart Poison’s manipulation, and even a group of walking corpses, but passed through safely.

He finally arrived at a flat area.

The light here was already extremely dim, like evening when night was about to fall.

Beyond this flat area was the true cliff, and below the cliff slumbered the Poison God.

This was the end of the gentle slope.

Ge Wen Xuan saw a tall statue standing at the cliff’s edge.

He wore a long robe and a tall scholar’s cap, one hand behind his back, one hand at his abdomen, head slightly lowered, looking down at the Extreme Abyss below.

The Confucian Saint… This name flashed through Ge Wen Xuan’s mind, his expression becoming humble and restrained.

“The Confucian Saint truly sealed the Poison God.”

He had long known this, but seeing the Confucian Saint’s statue standing here still shocked him deeply.

“Respected Confucian Saint, your later descendant Ge Wen Xuan pays his respects.”

He adjusted his clothes and cap, bowing deeply to the Confucian Saint’s statue.

“Forgive my offense…”

Ge Wen Xuan again took down his pouch, removing two items—a bronze disc carved with the Eight Trigrams and Five Elements, and a scale emitting a faint white light.

In a hidden spot dozens of feet behind him, a yellow-haired monkey wearing colorful string bracelets silently watched this scene.

Neither stopping nor approaching.