The path of poison.

The scent of poison only got denser as Liang Chen left the mouth of the cave and descended into the jungle-filled cavern. The mixed poison that lingered in the air got so thick that it formed a faint brown mist, adding an additional eerie touch to the deathly quiet stretch of land. Here, only the most poisonous of beasts would be able to survive, and even then they had to take care that they didn't become another beast's snack.

Liang Chen kept a close eye on Lan Yun and Yumao out of the corner of his eyes, the moment they showed the slightest sign of being affected he would forcibly drag them into his interspatial ring. He would be just fine here, he was like a fish in the water as he strode through the poisonous land, carefully inspecting his surroundings.

"Oh? That should be one, probably one of Meng Bao's."

Liang Chen's steps halted not long after he stepped into the jungle, his gaze drifting towards a tree that was a few metres to his side. A small pile of dried bones laid in front of the tree, what looked like thin red vines creeping up from the ground and slithering up the trunk of the tree. The vines had grown a few small leaves and buds that would likely grow into berry-like growths in the future, attracting whatever small animals that may stray too close.

"Stay back a bit, I'm not actually sure if it has any other self-defence properties."

He waved his hand slightly to Yumao as he stepped forward, crouching down in front of the vines. The leaves fluttered softly despite the lack of any breeze, it was as if they were trying to beckon him over to stroke their soft exterior.

But Liang Chen didn't even pay any mind to the fluttering of the leaves, brushing aside the pile of bones that once belonged to a man and digging his hand into the ground. He tore up the roots that the vines grew from, a gnarled mass of thumb-thick roots resting in his palm, the vines dangling helplessly from the roots. A few of the vines had actually penetrated into the bones to suck out the bone marrow, but those vines were so thin that they broke the moment he pushed aside the bones.

He could feel the poison course within the roots and the vines, but he didn't absorb it straight away, pouring in an extremely thin bit of his own poison. The roots lit up as he poured his Qi into it, tightly packed letters appearing on the roots, each letter smaller than a grain of rice.

This was the legacy of the Thousand Flowers Valley, the archives that contained all their knowledge. It wasn't tucked away into books or jade slips, it was engraved directly onto their poisons themselves, only another poison user would ever be able to read them, and only if he knew how to make them appear.

"Blood-Flood Root... Needlessly vicious name for something so simple."

Liang Chen couldn't help but mutter softly as he went over the information stamped on the root. The things written on the root were the name of the poison, its effect, how to grow it, as well as how it had been used by the Valley over the years.

As for this Blood-Flood Root, it was one of the poisons Meng Bao had used, it could actually be considered a type of medicine in some circumstances. It prevented your blood from clotting, which was good if you had a condition where your veins started to fill with blood clots. But if you didn't have that then it would just mean that your blood wouldn't clot and seal your wounds whenever you got hurt, you'd simply keep bleeding until you died.

At least, that was the natural way to use the poison, its natural effects. Once you enhanced it with Qi then it would thin out the blood within your body, robbing it of the oxygen it was supposed to deliver to the rest of your body. Needless to say, one of these was far more deadly than the others.

"Since you're here, the other one should be pretty close as well, you seem like a thing that grows in pairs."

Liang Chen picked the roots apart while muttering, plucking out a pea-sized seed from within the gnarled mass. He could reproduce the poison whenever he wanted once he absorbed it, but there was no telling when it would be useful to have the source of the poison around as well so he was preparing to set aside a section of his interspatial ring to creating a garden for the poisons.

He stored the seed into his ring and then bit into the roots, their dry and stringy texture grating on his tongue and throat. It was far from pleasant, but this was still the best way for him to absorb poisons. The roots and vines, as well as the poison they carried, were forced down his throat and into his stomach, unleashing the poison. But the poison didn't get to cause any harm, it was quietly and swiftly absorbed into his body by the countless roots that his Dragon Lotus had spread throughout his body.

With the first poison taken care of, Liang Chen rubbed his mouth to get rid of any splinters and stood up. The blood-thinning poison had grown here so the blood-clotting poison was likely not too far away, both were plants that grew on blood so they were naturally attracted to similar areas.

And indeed, the poisonous plant in question was found not far away. It didn't take the shape of vines but instead appeared as grass with thin red veins that released an apple-like scent. He dug up the grass and the somewhat sticky roots that they grew from, going over the information and putting aside a seed before he swallowed it all down.

"Blood-Rot Grass... They really want all their poisons to sound as sinister as possible..."

The names were so exaggerated that it was hard to take them seriously, but in truth, given enough enhancement through Qi, the poisons would be able to live up to their names. After all, even a poison so weak it was only found in a Demonic beast so weak it hadn't reached the Ascended Tower realm had been used to great effect by Liang Chen multiple times.

Another poison was added to his arsenal so he continued his wandering, his steps slow as he moved through the jungle. Occasionally he'd stop and check an area, pick out any poisons he'd find and learn what he could before he absorbed them. Hours became days as he moved, slowly heading deeper into the jungle, to the areas that were visited far less frequently, where the truly freakish poisons grew freely.

"This... Now that's a nasty one, Meng Bao. Just what were you hoping to accomplish with this one?"

Liang Chen's lips couldn't help but twist as he looked at the scene in front of him, a slight grimace adorning his face. A small grove of trees covered in light pink flowers stood in front of him, each of the flowers containing a faint trace of poison. But all his attention was focused on the surprisingly small orange Rafflesia that was growing within the grove.

The flower unleashed a practically invisible mist that Liang Chen only noticed thanks to his own law of poison, but while it felt weak, the effect it had shown was tremendous. Liang Chen had watched as a butterfly had flown into the mist, attracted by the colours of the rafflesia, and he had kept a close eye on it with his own poison to see what happened.

The butterfly had started to stagger the moment it entered the mist, and then, as Liang Chen watched, a part of the mist had gathered together into an exact replica of that butterfly. But that replica was formed entirely out of poison, a pale mockery of the living being it was trying to become.

But that wasn't the sinister or eerie thing about this poison. No, that title went to what the poison had done to mimic the butterfly. It had invaded the butterfly's soul and unravelled it in its entirety, laying bare all its memories so that it could birth an even better replica, something to truly take the place of the butterfly.

If a poison like this got to grow and was enhanced before being unleashed on a city then there was no telling if the person you encountered was a man or poison given form. Entire sects could probably be wiped out and replaced without others knowing, a single poisonous flower taking complete control so that it could further its own goals.

Liang Chen didn't have to be told twice that this was a poison that would be extremely useful so he ventured into the mist while defending himself. But the poison seemed to have a strangely invasive property, a bit of it managing to sneak through his defences and invade his soul. He could feel it touch upon his soul, seemingly trying to dissect it to learn everything about him.

But his soul was poison itself, so that act was tantamount to suicide, the rafflesia was doomed to fail from the start. Its attempts were foiled and it was dug out from the ground, Liang Chen injecting a bit of his own poison to go over its information. But the information engraved on its roots was a bit disappointing.

"Mind-Scouring Rafflesia. Supreme Poison for wiping memories, when fused with Anima Essence it can be used to go through the memories before they're wiped."

The information engraved on the flower wasn't accurate, or at least not complete. Whether or not this was because the Valley didn't know the true extent of the poison or because it had mutated was something Liang Chen didn't know. But if he had to guess then he would say it was the latter, the Thousand Flowers Valley had a history so long that it was unlikely that they wouldn't properly study the poisons they chose to mark.

Whatever the case was, the poison was absorbed and a seed was kept. He hadn't used it yet, but if he used it properly then he felt that he may have acquired a very useful tool. It would at least save him a lot of time when it came to learning about the enemies he was fighting, he could directly go through their memories rather than first turning them into puppets and having them spill everything they knew.

Liang Chen's journey continued after he picked up the eerie poison, his steps continuing to carry him throughout the jungle. And then, after several more days passed, he finally encountered the first of the demonic beasts that lived in this land. Or at least, that was what he thought at first, until he actually saw the being with his own eyes.

"This...Is this also considered a poison?"

A deer-like being was striding through the jungle with stumbling steps, its light-brown fur covered with dry mud and chunks of bark that had been torn off from trees. The being was almost twice his side, three tails that ended in thin needles dragging behind the beast. It looked like it should have four antlers growing from its head, but Liang Chen couldn't actually tell.

The reason was very simple, the entire upper body of the deer was covered in a dense white fuzz, spindly outgrowths that somewhat resembled mushrooms protruding from the fuzz. Liang Chen had used his law of death on the beast so he could tell that it was still alive, its body was still filled with lifeforce, albeit a bit weak one.

But the white fuzz and mushrooms were filled with their own lifeforce, one that was intruding upon the deer's and siphoning it. The roots of the mushroom had extended into the brain of the beast, either controlling it or influencing its thoughts, but to what end he didn't know. So he observed, he followed the beast for a few days as it moved through the jungle.

It didn't seem to be moving entirely without a purpose, no, it seemed like it was looking for something. And after a handful of days, it found what it was looking for. The deer ascended a rather large hill, or perhaps just calling it a large lump of earth that had been haphazardly tossed aside was better. It climbed to the top of the earthen pile, standing a couple of metres above the nearest trees as it raised its head as high as it could.

And as it stood there, the invasive mushroom moved as well. The remaining lifeforce of the deer was siphoned all at once, the mushroom-like growths pulsating as they grew, expanding like balloons. And then, once the last trace of life vanished from the deer, the balloon-like mushrooms burst.

White particles that looked like they came from dandelions scattered through the air as the mushrooms burst, expending what little energy they contained to launch themselves into the distance. That was what this poison, or perhaps parasitic existence was trying to do.

It just wanted to spread, it wanted to infect a wider area so that it could continue growing and go on to infect an even wider area. If it was allowed to go on then the only end that awaited the land would be a white existence, mushrooms covering everything, smothering all other forms of life.

The white fuzz on the deer's body grew to cover the rest of it, the corpse of the beast now standing as a final reminder of the mushroom's spread, and the fate that awaited all those that came in contact with it. Liang Chen sent out a bit of his Anima Essence and got in contact with one of the seeds, his eyebrows rising as he examined it.

To his surprise, this mushroom was indeed a type of poison. But it wasn't a normal poison, it was a living one. It had its own lifeforce, and most likely a rudimentary consciousness that birthed the instinct to spread in this manner. If there were any poisons in this land that had the chance to grow into an elemental then this poison would definitely be at the front of the pack, it was basically half an elemental already.

Liang Chen sent out more of his Anima Essence, snatching up all the seeds that had scattered through the air. This was a scary poison, but that was also why it would be useful. Especially if he could do what he was starting to toy with, fusing different poisons together, at that point it would become all the more frightening.

So he swallowed the seeds, absorbing the poison and adding it to his arsenal. A scary poison for a scary man, and both would only become scarier when they were added together. Another terrifying weapon was added to his arsenal, Liang Chen giving the rigid corpse of the deer one last glance before he started moving again.

There were many more poisons to go through, many more things to learn. So he kept moving, absorbing poison after poison as he learned, understood. The archives of the Thousand Flowers Valley were completely taken in by him as the days passed, their poisons and their legacy, all of it was taken in by Liang Chen.

With lightning and poison he had started, and his lightning had already acquired its own path and distinction. Now it was time for his poison to receive that same treatment, and the end result of that would be something that only time would be able to tell.