"Is he so confident that he can take the attack he just launched?"
Gong Yuantai's first reaction was also disbelief. He knew that his sickly green mist was refined from the venom of a second-rank demonic beast, the "Zombie Crocodile."
This venom itself, after entering a living being's body, would devour all liquid substances wherever it passed, including blood and body fluids. It was extremely domineering.
If a cultivator were to be bitten by a "Zombie Crocodile" in a fight, or even lightly scratched by its teeth, if not treated in time, that piece of flesh and blood would quickly become as hard as a rock.
Moreover, after the venom entered the body through the meridians, it would spread rapidly. Not only the muscles, but even the internal organs would turn into a pile of iron and stone, without a trace of life left.
An adult mortal, if their wound was touched by a drop of "Zombie Crocodile" venom, would turn into a lifeless piece of ironstone in less than five breaths.
Even cultivators had to be careful when encountering a "Zombie Crocodile," especially Qi Condensation stage cultivators. If they encountered this demonic beast, it was basically a matter of life and death, with no way to resist.
Even if you cut it in half at the waist, it might not die. The blood splashing out from its body could take your life.
After Gong Yuantai had painstakingly obtained a small half of a porcelain bottle of "Rotten-Tail Crocodile" venom, he added the blood and bodily fluids of three other highly toxic demonic beasts during the refining process, finally forming the sickly green mist.
The toxicity was two to three times higher than pure "Zombie Crocodile" venom. He named it "Ethereal Jade Qi." Like other poison cultivators, the more deadly the poison, the more beautiful or awe-inspiring the name they would give it.
"Ethereal Jade Qi" was already ranked very high among all the poison arts Gong Yuantai cultivated. When he engaged in a Poison Duel, he usually chose a more powerful poison for the initial test. If that didn't work, he would use his killing move. This time was no exception.
If Li Yan was unable to dispel the poison of "Ethereal Jade Qi," with his Pseudo-Core realm's spiritual power defense, he would probably shrink into a small iron ball and die in a hunched position in about four breaths.
So Gong Yuantai already had the antidote for "Ethereal Jade Qi" in his hand. He couldn't really wait for the agreed-upon three breaths. The moment he saw Li Yan fall in the first breath, he had to act.
But to his surprise, Li Yan seemed completely unconcerned about his poison. Gong Yuantai's expression was a mixture of shock and extreme vigilance.
But what followed made Gong Yuantai tremble all over. After the sickly green mist enveloped Li Yan's body, Li Yan's figure didn't even sway, let alone fall to the ground due to paralysis.
In Gong Yuantai's Divine Sense, the moment the "Ethereal Jade Qi" enveloped his body, Li Yan actually closed his eyes, as if he were feeling his attack. Even Gong Yuantai himself wouldn't dare to touch this mist without taking the antidote first.
Li Yan was carefully feeling the damage brought to him by this sickly green mist. Through so many years of understanding the Fragmented Poison Body, he knew that it would often show different symptoms when faced with some potent poisons.
For example, it would faintly stir Li Yan's emotions, making him a little excited. This meant that the invading poison was something the Fragmented Poison Body craved to devour, just like back at the Huchen Family.
This kind of poison could often cause the Fragmented Poison Body itself to advance, even leading to an advancement in Li Yan's cultivation.
In the vast majority of cases, when a poison attacked his body, the Fragmented Poison Body would appear calm and ordinary. This meant that these toxins had no effect on Li Yan's body at all, like a gentle breeze passing by.
There was another situation. The moment the poison invaded, the Fragmented Poison Body would enter a cycle of rapid and continuous restructuring and separation.
Li Yan had encountered this situation when he first acquired the Fragmented Poison Body. It was a warning that the poison he encountered was something the Fragmented Poison Body could not dispel, thus producing a strange state.
Later, Li Yan analyzed that perhaps the Fragmented Poison Body hoped to find a possibility to resist the invasion of external poisons through continuous recombination within the body.
This might be the true "immunity to a hundred poisons," dynamically generating corresponding resistance to different invading poisons.
But Li Yan knew that he could not yet truly achieve that heaven-defying level. Perhaps one day, when his cultivation reached the Nascent Soul or an even higher realm, the Fragmented Poison Body would be able to display its strongest state.
If "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" was a natural divine ability of the "Undead Nether Phoenix," then the Fragmented Poison Body had also become a kind of "acquired divine ability" for Li Yan.
The energy outside Li Yan's body just now was ordinary water-attribute spiritual power, just a slight disguise to make others unable to understand or see through him.
The moment the "Ethereal Jade Qi" touched his body, Li Yan didn't feel any abnormal reaction in his body.
It could be said that there were no ripples at all. So Li Yan judged that this sickly green mist could not cause him any harm at all. He simply closed his eyes.
Li Yan mobilized the areas within his body that only he could perceive. These areas extended from his lower abdomen up to his chest, a total of thirty blocks.
The distances between them had no discernible pattern, and the areas were of various sizes. Some areas were almost connected, while others had a large gap between them.
Only Li Yan could feel these fragmented areas through the circulation of his spiritual energy. These areas invisibly cut Li Yan's body into fragmented pieces.
The moment the sickly green mist touched Li Yan's body, it drilled into his pores.
The moment this mist entered his body, a trace of icy coldness pierced straight to Li Yan's marrow. In this icy cold air, Li Yan felt a strong sense of old, rotten decay, as if it were a plague of locusts, permeating everything it passed.
They converged from his limbs and face towards the center of his body. But they had only advanced a little when the sickly green mist, which had been as gloomy as a tide just a moment ago, seemed to have encountered some terrifying natural enemy. Bit by bit, wisp by wisp, as if they had a life of their own, they actually retreated one after another, as if trying to escape from Li Yan's body.
At this moment, an invisible suction force emanated from Li Yan's flesh and blood, like sharp claws reaching out, grabbing every wisp of the sickly green mist. The next moment, it pulled the captured mist into his flesh and blood, where it disappeared without a trace.
Li Yan only felt waves of cool yin energy continuously sweeping over his entire body, giving him an indescribably comfortable feeling.
The invisible suction from his flesh and blood was not spiritual power deliberately released by Li Yan, but was formed spontaneously without his conscious control. It was the work of the "Fragmented Poison Body," which had long since merged with his divine soul.
The Fragmented Poison Body was something Li Yan could only control and use in his daily life; he couldn't practice it separately. So his body still maintained the thirty large and small blocks from the separation during his Foundation Establishment, which was something Li Yan could do nothing about.
Each block contained a supreme poison. They would circulate with Li Yan's blood flow. Like a silkworm spinning silk, after the blood in these areas was absorbed, it would be expelled again. Each time, the blood would be re-refined.
Li Yan had tried every means to circulate his spiritual energy in an attempt to interfere with the thirty separated areas, but in the end, it was of no use. He could only let it be. He thought that the next advancement of the "Fragmented Poison Body" would probably have to wait until he formed his Golden Core.
Feeling the gloomy coldness in his body turning into waves of coolness, the phrase "Shattered and fragmented, infinitely dividing, devouring all in a contest of nature" couldn't help but appear in his mind.
But from the initial calm reaction of the "Fragmented Poison Body," he knew that Gong Yuantai's sickly green mist did not meet the conditions for "devouring all in a contest of nature."
The gloomy mist in Li Yan's body had no time to escape before it was completely devoured by his invisible suction force. So there was nothing unusual about Li Yan's exterior. He was still wrapped in the heavy sickly green mist, only this mist went in but never came out.
Only a few breaths had passed, but a bad feeling had already arisen in Gong Yuantai's heart. Among the opponents he had encountered, although "Ethereal Jade Qi" was not his trump card for defeating enemies, it was extremely rare to see someone like Li Yan who allowed the sickly green mist to invade them.
Only when his elders from Lord Lao Peak were guiding him in its refinement had they tried it so calmly.
"He must have taken a detoxification pill that can counter 'Ethereal Jade Qi' without me noticing!" Gong Yuantai thought to himself.
But a moment later, a new question arose in his mind. "He looks completely unconcerned, as if the detoxification pill he took was specifically for 'Ethereal Jade Qi,' a perfect counter. Where did he get such a detoxification pill?"
Although "Ethereal Jade Qi" was not some world-class poison, after Gong Yuantai's continuous refinement and updates, it had gained some fame in the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
And his detoxification pills were exclusively refined and not sold to outsiders. There was no way Li Yan could have obtained them.
"Could it be that he has a detoxification magical treasure given to him by Martial Uncle Wei?" But in Gong Yuantai's Divine Sense, he clearly saw the sickly green mist seeping into Li Yan's exposed cheeks and arms, without being protected or isolated by anything at all.
Just as Gong Yuantai's mind was racing, and he was already considering whether to retract the "Ethereal Jade Qi," Li Yan, who had been standing still opposite him, suddenly opened his eyes. After looking around, he actually began to walk towards Gong Yuantai.
"Li Yan broke through Gong Yuantai's poison mist! What is he doing?"
"Why didn't I see Fellow Daoist Li take any pills? He only released some water-attribute spiritual power to protect himself. Who saw how he broke it?"
At this time, the cultivators outside the Malevolent Spirit Sect spoke up one after another.
And the disciples of the Malevolent Spirit Sect present were also looking at each other in dismay. Some were frowning in thought, while others were repeatedly scanning Li Yan with their Divine Senses.
"This is Senior Brother Gong's 'Ethereal Jade Qi.' It's a very vicious technique among our generation. Among the disciples of Lord Lao Peak, I've never seen anyone break it like this. I certainly can't do it."
One of the few Malevolent Spirit Sect disciples who had been following Gong Yuantai said slowly. The insignia on his sleeve clearly showed that he was also a disciple of Lord Lao Peak. He had experienced the domineering nature of "Ethereal Jade Qi." When faced with it, one could only dodge its sharpness.
"That's right. I've also experienced 'Ethereal Jade Qi.' I had to use a demonic beast with a conflicting poison attribute to seal and restrain it, and only then did I barely resist this poison. But I still couldn't truly break it."
Another cultivator from the Spirit Insect Peak withdrew his gaze from Li Yan and turned to say to the few people.
Back then, if it weren't for his extremely yang-attribute demonic beast, the "Golden-Eyed Divine Toad," to counter it, he would have been helpless against this "Ethereal Jade Qi."
But now, looking at that Junior Brother Li, it was as if he were a humanoid "Golden-Eyed Divine Toad," and he countered the opponent with an ease that was countless times greater than his "Golden-Eyed Divine Toad."
Watching Li Yan walk over step by step, Gong Yuantai snorted coldly in his heart. Did this person really think that just because he broke through "Ethereal Jade Qi," he could act so wantonly in front of him? He was getting a bit carried away.
Gong Yuantai guessed that the next technique Li Yan was about to use would require a certain distance, which was why he was trying to get closer like this.
In that case, he couldn't be blamed for not holding back. If the other party made a fool of himself or said something he shouldn't, he could only blame Li Yan himself.