The entry for cultivating immortality states that after dying a hundred times, I attained immortalit

Two pairs of scarlet snake eyes moved slowly in the darkness, but did not exude the slightest killing intent.

Jiang Bai placed his left hand on the storage bag at his waist, ready to activate the Thunder Fang Sword at any moment. His right leg was still throbbing with pain, but his expression remained indifferent, showing no sign of emotion.

With the faint light filtering through the cracks in the rocks, he finally saw the entire secret chamber.

This was a simple alchemy room, no more than two zhang square, with walls so rough they looked as if they had been carved by a knife and axe. The air was filled with the slightly bitter smell of aged herbs mixed with the pungent, fishy odor unique to snakes. The most striking feature was the two enormous snake skeletons coiled in the center of the room—the snake bones were as black as ink, and when coiled, they were about half a person's height. The eye sockets in the snake heads were empty, and they were the source of the two scarlet lights.

Between the two snake skeletons stood a three-foot-high stone platform, on which three jade boxes were neatly arranged.

"Kid, you've got some skills to get here by avoiding those idiots up there."

The voice came from the head of one of the snake skeletons, hoarse with the wear and tear of time: "You dare to drag your injured leg here at the third level of Qi Refining? What makes you think you can do this?"

Jiang Bai propped himself up, leaned against the cold stone wall, and grinned: "Since senior can see through my cultivation level, he can naturally also sense my confidence."

He slowly rolled up the sleeve of his right arm.

On his right arm, from shoulder to wrist, a spiderweb-like network of cracks covered the skin, with specks of dark green crystalline matter remaining between the cracks. Although the poison pattern had shattered, the residual aura of the true blood poison pattern had not yet dissipated—like charred wood, the fire may have gone out, but the choking smoke still lingered.

The air in the sealed room suddenly froze for a moment.

"True Blood Poison Pattern?!"

The remnant soul's voice was filled with disbelief and shock: "Which lineage of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons are you a descendant of?!"

Jiang Bai shook his head: "Not a successor, but an enemy."

"An enemy?" The remnant soul remained silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter echoed and reverberated in the small, secret chamber, causing fine stone chips to fall from the stone walls. "Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! I was once a forsaken disciple hunted down by the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons!"

The laughter gradually subsided, and the remnant soul's voice turned solemn: "Boy, how about we make a deal?"

"Speaking."

"I will pass on to you the complete version of the 'Black Swamp Poison Scripture,' along with these three Crimson Sun Fruits. The condition is that when you achieve success in your cultivation in the future, you will settle a karmic debt for me by killing the elder of the seventh lineage of the Ten Thousand Poison Valley, 'Poison Heart True Man.'"

Jiang Bai laughed: "Senior, do you believe me if I just talk nonsense?"

"I can plant a 'Poisonous Oath Seal' in your soul," the remnant soul slowly spoke. "Those who break the oath will suffer a backlash from the poisonous mark, making it difficult for them to make any further progress in their cultivation in this lifetime."

Jiang Bai stared at the two pairs of scarlet snake eyes, his mind racing.

He had seen records of the Poison Oath Seal in the Jiang family's library—it was a restriction placed on another's soul by a poison cultivator using their own poison skills as a guide. Breaking the oath might not necessarily lead to death, but the backlash from the poisonous markings was worse than death itself.

"Inspect the goods first," he said.

The jade box on the far left of the stone platform opened automatically.

Inside the box lay a fist-sized, crimson fruit. Its skin was translucent, revealing the flowing red sap inside, and it emitted a warm, medicinal fragrance. Just smelling that aroma made Jiang Bai feel his blood and energy circulate faster.

"The Crimson Sun Fruit is a second-grade spiritual medicine that can cure cold poison and strengthen qi and blood, making it perfect for your crippled body," the remnant soul explained.

The jade box in the middle was then opened.

Inside was a roll of black animal hide, its surface embroidered with tiny characters in silver thread. Jiang Bai scanned it with his divine sense, and information instantly flooded his mind—the *Black Swamp Poison Scripture* was divided into three parts: Poison Techniques, Poison Arrays, and Poisonous Beasts. It not only recorded the methods of cultivating poison, but also many other miscellaneous subjects such as array formation, taming, and poison refining.

The system notification will sound at an appropriate time:

[Completed the fragments of the "Black Swamp Poison Manual", gaining +1 insight into the art of poison]

The jade box on the right was not opened.

"What is that?" Jiang Bai asked.

"A few small items I used when I was alive," the remnant spirit said with a hint of nostalgia. "They will naturally be yours once you fulfill your vow."

Jiang Bai paused for a moment, then extended his left hand: "Deal."

A wisp of gray mist drifted out from the snake skeleton's eye socket, condensed into a rune in the air, and slowly imprinted itself into Jiang Bai's brow.

A chilling sensation spread from his brow to his entire body, then vanished. Jiang Bai looked inward and saw a gray, serpentine mark on the edge of his sea of ​​consciousness, quietly coiled there.

"The Poisonous Oath Seal is complete." The remnant soul's voice was weary. "Remember, within a hundred years, you must kill True Poison Heart."

Jiang Bai nodded and got up to walk towards the stone platform.

He first took the Crimson Sun Fruit and carefully put it into his storage bag, then picked up the scroll of "Black Swamp Poison Manual". The animal hide felt warm and smooth to the touch, clearly not an ordinary object.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Jiang Bai suddenly stopped and turned back to look at She Hai: "Senior, I have a question."

"explain."

"Since you know I am the enemy of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, why don't you possess me? Although my body is broken, it is still the vessel for the True Blood Poison Pattern."

The remnant soul remained silent for a long time.

"Possession?" He gave a bitter laugh. "My soul is incomplete, and possession will surely backfire... Besides, boy, you have the aura of death between your brows. I have lived for more than three hundred years and have never seen a living person with such a heavy aura of death."

Jiang Bai's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive: "What do you mean by that?"

"You've died many times," the remnant soul said slowly. "The aura of death isn't murderous intent; it's the aura one acquires only after truly experiencing death. An ordinary person dies once and is gone, but you... seven or eight times? Or more?"

Jiang Bai did not answer.

The remnant soul sighed: "Let me give you a piece of advice—the more people die, the more they know how to live. Get lost, and remember your vow."

The stone wall on the other side of the secret chamber slowly opened, revealing a narrow passage that could only accommodate one person at a time.

Jiang Bai bowed towards the snake skeleton, then dragged his injured leg inside.

The passage wasn't long; after walking about a hundred steps, we reached the ground.

Outside lay a dark, swampy depression, with low-hanging gray clouds overhead, making it impossible to discern the time. Jiang Bai checked his bearings and turned back towards the Poison Dragon Pool.

When they returned to the pool, the Blackwater Serpent was already waiting there.

Its massive body was half-submerged in the black water, its scarlet eyes fixed on Jiang Bai, its thoughts conveying: "Where... is it?"

Jiang Bai took out the Crimson Sun Fruit from his storage bag and threw it over.

The black snake opened its mouth to catch it, then tilted its head back and swallowed it.

A moment later, its body shuddered violently, and a large amount of white, icy air seeped out from the gaps in its scales. The icy air condensed upon contact with water, forming a thin layer of ice on the surface of the pool. The black serpent writhed in agony, stirring up the water, but the churning stopped in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

The cold air has dissipated.

The black serpent raised its head, the scarlet light in its eyes softening considerably. It swam to the shore, its massive head bringing close to Jiang Bai's face, and it opened its mouth to spit out a palm-sized black serpent scale.

The scales feel cool to the touch and have natural silver patterns on their surface.

"Hold this scale..." the black serpent's thoughts came intermittently, "The demons of the Black Swamp... cannot harm you upon seeing your scale..."

Jiang Bai put away his scales, thought for a moment, and asked, "Would you like to leave this pool? Come with me to explore the desolate land."

The black serpent shook its head, its thoughts filled with helplessness: "The foundation is not yet stable... I just took the Crimson Sun Fruit... It needs ten years to stabilize... If you are still alive ten years later... I will come to find you."

Jiang Bai laughed: "Alright, then let's do it ten years from now."

He bowed to the black serpent, then turned and disappeared into the depths of the swamp.

……

On the way back to Blackstone Market, Jiang Bai did not walk fast.

The injury to his right leg had stopped bleeding and started to heal thanks to the medicinal effects of the Crimson Sun Fruit, but the newly formed skin and flesh were still fragile, and walking too fast would cause pain. He decided to slow down and walk while flipping through the "Black Swamp Poison Manual" in his hands, becoming completely engrossed in it.

The Poison Array chapter records a simple method for setting up a "Three-Flag Poison Barrier Array," and he happened to have three boundary-suppressing flags on hand—the Fire Flag, the Mysterious Peak Flag, and the Kun Peak Flag. Although the main function of these three flags is to activate teleportation arrays, the poison patterns contained within the flags themselves are sufficient for setting up a simple poison array.

Just as I was pondering this, a warning suddenly came from [Killing Intent Perception].

Fifty feet behind them, three groups of malevolent forces were slowly approaching.

Jiang Bai put away the animal skin scroll, his face expressionless, and continued walking forward at a leisurely pace. After walking for more than a mile, he came to a pile of rubble ahead, and he turned into it, deliberately walking into a dead end.

He then turned around, leaned against the cold stone wall, and called out loudly towards the way he had come: "You've been following us all this way, are you thirsty? Why don't you come out and have a drink of water?"

Three figures emerged from behind the rocks in response.

All three wore dark green short jackets with vine patterns embroidered on the lapels—the very symbol of Poison Ivy Stronghold. The leader was a middle-aged man with a goatee, possessing a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivation, and carrying a slender curved sword. Behind him were two men, one tall and one short, both with Qi Refining Level 5 cultivation.

"Kid, you have a good eye." The goatee sneered. "What good stuff did you get in the ancient cultivator's cave? Hand it over, and I'll leave you with a whole corpse."

Jiang Bai sighed softly, "The desolate state... it's always the same few sentences, there's really no originality at all."

"You're courting death!" the short cultivator roared, raising his hand to throw out three green darts that glowed with an eerie light, clearly coated with deadly poison.

Jiang Bai neither dodged nor evaded, but instead swung his left hand forward.

Three flags of different colors flew out of the storage bag and hovered steadily in mid-air—the Fire Flag was crimson like flames, the Dark Mountain Flag was earthy yellow like rocks, and the Earth Mountain Flag was dark green like a pool. The three flags stood in a triangular formation, their surfaces moving automatically and fluttering in the wind.

[Poison Explosion] is activated silently.

Instead of detonating directly, it fused the profound meaning of the poisonous patterns contained within the flag with the poisonous power of the [Poison Explosion Technique], transforming it into a grayish-purple miasma that spread outwards. The miasma instantly enveloped an area of ​​ten feet in radius, engulfing all four of them.

"A poisonous array?!" The goatee's expression changed drastically, and he shouted urgently, "Scatter! Don't inhale the poisonous miasma!"

The three hurriedly held their breath and retreated, but it was too late.

Jiang Bai's figure suddenly blurred in the poisonous miasma as he activated [Shadow Stealth] to its maximum. Like a silent shadow, he quietly circled behind the short cultivator.

The Thunder Fang Sword was suddenly drawn, its blade crackling with lightning, dazzling and blinding.

puff-

The sword tip pierced straight into the short cultivator's back and emerged from his chest. The short cultivator looked down at the sword tip in his chest, opened his mouth, but could not utter a sound, and then collapsed limply to the ground.

Hearing the commotion, the tall cultivator hurriedly turned and swung his sword. The blade flashed a silver arc through the poisonous miasma, but missed its mark. Jiang Bai had already used the miasma as cover to circle around to his side, his left hand forming a sword shape with fingers together, a flash of dark green light at the fingertips, and he precisely struck the tall cultivator's temple.

The poison from the [Poison Explosion] technique instantly seeps into the fingertips.

The tall cultivator's body stiffened abruptly, black blood flowed from his seven orifices, and he fell straight down.

The whole process took no more than three breaths.

The goatee finally realized what was happening and stared in horror at Jiang Bai, who was slowly emerging from the poisonous miasma: "You...you're a poison array master?!"

Poison array masters are a rare profession in the desolate state. No cultivator who can set up a poison array is easy to mess with.

Jiang Bai did not answer, but instead carried the dripping Thunder Fang Sword and walked step by step toward the goatee.

The goatee gritted his teeth, holding his scimitar horizontally across his chest: "Poison Ivy Stronghold will never let you go!"

"Go back and tell Poison Ivy Stronghold." Jiang Bai stopped five steps away from him, the tip of his sword pointing at him. "I've taken Black Swamp's things. If you want them, pay with your life."

The goatee stared intently at him, then suddenly turned and ran away without looking back.

Jiang Bai did not pursue.

Once the goatee's figure had completely disappeared beyond the pile of rocks, he waved his hand to put away the three town-guarding flags, and the pervasive poisonous miasma slowly dissipated. The two corpses on the ground had already begun to turn black, clearly indicating that the poison from the [Poison Explosion] spell was frantically corroding their flesh.

Jiang Bai bent down and searched the two people, finding some blood crystals and low-grade pills, which he casually put into his storage bag before quickly leaving the scene.

……

Half a day later.

Jiang Bai found a hidden cave deep in the Black Swamp. The entrance was completely covered by withered vines, and the cave was dry and well-ventilated, making it an excellent temporary shelter.

He first set up a simple warning array at the cave entrance, then sat down cross-legged and took out the Crimson Sun Fruit.

The Crimson Sun Fruit was warm to the touch, its peel as thin as a cicada's wing. Jiang Bai carefully peeled it open, revealing the translucent, ruby-like flesh inside. He swallowed the fruit in three gulps; the sweet juice instantly transformed into a surge of scalding heat that coursed through his entire body.

His internal energy surged like a mighty river, and his previously depleted vitality began to recover rapidly. The charred skin and flesh at the wound on his right leg peeled off on its own, revealing tender new flesh underneath. The spiritual energy in his dantian also became more active, and his cultivation level was slowly rising from the second level of Qi Refining.

Two hours later.

Jiang Bai opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

His cultivation level had recovered to the fourth level of Qi Refining. Although he was still somewhat weak, he was no longer in a state where he would collapse at the slightest breeze. His Qi and blood had recovered to 50%, and his complexion had become much rosier.

He looked inward and suddenly froze—the shattered poison marks on his right arm, nourished by the medicinal power of the Crimson Sun Fruit, began to slowly wriggle, like broken porcelain shards trying to piece themselves back together, but lacking the adhesive, they could only move in vain.

[A change in the host's poison pattern status has been detected, triggering the hidden quest "Poison Pattern Rebirth"]

A system notification suddenly sounded.

Jiang Baixin focused his attention on the system interface, where he saw a new task added to the taskbar:

[Hidden Quest: Poisonous Patterns Reborn]

[Task Description: The True Blood Poison Soul Pattern has shattered but not been extinguished. You must use the methods recorded in the *Black Swamp Poison Manual* to collect nine unique and potent poisons from the desolate continent, reforge the poison pattern, and forge a new life.]

[Task Requirements: Collect "Bone-Corroding Water", "Heart-Rotting Grass", "Morphin Crystal", "Blood Toad Sand", "Ghost-Faced Spider Venom", "Soul Vine Juice", "Corpse Fragrance Nectar", "Earthfire Poison Smoke", and "Thunderous Aura"]

[Task Reward: 1 Random Gold Attribute]

[Task Time Limit: None]

[Failure Penalty: None]

Gold label?

Jiang Bai's pupils contracted slightly.

From white, green, and blue to purple, now finally, gold entries are about to appear.

He stared at the names of the nine poisons listed in the mission requirements, his mind racing through the records in the "Black Swamp Poison Manual"—these were all special products of the desolate state, with extremely potent toxicity, and collecting them would probably not be an easy task.

But the allure of the golden attribute...

Jiang Bai licked his lips, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

It seems I'll have to make a good attempt to conquer this desolate place.