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

"You do have some guts."

The old man with the yin bones twitched his lips, and without even raising his bone staff, he simply pointed it forward casually.

hum-

A pale white bone shield appeared out of thin air, its surface covered with twisted, ghostly patterns, blocking the blade perfectly.

clang!

The clanging of metal echoed through the mountain road.

Jiang Bai felt an immense force surge through the blade, instantly splitting his hand and drawing blood down the hilt. He was thrown backward, crashing into two withered trees before barely landing, his chest heaving and a sweet taste rising in his throat.

The spiritual power of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator is incredibly profound.

Even a simple bone shield that is casually conjured can have enough backlash to injure the internal organs of a Qi Refining cultivator.

The nine skeletal puppets moved.

The eerie green flames in their eye sockets flickered simultaneously, rusty swords were raised, and they closed in with stiff yet swift steps. All escape routes were blocked.

Jiang Bai took a deep breath, suppressing the metallic taste in his throat, and gripped the blood-stained knife tightly in his right hand.

We can't fight it head-on.

He swayed, silently activating [Shadow Stealth], his aura concealed as if made of stone, his figure becoming blurred and indistinct in the sunlight. The two puppets at the forefront swung their swords down, but only struck air.

Jiang Bai had already moved to the flank.

The Bloodstained Blade slashed horizontally, its blade grazing the knee joint of a puppet—where the bones were joined together.

Click.

The leg bone broke instantly.

The puppet lost its balance and fell to the ground, the ghostly fire in its eye sockets flickering violently, yet it couldn't struggle to rise. Jiang Bai didn't finish it off; instead, he pushed off with his foot and flashed behind another puppet, the blade slicing into the cervical vertebrae and thrusting upwards.

The skull flew into the air.

The will-o'-the-wisp went out.

Within two breaths, both bodies were destroyed.

But the remaining seven puppets had adjusted their formation, with four in front holding shields and three behind drawing bows—the bows were made of white bone, and the arrows were bone spikes that gleamed with a ghostly blue light.

The bowstring twanged.

Three bone spikes shot out in a triangular formation, blocking Jiang Bai's space to dodge left and right.

Instead of retreating, Jiang Bai advanced, activating his Swift Shadow Step again, charging forward towards the bone spikes. Just as the arrows were about to hit him, he twisted his waist to the side, two bone spikes grazing his ribs and leaving two bloody marks. The third one was unavoidable, so he reached out with his left hand, his five fingers like pincers, and forcefully caught it in mid-air.

The arrow tip was only three inches from his chest.

A sharp pain shot through his palm as the chilling toxins clinging to the bone spurs crawled up his arm's meridians. Jiang Bai remained unfazed, his right hand flashing out with his blood-stained blade, cleaving the nearest shield-wielding puppet in two, shield and bone intact.

A warm current flowed through the blade.

The third one.

However, nearly half of the spiritual energy in his dantian had been consumed.

The combination of Shadow Step and Swift Step places a far greater burden on spiritual energy than one might imagine.

"interesting."

The old man, leaning on his bone cane, watched with interest as Jiang Bai darted through the puppet array. A greedy glint flashed in his deep-set eyes: "Your movements are unpredictable, your swordsmanship ruthless, and your poison resistance is not weak either, young man. Who is your master?"

Jiang Bai didn't answer. He turned his blade and severed the arm bone of another puppet.

The fourth one.

But the remaining five puppets had formed a complete array, three in front and two behind, covering each other, making it difficult to find any openings. Jiang Bailian unleashed three strikes, all of which were blocked by the bone shields, sending sparks flying.

"The struggle of ants is futile."

The old man with the skeletal frame shook his head, seemingly losing patience. He raised his bone staff, and the three shrunken skulls at the top of the staff simultaneously glowed with an eerie light.

The ground began to shake.

One after another, pale white bone spurs burst forth from the ground, densely packed, like the fangs of a suddenly opened beast's mouth, instantly covering an area of ​​ten feet in radius. Jiang Bai retreated hastily, but the bone spurs grew even faster, and a slanted bone ridge grazed the outside of his calf.

His clothes were torn, and his skin was ripped open.

Instead of bleeding, the wound quickly turned black, and the flesh shrank at a visible rate, revealing the grayish-brown bone underneath.

Bone poisoning.

Moreover, it is not an ordinary poison; it is a natal poison nurtured and tempered by a Foundation Establishment cultivator with their own spiritual power, making it extremely domineering.

Jiang Bai grunted, and his [Poisonous Miasma Symbiosis] technique went into overdrive, forcibly converting the invading poison within his body. However, the poison was too potent, and the conversion rate couldn't keep up with the rate of erosion. His right leg quickly lost sensation, and the skin on his entire calf began to turn a deathly gray.

He knelt on one knee, supporting himself with the bloodied blade, panting heavily.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his face was as pale as paper.

The old man with the Yin Bone slowly approached, his bone staff leaving shallow marks on the muddy ground. Looking at Jiang Bai's disheveled appearance, a satisfied smile appeared on his face: "That's more like it. Those below the Foundation Establishment stage are all ants; many young people don't understand this principle."

He stopped five steps in front of Jiang Bai, raised his bone staff, and pointed the tip at Jiang Bai's forehead.

"Let this old man see your poisonous markings."

The tip of the cane was still three inches from his forehead.

Jiang Bai suddenly looked up and grinned.

His right hand was still supporting the knife, but his left hand had somehow risen to his chest, his five fingers spread, and a dark green poisonous light suddenly burst forth from his palm—[Touch of Corrosive Poison]!

This palm strike wasn't aimed at the Yin Bone Elder, but instead landed heavily on his own chest!

laugh--

Clothes corroded, and skin and flesh ulcerated.

But beneath the festering flesh, what was revealed was not bone, but a layer of dark red, newly formed poisonous patterns. These patterns writhed like living things, absorbing all the toxicity of the [Touch of Corrosive Poison] and then gushing out in the opposite direction!

At the same time, the animal skin medicine packet hidden in Jiang Baixiu exploded—it contained "Rotting Heart Grass" powder found in Madam Qing Teng's legacy. It was highly toxic and was originally intended to be used to collect one of the "Nine Poisons".

The grass powder, mixed with the toxicity of the [Touch of Corruption], transformed into a cloud of dark green poisonous mist, which slammed down on the Yin Bone Elder.

Too close, too fast changes.

The old man with the Yin Bone form suddenly contracted his pupils, and his protective aura instinctively expanded. However, the poisonous fog was extremely corrosive, and the aura emitted a "sizzling" sound before quickly dimming. He retreated hastily, but the poisonous fog still grazed his chest, instantly tearing a large hole in the fabric and revealing his aged skin underneath.

A charred patch appeared on the skin, and the edges were slowly spreading.

"That brat is asking for it!"

The old man with the Yin Bone looked down at the wound on his chest, and true anger finally welled up in his eyes. He, a dignified Foundation Establishment cultivator, had actually been injured by a mere Qi Refining junior. Even if it was just a superficial wound, it was still a great disgrace.

The bone staff was raised high, and the three skulls shone with a bright, eerie light.

"Yellow-rank spell - Hundred Bone Prison!"

The ground trembled violently, and countless white bones burst forth from the earth—not bone spurs, but bone pillars as thick as arms. These bone pillars grew intertwined, instantly forming a bone prison three zhang in diameter around Jiang Bai.

Grayish-white mist emanated from the gaps between the bone pillars; it was concentrated bone poison miasma.

Jiang Bai attempted to sever the bone pillar with his sword, but the blade only left a shallow mark. The recoil caused his hand to split open again. The bone prison continued to shrink, leaving less and less room to maneuver.

What's more troublesome is that bone poison and miasma are seeping in from all directions.

The [Symbiotic Poison] system had reached its limit, but the conversion rate was far from keeping up with the erosion. The right leg had completely lost sensation, and the left leg was also beginning to go numb. The area on the chest where the [Touch of Corrosive Poison] had caused self-inflicted pain was burning—a sign of the poison's backlash.

A desperate situation.

A true dead end.

Jiang Bai leaned against a bone pillar and slowly slid to the ground, his Bloodstained Blade resting horizontally on his knees. He raised his head and looked through the gap in the bone pillar at the Yin Bone Elder outside, suddenly a smile appearing on his face: "A Foundation Establishment cultivator is nothing more than this."

The old man with the skeletal frame grew even angrier: "Even on the verge of death, you still try to win with your words."

"I'm not just being sarcastic." Jiang Bai coughed twice, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. "What I'm trying to say is, after living all these years, have you ever thought about one thing—"

He paused, lowered his voice, and spoke with a seductive tone.

"Why should I, a mere Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator, fight you even though I know I'm no match for you?"

The old man with the yin bones was taken aback.

In that moment of stunned silence, deep within Jiang Baidantian, a long-dormant entry suddenly lit up—【Desperate Counterattack】.

When near death, all attributes increase by 50%.

At this moment, he was on the verge of death.

A scalding power surged from the depths of his limbs and bones, forcibly opening his previously depleted meridians, and causing his spiritual energy to churn like boiling water. The numbness in his right leg was temporarily suppressed, and the intense pain in his chest transformed into a burning fighting spirit.

Jiang Bai used one hand to support himself and stood up.

He gripped the bloodstained blade tightly in his right hand, the dark red patterns on the blade seeming to come alive, emanating a thick, bloody stench. At the tip of his left finger, a dark green poisonous light shone again, but this time it wasn't [Touch of Corrosive Poison], but rather the starting stance for [Poison Explosion].

The old man with the yin bones' expression changed slightly.

He sensed the surge in Jiang Bai's aura, a power far beyond what one would expect from a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator, and even hinted at the threshold of the late-stage Qi Refining realm.

"A secret technique?" A hint of wariness flashed in his eyes, but greed shone through. "Excellent! Very good! This kind of secret technique for unleashing potential is just what I need!"

The bone staff slammed down heavily.

The bone structure suddenly contracted, and the bone columns squeezed inward, trying to grind Jiang Bai into a paste.

Jiang Bai was moved.

He stopped dodging and charged straight at the bone pillar in front of him, raising the Bloodstained Blade high above his head and pouring all his spiritual power into the blade.

Breaking Army Blade Technique - Soul-Slaying Style!

He hadn't fully mastered this move, but now, with the enhancement of [Desperate Counterattack], his sword intent spontaneously coalesced. Before the blade even arrived, a fierce, blood-soaked killing intent, reminiscent of a battlefield carnage, had already surged forth.

clang!!!

The blade struck the center of the bone pillar.

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the bone pillar before it shattered with a deafening roar. Jiang Bai burst out from the gaping hole, his Bloodstained Blade undiminished in its momentum, aiming straight for the Yin Bone Elder's face!

"A trivial skill."

The old man with the skeletal frame sneered, his bone cane held horizontally.

Knives and canes clashed.

The shockwave exploded, uprooting the surrounding withered grass. Jiang Bai was sent flying backward again, spitting out blood, but the Yin Bone Elder also took a step back, his right hand holding the staff slightly numb.

He looked down at the bone staff and noticed a shallow mark on it.

"A fine blade." The old man's eyes burned with even greater greed. "This blade, this secret technique, and your poisonous markings—they all belong to me today!"

He no longer held back, unleashing his full power from the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

As the bone staff was swung, dozens of bone spears materialized out of thin air and rained down on Jiang Bai. Each bone spear was coated with a chilling bone poison, enough to easily pierce through the protective spiritual light of a Qi Refining cultivator.

Jiang Bai stood leaning on his sword, looking at the sky full of bone spears, without the slightest fear on his face.

The dark green poisonous light at the tip of his left finger had reached its peak, a sign of the complete form of the [Poison Explosion] technique. But he didn't detonate it. Instead, he looked down at his right arm—the newly formed dark red poisonous mark was now slightly warm.

It wasn't scalding hot, but rather a strange resonance.

As if sensing the dense bone poison miasma around it, the poison pattern started to operate on its own, slowly absorbing and transforming it.

Jiang Bai suddenly understood something.

He grinned, revealing his bloodstained teeth.

Then he did something that surprised the old man with the Yin bones—he spread his arms wide, abandoned all defense, and let the bone spears shoot at him.

puff!puff!puff!

Three bone spears pierced through his chest and abdomen.

Blood spurted out.

Jiang Bai swayed and knelt down, but the smile on his face became even brighter.

"So that's how it is."

He muttered to himself, the poisonous mark on his right arm now turning blood red, frantically devouring the bone poison that had invaded his body. With each bit it devoured, the poisonous mark solidified and its color deepened.

[Poisonous Pattern Rebirth Progress: 2/9]

A system notification flashed through my mind.

The old man with the Yin Bone frowned; he sensed something was wrong. Not only was this kid not dead, but the aura of the poisonous markings on his body was actually intensifying.

"Playing tricks!"

Without further hesitation, he flashed forward and arrived in front of Jiang Bai, smashing the bone staff down on his head.

This strike, delivered with seventy percent of its force, was enough to shatter the skull of a Qi Refining cultivator.

Jiang Bai looked up at him, his eyes showing no fear, only an almost manic calm.

His lips moved, and he uttered two words.

"It was worth it."

The bone staff fell.

The sharp crack of a skull shattering suddenly rang out in the quiet mountain path, exceptionally jarring.

Jiang Bai's body went limp and collapsed, blood gushing from his seven orifices, quickly soaking the soil beneath him.

The old man with the Yin Bone put down his staff and stood there, staring at the corpse for a moment. Suddenly, his expression changed drastically—the crimson poisonous mark on the corpse's right arm was slowly dissipating, not dissipating, but rather turning into wisps of blood mist as if evaporating, quietly merging into the air.

"Is this the self-destruction of the poisonous markings?"

He hurriedly bent down to grab the blood mist, but the moment it touched his skin, a burning pain shot through him. He quickly withdrew his hand, and when he looked up again, the blood mist had completely vanished.

Only a cold corpse and a dark red broken knife remained on the spot.

The old man with the dark bones had a face so gloomy it was almost as if water could drip from it.

He crouched down and carefully examined Jiang Bai's corpse: his dantian was shattered, his meridians were severed, and his soul was scattered—clearly, he was beyond dead. But what about the poison pattern? How could that aura, which clearly carried the foundation of true blood poison patterns, have vanished into thin air?

"Could it be some kind of forbidden technique?"

He pondered for a moment, ultimately attributing it to the mysterious nature of the Ten Thousand Poisons Valley's legacy. Fortunately, the knife was still there.

He reached out to grab the bloodied knife.

The moment his fingers touched the hilt of the sword, a chilling, bone-piercing resentment spread rapidly up his arm, and he seemed to hear the clanging of metal on a battlefield. The old man with the Yin Bone groaned, circulating his Foundation Establishment stage spiritual power to forcibly suppress the resentment.

"What a vicious knife."

He picked up the knife, weighed it in his hand, glanced at Jiang Bai's corpse on the ground, and finally let out a cold snort.

"You died a quick death."

The bone staff slammed into the ground, creating a fissure that swallowed the corpse. The old man with the skeletal frame, carrying his blood-stained knife, turned and vanished into the depths of the mist.

The mountain path returned to silence.

Only a few pools of blood that had not yet dried and the shattered bones scattered on the ground silently testified that a deadly battle had taken place here.

I don't know how much time passed.

Deep underground, Jiang Bai's consciousness slowly awoke in the darkness.

[Number of deaths: 10]

[Reach the milestone of ten deaths to unlock a hidden hint: Death is a measure of reincarnation; the true meaning will be revealed at fifty deaths.]

Please select one of the three death reward terms.

Three orbs of light appeared before my eyes.

The green entry on the left reads: "【Bone Toxin Affinity】" - Increased resistance to bone toxins, allowing for slow absorption and conversion.

The blue text in the middle reads: "【Corpse Poison Body】- The body can contain corpse poison, and attacks inflict a corruption effect."

On the right is the purple entry: [Poisonous Pattern Rebirth] - After the poisonous pattern is broken, it can be reborn more quickly, and the strength of the poisonous pattern increases with each rebirth.

Jiang Bai stared at the three options and remained silent for a long time.

Green entries address the symptoms, blue entries offer shortcuts, but only purple entries address the root cause.

However, his poisonous markings have shattered and his body is about to decay. Whether he can survive until the completion of Nirvana is still unknown.

"Choose blue."

The ball of light instantly disappeared into the space between the eyebrows.

A chilling, decaying power surged into his limbs and bones, and his previously festering body began to slowly stabilize. The wound in his chest, pierced by the bone spear, stopped bleeding and instead formed a hard, grayish-black scab.

[Corpse Poison Body] is in effect.

At the same time, the bone poison that had been forcibly suppressed within the body began to merge with the residual aura of the newly formed poisonous patterns, transforming into a more sinister and domineering poison that settled deep within the shattered meridians.

Jiang Bai opened his eyes.

Before him lay boundless darkness, beneath him damp earth. He was buried very deep, but the [Corpse Poison Body] had temporarily put his body into a state of suspended animation; he no longer needed to breathe, and his heartbeat had nearly stopped.

He slowly raised his right hand.

On his right arm, the once blood-red venomous mark had completely disappeared, leaving only a faint scar. Yet, deep within the scar, he could clearly sense a dormant power, like a hibernating venomous snake, waiting for its moment to awaken.

[Poisonous Pattern Rebirth Progress: 2.5/9]

The system notification flashed again.

Jiang Bai grinned. "We've got the Bone Mound Corpse Poison."

He closed his eyes and began to silently circulate the "Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Technique".

The dense Yin energy underground, mixed with the lingering bone poison, was slowly absorbed by the [Corpse Poison Body]. Through the cultivation technique, it was transformed into strands of pure poison power, nourishing the riddled flesh.

This time, he was more seriously injured than he was in Black Wind Valley.

But this time, he has a new trump card in his hand.

Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Jiang Bai smiled silently in the darkness.

wait.