Deities: Rulers of Nature

After playing with the baby fawn for a while, Crimson let it return to its mother before taking out the venom glands of the giant toad she was carrying.

In his early years, when Chi Hong became a temple guard, Ji Xuan's divine gift to him included the modification of the poison sac.

This allows Crimson to synthesize various venoms, whether they come from plants or wild animals; once analyzed, they can be synthesized and utilized by Crimson.

But all of this requires a prerequisite: Crimson must first incorporate the new venom into its venom sac before it can use its mental power to perform in-depth analysis.

Actually, compared to when Crimson was researching snake venom in the early days, it is much safer now. Back then, the research on blood-purging snake venom was very dangerous, and Crimson almost lost his life several times.

When I studied the putrefactive venom of the black-scaled boa last time, although the process was still quite uncomfortable and far from easy, it was actually safe and caused very little damage to the body.

Crimson extended its index finger, flicking out a sharp claw tip, and precisely sliced ​​open the venom gland. A thick, milky-white liquid with a pungent, fishy smell slowly flowed out and dripped into a special container that had been prepared beforehand below.

sizzle...

Even though the vessel was specially made in crimson, it clearly couldn't withstand the corrosive white poison.

The moment the white liquid dripped onto the surface of the vessel, a piercing corrosive sound rang out, and dense bubbles appeared at the point of contact, even rising up unpleasant white smoke.

"As expected of the deadly poison that my lord mentioned." Crimson couldn't help but exclaim.

When fighting the Venomous Giant Toad before, Crimson had already witnessed the power of the Bone-Corroding White Poison, but that was diluted by the river water and was not as direct as it is now.

Unlike venomous snakes whose venom glands are located on their heads, the Red-banded Snake Man's venom sacs are located on his chest. Countless tiny venom transport channels connect to his ten fingers, and with just a thought, the venom sacs contract, quickly delivering venom to his claws.

This is also related to the attack methods of snake people during their evolution, since they no longer needed to bite their prey with their teeth.

It's also simple to draw venom into the venom sac. Crimson simply places its claw tip in the venom, causing the sac to expand in the opposite direction and generate suction, which naturally draws the venom in along the veins.

Of course, this method can only be used by Crimson. If other snake people try to imitate it, they will probably die without even knowing how they died.

After the bone-corroding white poison from the venom glands had all flowed out, Crimson glanced at the distant natural oak tree and the frolicking fawns, then looked away.

He gently placed the tip of his index finger on the surface of the venom, and absorption began.

The milky white liquid in the vessel dropped at a visible speed, flowing down the fingertips into the crimson body. Soon, pale white lines appeared beneath the red and black snake scales covering the crimson arm.

These fine lines, as if alive, meandered and spread, heading straight upwards towards the poison sac in the chest.

Crimson closed his eyes, his spiritual power transforming into an invisible fine net that seeped into the bone-corroding white poison.

From a microscopic perspective, the internal structure of Venom is rapidly imprinted into Red's mind.

However, the process was not as peaceful as it seemed on the surface. A deep, bone-chilling pain was constantly coming from his arms and chest, and soon a layer of sweat appeared on his red forehead.

Crimson wasn't actually injured by the bone-corroding white poison, but rather it was a reaction that occurred to the nerves when the mental energy was analyzing the poison.

For Crimson, every moment of analyzing Venom was like scraping bone.

Crimson maintained a high level of concentration, which actually made his perception of pain clearer. Fortunately, Crimson's willpower was not bad, and he managed to endure until the end.

Once the bone-corroding white poison was completely neutralized by the crimson, the excruciating pain suddenly dissipated, and a strange sense of emptiness swept over the entire body, accompanied by a feeling of relief and ease.

"It's finally done."

Crimson opened its eyes, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, slightly bent its index finger, and flicked its claw again, a drop of viscous, milky-white venom seeping from the claw tip.

At this point, it can no longer be called "bone-corroding white poison"; it should be called "bone-corroding snake venom."

However, this is only the first stage; the more difficult part is yet to come.

Chi Hong got up, stretched, and loosened her muscles before stepping into the Crystal Dew Fruit Forest.

I picked a few and ate them, and the emptiness and fatigue in my body quickly subsided.

At this moment, the group of baby fawns also came over, and Chi Hong fed them one by one.

The one that had been circling around him earlier was even fed several pieces of giant toad meat.

That's right, budding deer can eat meat. Their diet is extremely diverse; they can eat grass, meat, or even just sunbathe when there's no food.

However, their combat power is too low, and they can hardly defeat any wild beasts. Moreover, they are docile and rarely launch attacks unless they encounter a life-threatening crisis.

Feeling his mind return to calm and his body recover, Crimson once again led the little fawn to its mother. He then went to a slightly secluded spot on the mountaintop, his thick snake tail coiled around him. He closed his eyes again and began the most important stage.

With a thought, several different venoms were simultaneously generated in the venom sac: blood-oozing snake venom, putrefying snake venom, and bone-corroding snake venom. The three venoms each occupied their own territory, clearly distinct.

At this moment, a portion of the crimson spiritual energy had already transformed into a fine net that enveloped the entire poison sac, while the other portion had transformed into a barrier.

The so-called fusion of poisons is not simply a matter of physically mixing the three types of poison. Not to mention whether the poisons would cancel each other out, even if the mixing was successful, it would not help him break through to the Bronze rank.

Crimson must use his mental power to extract the core toxicity of the three venoms, then purify them, and finally forcibly fuse the purest essence together.

Create a new venom with three different venom toxicities, and even a stronger fusion toxicity.

Crimson had never done this before, but he wasn't nervous because Sprout Deer had cleared his mind of distractions.

Thanks to prior in-depth understanding, the extraction and purification process was completed easily, and before long, only three highly concentrated toxic substances remained in the crimson venom sac.

Instead of coming up with all three together right away, Crimson first tried to merge them in pairs to transition.

He used his mental power to extract a wisp of each from the putrid saliva and the corrosive bone, attempting to get closer and merge them, but a violent repulsion occurred the moment they touched.

"hiss……"

Although it was only two strands, it made Chi Hong gasp in shock.

The feeling was as if someone was stirring inside his chest cavity with a blunt knife, and the excruciating pain, like having his heart and lungs ripped out, was transmitted from his mental energy to his nerves, causing his crimson body to tremble uncontrollably.

Once, twice...

Crimson adjusted the proportions more and more precisely each time, but also faced failure after failure. Each breakdown meant he would be tormented by a wave of pain.

Gradually, the crimson consciousness blurred amidst the excruciating pain of repeated failures, the fine mental energy net enveloping the poison sac began to show signs of breaking, and even the source of the poison within the sac began to dissipate.

If this continues, Crimson will undoubtedly lose consciousness, and at that point, the uncontrolled source of poison will erupt, enveloping Crimson in toxic gas.

Just then, Ji Xuan made his move.

Beyond the unseen Crimson, countless tiny green specks of light drifted down from the canopy of the natural oak tree, enveloping Crimson and nourishing his spirit.

The excruciating pain persisted, but the crimson consciousness returned to clarity.

"Melt it for me!"

Crimson realized that this was a blessing from the God of Nature, whom he believed in.

Before she could express her sincere praise to Ji Xuan, Crimson wanted to seize this opportunity to fuse the three sources of poison in one fell swoop.

The spiritual power, along with the green light spots, struck down like a heavy hammer, squeezing the three together. Even the mutual repulsion and collapse were suppressed by the crimson.

Finally, these three sources of toxicity actually began to blend together under the influence of the green light, and entirely new toxicities began to emerge in the venom sac.

After an unknown amount of time, the three original sources of toxicity in the venom sac had disappeared, replaced by a single drop of crystal-clear amethyst-colored venom.

In the crimson's perception, this drop of amethyst venom was too pure; it had no odor, nor any unusual phenomena such as white smoke. When still, it resembled an amethyst crystal.

However, this does not mean that it is weak in toxicity. The perfect combination of three toxins—blood ulceration, putrefaction, and bone corrosion—produces a completely new kind of toxicity.

Before Crimson could continue exploring the drop of amethyst venom, a very faint yet incredibly clear cracking sound reached his ears. This sound seemed to have broken through his bottleneck, causing his spiritual power and blood energy to surge.

The extraordinary seed, polished to its extreme crimson, cracked open.

As the cracks multiplied, the extraordinary seed shattered with a deafening roar, turning into countless tiny specks of light and dust.

These flowing light dusts, turning his entire body crimson, not only restored his condition but also comprehensively enhanced his four-dimensional attributes.

"Is this what Brother Qinglv meant by the rupture of the extraordinary seed?" Crimson exclaimed in realization.

Green had explained his experience of entering the Bronze realm to Crimson, so Crimson wasn't surprised. In fact, he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

"So, what's next..."

The crimson consciousness followed the flow of light dust, wandering through every part of its body. Suddenly, the light dust condensed together, transforming into a pillar of light that directly reopened the crimson sea of ​​consciousness.

As a pulling force dragged his consciousness along, in the blink of an eye, the scene before his crimson eyes turned into chaos.

Unlike the cyan sea of ​​consciousness, the center of the crimson sea of ​​consciousness was not a lake of blood-red qi and blood, but a white lake, with a blood mist floating above it.

"So this is the opposite of what Brother Qinglv did."

That's right, the lower part of the crimson sea of ​​consciousness is the lake of spirit, while the upper part is the mist of qi and blood. However, these are actually just reflections of the two energies in the sea of ​​consciousness.

The crimson lake of the spirit is not calm; a touch of green surges within it, which soon grows into a bronze sapling—this is the crimson tree of profession.

At the same time, Crimson could sense that he had taken up a profession called Warlock.

Unbeknownst to Chi Hong, Ji Xuan was looking at his control panel:

【Name: Crimson】

[Race: Xishan Serpent People - Red Chain Serpent People]

[Talent: Snake Venom]

【age:-】

[Class: Warlock]

[Potential: Bronze]

[Level: 21 (Bronze)]

[Physical Fitness: 7]

【Strength: 6】

[Agility: 7]

【Spirit: 15】

[Skills: Amethyst Poison Source, ...]

[Information: The first warlock of the Snake-People race in Xishan...]

Unlike the cyan, the crimson character didn't waste most of its attribute points; through proper training, they were all allocated to spirit.

Those who pioneered the way always felt their way across the river, and Ji Xuan was fortunate that he didn't go astray, whether it was green or crimson.

Although it's called a game about gods, the virtual world is still a real world, and unlike the games Ji Xuan played before, you can't reset your stats here.

Perhaps a deity who holds certain divine authority could do it, but at least Ji Xuan at this moment could not.

-----------------

What pulled the crimson consciousness back to reality was a warm, damp sensation.

Without even opening his eyes, Crimson knew it was the little fawn licking him.

"You, you, what if I had just lost consciousness? You little rascal would have been poisoned to death." Chi Hong's tone carried a hint of helplessness.

"Yo yo yo~"

The little fawn didn't understand any of this. When it saw Chi Hong open its eyes, the whole deer became visibly excited.

It was indeed a cause for celebration; it almost knocked Crimson over.

Upon entering the Bronze tier, the world in Crimson Eyes underwent a slight change, as if a thin veil had been torn away.

It wasn't a dramatic change, just a change to the Bronze rank. The change was that his vision was clearer, as if the resolution had increased. He could now see the red veins on the antlers of the little sprout deer very clearly.

"Stop for a second, little guy."

Gently cradling the baby fawn's head with both hands, bringing it to a stop from its excited leaps. The baby fawn's big eyes were watery and very clear, without a trace of impure thoughts.

Crimson could even clearly see his own reflection in it, and it was not much different from before the advancement. However, a small amethyst dot the size of a grain of rice had appeared in the center of his brow.

It wasn't flashy, but it added a touch of danger to the original crimson aura.

"This is……"

Chi Hong subconsciously touched it with his fingers, and it felt like he was touching a crystal.

Without a doubt, the appearance of that thing between his eyebrows was due to the amethyst venom.

It's unclear whether the intervention of the God of Nature was involved, but now that the advancement has been successfully achieved, the next step is:

"Praise be to you, great God of Nature!"

Crimson bowed deeply and devoutly toward the Tree of Nature.

After playing with the little deer for a while, and using her blood and spirit to help the little guy cleanse his body, Crimson descended the mountain along the pilgrimage route, checking her condition as she went.

First is Amethyst Venom. As a fusion of three venoms, Amethyst Venom's main toxicity lies in its ablative properties.

Crimson tried it out. The special container he had previously used to hold the Bone-Corroding White Poison could be melted through by a single drop of amethyst venom. The marble on the roadside was also no match for the melting of the amethyst venom.

We haven't encountered a higher-ranking Crimson yet, so it's hard to judge, but if he goes all out, at least a Bronze-ranked monster wouldn't be able to withstand the Amethyst Venom.

That's right, the potency of the amethyst venom can be adjusted according to Crimson Will.

This is actually quite important, because you can't always go hunting and bring back prey that has been dissolved to the point of being almost nonexistent.

Moreover, Chi Hong believes that being able to both control and expand is the key to perfect self-control.