Chapter 1845 — A Joyous Discovery

But from another perspective, Zhang Naipao could convert other forms of true qi into his own. That meant his true qi had naturally lost the ability to heal injuries. Compared with him, Wei Zhao still had the advantage.

This mutated fire-poison true qi filled every corner of the meridians in Wei Zhao's arm. It was not connected in one mass, but scattered throughout. Perhaps the medicines administered from outside had temporarily suppressed it beneath the normal true qi in his body. Without that medicinal suppression, however, it would likely have gained the upper hand.

Wei Zhao carefully used his own true qi to encase the fire-poison true qi, trying to gather it all together. Only by concentrating it and suppressing it as a whole could he awaken, then force it out of his body in one stroke.

Yet what sounded easy was anything but easy in practice.

The moment Wei Zhao's true qi came into contact with the fire-poison true qi, the latter, which had been behaving itself, suddenly grew restless again. An unbearably searing aura surged from it, making Wei Zhao's entire body shudder. The heat of that fire-poison true qi was terrifying; in that brief instant alone, it inspired such dread that one instinctively wanted to retreat and never draw near it again.

Sure enough, deviation into madness was the greatest obstacle on the path of martial cultivation. Throughout the ages, how many prodigies of martial arts had been ruined by it? Some went mad for the rest of their lives; others burst apart and died. Even Wei Zhao, whose willpower was formidable, found himself wanting to give up immediately upon first coming into contact with that fire-poison true qi.

But Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to persist. He rapidly circulated the first layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula within his body, using his true qi to drive the fire-poison true qi toward his right hand. He intended to force every trace of it into that hand, then expel it all at once.

The next moment, however, Wei Zhao discovered that his idea was beautiful in theory, but in practice the fire-poison true qi seemed not to obey the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula's commands at all. It even showed faint signs of resisting it, and Wei Zhao was instantly struck by utter terror.

How could this fire-poison true qi be so powerful?

"Aah——!!!!" After half an hour of struggling against it, Wei Zhao finally let out a great shout and gave up in dejection.

He had discovered that no matter how hard he tried, the fire-poison true qi simply refused to obey his commands. It did not move in the slightest. Tell it to go east, and although it would not go west, neither would it go east. It simply stayed where it was. What could he possibly do to it?

It had been only half an hour, yet Wei Zhao was already sweating profusely. He felt that the effort he had spent struggling against the fire-poison true qi during that time had been even harder than breaking through to a new level under ordinary circumstances.

"Old Jiao, I can't go on. That fire-poison true qi simply won't obey me. I can't force it together!" Wei Zhao gave a bitter laugh as he spoke to Jiao Yazi.

"Of course it won't. If it obeyed you, that would be the strange thing!" Jiao Yazi nodded as though it were only to be expected.

"Huh?" Wei Zhao stared wide-eyed at him. "What do you mean? Wasn't this what you told me to do?"

"I did tell you to do it. But when did I ever say you should use the first layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula to drive away that fire-poison true qi?" Jiao Yazi countered.

"If not the first layer, then the second?" Wei Zhao shot back indignantly. "I went into deviation precisely because I was cultivating the second layer. Using it again would be suicide!"

"But you have already gone into deviation, haven't you? And the people outside have surely given you the antidote that suppresses deviation. You have already passed through the second layer's body tempering and the early Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation. You cannot go into deviation again—at least, not for the same reason!" Jiao Yazi explained. "This fire-poison true qi was created when you went into deviation while cultivating the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula. And you want to use the first layer to drive it away? Even a fool could see that would never work!"

"Uh..." Wei Zhao wiped the sweat from his brow, looking a little embarrassed. It was true; he had not thought of that before. The fire-poison had been produced when the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula drove him into deviation. How could it possibly fear being driven away by the first layer?

No wonder it had not merely refused to be intimidated, but had even shown faint signs of resisting him. He had simply been using the wrong cultivation method.

"Then... why didn't you remind me earlier, or stop me from wasting my effort?" Wei Zhao asked plaintively. He had squandered half an hour for nothing.

"I didn't dare disturb you while you were cultivating. I was afraid that if I reminded you, you would go into deviation again. That would have been a terrible bargain," Jiao Yazi said with grave seriousness.

"..." Wei Zhao was speechless. During his ordinary cultivation in the past, Jiao Yazi had never been sparing with his chatter. Yet now he had suddenly become cautious! Still, Wei Zhao understood. His previous deviation had clearly left Jiao Yazi with a psychological scar; he was afraid that something might go wrong in another way.

After resting for a while, Wei Zhao once again began circulating the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula. This time, however, he circulated the second layer. Since he was not yet familiar with it, he proceeded carefully, feeling his way along as he went. Until he had mastered the circulation, Wei Zhao did his best not to touch the fire-poison true qi.

And as long as Wei Zhao left the fire-poison true qi alone, it naturally could not be bothered with what he was doing.

About a day later, Wei Zhao had completely grasped the second layer's formula and incantations. He could not claim to have achieved much, but at the very least, he could circulate it with ease. Nor did Wei Zhao have any intention of making further progress in cultivation before expelling the fire-poison.

Little by little, Wei Zhao began trying to use the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula to guide the true qi within his body and wrap it around the fire-poison true qi.

Then something astonishing happened. When the previously imperious fire-poison encountered the true qi guided by the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula, it became somewhat wary and timid. Its former arrogance vanished completely.

Feeling this, Wei Zhao was overjoyed, though a little embarrassed as well. If he had tried this sooner, he would not have wasted that half hour of effort.

Encased by Wei Zhao's true qi and guided by the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula, the fire-poison true qi began to move slowly. It was clearly reluctant, but it moved all the same...

This change delighted Wei Zhao even more. The fire-poison was moving extremely slowly, but the fact that it could move at all was good news. It seemed that although the fire-poison had mutated from the true qi of the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Formula, it was still unable to resist genuine second-layer true qi.

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