The best way to deal with poison insects was through fire.
Although Xiao Yan couldn't yet materialize his Dou Qi flame directly and needed the aid of a medicinal cauldron and a Monster Core to ignite the flame, the skills of an alchemist were nonetheless his own abilities.
He violently opened the lid and the Rank 2 Fire Attribute Monster Core, fully ignited by the Dou Qi flame, exploded into terrifying flames with a loud bang!
Xiao Yan used his Spiritual Strength to control the flames and transformed them into a fire dragon that charged toward the dense swarm of poison insects.
Zhang Chuan Wu laughed instead of panicking when he saw the fire dragon approaching. He had seen the fire of the alchemists' medicinal cauldrons too many times to be scared. Although he couldn't refine medicinal pills, he did have a medicinal cauldron, though it was used to refine poison.
"Cauldron Fire? Indeed, poison insects fear the most yang of things. But my poison insects have been refined through the Poison Insect Technique and have evolved within my body for three generations. They are all protected by a layer of poison energy cloak. How could the flames of a mere Rank 2 Monster Core harm my poison insects?!!"
Puff! The fire dragon opened its mouth and 'swallowed' all the poison insects in one gulp. Then it coiled in the air and enveloped the countless poison insects as if it were a ball of fire.
Buzz, buzz, buzz! Strangely, the poison insects were still moving freely within the fireball, seemingly unafraid of being scorched by the flames.
Xiao Yan shook his head, placed his hands over the opening of the medicinal cauldron, and said indifferently, "Unfortunately, the flames I possess are not ordinary flames. Although there are only a few strands, they are, after all, from the Bone Chilling Flame. It's more than enough to deal with these poison insects."
A few strands of bone-white Bone Chilling Flame converged into a long white needle. This move was precisely the 'Needle Threading Flame Control' technique used by Hun Huzi during the refinement of the poison pill!
With just one look, he firmly memorized the technique and succeeded in seizing it!
Upon seeing the bone-white Heavenly Flame needle emerge from the fire dragon, all the Poison Winged Ants were startled and immediately turned to flee with a whoosh. Evidently, they were terrified by the needle transformed from the Heavenly Flame.
It was, after all, the 11th-ranked Heavenly Flame!
Heavenly Flames were the most extreme Yang things on the Dou Qi Continent. Born from heaven and earth, they were the nemesis of all poisons!
In fact, the Poison Winged Ants that had been nurtured by Zhang Chuan Wu's poison Dou Qi for years were not afraid of ordinary medicinal cauldron flames, let alone considering Xiao Yan's lower cultivation level. However, encountering a Heavenly Flame meant facing their ultimate bane.
Even if Zhang Chuan Wu was a Dou Grandmaster, and his poison insects were twice as powerful, once touched by the Heavenly Flame, their only fate was death.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!
Under the Heavenly Flame's needle threading technique, all the poison insects couldn't resist at all; any poison energy cloak they had was like a mist before the wind. Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength was extraordinary. Even Hun Huzi had praised it. Possessing such Spiritual Strength without any Soul Training Method truly made him a natural-born alchemist.
The fire dragon served merely as a seal to prevent the poison insects from escaping. The real deadly move was the needle composed of a few strands of Bone Chilling Flame!
"Come back!!" Zhang Chuan Wu's heart was bleeding; those were his carefully nurtured poison insects!
By the time Zhang Chuan Wu ran toward Xiao Yan, dragging his severely injured body to attack, all of his poison insects had already been annihilated by the Heavenly Flame Needles controlled by the latter, sparing not a single one.
His face filled with despair as he saw his poison insects reduced to ashes. After spitting out a mouthful of blood, he actually gave up on life and died!
Had Zhang Chuan Wu not been a Poison Master and instead practiced a High Xuan Class Qi Method and Dou Techniques, Xiao Yan might not have been able to defeat him.
However, Zhang Chuan Wu was precisely a Poison Master who focused on cultivating poison insects, while Xiao Yan was a 2nd-tier alchemist with exceptionally strong Spiritual Strength. Coupled with some Bone Chilling Flame, it can be said that the latter completely overpowered the former.
What was a troublesome and dangerous Poison Master to others turned out to be little to no threat to him.
When Xiao Yan approached Zhang Chuan Wu's body, he found that his internal organs had already been hollowed out! Without his poison insects, Zhang Chuan Wu was doomed to only one fate: death.
'It seems he participated in the trial in hopes of finding a way to save his life within the Hall of Souls.'
Undoubtedly, a Poison Master was a profession that could deal 1000 thousand damage to the enemy, but it could also deal 800 damage to oneself.
They were indeed powerful but excessively harsh on themselves.
[Having completed all the High Huang Class trials, you are granted the title of High Huang Class Soul Envoy. You may choose to exit the trial grounds and enter the Treasure Hall to use your soul points to exchange for resources, or you may proceed to undergo the Xuan Class trials.]
Xiao Yan listened to the spiritual voice that directly entered his soul, his expression solemn.
'The Xuan Class. From the perspective of Qi Methods and Dou Techniques, the gap between the Xuan Class and the Huang Class is like a chasm.'
Although Xiao Yan had only fought two battles in the High Huang Class trials, it could be said that both battles were full of danger and close calls.
In those battles, he had relied not merely on brute strength but also on wit, strategy, and a bit of luck to emerge victorious with relative ease.
Xiao Yan checked the Soul Command, and the inscription on it naturally changed to 'High Huang Class' with exactly one hundred soul points.
'One hundred soul points can just be exchanged for a High Huang Class Qi Method or Dou Technique.'
'If I could clear from the Low Xuan Class all the way to the High Xuan Class, I would have exactly one thousand soul points, enough to exchange for a High Xuan Class Qi Method or Dou Technique.'
Xiao Yan couldn't help but laugh bitterly. High Xuan Class? He wasn't even sure he could defeat an opponent in the Low Xuan Class trials.
A High Xuan Class opponent could very well be a Rank 3 Magical Beast! A Rank 3 Magical Beast could squash him into a pulp with a single swipe of its paw!
Even his father, Xiao Zhan, might not be able to defeat a Rank 3 Magical Beast, let alone him, a mere Dou Practitioner.
However, Xiao Yan quickly laughed it off and muttered with conviction, "If I can't even reach the Xuan Class, what face would I have left to return and see Xun Er?"
Nevertheless, he was in no hurry. After taking a Qi Recovering Pill to restore his Dou Qi, he reignited the medicinal cauldron, cut his finger to drop a blood droplet into it, and watched as the flame slowly decomposed the blood.
He was still poisoned at this moment.
'To refine a Detoxification Pill, one must first know the composition of the poison and the toxins involved.'
Since he had absorbed the poison, he needed to analyze its components in his blood and then use the effects of specific medicinal ingredients to neutralize the toxins.
Strictly speaking, this was his first time formally detoxifying. The previous instance with Hun Huzi didn't count; it was more of a quick-witted solution than a proper detoxification.
After a day and a night of painstaking analysis, Xiao Yan finally identified the right medicinal herb to purify the toxins. He refined a Detoxification Pill and successfully removed the poison from his body.
"It actually took a whole day just for the detoxification. Killing is easy, saving lives is hard; getting poisoned is easy, detoxifying is hard."
Xiao Yan muttered sarcastically, then noticed that everything around him was dead silent, making him feel rather lunatic.
"I've spent quite some time in this trial ground; it's time to wrap this up. Let's challenge the Xuan Class trials!"
A buzzing sound rang out, and a door suddenly appeared before him as soon as he spoke. Unlike the previous portals, this door looked tangible and very real.
"As expected from the Xuan Class, even the door is different," Xiao Yan mused as he walked through the door.
...
In the Hun Realm within the void, thousands of young people practiced Dou Techniques in the cultivation ground of a secluded city.
The instructor of the cultivation ground suddenly received a spiritual message. He casually pointed at a young man and said, "Hun Yu Cun, someone from the outside world has applied for the Xuan Class advancement trial. It's your turn to go."
All the Hun Clan descendants present at the cultivation ground showed expressions of envy, jealousy, and resentment upon hearing the instructor's words. Why did such a good opportunity to gain soul points never fall upon them!
"You're lucky, Yu Cun. One needs one hundred soul points to advance to the Xuan Class. Isn't facing someone from the outside world practically like being handed points for free?"
Hun Yu Cun's eyes sharpened as he licked his lips and said, "What I enjoy most is hunting down these ignorant fellows from the outside world. My collection is about to increase by one."