"Emperor Tianning, what did you see?" Wei Tianchen forced down his emotions and tried to speak calmly.
"The Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet," Zhao Xing didn't hide it. "I saw a gray cabinet with seven stars embedded on it, corresponding exactly to the Heavenly Ship, Accumulated Water, Upper General, Left Protector, Heavenly Yin, Accumulated Corpse, and Great Mausoleum—the seven giant stars."
"Where?!" Wei Tianchen got agitated again. "Tell me now!"
"Old Doctor, don't be so hasty. I didn't get a good look earlier. Let me take another look."
Wei Tianchen took a deep breath, scanning Zhao Xing from head to toe like he wanted to see right through him.
Just moments ago, when he grabbed Zhao Xing, he had tried to extract his memory.
Wei Tianchen had viewed the last few dozen seconds of Zhao Xing's memory through a first-person perspective.
But he didn't get anything useful.
Even using first-person memory extraction, he still saw only void.
Yet Zhao Xing had described the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet in detail.
If Zhao Xing wasn't lying, it meant parts of his memory were inaccessible—at least some secret fragments couldn't be retrieved.
"Keep looking. Don't you dare hide anything!" Wei Tianchen was unwilling to give up. He fiddled with the jade ring on his finger, where a black embedded eye pointed directly at Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing was already scanning his surroundings again. He really did need to take a closer look.
Just moments earlier, the panel display had been interrupted when Wei Tianchen seized him.
Also, Zhao Xing had found the panel display particularly strange this time.
Normally, the panel could only analyze living beings.
Non-living objects, like tossing a Torrential Rain Stone in front of him, wouldn't trigger the panel.
But he had just seen a Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet.
Could that mean the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet was a living being—or at least possessed living traits?
He focused in a certain direction. After a while, something indeed appeared.
But it looked distorted, as if it were deliberately hiding, even making the panel waver and flicker.
He stared for quite some time before the panel finally stabilized.
He saw a blurry cabinet—and the panel began to show its related information.
[Name: Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet]
[Quality: Divine Artifact (Living Being)]
[Description: Created by "Fan Qianrou," the Grand Physician of the Five Emperors Era, forged from her own seven hearts to suppress the "Wild God Poison"—a living seal.]
[Remaining Lifespan: 3.5 Epochs]
[Seven Apertures Divine Seal: After countless ages of erosion by the Wild God Poison, only the Great Mausoleum Heart and the secret art "Seven Apertures Heart-Sealing Technique" remain.]
[True Spirit Heavenly Poison: A secondary poison source evolved from the Wild God Poison.]
[Taiyi Heaven Silence Poison Origin Body: A secondary poison source evolved from the Wild God Poison.]
[Wild God Poison: Unknown]
"So it really is a living being?" Zhao Xing accepted the fact—given the wide variety of lifeforms in the universe, this bizarre cabinet could indeed count.
"Damn, this thing even gave birth to two terrifying secondary poison sources?"
"That's horrifying..."
Zhao Xing was utterly stunned. He had never even heard of the Wild God Poison before. He used to think the True Spirit Heavenly Poison was the strongest.
That stuff could kill Semi-Gods—and even Gods couldn't cure it.
But now, this Wild God Poison seemed even scarier. Even the God of Medicine couldn't deal with it and had to seal it using her own body.
And it only had 3.5 Epochs left before it would break free.
Wei Tianchen furrowed his brows. He still couldn't see anything.
But he could sense Zhao Xing's shock—and heard his inner voice saying "That's horrifying."
Too strange. He was holding a divine artifact, yet still couldn't eavesdrop on Zhao Xing's thoughts. It was as if everything Zhao Xing saw and thought had been encrypted.
"Emperor Tianning, what exactly did you see?" Wei Tianchen demanded. "Why are you so panicked?!"
"Old Doctor, how about... we don't take it with us?" Zhao Xing tried to reason. "Something the God of Medicine had to seal away... that thing could be catastrophic if released."
Though he didn't fully understand what the item was, its mere presence made it clear—it was no trivial matter. Taking it away could only lead to trouble.
"I don't need you to teach me," Wei Tianchen said coldly. "Tell me everything you saw. Or would you like to sample some of my poisons?"
"I've already said everything I need to say." Zhao Xing pointed in the direction of the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet. "It's over there. About ten zhang high, three zhang long, and two point four zhang wide."
"As for how far away it is, I really don't know. This place is pure void, with unpredictable spatial fluctuations—I can't measure distance here."
Wei Tianchen immediately dispatched four clones, flying out in the direction Zhao Xing indicated.
The moment his flesh puppets leapt from the ship, they seemed to freeze in place.
But this was only an illusion. Wei Tianchen was still moving. The time-space here was so strange that it created a false perception—Zhao Xing simply thought they hadn't moved at all.
At that moment, Zhao Xing's gaze seemed to trigger a change in the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet.
It began to shake. One small drawer opened, and inside burst out countless threads of light and shadow.
Zhao Xing was baffled. Just scanning with the panel could cause such a reaction?
The threads of light and shadow formed the shape of a black-haired woman dressed in white ceremonial robes.
She opened her mouth toward Zhao Xing and pointed at several spots on the cabinet—seemingly trying to explain something.
She spoke for a long time, and Zhao Xing also listened for a long time.
Unfortunately, he didn't understand a single word.
In the end, the woman in white bowed toward Zhao Xing and then vanished, returning into the drawer.
About three years later, the first of Wei Tianchen's flesh puppet clones that had jumped off the ship suddenly disappeared from Zhao Xing's perspective. In the fifth and sixth years, the remaining three clones also vanished one after another.
Wei Tianchen had lost the cultivation of four lifetimes again and returned empty-handed.
Zhao Xing glanced over. The Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet was still in the same spot.
However, the woman in white didn't reappear.
Having just lost another four lifetimes' worth of cultivation, Wei Tianchen was in a very foul mood.
He was now certain that there had once been a Great Mausoleum Giant Star suppressing space-time here.
As long as he came to this place and relied on his divine artifact, there had been a strong chance of retrieving the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet created by that God Realm physician.
But now, the Great Mausoleum Giant Star was gone. Only the cabinet remained!
Retrieving it had become exceedingly difficult.
Just then, Zhao Xing began walking around on the ship. When Wei Tianchen noticed, his gaze turned deadly.
Zhao Xing knew he had to show his usefulness. If he was of no value, this old freak might kill him right away.
"Old Doctor, don't be so quick to kill me."
"Since I can see what you can't, that proves I'm more useful than you in this place."
"We're not mortal enemies. If I help you and you let me go, isn't that better than leaving empty-handed or wasting time here?"
Wei Tianchen thought seriously for a moment, then actually agreed. "Fine. I swear on the name of the Lì Emperor—if you help me obtain the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet, I will spare your life."
"If I break this oath, I shall never have hope of reaching the God Realm!"
Zhao Xing didn't really trust oaths—there were countless ways to cheat them.
But right now, he only wanted to stall for time until help arrived.
"Alright, I believe you."
"I saw something on the cabinet, but it's hard to describe. I can't put it into words." Zhao Xing glanced at a tower on the ship. "Old Doctor, since you've lived since the Five Emperors Era, you must have preserved many ancient texts."
"Let me take a look. Maybe I can help you translate."
"If you're worried, just show me some unimportant writings—language and historical records, that kind of thing."
Wei Tianchen scrutinized Zhao Xing for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. There's a library on board. Go read there."
After all, he didn't intend to let Zhao Xing live, so it didn't matter if he read the library or not.
Wei Tianchen had already lost more than ten lifetimes of cultivation. If he kept burning through them like this, it would be unsustainable.
Blindly searching without a clue—how many lives would that cost?
In this regard, he did agree with Zhao Xing. Even though he couldn't see it himself, Zhao Xing could. That made Zhao Xing more valuable right now.
Wei Tianchen's library was vast. Rows upon rows of floating bookshelves hovered in layers throughout the space.
It seemed to stretch endlessly.
As someone who had lived through the Five Emperors Era, the amount of books he had collected was astonishing. When Zhao Xing entered and saw the literal mountains of books, he couldn't help but marvel—this library could rival the first three layers of the Academy's Law Realm.
Boom—
A huge number of shelves split apart and vanished.
Wei Tianchen didn't want Zhao Xing wasting time, so he had hidden all the newer-generation books, leaving only the ancient tomes from the Mesozoic Baiwei Period.
Zhao Xing swept through them with his divine sense, rapidly flipping pages and learning.
He also wanted to understand what Fan Qianrou, that God Realm physician, had said.
The language and script from the Five Emperors Era were vastly different from today's, but Zhao Xing quickly mastered over one thousand forms. Still, he couldn't decipher the words Fan Qianrou had spoken.
He kept reading and studying.
Suddenly, his eyes froze. He had just come across a very old medical text.
It seemed to contain information related to the Barren Domain.
Zhao Xing suspected that the Wild God Poison might be linked to the Barren Domain, so he read closely—but the book didn't mention the Wild God Poison at all. However, it did present a unique theory about Barren Domain transformation.
"The illness of cultivation: physical forms and golden bodies are incomplete; the Five Elements and Six Qi are disordered; soul, spirit, and consciousness are clouded; Dao Heart falls into madness—all such pathologies follow the logic of the Great Dao and leave traces. The aberrations of the human body reflect the impermanence of the Dao. To transform this impermanence into tangible principles—this is medicine."
At that point, Zhao Xing still felt it all made sense.
In the medical profession, there was indeed a skill called Pathology Perception. Physicians believed that all living structures in heaven and earth were meant to be perfect. If serious damage occurred, those imperfections would shine like a moonlit night in a physician's perception.
But on the next page, he found something that surprised him.
"Yet some people suffer from incurable illnesses, with no trace of pathology, beyond all medicine. Even the Heavenly Dao suffers ultimate impermanence. Every Great Epoch brings calamities and catastrophes that extinguish myriad lives—does even the Universal Dao possess defects?"
"Now that the Barren Domain spreads, unstoppable, and the Imperial Court's Dao is in disarray—could it be the Dao itself is sick?"
"Huh?"
Zhao Xing flipped to the book's title. It was called The Pathological Theory of the Xuanling Barren Domain, without an author's name. It only recorded a date—Lì Emperor's Third Epoch, Seventh Yang Year.
Checking against historical timelines, that was near the end of the Lì Emperor's era.
"Pathological theory of the Barren Domain? Interesting. So this is how the physicians of the Five Emperors Era viewed natural disasters and the Barren Domain."
The book's author believed that human illnesses stemmed from internal disorder in the Five Elements and Six Qi.
The Six Qi within the body were: Wind, Cold, Heat, Dryness, Dampness, and Fire. In the cosmos, the Six Qi were: Yin, Yang, Wind, Rain, Gloom, and Light.
The Dao of Yin and Yang gives birth to all living things. Life cultivates through the Five Elements and Six Qi to attain the Dao. Illness in humans is closely tied to the changes within the Heavenly Dao.
Conversely, it could be said that an environment unsuitable for life means that the Heavenly Dao itself has fallen ill.
This kind of theory wasn't uncommon. Zhao Xing knew that every school had their own interpretations of the Dao and the phenomena of the universe.
But what the medical text said next was truly disturbing.
"The healing of life lies in using heavenly medicines and practicing the arts of the Five Elements and Yin-Yang. At its root, it is merely the elimination of that which is foreign."
"But how does one heal the heavens?"
"Cultivation and techniques are like maggots feeding on the bones of the world, parasites stealing the essence of heaven and earth. If one wishes to cure the illness of the Barren Domain, then one must—kill the cultivators!"
"What the hell... what kind of maniac is this?" Zhao Xing's eyelids twitched.
The author of this book actually believed that the Barren Domain was born because there were too many cultivators. That the outbreak of this heaven-and-earth-level affliction stemmed from that excess.
He argued that heaven and earth possessed a natural self-healing ability. If one could, like healing a person, eliminate the unwanted—kill some cultivators—the Barren Domain would disappear on its own.
"So he sees cultivators as viruses? And believes purging them heals the world?"
"What a twisted, anti-human ideology," Zhao Xing muttered. "I wonder who wrote this madness."
He flipped to the last page, where at last a name appeared—Grand Physician Wei Tianchen.
"No wonder Qing Yuzi called him a lunatic," Zhao Xing finally understood.
In his previous life, Wei Tianchen had sought out the Taiyi Heavenly Toxic Source Body, and even used people as test subjects—not to develop a cure, but to develop poisons!
And what for? To kill.
"No... even the level of the Taiyi Heavenly Toxic Source Body wasn't enough for him. His goal wasn't just to kill people."
"It was—to kill gods."
As Zhao Xing speculated about Wei Tianchen's intent, a cold chill ran down his spine.
Too insane!
Wei Tianchen was even crazier than the scholar Bowe.
Bowe only wanted to create gods. Wei Tianchen, however, was researching a poison that could kill one.
The scariest part? Both of them probably started out wanting to save the world.
Yet in later versions, Zhao Xing had never heard any mention of the Grand Physician again. He wasn't the protagonist of any timeline, which likely meant he had failed.
Which made sense. Bowe's ambition to create a god might not have threatened the existing divine realms. But if Wei Tianchen began to act on his intent, he would have been eliminated immediately.
Zhao Xing had thought Wei Tianchen's goal was to restore his nation or ascend to godhood himself. Never had he expected such an aim.
"How many lunatics has this Barren Domain phenomenon driven out of hiding..." Zhao Xing sighed as he closed the ancient book.
After getting a glimpse into Wei Tianchen's twisted thoughts, he picked up the pace of his studies.
Wei Tianchen seemed to be quite obsessed with his own writings. Most of the books he had shown Zhao Xing were authored by himself.
Some even covered other professions. There were even books about the Shennong. It turned out he had reincarnated many times and hadn't always been a physician.
During his time as a Shennong, he had written various treatises on geological transformations. Zhao Xing gained a lot from those writings.
In one book, he came across a mention of the Primordial Series within the Straw Puppet Technique.
"The method created by Gu Tianyang—up to the stage of the Void Straw Puppet, it still had some real substance. But the Primordial Straw Puppet? That's just a delusional fantasy."
"The Gu family disciples are all obsessed dreamers, always chasing after impossible visions."
"Gu Luohe was like this. So was Gu Tianyang."
After reading this, Zhao Xing couldn't help but silently grumble: You say they're deluded, but you don't seem to think much of your own madness.
He rapidly scanned for anything mentioning Gu Luohe and Gu Tianyang, storing every bit of it in memory.
Before long, he found another commentary by Wei Tianchen on the Straw Puppet Technique.
"After Gu Tianyang died, another disciple, Zuo Qiyu, inherited his method. Gu Luohe went on to become one of the founders of the Primordial Realm."
"Time flies. In the ancestral land of the Feather Emperor, they even established a massive nation—the Red Star Empire."
"But I still don't think Gu Tianyang died in the Black Heaven Realm. If I'm right, that little guy has a truly sinister heart…"
"Are you done reading yet?!" Wei Tianchen's voice suddenly broke into Zhao Xing's immersive study.
"Not yet," Zhao Xing shook his head.
In truth, he was already finished. After all this time, he had finally understood what that passage meant:
"My name is Fan Qianrou. I was a God Realm physician under the Demon Daughter of the Luohuang."
"Since you have crossed through seven barriers to arrive here, fellow Daoist, I assume your cultivation has reached a realm equal to or greater than mine."
Fan Qianrou pointed to the Seven Stars Fighting Cabinet. "Sealed within this cabinet is the Wild Curse Poison. You may have heard of it—or maybe not."
"Its danger is immense. Once released, aside from the emperor, few in the God Realm could resist it."
"After it is released, it will undergo mutation within ten immeasurable eras, evolving into an even higher state. If left unchecked, in three Stellar Era years, not even the emperor could stop it."
"I, Fan Qianrou, was born with seven exquisite hearts and have proven the Dao through medicine. Yet even I could not completely eradicate it. I could only seal it and bring it back to the emperor for handling."
"Unexpectedly, on my return, a mishap occurred. The Wanhua Treasure Bottle shattered, and I had no choice but to seal it here using my own seven hearts."
"You seeing these words of mine means a long time has already passed. I have only the strength of one last exquisite heart left—at most, I can reseal it for another three eras."
"This thing is a world-ending object, of no benefit to you. With the last of my power, I've activated the Seven Seals. You may use the guiding intent I left behind to retrieve it."
"I, Fan Qianrou, earnestly beg you—take this item back to my emperor for handling. If it can spare the people of Xuanling from an extinction-level disaster, your merit will be boundless. His Majesty will reward you handsomely."
"If you're unwilling to take that risk, then I ask you at least to pass the message on. Fan Qianrou thanks you."
With that, Fan Qianrou gave a deep bow from afar.
"I'll only give you one more year," Wei Tianchen's voice was still cold, but Zhao Xing heard a hint of weariness in it.
"If in that year you can't prove useful to me, I'll have to destroy you."
"Old Grand Physician, I was just beginning to admire you. Now you're saying you'll kill me. That really stings."
"Did you forget the vow you just made a moment ago?"
"You're just stalling for time, hoping people from the Primordial Realm and the Primordial Hill will come save you," Wei Tianchen said flatly. "No need for these empty words."
Zhao Xing replied, "You don't really want to kill me. Honestly, there's no real grudge between us. I even helped you find the Seven Star Cabinet. Wouldn't it be fair to call it even?"
"If you were just Zhao Xing, I wouldn't kill you," Wei Tianchen said. "But you're too strange. I can't be sure I can erase certain memories from you. So I have no choice."
"If you want a quick death, then start telling me everything you know. My patience is running thin."
"Old Grand Physician, you really shouldn't have brought me in," Zhao Xing shook his head. "If you hadn't, you might've been able to take the Seven Star Cabinet."
"But now, it's different. Without me, you can't get it."
"Oh?" Wei Tianchen raised his hand. Instantly, Zhao Xing was pulled out from the archive chamber and thrown outside.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Three needles stabbed into Zhao Xing's head, piercing straight toward the soul sea.
The pain—was excruciating!
Zhao Xing felt something trying to invade his soul, scraping at it with a blade, trying to uncover the deepest secrets hidden within.
But soon, the intrusion stopped.
"How does it feel?"
"It hurts like hell," Zhao Xing's face turned pale.
"I can't read your memories directly. But don't forget—I can still use old-fashioned torture to force the truth out of you. If needed, I can even control your body and make you retrieve it myself," said Wei Tianchen. "While I still have a shred of mercy, you'd best choose wisely."
Zhao Xing said calmly, "The physician you're looking for—her name is Fan Qianrou, right?"
"Yes." A gleam of light sparked in Wei Tianchen's eyes.
"If I go mad, go dumb, or die, you'll never get what you want," Zhao Xing said. "But I believe you'll give me a chance to live."
"I can't give you that."
Wei Tianchen shook his head. He didn't believe Zhao Xing could withstand the torture and immediately resumed his brutal methods.
Screams echoed as Zhao Xing's consciousness blurred from the agony. But just as he was about to black out, another needle pierced him again, instantly jolting him awake and restoring vitality.
As Wei Tianchen continued his interrogation—
On the giant corpse star…
The experts from the Primordial Hill and the Primordial Realm had finally located this place after countless attempts.
"This Corpse Accumulation Star… we can't determine the path beyond this point," one of the Primordial Hill's half-step Emperors shook his head. "It's pure Qi, no Earth Veins to trace."
"Want me to try?" Zuo Qiyu offered.
"No need," Gu Luohe waved his hand. "I already sensed Zhao Xing's life signature."
Zhao Xing had stayed in Gu Luohe's inner world long enough that Gu Luohe had memorized his life aura.
Now that the distance had closed, Gu Luohe sensed the faint ripple of Zhao Xing's life force within the overwhelming death Qi.
"I'll handle the death zone. You all move forward quickly," Gu Luohe said. "He's in danger."
As he finished speaking, a boundless, lush forest unfolded in front of Gu Luohe.
"Boom!"
Within his inner world, rows of towering ancient trees began radiating vast life energy, slamming into the death Qi zone.
A mass of trees withered and crumbled, their vitality drawn out and funneled forward, forming a spiraling tunnel of life.
Gu Luohe carved out a small breach in this death-shrouded realm.
Compared to the enormity of his inner world, this opening was no bigger than a mouse hole.
But for the others—it was enough.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!"
Two half-step Emperors led the group into the tunnel of life. The spinning vortex ahead guided their path, and following Gu Luohe's lead, they quickly passed through the Corpse Accumulation Star.
By this point, three years had already passed.
It had been two years since Zhao Xing began enduring torture under Wei Tianchen.
"There!" shouted Fate Officer Fu Yue, pointing in a specific direction.
The two half-step Emperors from the Primordial Hill immediately summoned a green mountain covered in mysterious runes. With a strike, the spell forced Wei Tianchen's realm vessel into visibility.
"Hm?" Wei Tianchen frowned upon seeing the arrival of Five Venom, Zuo Qiyu, and the others. "Why are they here so soon?"
Wei Tianchen had accelerated his plans twice over to avoid giving Zhao Xing any time to stall—all because of a certain artifact he carried that alerted him to danger.
After winning the battle of karma, he also gained insight into the various time nodes and future directions of this journey.
By logic, only after he collapsed should the people of the Primordial Realm and Primordial Hill have found this place.
So why had they arrived already?
"Grand Physician, is that you?!" one of the half-step Emperors from the Primordial Hill exclaimed in surprise. A stream of airflow coiled above his head, carrying a miniature mountain, cascading down around him like a grand canopy shrouding his entire body.
Wei Tianchen's reputation was so well established that this half-step Emperor subconsciously addressed him as "you."
"Old Grand Physician, you're a man of great virtue and reputation. Why would you suddenly abduct a disciple from our Primordial Hill?!" another half-step Emperor was also visibly shocked. "Did he offend you in some way?"
Only the Five Venom Emperor, upon sensing Zhao Xing's weak aura, instantly roared.
He shook his sleeves, and a mass of vines emerged from the void, wrapping straight toward the realm vessel. "Old bastard, release my disciple at once!"
Emperor Hongshan and Lord Lushan followed closely behind, quickly taking their positions.
Four massive mountains surrounded Wei Tianchen's realm vessel, coordinating with Five Venom.
Wei Tianchen immediately awakened Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing looked weakly at the people outside the vessel. A strained smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "We've made it. You'd better give me a way out."
Wei Tianchen looked at Zhao Xing, speechless.
He had spent two years torturing Zhao Xing using secret techniques, trying to break his will and force him to hand over the Seven Star Cabinet.
But he couldn't kill him. He couldn't allow Zhao Xing to break completely.
He couldn't die, couldn't go mad, couldn't become a fool—so the punishments couldn't go too far. Everything had to be precisely controlled.
He had to keep pushing Zhao Xing to his limit.
Zhao Xing had endured for over two years, and still, Wei Tianchen hadn't succeeded.
Because Zhao Xing also knew—once he handed it over, that would mean death. Not handing it over meant there was still a sliver of hope.
"If they came a year later, you wouldn't have held on," Wei Tianchen said.
"True," Zhao Xing nodded. "Too bad you didn't have that much time."
Wei Tianchen nodded. "Seems you were right. Maybe I really didn't win that karma battle."
"From here on, whatever I do might've already been anticipated by the enemy."
Zhao Xing said, "So how about letting me go now? What do you think?"
"The situation's different now. A third party has shown up. You and I can actually fulfill that agreement now."
Wei Tianchen began to seriously consider it.
Before, he and Zhao Xing had been locked in a deadlock. Zhao Xing wasn't going to help him retrieve the Seven Star Cabinet without seeing a chance at survival.
And Wei Tianchen couldn't prove that he would spare Zhao Xing afterward—Zhao Xing would never believe him.
Now, with people from the Primordial Realm and Primordial Hill here, a true balance had finally emerged.
"Boom!"
The Five Venom Emperor's attack was completely ineffective. The realm vessel didn't even shake; all the poisonous vines bounced right off.
"Five Venom, if you want him dead, then keep attacking," Wei Tianchen warned, then ignored them.
Five Venom Emperor quickly calmed down and stopped his assault. He knew there was a gap between him and Wei Tianchen. From the looks of it, this man was at least half-step Emperor level. And there were multiple objects on his vessel exuding Emperor aura!
"Five Venom, stop!" one of the Primordial Hill's half-step Emperors also warned. "Now's not the time to fight."
"Right, figure out the situation first," another half-step Emperor added. "Zhao Xing couldn't have provoked him to such extremes."
Over the years, the Grand Physician had only ever shown himself in an Emperor-grade body.
But long ago, some suspected he was a half-step Emperor.
After all, anyone who survived since the era of the Five Emperors would have terrifying foundations.
Trying to snatch someone from someone like that while keeping Zhao Xing alive—it was too difficult. Probably only a true Emperor could do it.
"Old Grand Physician, please show mercy," the half-step Emperor from the Primordial Hill said. "Any terms, we can discuss."
Inside the ship, Wei Tianchen looked at Zhao Xing and said, "You help me get the Seven Star Cabinet, and I'll immediately let you go."
Zhao Xing shook his head. "No. How about you let my true body return to Five Venom Emperor first, and I'll send my Void Straw Puppet to retrieve it with you."
"You've got so many things of value. Even if I return to the Primordial Hill, you could easily kill me.
I wouldn't dare try any tricks."
Wei Tianchen shook his head. "No. I can't take that risk. Killing you alone won't make the Primordial Hill or Primordial Realm become my enemies. You're, at best, a rare genius—not a true powerhouse."
"If I killed Five Venom, Zuo Qiyu, or even the two half-step Emperors from the Primordial Hill, that would be a real karmic burden."
The death of a genius wouldn't cause Emperors to take action. After all, Emperors don't meddle in worldly affairs, except in cases like the Yuanhai Assembly.
But if two Emperors died—or worse, a half-step Emperor—the situation would be totally different.
The Red Star Emperor and the Emperors from the Primordial Hill would definitely emerge.
Once again, the negotiations fell into deadlock.
Zhao Xing clearly wasn't willing to retrieve the Seven Star Cabinet first, and Wei Tianchen wasn't willing to release him first.
Just then, a shout from the Five Venom Emperor broke the stalemate.
"Old bastard! Grand Senior Gu is about to arrive! If you don't want to die, release Zhao Xing now! Zhao Xing is his disciple!"
"Gu Luohe is focused entirely on advancing. Why would he truly treat Zhao Xing as a disciple?" Wei Tianchen said coldly. "Why would he act for Zhao Xing's sake?"
"Buzz~" Just as the words fell, the phantom form of Gu Luohe appeared at the front.
"Old Grand Physician, long time no see."
"Gu Luohe?" Wei Tianchen's eyes narrowed slightly. "You really came."
"I did," Gu Luohe nodded. "Let's talk terms."
The other two half-step Emperors were nothing to Wei Tianchen, but Gu Luohe's presence made him take things seriously.
The title of strongest half-step Emperor wasn't something Gu Luohe had earned lightly!
Wei Tianchen might not fear him, but he had to think carefully about his retreat. After all, Gu Luohe truly had the ability to summon the Red Star Emperor out of seclusion.
Wei Tianchen lowered his head again to look at Zhao Xing. The mist inside the Star Coffin cleared, and he gently pointed at Zhao Xing's main body.
A strand of golden light entered Zhao Xing's body. His true body immediately lost consciousness, but the Void Straw Puppet remained awake.
Zhao Xing was briefly stunned. His clone and true body had lost their connection, leaving only a wisp of residual soul inside the Void Straw Puppet.
Inside the coffin, Wei Tianchen's true body rasped, "Emperor Tianning, what I gave you to ingest is the True Spirit Heavenly Poison Pill. So far, no one has ever withstood its poison."
"You won't be able to find another physician to help you detoxify it."
"In other words, only I can cure it."
The Void Straw Puppet looked at his unconscious true body and sighed faintly. "That's true."
Wei Tianchen waved his hand, and Zhao Xing's true body immediately flew out of the realm vessel, drifting toward Emperor Hongshan and the others.
"This is the final concession I can make."
"Just like you said—since I was meant to get the Seven Star Cabinet, let's return things to their proper course."
"If you retrieve the Seven Star Cabinet, I'll give you the antidote. If not, you'll die. The worst price I'll pay is going into hiding."
"Trust me, with all the protective items I have, even if Emperors come to hunt me, I'll be hard to kill."
Zhao Xing knew Wei Tianchen's patience had completely run out. This was the final resolution.
"Fine. I agree to the terms."
"But at least let them know I'm not dead."
"Let me send a quick message of safety—shouldn't be an issue, right?"
Wei Tianchen said, "Alright, but follow my script."
The realm vessel opened, and the Void Straw Puppet relayed the message outside. "Teacher, seniors, I've only been poisoned, not killed. Please take my true body and retreat. I will return with Senior Gu soon."
Zhao Xing's call, along with the return of his true body, left the two half-step Emperors from the Primordial Hill visibly puzzled.
Gu Luohe glanced at Zuo Qiyu without showing it, then nodded. "Withdraw."
Clean and decisive—without hesitation.
Soon, the surrounding space was empty, leaving only Zhao Xing and Wei Tianchen.
"Come with me." Zhao Xing's Void Straw Puppet flew out of the realm vessel, and Wei Tianchen sent all of his undead to follow.
With detection and navigation from the interface panel, they quickly avoided numerous space-time traps and arrived at a stable temporal zone. The Seven Star Cabinet appeared before Wei Tianchen.
The Seven Star Cabinet seemed to sense something and began to shimmer.
At that moment, a phantom image in white flashed through the Void Straw Puppet's eyes. Zhao Xing's heart trembled—he had actually obtained the method to unlock the deepest seal of the Seven Star Cabinet!
And Wei Tianchen, after that flash, finally got his wish and seized the Seven Star Cabinet.
"Old Grand Physician, you've got what you wanted. Can you give me the antidote now?"
Wei Tianchen carefully stored away the Seven Star Cabinet, then shook his head. "Emperor Tianning, you've read too many of the ancient gods' texts in the library—you know too much."
"Even if the antidote were simple to make, I wouldn't give it to you."
Zhao Xing wasn't surprised. "Do you really believe in the Theory of the Barren Domain Mutation?"
Wei Tianchen replied firmly, "Of course. Emperor Tianning, you're a Shennong. If the Barren Domain disappears, maybe it's your long-held wish as well."
"Actually, it's not." Zhao Xing hadn't even finished this sentence when Wei Tianchen burned the Void Straw Puppet to ash.
The space-time around them warped. Wei Tianchen's realm vessel entered a perilous ancient layer of the Dao and vanished.
But what he didn't know was—what he had taken was only the Seven Star Cabinet. The secret unlocking method for the Archaic Poison of the Barren Domain had been left to Zhao Xing by Fan Qianrou.
And the moment when he gave Zhao Xing the True Spirit Heavenly Poison Pill was witnessed by the scholar Bowe.
Only, Wei Tianchen wouldn't realize any of this until much later.
Now back to the present—after Wei Tianchen vanished, the entire space began to collapse. Gu Luohe and the others immediately began to retreat.
Because Zhao Xing, during his earlier message, hadn't followed Wei Tianchen's instructions to the letter.
"Whoosh—" Once everyone had withdrawn, Zuo Qiyu suddenly summoned a Void Straw Puppet. With a ripple, it morphed into Zhao Xing's appearance.
"Zuo Qiyu, disciple—what's going on here?!" the Five Venom Emperor was momentarily stunned.
"I used a Void Straw Puppet to extract a sliver of his residual soul," Zuo Qiyu said. "On this path of the Great Dao, only Zhao Xing and I can swap with each other, and Wei Tianchen couldn't detect it."
"Yes," Zhao Xing nodded. "But this wisp of my soul will only last one month. Once the True Spirit Heavenly Poison Pill's effects are triggered, no soul will survive."
"What? That means you only have one month to live?!" The Five Venom Emperor's expression changed drastically. "What the hell happened?!"