Back in my world, I immediately started fusing Wa Li's cultivation into my poison element. Not keeping it there forever or developing it, but as a temp measure while my natural poison cultivation is weak, perfect.
The sensation of grafting foreign cultivation onto myself was weird. First seconds, very alien and uncontrollable, but once fully merged with my energy, the control boost talent kicked in, and the alien feel nearly vanished—so much that I barely noticed thanks to my vast spirit magic experience.
Mda, if TuTu felt this constantly before the talent, no wonder she kept asking me to return it. And never complained, silently enduring the irritating foreignness. My gut didn't lie; she's the ideal girl.
Before heading to Gu Daiyu, I spent a day training poison and comparing control over my self-developed elements vs. the mostly stolen poison one. Results... as expected.
With my elements, I could do almost anything pre-talent; post-talent, I even pulled off some Initial-level spells without star control, just willpower.
I suspect that later, with higher cultivation and practice, I can shift all spells to willpower, ditching star constructs—making me immune to Archangels' star-based spell block.
Refreshing feeling, and I definitely don't want to lose it. Wonder if this is what Mo Fan felt battling Mikhail, learning starless magic? Heh, can't ask him. At least not yet.
Poison control was... average, just average. Like a normal High-level mage three-four years into that cultivation stage. Awful feeling. Even with my two-lives-honed control and helping talent, I built spells grudgingly (compared to my usual speed).
Good thing I can partially offset it with "Time Acceleration" on myself and casting under it—then I'd look like the ultimate prodigy caster to outsiders. But can't fool myself.
It'd be better if I alternated natural and grafted cultivation like TuTu does now, but alas. No heaps of time to self-cultivate poison to Mid-level. And if I had, I wouldn't graft foreign stuff. Vicious circle.
Done training, I double-checked coordinates and finally headed to Chunmin Island to my future beautiful poison teacher. Fuuuuh, calm down Mu Bai, you have a girl already, even two. Don't look like a fool before your future master; be the model student.
Unlike my past world, in this magic world, Chunmin Island lost most of its over-thousand-square-km area, now just ten sq km. Probably some rogue Emperors battled, likely sea ones. Continentals prefer uninhabited spots to spare their turf.
I shifted to a small hill by a handmade wooden ladder leading down. From my vantage, a pretty view of the tree-covered islet with scattered huts. Yet one part fully dead-tree-covered, like a desert branch in forest, showed not all's simple. After all, several dozen poison mages lived here, training under the century's top Poisoner.
Descending the ladder, I strolled casually to the nearest hut, hoping to meet someone to guide me to my future teacher. Luck smiled: in a gazebo by a cozy but slightly unkempt hut sat several cute girls my age, dressed in men's tracksuits for some reason, sipping something at least 40-proof. Well, poison mages are quirkier than I thought; won't judge by looks, just politely ask directions.
"Good day to you, lovely ladies! Could you tell me..." I began to ask the question that interested me, but I was rudely interrupted.
"What ladies are we to you, you little shit?! Tired of living?! We'll take you out right here..." Their faces twisted, but the apparently drunkest one started cussing me out.
"Wait, Lo Hi, remove the alcohol poisoning and take a good look at our guest." Another girl placed her hand on the furious one's shoulder and eyed me with extreme suspicion.
After her words, the other three briefly glowed violet, casting the second tier Initial level poison element spell "Purification" to rid themselves of alcohol poisoning effects, and now four highly suspicious gazes bored into me instead of one.
"You... a man?" The girl who'd cussed me out earlier examined me strangely. Did I imagine it, or was there envy in her emotional aura? Had I stumbled into a place with reverse feminism, where girls dreamed of becoming men?
"Um, girls, this is my first time here and I might not understand all the rules. Doesn't Master Gu Daiyu only teach girls? I wanted to ask to become her student. By the way, could you tell me how to find her?" I tried to open a dialogue; apparently, the historical chronicle hadn't covered all aspects of the training process here.
"You voluntarily came to study under that crazy bitch?! Are you insane?! Che Mo, check out this mentally challenged idiot! And you were telling me I had garbage for brains!" Lo Hi asked me roughly, then pointed at me to the girl who'd first shown suspicion toward me.
And I wasn't imagining it? They were addressing each other in the masculine? Was this a trap lair!? Scanning them all with spatial perception inside and out, I sighed in relief. No sausages between the buns detected. They were all just nuts here.
"So, will you show me the way to Master Gu Daiyu, or do I find her myself?" I released my magical pressure to scare this branch of the asylum on free range. If needed, I'd apologize to my future teacher later, but dealing with this trash was wearing me out.
Feeling my pressure—stronger than a typical third tier High level mage's due to soul-enhanced stars—this group of girls, only at Mid level, paled sharply and shut their mouths, finally stopping their discussion of me.
"You go further down the stairs, then turn right, and keep straight. That bitch usually does her experiments in the cabin by the old dock on the eastern edge of the island." Che Mo pointed out the path, meanwhile silencing the third girl, whose name I didn't know, who'd wanted to say something to me. Though by her emotions, she hadn't planned to insult me.
"If you send me the wrong way, I'll come back and shove that bottle from the table up your asses where the sun doesn't shine. Clear enough?" I pressed them again with my aura, making them all bend under its weight.
"N-no... worry... this... is the... right... direction." Che Mo confirmed, gasping for air. And by her emotions, she wasn't lying, though she felt intense schadenfreude toward me. What did she think of her teacher to want revenge by sending me to meet her?
Not bothering to argue further with these marginal elements, I headed in the indicated direction. Based on who I'd met here, the hypothesis of ungrateful students somehow killing their teacher looked increasingly plausible. If Gu Daiyu trained me well, I'd save her from the future crisis as payment.
Gazebo with alkies in tracksuits. After Mu Bai left.
"Ni Ga, what were you gonna say to that freak? Convince him not to go to our—may she fall into the Holy City—master?" Che Mo loomed menacingly over the girl who'd wanted to speak to Mu Bai before she was shut down.
"Yes. I don't want another person hurt by that lunatic's hands. We're enough, with the others." The girl lowered her head guiltily but stated her opinion firmly.
"Pfft, no way. If he came here, let him experience what we did. Unlike us, no one forced this weirdo." Spitting on the ground, the fourth girl—who'd been silent till now—leaned back on the bench, radiating schadenfreude everywhere.
"Ha Rchi's right, no helping random schmucks." Lo Hi nodded in agreement, grabbing an half-empty vodka bottle from the table that had miraculously survived Mu Bai's aura burst.
"Well, boys, one more round?"