Chapter 48: Poisoning Fang Xuanwen

A table full of fine dishes was quickly served.

Chen Xuan wolfed down the food, finishing it in no time.

After eating, he deliberately rasped his voice and asked the innkeeper for a superior guest room.

As he walked up the stairs, he glanced deliberately or inadvertently at the various doors on the second floor.

Judging from the voices he had just heard, Fang Xuanwen’s room should be the third one.

Barring any accidents, his own room would be right next door.

Inn rooms were assigned in order; once room one was occupied, the next guest would naturally be placed in room two or room three unless there were special requests. Chen Xuan had not seen anyone else check in while he was eating, so there was a high probability his room would be right beside Fang Xuanwen’s.

"Honored guest, please have a look. Is this to your satisfaction?"

The waiter opened the door and smiled.

Chen Xuan glanced inside, nodded lightly without speaking, and waved his sleeve to dismiss the waiter.

The waiter chuckled, backed out of the room, and pulled the door shut.

Chen Xuan fell into deep thought.

Next came the matter of poisoning.

Fang Xuanwen possessed formidable martial arts and was a seasoned veteran of the pugilistic world; poisoning him would likely be extremely difficult.

Putting poison in his food or tea would be completely useless; he would surely test it with a silver needle.

*What if I smear lethal poison on the rim of the wine pot? That way, it wouldn't be detected, right? But isn't the risk far too great?*

Chen Xuan pondered inwardly.

However, Fang Xuanwen might already be at the end of his tether.

Earlier, he had noticed a greenish tint between Fang Xuanwen's brows, a clear sign that the poison had penetrated deep into his marrow. It was a risk worth taking.

Footsteps could already be heard coming up the stairs.

Chen Xuan opened the door and took a peek.

He saw the waiter carrying a tray with a smile on his face, walking up towards the second floor.

Chen Xuan flickered his body, executing the "Eight-Step Cicada Chase," and appeared before the waiter like a gust of wind. In an instant, he tapped the waiter's acupoints, caught the tray with his left hand, and hoisted the waiter over his right shoulder before heading toward his own room.

His movements throughout were extremely swift, pushing his lightness Kung Fu to the absolute limit without making the slightest sound.

Back in his room, Chen Xuan swiftly swapped clothes with the waiter, placed the waiter's turban on his own head, and then took out the Gut-Corroding Powder and Five Poisons Liquid, gently smearing them onto the rim of the wine pot and the edges of the cups.

Having done all this, he picked up the tray, left the room, came to Fang Xuanwen's door, and began to knock.

"Enter!"

A deep voice sounded from inside the room.

With a creak, Chen Xuan pushed the door open, chuckled, and placed the food and wine on the table.

During this time, he took a stealthy glance at Fang Xuanwen. The man was sitting cross-legged on the couch, unmoving, with faint wisps of white smoke rising from his head. A greenish hue throbbed between his brows, clearly indicating he was circulating his Qi to force out the poison.

"My lord, the food won't taste as good if it gets cold," Chen Xuan said with a disguised voice, chuckling.

"Hmph," Fang Xuanwen replied indifferently.

Chen Xuan did not linger, backing out of the room and gently pulling the door shut behind him.

After leaving Fang Xuanwen's room, he immediately returned to his own, his heart pounding as he waited.

To be honest, he had no idea if it would work, but he had to try.

If it failed, he would just run away immediately.

***

Inside the room.

Fang Xuanwen took a light breath and continued to circulate his internal energy to expel the poison. More white smoke billowed from his head, and the greenish tint between his brows constantly wriggled as he forcefully drove it out of his body using his profound internal strength.

Puff!

A mouthful of toxic blood spewed forth, and his complexion finally improved considerably.

"Hateful! My son died a miserable death at the hands of Chen Xuan. If I do not avenge this, I swear I am no human!"

He gritted his teeth and sat cross-legged for a while longer.

Only after completely stabilizing his breath did he stand up, walk over to the table, and take out a silver needle to test the food and wine one by one. Concluding that they were untoxicated, he put the needle down and began to eat.

Although Qian Dachai of the Five Poisons Cult could administer poison invisibly, Fang Xuanwen did not believe Qian Dachai could tail him for over two hundred miles just to poison him in this exact spot. There had been plenty of opportunities along the road, yet Qian Dachai had made no move, which only meant Qian Dachai was not trailing him at all; otherwise, he would have fallen victim countless times already.

Thus, after testing the food and finding it safe, he set his mind at ease.

Fang Xuanwen poured the wine and drank three cups in a row to dispel the grief of losing his son. Afterward, he partook of some dishes.

However, as he continued eating, he suddenly sensed something was amiss.

A knife-twisting, agonizing pain erupted in his abdomen, his intestines and stomach feeling as though they were being burned through, causing his complexion to change drastically.

Poison!

The food was poisoned!

Qian Dachai had come!

Bang!

He violently leaped backward, driving his internal energy to suppress the poison.

Yet the Five Poisons Liquid and Gut-Corroding Powder were mixed together, and their toxicity was utterly ferocious. They rapidly invaded his blood and internal organs, causing his skin to quickly turn black and dark, making it impossible for even his internal energy to suppress.

"Damn it!" Fang Xuanwen roared.

He hurriedly staggered toward the exit.

If there was still a sliver of a chance of survival, his only option was to seek help from the numerous martial arts travelers downstairs, hoping someone might be able to save him. But if Qian Dachai was truly lurking in the shadows, those martial artists would likely meet a grim fate as well; however, he simply could not afford to care about that now.

Just as he pushed open his door, he suddenly noticed that right in front of the neighboring room, the waiter who had served the food earlier was looking at him with an expectant expression.

Fang Xuanwen's heart shook as the pieces connected in his mind.

"It's you!"

He gnashed his teeth in fury.

Chen Xuan smiled faintly, whipped up a fierce gale, and instantly lunged forward, launching a palm strike without a word.

While desperately suppressing the lethal poison, Fang Xuanwen let out an angry roar, split off a portion of his internal energy, and met Chen Xuan head-on.

He was determined to beat this despicable, treacherous demonic scoundrel to death with his bare hands.

Bang!

Their palm forces collided with a muffled explosion.

With a cruel look on his face, Fang Xuanwen surged his internal energy wildly, hoping to crush Chen Xuan to death. But terror quickly washed over him as he discovered that his own internal energy was leaking away frantically, like clay oxen entering the sea, causing not a single ripple.

It was as if the opponent possessed a bottomless dark abyss; no matter how much internal energy he projected, it all vanished into nothingness.

The opponent could absorb his internal energy?

Horrified, Fang Xuanwen hurriedly guarded his Dantian, violently shaking his arms and using an advanced technique to forcefully shatter Chen Xuan's grip, staggering wildly backward.

In a mere fraction of a second, he had directly lost nearly ten years of internal cultivation!

What bizarre martial art was this?

Knocked back, Chen Xuan wore a ferocious grin. Ignoring the tingling pain in the meridians of his arm, he lunged forward once more with blinding speed.

This time, both palms struck out simultaneously!

Fang Xuanwen let out a furious roar and stomped his foot against the floorboards with a booming crash. It was the "Weight-Dropping Skill," driving his entire body plummeting from the second floor down to the first, where he crashed heavily onto the floorboards and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The Five Poisons Liquid and Gut-Corroding Powder were simply too savage, plunging him into excruciating agony as his internal organs felt as though they were being incinerated.

Previously, he could barely suppress the poison by utilizing his full power, but having nearly ten years of cultivation sapped away by Chen Xuan instantly caused the venom to viciously backfire, growing far more terrifying and painful than before.

A commotion erupted downstairs, shocking all the martial arts guests present.

"It's Master Fang!"

"Master Fang, what happened to you?"

They quickly swarmed forward.

Chen Xuan's expression shifted. He leaped down through the hole Fang Xuanwen had stomped out, following closely to press the attack.

Coughing up a massive mouthful of blood, Fang Xuanwen shrieked, "Kill him! He is the 'Clan-Extinguishing Hand' Chen Xuan!"

"What?"

The crowd was struck with terror and scrambled backward in panic.

In an instant, they retreated five or six meters away.

Chen Xuan had originally prepared himself to fight a crowd single-handedly, never expecting them to scatter so abruptly.

He froze for a moment, then sneered. With a fierce, pungent blast of palm force, he struck out viciously.

With a face contorted in agony, Fang Xuanwen was too slow to dodge and had no choice but to channel his remaining internal energy to counter Chen Xuan's assault.

Bang! Bang!

Four palms crossed, producing muffled thuds.

Fang Xuanwen's internal energy drained even faster, rushing out like a breached river dike. Both his arms and shoulders shook violently, his meridians expanding and contracting as if leaking air.

He wailed in grief and rage, "Kill him! His strength isn't that great! I'm holding him down—attack him from behind!"

Terrified, the crowd was utterly paralyzed by fear.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Master Fang, we'll help you!"

Several martial artists sprang out from the crowd, brandishing sabers and swords imbued with formidable momentum, hacking straight toward Chen Xuan's body.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sounds were piercing, resembling a blacksmith striking iron.

None of the weapons could scratch Chen Xuan in the slightest.

The expressions of the martial artists morphed into horror.

"Hard qigong!"
"He's impervious to swords and spears?"
"Attack his groin!"

One of them yelled in panic, and they immediately thrust their weapons toward Chen Xuan's lower body.

However, all their attacks passed right through his trousers, meeting only empty air without touching him at all.

"Retracting his vital organs into his abdomen?" a martial artist cried out in disbelief.

Chen Xuan let out a cold snort, lashing out with a kick that struck squarely against the man's chest. With a loud thud, the man was sent flying seven or eight meters, crashing into the distance with shattered ribs, dead on the spot.

"Hero Chen, it's a misunderstanding! This is a misunderstanding!"

The remaining martial artists shrieked in terror and fled in a scramble.

Yet Chen Xuan kicked up a wooden stool, hurling it with tremendous force into the back of one of the fleeing men. With a loud crash, the man's meridians snapped completely, and he pitched forward onto the ground, dead beyond a doubt.

Only two of them managed to flee into the crowd in sheer panic, vanishing from sight.