Chapter 208 - 122: Man-made (3)

The Antitoxic Pill was a formula passed down through generations of the Jiuan Hunting Manor. It had never once failed in all their hunts across hundreds of miles of mountain forests.

If even this ancestral secret formula was useless, what good could the emergency medicinal supplies in the chest possibly be?

But logic was one thing, and the situation at hand was another.

No matter what, Wang Chuang would never abandon the uncle who had raised him.

Never!

He took a deep breath.

He still had a death grip on the dagger, but he couldn’t find the right place to cut.

His mind was a tangled mess.

’How much longer can Uncle hold on? How many people are still in the forest?’

’What does the state of the white mouse’s organs say about the poison’s toxicity? How should I mix the medicine? What’s the right dosage?’

Wang Chuang had devoted himself to Martial Arts for years; he was no expert in pharmacology.

The more he thought, the more anxiety burned within him. His hands trembled violently, and his vision started to blur.

’Why is the spot I need to cut shaking?! Why is the ground shaking too?!’

Worry clouds one’s judgment.

At this moment, the mental pressure on Wang Chuang had completely exceeded what his Mental State could endure.

It wasn’t the white mouse that was shaking, nor was it the earth.

It was his, Wang Chuang’s, own Heart Spirit.

"Fuck! If this doesn’t work, I’ll fucking charge in myself!"

Wang Chuang shot to his feet, chest heaving. Veins bulged on his temples, and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

His stance was unyielding, filled with fiery conviction.

But his rapidly reddening eyes were filled with utter despair.

"Brother Chuanzi, let me go in your place."

A voice came from behind him.

Calm, steady, and without a single ripple of emotion.

Wang Chuang whipped his head around.

At some point, Chen Cheng had come to stand behind him. Chen Cheng’s gaze shifted from the limp white mouse back to Wang Chuang’s face.

"Cheng..."

Wang Chuang was stunned for a moment, then refused without the slightest hesitation.

"Stay out of this! There’s no way I’m letting you go get yourself killed!"

"Don’t worry."

Chen Cheng’s voice was calm, yet it carried an undercurrent of absolute confidence.

"I’ve used a special Technique to cultivate my body’s resistance to poison. I wouldn’t dare mess with a truly potent toxin... but this stuff? It can’t even kill a mouse. What do I have to fear?"

"Are you serious?"

Wang Chuang was incredulous.

Chen Cheng said no more. With the Tiger Sinew Hard Bow in one hand and a few Silver Bullets clutched in the other, he strode steadily toward the gloomy, dense forest ahead.

Wang Chuang opened his mouth to stop him.

But he knew full well that Chen Cheng was extremely cautious by nature and would never take a risk impulsively.

’If Chen Cheng is this confident...’

’...then the only thing I can, and should, do is trust him unconditionally.’

"Cheng!"

Wang Chuang took a deep breath and shouted suddenly,

"If you save my uncle, my life is yours!"

Chen Cheng didn’t even turn his head. He simply raised the hand clutching the Silver Bullets and gave a casual wave beside his shoulder.

"Young man..."

Nearby, Wang Sun called out weakly.

"Go straight, don’t turn... After about a hundred *zhang*, you’ll see our men..."

A hundred *zhang*—the equivalent of three hundred and thirty-three meters from his past life.

With this information, Chen Cheng could roughly estimate the extent of the poisonous miasma.

After advancing about a hundred meters.

The forest grew darker. Overhead, the tangled branches of ancient pines blotted out the sky. Only a few stray beams slipped through the gaps, landing on the leaf-littered ground like pale, sharp blades.

Chen Cheng deliberately slowed his pace.

His senses, far sharper than an ordinary person’s, allowed him to perceive subtle changes in his body.

A strange sluggishness settled in his heart and lungs.

It felt as though something was boring its way into his muscles and bones.

However, the sluggishness was as faint as a speck of dust settling on still water, and whatever was boring into him was as fine as a silk thread—almost imperceptible.

Only Chen Cheng could have sensed it.

Anyone else, especially someone whose attention was focused elsewhere, would have been completely oblivious to these anomalies.

By the time they did notice, the symptoms would be obvious and the poison would have already spread throughout their bodies. It would be too late to turn back.

Chen Cheng stopped in his tracks.

He stood his ground, focused his Heart Spirit, and opened his five senses to their fullest, carefully sensing every minute change within his body.

He knew he was poisoned.

He had two contingencies for this scenario.

Either his own poison resistance was strong enough to counteract the toxicity of the surrounding miasma.

Or, if his resistance wasn’t strong enough, he would retreat at once, circulate his Health Tai Chi, and use its Health-Preserving Traits to expel the poison and recover, guaranteeing his safety.

It was precisely because of this double failsafe that Chen Cheng had offered to go in Wang Chuang’s place.

Without absolute confidence in his ability to protect himself, he would never have taken such a risk.

’It worked!’

After a while, Chen Cheng clearly felt the subtle anomalies within his body disappear completely.

This meant his poison resistance had adapted to the miasma’s toxicity, granting him complete immunity.

Having confirmed this, Chen Cheng could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He hesitated no longer.

He pushed off forcefully, unleashing the Silent Thunder Treading Skill and racing forward at his maximum speed.

He became a white blur, streaking forward like lightning—too fast for the naked eye to follow.

...

「Back with Wang Chuang.」

He had two of his Manor Soldiers stand on high ground, continuously tapping their sheaths to create a rhythmic sound.

Following the sound, the other teams arrived one after another to regroup.

After a quick briefing, the leaders of the four other teams—all key figures in the Hunting Manor—gathered around Wang Chuang.

"I have a feeling... we’ve been set up..."

The speaker was a middle-aged man with a tangled, bushy beard. He was Zhu Kang, a sworn brother of the Manor Master, Wang Peng.

"The chances of a poisonous miasma forming naturally in the dead of winter are minuscule... More importantly, if this miasma were natural, how could our Nine Peace Anti-Miasma Pills be completely useless?"

"Now that you mention it, you have a point..."

Beside him, a man with auburn-streaked black hair added in a low voice,

"On our way here, my team found traces of a Mutant Tiger... It felt strange at the time, but looking back now... the tracks seemed man-made!"