Chapter 45: Vast Sea Universe Cover

Chapter 45: Vast Sea Cosmos Shroud

Before long, a small pot of rice soup was completely finished by Xiao Se and the Fairy. Licking the corners of his mouth, Xiao Se handed the jade bowl to the Fairy, who was washing the pot nearby, and smiled, "Fairy, this rice soup really tastes amazing. How on earth did you make it? Such ordinary rice soup actually has this kind of flavor."

"Didn't I already tell you? I poisoned it." Taking the jade bowl, the Fairy giggled charmingly.

"Uh—" Xiao Se twitched the corner of his mouth, rolled his eyes at her, and retorted unhappily, "It looks like I'll have to call you the Little Poison Girl from now on." With the memories of a tier-6 alchemist, he could naturally see through whether the rice soup was poisoned or not; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so at ease with the Fairy. This had nothing to do with schemes—it was merely the most basic means of self-protection.

"Great! From now on, you can call me the Little Poison Girl, and then I'll be exclusively in charge of feeding you poison." Unexpectedly, the Fairy showed no dissatisfaction and instead looked eager to try.

Seeing the Fairy's excited expression, Xiao Se wiped the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead and said with a trembling voice, "Then... then let's forget it."

After the Fairy finished washing the bowl, the two entered the wooden house. Xiao Se took a sip of the tea brewed by the Fairy and said solemnly, "Fairy, as far as I know, there are three ways to resolve your Woeful Poison Body."

"Three ways?" Hearing this, the Fairy's pretty eyes instantly lit up. She stood up, leaned in close to Xiao Se, and asked urgently, "Which three?"

"Uh—" Xiao Se pressed down the Fairy's slightly trembling shoulders and hurriedly explained, "Don't rush, hear me out first."

"The first way is both the easiest and the hardest: find a Devil Fruit called the Poison-Poison Fruit and eat it. Once you eat it, you can transform into a poison human, freely switching between poison and flesh. Any excess poison in your body that you cannot refine can also be expelled through excretion. However, I don't really recommend this method, because it means you will need to excrete frequently, and your breath is also very likely to contain lethal poison—unless you can find a way to eliminate the side effects of the Poison-Poison Fruit. Of course, the premise for this removal is still that I can find the Poison-Poison Fruit."

"Ew—" Hearing words like excretion and poisonous breath, the Fairy felt a wave of nausea. If it were truly like that, what difference would she have from a walking corpse? She then asked, "Then what about the second way?"

"A soul bone. This is something produced within soul beasts, which are similar to magical beasts. Rather than calling it a bone, it's more like energy. Once this energy merges into your body, it can store poison and effectively suppress the outbreak of poison within you."

Before the Fairy could reply, Xiao Se continued, "The third way is the Poison Dan method. It is the most effective, fundamental, and thorough method. You condense the poison within your body into a poison pill, then swallow and refine it to control it. However, I only know of this Poison Dan method without having mastered it. Besides, condensing a poison pill requires three extremely harsh materials: first, three kinds of Heavenly Flames; second, the magical core of a tier-7 Heavenly Poison Scorpion Dragon Beast; third, the Bodhi Body-Transforming Saliva."

Hearing the string of unfamiliar terms that Xiao Se rattled off, the Fairy's pretty eyes widened, her delicate face turned pale, and a trace of despair appeared at the corners of her mouth.

Seeing the desolate expression on the Fairy's face, Xiao Se gently smiled and said, "Don't worry. The reason I told you all this is to let you know that the Woeful Poison Body is not completely unsolvable. Speaking of which, if I hadn't given you the Seven-Color Poison Scripture, you wouldn't have activated the Woeful Poison Body prematurely. There is still a long way to go, and in the future, I will definitely resolve this for you."

"Mn." The Fairy nodded firmly, her delicate hand under the table gripping her skirt tightly as a wave of determination coursed through her heart.

Time slowly passed. Ever since the day Xiao Se exposed the Woeful Poison Body, life in the valley had become leisurely and peaceful.

During the day, Xiao Se practiced battle skills and swordsmanship; at night, he refined medicine, tempered his battle Qi, and then refined medicine again, followed by more tempering of battle Qi, along with appropriate sleep.

As for the Fairy, she continued to study the Seven-Color Poison Scripture.

It was worth mentioning that after translating the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record into the language of the Dou Qi Continent, Xiao Se handed it to the Fairy. Besides some self-defense techniques, it also contained various lethal poison formulas, including poisons capable of threatening Dou Wangs. Upon obtaining it, the Fairy treated it like a precious treasure.

(PS: Tang San from Douluo used herbs from the Ice and Fire Yang Well to formulate poisons capable of threatening Soul Douluos. Excluding cultivation methods and battle skills, Dou Wangs and Soul Douluos should be roughly comparable, one would think.)

Perhaps because Xiao Se still hadn't distanced himself from her despite knowing her identity as a poison master, the Fairy had completely opened her heart to him, and even occasionally let herself be verbally teased by him.

Every time, Xiao Se would tease the Fairy until her face was flushed red, and then she would scurry off in a panic into her boudoir in the wooden house.

The peaceful days in the valley passed day by day. In the early morning of the very last day of the month, Xiao Se's system also ushered in a refresh.

[Ding! The one-month period has arrived. The exchange count has been refreshed. Congratulations to the host for obtaining one exchange opportunity.]

Hearing the system prompt in his mind, Xiao Se's lips curled up slightly. With a light touch of his storage ring, he took out a white rib. This was the bone of a tier-1 magical beast, a Unicorn Ox, left over from Xiao Se's late-night snack. Now, he not only had to consider himself and Long Kui, but he also had to consider the Fairy.

Exchanging items of the same type gave a chance to increase the probability of a certain outcome. If he could exchange for a soul bone, that would be even better.

"System, exchange this ox rib in my hand," Xiao Se shouted in his mind.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for exchanging for the Douluo Continent world's 'Vast Sea Cosmos Shroud' (Hint: The original owner's imprint has been removed; it is a masterless item.)]

"Holy crap... It's actually the Vast Sea Cosmos Shroud! This thing is simply a life-saving divine artifact."

Heaven Dou City, Crown Prince's Residence.

Douluo Continent world.

Heaven Dou Empire.

Heaven Dou City.

In front of the Heaven Dou Imperial Treasury.

Near evening, Xue Beng, the fourth prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, slowly walked up to the treasury doors accompanied by a beautiful woman dressed in luxurious clothes.

"Apologies, Prince Xue Beng. Without His Majesty's permission, no one is allowed to enter." In front of the treasury doors, the two armored knights on guard slanted their long spears, clashing them together with a metallic ring to block Xue Beng and his female companion.

"Your Highness Xue Beng, didn't you say you could bring me to pick out a treasure? Why is this..." Seeing their path blocked, the beautiful woman beside Xue Beng tugged at his sleeve and acting coquettishly.

Hearing this, Xue Beng frowned. The beautiful woman beside him was someone he had spent a great deal of effort to pursue. If she were just an ordinary woman, that would be one thing, but the crucial point was that her woman's father held immense power and was one of the most trusted state-assisting ministers of his father, Emperor Xue Ye. If he wanted to become emperor in the future, he still needed to rely on the influence of the woman's father.

He then stepped forward, fully playing his role and putting on an appearance of the utmost "profligate," giving each of the two guards a heavy slap across the face. "Who gave you the gall to block this prince's path? Hurry up and open it. I have my father's token right here."

As he spoke, Xue Beng pulled a precious token embedded with swan-shaped patterns from his soul tool and waved it lightly.

Seeing the token in Xue Beng's hand, the guards immediately dropped to one knee and cleared the path.

Xue Beng showed off to his female companion by her side, picked out an expensive necklace, and left the treasury laughing heartily.

However, no one knew that in the early hours of the morning, the national treasure—the Vast Sea Cosmos Shroud, which had been stored in a brocade box deep within the treasury—had turned into an ox rib.

PS: First update, begging for recommendation tickets, begging for monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)