A Chaotic World

Chapter 265: Poisoned

"What?" the middle-aged man exclaimed in shock. "My friend is poisoned? Since when? And any contact with him risked infection? But I have been carrying him all this while!"

At this moment, the innkeeper subconsciously took a step back. In his head, he was already playing back the past few moments.

When the innkeeper finally recalled that he did not come into any direct contact with either the middle-aged man or his companion, the innkeeper could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

"What happened earlier? Tell me everything without missing a single detail," Jue questioned as he stood back up.

"You are?" the middle-aged man asked hesitantly.

"Do you know the Iron Claw Brigade? The man standing before you is none other than the captain of the Iron Claw Brigade!" Lu Tianzi introduced.

Lu Tianzi had no idea what the Iron Claw Brigade was all about, but this was the perfect opportunity to gain more information. He wanted to get some sort of idea by observing the middle-aged man's reaction.

At the same time, he dared not act too domineeringly when introducing Jue. Who knew if the Iron Claw Brigade was actually some sort of laughingstock?

If that was the case, he would essentially become a laughingstock as well!

On the other hand, Jue could not help but puff up his chest in pride. It certainly felt good to have someone else help him answer these basic questions.

In the end, the reaction of the middle-aged man was much better than what Lu Tianzi had expected.

The Iron Claw Brigade?" His eyes widened in astonishment, as though he had just heard the biggest news ever. "Please pardon me for my earlier rudeness!"

"Now, are you ready to tell me?" Jue smirked with confidence. "Drag this on any longer and I cannot guarantee the survival of your companion."

"Sir, it really is as I said earlier," the middle-aged man no longer hesitated to share. "We spent the day hunting wild beasts on Wondertrap Mountain and he had been fine all day. We even managed to kill a couple of beasts without sustaining any heavy injuries. Our condition was at the peak! But after we left the mountain and walked for a bit, he just collapsed all of a sudden! I have no idea how or why this happened!"

Lu Tianzi could not help but pick up on the words Wondertrap Mountain. He might have had his doubts earlier, but now his curiosity was truly piqued.

Just what kind of place is this Wondertrap Mountain?

From the sound of it, all sorts of strange and exotic plants can be found there.

As a herbalist himself, Lu Tianzi really felt like going to take a look!

If Jue was aware of Lu Tianzi's thoughts right now, he would surely have believed Lu Tianzi to be a lunatic.

Instead, Jue continued examining the unconscious man, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

The middle-aged man's statement provided far too little information to be of any use. All it did was to tell him that the poison likely originated from Wondertrap Mountain.

However, there were so many different types of poisonous plants there. How was he supposed to identify the cause of the poison with just that?

And without identifying the origin of the poison, it was simply impossible to find the antidote for this guy!

"How is it? Are you able to help him?" the middle-aged man asked nervously.

Jue had been staring at his unconscious friend for a while now, but had yet to move or say a thing. Because of that, the middle-aged man's confidence in the captain of the Iron Claw Brigade was slowly going down with each passing second as well.

"I'm sorry," Jue shook his head grimly. "Without knowing the cause of the poison, I have no way to treat him. All I can do is to suppress his poison for a few hours with Essence energy, but even that will only be delaying the inevitable."

The other four members of the Iron Claw Brigade gathered over and took a look as well, but none of them could think of any ways to help.

Even Lu Tianzi investigated the inner world of the unconscious man with his perception. As long as it did not cause any inconvenience to himself, he would not mind helping out the poor guy.

Unfortunately, it was just like Jue had said.

There was simply no way to determine the cure without knowing the source of poison.

"No way, this can't be real," the middle-aged man fell into a chair in despair. "The day had started out so well for us too"

"This is the danger of the Wondertrap Mountain. You never know what will hit you next," Jue sighed as he looked into the eyes of the middle-aged man. "I am sorry for your loss. Just be glad that you yourself are all right, and stay away from Wondertrap Mountain in the future. It is a place where anyone can enter easily, but not everyone will leave unscath-"

"The Viper Sprout," the young man at the other table interjected before Jue could complete his sentence.

"Hmm?" Everyone's eyes turned towards him.

The young man looked to be in his early twenties and was at the Intermediate Essence Building realm. He had on a set of clothes that were worn out and fraying at the edges. His hair was tied up in a short bun, and his body was thin and poorly built.

However, the light in his eyes reflected a certain level of confidence within him.

"The Viper Sprout," the young man repeated matter-of-factly. "That is what poisoned him."

Jue looked at him doubtfully. "Young man, you can eat whatever you want, but you shouldn't just say whatever you like. If we give him the antidote for just any random poison, it would only serve to hasten his death."

"No, sir," the middle-aged man shook his head. "Any hope is better than none. Since he will die anyway, we might as well just give it a try. Do you have the cure for the Viper Sprout?"

Jue shook his head in disapproval. "Given your current situation, I guess I can't blame you for grasping at straws. However, the Viper Sprout is no ordinary venomous plant. It is one of the most lethal plants that have been discovered on Wondertrap Mountain. Not much is known about the Viper Sprout. However, what I do know is that the Viper Sprout is not only extremely rare, but the antidote for its poison is also extremely difficult to concoct, making it a very expensive item. Even I do not have it in my possession."

While speaking, Jue did not forget to shoot a glare at the young man at the other table.

Shooting his mouth off without anything to back up his words, how irresponsible!

His impression of the young man was rapidly getting from bad to worse.

"So it is like that" the middle-aged man was obviously disappointed to hear that.

"What are you talking about?" this time it was the young man's turn to frown. "The Viper Sprout might be rare, but its poison is not difficult to cure at all."

Silence fell over the small inn, but it only lasted for a single moment before being broken.

"Hahaha!" Jue burst out in laughter.

It was not just him either.

As if they had agreed on it earlier, the other four members of the Iron Claw Brigade laughed out at the exact same time. Even the innkeeper had to consciously hold in his laughter.

"What? Not difficult to cure?" Jue scoffed. "You really are all talk, young man. Since you say so, why don't you show us just how easy it is? Go ahead and cure him then! Go on, back up your words!"

"Hahaha. Boss, go easy on the kid. Just leave him be. Otherwise, he might just get killed by the poison."

"Yeah, let's just pretend we didn't hear that."

"Fine, fine," Jue laughed. "The poison of the Viper Sprout is not difficult to cure? That's the biggest joke I've heard in years!"

The young man furrowed his brows.

Without saying another word, he got up from his seat and walked straight past Jue, arriving by the side of the unconscious man.

"Young man, just admit that you are talking big and back off," Jue advised out of goodwill. "I know you have your pride, but don't get yourself killed for such a stupid reason. Most poisons from Wondertrap Mountain can spread by physical contact."

Ignoring him altogether, the young man squatted down beside the unconscious man. Then the young man reached out and felt the unconscious man's pulse, much to everyone's horror.

That's physical contact!

"Hey!" Jue exclaimed in shock.

"What are you doing?!" Xing called out as well. "Do you really want to get yourself killed?"

"Damn it, this is a bad day after all!" the innkeeper cursed in his heart.

He could already foresee the scene hours later. Three poisoned corpses would be left lying on the floor of his inn, and he had to find some novel way to get rid of them without having to physically touch them.

The young man did not care one bit for the commotion that had resulted from his actions. All he could see right now was the unconscious man lying in front of him.

And then his hands moved.

With each flick of his wrist, he drew out an item from his spatial ring.

The first to appear was a set of mortar and pestle, then came countless herbs and plants that were sent into the mortar.

With one hand, he crushed these herbs and mixed them together.

With the other, he drew out herb after herb, sending them straight into the mortar to be processed.

Every action was seamlessly smooth, almost as if it was a performance of sorts.

The middle-aged man, the innkeeper, Jue, Xing, and the rest of the Iron Claw Brigade all looked on in shock, none of them able to keep their mouths closed.

Even Lu Tianzi widened his eyes in astonishment.

With how skilfully the young man dealt with these herbs, even a layman would be able to guess that the young man was a true expert in this field.

When the young man finally stopped moving, only a thick green paste was left in the mortar.

However, the young man did not immediately feed the paste to the unconscious man. Instead, he just looked at the middle-aged man in silence.

"Is that the antidote?" the middle-aged man asked anxiously. "Hurry and feed it to him!"

"Are you sure you want me to feed it to him?" the young man smirked. "This will really cure him, you know?"

His strange comment caused everyone to blink in confusion.

"W-What do you mean?" the middle-aged man was slightly taken aback by that remark. "Why are you saying it as though it is a bad thing?"

"Ahem," Jue cleared his throat in an embarrassed manner. "Young man, it is as he says. If that really is the antidote, perhaps you should feed it to this man as soon as possible? His condition is really worsening fast."

Lu Tianzi looked at Jue with a smile.

Just earlier, Jue had been putting down the young man repeatedly. Now that he had seen the young man's skills, his attitude had taken a complete turnaround.

It was admirable in a way.

The captain of a team needed this sort of flexibility at least. Otherwise, he would only cause the other brigade members to suffer along with him.

"Well, it might not be a bad thing to others, but it should be a bad thing to the person who went to the trouble of poisoning him and then masking it as an accident," the young man shrugged before turning back to the middle-aged man. "Of course, if you want me to, I will just go ahead and feed it to him."

"Masking it as an accident?" Jue frowned before glaring at the middle-aged man as well. "Is there such a thing?"

"What are you taking about?!" the middle-aged man yelled in anger. "Why would I bother bringing him here if I really poisoned him? I could have just left him to die in the wilds!"

"I don't know what your reason is, and I don't care," the young man snorted in disdain. "However, I am certain that this matter is caused by people. Otherwise, the poison would have directly entered his bloodstream, and not be lining his stomach as is the case here. From that alone, we know that he had clearly been fed food laced with the poison. On top of that, you have come into contact with him for a while now. So why do you still look completely fine?"

"How would I know that?" the middle-aged man retorted angrily. "Perhaps my body is stronger than you think! And who knows why the poison is in his stomach? That's right! Maybe he accidentally ate one of those Viper Sprouts! That's how he got poisoned!"

"You might be able to fool others, but you cannot fool me," the young man shook his head calmly. "It is not obvious, but your skin colour has been slowly turning darker after entering the inn. This is a sign of the typical low grade antidote counteracting against the Viper Sprout's poison. You might be able to fool others, but you can't fool me. After all, I am a true poison master!"

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com