The Divine Devil race was naturally fond of killing and could absorb corpses’ cultivation levels. What’s more, they could also increase their own cultivation by absorbing the three souls and seven spirits of the human body. Such ferocity and malice were things the Dao of Heaven couldn’t tolerate. Therefore, whenever the Divine Devil clan was at its peak, there would always be a son of heaven who would personally slaughter demons, suppressing the Divine Devil clan to a state just like when the race first emerged.

　　Divine Devils lie dormant, waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback, then suffer defeat. In the long run, it was like a cycle that had been set by the Dao of Heaven since time immemorial, without exception.

　　Yan Tianhen kept thinking about the prophet family’s predictions every day. He was a Divine Devil and the Star of Destruction. Lin Xuanzhi was the Star of Salvation. He suddenly understood certain matters the day he realized that he was indeed a Divine Devil.

　　First, his identity was irreversible; a Divine Devil was a Divine Devil. He wouldn’t lose the powerful racial identity of a Divine Devil just because he had half human blood flowing through his veins.

　　Secondly, the “Divine Devil who would bring chaos to the world” in the prophets’ prophecy meant that he must first plunge the world into chaos before the prophecy could come true. If he didn’t cultivate the demonic path and didn’t bring chaos to the world, then the prophets’ words could no longer be counted on. His Dage was the Star of Salvation, but if there was no chaos in this world and Divine Devil didn’t appear, then Lin Xuanzhi would have no need to save the world.

　　And lastly, he was a coward.

　　He couldn’t imagine — if he continued to cultivate those demonic arts and he thought about things according to the Divine Devils’ habits and perspective one day, becoming a true harbinger of chaos who could produce clouds with one turn of his hand and rain with another, then would his Dage, the one selected by the Dao of Heaven exclusively to be his natural enemy; would his Dage still treat him like he did in the past?

　　Yan Tianhen thought that he could firmly and confidently answer “Yes”, but in reality, how could he have such confidence?

　　If his affection for Lin Xuanzhi was a mixture of familial affection, admiration, and other complex feelings blended together to finally form a “love”, then how did Lin Xuanzhi fall for him?

　　To begin with, Lin Xuanzhi’s so-called “love” for him was sudden and inexplicable. It seemed that the day before, Lin Xuanzhi still regarded him as an enemy, his eyes cold and full of abhorrence, but the day after, without any warning, Lin Xuanzhi began to treat him warmly. Even those unfathomable eyes became full of love and indulgence for him.

　　Even now, Yan Tianhen still couldn’t think of the reason because, no matter what, he could never expect that Lin Xuanzhi’s great emotional changes and abnormal behavior were because he was a person who had been reborn with his past life’s memories.

　　Yan Tianhen couldn’t figure out the reason; thus, he trembled with fear and trepidation. He didn’t know whether this sudden fondness would suddenly disappear again in the near future.

　　He did not dare to gamble, nor could he afford to gamble.

　　He only had Lin Xuanzhi now. Let alone leveling swords at each other; even if Lin Xuanzhi merely treated him with cold indifference, completely ignoring him — just thinking about it made Yan Tianhen feel as though his heart was being cut apart, and his entire person wouldn’t feel good anymore!

　　Just then, while he was still thinking about that, Esteemed Huai Yu turned back angrily. He stood in front of Yan Tianhen and looked at him coldly. “Don’t want to cultivate the demonic path?”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded.

　　“Come with me.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu brought Yan Tianhen to the spiritual plant fields. Although he had been tormenting Yan Tianhen these days, asking him to weed the spiritual plant fields, he was only observing Yan Tianhen’s strength and didn’t teach him anything.

　　Esteemed Huai Yu spoke, “My Senior Martial Brother didn’t send you to me in order to find you a safe and comfortable place to pass your days, shielded from the wind and rain. Although I spoke of many rules before, I never truly put them into practice. After all, I always thought that the alchemist path was only an auxiliary path for you and that the demonic path was the correct path that you should walk. But since you don’t intend to continue cultivating the demonic path, then I naturally have to put in more effort on your alchemist path.”

　　Yan Tianhen bit his lower lip and whispered, “Thank you, Master.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu laughed coldly, “Don’t rush to thank me. Although I have considerable talent in alchemy, I’ve never refined the medicinal pills that you usually hear about. What I refine are poison pills, which are sinister things used to harm and kill people. So, are you still willing to learn from me?”

　　Yan Tianhen was surprised. He never imagined that Esteemed Huai Yu was actually a Poison Master.

　　He stared blankly at Esteemed Huai Yu. “Why? Don’t tell me that Esteemed Lan Yue has no objections to this?”

　　“What objections can he have?” Esteemed Huai Yu rolled his eyes at Yan Tianhen. “Isn’t it still cultivation no matter what you cultivate? Harming people openly is harming people; secretly harming people in the dark is also harming people. It’s only a matter of different methods. Moreover, the market price of Poison Masters is good. Many large families solicit Poison Masters everywhere. In reality, the market price of Poison Masters is much higher than that of medicinal alchemists.”

　　Although the reputation of Poison Masters in the Five Continents wasn’t considered very good when compared to that of traditional alchemists, it wasn’t that much worse. At the very least, this was a proper path that could be acknowledged by others, just like Gu Masters — even if many people avoided the profession, they still wouldn’t shout about beating or killing such practitioners. This acknowledgment was so much so that the South Continent’s celestial-level sect even especially offered the Gu Master path for people to cultivate.

　　“Do you want to learn or not?” Esteemed Huai Yu already seemed somewhat impatient.

　　Yan Tianhen moved his throat, “Learn.”

　　“Come closer.”

　　Yan Tianhen approached Esteemed Huai Yu in a few steps, but he still didn’t stay still. Esteemed Huai Yu suddenly reached out his hand, his right index finger and middle finger touching the center of Yan Tianhen’s forehead. Yan Tianhen only felt a flash of bright light in front of his eyes, and suddenly, a scroll appeared in his consciousness.

　　This was a secret alchemist manual for refining poison pills called the《Profound Book of Poisons》, which had three parts. The first part comprised of acupoints and meridians for spiritual Qi to flow through and internal meditation techniques necessary for refining poison pills, as well as the hand seals for refining those pills. The second part included the spiritual herbs and toxins that could be used as medicine. The third part recorded the secret recipes for poison pills. Looking over it, there was actually no less than 100 kinds of poison pill recipes.

　　Yan Tianhen could hardly say a word. He could not see the level of this《Profound Book of Poisons》at all. The knowledge inside was as vast as the open sea and countless, just like the grains of sand in the Ganges, broad and profound.

　　When he read extensively before, he also read many Poison Masters’ secret manuals. However, they all appeared completely inadequate when compared with this one, just like children playing house.

　　If he could thoroughly study this book, he was afraid that he could at least become an Earth Level Poison Master.

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Esteemed Huai Yu with a rather complicated expression. “Master, such a rare secret manual, you’re giving it to me just like that?”

　　One should know that, even between masters and disciples, if their relationship had not yet reached a certain level, the master would never teach his true skills to his disciples. The common saying “Successfully teaching disciples will starve the master to death” was not without reason.

　　Yan Tianhen didn’t know how many abilities Esteemed Huai Yu had, but this《Profound Book of Poisons》was absolutely not an ordinary item.

　　Esteemed Huai Yu curled his lips and loosened his hand. “Don’t be happy so early. To be honest, this《Profound Book of Poisons》would still be a rare treasure even if it was placed in the Nine Lands. The reason why I gave it to you is that first, you are my disciple. If you don’t have something good to show off, I’ll lose too much face if word gets out. Second, to speak frankly, this is merely a secret manual. To what degree you can cultivate this depends completely on your own fortune…… Besides, they all say that strict teachers produce brilliant students, so I also won’t be too kind to you.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded. “Nevertheless, I want to thank Master.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu gave a Hmph, “Say those kinds of words later.”

　　With that, Huai Yu turned to the field of spiritual herbs in front of him and spoke, “I know that you’ve already learned the hand seals. The internal meditation technique used is the same set of techniques in this《Profound Book of Poisons》. From tomorrow on, even if you haven’t learned it, you’ll still need to try weeding using the internal meditation techniques described in the《Profound Book of Poisons》. If I see you crouching in the fields pulling out the weeds one by one, be careful of being served with whips.”

　　Yan Tianhen couldn’t help but say with consternation, “Even if I practice the techniques all night long today, it is still impossible for me to learn it at all. Moreover, although I know the movements, I’ve yet to coherently connect them together. If I use the techniques directly, I will definitely destroy a lot of spiritual herbs.”

　　“In any case, you have a rich elder brother. I’m not afraid that he can’t afford to compensate me.” Esteemed Huai Yu responded faintly.

　　Yan Tianhen, “….”

　　He felt a little guilty towards his Dage!

　　This wasn’t the end; Esteemed Huai Yu narrowed his eyes, “I’ll give you half a month’s time. You need to memorize all the spiritual herbs’ categories, medicinal properties, growing habits, as well as the 238 pill recipes in this《Profound Book of Poisons》 in this book by heart, and you can’t miss a single word.”

　　Dumbfounded, Yan Tianhen stared at him with wide eyes, “This… I’m afraid this is not very possible.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu curled his lips, “How do you know it’s impossible? How about this: if you can finish the homework I assigned and pass the examination, then in half a month, I will give you a chance to go down the mountain to find your Dage and complain to him; how about that?”

　　Yan Tianhen’s expression changed. He quickly held out his pinky and looked at Esteemed Huai Yu with burning eyes. “Promise me, pinky swear, you’re not allowed to change your words for a hundred years!”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu rolled his eyes, “Childish.”

　　Though he said that, he still held out his pinky and did a pinky swear with Yan Tianhen.

　　Yan Tianhen couldn’t wait to go back to memorize the secret manual that was as vast as the open seas, but he just took half a step when he saw Esteemed Huai Yu turn back again, nursing a secret grudge.

　　“Does Master have any other advice?” Yan Tianhen asked.

　　“Remember to control those two stupid tiger cubs of yours.” Esteemed Huai Yu pointed to his chicken coop, his tone full of resentment, “These days, they’ve been chasing my chickens and ducks every day and have scared them out of laying eggs. What do you want your Teacher to eat?”

　　Yan Tianhen immediately blushed with shame and repeatedly promised, “Master, rest assured; I will definitely take care of them!”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at the pig leg on the ground and spoke loudly, “Master, about cooking dinner…”

　　“None of my goddamn business?” Esteemed Huai Yu replied, “Your problem.”

　　Yan Tianhen, “….”

　　Okay, fine. who let him have something to ask the other party for?

　　Yan Tianhen sighed, “All right, I’ll cook carefully.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu snorted, staring at Yan Tianhen for quite a while, as if to assess whether or not this brat was telling the truth.

　　Moments later, Esteemed Huai Yu narrowed his eyes and asked with profound meaning, “Ah Hen, do you believe in fate?”

　　Yan Tianhen thought for a while and answered cautiously, “I believe part of it, but not all of it. My Dage once said that with effort, one can achieve anything.”

　　Esteemed Huai Yu said mildly, “There is some truth to your Dage’s words; fate is not irreversible.”

　　Yan Tianhen was quite surprised. “Master, I didn’t expect that you would approve of my Dage’s words.”

　　Most of the time, Esteemed Huai Yu extorted people by taking advantage of their weaknesses. Moreover, he seemed to not think highly of Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Esteemed Huai Yu said coldly, “He’s only partly correct, just like how some Divine Devils can become friends with human cultivators and coexist in peace. This is a place where fate can be opposed. But speaking from the perspective of the entire race, Divine Devils and human beings can never be compatible. Think carefully about what you want to do.”

　　After saying that, Esteemed Huai Yu swung his sleeves and left.

　　Distracted, Yan Tianhen stared blankly at his hand.

　　From that day, when he received the 《Profound Book of Poisons》, Yan Tianhen was wholeheartedly immersed in cultivating internal meditation techniques and memorizing a large amount of knowledge. He hungrily committed the toxins and pill recipes in the secret manual to heart, fearful of overlooking anything, no matter how small.

　　Esteemed Huai Yu would take some time to check his progress every day. It seemed that he truly didn’t care about Yan Tianhen wrecking those spiritual plants. Later Yan Tianhen thought about it — it was probably because Esteemed Huai Yu was seriously counting all those damages on Lin Xuanzhi’s head.

　　However, to Yan Tianhen’s relief, Esteemed Huai Yu didn’t come out much these days, and there were even a few days where he said that he had to go out to take care of some matters and wasn’t on the peak. Thus, Yan Tianhen didn’t have to go hunting on the nearby peak — one should know that during this period of time, Yan Tianhen had been letting Feng Jingyu sneak to the opposite peak to kill birds in order to save time.

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