Xiao Yan's lying skills were indeed somewhat lacking.
Little Fairy Doctor, being a physician herself, had also investigated why the townspeople were poisoned. Of course, she had looked into Mr. Yao and Mu She as well.
However, her investigation revealed that based on their abilities, they did not possess the knowledge to concoct such a subtle poison.
Moreover, Xiao Yan claimed that by interrogating the two men, he learned they had poisoned the water source. However, if the water supply had been contaminated, then the entire population of Qingshan Town should have been affected, not just a portion of them.
Xiao Yan touched his nose with a hint of bitterness on his face. He couldn't help it. He wasn't a scoundrel skilled in lying and deceiving women. When hastily forced to make up a lie, it was bound to have many loopholes.
Little Fairy Doctor herself had also vaguely sensed that all the evidence was actually pointing toward her. It was precisely because all the clues implicated her that Mu She and Mr. Yao thought of joining forces against her.
While they did want to force her to hand over the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture and the various medicinal materials from the cave, they weren't actually framing her.
"I learned from the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture that there exists a strange physique in this world called the 'Woeful Poison Body'. Those with this physique only need to ingest poison to transform it into poison-attribute Dou Qi and increase their cultivation."
"Moreover, when someone with this physique refines medicine, they will cause the medicinal properties of the herbs to change. No matter what herbs they use, the final product will always be poison."
Little Fairy Doctor's beautiful eyes stared into Xiao Yan's, and as their gazes met, she slowly voiced the suspicions in her heart.
The Woeful Poison Body's process of refining medicine was similar to an alchemist's method for concocting medicinal pills. Medicinal pills couldn't be made by just anyone, because they required a combination of fire-attributed and wood-attributed Dou Qi. When alchemists refined pills, the wood-attribute Dou Qi mixed with the fire-attribute Dou Qi acted as a catalyst, causing the medicinal properties of the herbs to transform.
This was what made medicinal pills so miraculous.
If Xiao Yan's strong soul made him a natural-born Alchemist, then the Calamity Poison Body made Little Fairy Doctor a natural-born Poison Master.
Xiao Yan finally understood why her cultivation had increased so rapidly. It might have been because when concocting healing medicines, she had been testing some on herself, inadvertently ingesting some of the poison and thereby rapidly increasing her poison- attribute Dou Qi.
This was also how she had unintentionally caused the townspeople to be poisoned.
"After ingesting poison, the Woeful Poison Body will manifest seven-colored patterns on the face. This Seven-Colored Poison Scripture may be a manual specifically for cultivating the Woeful Poison Body." Little Fairy Doctor took out the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture, which described the Woeful Poison Body in great detail.
By now, Xiao Yan had pieced together many things. He suspected that the cave was not accidentally discovered by Little Fairy Doctor, but rather, it was her dormant Woeful Poison Body that had guided her to the cave.
How could there be so many coincidences in this world?
It was precisely because Little Fairy Doctor was born with the Woeful Poison Body, and the first stone box in the cave contained the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture specifically left for cultivating the Woeful Poison Body, that she discovered the cave.
This was not a coincidence, but an inevitability.
The scroll of the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture itself was a deadly poison. Any ordinary person who touched it would die instantly. However, when Little Fairy Doctor, who possessed the Woeful Poison Body, came into contact with it, not only was she unharmed, but it also awakened her Woeful Poison Body.
When things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction. Perhaps only the heart of the world's most benevolent physician could give birth to the world's deadliest Woeful Poison Body.
Little Fairy Doctor had wholeheartedly wanted to become an alchemist, but her poison- attribute Dou Qi prevented her from doing so. She wanted to be a physician who saved lives, yet she turned out to be the world's most poisonous Woeful Poison Body.
Xiao Yan could not help but feel a surge of sympathy as he looked at the woman before him. Now, Little Fairy Doctor had lost everything.
"What, are you suddenly telling me all this because you want to drive me away?" Xiao Yan pretended to be displeased, placing his hands on his hips as he spoke.
"No, I'm not... it's just... y-you're not afraid of me?" Little Fairy Doctor looked timidly at Xiao Yan, asking with a hint of unease.
Xiao Yan crossed his arms and gave Little Fairy Doctor a sideways glance. He snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, so what if you're born with the Woeful Poison Body? I'm an alchemist, born with a medicinal body."
"If I were afraid of your little poison, what kind of alchemist would I be? Let's see what's more formidable, your poison or my pills." Xiao Yan said with an arrogant expression.
Seeing Xiao Yan's proud and smug look, the corners of Little Fairy Doctor's eyes inadvertently became a little moist. She revealed a touch of a warm smile that came from her heart.
"Thank you, Xiao Yan."
She pointed her delicate finger at a nearby thatched hut and said with a smile, "I built that before. Let's stay there for the time being."
"Oh-ho, it may be just a thatched hut, but sharing a cozy little place with a beauty? That's the kind of life that would make even the gods jealous" Xiao Yan nodded after glancing at the hut, He then tilted his head to look at Little Fairy Doctor's flawless, jade-like profile and couldn't help but tease her with a smile.
Little Fairy Doctor's pretty face immediately turned bright red upon hearing this. She pouted and gave him a blank look, then waved her little fists and hummed softly, "Don't think you can take liberties just because my strength is lower. My poison isn't weak either. Be careful or I might make you lose... certain functions."
Xiao Yan gulped and raised his hands in surrender.
As he watched the Little Fairy Doctor walk into the thatched hut, the bright smile on his face instantly vanished.
Having thoroughly studied countless medicinal recipes and ancient texts, Xiao Yan naturally knew about the Woeful Poison Body constitution. He also realized that Little Fairy Doctor had withheld the most crucial information about it.
The Woeful Poison Body would eventually lead to her death.
This poison body could indeed increase her poison-attribute Dou Qi by consuming poisons. However, once the accumulation reached a point where the Woeful Poison Body could no longer suppress the poison within her body, the agony of all the poisons devouring her from the inside would cause her to slowly die under the most excruciating torture.
When Xiao Yan saw that the Little Fairy Doctor hadn't shared this with him, he guessed that she was planning to restrain herself from consuming any more poisons to prevent the excessive accumulation of the poison-attribute Dou Qi.
Perhaps Little Fairy Doctor was truly the greatest physician in the world.
The Bone Chilling Flame was born beneath the icy depths of the Nine Nether Cold Abyss, while the Sea Heart Flame was born within the depths of the sea. Even the Nihility Devouring Flame, which as a flame should illuminate the darkness, was born within the darkness itself and was the only Heavenly Flame devoid of light.
When things reach their extremes, they inevitably move in the opposite direction; this too was an ultimate principle of the Dao.
Xiao Yan took out a recipe for a 4th-tier medicinal pill from his storage ring - the Hidden
This was a medicinal pill that he had been planning to refine for a long time, as it was a breakthrough pill that could help the user directly advance from a 9-star Dou Master to a Dou
However, as a 4th-tier pill, its effects were not limited to simply breaking through to the Dou Grandmaster realm. After breaking through, the remaining medicinal power would solidify the cultivator's Dou Qi foundation, preventing it from becoming unstable due to the use of pills. It would also nourish the meridians and heal the hidden injuries accumulated from previous cultivation, laying the foundation for a future breakthrough to the Dou Spirit realm and increasing the success rate of such a breakthrough by 20%.
If the goal was only to break through to the Dou Grandmaster realm, a 3rd-tier pill would have sufficed. However, Xiao Yan wasn't satisfied with a simple breakthrough, as relying on pills to advance often led to unstable Dou Qi.
'Given the abundance of medicinal herbs here, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay and practice my alchemy skills until I can successfully refine the Hidden Spirit Pill before leaving.' 'Sigh, becoming a 7th-tier alchemist... who knows how long that will take. I just hope I can make it in time.'