Chapter 26

Under the bright moon and sparse stars,

It must be said that since Yue Yuan arrived here, the weather had been quite good, with no rain.

Walking on the road bathed in silver moonlight, as the clear sound of bells rang out, Yue Yuan hummed a peculiar tune and walked slowly. While humming, he tiptoed and looked into the distance from the donkey's back, only to find that the road continued endlessly, with no sign of any village or town.

Clearly, Yue Yuan was in a place far from any village or temple.

"…Eh?"

Just as Yue Yuan was gazing into the distance, a delicate voice suddenly sounded behind him, saying, "Is this really okay?"

"Of course it’s fine!"

Yue Yuan retracted his gaze, turned around, and looked at Lu Wushuang, who was riding a tall horse behind him. He answered in a very serious tone, "Isn’t everything going well now?"

"But…"

"Master Yue, don’t you think this is a bit strange?"

Lu Wushuang, looking down from her horse at Yue Yuan, whose hair sometimes reflected gold in the moonlight even at night, said with a serious expression, "A donkey leading a horse—this is the first time I’ve seen such a scene!"

"…Do you, Miss Wushuang, want to ride with me?"

Lifting his head to meet Lu Wushuang’s gaze, Yue Yuan pondered for a moment and asked in a probing tone.

"…"

Upon hearing this, Lu Wushuang’s expression changed, and her tone immediately shifted 180 degrees. "No! This is fine, I have no objections!"

Seeing Lu Wushuang’s normal change in stance, Yue Yuan couldn’t help but marvel that this girl had indeed spent a long time with Li Mochou, understanding well what it meant to be a wise person. Her position was too firm.

"After some time, I can exchange this horse for a donkey for you!"

Turning back, Yue Yuan continued to sit on the donkey and said, "For now… we’ll just have to make do. The biggest problem we face now is that we might have to camp out in the wild!"

On the horse, Lu Wushuang remained silent upon hearing this. For her, camping out in the wild was a common occurrence since she had been with Li Mochou, and she was already used to it. She had no reaction to such a situation.

But for Yue Yuan, in modern times, he wasn’t a so-called backpacker and would always look for a hotel when traveling. Even in this world, except for the first night when he unexpectedly spent the night roasting roses with Yin Zhiping at the foot of a mountain, he always had a place to stay.

But now…

It seemed they were destined to experience the outdoor camping that martial artists often had to endure. Unfortunately, there were no broken temples or shrines around, so they would be completely camping out.

...

Two hours later.

In a mountain hollow, by a stream.

Under a large rock, a bonfire was burning, illuminating the area around the rock.

Under the rock, Yue Yuan and Lu Wushuang were sitting on small stones, warming themselves by the fire.

However, they were each doing their own thing. Yue Yuan was reading a book by the firelight, while Lu Wushuang, propping her chin on one hand, stared at the book in Yue Yuan’s hands, the reflection of the flames dancing on her face.

"The Five Toxins Secret Manual"!

Indeed, it lived up to being a secret manual written by Li Mochou, the Fairy of the Crimson Flame. Although it didn’t compare to the legendary supreme martial arts, it was still quite good, especially in terms of poison. It showcased Li Mochou’s talent and potential in this field.

Imagine, even the top experts like the Five Greats dared not directly face Li Mochou’s Ice Soul Silver Needles, showing how potent the poison was. The Five Toxins Palm, derived from the Five Toxins Secret Manual and renamed the Crimson Flame Palm by Li Mochou, was also a poison technique. If one’s power wasn’t much greater than Li Mochou’s, anyone who faced her palm strike would have only one outcome.

That was to be poisoned, injured, or even killed.

In essence, the Ice Soul Silver Needles and the Five Toxins Palm were primarily poison-based, and the severity of the poison was evident. Wu Santong, for instance, was immediately immobilized after being hit by a needle, while Wu San’s wife lost her strength and collapsed after Li Mochou lightly touched her face with her poison technique. As for Yang Guo, he needed to practice and take medicine for half a month to fully recover from just touching the Ice Soul Silver Needle. Even the powerful Huang Yaoshi dared not face the needles directly and had to retreat to avoid them.

This showed Li Mochou’s profound expertise in poison.

Flipping through the "Five Toxins Secret Manual" obtained from Lu Wushuang, Yue Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at the effort Li Mochou had put into poison.

If he were still an ordinary person, Yue Yuan wouldn’t have understood much about the "Five Toxins Secret Manual." But now, after observing Xiang Shuai and benefiting from the wisdom of others’ martial arts, Yue Yuan could appreciate its subtleties.

"Hmm?"

"This… how can it be this?"

At first, everything was fine, but as Yue Yuan turned the pages, he seemed to recall something, and his expression became extremely strange.

"Master Yue, what’s wrong?"

Seeing Yue Yuan’s strange expression and tone, Lu Wushuang, who had been staring intently at the "Five Toxins Secret Manual" in his hands, fearing he might accidentally drop it into the fire, was greatly alarmed. "Is there something wrong with the 'Five Toxins Secret Manual'?"

Worried, Lu Wushuang knew she needed this martial art to avenge her family. Hearing Yue Yuan’s exclamation, she couldn’t help but feel anxious, fearing something might be wrong with the hard-earned secret manual.

"…"

Lifting his head, his gaze moved from the book to Lu Wushuang’s face, Yue Yuan pondered for a moment before asking, "Miss Wushuang, do you know what poison Li Mochou used to cultivate?"

"Hmm?"

Lu Wushuang was taken aback, but seeing Yue Yuan’s serious expression, she recalled carefully and said, "When I was with Li Mochou, I secretly observed her practicing martial arts… she used many poisonous creatures, mainly scorpions, snakes, spiders, centipedes, and toads, though there were others, these five were the most common!"

"Could these scorpions, snakes, spiders, centipedes, and toads be the five toxins, and is the 'Five Toxins Secret Manual' based on these?"

Murmuring to herself, Lu Wushuang couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of toads, centipedes, and snakes. Most girls found these creatures uncomfortable.

Although Lu Wushuang had spent a long time with Li Mochou and had seen them, she still felt a bit uneasy, though not as much as an ordinary person. After all, she was relying on this manual to avenge her family.

Hearing Lu Wushuang’s answer, Yue Yuan’s strange expression returned to normal. He sighed and, based on his guess, felt somewhat amused.

From Yue Yuan’s deduction, the "Five Toxins Secret Manual" written by Li Mochou was definitely closely related to the Five Toxins Sect. Could Li Mochou be the founder of the Five Toxins Sect?

Even if not, Yue Yuan was certain that this manual must have somehow ended up in the hands of the Five Toxins Sect.

The Five Toxins Sect!

The Five Toxins Secret Manual!

And Li Mochou!

The relationship between these three was enough for Yue Yuan to make some speculations, and the matter was far from simple.