Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 83: Poison masters

Krosstoen’s mountain had taught Liam frugality. He knew better than to waste his limited resources, which had mainly involved his supplies and arrows back then.

However, Liam’s hunter upbringing had also taught him when to use those resources. Saving an arrow was worse than failing to kill his prey or risking getting injured.

Hesitating could even lead to similar results while wasting the resource, and Liam applied that reasoning to his pill, using it without thinking twice.

After all, Liam had decided to kill Neil, Milo, and Jason ever since realizing that they had trapped him with the snake. He also acknowledged their individual strength and numerical advantage. They were no mere rats, so Liam went all-out from the get-go.

Liam’s decisiveness and secret weapon caught the trio by surprise. Neil, Milo, and Jason had only planned to dodge the incoming mysterious object, but couldn’t have predicted the cloud that it had released.

The dark, dense smoke enveloped the trio and filled the underground chamber with a dangerous stench. The cloud also kept expanding, thinning itself in the process, but something soon came out of it.

Neil rushed out, dark trails following his figure. His arms were crossed before his lowered head, but that did little to shield him from the smoke, especially when it had already affected him.

The air in Neil’s lungs seemed to have turned liquid, and his bloodshot, teary eyes blurred his vision. He could only squint, but that was enough to see that a vague figure had appeared before him.

Liam wasted no time or moves, summoning his Qi to accompany his attack. His palm slammed violently on Neil’s chest, and breaking noises followed.

The left side of Neil’s chest caved in before the attack sent him flying away, flinging him on the chamber’s opposite wall, where he slammed before falling limply on the uneven floor.

Liam barely recorded that outcome since he was already on the move. He dived inside the dark cloud, breathing deeply and welcoming the rejuvenating sensation that followed, confident in his high tolerance to that poison.

Despite the Alchemy Elder handling most of the concoction, Liam’s Qi had still been at the foundation of the alchemical flame that had birthed that pill. He basically had an innate resistance to it, which kept his lungs and eyes clear without destabilizing his awareness.

The cloud’s insides had terrible visibility, but that poisonous environment wasn’t big. Its expansion also thinned it, allowing Liam to spot the more solid figures it had enveloped.

After just two steps, Liam found Milo on his knees, covering his mouth and nose with both hands. His eyes were also closed, tears falling from them, but his moving Qi hinted at the presence of a martial art, which soon turned his head toward Liam.

Yet, sensing Liam’s arrival was different than defending against him, especially since he was already on the offensive. He had lunged his hand downward as soon as he spotted the kneeling figure, and his iron fingers pierced Milo’s throat.

That was no fancy attack or superior martial art, and what followed was even rougher. Liam simply pushed his fingers as deeply as possible before swinging them out, ripping off a whole quarter of Milo’s throat out of sheer, brutal strength.

Milo fell sideways at that point, but Liam had already proceeded forward. He had seen a more solid figure crawl out of the cloud and didn’t hesitate to follow it.

Jason had been the most affected of the trio. He had activated his martial arts, turning his blood vessels into an intricate black barrier, only for it to bring a false sense of security that made him breathe the smoke a bit longer.

That additional exposure destabilized Jason’s balance. His defensive martial art remained active, but his head spun too much for him to stand, forcing him to crawl until the sound of footsteps urged him to turn belly-up.

The action seemed to exhaust Jason. He spun on himself, only to crash on his back. He looked powerless, barely managing to open his teary eyes to witness a terrifying scene. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Liam calmly stepped out of the cloud, his robe torn all over, but his stance firmer than ever. His cold face betrayed no sign of emotion, as if his previous actions carried no weight in his mind, and black smoke blew out of his nostrils, as if poison coursed through his veins.

"Senio-!" Jason coughed, trying to push himself back with his elbows, only for Liam to stomp his foot on his chest, stopping him both from speaking and retreating.

Liam had poured all his superhuman strength into his stomp, but Jason’s reinforced skin held firm. Simple attacks couldn’t overcome his technique’s defenses, so Liam bent down, placing his left palm on his forehead.

"Senior, I swear!" Jason cried, panicking. "It wasn’t my intention to put you in danger! I-!"

Jason couldn’t finish his line since another cough took control of his throat. Faint black smoke even escaped his mouth, while more panic invaded his expression. He wanted to explain himself better, coming up with more excuses, but Liam ended up talking first.

"I don’t believe you," Liam stated, releasing the trembling energy that had accumulated in his palm.

The built-up Qi blew outward. The barrier of black veins kept Jason’s skin intact, but blood spurted out of his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. Anything inside his skull had turned into a gory pulp, immediately claiming his life.

Liam straightened up at that point, finally experiencing some tiredness. The feeling wasn’t intense, but a few drops of sweat had formed on his forehead. Still, he held back from wiping them, his cold gaze glued to the gory spectacle below.

Neil, Milo, and Jason weren’t weak. Even when taken individually, they were more than capable of putting up a fight. Liam didn’t know their actual battle prowess, but the small tournament had demonstrated that they would have taken some effort to kill.

However, Liam’s decisiveness had played a big role. He had gone for the kill before the trio could even realize how serious he was, which was to be expected.

After all, the red group couldn’t have predicted that Liam would resort to such extreme measures before trying to fix the issue through words.

Moreover, the exploding pill had turned the trio’s battle formation against them. They had been close enough for the cloud to envelop them, turning the surprise effect into a winning move.

And, just like that, Liam had defeated three cultivators at his same level without getting hurt even once. Actually, he wasn’t even sure whether that counted as a fight, but knew what he had to thank for such smooth trailing.

’Poison masters are quite feared in the cultivation world,’ Liam recalled the Disciplinary Elder’s words, agreeing with them. Much of the situation had worked in his favor, but he now saw the immense fighting value in what his Master was teaching him.

Sadly, despite wanting to, Liam couldn’t dwell on that realization any longer since his surroundings demanded his input again. An odd emptiness had spread in his perception, prompting him to thrust his elbow behind him, hitting Randall straight on his nose.