Long Xuechan extended her slender right index finger. A flash of red light vanished from the fingertip, and a small protuberance on the surface of the sphere immediately detached and hovered above her palm.

Milky white fluid immediately welled up from the cut on the sphere, congealing instantly into new granules. Gazing at Nie Kong, a slight smile touched Long Xuechan’s bewitching face.

“This poisonous herb is called Snow Ball. Once a Spiritualist ingests it, they will die within fifteen minutes at most.

But don't worry, within that quarter of an hour, it will be enough time for me to save you ten times over. Now, are you ready?” “Snow Ball.

A very evocative name.” Nie Kong smiled, answering without regard to the question, and without using any spiritual power, he reached out and grasped the Snow Ball granule with his hand. The oozing white fluid barely touched his skin before the tips of his thumb and forefinger gripping the granule turned purplish-black, swelling up grotesquely.

The poison shot rapidly from his two fingers toward his entire arm. In an instant, Nie Kong felt the muscles in his arm ** and his meridians contracting.

“What potent poison!” The toxicity of this ‘Snow Ball’ was relatively mild—that was only in comparison to the forty herbs in this room; compared to ordinary poisons, the Snow Ball was already lethally toxic. Nie Kong marveled inwardly, but his right hand was already raised, bringing the Snow Ball granule to his mouth and chewing it slowly.

The purplish-black color spread over Nie Kong’s lips with visible speed. Then, thin purplish-black threads spread out like a spiderweb, first across his face, then over his entire head...

In just a few seconds, those purplish-black threads merged into one expanse, swallowing all the exposed skin on Nie Kong. Long Xuechan had been closely watching Nie Kong's expression, but what shocked her was that after swallowing that tiny bit of Snow Ball, not the slightest hint of pain showed on his face; it was as if the intense poison caused him no emotional change whatsoever...

If one had to pinpoint any change, it seemed Nie Kong’s face held a trace of... Contentment!

“Contentment?” The two words that suddenly popped into her mind made Long Xuechan feel utterly perplexed. However, seeing Nie Kong’s chewing slow down and his entire body begin to twitch, Long Xuechan could only temporarily suppress the doubt in her heart.

She tossed her left hand, and the basin of Snow Balls settled lightly onto the table. She then stepped forward, pried open Nie Kong’s lips with her left hand, and moved her right hand, which held a small, emerald-green pill, towards his mouth.

The pill halted abruptly just as it was about to enter Nie Kong’s mouth. Long Xuechan let out a surprised, delicate cry.

The purplish-black discoloration on Nie Kong’s two hands and head was slowly receding. Before long, large swathes of the dark color broke down again into fine, thin threads.

A moment later, even the web-like threads spreading everywhere vanished beneath his skin. Nie Kong’s external skin had miraculously returned to normal.

“Huh?” Long Xuechan let out another soft sound of surprise and instinctively drew back the small emerald pill in her hand. Looking at Nie Kong now, he clearly needed no antidote.

Did his body truly possess such formidable resistance to poison? Were the things he said earlier entirely without falsehood?

Long Xuechan stared intently at Nie Kong before her, her delicate eyebrows furrowing and then smoothing out, her heart fluctuating between suspicion and delight... Nie Kong felt a mixture of suspicion and pleasant surprise.

He had originally planned to put the Snow Ball granule in his mouth and seize the chance to collect it into his Pet Pack. But once he actually put the granule inside, he realized that under Long Xuechan’s gaze, he had no chance to cheat, so he had to switch from feigning ingestion to actually eating it.

As the poison spread, without any instruction from Nie Kong, the little creature excitedly waved its roots and stems. Threads of green energy zipped out, absorbing the poison until not a drop remained.

Despite the terrifying color his skin had turned, the Snow Ball’s toxicity had caused him no substantial harm. Nie Kong worried that Long Xuechan might question him about the Snow Ball’s properties.

Seeing the little creature absorb the intensely poisonous essence and prepare to retreat into the Pet Pack, he quickly called it to a halt and performed an instance of “Scent Recognition Medicine.” To Nie Kong’s delight, the herb-identifying skill from this demonic game proved surprisingly effective in this situation. After the little creature absorbed the Snow Ball’s medicinal power, its roots and stems shook violently for about half a minute.

Then, it flung a lump of emerald-green ** into Nie Kong’s acupoint, while the creature wrapped the remaining mass of white ** around itself and sent it into the Pet Pack, dripping it onto the leaves of the “Fire Tree Silver Flower.” As the red leaves curled and uncurled, the lump of purplish-black ** was completely absorbed. The green energy circled the Fire Tree Silver Flower once before retracting into the Yaochi Acupoint.

The little creature happily used its roots to scratch the side wall of Nie Kong’s acupoint. Meanwhile, Nie Kong’s attention was focused on the small clump of emerald-green ** the creature had ejected.

Within it, Nie Kong sensed an extremely pure Wood Spirit elemental energy, comparable to what he had previously absorbed from the “Coiling Serpent Blood Lotus” and the “Electric Light Vine,” though the quantity was pitifully small. This was likely due to the tiny size of the Snow Ball granule he had ingested.

If he had managed to obtain the entire “Snow Ball” plant, the contained Wood Spirit elemental energy would surely have been astonishing, perhaps reaching half that of the “Coiling Serpent Blood Lotus.” In terms of herb grade, the “Snow Ball” should not be comparable to the “Coiling Serpent Blood Lotus” and the “Electric Light Vine.” Logically, it shouldn't possess such pure Wood Spirit elemental energy, yet the reality was the opposite. Could it be that, in this regard, poisonous herbs hold an advantage over spiritual herbs?

Pondering this, Nie Kong opened his eyes. “How do you feel?” Seeing this, Long Xuechan quickly asked, her tone surprisingly anxious.

In truth, the entire process from Nie Kong ingesting the medicine to recovering had taken just over a minute, but to Long Xuechan, it felt like several hours had passed. She was desperate to know how Nie Kong felt after taking the medicine.

For a mere Spiritualist to be able to so easily withstand the assault of the Snow Ball’s poison and neutralize its effects in such a brief time—if she couldn't get to the bottom of this question, she feared she wouldn't be able to focus on anything else for a long time to come. “Very good.” Nie Kong smiled.

“Chan Jie, paper and pen for me.” Long Xuechan paused for a moment, then waved her right hand towards the table in front of her. A drawer creaked open, and writing brush, inkstone, paper, and ink block floated down onto the tabletop like scattered fluff.

Nie Kong pulled over the room’s only chair, sat before the table, and then began to write with forceful strokes, swish, swish, on the paper, almost without pausing. Long Xuechan couldn’t help but lean close to observe.

Her expression shifted from a smile to frequent nods. On the paper, Nie Kong meticulously described every subtle physical reaction after taking the “Snow Ball.” Beyond that, there was even a detailed analysis of the “Snow Ball’s” medicinal properties.

To achieve this level was already the mark of an outstanding medicine tester. However, after only a short while, Long Xuechan involuntarily widened her beautiful eyes, and an expression of astonishment bloomed across her delicate face...