"A tonic?"
Aiden Starr froze for a moment. Suddenly, his chest burst open as ribs drilled out from his flesh—his own body seemed to be rejecting its bones, the sight utterly horrifying.
At the same time, god-blood poured out from within him, and then—without warning—a leg detached itself from his body, completely out of his control!
"You gave me a tonic? Not poison?"
At last, panic showed on his face—only for another head to drop to the ground, its eyes, ears, and nose rolling off in a heap.
Eyes, noses, and tongues lay scattered across the ground, bouncing and scrambling to return to the head—only to fall off again the moment they stuck, unable to fuse together.
Emperor Evan and Grandpa Blind saw hope at last and charged in at once. Starr raised a hand to grab Grandpa Blind's thrusting Dragon Reaver God-Spear, but as soon as he gripped the shaft, his entire arm flew off together with the spear!
He blocked a punch from Emperor Evan, only for his spine to suddenly slide out of his body—his vertebrae weren't his own, but a stolen god-bone.
"It can't be a tonic! It can't be!"
Starr was in a complete panic. Suddenly Granny Sue slammed a palm into his chest, using Tyson Li's Grand Firmament Star-Palm Art to punch straight through his torso.
His heart leapt out of his chest, bounced twice on the ground.
"How could this possibly be a tonic?"
Starr still refused to die, desperately fending off the siege, growing ever more panicked.
A tonic should only make him stronger—how could it make his body fall apart?
Bang! Bang! Bang—
His entire body suddenly exploded, blood spraying in every direction. Torrents of blood flowed—his god-blood was taken from another expert, and neither his heart nor his body belonged to the same person. The blood itself clashed with every part of his body, violently repelling one another.
"What did you poison me with?"
The severed head on the ground shot up, lunging at Quinn Shepherd. Quinn barely had time to dodge when Crippled Joe, hands flying, charged in and leapt to snatch the head, shouting, "Give me back my legs!"
The head roared, blasting Crippled Joe away, but Joe flew right back and grappled with it.
A leg dashed across the floor, charging at Quinn Shepherd. Deaf hurled his brush, sweeping the leg into a painted scroll right in front of Quinn.
Deaf collapsed onto his back, gasping for breath—he'd spent the last of his strength painting that scroll, a fierce tiger.
Inside the scroll, a white-browed tiger raced wildly, a leg clamped in its jaws as it tore through the painted world.
Quinn Shepherd finally breathed a sigh of relief—the medicine he'd given Starr really was a tonic, a genuine, powerful restorative.
Trying to poison Starr to death was nearly impossible; even Apothecary might not be able to pull it off, and Quinn certainly couldn't refine such a bizarre toxin.
Starr had beaten Grandpa Blind, Deaf, Crippled Joe, Tyson Li, Emperor Evan—all the strongest fighters—so thoroughly that not one could counterattack. Her Majesty the Dowager Empress and the other experts hadn't lasted a single round before collapsing.
He was far more terrifying than the Dragon-Keeper Lord. When Quinn used his own Three-Break Powder to poison the Dragon-Keeper Lord, it only caused trouble, not death—so poisoning was never the best solution.
Besides, Starr was a medical expert himself, able to swap out his own body parts, and his skill in medicine ranked among the very best. Any poison would be easily detected and countered.
For a god-doctor like Quinn, killing with poison is an art—and it doesn't always mean using actual poison.
Starr was unbelievably strong, but his flaw was obvious: his body was cobbled together from other experts, not truly one with his own flesh, making rejection inevitable.
Apothecary had taught Quinn that the human body has its own immune defenses. Transplanting another's organs means the body will treat them as invaders and try to destroy them.
That's why Starr's body parts started violently rejecting each other.
Apothecary had also taught Quinn that many illnesses are caused by a weakened immune system—colds, plagues, all can be cured by strengthening the body's own defenses.
Combining these two lessons, Quinn's solution was to refine a supreme tonic that would amplify the rejection between every part of Starr's body—pushing it to the absolute limit!
As the only boy in Oldridge Village, Quinn Shepherd had endured the strictest upbringing since childhood—tormented by the nine elders, he absorbed every lesson and tradition, making them his code of conduct.
Apothecary always said that being a healer was an art, and that the line between tonic and poison was never fixed—a poison could be a lifesaving cure, and a tonic could be deadly as well.
Just now, when Quinn was making pills to heal the flood-dragons, he used this very same tonic—using Dragon Qilin's dragon spittle as the base, supplemented with other great tonics, and fed them to the dragons.
Once the flood-dragons swallowed the elixir, their wounds healed at lightning speed, muscles regenerated, and broken bones and tendons knit themselves back together.
Quinn, using the Dragon-Controlling Mantra, led the flood-dragons into battle. Starr's severed arms attacked them, and the powerful tonic invaded through the contact—passing from the arms into Starr's body, and then, via his heart, spreading everywhere.
Quinn used the strongest medicine—even a wounded flood-dragon could recover instantly. But inside Starr, the tonic's power magnified the rejection to an unimaginable degree!
Poison couldn't kill him, but a tonic made him fall apart. This was the medical artistry Apothecary passed on to Quinn.
Ariel Skyfeather, Her Majesty the Dowager Empress, and the others suppressed their wounds and charged forward, as Starr's body split apart. Several heads shot up from the ground, shrieking, "You think this will kill me? You're too naive!"
His scattered body suddenly lashed out at the crowd, but without his flesh to anchor him, his magic was far weaker than before. Even his god-treasuries had been stolen from others, and now they were stripped from his body, leaving his power fragmented and every attack lacking its former might.
Even so, he was still terrifyingly strong—and the sight of heads, legs, and eyeballs whirling through the air was enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
Suddenly, several legs dashed over, landing beneath his chest. They tensed, then sprang into the air.
"He's trying to escape!"
Crippled Joe's hands flew, running like legs as he dashed forward and grabbed two of the fleeing legs, shouting, "Give me back my legs!"
The chest opened, and the other heads and eyes flew out, attacking Crippled Joe.
Emperor Evan roared, suddenly spitting a jet of blood that transformed into a blood-dragon. He leapt onto its back, charging straight for the airborne chest.
Grandpa Blind braced his spear and jumped into the air. The Dragon Reaver God-Spear twisted, lifting him up and launching him toward the chest.
Granny Sue, Ariel Skyfeather, Her Majesty the Dowager Empress, and the rest unleashed their powers, surging into the sky to intercept the chest.
Bang.
Emperor Evan crashed to the ground, coughing up blood again and again.
Then Crippled Joe fell too, clutching two legs and refusing to let go. Quinn Shepherd rushed over to catch him, but his own wounds flared—he stumbled, and Crippled Joe fell past his hands, shaking the ground with the impact.
"Quinn, you're so unfilial..." Crippled Joe bounced up and then collapsed, eyes rolling back as he fainted, still hugging the legs tightly.
Quinn scratched his head, thinking, "If I used the Dragon-Controlling Mantra to command the flood-dragons, I'd be even faster..."
He immediately activated the Dragon-Controlling Mantra, and the flood-dragons, suppressing their wounds, swam toward him.
Bang, bang, bang.
More and more experts fell from the sky. Emperor Evan struggled to his feet, saw Her Majesty the Dowager Empress falling, and rushed to catch her—only to be crushed and cough up blood again.
By the time Quinn borrowed the flood-dragons' power, Ariel Skyfeather also tumbled down from above. Quinn started forward to catch her, but her clothes transformed into vibrating scales and feathers, slowing her descent.
Quinn stopped in his tracks as Ariel Skyfeather suddenly lost strength—her scales and feathers stopped fluttering, and she crashed to the ground before Quinn could catch her.
Only Granny Sue and Grandpa Blind remained in the air, besieging the chest. Quinn leapt up to join them, knowing his flood-dragons were badly wounded and wouldn't last long—he had to finish this quickly.
The aerial battle was bizarre. Both Granny Sue and Grandpa Blind were gravely wounded, standing atop the chest and fending off attacks from all directions.
Their attackers were Starr's body parts—divine light shot from his eyes, his skull flew like a bowl, fists, legs, even his heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and hair—all joined the assault.
Such a bizarre attack had never been seen before!
Grandpa Blind's black dragon coiled and spun, frantically defending. Granny Sue, now the strongest fighter, used her Da Luo Star Palm to drive back the attacking divine hands, legs, and heads.
Quinn raced toward the aerial battlefield, speeding past a floating eyeball.
Swish.
The eyeball vanished, and a flood-dragon peeled off from Quinn, grabbing the eye and speeding away from the chest. The farther it went, the weaker Starr's control became, making it harder for him to reclaim his body parts.
Quinn looped back, using his Stealing Heaven Divine Hand to snatch another glowing eyeball midair, and another flood-dragon carried it away.
He darted through the sky, 'stealing' legs, hearts, skulls—letting the flood-dragons carry them far away.
Quinn had fewer and fewer flood-dragons, and his speed slowed. Suddenly, strands of hair flew at him—a storm of black hair like a rain of needles!
"Quinn, watch out!"
Granny Sue and Grandpa Blind rushed to shield him. Granny Sue pressed her palms together and sent the black rain flying back—thousands of hair-needles shot into the chest, bristling from its surface.
Grandpa Blind thrust his spear, piercing the chest with a bang. A surge of power from inside forced the Dragon Reaver God-Spear back, and the other body parts swarmed into the chest through the hole.
The chest shot away, tearing through the sky!
Grandpa Blind started to give chase, but grunted as his wounds flared, nearly dropping from the sky.
The chest sped away, crossing a thousand miles in an instant. Just then, a booming voice rang out: "Horizontal and vertical—boundless!"
Two blades of light—one horizontal, one vertical—flashed in the sky, then vanished into darkness.
"A thread of heaven!"