Mina Frost was stunned, her expression blank. Giant chunks of wood rained down from midair, and one massive piece hurtled toward her. She forgot to dodge, until Quinn Shepherd suddenly lunged over, scooped her up, and carried her away.
They had barely left when that huge chunk of wood crashed down with a thunderous boom, the surging shockwave flinging both of them through the air.
Once they landed, Quinn set her down and turned to look back. The spot where Mina Frost had just stood was now a deep pit gouged out by the falling timber, dirt and rocks scattered everywhere.
Mina Frost was still shaken, then suddenly snapped to her senses. She hurriedly pulled out several jade vials and said quickly, "My body is poisonous. When you held me just now, you might've been poisoned too..."
"No need."
Quinn quickly mixed a few antidote pills for himself and neutralized the toxins.
The two looked around, numb with shock. The surrounding valley was piled high with black wood, the chaotic heaps forming mountains.
Beneath their feet lay the tangled roots of the Withersilence Root Demon, countless tree roots twisted together and completely still.
Quinn hurried over to check on Dragon-Qilin and the others. When the unimaginable giant tree collapsed, it hadn't crushed those at its roots or buried them alive—incredibly lucky.
"You win."
Mina Frost looked crestfallen and said dejectedly, "The number one Poison Mistress in the Western Lands still can't beat a boy from the Great Ruins. I don't deserve my reputation as the best in the West."
Quinn shook his head. "No need to feel bad. I just got lucky this time. My poison included Loulan Golden Palace's witchcraft, and you poisoned the Withersilence Root Demon first, draining its vitality—only then could I finish it off."
Mina Frost said bleakly, "It swallowed the Azure Dragon Pearl, so its vitality could recover at any moment. I didn't help at all."
Quinn comforted her, "Honestly, poison isn't really my specialty. What I'm actually good at is healing people. And I'm not some nobody—my name is pretty well-known, you know."
Mina Frost was hit hard—he wasn't even an expert and still beat her?
"You might as well not comfort me at all."
Mina Frost said coldly, "You won. What do you plan to do with me?"
Quinn was puzzled and shook his head. "Why would I do anything to you? We were just competing in poisons, and together we took down the Withersilence Root Demon. I'm honestly quite happy. We're both fellow cultivators—it's only natural to exchange skills."
Mina Frost stared at him with those big, dark eyes, then suddenly tiptoed up and kissed him on the lips. She stuffed a little cloth pouch into his hand, darted away, and giggled, "I've poisoned you—Lovesickness Poison! If you ever come to the Western Lands, don't use the front door—climb in through my window!"
Quinn froze, only feeling that the girl's lips were soft, moist, and fragrant, leaving his mind a complete blank.
But this wasn't actually poisoning.
As the young divine physician of Everpeace, Quinn knew his own body inside and out. He calmly analyzed, "This is a symptom of cerebral ischemia. She kissed me, my heart skipped a beat, blood stopped flowing to my brain for a moment, so I blanked out."
Mina Frost made straight for Dragon-Qilin, Raina Bear, and the others. Quinn was startled and hurried after her.
During the collapse, the Azure Dragon Pearl burst out from the Withersilence Root Demon's body and landed in the middle of the group. Raina Bear, the True Heaven Palace Princess Mother, was struggling desperately, inching toward the Azure Dragon Pearl.
The two White Bat Demons were also crawling toward the Azure Dragon Pearl. Mina Frost had poisoned them, but now the toxins were gradually dissipating, letting them move again.
On the other side, Brandon Yu and his group were also recovering from the Lost-Mind Incense, and they too crawled toward the Azure Dragon Pearl, hoping to snatch it first.
Dragon-Qilin was the fastest. Normally this huge beast was lazy and only moved when forced, but now, determined to get the Azure Dragon Pearl, he pushed forward with all his might, outpacing everyone else.
But his stamina was poor, and after a short distance he was panting heavily, slowing down more and more.
Both groups were closing in on the Azure Dragon Pearl. A Heaven-Man realm expert was closest and reached out to grab it.
Dragon-Qilin saw this and quickly opened his mouth, stretching out his tongue longer and longer, trying to lick the Azure Dragon Pearl—he was about to scoop it up.
Mina Frost arrived just in time. Quinn was a step behind, but raised his hand, sending out his yuanqi to sweep up the Azure Dragon Pearl.
But Mina Frost didn't try to snatch the Azure Dragon Pearl. Instead, she swept her sleeve, gathering up Brandon Yu and his group and depositing them on the back of her white elephant.
The black-robed girl paused, then floated up and stood atop the white elephant's upturned trunk, waving to Quinn. "The Yu clan's patriarch once did me a favor, so I'm taking them with me! Lovesick youth of all, come to the Western Lands soon—"
Quinn waved back, feeling a strange mix of emotions.
The little cloth pouch Mina Frost had given him wasn't large, more like a scented sachet, but it was black, embroidered in gold thread with a pair of mandarin ducks swimming side by side among lotus flowers.
He opened the sachet and found a small handful of bright red beans inside, like tiny ripe apples but much smaller.
"Red beans grow in the southern lands; how many sprout each spring?"
Raina Bear staggered to her feet and, seeing the red beans in his hand, softly recited, "Pick them as often as you can—these are the seeds of longing. Cult Master Quinn, the Poison Mistress is inviting you for a walking marriage."
Quinn sniffed the beans and shook his head. "Red beans are poisonous—she must be trying to poison me! Is there really a lovesickness poison? That's it, she kissed me just now and her lips were still damp. There must be another poison on her lips, and when it mixes with the beans it'll form a compound toxin... Yes, that's got to be it!"
Raina Bear was dumbfounded. The former Palace Master of True Heaven Palace stared wide-eyed at the Holy Cult's Cult Master, utterly baffled. "Aren't red beans meant to express longing and love? How did Cult Master Quinn end up suspecting Mina Frost of poisoning him?"
She could finally be sure—Cult Master Quinn clearly misunderstood matters of romance, and he was seriously afflicted!
"It seems someone filled his head with the wrong ideas," Raina Bear thought to herself.
Still, Quinn put the poisonous red beans back into the black silk sachet and carefully stowed it away, making Raina Bear think he might not be entirely hopeless.
Quinn held up the Azure Dragon Pearl and examined it. Inside, the dragon's body gleamed like jade, translucent and lustrous, even its brows and whiskers were green, like a living jade dragon.
The Azure Dragon soul swam happily within the pearl.
This was the soul of a true dragon—not a chicken-dragon, Dragon-Qilin, or blue ox, but a pure-blooded Azure Dragon. Even through the pearl, Quinn could sense its immense divine power.
Although the Withersilence Root Demon had absorbed some of the pearl's energy, the Azure Dragon Pearl seemed able to keep drawing yuanqi from nature, replenishing itself endlessly—a remarkable treasure.
"What a marvelous treasure. Could the dragon soul inside be a dragon god?"
Quinn activated his Overlord Three-Core Technique, automatically turning his yuanqi into Azure Dragon qi and trying to rouse the pearl's power, but found he couldn't. Surprised, he muttered, "It must take True Heaven Palace's unique methods to control the Azure Dragon Pearl. My Azure Dragon qi alone probably just feeds the dragon soul."
To wield the Azure Dragon Pearl's power, one needed to communicate with the dragon soul inside. Only True Heaven Palace's 'All Things Are Spirit, All Things Are God' arts could establish that link.