'Luckily it is a venomous beast, otherwise I would have made a mistake... I need to cooperate with Hu Meng if I want to acquire this herb... plus I can try and incorporate the spiders venom as well.'
Yin Xiu carefully retreated from the periphery of the field, trying his best not to attract the attention of the spider. Once he was sure he was safe he picked up his pace before calling out to the shadows nearby "Hu Meng are you there?" he waited a few seconds before a bewildered black tiger appeared beside him, "I just got here how did you know?"
"I didn't I just guessed." Yin Xiu chuckled before telling him about his discovery of the spirit herb and the strange spider.
"A strange spider that you assume to be first stage, and a high level herb, with two poisonous fruits and one regular spirit medicine?" Hu Meng was first slightly stunned before becoming excited. "If it's as strong as you say it is I might make some progress if I eat it. That Ox really pushed me close to a breakthrough. If only I had a technique I could cultivate with my progress would be so much quicker..." Quickly shaking off his distracting thoughts he asked "Well, did you notice any webs near the spider?" Yin Xiu shook his head, "I might not be strong enough to notice."
Hu Meng nodded before saying "Let me go take a look and we'll make a plan from there." The tiger once again blended in seamlessly with the surrounding darkness abruptly vanishing from Yin Xiu's sight. Yin Xiu waited patiently until close to an hour had passed. 'Did something happen to Hu Meng?' Yin Xiu slowly became anxious as various scenarios played in his head. Luckily, before he decided to go look for him, the black tiger once again appeared next to Yin Xiu with a complicated expression on his face.
"Yin Xiu this might be a tricky opponent to mess with. If we are dead set on making a move we'll have to come up with a solid plan. That spider is at least as strong as me and with its venom as well it might make us suffer a loss... I observed closely, and the webs are spun extremely low to the ground throughout the majority of the flower field. Leaving us with very few options to get close to our goal without being trapped with no way to escape."
Yin Xiu's expression became grave as he pondered for a moment "I have a few ideas that we can possibly work with... Let's talk about them when we get back, if we stay too much longer it'll be dark, and I can't see as well as you do at night. Also, we don't necessarily have to make a move immediately." They set off on their way back each thinking about what options they had to seize this opportunity.
"By the way I did manage to hunt one beast today!" Yin Xiu suddenly mentioned with a bit of excitement "We'll make a quick stop in the summer area to retrieve it from the summer area."
"I thought I smelled some blood on you a bit ago, I'm curious to see what you managed to take down." Hu Meng said with some interest.
The duo quickly made their way back to the area where Yin Xiu had completed his first solo hunt. They soon reached the tree that Yin Xiu had stashed his prey in, Hu Meng looked at the badger-like beast curiously. "It should be a normal badger that experienced some kind of opportunity stepping on the road of cultivation by chance. Judging from the green markings on its back it possibly consumed some kind of wood attributed spiritual herb. Not bad for your first time." Hu Meng patted Yin Xiu's back with his large paw almost knocking his breath clean out of his lungs.
"Let's put it and your poisons you picked up today into the storage bag." Quickly helping Yin Xiu collect his loot, he continued as they journeyed back "I'm going to ask my mother if she's ever encountered a similar spider type spirit beast. If she has fought with a similar beast before it'll be much more beneficial to us when making arrangements. Honestly, we'll need to make a quick decision, as the plants Qi seemed almost fully saturated. It'll be fully ripened in the next day or so. If we're too late the spider will consume those fruits without leaving any scraps for us to pick up, plus I'm sure it'll boost its cultivation significantly if its invested so much care and effort into defending it." Hu Meng analyzed rationally.
As they continuously discussed, the mountain residence of the Hu family appeared in their vision. "Give me a moment, and I'll ask my mother if she isn't too busy cultivating." Hu Meng, disappeared like a phantom while Yin Xiu busied himself with dismantling the badger, preserving the useful looking parts that might sell for a decent amount such as its claws and hide. Not long after Yin Xiu finished with his task Hu Meng returned with a relieved look.
"According to my mother that should be a White Dahlia Spider, its venom is highly corrosive, but the webs it spins aren't very strong. It should serve as more of a warning function rather than a death trap. That we can't remove ourselves from." Hu Meng said with a bit more confidence. "It is mainly an ambush predator like me, so it is also supposedly quite fast."
Yin Xiu nodded before pensively saying "Should we repeat what we did with those two sect cultivators? I'll step into the web, and lead the spider to the fringes of the field, where you attack from its blind spot?"
Hu Meng pondered for a while before slowly nodding "That should work out, but are you sure you want to place yourself in danger like this?" He asked hesitantly. Yin Xiu shrugged in response "If we do manage to defeat the spider, and acquire those fruits, I stand to gain the most. It would mean me getting two different types of high level poisons, and not to mention that the fruits should be Wood attributed poisons of sufficient strength to use to refine my liver completely. Plus if I absorb the spider's venom I should more than likely take a major step forward in my bone refinement as well."
Hu Meng agreed with Yin Xiu's thoughts, "Then I'll take the regular spirit medicine and the meat of the spider as my spoils. Wood attributed materials like that typically have the effect of extending lifespan or healing, either way it'll be invaluable to have. Especially, for the upcoming territory conquest, we never now if one of us will be injured."
Yin Xiu solemnly nodded, "I'm going to take these two poisons I picked earlier to try and make a little more progress in my bone refinement." Hu Meng nodded before leaving quickly. 'Its always, bone-chilling watching him cultivate... I'm kind of worried he'll die or go crazy if he has to cultivate like this for too long.' Shaking his large head he vanished into the mountain to analyze the optimal route to make their move the next day.
Meanwhile, Yin Xiu sat crosslegged while he observed the two materials he was preparing to use. 'Let's start with the liquid I collected first.' He unstoppered his bamboo container, and observed the harmless looking clear liquid gathered at the bottom. He swirled it around absentmindedly for a moment before quickly tilting it to his mouth in one smooth motion. Bracing himself for the inevitable pain. After a few peaceful moments he opened his eyes in bewilderment, halfway thinking that he had just drank harmless dew. Suddenly Yin Xiu felt short of breath, as the toxins impacted his lungs forcefully. His chest growing heavy like a large stone was being pressed down on it, refusing to allow any air to enter his body. After a few minutes with Yin Xiu hovering on the edge of unconsciousness the runes finally lit up in his chest, using the poison to completely refine another bone. Pushing his cultivation a small step closer to completion.
Yin Xiu stared off in a daze as the black spots that were occupying his vision slowly cleared away. 'Air has never tasted so sweet' he greedily inhaled, trying to make up for the shortage of oxygen he had just experienced.
'That isn't the most potent poison I've ever ingested, but its effects are one of the most dangerous.' Noting to be careful of ingesting too much in the future, he turned his attention to the beautiful purple bell shaped flowers, 'I hope you aren't as torturous' He sighed inwardly before throwing his lingering fears to the back of his mind. He quickly ate the entire plant before bracing himself once more.
Unlike the liquid, the flower took hold almost instantaneously, Yin Xiu felt his muscles loosen as an uncontrollable numbness took over his entire body. He haphazardly slumped to the side, as he completely lost control over his muscles. 'This paralysis is much stronger than that weird root from before, I'll have to collect more of these. It'll definitely be useful in battles in the future,' he tried rambled in his mind in an effort to distract himself as his body was twitching uncomfortably.
Once it was finally done being incorporated into his body fully. Yin Xiu felt an overwhelming sense of exhilaration as his bone refinement reached a full quarter completed.
Internally his ribcage, collarbones and shoulder blades had turned as black as ink with an ominous aura exuding from them. The blood in his bone marrow incorporating even more toxins into circulation throughout his body.
His eyes flashing with excitement as he felt the wondrous state that his cultivation had reached. Sighing in contentment, he got to his feet, before making his way over to his makeshift bed. As he lay down, he cleared his mind ignoring the tension of facing a possibly dangerous foe once again, before slipping into a dreamless slumber.