Martial Saint with Passives

Jiang Che waited to the side.

Before long, Zhang Jinghuai came over carrying a bowl of red, powdery poison.

After applying it all over his body, Jiang Che began to circulate his Qi Blood and practice his Pile Skill.

To the side, Zhang Jinghuai watched Jiang Che anxiously.

Although he felt the poison he’d concocted this time should be fine,

he still wasn’t certain it would be a success.

An hour later, Jiang Che gradually felt something from the Poisonous Powder seep into his Qi Blood and begin to circulate through his meridians.

[Five Poison Technique Entry Level (1/100)]

Jiang Che was taken aback.

’The system registered it!’

Seeing the change in Jiang Che’s expression, Zhang Jinghuai quickly asked,

"Kid, how’s it going?"

Jiang Che smiled, nodded, and said, "It worked!"

"Really?" Zhang Jinghuai asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Old man, why would I lie to you?" Jiang Che walked over, circulated his Qi Blood, and gently slapped Zhang Jinghuai’s arm, controlling the poison.

Before long, a black Palm Seal appeared on Zhang Jinghuai’s arm.

"I’m poisoned! Haha, I’m poisoned!" Zhang Jinghuai exclaimed, overjoyed.

"What are you so happy about? You’re poisoned! Hurry up and take the antidote!" Jiang Che said, shaking his head.

This old man was quite old, yet his temperament was like a child’s.

"Right, right, the antidote!" Zhang Jinghuai hurriedly took out a date-red pill and swallowed it.

Before long, the black Palm Seal on his arm slowly disappeared.

Afterward, Jiang Che practiced this *Five Poison Technique* for a while longer and discovered its differences from other Cultivation Techniques.

Strictly speaking, the *Five Poison Technique* doesn’t allow the user to produce their own poison.

Rather, it allows the user to store five specific types of poison within their Qi Blood without harming themselves.

Or rather, it’s because one’s body develops a resistance to these five poisons that they no longer have an effect.

When one uses the *Five Poison Technique*, the poison stored within the body is consumed.

Once it’s all depleted, there’s no poison left in the body.

It then needs to be replenished.

In other words, this Cultivation Technique essentially turns one’s body into a device for storing and deploying poisons.

Furthermore, when using the *Five Poison Technique*, one doesn’t release all five poisons at once.

Instead, one can control which specific poison is released.

These five poisons were a cold poison, a fire poison, a corrosive poison, a paralytic poison, and a hallucinogenic poison.

’The other four poisons aren’t a problem; I can buy them. But the Pigeon Red Mushroom, which provides the hallucinogenic poison, has to be picked fresh frequently. That’s rather inconvenient...’

Jiang Che thought to himself.

Although the poisons could be released individually,

when one trains, all five must be mixed together.

If even one is missing, the mixture cannot enter the body.

And one can’t continue the training.

So Jiang Che told Zhang Jinghuai his concern.

"That is indeed a problem. I’ll try to see if I can grow this Pigeon Red Mushroom in the courtyard! If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to go back into the mountains to pick it!" Zhang Jinghuai said.

Jiang Che nodded.

For now, it was the only option.

"Oh right, old man," Jiang Che suddenly added, "give me a portion of the antidotes for all five poisons. It would be a disaster if I accidentally poisoned the wrong person and didn’t have an antidote."

"You’re right! I almost forgot!" Zhang Jinghuai hurriedly went to prepare some antidotes.

Meanwhile, Jiang Che was thinking, ’Maybe I should learn some medicine too?’

’At least I should learn how to prepare the medicines.’

’Otherwise, if the old man isn’t around someday, I won’t even know where to find the antidotes.’

After taking the antidotes, Jiang Che spoke in a joking tone:

"Hey, old man, how about you teach me a bit of medicine? If I can’t find you one day, I’ll have nowhere to get the antidotes."

Zhang Jinghuai’s expression, however, turned serious.

"Kid, learning medicine is no joke. Do you just want to dabble enough to prepare antidotes, or do you want to learn it thoroughly?"

"What’s the difference?" Jiang Che asked.

"If you just want to casually learn how to prepare antidotes, I can teach you anytime. That’s nothing. But if you want to thoroughly learn medicine, then you must become my formal disciple." Zhang Jinghuai suddenly stood up straight, assuming the air of a grandmaster.

"It’s fine, I’ll just dabble. Let’s forget about the disciple thing," Jiang Che said, shaking his head.

’Practicing medicine won’t save the people of the Chu Kingdom; Martial Arts Training is what’s needed!’

Hearing Jiang Che say this, a trace of disappointment flashed across Zhang Jinghuai’s face, but he quickly started laughing again.

"Heh, just learning a bit about preparing medicine is fine. If you want to be my apprentice, it’s not that easy! Don’t think I’ll take you just because we’re close!" Zhang Jinghuai said, putting on an act.

"I get it, I get it. You’re a divine doctor, a true master. Of course you wouldn’t consider the likes of me!" Jiang Che laughed.

Zhang Jinghuai just smiled without saying a word.

From their time together, he could sense Jiang Che’s intelligence.

He was also patient and composed.

He had genuinely considered taking him as a disciple.

But ultimately, it depended on the other person’s willingness.

If he didn’t want to learn, there was nothing to be done.

Afterward, Zhang Jinghuai began to teach Jiang Che some basic knowledge about preparing antidotes.

Jiang Che found there was a surprising amount of subtlety to it, so he applied himself with the same vigor he’d had back in school, listening intently and taking notes.

Though he hadn’t been a top student in his past life, he was still quite intelligent.

He was also hardworking, so his grades had always been good.

Afterward, Zhang Jinghuai tested Jiang Che to see how much he had understood.

He found that Jiang Che’s line of thought was clear, and he made almost no mistakes.

Zhang Jinghuai was very satisfied.

He just sighed, thinking it would be wonderful if Jiang Che were willing to learn medicine.

In the days that followed, Jiang Che split his time between practicing the *Eight Sufferings Vajra Zen* at home and visiting Tingzhu Garden to train in the *Five Poison Technique* and learn about preparing antidotes.

In his spare time, he would also go to the teahouse to sip tea and listen to the city’s gossip.

He paid particular attention to matters concerning the Black Wind Mountain Horse Bandits.

After all, he had killed one of Tuoba Lie’s sworn sons and didn’t know if the investigation would lead to him.