Stella pressed the dagger's blade against Ash's black root.
"Tree, is this really the only way to extract your cursed sap?" Stella asked, "I don't want to hurt you."
"Stella, you want to make a poisonous pill that slowly turns a person to wood and eventually a tree from the inside. Yet you are worried about hurting my roots? I think your priorities are wrong here..."
"Why wouldn't I be worried? I would hate to cause you pain," Stella replied, confused about how Ash could compare the suffering of her foes to her hurting him.
"Something this minor doesn't cause me pain," Ash chuckled, "What does is having a mountain-sized worm devouring thousands of my roots in one bite. Now THAT was painful to the point I almost passed out."
"So it's really okay?" Stella put more force on the dagger's hilt to see if he would react.
"Yes, Stella, I know you don't want to hurt me. You can go ahead—"
Stella pushed the blade deep into the root.
"—OW."
"Liar!" Stella shouted as she withdrew the dagger and noticed a sheen of black liquid coating the blade.
"That was a joke..." Ashlock said as if he were speaking through gritted teeth, "Okay, maybe it wasn't, and it did hurt a bit. I forgot to withdraw my focus from that root."
"Idiot," Stella muttered as she shook her head and summoned a wooden bowl to collect the black liquid dripping from the dagger that looked weirdly similar to blood.
"So this is your cursed sap." Stella wiped off the dagger with a cloth and placed the wooden bowl containing a few droplets of black blood on the rim of the earthen bowl, "Tell me more about it."
"Mhm, let's see... If ingested, my cursed sap will slowly turn the person into a tree," Ashlock explained, "It's quite slow-acting, takes around an hour or more, and I have only managed to test it once on the Head Librarian when he was stuck inside my soul. But he went supernova before I could see the results."
Stella drummed her fingers on the earthen bowl, "I see. But what about the worm? If all your roots have this cursed sap, shouldn't it have consumed large amounts of your cursed sap when it tunneled through the mountain?"
"The moment the worm or any other monster detects the cursed sap within their bodies, they simply dispel it with their internal Qi," Ashlock sighed, "The only thing my sap ever actually worked on was the Dao Storm. Hence the sudden forest of demonic trees on the mountain range."
"Okay, that's interesting," Stella mused, "Would you agree the Dao Storm and the worm were comparable in strength?"
"Maybe? It's hard to tell. But if I had to guess, I would say the storm was a bigger threat?"
"Mhm, so you claim the storm was more of a threat, yet it was turned into a tree? So why could the worm resist the sap and not the storm?" Stella stopped drumming her fingers and leaned against the earthen bowl, "If we can identify what separates the two, we can look for solutions to make your cursed sap more effective as a poison."
"Well, I can't tell you based on observation as I lost consciousness as the Dao Storm tore me apart," Ashlock hummed, "How about we ask Elaine? She might know more about this."
Stella rolled her eyes, "Can't we just figure it out ourselves?"
"Stella, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we specifically brought Elaine on due to her value as a researcher," Ashlock lectured, "Trying to do everything yourself is nonsensical. It's important to learn to depend on those around you so you can focus on what you excel in."
Stella let out a sigh, "Fine."
There was a brief silence and then a ripple of spatial Qi. A human-sized portal appeared beside Stella, and she exchanged a confused glance through the portal with Elaine, who was standing over a desk in her study.
Elaine mouthed a question to her, but Stella had never developed the skill of lip reading, so she just gestured for Elaine to step through.
"What's up?" Elaine asked as she walked through and scrunched up her nose, likely due to the overwhelming flora scent in the cavern.
"Was I interrupting something?" Stella asked as the portal snapped closed behind Elaine.
"No, not really," Elaine shook her head, "Although I have a lecture to give in ten minutes. But that can always wait."
"That's fine. I just have a few questions."
"Sure, shoot them my way," Elaine said as she readjusted her glasses and looked around.
"What do you know about Dao Storms?" Stella asked.
"Dao Storms?" Elaine seemed surprised, "Well, to answer that, you first need to know what is a Dao?"
Is she in teacher mode? Why is she the one asking me questions? Stella wondered but answered to the best of her abilities anyway.
"The Dao is a fundamental concept or law under the heavens," Stella said, "It could be something simple like the Dao of water or a more abstract Dao like the Dao of sword intent."
"Theoretically, yes," Elaine nodded, "Although nobody in this realm can grasp abstract Dao's like sword intent. Anyway, I digress. A Dao Storm is simply a giant gathering of elemental Dao's that have morphed into a raging storm. They are usually birthed in areas of conflicting Qi and then rampage through the wilderness until they run out of steam, much like a regular storm."
"Mhm, I see," Stella crossed her arms as she leaned back against the earthen bowl, "And what would be the best way to kill a Dao Storm?"
"Kill?" Elaine seemed confused, "How would one kill something that isn't even alive? Dao Storms aren't exactly sentient, but they are attracted to dense Qi or heavenly Dao, which can give the illusion of intelligence."
"Okay, maybe kill is the wrong word," Stella mused, "How would you disrupt the storm? Assume you had to make a stand, and running away wasn't an option. How would you stop the Dao Storm?"
"Much like a normal storm, I guess? Disrupt the balance of the Dao's within the storm, and it will start eating itself until it dissipates," Elaine shrugged, "Although that's just a theory, it's too Qi intensive to try and stop a Dao Storm, so most cultivators just accept the damage to property and death of the mortals."
"What if you were to poison a Dao Storm?" Stella asked.
Elaine seemed baffled for a moment but then fell into contemplation.
"I guess it could be possible with the right type of poison? Since the Dao Storm isn't sentient, it wouldn't recognize the poison as something invasive and would greedily consume it rather than dispel it." Elaine began biting her nail and muttered, "Why did nobody think of this before?"
Stella was rather amazed at how much knowledge was crammed into that head. With a lot of time and experimentation, she might have come to the same conclusions as Elaine, but as Ash had pointed out, her time was better spent elsewhere when there was someone she could extract the answer from immediately.
Since Elaine was here and had sworn an oath of loyalty and secrecy, Stella had no qualms with showing Elaine the cursed blood and letting her in on what they were working on.
"Elaine, the reason for these questions is this," Stella gestured to the wooden bowl.
"Huh?" Elaine was broken from her mumblings and followed Stella's finger. Walking closer, she squinted at the bowl, poorly illuminated by the blue hue of the mushrooms.
"This black liquid is sap from Ash," Stella explained, "It turns whoever ingests it into a demonic tree."
"What?!" Elaine was taken aback, "Wait... that means..."
"Yes, all those demonic trees that appeared overnight were due to the Dao Storm tearing off Ash's branches and becoming poisoned by his cursed sap."
"Fascinating," Elaine pushed her hair behind her ear as she leaned in close to inspect the bizarre black liquid, "So what are your plans for it?"
"Well, I want to make a poisonous pill from it," Stella frowned, "But it's only ever worked on the Dao Storm. Any monster it's been tested on, including a Star Core worm, simply shrugged it off. So we were trying to figure out why the Dao Storm was so weak to it, yet it had no effect on monsters, and the answer seems so obvious now."
Elaine nodded, "Because the monsters notice the cursed sap and cycle their internal Qi to remove it, whereas the Dao Storm greedily absorbed the sap and then became corrupted by it and eventually turned into trees."
"I think I have an idea," Stella grinned, "Thank you for the help despite you being busy."
Elaine seemed flustered, "No, no, it's fine. Feel free to ask me questions anytime. Otherwise, I will feel useless to you guys."
"See? We should ask her stuff more often," Ashlock chuckled in her mind, "Should I send her back?"
"Sure, I think I can take it from here," Stella replied mentally—a portal rippled to life.
"Call on me anytime you need," Elaine said as she walked toward the portal, "Oh, and tell Douglas to stop working so hard. He needs to take breaks, too!"
With that, the portal snapped closed, and Stella was once again alone in the cavern with just the shifting white fog at the edge of her consciousness and the horrors she had kept at bay with many Mind Fortress pills.
"Right, let's get to work," Stella said as she cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders.
"What's your idea?"Ashlock asked.
"We identified the issues with your cursed sap and will add other ingredients to the pill to counteract those weaknesses," Stella explained, "It's why pills with more ingredients are better. One strong poison is great, but it can be even more potent when enhanced with many other ingredients."
"Makes sense," Ashlock replied, "What do you have in mind?"
"The first problem to solve is how slow your cursed sap acts; an hour to take effect is simply too long for use in combat," Stella mused as she walked up the ramp to the second floor of the cavern, "Are these all the flowers you can grow?"
“Ah, give me a second."
There was a pulse of power, and Stella watched as many soil plots of Qi Flowing Grass withered away and gave way to various beautiful flowers and even some bone-white bamboo.
Stella walked along the walkways, and feeling lazy, she spread out her telekinesis to pluck as many flowers as possible. Moments later, a storm of petals encircled her—with a flash of silvery light, the torrent of petals vanished into one of her many silver spatial rings.
"Ah, I also need some Heavenly Bamboo Essence," Stella said as she approached the bone-white shoots and sliced them in half with her dagger.
Returning to the cauldron and armed with all the resources she could get her hands on within her spatial rings, it was time to start making a poison.
"Qi Flowing Grass is known for its properties to facilitate the flow of Qi through the body's spirit roots, so it's a must as it will help spread the poison faster..." Stella tapped her chin as she tried to remember the various ingredients' properties, "Aren't I basically trying to make a toxic version of the Heavenly Purification Pill?"
"Poison and medicine are often the two sides of the same coin," Ashlock said, "Something that can be beneficial in small doses can kill at higher doses."
"True, but I don't have a Nine-Tailed Fox's Tear," Stella pouted, "If only we had connections with the merchants already. We have enough money looted from the Skyrends to buy anything we need but can't."
"Like a man stranded on a desert island with nothing but gold bars," Ashlock chuckled, "Don't worry, the merchants will be head over heels to serve us once they meet you in a week."
"Why would a man be stranded on a desert island when he can cultivate until he can fly or swim to shore?" Stella tilted her head in confusion, "You know what, never mind, we are getting sidetracked."
Hmm, I can ignore The Nine-Tailed Fox's Tear. It has potent purifying properties and is believed to cleanse all negative energies, so it wouldn't be beneficial in a poisonous pill.
With that ingredient removed, she was left with the Qi Flowing Grass, Dragon Marrow, Celestial Peony Petal, and Heavenly Bamboo Essence.
Humming to herself, she placed all the ingredients on the earthen bowl's rim in a line.
"Is Dragon Marrow really needed?" Ashlock asked, "Wasn't it's purpose to enhance muscle tissue?"
"Good point..." Stella frowned.
The Heavenly Purification Pill detoxifies the body of spiritual toxins or foreign energies that may have infiltrated a cultivator's body, purifying their Qi and ensuring smoother cultivation. What does muscle tissue have to do with that?
"But I will say, it does seem to act as a good putty to hold all the pill's ingredients together," Ashlock pointed out.
Stella wasn't sure what 'putty' was, but she got the general gist of what Ash was saying. The Dragon Marrow had helped hold all the ingredients in place while she layered them in the cauldron so it at least had some use.
"Ah, whatever," Stella shrugged, "What harm could some muscle enhancement bring? Maybe the Dragon Marrow will help the cursed sap infiltrate the cultivator's muscles, turning them to wood?"
She then picked up a pink flower, "The Celestial Peony Petal is known forits high concentration of pure celestial energy beneficial for purification. Ugh, this is hard. Is purification a good or bad thing for a poison?"
"It could be if you disguise it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it. My cursed sap is usually countered because the monster or cultivator notices it within their body and uses their internal Qi to purge it," Ashlock explained, "But what if they never noticed? What if they thought the pill was beneficial and let my cursed sap take root in their soul? By the time they notice, it will be too late."
Stella's eyes widened, "That's genius! If the pill purifies the entire body of impurities and enhances their muscles, then the person will believe it's good for them. We just need to obscure the cursed sap while it spreads throughout the body and for long enough that the person won't notice before it's too late."
"We could also add a mushroom that induces sleep to the pill so the cursed sap can take effect while the person is knocked out..." Ashlock said.
Stella let out an excited breath as she turned to the cauldron with her brain overflowing with ideas. Nothing brought her more thrill than the possibility of a challenge.
***
"Come here, little chicken," Stella cooed a black feathered bird-like monster with blood-red eyes and a beak strong enough to snap through steel.
Luckily, they were rich now, so with a single request, the Redclaws had sent them a runically enhanced metal cage by the end of the day to contain the beasts they had kidnapped from the wilderness.
Enraged shrieks from multiple demonic chickens filled the cavern as Stella floated a freshly made pill toward the fattest chicken that was in the lower stages of the Soul Fire Realm.
The chicken strained its neck through the bars to gobble up the pill and then tried to bite Stella's nose off.
"Bastard," Stella muttered as the girl and chicken engaged in a staring contest.
A while passed, and the chicken did not become a tree.
"Another dud," Stella groaned as she collapsed beside an earthen bowl and leaned against it. She looked awful—her long blonde hair had gone ashen from the cavern's dust, and her eyes were bloodshot.
"I really thought this would be the one!" Stella lamented, "But the chicken can see past the illusion Qi from the Dreamweaver Orchids! So far, only the one with sleep-inducing mushrooms worked, but putting someone to sleep right as they eat the pill is far too suspicious."
Ashlock shared Stella's exhaustion and frustration. He spent almost every waking moment trying to help her create this pill, and she had even worked through the nights while he slept.
"Stella, it's been three days. The merchant meeting is soon," Ashlock calmly reminded the girl, who was entirely focused on her newfound passion project, "We need to start production on the pills we plan to sell to them. Also, the Silverspires are getting restless as they haven't seen any pills yet..."
"I know!" Stella grumbled. "And at this rate, I won't have this poison ready in time for the meeting!"
"Wait, why would you need the poison in time for the merchant meeting?" Ashlock was confused. Wasn't this a passion project that would help the sect by boosting its offensive capabilities later down the road? Why would she need poison for a meeting with the merchants?
Stella tilted her head in confusion, "How else will I poison the Merchants?"
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