Chapter 11: Hallucinogenic Poison

Yang Fan was struggling through the dense jungle, filled with thorns and tall grass, making progress difficult.

In this area, there were around twenty different types of plants, which Yang Fan made note of as he journeyed on.

Several times, he caught whiffs of strange odors in the air around him.

Some smells resembled animal scents, while others were putrid, possibly from decaying matter.

Each time, Yang Fan promptly steered clear of these odors without hesitation.

From deep within the jungle, roars of wild beasts could be heard, thunderous and alarming, yet the distance from his current position alleviated any immediate worry.

Interestingly, the roars of those fierce beasts would often stir up lurking wild animals.

This, in turn, proved advantageous for Yang Fan to evade them.

Whether due to luck or other reasons, he didn’t encounter any wild beasts along the way and even managed to find some mountain peach fruits.

These fruits could swiftly replenish food and water, also providing a mild stimulant effect. One fruit could essentially sustain him for a day, making it a crucial food source in the Beast Realm.

After half an hour, Yang Fan began to feel weary and thirsty, yet he dared not stop.

At present, he had no means of preserving his life, and the stick in his hand served more as a source of comfort than actual defense.

Now, Yang Fan couldn’t care less about the trial’s objectives; he had to swiftly synthesize the hallucinogenic poison!

According to the wrist screen data, the Blue Spot Needle Mushroom typically thrives in dark, damp areas.

After another ten minutes of walking, Yang Fan heard the gentle sound of flowing water in the distance, immediately proceeding cautiously towards the direction of the sound.

Where there’s water, there’s a good chance of finding the Blue Spot Needle Mushroom, but the risk of encountering exotic beasts also increases significantly, requiring utmost caution.

The air was saturated with moisture, and he was getting closer to the water source.

Emerging from beneath the overgrown Purple Vine, Yang Fan finally caught sight of the nearby stream.

The rocks along the stream’s edge were perennially wet from the water’s flow, with cracks revealing small blue fungi scattered sparsely.

“Blue Spot Needle Mushroom!” Excitedly, Yang Fan approached a large boulder and collected over a dozen specimens.

Up to this point, he hadn’t encountered any wild beasts, but he remained cautious. After gathering the Blue Spot Needle Mushrooms, he returned to the forest and found a tree hollow to take shelter in.

Mixing the Purple Spotted Mushrooms and Blue Spot Needle Mushrooms in a roughly two-to-one ratio by weight, crushing them, and extracting their juice would yield the hallucinogenic poison.

For ordinary creatures, this poison could be lethal, but for powerful beings in the Beast Realm, it would only induce hallucinations.

Ingesting the hallucinogenic poison would induce a brief hallucinatory effect, with the potency decreasing gradually based on the target’s strength.

After spending some time, Yang Fan successfully crafted all the Purple Spotted Mushrooms and Blue Spot Needle Mushrooms into hallucinogenic poison. He applied some to the tip of his Grey Pine spear and stored the rest in the smallest Grey Pine fruit available.

Upon completing the synthesis, Yang Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“At least my combat prowess isn’t zero anymore!”

“But getting wild beasts to ingest the poison seems a bit challenging… Well, I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”

Throughout his journey, Yang Fan faced significant physical exhaustion, yet more crucially, under heightened vigilance, his mental energy was also greatly drained.

Now, feeling physically and mentally fatigued, he had no choice but to rest at this spot.

While taking a break, Yang Fan consumed a mountain peach fruit and entered a state of consciousness.

In this realm, night posed more dangers than daylight, compelling him to utilize every moment for rest to maintain optimal mental acuity.

“I haven’t sensed any unusual scents or sounds yet. Time to make the most of this rest period.”

As Yang Fan closed his eyes, he entered the realm of consciousness.

There, as usual, he calmed his mind to meditate.

However, this time, things felt somewhat different.

As Yang Fan neared the end of his meditation, a message appeared in his mind.

[In the northwest direction, there is something you need.]

Upon opening his eyes and confirming nothing unusual around him, he furrowed his brow.

He could sense that the message came from the Orb, which didn’t specify what exactly was in the northwest direction, only referring to it as “something needed,” almost like a kind of intuition.

“Could it be related to something concerning the mysterious Orb?”

The examiners had warned that individuals like him entering the otherworld would become prey to evil and darkness.

Despite not having encountered any wild beasts thus far, Yang Fan didn’t attribute it solely to luck. To a significant extent, it was due to the sharpness of his senses.

Elevating the orb’s level would further amplify his advantage!

Yang Fan’s stamina score was quite low; after half an hour of walking, he started feeling a bit worn out.

However, this had a silver lining – he recovered faster.

With a short break of about fifteen minutes, coupled with the effects of the mountain peach fruit, his stamina had mostly recuperated. Additionally, the orb  helped replenish his mental energy. At this moment, he was almost back to his peak condition.

“Although I may not last long in one go, my advantage lies in quicker recovery times, allowing for multiple attempts,” Yang Fan muttered to himself as he stood up.

Having stayed in this place long enough, Yang Fan glanced towards the northwest direction, hesitating briefly.

Previously, he had been avoiding wild beasts, but if he needed to search for what the orb required, it meant he couldn’t entirely evade them.

After a moment of hesitation, Yang Fan gritted his teeth and started walking towards the northwest.

A faint hint of blood scent wafted from the front after about fifteen minutes.

In the past, he would have turned back at the sight of it, but now, heading northwest meant he couldn’t completely avoid encountering wild beasts, even if he could take detours. Besides, circumventing would significantly raise the danger level, so it was best to swiftly locate what the orb had sensed.

“Other than the blood smell, I don’t detect the scent of wild beasts. It might be riskier to detour recklessly,” Yang Fan thought to himself, disguising himself with tree leaves as he cautiously approached.

After walking a few hundred meters, the stench of blood became overwhelmingly strong.

Behind a large patch of grass, he finally discovered the source of the scent!

The grass in front had clearly been trampled by a massive creature, leaving it remarkably flat.

Within the grassy area, scattered around were pieces of flesh and bones, mangled and bloody.

Cloth shreds lay scattered around, drenched in blood and torn to pieces.

Just a few meters away from Yang Fan, a grotesque head with hollow eye sockets seemed to be “staring” at him.

Upon seeing the skull, Yang Fan’s eyes widened, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest!

Unable to discern the identity of the bloodied skull’s owner, it was undoubtedly one of the new participants who had entered with him.

This was only the first day, yet the individual had already been dismembered!

Yang Fan’s instinct urged him to flee from the scene, but ultimately, reason triumphed over fear.

“Food” was scattered all around, yet no wild beasts were in sight.

Yang Fan carefully sniffed the air.

A strange scent lingered in the air, upon closer inspection, he detected the faint odor of wild beasts intermingled with other unfamiliar smells, although not overpowering at close range.

For reasons unknown, the wild beast had temporarily left the area!

At this precise moment, a bold idea formed in Yang Fan’s mind.

He rushed towards several pieces of flesh and bones… Seeing the remains of his fellow being, he almost gagged at the sight of these fellow creature’s mutilation.

He quickly suppressed the urge to vomit.

“Brother, I’m sorry you couldn’t make it!”

“I can’t guarantee this method will avenge you, but… I have to try. I just need to make use of your body.”

While speaking swiftly, Yang Fan retrieved the hallucinogenic poison, enduring the nausea, and applied it to the flesh and blood before him.

He didn’t miss any of the scattered limbs around and coated them all with the hallucinogenic poison.

Just as he finished, Yang Fan heard distant growls of wild beasts, coming closer in groups, echoing rapidly towards his direction.

“Oh no, more than one! Damn it, they’ve returned so quickly!”

With no time to escape, Yang Fan hurriedly darted into the thickets.

Before diving into the foliage, he caught sight of the skull on the ground, startling him momentarily as he had forgotten about it.

Quickly pouring the remaining hallucinogenic potion over it, he then concealed himself within the thicket, using dried leaves and branches to cover himself, leaving only his eyes exposed to observe discreetly.

At that moment, clutching his Grey Pine spear tightly, Yang Fan could hear his own heartbeat and breathing but paid no heed, focusing intently on the scattered flesh and bones on the ground!