Chapter 149 — Lethal Poison
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 8
Yet in Duan Rushan's eyes, their fury at this moment was unmistakably the look a victor loved best to see; he even felt that only by attaining such a moment, towering above them all, had his life not been spent in vain.
Duan Rushan laughed heartily, his manner arrogant and exultant, and reached out to take the green box in his hand.
Fan Xiong and Cheng Wuya let out low growls at the same time and took a step forward, but the Four Elders of the Poison Sect at once turned to look at them, and Duan Rushan's men surged over with a rush, surrounding the two. Their eyes seemed ready to spit fire as they glared from afar at the box in Duan Rushan's hand.
Duan Rushan's laughter grew more triumphant still; swelling with pride, he twisted the clasp and opened the box. Within, a lining of golden silk, and in the midst of the silk lay a small dark-brown seal, atop which was carved a small snake, lifelike and vivid. Though he had not yet turned it over, everyone present, Duan Rushan included, knew that beneath the seal were carved four characters:
The Ten-Thousand Venoms Divine Seal.
Duan Rushan looked about him with arrogance, his gaze lingering a moment longer on the faces of Fan Xiong and Cheng Wuya; having fully savored the joy of the victor, he smiled—though the smile, because of the blood splashed across his face, seemed somewhat eerie and savage. He picked up the Ten-Thousand Venoms Divine Seal and turned it over. He meant to look at it well and closely, this symbol of the highest authority in the Ten-Thousand Venoms Sect.
At that moment, in the mourning hall, save for the furious panting of Fan Xiong and Cheng Wuya, there was no sound at all. Before their eyes, a new sect master of the Ten-Thousand Venoms Sect was about to be born.
Suddenly, at the very moment when everyone held their breath, Duan Rushan let out a heart-rending roar, and the box in his hand and that all-important Ten-Thousand Venoms Divine Seal fell to the ground. Everyone was shocked and turned to look at him; a moment later, they were all struck with horror.
That Duan Rushan who had been so overbearing a moment before was now trembling in every limb, his face utterly drained of color—and his two hands, especially, had in an instant turned a most eerie deep black.
A moment later, a low whirring of wings came from between his fingers, and a strange flying insect rose up from the gaps between them.
Everyone present was a veteran of the Ten-Thousand Venoms Sect, and though the monstrous insect flew exceedingly fast, nearly all of them had seen it clearly. Baidu Zi was the first to cry out in alarm: "Seven-tailed Centipede—that's the Seven-tailed Centipede!"
The cry was like a soul-shaking roar that stunned them all. As one, they looked toward Duan Rushan and saw him shaking more and more violently. An old man beside him reached out to pull him back, but his hand had barely touched the man's clothing when he gave a sudden shudder, let out a great cry, and flew backward; within moments, his right hand was black.
The Old Vampire, standing some distance away, shrank his pupils and said hoarsely, "'Corpse-Rotting Moss'..."
The poisoned elder cried out in alarm. Without a moment's thought, another elder beside him bellowed, seized the broken leg of some chair that lay fallen nearby, and brought it down on the other's right hand. Such was his profound cultivation that the chair leg, like a blade's edge, cut through all before it, and he hewed the poisoned elder's right arm clean off. At once the elder flung the chair leg away, as if afraid that holding it a moment longer would bring his own hand to the same fate.
The chair leg flew through the air, and everyone scrambled to dodge.
By now Duan Rushan's face was covered in black qi. All could clearly see that on his two hands, now utterly black, the skin split open with a "pop," and what flowed out was already black blood.