Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 22: Who Said There’s No Poison Targeted At Skin?

After getting smashed in the face, Steward Zhang used the momentum to spin and reduce the impact. He still couldn’t register what had just happened. The poison he used on Tao Yaoye was supposed to be his proud masterpiece. He had lost count of how many cultivators died with grievances because of it.

How could it possibly fail?

Tao Yaoye didn’t answer. After confirming that the parrot did belong to Young Miss Shang, she had become more vigilant. Everyone in the village knew about the talking demon bird flying around. Had the Shang Family dispatched someone to look for it, they would have found the parrot easily, and none of these events afterward would have happened.

Since the Shang Family’s actions defied common logic, something was definitely amiss!

In addition, Young Miss Shang’s aloof attitude didn’t seem like she was chasing them away but rather warning them that there was danger in the Shang Family—she was urging them to quickly escape.

A lazy voice came from behind, answering in Tao Yaoye’s stead, “A compulsory introductory lesson in the Dao-Seeking Sect is One Thousand Eight Hundred Common Poisons and Cures. Do you want to take a look?”

Steward Zhang’s supposed proud masterpiece was just a joke in front of the Dao-Seeking Sect. Regardless of how skilled he was at crafting poisons, could they be stronger than the ones at the Pill Cauldron Peak?

Steward Zhang abruptly turned back and saw Lu Yang leaning against the door frame, hugging his ancient sword and smiling at him.

It dawned upon Steward Zhang. Tao Yaoye is not the prey.

I am.

He asked in a deep voice, “How did you find me out?” He didn’t think that he had given himself away. The entire Shang Family is under my control. No one leaked any secrets.

When Shang Yuan and Lu Yang were chatting inside the room, he was worried that he would be discovered if he extended his spiritual consciousness, so he chose to eavesdrop instead. That was how he learned that Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye were disciples of the Dao-Seeking Sect.

Shang Yuan didn’t reveal my identity then either.

Steward Zhang had excellent hearing. Even if they had written or drawn something, it wouldn’t have escaped his ears.

Lu Yang smiled. “Do you know what the parrot said in the village?”

“What did it say?”

“It said, ‘Who are you? Where is Zhang Guanjia?’

“Initially, we thought that the parrot was looking for Zhang Guanjia. However, we realized afterward that it was simply repeating what it had heard. That got me wondering. Zhang Guanjia didn’t wander the jianghu, so how did the parrot hear this sentence?

“Could there be a possibility that the parrot wasn’t saying ‘Who are you? Where is Zhang Guanjia?’ but instead ‘Who are you? Where is Steward Zhang[1]?’”

Lu Yang came up with a plausible scenario.

Twenty days ago, Young Miss Shang had accidentally discovered that Steward Zhang had been replaced by someone else, and she fearfully shouted, ‘Who are you? Where is Steward Zhang?’ Afterward, she knocked the bird rack and startled the parrot, causing it to fly away. This was the last sentence the parrot heard, so be it in the tailor shop or with Village Chief Huang, the parrot repeated this sentence.

Perhaps the parrot’s pronunciation was unclear, or perhaps it was Village Chief Huang's first reaction to associate it with Zhang Guanjia, someone he interacted with a lot, in any case, the parrot’s sentence became “Who are you? Where is Zhang Guanjia?”

Steward Zhang was burning with rage inside. I didn’t expect that silly bird that could only mimic others to be the one ruining my plan. If I had known, I would’ve slaughtered it from the start!

However, it wasn’t Steward Zhang’s first day in the jianghu. Despite being surrounded by the two, he laughed heartily. “I’m at Advanced Foundation Establishment. If I want to escape, do you think you can stop me?”

Tao Yaoye was a little anxious. If Steward Zhang escapes, we can only report to the sect and get our senior brothers and sisters to handle it. But whether they’re able to track him down is another story.

This made Tao Yaoye slightly ashamed. She had only completed two missions, and she was already encountering trouble with the third.

On the other hand, Lu Yang was as composed as usual, making Steward Zhang uneasy. “Did it not cross your mind that since you can poison us, we can also poison you?”

Steward Zhang relaxed and scoffed, “I thought it was something serious. Poison? What use would that be against me?”

Right as he said that, his skin suddenly became loose, as if he was molting. The skin separated from the flesh, and the shedded skin formed a complete human figure. It stood in the middle of the room, its organs hollow, and it stared right at Tao Yaoye eerily. The body with the skin detached fell to the ground with a thud.

Painted Skin[2] Ghost.

Tao Yaoye’s expression grew grave. She now understood why Steward Zhang mentioned that poison was no use against him. Poison had always been targeted at the body, specifically the organs, muscles, and meridians. However Steward Zhang was a Painted Skin Ghost, his true form just a skin. Who would poison the skin?

Besides, why would there be poison specifically for the skin? At the very least, Steward Zhang had not heard of it before.

But Lu Yang knew.

Just as Steward Zhang was about to flaunt his own body, to his horror, he saw blisters the size of mung beans forming on his legs as layers and layers of skin peeled off. The blisters swelled and were itchy, bursting at the slightest scratch. All Steward Zhang did was rub against the floor a few times, and yellow pus was already oozing out.

“What...what is this?!” Fear began to creep into Steward Zhang’s voice. He had never encountered something like this before. After all, when was he ever poisoned?

“Athlete’s foot.”

“What?” Steward Zhang thought he had heard wrong.

“You thought I was just making small talk with you all this while? No! I was waiting for your disease to act up.

I knew you would come looking for Tao Yaoye, so for that, I specially left poison that could trigger athlete’s foot in this room!”

Steward Zhang’s face was white.

Tao Yaoye’s face was black.

Lu Yang grinned menacingly as he approached Steward Zhang step by step, causing the latter to retreat until he fell to the ground on his bottom.

“You...how did you know that I’m a Painted Skin Ghost?!”

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If he hadn’t known that I’m a Painted Skin Ghost, then how could he have had such a specific poison?!

Most importantly, I’ve never heard of any Painted Skin Ghost getting athlete’s foot!

Both his feet were itching so badly that it almost drove him mad. He even considered chopping his feet off. He was forced to expend the majority of his energy and power to suppress the poison, making escape impossible.

Suddenly, Steward Zhang’s vision blurred for a bit, and Lu Yang had vanished into thin air.

“How is that possible?!” Steward Zhang’s eyes widened. Lu Yang just reached Foundation Establishment. No matter how skilled he is with his movement techniques, he can’t possibly escape my eyes.

“It’s an illusion!” Steward Zhang suddenly realized and quickly tried to roll away.

However, it was too late. A cold light appeared as swift as lightning, and a fine line started from Steward Zhang’s forehead and ended at his groin. Lu Yang sheathed his sword.

Steward Zhang had been sliced into half, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

“Not bad.” Lu Yang gave Tao Yaoye a thumbs up.

Earlier on, Tao Yaoye had used the Thousand Illusion Umbrella to trap Steward Zhang in an illusion. The illusion wasn’t impeccable; based on Steward Zhang’s many years of experience in the jianghu, he would only be dazed for a moment before seeing through it.

However, what Lu Yang needed was exactly this moment of confusion. He drew his sword, slashed it vertically and sheathed it in one fluid motion.

Painted Skin Ghosts were known for their trickery and queerness, not defense, while sword cultivators were known to be the strongest in offense. Just getting caught off guard for a moment prevented him from having the time to counter, so the result of the battle was naturally decided in one move with no uncertainty!

As soon as Lu Yang had seen through the Painted Skin Ghost’s identity, its advantage was completely gone.

The Painted Skin Ghost stared at Lu Yang in disbelief, mouthing words that seemed to ask, “How did you recognize my true form?”

Tao Yaoye looked toward Lu Yang; she also wanted to know the answer.

Lu Yang didn’t reply to him, simply swinging his sword again and slicing the Painted Skin Ghost into four pieces. He poured some spirit wine and set them on fire. The pained howls of the Painted Skin Ghost were eventually reduced to ashes.

Who knows if this ghost has any tricks left up its sleeve? Better to kill it first then slowly explain.

1. The pinyin for 张观甲 (Zhang Guanjia) is Zhāngguānjiǎ, while the pinyin for 章管家 (Steward Zhang) is Zhāng guǎnjiā. Hence, they sound very similar in Mandarin ☜

2. Originally from Liaozhai, a compilation of strange tales. It is also popular in contemporary culture with several screen adaptations. ☜