Chapter 407: Star Antelope's Box

"A tonic?"

Xing'an was momentarily stunned. Suddenly, his chest burst open, and ribs eerily drilled out of his flesh, which seemed to be violently rejecting them. At the same time, divine blood gushed from his body, and then one of his legs uncontrollably detached!

"You gave me a tonic? Not poison?" he cried. He finally looked panicked. Then, another head fell to the ground, its eyeballs, ears, and nose all rolling off. On the ground, the scattered eyes, noses, and tongues bounced and twitched, attempting to reattach to the head, but they immediately fell off again, unable to fuse.

Emperor Yanfeng, the Blind man, and others saw a glimmer of hope and immediately charged. Xing'an raised a hand to grab the Dragon Slaying Divine Spear thrust by the Blind man. However, just as he gripped the shaft, his entire arm tore away and flew off with the spear! He then blocked Emperor Yanfeng's punch, only for his spinal column to suddenly slide out of his body. It wasn't his own spine, but a divine bone.

"It can't be a tonic! It can't!" Xing'an shrieked in terror. Grandma Si suddenly struck his chest with Li Tianxing's Great Luo Heaven Star Palm Force, piercing straight through it. His heart leaped from his chest cavity, bouncing twice on the ground. "How can this possibly be a tonic?" he cried.

Xing'an was still alive, frantically resisting the group's relentless assault, his terror mounting. A tonic should only make him stronger; how could it cause his body to disintegrate? *Bang, bang, bang—* His entire body suddenly exploded, blood gushing in all directions like a torrent. His divine blood, acquired from another master, was not from the same body as his heart and other organs. This blood also actively repelled various parts of his acquired body.

"What poison did you give me?" he demanded. His head, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly flew up and lunged at Qin Mu. Qin Mu had no time to react, but just then, the Lame man rushed forward, his hands a blur. He suddenly leaped, seizing the head and sternly declaring, "Give me back my leg!" The head let out a roar, flinging the Lame man back, but he instantly returned, locked in a struggle with it.

A leg scurried across the ground, racing towards Qin Mu. The Deaf man forcefully hurled his brush, which swept past Qin Mu, pushing the leg into a painting. The Deaf man then fell backward, gasping for breath, having used all his strength to draw a fierce tiger. Within the painting, a ferocious tiger with glaring eyes and a white forehead was seen running wildly, clutching the leg in its mouth.

Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief. The medicine he had given Xing'an was indeed a tonic—a genuine, potent supplement. Attempting to kill Xing'an with conventional poison was virtually impossible; even if the Apothecary possessed such a skill, Qin Mu certainly couldn't concoct such an exotic toxin. Xing'an had effortlessly overpowered formidable figures like the Blind man, the Deaf man, the Lame man, Li Tianxing, and Emperor Yanfeng, leaving them utterly helpless. Even the Empress Dowager and other masters collapsed before a single round was complete. He was undeniably far more powerful than the Dragon Herder Monarch. Qin Mu's self-concocted Tri-Rupture Powder could only cause significant trouble for the Dragon Herder Monarch, not kill him, so using poison was clearly not the best strategy. Furthermore, Xing'an himself was a medical master, even capable of performing body transplants on himself. His medical expertise was among the best in the world, making it easy for him to detect any poison. For a divine physician like Qin Mu, who sought mastery in his craft, "poisoning" an opponent was an art that didn't necessarily involve actual toxins.

The Apothecary had once taught Qin Mu that the human body possesses an innate immune defense system. When foreign organs are transplanted, the host body perceives them as invaders and seeks to eliminate them. This was precisely why Xing'an's various body parts were rejecting each other. The Apothecary had also explained that many ailments, such as colds and plagues, arise from a weakened self-defense system, and can be overcome by boosting one's physical constitution to strengthen this system. Combining these two principles, Qin Mu devised a strategy: he would concoct an incredibly potent tonic to amplify the rejection reactions between Xing'an's disparate body parts, pushing these reactions to their absolute limit.

As the sole young man in Disabled Elderly Village, Qin Mu had endured the strictest upbringing from childhood, a testament to the rigorous "family discipline" imposed by the nine elders. He deeply internalized their teachings and the village's fine traditions, which became his guiding principles. The Apothecary, a person of lofty character, believed that being an apothecary was an art form. In his view, there was no fixed boundary between tonics and poisons; a poison could be a life-saving remedy, and a tonic could be a lethal bane.

Earlier, when Qin Mu had concocted elixirs to heal the injured flood dragons, he had prepared this very same potent tonic. Using the Dragon Qilin's saliva as a base, along with various other powerful ingredients, he had the flood dragons ingest it. Upon consuming the elixirs, the flood dragons' wounds healed at an astonishing rate, their muscles regenerated, and broken bones and torn tendons rapidly mended. As Qin Mu led the flood dragons into battle using the Dragon Control Art, Xing'an's detached arms repeatedly struck them. This provided the perfect opportunity for the incredibly potent tonic to infiltrate Xing'an's arms, then spread to his body through contact, and finally circulate throughout his entire system via the heart. Qin Mu had administered the most powerful medicine imaginable—a tonic capable of rapidly healing even the severely injured bodies of flood dragons. Once it entered Xing'an's system, its medicinal power amplified his body's natural rejection reactions by countless magnitudes! Poisoning him wouldn't work, but administering a tonic caused him to literally fall apart. This was the true medical art the Apothecary had imparted to Qin Mu.

Yu Zhaoqing, the Empress Dowager, and others suppressed their injuries and charged forward as Xing'an's body disintegrated. Several heads on the ground flew up, one sternly proclaiming, "You think this will kill me? You're too naive!" His scattered body parts then launched sudden, lethal attacks against the crowd. However, without the support of a complete physical form, his magical power was significantly weaker. His divine treasures, which were also acquired from others, had now detached from his flesh, causing his magical power to disperse and robbing his attacks of their former might. Yet, even in this fragmented state, he remained incredibly powerful, and the heads, limbs, and eyeballs flying through the air were truly gruesome and terrifying.

Suddenly, several legs scurried and positioned themselves beneath his box. With a burst of force, they propelled the box into the air. "He's trying to escape!" cried someone. The Lame man, his hands a blur, sprinted forward using them as legs, then latched onto two of the legs, shouting, "Give me back my legs!" The box opened, and other heads and eyes flew out, attacking the Lame man.

Emperor Yanfeng roared, spitting out a jet of blood that transformed into a coiling blood dragon. He leaped onto the blood dragon, soaring straight for the box in the sky. The Blind man used both hands to prop up his massive spear, leaping into the air. The Dragon Slaying Divine Spear then powerfully swayed, supporting him as it surged towards the airborne box. Grandma Si, Yu Zhaoqing, the Empress Dowager, and others each employed their unique abilities, launching themselves into the air to intercept the box.

Emperor Yanfeng plummeted, crashing hard onto the ground, spitting blood repeatedly. Next, the Lame man also fell, clutching two legs tightly, refusing to let go. Qin Mu quickly raced over, extending his hands to catch him, but his injuries suddenly flared up, causing him to stumble. The Lame man consequently dropped just beyond his grasp, hitting the ground with a tremor. "Mu'er, you're so unfilial..." the Lame man mumbled, bouncing once before rolling his eyes and losing consciousness, yet still clinging fiercely to the two legs. Qin Mu scratched his head, thinking, "If I use the Dragon Control Art to control those flood dragons, I could move much faster..." He immediately activated the Dragon Control Art, and numerous flood dragons, suppressing their injuries, swam towards him.

*Bang, bang, bang.* Experts continued to plummet from the sky. Emperor Yanfeng struggled to his feet. Seeing the Empress Dowager also fall, he quickly stumbled over to catch her, only to be forced to vomit blood from the impact. By the time Qin Mu managed to draw upon the flood dragons' magical power, Yu Zhaoqing also fell from the sky. He instinctively moved to catch her, but then witnessed her garments transform into vibrating scales and feathers, which abruptly halted her descent. Qin Mu paused. Yu Zhaoqing then suddenly lost all strength; her scales and feathers ceased fluttering, and she dropped with a *thud* to the ground. Qin Mu was too late to cushion her fall. Only Grandma Si and the Blind man remained airborne, besieging the box. Qin Mu quickly ascended, knowing the flood dragons he controlled were severely wounded and would soon detach from him; he had to act swiftly.

The aerial battle was utterly bizarre. Grandma Si and the Blind man, both severely wounded, stood on top of the box, fending off attacks from all directions. Their assailants were Xing'an's body parts: divine eyes shot rays of light, skull caps flew like bowls, fists, limbs, and even internal organs such as heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, along with hair and skin, were all launching assaults. Such a grotesque form of attack was utterly unprecedented!

Qin Mu sped directly towards the aerial battlefield, darting past a disembodied eye. The eye vanished. Then, a flood dragon detached from Qin Mu, seizing the eye, and flew rapidly away from the box. The further it moved, the weaker Xing'an's control became, making it increasingly difficult for him to recall his body parts. Qin Mu then turned back, his Heaven Pilfering Divine Hand snatching another eyeball that hovered mid-air, emitting divine light. Another flood dragon carried this second eye away. He frantically darted through the air, "stealing" the legs, feet, hearts, and skull fragments circling the box, letting the flood dragons he controlled carry them far into the distance. The flood dragons remaining with Qin Mu grew fewer, and his speed gradually diminished. Suddenly, strands of hair flew at him, forming a black downpour across the sky!

"Mu'er, be careful!" Grandma Si and the Blind man swiftly moved to shield him. Grandma Si clasped her palms, pushing forward into the black downpour. *Swish, swish, swish*—countless black hairs, like needles, flew back, *ding, ding, ding*, embedding themselves all over the box. The Blind man thrust his spear, *bang*, piercing the box. A tremendous force erupted from within, forcing the Dragon Slaying Divine Spear back. Immediately, numerous other body parts swarmed through the hole and into the box. The box then tore through the air and vanished! The Blind man started to give chase but suddenly grunted as his injuries flared, nearly causing him to fall. The box moved at an astonishing speed, covering a thousand miles in an instant. Just then, a resonant voice boomed, "Horizontal and Vertical, Vast and Boundless!" In the sky, two streaks of blade light, one horizontal and one vertical, flashed brightly before disappearing into darkness. "A Ray of Sky!"