Chapter 1073, Blood Devouring Poison

Translator: Silavin

 

The small spectacle of someone collapsing at the very opening of the banquet did not hold the room’s attention for long though. Soon, the focus of those present returned to the feast before them.

 

The Jade Spirit Brew, paired with a spread of rare and exotic fruits, was a combination that even these Elf Deacons seldom encountered in their ordinary lives. They seized the occasion and indulged without restraint.

 

Fiery and his companions, by contrast, wore expressions devoid of pleasure, a faint shadow of worry knitting itself between their brows.

 

The cause was straightforward. They were brooding over what would become of them once their supply of Divine Immortal’s Intoxication ran dry.

 

Qin Yichen was from the Human Race, and judging by everything they had seen, he likely held a position of considerable standing within it. Entangling themselves with the Human Race was not something they had any desire to do.

 

Within the Myriad Races, the Human Race was a hot potato no one wished to touch. Even the Nine Heavens Flaming Sea, said to share deep ties with the Human Race, had publicly declared its neutrality and withdrawn behind its own borders, refusing to venture out, which was precisely what had spared them from becoming the enemy of all Races.

 

The Elf Race, however, was a different matter entirely. They had always been an enclosed and self-contained people. If they became entangled with the Human Race, there would be Races who would not allow them the luxury of remaining neutral.

 

Yet, outside of this particular Human, where else could they possibly obtain Divine Immortal’s Intoxication?

 

A few Elf Deacons had been fortunate enough to receive half a jug or so as a gift from the Elf Queen, but their craving had long since grown beyond what such a small amount could satisfy.

 

The banquet continued as expected. What was not expected was the rate at which people were falling. Perhaps too much time had passed since the last gathering of this kind, but within a very short span, several more old men had buckled under the wine and toppled beneath their tables.

 

At first, the others responded with little more than a glance and a smile.

 

Until the moment a Senior Elder from the central seating area collapsed to the floor. That was when unease began to take shape.

 

The Elf Race, while not universally drunkards, was known across all Races for producing formidable drinkers, second only perhaps to the Dwarf Race. Centuries of steady consumption had cultivated in them a tolerance that bordered on a frightening level.

 

A Deacon or two losing their footing was one thing. But an Elder widely known as a seasoned drinker going down in such a short time was enough to make people question the situation.

 

“Something is wrong with this wine…”

 

At the seat beside Fiery, two or three old men raised their cups and found their expressions shifting into something uncomfortable.

 

Because they, too, felt it now, a wave of sudden, creeping heaviness settling over their minds.

 

*Crash!* Moments later, all three felt their vision blur and pitched forward, striking the table with enough force to collapse it entirely beneath their combined weight.

 

“What is happening?”

 

By now, even the Elf Royal Family members at the front of the hall had registered that something was wrong. They turned to look behind them and found, to their astonishment, that more than half of those who had been drinking in apparent ease moments before were now on the ground.

 

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

 

With the first table brought down, something like a cascading reaction took hold. One after another, the ornate banquet tables piled with food and wine crashed to the floor in succession.

 

The noise became continuous, and in moments, the hall that had been filled with festive warmth was reduced to a scene of complete chaos.

 

“Go and check what is happening.”

 

From the crystal throne, the Elf Queen’s dark brows drew together in a slight frown, and she quietly ordered.

 

Two figures immediately swept out from behind her and moved to the fallen Elder. A moment later, they returned to the Elf Queen’s side and delivered their report in low voices.

 

Whatever they said made the Queen’s expression shift.

 

By now, the seating near the hall’s entrance was nearly entirely emptied of conscious occupants. Among the Elders’ section in the centre, a number had also been struck down. The few who had managed to sense the danger were forcing their cultivation to bear down against it, maintaining their awareness through sheer force of Will.

 

“Your Majesty, the wine has been tampered with.”

 

One Elder walked forward with a grave expression and placed the wine flask in his hands before the crystal throne.

 

The Elf Queen nodded. A Royal Elf took the flask, poured a cup, and offered it to her.

 

“Your Majesty, you must not!”

 

Seeing the Elf Queen move to drink, several of the Elders still on their feet called out in alarm.

 

These were beings who had survived thousands of years. There was little in existence they had not seen. Even ordinary poisons, in most cases, posed little threat to them.

 

Yet in those unguarded moments of drinking, they had made a discovery that stunned them. They had already been poisoned.

 

More alarming still, they did not recognise the poison at all. Only by channelling their Qi were they managing to hold it at bay. Without being able to suppress it, they would already be on the floor alongside the others.

 

Yet even as the Elders sounded their warnings, the Elf Queen did not stop. Her long, slender neck tilted slightly back, and she drained the cup of Jade Spirit Brew in a single motion.

 

“Blood Devouring Poison.”

 

After a long moment, the Queen’s lips parted, and the words that emerged from them carried a tremor of quiet fury.

 

At the mention of those three words, every powerful figure still standing in the hall felt the blood drain from their faces.

 

Blood Devouring Poison. A substance that the Myriad Races had almost entirely forgotten. It was a poison unique to the Blood Beastmen Race.

 

Extracting it required methods known only to the Blood Beastmen, and beyond that, it demanded the full Blood Essence of a Blood Beastmen of the Saint Realm or above.

 

The poison was colourless and odourless, capable of dissolving into wine without any trace. Most critically, once it entered a victim’s system, it would consume every drop of Blood Essence within their body in an extraordinarily short time, reducing them in the end to a dried husk.

 

And the Elf Race, having once studied this poison in exhaustive detail, had never succeeded in identifying an antidote.

 

Yet now, this lethal substance had appeared openly and without any attempt at concealment inside this high level banquet attended by the most important figures of the Elf Race, and it had already claimed the majority of them.

 

That this had been permitted to happen beneath the Elf Queen’s own eyes! This was enough to ignite a slow, seething fury within her.

 

To have administered the Blood Devouring Poison into the Jade Spirit Brew in this setting, silently and without detection, was to confirm beyond any doubt that there was a traitor within the Elf Race itself, and not one of low standing.

 

In all likelihood, the incident involving Avril not long before had been connected to this same traitor.

 

“Why are those people unaffected?”

 

As the Royal Family and Elders stood together in grim thought, a Royal Elf’s gaze fell upon one particular table near the entrance of the hall.

 

There, Fiery and his three companions sat in a state of complete, blank faced bewilderment.

 

“Even we are exerting full effort to suppress this poison. How have four Deacons managed to hold on?”

 

“Seize them. They are suspects for being traitors.”