This powdery substance was not something Anoteros had acquired through Shu’s channels, or that Fanqia had created. It was something that he had gotten from Ting Zhenniao. It was to be said that the elder had gotten more affectionate after receiving Edrick’s seed.

That woman had always had a soft spot for him to begin with, so after learning that he was potent enough to impregnate her, she had given him a few things. Most were just resources to cultivate his toxin resistance on his own, but it also included this powder.

Ting had said that it was a common creation of the Zhenniao clan. Naturally, it was a poison of sorts. It was tasteless and could perfectly meld into liquids it was inserted into… But rather than directly poisoning the target to death, it has another effect--A rather insidious one.

One could simplify things and say that it was meant to cause a target to fall asleep, but that would not be quite accurate. The Zhenniao clan, although less renowned than the Elt clan in regard to questionable practices, was still quite up there.

The powder would not cause anything at first, but when the target fell asleep, they would fall into an incredibly deep slumber. It was to the point that they could be shaken and tossed around without even stirring in their sleep.

That was how the Zhenniao clan members would abduct people discreetly to experiment with their toxins upon. Their favourite targets were wandering cultivators, so it was very effective on basically all cultivators.

The effects were subtle enough that none of the disciples from Wolf Mountain suspected a thing.

Now, there was only one that wasn’t asleep. One of the inner disciples had naturally been picked to stand watch.

Edrick needed to act before it was time for him to pass watch duty to another. Otherwise, this one would realise that his fellows weren’t going to wake up any time soon.

With the campfire providing a small amount of light, the disciples were clearly visible to Anoteros, whilst he himself was practically invisible to them. He prowled through the darkness, circling and inching closer to the unsuspecting grey-robed disciple.

One moment, he was looking around, and the next, he was falling over like a rock with an arrow piercing the back of his skull.

He collapsed, and his remains were swiftly collected by Anoteros.

Then, the noble scion looked around at the peacefully slumbering people. He was going to claim one of them as a servant, but unfortunately, he couldn’t make a good guess at which one here was the most suited.

Claiming the core disciple might sound like a good idea, but he was likely to have a master, or to acquire one in the future. It wasn’t unheard of for a master to inspect the physical training of their disciples. .. The crest could not be discovered. Furthermore, if it were discovered that Edrick had done something to disciples of other sects, if it were just inner disciples, he could easily have the whole affair swept under the rug.

An act that could prove more complicated if it concerned a core disciple…

And anyway, whilst looking around attentively, Edrick spotted an inner disciple that he quite liked based on nothing but what his eyes transmitted to his brain.

Without ceremony, Edrick bent his knees, and began to suffocate the disciples one by one. There was no need to spill blood and waste resources when they couldn’t fight back at all. It was a bit boring to strangle people when they couldn’t struggle or fruitlessly attempt to free themselves. But there was also something quite satisfying about being able to use such a killing method without causing anything to happen.

Edrick was left only with the core disciple and his would-be servant. First, he packed the rest of the stew, which was still spiked with the powder. It would be a waste to forget something that could come in handy.

Standing above the core disciple, the young noble’s face was without expression, but on the inside, he felt like squinting his eyes.

‘Does that guy think that I am stupid?’ as soon as Edrick approached and was about to bend down to suffocate him as well, something about the core disciple’s posture changed. Anoteros was certain that he had somehow just woken up.

He had broken into plenty of houses in his former world and had looked at many people sleeping. He knew what it looked like when someone was actually sleeping, and when they were just pretending to be doing so.

For some reason, that core disciple had woken up, and impressively enough, he did not panic. Instead, he attempted to pretend like nothing had happened. The nerves were certainly strong with this one.

‘He probably has a master’ thought the noble scion. Edrick guessed that this fellow carried on him some sort of item that had either managed to combat the soporific toxin, or was able to forcibly awake him in case of danger--It had to be pretty good since Edrick was capable of concealing his intents, bloodlust and the like.

‘A Zhenniao product, perhaps?’ Edrick acted as though something else had taken his attention and casually stepped off into the darkness, leaving the core disciple where he was.

And moments later, uncertain what to do, the young man rose up from the ground with a sudden motion. He immediately summoning a thin, double-edged sword, circulating his inner energies.

An arrow came flying out of the darkness, which the core disciple parried without much difficulty despite the short window he had to react.

“Who dares to target me? Don’t you know who I am?!” the young man shouted into the darkness. His voice was loud, but his eyes betrayed worry and fear.

“I am the eleventh disciple of Wolf Mountain’s grand elder! Laying hands on me is a big mistake!” usually, one’s background, as long as it was good enough, worked in making assassins and thieves back off.

Even if they didn’t know who the grand elder of Wolf Mountain was, they knew that anyone with that sort of title should not be messed with.

But the core disciple did not relax. It felt like a stone was stuck in his throat. He could not hear anything. He could not see anything. He could not know whether the enemy had decided to leave or not, but he could just feel it… It felt as though something was pressing down on him.

“Are you perhaps feeling bold because we are in another realm? You underestimate the capabilities of my master!”

Still no response.

Not even the snapping of a twig.

The disciple swung his sword, sending a slash of what seemed to be mana flying into the darkness, hitting what sounded like a tree.

Still nothing.

‘Did they leave?’ he wondered, quickly reacting as another arrow came flying from the opposite direction of the other one. He deflected it again.

Without hesitation, he launched a slash of energy toward the place the arrow came from. However, his motion fell flat. The slash turned out to be weak, as something interrupted him, namely, a dagger in his throat.

“H-Huh?” a gargle escaped him as the dagger was brutally torn out, leaving his neck halfway cleaved.

The sword disappeared from his hand, and he quickly collapsed to the ground, choking on his own blood without even having a chance to see what his attackers looked like…

“Good job, Daklaiel” Edrick stepped out of the darkness and stored the remains of the core disciple. Blood stained the grass, but that was alright.

The Underwood Elf lowered his head in subservience.

Meanwhile, Edrick looked over at the only remaining disciple from Wolf Mountain in the area.

“Daklaiel, Zhujing, keep watch of the area whilst I add her to your ranks” he ordered, his tightly tied fabric belt coming undone…