The Science of Cultivation

Li Lang’s new poison was simple in theory. After observing how Qi was the cure-all wonder substance that could not only eliminate all toxins, but also cure wounds when processed into Recovery Pills, Li Lang began wondering just how that worked.

Normally, when the body healed, it used the genetic information stored in the DNA to guide cell repair and regeneration. The healing when employing Recovery Pills or specialized Qi arts was fast, but he believed it should follow the same rule. With that in mind, he began wondering what would happen if he created a poison that damaged the very foundation of this healing process, the DNA.

Unfortunately, Ruby couldn’t simulate the effects of these techniques on living samples. Nothing alive but him could exist in the artifact space. It was the same reason he couldn’t cultivate his techniques in the pocket realm, while he could test out various craft techniques.

With both his offensive power and time lacking, he ended up never having the chance to carry out the corresponding tests to test this theory. It was only now, during the anticipated Dark Sea Arena, that he would have a chance to test out all the poisons he had prepared.

While it took his full power to simply break the skin of powerful Qi beasts within his realm of cultivation, it was more than enough to apply his work. He carefully monitored the effects of the new types of poisons he employed, noting down the area of effect, severity, onset time, duration of actual damage, and other telling indicators.

At first, it surprised Li Lang that his idea had worked. The regenerative abilities of Qi beasts didn’t address the DNA damage of their cells, only speeding up the cell division process. This meant the newly divided cells copied over the damaged DNA. The body had its natural way of repairing DNA, but the Qi-empowered healing process didn’t seem to include those.

“Interesting. The wounds are still healing, but are leading to overgrowth and mutations. The areas closest to the wound are even showing signs of apoptosis. It’s causing this scorpion to lose balance and control of the affected area.”

With over a dozen different poisons to test, Li Lang actively searched out more test subjects. The Foundation Establishment level beasts were smart enough to escape when they felt the danger, so he never finished any of them off, but that didn’t matter that much to him. In fact, he would prefer for them to survive longer, so he could observe the duration and effectiveness of their bodies healing from the DNA damage.

This exercise inevitably served not to only test his poison, but also helped him get the hang of combating these higher-level beasts. The few times he had challenged them previously always ended up with either Ma Kong or Zhu Yi coming to assist him. Whether he knew it or not, Li Lang’s ability to solo these challenging targets began to rise at an increasing pace.

Having lost himself to his research, a day quickly passed without Li Lang realizing it. His vision suddenly warped, and he found himself within one of the nine platforms within the venue hosted by Sword Saint Isle.

He glanced around and found a few familiar faces in the same spot he had last seen them in, but many people were missing as well. Wei Ping and Sima Xue were still right next to him, but Long Yi was missing.

The group glanced around and, with their vantage point of being near the edge, they soon spotted a group of cultivators standing beside the platform, looking toward them with mixed expressions.