“That’s natural. I have received the true teachings of the Dustflats Witchcraft Grandmaster!” Jamie said proudly.
Patrick’s face showed a keen interest, and he continued, “I’ve heard about the mysterious and magical practices of Dustflats witchcraft since I was a child, but I don’t really understand. Can you tell me more?”
“Do you know about the Five Poison Sect?” Jamie Gu asked.
“Isn’t that a fictional religion in Terrence David’s martial arts novels?” Patrick asked in return.
Jamie shook his head, “The Five Poison Sect is not something Terrence made up in martial arts novels. In the Mucliorhiel Region, the Five Poison Sect has a long history, and it has been passed down for thousands of years.”
Also known as the Five Immortals Cult, the Five Poisons include toads, spiders, scorpions, snakes, and centipedes. The Five Poison Sect refers to these poisonous creatures as the “Five Saints.”
The Five Saints fight against each other, an important course in the Five Poison Sect.
The five kinds of poisonous creatures are arranged in a large dish according to the directions of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. After wandering for a while, each creature crouches down, gathers its strength, and prepares to fight each other.
The scorpion can’t hold its breath and charges towards the spider web, breaking many silk threads. The spider glares at the scorpion and spins another web. Before the web is finished, the scorpion charges again.
After several attempts, the scorpion is covered in spider silk, its movements becoming slow. With its two legs entangled, it can’t break free. Seizing the opportunity, the spider counterattacks, spewing silk and thickly weaving layers of web around the struggling scorpion. Stealthily approaching, the spider reaches the scorpion and uses its legs to tease.
Suddenly, the scorpion turns its poisonous tail, delivering a fierce strike. The spider, quick as lightning, evades the attack. After several provocations, the scorpion, now in a rage, pursues the spider without caution, falling into a trap set by the spider.
Struggling desperately on the web, the scorpion breaks a large hole in the spider web. The spider hastily spews more silk, entangling the scorpion further. As the scorpion weakens, the spider crawls over and bites it.
Enraged, the spider charges towards the toad. The toad flips its long tongue, trying to entwine the spider. The spider opens its mouth to bite the toad’s tongue. The toad retracts its tongue quickly. The spider, having crawled to the left side of the toad, spews a thick silk thread, leaps into the air, flies over the toad, and bites it hard on the back.
Panicking, the toad turns around, and the spider swiftly flies over. After a while, the toad succumbs to the effects of spider poison, lying belly up in the dish.
The venomous spider pounces and bites. On the other side, the green snake is driven to frantic evasion by the centipede, swimming frantically around the dish. When passing by the toad, the snake suddenly raises its head, opens its mouth, and swallows the venomous spider whole, then bites the toad. The centipede rushes up, clamping its poisonous pincers onto the toad, and after a fierce struggle, the snake weakens, being dragged away by the centipede.
Trying to leave the toad behind and escape, the snake finds that its mouth is filled with backward-facing fangs, making it impossible to spit out what it has bitten. Unable to escape, the snake is left in a sorry state.
In no time, the centipede bites the snake to death, feeds on the venom of the snake and the toad, and then proudly parades around.
This is the combat scene when the Five Poisons fight each other, truly making one’s hair stand on end, and the results of each duel are always different.
Dustflats people use this method to train the Five Poisons. Once they reach a certain level of training, the power of the Five Poisons greatly increases, revealing many astonishing uses.
In addition to the Five Poison Sect, there is also a Witchcraft Sect, divided into White Witches and Black Witches.
In the Mucliorhiel Region, the name of the Witchcraft Sect may not be as prominent as the Five Poison Sect, but in terms of strength and influence, it is undoubtedly comparable, and its heritage is quite ancient. According to legend, the Witchcraft Sect existed a very long time.
The Witchcraft Sect is not synonymous with a cult. The White Witches within it have positive and constructive roles, such as praying for blessings, divination, healing, and disaster prevention for their people, playing a crucial role in managing and stabilizing the Dustflats people.
Of course, where there is good, there is also bad. The Black Witches, in particular, are notorious, and their use of Witchcraft, especially the terrifying poison technique, is well-known in places like Atraria and Scayland.
The poison technique has existed since ancient times, and the laws of many dynasties explicitly prohibited the practice of poison techniques. For instance, the law stipulated that if someone’s home raised formed poisonous insects that caused a person’s death, that person would face the death penalty, and their family would be exiled for three thousand miles. Similar regulations were made, where raising unformed poisonous insects led to exile, and if formed, it resulted in execution.
In simpler terms, it refers to a type of poisonous insect, and the practice of Witchcraft involves using the toxins from these insects to harm people.
The widely circulated method of making it involves placing spiders, scorpions, toads, snakes, and centipedes in a container, sealing it for ten days, and the one that survives upon opening is the most poisonous and becomes the preferred poison.
This type of poison is the most basic and is commonly made by many Dustflats people.
The most mysterious and terrifying techniques within the Witchcraft Sect involve three types of poison:
1. Medicine Poison: This type of poison is relatively simple to make. It involves gathering poisonous herbs and using special methods to prepare them before harming people.
2. Insect Poison: Unlike the method of making poison with the Five Poisons mentioned earlier, this type of Insect Poison is directly chosen by Black Witches and refined using secret methods. After a long period of nurturing, it becomes a deadly weapon capable of killing or controlling people.
3. Spirit Poison: This is the most formidable. Known as Spirit Poison, this technique targets specific individuals. It involves obtaining something with the target’s scent, such as hair or nails, and using the Spirit Poison technique to remotely control and harm the target through the medium of those items.
People affected by this technique, even if they recover physically, suffer severe mental damage. Some may even become mentally handicapped.
Lastly, there is the Ghost Sect, related to the concept of Poison.
The Ghost Sect, a religion that has almost been submerged in the river of history several times, has nevertheless had a profound impact in the Wrosthift and Jaifoostrip Areas of Mucliorhiel, surpassing the Witchcraft Sect in influence and at times even rivaling the Five Poison Sect.
The followers of the Ghost Sect act extremely mysteriously and covertly, almost never appearing in public view. Scant information is available, and what is recorded consists mainly of unverified rumors.
People ultimately die, and followers of the Ghost Sect believe that a person’s final destination is to become a ghost. After transforming into a ghost, one no longer faces death, thus achieving immortality.