Zhen Jin looked around and saw everyone’s mood settling, their eyes also flashing with the light of hope, feeling somewhat relieved.
He then ordered Huang Zao to lead everyone in setting up camp and create a defensive line by laying traps.
Inside the tent Zhen Jin, Cang Xu, Zi Di, and Lan Zao gathered together again.
Cang Xu was the first to speak, admitting his mistake: “This is all my fault! I didn’t realize the mutton was poisonous, my eyes of reason were blinded by the immediate benefits before me. When I discovered how large the flocks of goats were, I should have realized how strange it was and should have been alert to any potential hazards."
Zhen Jin faintly shook his head and consoled him: “This island is dangerous and strange and we all wanted to get more food. You do not share the blame alone Mr. Cang Xu. As the leader, I am even more to be blamed. However, it is meaningless now to dwell on our past mistakes. Let us think carefully, how can we solve this difficult problem?”
Cang Xu sighed and expressed his point of view: “Right now everyone has cold poison in them, this cold poison is very unusual. On the surface, it seems like the cold poison will flare up as long as we travel a certain distance away from this place. However, I believe the temperature is the cause.”
“Here, near the snowy mountains, the temperature is low, and the cold poison does not flare up. As we left the snowy mountain and walked far away, the air temperature increased more and more. Only after reaching a certain degree would the cold poison activate.”
“The most direct evidence supporting this theory is the goat wool clothes! When we took off the wool clothes, our body temperatures rapidly fell, thus alleviating the symptoms of the cold poison.”
“That is all I know about the cold poison.”
After Cang Xu finished, he looked at Zi Di.
Not only him, but Zhen Jin and Lan Zao too did the same.
After all, everyone knew this involved poisons: and as a pharmacist, Zi Di had the most to say about this.
Ever since Zi Di regained her ability to move, she had been using the goat meat, goat blood, and other goat parts and started to experiment with potions.
Presently, she held a glass test tube in her hand and carefully dropped a pellet into it.
The test tube held in it a blood-like liquid. After the pellets were mixed, it abruptly began to boil and spewed out numerous bubbles.
Finally, there was a light bang as the entire test tube suddenly exploded.
The red liquid in it spilled all over the tent’s flooring.
Zi Di was not concerned about the liquid as she bent over, her bright purple eyes focused while carefully picking out the small pellets from the carpet.
After ten breaths, she collected most of the pellets into her palm.
She carefully examined these small pellets.
Immediately, she keenly discovered: all kinds of cracks appeared on these small pellets, these cracks were not simple clear fractures, but rather had the color of ash.
Seeing this, Zi Di's eyes shined: “Everyone, I believe I have found the true cause.”
“Eh?” What kind of cold poison is it?” Zhen Jin Inquired.
Zi Di shook her head: “Actually there is no cold poison in the mountain mutton. Before we ate the mutton, for safety, I used many methods to test the mutton’s edibility. My results were not wrong, the mutton is indeed non poisonous.”
Everyone was baffled: “Then what happened to us? Was it something else that poisoned us?”
Zi Di once again shook her head: “This mutton is the cause of the problem.”
Zhen Jin’s and Lan Zao’s faces were filled with even more doubt.
However a lightbulb went off in Cang Xu’s mind as he blurted out: “Is it an imbalance of magic power?”
“Correct, that is the cause.” Zi Di sighed as she followed up with a detailed explanation.
“Near this snowy mountain, the concentration of frost elements in the environment is very high.”
“The flocks of goats survived and multiplied here, and the frost elements seeped into their bodies. If these goats were products of nature, then their bodies could coordinate and store stable magic power. As this stable magic power is accumulated more and more, a qualitative change would occur and it would condense and form a magic crystal."
“However according to our previous conjecture, these goats are all artificial beings. Although their body composition is stable, they are unable to coordinate their magic power. They have always been protected by this magic prohibited environment.”
“The frost elements within the goats’ bodies cannot be assimilated naturally, although the elements can be transformed into magic, the magic power is very chaotic and conflicting. Other than the inability to form a magic crystal, it also possesses another characteristic, when the temperature is low, it is relatively stable and lurks in the body. However, when the temperature increases to a certain degree, it would suddenly burst out and cause symptoms similar to cold poison.”
“Back then, I thought it was a cold poison, therefore I took a fire element detoxifier potion. As a result, the fire attribute magic power in the potion instead stimulated the ice attribute magic power further. The two elements clashing caused me to lose consciousness immediately."
Zi Di paused, then continued speaking: “Because of this, after we took off the goat wool clothes, our body temperatures rapidly fell allowing the ice attribute magic power to once again stabilize, therefore quickly improving our situation.”
“So it was like this.” Upon hearing this analysis, everyone couldn’t help but be enlightened.
This kind of situation was actually very common among cultivators.
For instance, if magicians made mistakes while meditating to transform ice elements into magic power, it would erode their whole bodies like cold poison, their whole body could even completely freeze over.
Battle qi cultivators such as warriors, knights, and swordsmen would eat magic beast flesh or use magic potions, if they failed to digest the tremendous magic power, they would also suffer from backlash.
This phenomenon was not only common among cultivators, but also in all of nature.
If mermen who had lived their lives in the ocean went into the desert during the day, their skin would dry, their spirits would become listless, and other problems would occur. This was because during the day, the desert was filled with fire elements, light elements, etc. Being immersed in such an environment, the mermen would inevitably absorb light and fire elements. Although these elements were not actively absorbed, magic power would still form on their skin. These elements would conflict with the water elements within the mermen, leading to cracked skin and exhaustion.
In the north, a lush parasol tree suddenly faced a blizzard. After the blizzard, all of the parasol tree’s leaves would fall, leaving only bare branches and frostbite in many places. This corrosion of magic power was caused by the sharp increase of ice elements.
Nature counters this by having many methods of resisting magic corrosion.
For example, a pine tree in the snow could keep its wood elemental magic power stable in an environment of abundant ice elements.
Another example were the savanna rhinos. To resist the scorching sun, they often roll in the mud to construct a muddy armor. At the same time, the armor could also prevent mosquito bites. The purpose was to build a layer of earth elemental magic power, the layer would replace one’s skin in the war of attrition to defend against the eroding magic powers from the outside world.
“Hold on, according to Lord Zi Di’s explanation, aren’t these mutton a great thing? This ordinary looking meat actually contained magic power, this can be regarded as magic beast meat. Magic beast meat is an expensive cultivation resource!” Lan Zao, as a bronze level elite, was very conscious of cultivation resources and soon quieted down his voice.
Indeed, the process of battle qi cultivation had a great demand for magic beast meat.
For instance, fire battle qi cultivators had to eat magic beast meat of the fire attribute.
An aspect of magic beast meat was that it was full of nutrients, eating it in the long term would enhance the cultivator’s life force.
Another aspect was that the magic beast meat contained fire attribute magic power. After battle qi cultivators ate magic beast meat, the magic power of the food would seep into the cultivator’s body. If ignored, this foreign magic power would cause great harm. However, if the cultivator practiced a fire attribute battle qi art, they could rapidly absorb and transform this magic, removing the hidden dangers and more importantly, increasing their own battle qi.
Upon hearing what Lan Zao said, Cang Xu nodded and approved: “What you have just said is indeed a possibility.”
“The difference between magic beast meat and regular meat lies in whether it contained magic power.”
“Compared to regular magic beast meat, the magic power accumulated in the mutton is quite unusual. When the temperature is very low, the magic power is stable and hidden deep within their bodies. When the temperature rises to a certain degree, the magic power would reveal its chaotic nature, breaking out and threatening those who ate it.”
“If one had an outstanding ice elemental battle qi art that is capable of withstanding and transforming this ice elemental magic power, this mutton would be a valuable magic beast meat for them.”
“However…there aren’t many of these people.” Zhen Jin pondered.
A battle qi art was a way of coordinating, balancing, and circulating magic power within the body as battle qi.
There were many battle qi arts, of varying levels of quality.
An outstanding battle qi art not only needed a creator with great talent, but it also needed the refinement of successive generations. The most outstanding and famous battle qi arts at the top were few in number, one could count them with their ten fingers. For example, Emperor Sheng Ming’s Holy Light battle qi, Duke Bing Hou’s Polar Blizzard battle qi, or Blade Saint’s Blazing Flame battle qi.
The better the battle qi art was, the more efficient it was at absorbing and transforming the magic power in magic beast meat.
Under normal circumstances, the magic power in magic beast meat was relatively stable, after being processed, the power does not disperse quickly. This magic power can be easily perceived and also easily absorbed and transformed.
However this mutton was clearly not ordinary.
These goats were not the products of nature. They had accumulated an abundant amount of magic power within their bodies, far beyond their level of cultivation. The structure of the goat flocks were also very disorderly, with the vast majority being ordinary beasts and only a few at the bronze level.
Further analysis showed that, once the magic power in the mutton broke out, it was capable of immobilizing the bronze leveled Lan Zao and Huang Zao. However when it was quiet and reserved, regardless of whether it was Zhen Jin, Lan Zao, Zi Di, or anyone else, none of them could sense it.
Due to these two characteristics of the magic structure, the requirements to activate ice elemental qi was much harder.
Notes
Huh, I didn’t think the concept of controlling chaos would appear so soon. Last time it took way longer. I am not the biggest fan of this strange system where aspects of nature can be quantified into such simple elements. It's like the author is trying to justify the existence of cultivation within a world with evolution and science. I do hope he expands on this more in the future.
Deus' Note
This a massive clusterfuck. So many terms regarding magic that I nearly lost my mind. btw frost and ice elements were different in the raw but author seemingly treats them like the same thing.....sigh