The Strongest Businessman

"In my clan, the usual number of leaves in a Heavenly Lotus was nine or ten which are classified as a peak Grade 6 Avatar or Grade 7 Avatar respectively. The weakest Avatar awakened of a descendant was a Heavenly Lotus with eight leaves which is still a Grade 6 Avatar. In the main bloodline, except for grandpa, my father and siblings all awakened Heavenly Eleven-Leafed Lotuses considered to be peak Grade 8 Avatars. Only grandfather possessed a Heavenly Twelve-leafed lotus like grandfather." Barry shared to Dylan.

"Which means you would most likely get a Heavenly Lotus with eleven leaves right? But who knows maybe you are going to get a Heavenly Twelve-leafed Lotus like your grandfather did. You did mention that he once said, your potentia, seemed to even exceed his. So, maybe you could get one." Dylan said as he rubbed his chin.

"That is unlikely to happen since it was already proven that the reason why grandfather because he was the progenitor of the bloodline. My grandfather's awakening influenced his two younger brothers Avatars to also evolve and become a Heavenly Eleven-Leafed Lotus which were tha ancestors of the brach families. It was observed that the descendents would always awaken a Heavenly Lotus one leaf lesser than the ancestors." Barry denied that possibilty right away.

Barry even chuckled when he remembered, "Besides, I did tell you that my grandpa only said that to me because my big brother bullied me. It was more of an encourage to work hard. I long realized that it was just a joke anyways."

"Oh." Dylan let out an understanding 'oh'. Then, he looked at Barry and smiled, "It's true that you might not be able to have a Heavenly Lotus with twelve leaves as your Avatar but you are just one step away in attempting to eliminate the only flaw of your Avatar that even your father could not do. You will become invincible and fearless in your fights even against a fire user."

"Hahaha, certainly. I have to acquire strength equal to father's and grandfather's, no, I should aim to have greater strength!" Barry said resolutely.

He emotionally gazed at Dylan, "Thank you for helping me get a Tier 7 King Pill like the Spirit Awakening Pill and a high grade one at that. If it was before, I would have only dreamt of acquiring a pill that costs thousands of spirit stones. Thank you, Dylan..." Those simple words contained an unmeasurable feeling of gratitude.

Indeed, for the past hundreds of years, Barry was forced to live in a secluded way. Although he opened a herbal shop before to satisfy his needs, he could not fully use all of his skills and knowledge in fear that he might be killed in the process because of his low cultivation. 'Being only at the 11th level Awakened Spirit, I was forced into living a commoner's life pf stagnancy. But thanks to him, I can finally do what I have always wanted."

...

Back to the present...

"Your grandfather did not joke when he said that. He definitely sensed that you had it in you..." Dylan smiled as he witnessed the emergence of the Heavenly Twelve-leafed Lotus. "The Spirit Awakening Pill from Master worked like a charm hehe."

The Spirit Awakening Pill is a pill whose function is to awaken the Avatar of a practitioner like what it's name suggests. It is extremely helpful for those people who are unable to initiate the awakening of their Avatars on their own. The Spirit Awakening Pill could not only awaken an Avatar but it could also raise it's grade by one.

Even though it is only one grade, the degree by which it could affect one's future growth was heavily sought for. For example, if a Grade 5 talent uses this pill, his talent will advance to the Grade 6 and enter the realm of heavenly talents! The limitation it has is that it could only be used once and takents whose grade is already at grade 8 can no longer advance their talents anymore.

Although it is only used by Spirit Gathering Practitioners and is classified as a Tier 7 King Pill, the level of understanding of the law of pills it requires might not necessarily be possessed by a Tier 9 Grandmaster Alchemist. The truth is that the reason why it is labeled as a Tier 7 King Pill is because it's ingredients are only High Earth Rank Herbs but the laws involved in creating includes the basic understanding of the soul and the spirit core. That is why Barry told Dylan that only way to fix his cultivation is to find one of the Alchemy Saints.

Right now, the Heavenly Twelve-leafed Lotus created some sort of semi transparent forcefield around Barry. It was not only that it was not just borrowing energy, actually absorbing vilatilty of all the plants in it's surrounding. Soon, the forcefield became light green in color due to the abundance of life force despite being transparent.

Dylan who was watching on the side, could not help but gasp, "Is that the Endless Vitality Domain that True King Vernon had like in Barry's stories?!"

According to Barry, the Endless Vitality Domain is an innate domain skill of the Heavenly Twelve-Leafed Lotus. Within the domain, all sort of life energy of plants are devoured by the Heavenly Lotus and converted into the user's own energy. If mastered, the domain could spread into miles and its effects would also take a steep spike upwards! This was the domain that Charles Vernon was feared for.

The seemingly inexhaustible vitality summoned by the Heavenly Lotus was alleviating the pain that Barry was currently feeling. Not only that, it was also trying to purify the two poisons while expelling them out of Barry's stsrem.

Suddenly, the Tri-fire Corrosive Venom reacted at the appearance of the Heavenly Twelve-leafed Lotus! Threatened by the life force, the poison actually exited out of Barry's body voluntarily through his mouth! But things did not simply end there as it also took the Clear Silver Poison along with it. By the time the two poisons was expelled, the Tri-fire Corrosive Venom actually devoured the Clear Silver Poison!

The fused poison was actually morphing itself behind Barry and turned into a figure similar to humans but there were strange things about it. It had a thin tail, a pair of liquid wings and a pair horns portruding out of its forehead but the most disturbing one that Dylan observed was that it actually looked like Barry!

"What is that? Wait... is that the extremely rare Poison Demon?!" Dylan could not believe his eyes as he just saw a Poison Demon appearing right in front of him. There was only very few instances that a Poison Demon appeared in the Mystic Red Clouds or even in the entire Mystical Clouds Country. It was so few that it could be counted by hand.

...

"Tha poison is gone?" At the same time, Barry also opened his eyes. He scanned his surrounding and he was as shocked as Dylan when he saw everything. He had an incomparably excited face and even trembled when he saw the Heavenly Twelve-Leafed Lotus above his head. "Is that... a Heavenly Twelve-Leafed Lotus?!"

"This... Grandfather, can you see this? I actually manage to awake the same Avatar as yours! I... am sorry for doubting your words. I swear to avenge you and the clan!" Barry cried slightly and looked to the sky as he was overflowed with emotions.

"Hm, this aura... the poison?!" But when his gaze landed on the Poison Demon, he wore a dumbfounded and confused expression, it was also at this moment that the Poison Demon opened his eyes and smiled from ear to ear literally!

Seeing his face smiling that extended up to his ear, Barry's expression had an indiscernable look on him. "..."

...

"But how could a Poison Demon survive within Barry's body?! Poison Demons are reported to be born in areas where naturally existing poison are found and only after several thousands of years could it finally form. But Barry's body is not a place like that. Why does it look like Barry? How could it have been born in the first place?" Dylan did not understand it at all.

While Dylan was wondering about that, he saw Barry and the Poison Demon talking to each other but he could not seem to hear their words. This strange phenomenon caused Dylan to wonder, "Could it be that even sound cannot travel past the Endless Vitality Domain...?"

...

Within the Endless Vitality Domain...

"You... you're the Tri-fire Corrosive Posion, right? How did you become a Poison Demon? Most of all, why do you look like me?" Barry shouted solemnly. He was feeling really uncomfortable seeing his face in front of him and it was even more so that it appeared in a demonic form.

The Poison Demon actually knew how to speak but his voice was very unpleasant and shrill, "It is naturally because I was born within you. So, technically speaking, you're my parent. But unlike humans where children love their parents, we, poison demons are born to kill our parents!"

"What?! Wait, by live inside me, you mean you acted like a parasite and treated me as your host? But, how is that even possible?! How can you survive in such an environment when you are supposed to be born in extremely toxic environments?" Barry roared as he looked at the Poison Demon.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! You actually got it right! Indeed, I was like a parasite in your body. Since I am going to kill you anyway, you might as well know how I came to be as my parent." The Poison Demon stated in contempt. He was going to explain to Barry how he came to be because that was how confident he was that he could kill Barry after.

The Poison Demon started explaining, "Yes, you're body was not a toxic environment but your body actaully had truly immense life force and each time the me without conciousness bombards with it, I actually gain a very minute amount of life energy and it was only three hundred years later, where I came to life. Your furstrations, rage and sadness also helped to create me. Without spirit veins to circulate energy with, I freely roamed your system without you knowing. I continued doing what I did based on instinct until I learned to think another century later. I continuously fed on your life force bit by bit so that you would not even notice."

"..." Barry was so speechless that he was pale white. He did not expect that there was a monster living inside of him without even knowing.

The Demon continued with his story wearing a sinister expression, " I already had it planned out when I was going to kill you but you met that guy named Dylan. He ruined my plans when he told you this method so I panicked but fortunately, you did not know of my existence yet. So, I patiently waited until I discovered your plan. I created a plan that would counter yours and did it. Now, I have advanced to the Tier 3 Grand Poison after swallowing the Clear Jade Poison! But, what I did not expect is that you actually had a Heavenly Twelve-Leafed Lotus."

"Nevertheless, the end is still the same because I am powerful enough to squah you like a bug!" The Poison Demon maniacally laughed.