Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 157 - 155: Purification of Heretics, Holy Dragon Poison

HISS HISS.

’What is this?’

Cyan Treasure asked.

It was coiled around a bright red crystal.

Inside the dark red crystal, a milky-white stream of light swirled, and its surface was covered in thorn-like cracks.

It was only the size of a knuckle. When untouched, the stream of light inside simply drifted about lazily.

After a Snake Scale touched the crystal, faint golden Runes flickered in and out of existence within the milky-white stream of light. A sweet, coppery smell wafted out, followed by an indescribable, milky after-scent.

’Is that the smell of Holy Water?’

’No, it’s not just Holy Water. There’s also the smell of blood.’

Cyan Treasure only had to get close and take a sniff to show immense interest. It even started drooling from desire.

Gu Ming glanced at the system.

「Sin-Cleansing Dragon Blood Crystal:

「Refined from the Fallen Light Flood Dragon Heart Tip Blood and Holy Hall Thorn Dew. After consumption, it will generate "Holy Burn Poison" in the poison gland, causing Cyan Treasure’s poison to have a light-flame burning effect.」

"It’s the Sin-Cleansing Dragon Blood Crystal."

Gu Ming briefly explained its effects. It was a medicinal ingredient for the Dragon Race and the Flood Dragon Race. In theory, it was a blood crystal from the Flood Dragon Race, infinitely close to the Dragon Race.

Cyan Treasure gasped.

’I’m just a little snake, not from the Dragon Race, not even a Flood Dragon. How could I possibly afford something so high-end?’

HISS HISS—

’Can... can I eat it too?’

Cyan Treasure’s drool was practically pouring out. This was a blood crystal from the Flood Dragon Race! By that logic, it was practically Dragon Blood.

What was even more irresistible was that this was a Light Attribute blood crystal. It made the Light Spiritual Root in its body stir restlessly. This was the first time it had ever smelled something so nourishing.

Not even the Holy Light that Ma Tianba had drenched it in had ever made Cyan Treasure this desperate. The difference in their appeal was clear.

"Not so fast. I’m diluting it."

As Gu Ming spoke, he took the blood crystal from Cyan Treasure’s coils and placed it into a beaker made of a composite supernatural material. He added Holy Water and began to heat it slowly over a low flame.

The Holy Water also came with the ingredient pouch; Gu Ming didn’t have anything like that at his house.

Gu Ming had checked. The original Holy Water snake poison formula didn’t include a high-end Spiritual Liquid like Holy Water to serve as the refining liquid.

Cyan Treasure stared at the beaker as a unique aroma, a mix of milky fragrance and the tang of blood, wafted into its nostrils.

Its little heart thumped violently. ’It would be so great if I could just dive into that beaker and swim around,’ it thought.

Gu Ming quickly reached out and held Cyan Treasure down. "Don’t move," he said.

Cyan Treasure had no choice but to give up.

Then, it turned its attention to the other medicinal ingredients.

The ingredient pouch was filled with treasures. Every single item glittered and shone.

Just then, Gu Ming picked up a mortar and pestle and placed a grayish-white powder that gave off a cold, metallic sheen into the bowl.

Cyan Treasure slithered over and saw that when the light hit the powder, it reflected a luster with the pattern of a Snake Scale. It was so beautiful it could take a snake’s breath away.

’What kind of divine ingredients are these?’

’They’re making this snake drool!’

Gu Ming took the pestle and ground it a few times. The moment the powder was crushed, it burst into white specks of starlight that floated in the air, forming a spiritual Illusion that looked like something between a snake and a Flood Dragon.

The light wasn’t blinding. It was like Holy Light, but weaker and not as pure.

Cyan Treasure savored the scent. It could smell the fragrance of soil from within, but it didn’t know what the raw material was. This, too, whetted its appetite, making it want to eat the powder on the spot.

HISS HISS—

’What’s this one?’

Cyan Treasure was like a curious baby right now, asking one question after another.

"Radiant Ash Snake Shedding Powder. It’s used to temper your Poison Fangs." Gu Ming glanced at the system again and stated its use.

It turned out this powder wasn’t meant to be boiled in the medicinal soup. Instead, it was to be applied directly to the snake’s fangs. It was highly adhesive and could improve the nature of the fangs.

Normally, after the Pet Beast drank the medicinal soup, this powder would be applied to its Poison Fangs for about a month. This would allow it to initially develop Light-Eroding Poison Fangs.

This was just the Basic Level effect. The treatment required long-term application, at least a year, for the effects to become permanent.

As for the price, Gu Ming had no idea. After all, once the system updated the medicine, its price was no longer something that could be paid in the modern era.

After Gu Ming finished grinding the powder, he set it aside and casually picked up his phone to scan it, wanting to check the price of similar powders.

As usual, his phone didn’t recognize it directly. Instead, it suggested ingredients of a similar color.

Left with no choice, Gu Ming opened the shopping platform’s AI. He briefly described the medicine’s properties and, through the AI shopping assistant, found the price for a similar Light Poison Tooth Powder.

One hundred thousand yuan per gram.

Gu Ming looked at the powder in the mortar. There had to be at least a few grams in there.

Keep in mind, the total cost of the ingredients Teacher Zhang bought today was only fifty thousand yuan.

This futuristic medicinal powder alone was worth more than everything Teacher Zhang had spent.

Such an unequal exchange of value, no matter how he looked at it, seemed like Gu Ming had exploited a system bug.

Otherwise, the system would have already started deducting the value in Spirit Stones.

Next came the refining of the remaining ingredients.

Gu Ming was still a novice at refining medicine. Even though he had the entire process in his head, his actions were very slow.

During this time, his family finished making dinner. He ate in the living room before going back to his room to continue his work.

At the dinner table, the old couple watched their son hurry back to his room. They exchanged a glance and sniffed the milky fragrance in the air.

"Isn’t that the smell of Holy Water? Did Teacher Zhang splurge?"

...

Gu Ming gradually mixed and stirred the required ingredients in the beaker. Then, he slowly evaporated the liquid until it solidified, finally forming a hot, glowing paste.

The paste itself constantly emitted a milky-white halo. Glimmers of flowing gold in the pattern of dragon scales flashed across its surface, and its scent was incredibly alluring—especially to a snake.

Even Ah Kun in the Fish Tank saw it, rubbed its belly, and showed a desire to eat it.

However, Gu Ming knew from the research paper knowledge the system had updated him with that this paste was extremely dangerous to non-Dragon Race lifeforms.

If a creature wasn’t a Sub-Dragon or from the True Dragon Race, eating this would easily burn away its own Life Force.

Therefore, it was also very dangerous for Cyan Treasure to eat this. It would be tantamount to trading its life for Light Element Poison.

Gu Ming didn’t know what dosage to give Cyan Treasure, so he could only use a small pair of tweezers to pick up a tiny piece of the paste for it.

Cyan Treasure opened its mouth without hesitation, about to bite down.

But Gu Ming snatched the paste away.

Because in the instant just before Cyan Treasure was about to swallow it, Gu Ming saw the system’s updated text:

「Faced with this fatal dose of the Purification of Heretics Holy Dragon Ointment, Cyan Treasure cannot suppress its inner greed and bites down ferociously.」

「Cyan Treasure takes a stroll before the Ghost Gate.」

Gu Ming’s heart pounded in silent terror, and he let out a long breath.

’Thank goodness Cyan Treasure didn’t eat it.’

’Looks like I need to dilute it even further.’

’But to what degree?’

So, Gu Ming could only test the system repeatedly.

Only after diluting it three times did he get a system prompt indicating a level that Cyan Treasure could ingest, but would suffer a stomachache.

Gu Ming knew the system’s descriptions were always exaggerated. Just because it said there would be a stomachache didn’t mean there actually would be one.

But just in case, Gu Ming diluted the paste several more times before feeding the melted medicinal liquid to Cyan Treasure.

Cyan Treasure had waited for too long. The wait of a few hours felt like several years, an utter torment.

As the milky-white Holy Water liquid entered its body, Cyan Treasure felt as if its entire being was on fire. Every single Snake Scale and its Poison Fangs began to glow.

"Does your stomach hurt?" Gu Ming reached out to touch its belly.

It shook its head. It only felt a pleasant warmth spreading through its body, which was very comfortable.

Through the Pet Beast Contract, Gu Ming could sense that Cyan Treasure’s physical condition was excellent.

After all, it had a Light Spiritual Root and had recently been force-fed Holy Light Holy Water by Ma Tianba for two days. Its affinity for the Light Attribute had increased many times over. It would be stranger if it felt uncomfortable.

’Sure enough, the system is too dramatic. It can take a larger dose.’

Gu Ming experimented repeatedly again and finally discovered that the amount he had picked up with the tweezers the first time was the perfect dose.

If he increased it even a tiny bit more, Cyan Treasure’s stomach would start to hurt.

"System..." Gu Ming couldn’t help but want to curse it. ’All that fuss, going back and forth, wasted so much time. I really can’t trust its exaggerated terminology.’