Hurrying away from the girls, I unfurled my new artifact wings and flew to the tree branch I'd used before, from which I once again transitioned to the parallel world to browse the regular internet.
Actually, I just needed to confirm info on one specific person and their location. After all, I'd chosen my first poison element teacher remotely long ago, right when I decided to develop this element.
I remember, in my past life, Mu Bai repeatedly raved about one particular person's works, who greatly advanced and spread knowledge on the poison element and trained many students who, after her death, passed her legacy to the rest of humanity.
Her name was Gu Daiyu. A very symbolic and powerful name for the beautiful woman described in surviving accounts, who at twenty-six was at the peak of High level, specialized in poison element, and trained several dozen excellent poison mages—despite her era just ending the persecution of all dark magic, with huge prejudice against her. I'm surprised she gathered so many students in that environment.
"Gu" in her name means the most venomous creature ancient Chinese could breed at home, and "Daiyu" means "black jade," instantly painting Gu Daiyu as quite the fatal beauty in the mind. The Black Widow from a certain superhero universe respectfully steps aside.
Mu Bai repeatedly said that if she hadn't mysteriously vanished at twenty-seven, the world would've seen the greatest poison element mage in history. And now I agree; given her talent, she had every chance to break into Curse level, outpacing most National Team members I was on in my past life. Hell, she matched my past self, which deserves respect considering I was a two-element Curse mage at a relatively young age.
And adding her many discoveries and poison element research, plus the time spent training students that could've gone to cultivation... I tip my hat; I have to admit my past self was outclassed, head and shoulders.
The only thing, from her students' reviews I found, she was some crazy sadist, pervert, and demon incarnate. But honestly, given her sudden disappearance and her research and savings falling into those ungrateful students' hands, I'd be a fool to believe that crap.
After all, per historical records, Gu Daiyu took all comers for free, no yuan charged, and even sought out new students herself. And I saw no mentions of murders or psyche-scarring traumas among her charges, so those reviews are at least exaggerated, at worst total bullshit from ungrateful scum.
Before shifting to Chunmin Island in the parallel world, where this wonderful woman taught, I finally decided to get a talent for control boost. All because my poison element was only at Initial level now, and even wanting to, with such low cultivation, I couldn't properly practice it. Pure theory wasn't in my plans.
So, after exchanging another gold-filled backpack for the control boost talent, I shifted to Shanghai twenty years ago, where a poison element maniac who thought he could wipe out the city's population unchecked was killed.
He was even a member of one of those organizations aiming to exterminate most of humanity like the Black Church, but not sure. Several similar groups claimed him immediately. Mda, black PR works best for them.
His name was Wa Li, a second-step High-level poison mage, and before being stopped, he killed several blocks' worth of people. Apparently, that major terror act made those orgs compete to claim him.
Deciding to combine usefulness with saving people, I appeared in the mall at his first attack site, about five minutes before it started, and scanned the area with my spiritual sense. With boosted spiritual boundaries, it was much easier.
I spotted him a couple hundred meters away before he even entered, so I jumped from the second floor right in front of him, cracking the asphalt around me and making people scream in fear and scatter. I helped a bit by casting a fear aura so no one crowded us. People, you know—feed them spectacle, they don't care if they die, just curious.
"Wa Li, get lost nicely!" I glared at him menacingly and pointed. Eh, pity the joke's lost on everyone here. Why wasn't I reborn in Russia?
Not listening to the maniac's mad grin response, I finally released several spells I'd cast while falling and talking. Eh, if not for needing to scatter people, I'd have attacked in my usual style—as a rat. But we play the hand we're dealt.
First, "Time Endurance" second-step Mid-level space element, boosted to sixth step and powered by the sixth spiritual boundary, letting it exceed third-step High-level raw power without Seeds, slowed the lunatic so much I could've done stretches before re-engaging. Second, "Fear" first-step Mid-level, similarly boosted with souls and spiritual boundaries, plunged him into such soul hell that without a High-level spirit mage, he'd stay a drooling idiot for life. No spellcasting from him in that state.
And finally, "Ice Rose" fourth-step High-level ice element, limited to a ten-meter radius around my foe, froze him into an ice sculpture.
After all three spells hit simultaneously, I noticed his spirit defense artifact bracelet tremble and break, absorbing some damage, but it was only rated for a couple Mid-level attacks, so my spell still ravaged Wa Li's mind badly—though he'd recover on his own... after a couple years in a coma.
He also had solid artifact armor that could tank several mid-Commander hits, so the ice crust covered him but, if conscious, he'd break free easily and continue fighting with just damaged armor. With that gear, I'm starting to believe one of the banned orgs sent him; too good for a lone nutjob.
Scanning around with spatial sense, I smiled at my foresight. He'd started releasing his inner poison, but "Time Endurance" slowed its spread excellently, and "Ice Rose" froze the escaped particles in ice, nullifying the threat to normals and weak mages.
Approaching the downed foe, I quickly scribbled a note for the authorities on who this popsicle was, why the surrounding ice was dangerous, then took Wa Li's poison cultivation and bailed to my world. Not absorbing my catch here, right?