Hunchback Meng

Hunchback Meng, whose true name is Meng Qingfan, is an Enchanted Palace prince and notorious poison cultivator who enters the Land of the Ancient God while fleeing the Giant Demon Clan. His desperate sacrifice of the toad Li Tian raises him temporarily to peak late Soul Formation, but Wang Lin's sabotage turns the earth trial against him and leaves only techniques, treasures, and a trial distortion behind. (Chapters 167–207)

Biography

Poison King heir in flight

Hunchback Meng steals and consumes the Giant Demon Clan's Ancestral Demon Heart, provoking pursuit by ten battle demons. He survives by poisoning every pursuer, adding to a reputation already darkened by the extermination of a sect of 3,960 people over an insult. Around a thousand years old and at mid Soul Formation, he joins Duanmu Ji's expedition not as a subordinate but as a feared expert with knowledge of rare beasts and poisons. (Chapters 167–170)

He identifies the parasitic dragon snake and other desolate threats, supplies anti-poison pills, and absorbs the beast's black smoke into his hump. These actions make him useful to the group while preserving his own advantage: no one can be certain whether a remedy from the Poison King's lineage is also a means of control. (Chapters 168–174)

Earth trial and sacrifice of Li Tian

In the earth trial, swarms and ancient restrictions corner him. Hunchback Meng releases heaven-destroying poison and invokes an ancient demonic technique on his high-quality toad, Li Tian. By consuming the beast's origin core and transforming toward a toad-like demonic body, he forces his cultivation temporarily from mid Soul Formation to peak late Soul Formation. The increase is purchased by destroying his companion and destabilizing his own form. (Chapters 174–177)

His life-bound green cauldron releases poison capable of destroying enormous numbers of divine-sense fragments, but the trial eventually breaks it. Wang Lin uses a dragon tendon and the environment to sabotage Hunchback Meng at the critical moment. The disappearance of his mark from the stolen bag confirms his true body dies. (Chapters 175–183)

Trial distortion and poison legacy

The figure that reappears in the third trial calls itself Demon God Tu Si and carries Hunchback Meng's face or residue. This is an Ancient God trial distortion or controlled manifestation, not evidence that Meng Qingfan resumed an independent life. Wang Lin later studies the Poison Transfer method from his legacy and remembers the dangerous gamble that killed him. (Chapters 183–207, 271, and 1127)

Appearance and personality

Hunchback Meng is short and hunchbacked, wearing a green robe. He has triangular eyes, a sharp chin, a monkey-like mouth, facial pustules, a hoarse voice, and a cough; poison can make the ground sizzle around him. He is vindictive, secretive, and ruthlessly pragmatic. Even Li Tian, his exceptional companion beast, becomes fuel when survival demands it. (Chapters 167–177)

Abilities and cultivation

Poison body and poison clouds

Hunchback Meng's core expertise is colorless, tasteless poison that can spread through clouds, corrode terrain, and threaten cultivators before they realize exposure has occurred. His hump can absorb dangerous black smoke from a desolate beast, storing or neutralizing toxins others cannot approach. This mastery makes him lethal at range, though prepared restrictions and Ancient God environments can still trap him. (Chapters 168–177)

Li Tian sacrifice and temporary advancement

The toad Li Tian has an unusually high-quality origin core. Through an ancient demonic technique, Hunchback Meng consumes that core, alters his body, and temporarily reaches peak late Soul Formation. The gain is not a permanent cultivation breakthrough: it destroys the toad, changes his form, and leaves him committed to a battle he still loses. It is emergency conversion of a companion's accumulated power. (Chapters 174–177)

Life treasure green cauldron

His green cauldron is a life-bound poison treasure capable of releasing effects against vast numbers of divine-sense fragments. Because it is bound to his life, damage to the cauldron has direct consequences for him. The earth trial's scale eventually overwhelms and breaks it, showing that even his strongest area poison cannot indefinitely resist the Ancient God trial. (Chapters 174–183)

Poison Transfer

Poison Transfer moves a lethal poison or curse, such as the red divine-retribution thread, from one body to another. The method requires at least Nascent Soul-level execution and a suitable target or vessel; it does not simply erase the poison. Wang Lin inherits the knowledge from Hunchback Meng's possessions, so later use belongs to Wang Lin even though the technique is part of Meng's legacy. (Chapters 201–207 and 271)

Relationships

• Wang Lin: Wang Lin sabotages and kills Hunchback Meng in the earth trial, takes his bag, and later studies the poison methods it contains. (Chapters 174–207 and 1127)
• Lei Ji: Hunchback Meng steals the Giant Demon Clan's Ancestral Demon Heart and survives pursuit by its battle demons; no direct personal encounter with Lei Ji is established. (Chapter 167)
• Duanmu Ji: Both enter the Land of the Ancient God as dangerous senior cultivators whose cooperation is limited by mutual suspicion. (Chapters 167–193)

Items

• Hunchback Meng's life-bound green cauldron spreads massive poison attacks but is destroyed during the earth trial. (Chapters 174–183)