Poison God's Heritage

The spear grazed the Fire Spear but didn't seem to cause any damage. Still, Meng Hao didn't hesitate to lunge forward in preparation for another clash.

Though fighting inside the Domain of another cultivator is nothing short of suicide, it seemed that the flames here weren't affecting Meng Hao much, and the Fire Spear realized that all too late.

He should have taken note of Meng Hao's ability to consume and use flames for himself, and now that he placed him in a rejuvenating lake of fire, he understood that he royally fucked up.

The graze from the spear earlier ignited at the Fire Spear's face, burning half of it in an instant, and at that moment when he was too shocked to react, Meng Hao's fist landed firmly on his chest.

Not a man to give up the advantage, Meng Hao followed with his other hand slamming the face of the Fire Spear into the ground, "BURN!" Meng Hao called.

And the flames around him surged once more, turning from bright blue to blinding white.

The Fire Spear screamed as his entire body was rattled and assaulted with white pure flames that seemed to have no end to them.

"Burn for your sins! Burn for the people you've killed, and Burn for serving the foulest of lords! BURN!" Meng Hao's words seemed to stem from the depth of his heart and agony.

His words were aimed to both the Fire Spear and at himself for being too weak, a catharsis of sorts, for the failure to save his beloved.

"BURN!" Meng Hao called once again, and his time not even the Fire Spear could struggle or squirm, as his flesh was seared off and melted, as his bleached bones turned dark and began crumbling, as his blood boiled and evaporated. As every bit of the Fire Spear seemed to turn to complete Ash.

A single metallic object was all that remained from the Fire Spear, and just as the death of the Fire Spear, body, and soul was confirmed, the small metallic spear head shot toward Meng Hao's forehead in a last attempt to take down the foe that killed the Fire Spear.

Yet, the metallic object had no hope of reaching Meng Hao as it melted from the sheer heat that came out of Meng Hao's body.

"Interesting flames, I say this is as pure as a Heart Flame…" Dao Shen said as he swallowed the last pill in his hands.

Meng Hao sat back down, and you could see the domain slowly dissipating into nothingness.

The two cultivators next to us were stunned at what just occurred.

"He just killed a King Class cultivator," one of them said.

"I mean, the King Class cultivator's cultivation was already pretty nerfed…."

"Still, he was a King Class cultivator, the knowledge and experience he has in fighting shouldn't be small. It's already a miracle that this boy Meng Hao managed to fight him on par. But to actually defeat him, his name is bound to spread through the vast expanse…"

"If he manages to survive that is, look, he is dying…" said the first cultivator.

I took a look at Meng Hao and realized that they were right.

The pure white flames were too much for even Meng Hao to fully control.

"What are you going to do?" asked Dao Shen.

"What a friend must," I said and dropped down.

I walked toward Meng Hao who was on his back, struggling to suppress the white flames surging from his body.

"Get, away…" Meng Hao said as he realized I was coming over.

"Just shut up," I said sighing. The heat was incredible, enough that these robes began burning just as I got closer.

I snapped my finger and called the Veridian Heart flame to my right.

I then used it to coat myself and protect myself from the White Flames of Meng Hao. Just as I approached closer, I could see something in the fire. It looked like a bird, an angry bird.

"That's not enough to protect you, Shen Bao!" Meng Hao said he knew fully that I wasn't capable of stopping this white flame.

I sighed, "Just watch," I said as I waved my other hand and called upon Shen Mo's body.

It came out and was almost functioning on autopilot. Since I cannot actively control both bodies at the same time, I must turn one off to use the other.

Yet, the body understood my intentions, after all, it had a part of my own soul in it.

Shen Mo waved his hand and called his own Veridian Heart Flame.

He placed it on my other hand and now I had two.

With a combination of two Veridian Heart Flames, even these white Flames that seemed to be the essence of a Phoenix were nothing but child's play for me to force to submit.

I pressed both Veridian Heart Flames together. If they were of a different nature they'd have blown up immediately, but now, they merged and created a temporarily more powerful Veridian Heart Flame.

"Bind the Mind, Bind the Will, Bind the Soul!" I called.

A chant I never wanted to use, "Death Heritage, Refinement of The Grave!" I called.

Though I refused to learn the Death Heritage's Resurrection method. I was not too arrogant to give up the whole book.

And why was I using the Corpse Refinement method on a flame?

Because this flame belongs to a Phoenix, and that Phoenix is trying to resurrect at the expense of Meng Hao's life essence, meaning, that it too was a corpse.

Hundreds of magic symbols appeared around the flames, and empowered by the Veridian Heart Flame they became seals against the White Flame itself.

The bird inside the flame tried desperately to struggle against this art, but something that was made to completely suppress the Dead, no dead creature should have the ability to fight back.

The seals locked on, one after the other, and completely shut down the flames around Meng Hao.

They then latched onto Meng Hao's body like chains.

I snapped both my fingers, dissipating the Heart Flame, and called Shen Mo back into the Lord of Lords pagoda.

I then approached Meng Hao who seemed to be too injured to even move.

I placed a pill in his mouth and sat down next to him.

"Good fight kid," I said trying to sound as proud as possible. In fact even I had some doubts at first.

"Thank you…" he said he looked a bit disappointed.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Weak," he said, with tears welling in his eyes.

I snorted, "If fighting and winning against a King Class cultivator is weak for you, I really don't want to see what you mean by strong." I said.

"No, the Fire Lord is far stronger than this, and just his minion was able to do so much damage to me, I don't think I'll ever have the ability to save her before he consumes her soul."

Meng Hao had his arm over his eyes covering his tears.

I sighed, "You wouldn't, and you can't," I said. cruel words I know. "Not with your current strength." I added.

Dao Shen immediately appeared next to us and said, "Are you sure those are the words you want to say to a friend?" he asked.

"Yes, he needs to wake up to reality, the word hero is fake. You can't go on about challenging the world and hope that it will work in your favor. You can't be throwing away your life against the odds and hop that things will work out somehow. That's why…"

I said to Meng Hao, "That's why you have friends, friends to pick up your slack, to help you in your time of need. And when the day comes that you want to take on the Fire Lord, ask for me, and I'll be there. No matter the time, reason or purpose, just ask and I'll be there. Stop trying to do everything yourself, you're not a god." I said as I stood up.

"Seems like your fight has ended in time."

The skies were turning brighter signaling the end of the last day of this battle.

Our bodies began shining bright as we were forcefully teleported, every one of us back to the open platform that seemed to have no end to is.

"Congratulations on passing the Forbidden City trial. This proved that you were all able to move in stealth and take out your enemies. Now the next trial will soon start. It will test your ability to understand and apply what you have been through lately. If you wish to leave, you may break one of the marbles in your possession, do know that this is the last and final chance you have to leave if you decide to leave."

The moment the words were spoken, several bright lights shone, as many cultivators left the platform. Looking around, from the thousand or so cultivators not even half remained.

Meng Hao looked at me, and sighed, "I can't go on." He said.

Though I felt he wanted to keep going, he seemed to be in need of some time to think.

"Go, I'll meet you once I'm done with this trial," I said to Meng Hao.

Meng Hao then snapped his marble and was out.

Leaving a bunch of cultivators here in the platform.

Before the speaker spoke again of the details of the trial, someone came towards me.

"I finally found you," he said, an ugly and vicious smile on his face. He looked like a corpse, no he was a corpse. Half of his body was rotten, and one of his eyes had worms in it. His grin was filthy and showed rotten teeth behind it.

"Shi Situ, you live still," I muttered.

"It is I who should be surprised, you actually survived Servant Mao and ended up killing him instead. I wonder, how did you manage to survive his torture for so long?" he aske.

"That's a question you'll have to figure out yourself," I replied.

"Who is this?" asked Dao Shen as he came closer.

The moment Shi Situ saw Dao Shen he took a couple of steps back.

"This is the guy who used to have the Death Heritage, apparently when I used the incantation to seal the flames, he sensed his book in action…" I said.

"I'm surprised, it's not everyday that you see an Acolyte surviving this long with a host that isn't a Poison God's heritor. What a fascinating art…" Dao Shen said.

"It's clear he is just being a parasite, the Death Heritage has many secrets, and the ability to control and possess the corpses is one of them. He must be here for his book I presume." I said.

"You're right, sadly, I cannot take it from you right now, but in the next trial, I'll do so, so be ready," Shi Situ said as he backed away.

"You have a lot of enemies, Shen Bao," Dao Shen said.

"That's the price of fame, while you have a lot of people terrified of you," I said.

"That's the Price of power," he replied with all confidence.

'Damn, this good looking bastard is actually right… if I was as strong as him, I wouldn't have to bother with small fries… well, let's see what this next trial is about then.'