Poison God's Heritage

The Poison God, Du Shen.

"But why did the Queen ask me to come here?"

I approached the corpse and took note of it. The bones on it were as pure and glistening as crystals. They were like refined diamonds.

His robes looked dusty but with one wipe of my hands, they were clean and brand new.

I thought about taking his robes, but it's better to leave the dead to rest.

'I don't fully understand why I was asked to come here, yes, Du Shen's corpse is here, and it's obvious that the queen knew he was dead, but why did she want me to come here? There isn't an ounce of qi anywhere around him or in this shack, there is no treasure or anything worth my time here, I just wasted a full trip to get here.'

I was about to be really annoyed at the queen for wasting my time to get all the way here before the Poison God's Heritage began shuddering and emerged from my chest.

As if weeping, the book slowly moved its pages in front of the corpse, and suddenly a line materialized in one of the book's empty pages.

"Finally, you have arrived. Was it anyone else, their trip would have been close to fruitless. But for you, all should reveal itself once you touch the corpse."

I frowned, I wasn't a huge fan of this. Having a corpse asking you to touch it is one of the fastest ways to get oneself possessed. Especially if it belongs to an entity like Du Shen.

 Du Shen spent his life in strife and battle, ruled over domains, and fought against forces like no one else. He claimed many lives and respected a few. He was a terror and an enemy to most of the Vast Expanse, but his strength allowed him to be the tyrant he was.

He was not cruel or malevolent, but he was not benevolent either. A cultivator that ruled by an iron fist. And now he is asking me to touch his corpse?

I would rather not, no matter how tempting his skeletal structure is, it is nothing but a risk with no obvious rewards.

Suddenly another line wrote itself on the book.

"Good, a wise man wouldn't do what is told without incentive." The book wrote. And before I even finished reading the sentence, the corpse had already stood up and its boney hands were already pressing against my forehead.

I didn't notice it, didn't feel it, and didn't even realize when that happened.

But his hand was already on my forehead and was already too late to do anything.

The palm of the corpse pushed itself against my forehead, and I felt as if my soul was ejected out of my body.

"Let go," the corpse said.

I didn't even have a choice; my mind was reeled into the corpses and was able to see its memories.

We were in this very same planet, the planet itself was the same as it is today, poison-filled but brimmed with much more Qi than it has today.

Du Shen. Wounded, bloodied and breathing heavily, his whole appearance looked… exhausted. The wounds on him however weren't from weapons or blows. They were self-inflicted.

Madness was clear in his eyes, "WHY CAN'T I DO IT! BLASTED HEAVENS! WHY TORMENT ME SO!" Du Shen shouted to the high heavens.

"Why imprison me here?! Why trap me here? I reached the highest of cultivation! I made it all the way to the peak of the emperor realm, what do I lack? What am I missing? Why torment me so!" he called once again.

"I ruled! I conquered! I understood! I studied and learned! I followed your teachings and you disallowed! I went against your teachings and you disallowed! I mimicked your teachings and yet you still disallowed me! What am I lacking?! I see the world through your very eyes! You robbed me my beloved! AND I STILL WORSHIPPED YOU STILL! You robbed me of my power! And I worshipped you still! You gave me pain upon pain, eternal solitude, and misery! YET I STILL WORSHIPPED! And in the end, all I get is refusal!"

Du Shen scratched the side of his face with his fingers enough to draw blood.

"My understanding of heavens is useless, my thousand years of cultivation are all useless, trapped within this prison, unable to leave, limited by a ceiling that will never allow me to grow. I care not for this prison for I know there is a higher realm, but why show me the skies above the skies when you refuse me entry!" Du Shen shouted once again.

"So be it! SO BE IT! If the heavens refuse me to leave, then I shall go above and beyond!"

Du Shen levitated in the air and bit his tongue, "All of it! All of my cultivation and the knowledge I've gained! Pitiful as it may be against the great wisdom of the heavens! IT IS MINE! And I shall use it!" he then spat his blood essence against his palm and then pointed it on the hill where his small shack was at.

cultivation.

15:13

"You wish to stop me, and take everything from me, but I treaded the path of cultivation long enough Rays of inscriptions and arrays spread from his palm and painted themselves in the ground.

He then began using more and more of his blood essence, forcibly dropping his cultivation as he fused it all in this array.

The more I look at it the more I shudder.

What is this? I've seen these writings before… This is Heavenly Dao. These are the same inscriptions that were on the Law Fruit I consumed when I was still a beginner cultivator.

How is he able to comprehend it?

Suddenly the skies began thundering.

"YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!" Du Shen roared as he slapped both hands together and erected a massive barrier that was imbued by his very soul energy.

The thunderous skies rumbled in rage as they saw a human defiling their knowledge and using them for whatever reason Du Shen was doing.

Red lightning briskly crossed the skies, heralding a heavenly tribulation like no other.

But Du Shen ignored it and continued writing on the ground.

Finally, with the last inscription written, the skies howled as the thunder began falling on the barrier he was using.

He scuffed at the heavens as he looked up, "Here I've given all of my cultivation for this, you refused to accept me, so I shall take all!"

He then descended and was back to his Qi condensation stage, with barely any Qi to even survive this atmosphere of this planet.

His body shriveled up, and his hair fell, he returned to look like an old man as his body lost all cultivation.

"You wish to stop me, and take everything from me, but I treaded the path of cultivation long enough to never allow it. And here I'd rather give it up all," he said as he entered the house and sat in the very place I saw the corpse in.

The thunder crashed down against the barrier heavily so, threatening to shatter it.

And slowly as would an old man too jaded by the vicissitudes of life he pulled out the Poison God's heritage in his hand and said, "You know what you must do old friend…"

The book in his hands suddenly split into twelve copies and shot out of the house and into the distance.

"With this, I have no attachments to this world anymore, nor do I owe you anything gracious heavens, all I had I'm giving back, and the next time I'm back. I'm taking it all, and more!"

Du Shen then spat the remaining Qi he had in him against his palm then slammed it on the ground. Causing the entire formation array around the house to shine bright.

The heavenly thunder, as if offended smacked down against the barrier even harder with even more power, but it was not able to break it before the formation was finished.

"If I can't see the beyond, then I'll send my soul to it, if I remain trapped in here I'll lose my mind, I would rather begin anew! Forbidden Art… Immortal Transmigration!"