Poison God's Heritage

Soon, the Wisest Sun coughed. This was a clear signal for all, that the trial had ended.

With a simple wave of his hand, the entire tower rattled and pulled itself up from the ground, removing itself from those who were still unable to enter and clear it.

It left the remaining cultivator unable to do anything as their bracelets shined and instantly began teleporting them away. Even amidst the protest and outcries no one really bothered with the losers.

Once everyone unrelated to the next event was dragged out of the arena, the commentator then proceeded to announce the next part.

"Good, Good, GOOD! Now with the tower event done, which was brought to you by the Wisest Sun himself, comes the next event, this one belongs to the Darkest Sun faction! An event that will pull one's true character out for all to see! We all know that in many situations, strength is king! It is not that everyone who is strong can rule! But only the strong are rulers, an adage as old as time!

And here it lords true. In these lands, a trial of great difficulty is presented to all the challengers. Here, one should learn that there are always skies above skies and seas beyond seas."

The screen turned to show the world of the next trial. A dark looking area with scarce plantation and several giant figures moving about randomly around the area.

"The cultivator's goal is simple, you're to reach the heart of this forest without dying. A simple goal to achieve one might think, but do not trust what your eyes tell you. Also, for all contesters, let me tell you one thing, your only enemy in this forest is the giants that you see, do with this information what you see fit."

"NOW LET THE ROUND BEGIN!" he added.

***

"I see," I muttered as I was looking around me.

The dome slowly dropped down and I hurriedly used the Traceless Steps to walk to the nearest shade.

Our goal is simple, to reach the center of the zone, however, why did the commentator say all that shtick about power and strength, he never said anything that wasn't relevant before.

Should I perhaps watch first?

However, my train of thought was immediately interrupted as shivers ran down my spine.

I rolled forward as fast as I could, and a second later, the tree, the ground and a nearby hill were all eradicated by a blow from one of the giants.

How did it see me?

No, the mere act of thinking about that will slow me down, for now, let's run!

I didn't hesitate into using Traceless Steps again and flew away, hiding under the shade of trees and the shadow of its branches. Yet, another bone chilling sensation crept up my back, I immediately stopped and jumped back before the a row of trees ahead of me was eradicated.

Two giants roared as they stomped their way towards me, behemoths of a creation, that shook the ground with every step.

Their bodies were riddled with scars and muscle, their veins bulged and throbbed as they swung their axe and swords at me. Blowing away dust and dirt, destroying rocks and boulders into dust with every attack.

I spat a cloud of purple smoke to which I snapped my teeth and ignited it, creating an incinerating conflagration in front of me.

A purple cloud of flames surged forward and latched itself into the nearest giant, to which he screamed and squealed like a pig in front of a butcher.

The giant's skin began melting and I almost took a sigh of relief, thankfully I didn't.

Because the bone chilling sensation of imminent death never disappeared. The same giant that I thought was done for pointed his palm at me, and a shockwave of epic proportions blew forward, threatening to eradicate me and whatever that was in its way.

The reason why I thought, no, more like knew for a fact, that if this shit were to hit me, then I was a goner, because I fully knew this art.

This was the same art that the Golden Titan used. Fist of Roaring Ki!

I immediately flung myself aside as I began to understand what was going on. After all, this is a trial of the Darkest Sun, and the Golden Titan belonged to the clan of Imperials that ruled the Vast Expanse.

Two of the giants began approaching me, the one that was poisoned seemed to have immediately recovered his strength, there is probably something in this domain that's keeping them alive and capable of fighting even after being mortally wounded. They weren't alive, they're more like corpses.

This art is however incomplete. It's messy, more like a mimicry of what the Golden Titan was capable of.

"Don't you dare!" I cursed as I felt utter rage and contempt at these creatures trying to imitate one of the very few people I held respect for.

"That is not how you use that art!" I shouted, "Gigantify!"

Suddenly the muscles all over my body began rupturing with strength and power as the robes I wore spread all over to assort themselves to my newfound size.

I then began showing the world the true art of Fist of Roaring Ki.

The energy that I gathered withing my fists was enough to cause the very air around me to spiral out of control, creating a vacuum of energy that funneled itself into my fists.

The energy became visible as it created gloves of pure energy that shaped themselves like jet thrusters at the elbow and jeweled spiked gauntlets at the fists.

"If you want to use that art! Use it properly! FIST OF ROARING KI! FIST OF ETERNAL GOLD!"