Poison God's Heritage

He couldn\'t help but let out a soul-rending laugh.

It was loud enough that the very tower under him began rattling. If it wasn\'t for another one of the Suns stopping the vibrations, some of the audience members could have lost their cultivation or their lives.

And that was nothing but a passive laugh.

"Good! That is how one should address the world! With pride and a burning passion! GOOD DU SHEN! SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" the Flamboyant Sun\'s entire being began radiating an oppressive energy. Enough that the space around him began morphing from the sheer heat and power.

Mirage-like apparitions began manifesting themselves, like one on a high dose of psychedelics. Visual disturbance and spatial ruptures began manifesting. But Shen Bao resisted all and all almost casually, slowly drinking from his cup as the pressure weighed on him.

For the Demon Sword, the pressure was like a mountain was placed atop his shoulder, it was so heavy that he was forced into the ground.

But Du Shen didn\'t seem to care enough to show anything more than a smirk as he continued to drink from his cup.

"Enough!" the Demon Sword said, "I give," he added.

And suddenly the aura stopped and everything returned to normal.

Another Divine Sense message was sent to Shen Bao.

"You better pray that we don\'t meet in these rounds, for I will make it my goal to end you!"

Shen Bao\'s expression didn\'t change as he simply replied, "Your words would have had more weight if you weren\'t groveling on the ground under me," he said.

For cultivators, one\'s position and status mean a lot. Shen Bao was sitting on a high platform, and the Demon Sword was down below on the arena floor. It was as if he was groveling for Shen Bao.

And that made the Demon Sword feel more enraged, but he still managed to calm himself.

For Shen Bao, who usually never provokes people first, he had to speak these words since he noticed something.

The man called the Demon Sword had an internal injury that he was suppressing, and although Shen Bao had no idea what caused it, he immediately realized that the Demon Sword was injured when he tried to block the pressure from the Flamboyant Sun, and he knew what caused it.

It was a poison-induced injury.

The pressure from the Flamboyant Sun caused it to flare up, but the Demon Sword was fast in acting to give up and resume suppressing the poison. But that didn\'t miss Shen Bao\'s eyes.

The reason for this simple provocation was to further make the Demon Sword enraged. Since he was a peak Origin Realm cultivator, Shen Bao knew he would have a difficult time fighting him. But with an injury that is poison-related, Shen Bao basically became the bane of the Demon Sword\'s existence.

***

"Good! With this, Du Shen, I shall allow you to take one item from my treasury after this tournament is over," the Flamboyant Sun said.

I smiled at how sneaky and cunning this guy was. After all, he just changed the condition of the reward.

By saying that I can only receive it after the matches are over means that I have one of two choices. Either I have to give up right now and wait for the tournament to finish, or win it all the way. Since losing would probably mean death in the upcoming matches.

Regardless, I came here to clear the entire thing. Waiting a bit wouldn\'t matter anyway.

"That is a bit unjust to our little one, don\'t you think?" the Lord of Lords said, "You did say you\'ll gift them a reward why hold it until the end?"

"But I never said I\'ll gift it right now, also it would be utterly useless, my gifts are all of the highest levels, and the lowest one of them far exceeds the competition\'s limitations on treasures that can be brought in here," the Flamboyant Sun said.

"Not to mention if he got to use something it would make everything rather simple and easy, I want to see cultivators struggle and fight to show their Brilliance! Not use cheap tools and weapons to win"

The Lord of Lords sighed and said, "It\'s fine. Then should we proceed with the next stage?"

"Indeed! Commentator, we\'ll need the arenas ready. The next round will start now," he said.

"Sure thing your lordship," he said and clapped his hands.

The entire arena which was massive in size began changing, separating itself into ten square platforms where cultivators could stand around or inside.

"Now as you all know, you will be entering a tournament format. The cultivator that wins ten rounds will be qualified. And seeing your numbers, the winners will be a hundred cultivators in the end. Anyone who loses a match will be sent to the loser bracket where they\'ll fight other losers. The finals will be held between the winner of the winner bracket and the winner of the loser bracket.

In case where the winner of the winner bracket was to win all of their matches, they will have two chances to fight the winner of the loser bracket."

The format was simple. It also gives an additional chance to anyone so no one gets to complain that it was unfair for them to have lost.

"And finally, the battle rules. Ring Outs are an instant elimination. As for the fights, if one were to admit defeat or is deemed unable to continue fighting one should show mercy and not go for the killing move. But killing isn\'t forbidden.

And if anyone were to use Origin Qi, no matter how meager the amount is they will… be dealt with, not by me, but by the Eight Suns, so I implore you, don\'t make any of the Eight Suns your enemies. Not even your ancestors would rest well if that happens," he said.

"Let the first Round begin! If you feel confident access the arena stage everyone!" the commentator added.

"Are you not going?" Eccentric Long said to me.

"I will," I said as I stood up and walked forward appearing right next to the closest platform.

There was a man already standing there. But seeing no one going up, I couldn\'t help but wonder why.

"That\'s the Bloody Fang, he\'s one of the western tribe\'s most infamous killers. It seems that not a lot of people want to avoid fighting him. What terrible luck, I probably need to find another platform to challenge."

One random cultivator spoke up.

Apparently, this guy is some bigshot, but it doesn\'t really matter. I walked up the stairs under the gaze of other cultivators, who were mumbling the words madman, or crazy, some even recognized me and thought it was going to be a good show.

"Oh, you\'re that guy," the Bloody Fang said.

"This should be a good match! I\'ve seen what you\'re capable off, but that weapon of yours takes too long to fire," he grinned as he pulled up a double axe from behind his back.

He licked the edge of one of the axes and said, "It would give me a lot of recognition if I were to take your life right here!"

I didn\'t reply.

A man wearing white robes with the symbol of a fiery sun on it was standing on the side of the arena. Probably one of the people of the Flamboyant Sun.

"Please begin whenever you wish to," he said as he stood still to watch.

"Then here I com-"

His words didn\'t finish as a hole as big as a fist was visible for all to see in his stomach.

He spat out blood, and gasped as he said, "How?" while falling down.

The muzzle of a handgun was releasing smoke. The handgun was in my hand.

The rifle I used to take down the corpse was made from scrap materials that I could barely use from the trial store. This handgun was something I made using the best metals that I could find on the beyond provided by one of the suns personally. It was a railgun but a gun at the same time.

Though far less destructive than the ones on my ship, but they were more than enough to handle an unaware and unprepared void stage cultivator.

I threw a pill towards the dying man and said, "Eat that, you might live," I said then turned to the audience, "Next?"