Poison God's Heritage

As I moved through the forest, making sure to keep track for anything out of the ordinary. Cut down bushes, or uprooted trees that didn't seem to have been naturally made.

I managed to find the tracks of one of the remaining cultivators.

It took me some time before I managed to reach them. There were three of them now. And they all seemed to be grouped up together.

I, once again hid on top of one of the branches of the giant trees. I was making sure to keep myself hidden while taking note of everything that was happening.

At first, I thought that they were only stopping to rest before they were to move but looking at them intently investigating the surroundings, and taking several glances at a piece of paper that was in the hand of the person I assumed to be the leader of this little group. I came to the realization that they already arrived to the cave's location.

Only there was no cave here. Perhaps it was hidden by some formation. But I can't spread my divine sense to locate it. Thus I had to stand still and wait for the group to find the entrance.

Which was honestly extremely boring. Not only did they take far too damn long to find the entrance, but night had also already fallen and the atmosphere of the forest changed drastically.

The somber, slightly calm, and quiet forest changed overnight, literally. The howls and growls of beasts could now spread far and wide. Making one shiver simply by thinking of the sorts of monsters that could live in such darkness.

Not even I would dare feign courage when King Class beasts moved about.

Thankfully, by the fall of the night, a light golden glow was visible from underneath an inconspicuous stone.

With the stone revealed, discerning and unlocking the formation was easy even for this group of cultivators.

A large square hole opened up in the middle of the clearing the moment they touched the stone. And this revealed the entrance to the cave.

The group jubilantly entered the cave, without even making sure that their surrounding was clear. Nor did they close the opening behind them.

I jumped down from the tree and followed them.

The entrance had a long flight of stairs that went down seemingly indefinitely. Whoever made this cave had a lot of time on their hands.

The group up front moved about in silence at first. But perhaps due to the darkness which they fought against using as little light as they could, they began talking.

Which is pretty dumb, especially in such a secluded and seemingly dangerous area. One doesn't know what lives in the abyss, so why speak and make it take note of you?

But, it was a blessing for me, because I understood many things about them and the sect.

"Once we're done here and claim whatever treasures we find, we'll notify the elders of this place to get more rewards. Just make sure that if you take something, you don't leave any traces. We don't want the elders to search us," the leader spoke.

"We'll do as brother says," one of the two girls spoke fawning over him.

"I'm still not sure if we should have entered before the others come," the second girl said. This one was the person who Shen Mo had foolishly fallen for.

"They know the place, once they arrive here they'll come down. If not, it's their own misfortune that they lost upon such an inheritance location," the male spoke.

"I knew I could rely on you, if I had let that Shen Mo be with the knowledge of this cave and the manual he had on him, it would be a waste, but you senior brother sure can make use of it and become a dragon among men," she said.

"You did good, I'll make sure to reward you handsomely."

"It's pretty strange though, why did Shen Mo only take a manual, from what sister says, he mentioned that there was a huge treasure trove down there, but he only took a single manual," she said.

"It's because of his cultivation, he said that there is a testing area down, and once a person clears it, they will obtain one reward. What Shen Mo did was take what he thought to be the best reward among the treasures, but he wasn't strong enough to take the rest of the loot, so he had to go back, train then come back when he was stronger to take more,"

"That's a weak person's mentality. If it were me I wouldn't leave until I have everything inside this cave," he said.

The group continued talking until they arrived at the bottom of the stairs. From then on, it was a tunnel they had to go through before they arrived at a large domed opening that had one pillar supporting it.

On the walls of the dome, even from my hiding place, I could see many treasures placed behind a glass wall.

The treasures felt like they were for grabs by anyone, but there was one sentence written on the pillar.

"Each May take one, only if you have the strength for it,".

"This isn't what Shen Mo mentioned… that damnable liar!" the ex said.

"No, he isn't wrong, because if his current strength was enough for him to take one, I'm sure he wanted to come back when he can overpower the limitation imposed upon this place and take everything later, never mind that, if that weak Shen Mo could only take one, I'm sure I can break this thing and take everything."

The test was pretty obvious. Strike the pillar, and you'll receive a reward of your choosing. Be greedy and something bad will happen, and I think I can understand the thoughts of whoever created this trial ground.

This pillar is probably only capable of taking so many hits, and if it breaks, it will cause the whole structure to fall down. A very obvious limitation to people who want to be greedy.

Yet this group of three didn't seem to realize that.

I need to act because it would be a waste to lose so many good materials. Not to mention, if they fuck up, I'll be buried alongside them.

I opened my mouth and let loose a fume so thick that it felt as if it was water that moved slowly toward the ground.

The poison smog I released slowly seeped forward, without any of the three ever taking note of it since they were too focused on the pillar.

"Let me try first," said the male cultivator.

He pulled out his sword and swung at the pillar with as much power as he could muster.

The pillar shook but nothing seemed to happen.

"This is strange, I struck this damn thing with all of my power. But where is my reward?" he asked.

"Perhaps it isn't about brute strength, otherwise Shen Mo would never have gotten anything,"

"Look here."

"That's a palm print and this… Ah, no wonder… damn it!" the leader cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's no wonder he was able to receive a reward, it's because he didn't use his own strength, he used his Veridian Heart Flame. The power of a Heart Flame is limitless, thus he managed to cheat his way into a good reward. We'll need to find Shen Mo's body, extract his heart flame and use it to unlock the reward… cough!"

The male leader began coughing blood.

"What's wrong?!"

And soon the other two began coughing, and all three of them, fell on the ground, black veins spreading through their limbs and towards their heart.

The leader fanatically slapped his holding bag to get something out, a pill that he swallowed only for the effects of the poison to spread and flare even more.

With bloodshot eyes and indignation, he tried to speak and open his mouth but nothing came out.

Death soon came and took what it was owed without any of them having any chance to escape.

"I could really make a killing if I were to switch profession to an assassin…make a killing, you get it?"

I sighed, no one was alive to hear my fantastic pun.

I walked forward among the poison cloud which parted for me until I stood with hands crossed behind my back in front of the pillar.

"Hmm, seems like a simple test. And you say I can only take one thing, watch me take everything," I grinned.