Poison God's Heritage

Within one of the largest open squares of the outer sect, the person who was interrogating me was holding a mass gathering to tell of the events that happened earlier.

"As the sect had decreed, for the crime of leaving the sect without permission, Shen Mo will be whipped a hundred lashes," he spoke, "This is the punishment for disobeying the sect rules." He said.

Many of the disciples were gathered in front of the teacher who was speaking and they seemed to nod at the severity of the punishment.

"However!" he said. "Due to Shen Mo's meritorious deed, of discovering a new use of the Spirit Grass which radically opened up an enormous swath of possibilities for our Poison Sect refining methods, the Sect Master personally waved off the punishment and decided to reward him by giving him a Nascent Soul refining Pill. A thousand Medium Grade spirit stones and a weapon of his choosing from the sect's treasury." The elder said.

This immediately caused everyone to start murmuring.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Do you have any objections to the Sect Master's orders?" elder Xian spoke.

The disciple who talked backed down, but another one, with more spine, or probably more spite, since I remembered his face.

More like, from the memories of Shen Mo I remembered his face. This person was a lacky of one of those who were hunting Shen Mo.

"This man killed my fellow disciples! And even disregarded the sect's rules! Why is he being rewarded? We need an explanation! Even if it is the sect master, where is the justice for my dead friends?!" he said.

He is actually pointing out a good point. Since if the sect didn't side with him, they'll be considered heartless and without justice, who would stay in a sect where murder is disregarded and the murderer is rewarded?

"We didn't wish to reveal this, but after a careful investigation from the Disciplinary Hall. We have discovered that the following cultivators have been deemed to be traitors to the sect," elder Xian began mentioning five names, all of which Shen Mo remembers. They were the names of his pursuers.

"They have been sending detailed information to the Seven Sword Mountain Sect. We discovered remains of messages between the disciples and the Mountain Sect. Shen Mo had ended up with one of the documents as proof to this and was hunted down to be ridden off. Now, if you're defending the traitors this hard, we'll be asking you to follow us for detailed interrogation," elder Xian said.

All of the above was complete bullshit and lies. Yet, it worked wonderfully.

"N-no! I have no relation I didn't know anything of the sort!" the disciple said.

"Then you wouldn't mind following after Elder Yun Fei to the interrogation room. Once your innocence from treason is proven you will be released," Elder Xian said.

He then added, "Is there anyone who objects to the sect's decree!" he shouted.

No one spoke.

"Good, Shen Mo, sadly your cultivation base is too low to allow you access to the inner sect, so you must cultivate until you reach the minimum required to enter the inner sect, now, you will be following Deacon Yi's orders until your cultivation level rises up, once that is done, and you go through the yearly test, you will be able to enjoy more of the sect's resources, Everyone Dismissed!"

The area cleared up pretty quickly, and I was left all alone in the open field. Now with 'rewards,' and a purpose I needed to work quickly to rising my cultivation level. Sadly I cannot use Poison Pills to boost this body's cultivation, however, unlike my original body, I can use Heavenly Energy and Spirit Stones.

I headed toward one of the cultivation caves that were carved into the main mountain of the sect.

The base of the mountain was carved aplenty, in small caves for cultivators, there were thousands of caves. But the majority of them were closed.

And the only person that can allow me the use of one of the caves was the Deacon.

I headed to the deacon's office which was under the cave area.

Once I arrived I was warmly welcomed by a man of short stature and a gruff-looking scowl on his face that seemed to have been imprinted upon him from constant frowning.

Yet, once he saw me, he hand both hands rubbing against each other, "Disciple Shen Mo! I always knew you were special," he said.

Almost reflectively I was about to throw up, but I held it in. This man was one of Shen Mo's nightmares, always skimming on Shen Mo's resources and keeping them for himself.

He took his spirit stones and his allocated alchemy resources. Not only did he steal from him, he gave Shen Mo's resources to other cultivators at the pretext of Shen Mo's inability to cultivate Poison Pills or refine them.

The body I was hosted in was trying its best to punch this foul man, but I reined it in. There was no need to take revenge on such a petty person.

"Good that you know I'm special, a special person deserves special treatment," I said my eyes fixed on the deacon.

"O-of course, do you remember all the spirit stones I had asked of you for safekeeping, I knew that one day you'll grow strong enough to use them, that way you wouldn't waste them. But now that you're capable I have them right here, with some additional ones," he said as he handed me a holding bag.

Looking at its content I was actually surprised, there were a few thousand spirit stones here and several dozen batches of medicinal herbs and spiritual herbs.

"Good, with this I can resume my learning. I'm glad I had 'kept' these in your care. Now, if I remember I lost my cave token somewhere and was wondering how I can get one."

"Ah, there is no need to worry or fret, here," he said as he handed me a black token. "This token opens the door to one of the best caves in the outer sect, there is actually a small spirit vein that passes underneath that cave, if you were to cultivate there you'll reap double the rewards with half the effort!"

"Thank you, deacon, I'll make sure to remember this favor," I said.

"No need!" he said sweating "No need, all is good for a special and gifted young cultivator like you, now I still have many matters to attend to regarding the other disciples I hope you find your new stay comfortable," he said and then scurried away.

"I guess the Sect Master's words mean a lot, but I don't think that's the only reason why I'm treated this well. Anyway, that doesn't matter, now we can cultivate in peace."

I infused the token with Qi and an image of the location and direction of the cave appeared in my head.

I followed the map and arrived at the closed entrance of a cave that seemed to have no neighboring caves. It was alone on one side of the mountain. Perhaps since the spirit vein passes through here, it's more rewarding to gift it to one cultivator who achieves good results than split it between many.

I placed the token in a groove on the side of the cave. The wall at the front of the cave shuddered and slid down, revealing a large room inside that was paved with wood and had a bed, a couple chairs, and a table.

There was also an area for a cauldron to do alchemy, as well as a smoke release chamber to allow ventilation.

Once I was inside the wall rose back up closing the room in complete darkness. Yet a moment later, a luminous orb that was on the ceiling of the cave lit up. Bringing light to the whole room.

I sat down on the bed and closed my eyes. This is my first time ever meditating while feeling actual Qi.

Once my eyes were closed, I was able to 'see' small specks of light that seemed to glow and float all around me.

However, underneath me, there seemed to be some sort of crystalized root-like object that was releasing these golden specks like a torrent.

"So this is Qi, it looks pretty interesting, now, how do I harness it?"

Meditating helped in absorbing the Qi, yet it was by no means fast or worth the effort.

I just realized that I have never actually 'absorbed' Qi, and to do that… I needed a cultivation method.

Of the ones I know, there is the Poison God's Technique, but that's only if I have the Poison God's Body. The Laughing Slaughterer's technique, but that technique doesn't absorb Qi but uses internal Qi that has already been absorbed to release it into murderous and double-edged attacks.

The Star Technique gifted to me by Yuyu when I first joined her sect only absorbed star energy. And was nowhere good enough for the current me.

So, how am I going to cultivate this Qi without a breathing technique?

The answer is simple. The Fist of Roaring Ki. Though I was able to use that technique even when I had the Poison God's body, it was created by a cultivator who uses Qi and Saint Qi. Meaning that it can absorb the energy of heaven and earth.

The only problem is, I don't currently have any Stone-Aged milk. If I had known I'll be using another body to cultivate, I would have saved at least a bottle. But no matter, I can still cultivate it even with this body, the only problem is, I'll be needing to enhance this body's disposition enough until it becomes sturdy and strong to support the torrents of power that the Fist of Roaring Ki holds.