Poison God's Heritage

Huffing and puffing, blood seeping from my nose and mouth, I breathed at last. My first true Heavenly Qi breath.

"F-finally… first stage of Qi condensation," I slumped back supine. Chest heaving up and down from the excruciating agony of the past few days.

This cultivation method is truly…demonic.

It inflicts so much pain onto oneself that one could consider it true self-torture. No wonder most demonic cultivators have a screw loose.

But, it helped me see Qi even better than before.

Now that I'm able to breathe in the natural Qi, I can absorb it with ease.

I stood back up, and pulled a couple of pills from my Poison God's book, these were ones I had from when I was making pills as Shen Bao.

And began eating them up.

Consuming Pills like this for a normal cultivator is rather dangerous because, unlike my original body, this new body cannot expel impurities, so I must consume the best pills to reduce the impurities gathered in this body. Not to mention, this weakling Shen Mo's cultivation was so trash, that his own body was already clogged up with impurities.

Coursing Qi into this body was the same as trying to filter clean water from sewage.

But with these Cleansing Pills, I can remove a portion of impurities from this body.

I swallowed one Cleansing Pill and began rotating my own Qi until an oh-so-familiar feeling came to me.

Nauseating and revolting, my stomach churned as I threw up bile and black sludge that seemed to stink more than a rotten camel dung under the sun.

After cleaning up the mess and wiping myself. I began cultivating. Which was frankly, stupidly easy.

Heavenly Qi, is the power that comes in, lives, and makes live the world itself. Was actually actively trying to enter my body. All I needed to do was open the way.

A breath in, to take in the Qi, and a rotation of my cultivation to apply it to my body.

Simple, monotone, and routinized rinse and repeat.

Qi gathered inside my body, bursting through one clogged meridian after another. Revitalizing the shriveled-up meridians that have been emptied out when I dissipated my cultivation. And soon, the shriveled meridians began inflating. Gaining back their former form.

The second stage of Qi condensation!

Another hundred rotations and more Qi gathered inside my body, implanting itself into my bones, flesh, and arteries.

My heart rate increased, and my heartbeats became stronger. Blood pumped with renowned vigor as it aided in circulating Qi.

I swallowed another cleansing Pill, and further increased the rotation of Qi ingestion and application.

My next few days were like this, eat a pill, cultivate, vomit impurities, clean up, cultivate, breakthrough, and eat another pill.

Until I broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

I had to stop for now. This body is unlike my original, it cannot support consecutive breakthroughs without stabilizing my cultivation. And since I'm at the Foundation Establishment, I need to slowly unlock every Meridian in this body, lest it becomes subpar for cultivation.

And the best way to cement one's cultivation is combat.

I entered the Lord of Lords pagoda and asked X out.

"Limit your power output to the first level of Core cultivation," I gave the command.

"As Master Commands!" the white armored X spoke in a bow.

He then visibly reduced the output of his Saint Qi crystal reactor.

"Come at me with the intent to kill," I said.

And almost immediately, X's sword swung at my neck. If I didn't react fast enough he would have undoubtedly lobbed my head off.

"Good! Keep the aggression!" I ordered and began using the first moves of the underworld's Death Finger.

"Five Finger Death Punch!" I called, rotating my low Qi reserves into my fist, and then sent a full blast of Qi forward.

A red ethereal punch seemed to surge out of my right fist, but even for an ethereal-looking punch, the size and sheer power behind it had X block using both arms and still was flung back rolling on the ground several times before he stopped.

"Hmm, no wonder Demonic Cultivators are able to fight a full big Realm above their own cultivation realm. The cost of such a skill is stupidly high, but the effects are worth it. It is basically cheating, using the power of a Core cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. Yet the cost, being a piece of my own soul for every execution is not something that I can permanently pay. I need to use this Demonic Technique only in dangerous situations…"

"Keep coming!" I ordered and X charged me with one blade drawn, but on his other hand, his palm was aimed at me.

Gunshots echoed as bullets flew forward.

"Demon's Star Pluck!"

Following the manual's teachings, I took a stance that was similar to a praying mantises stance.

Both hands look like the opened jaws of a snake. Then I thrusted them.

Ephemeral red faces appeared around me with every swing of my arms. These faces were those of horned demons that charged at the bullets and X at the same time.

Every face gobbled up a bullet that was coming toward me, while the rest charged X to draw him in numbers.

"Demonic Dharma's Palms," I called as I struck both palms together. Two giant palms appeared right next to X and then clashed against each other with X in the middle.

Yet a surge of Qi from X collapsed both palms.

"Damn, my understanding is too low for this," I said and wiped my nose.

Because I already overexerted this body, using too many skills that were higher than its cultivation level.

"Four Finger Death Pierce!"

With one finger away, the fist became a chop, and my hand struck forward. Rending the air, and vibrating it enough that a loud sonic boom echoed around me.

Another arm fully materialized came to superimpose upon my own extended arm, only the Four Finger Death Pierce was hundreds of times bigger and more prominent than my own and it came at X like a bulldozing dragon.

X kicked to the side, dodging the incoming blow, but didn't account for the sonic and wind blast after it.

The mere pressure was enough to throw him aside.

"That's enough," I said as I sat down to meditate.

"My current limit is four fingers… I can't go any lower until I reach higher cultivation levels," I sighed.

I left the Lord of Lord pagoda and went back to cultivate.

***

The skies roars had ended once again. And the man who seemed to have no companion or friend sighed as he gazed at the retreating skies.

How many tribulations had he been through?

This makes the seventh in five years. Seven Heavenly Tribulation and still only at the Ascendant Stage. Anyone would think it madness or something unbelievable, for the heavens do not punish this severely unless one is blasphemous against it. And if they were to be punished, it wouldn't be the merciful Heavenly Tribulation that gives rewards. But the deadly Heavenly Punishment ends only when the receiver's soul perishes.

Yet this man was being hunted by Heavenly Tribulation, again and time again.

Only in this world where nothing else lived was he able to go through these tribulations without causing harm to others. In a world where nothing but flames and fire surged.

A world where fiery spirits and demons lived. A constantly burning planet that could be confused easily for a small sun or star.

In this world, there were no cultivation materials or resources, there was nothing but fire, pure fire.

Yet for this cultivator, this fire was all he needed. He needed not food, nor water, all he needed was the Fiery Qi, the pure Yang Qi that seemed to infinitely be generated from the heart of this star.

Today marks the fifth year he was outside of that spatial rift, and the tenth year since he escaped the prison of the Fire King.

He, however, was full of regrets, sorrow and loneliness were clear in his eyes, one would think this young man was a century old foggy if all they see from him were his eyes.

A young man who blamed himself for the tragedy that happened to his home planet. He blamed himself for being weak, for falling to capture, and for the death of his beloved.

Though he managed to save her soul, without a body she would soon perish. It was only thanks to the Phoenix's feather's energy that he was able to preserve her soul from further decay, yet if he doesn't find a proper body soon, she will perish and he will have to go find her through the wheel of reincarnation, no matter how many years it would take. Perhaps she won't even remember him, but he, will never forget her.

This man sighed, and in that sigh, the world seemed to sigh alongside him.

Sorrow and loneliness seemed to be his only companion, no matter how grim and poor a companion it was.

This man's name was Meng Hao.