Poison God's Heritage

"It's kinda shameful to leave your beast here and run away with your tail behind your legs," I shook my head as I looked at the sorry state this mighty-looking tiger turned to.

From the king of a mountain to a scaredy cat.

But the most interesting thing was Kyuu. This fur ball was able to scare the living hell out of a fully-grown tiger.

I guess ancestry does play a role. Though Kyuu had been deprived of the wheel of time for many eons, once he emerged back in the world, the heritage of the Black Beast seemed pretty potent. Enough that it scared this tiger.

I petted the small Dark Beast on my shoulder and moved forward.

The inner sect wasn't that amazing, a first glance that is. The quality of Qi was slightly higher than at the base of the mountain, but it was still decent enough to cultivate.

The higher one goes though, the more the concentration of Qi can be felt.

I looked up at the mountain top, which had its summit hidden among the clouds.

To cultivate at the top of the mountain would mean to be in the presence of the densest part of this Qi gathering formation.

"But I doubt anyone is allowed to go all the way up there…"

"You're right," someone said.

Looking to my right, it was an old man that seemed to be swept away at the dirt that was gathering at the top of the stairs.

I didn't even sense this old man. Nor did I even hear his sweeping. How is he doing this?

"You must be new here," he said as he continued sweeping, quietly.

"Yes I am," I said as I clasped my hands to the old man. "Who might you be, kind sir," I said.

"Ah, those are words I don't deserve, I'm just a cleaning person, you don't need to regard me with such respect," he said.

"It would be foolish to disregard a person based on his clothing and occupation, your 'mere' sweeping is clearly nothing ordinary, for no person can move dust and dirt without even making a sound," I said.

"Good eye, young lad, I've been here for a long time, and it's rare when I get spotted." He said as he approached me.

He then came close, one hand under his chin, and began sniffing around me.

"Very interesting body you have, your Demonic cultivation doesn't seem to affect your mind. You also seem to be raising a unique creature," he said.

'He didn't notice the Soul Sealing Inscription. Good."

"It's a beast I happened upon in my ventures," I said.

"Will you be willing to sell it to me?" he asked.

"I would have to refuse, I grew fond and attached to it," I said.

The old man shrugged, "Well, I can't force you. Anyway, if you wish to climb up the mountain, you'll need to have merit. And merit can be gained, and can be stolen." He said.

"How so?" I asked.

"They really didn't teach you anything did they," the old man sighed.

"The Poison Sect rewards effort and battle prows. If you complete missions given by the sect you'll obtain merit points, and those points can be exchanged for all sorts of resources and materials from the sect's treasury. At the same time, they can be robbed and stolen by other cultivators. You will have to go to the Merit office to get your Merit Badge. Obtaining Merit Points isn't hard, but keeping them is the hardest since there will be a table that keeps track of everyone's merit score. Once you have enough to move the greed of a few cultivators you may expect an ambush. Murder and destroying a cultivator's cultivation base is strictly forbidden, but accidents can happen, so be careful out their lad." The old man said and continued sweeping away.

I moved toward the Merit Office the old man pointed me to and soon arrived at its entrance.

Surprisingly it had many students gathered there. On one side of the office was a massive board that had hundreds of papers pinned to it. You could see cultivators debating, discussing, and taking the papers from the wall.

On the other side of the wall, was a large desk that hosted several elders who seemed to be busy taking care of students' orders.

I was at a loss on where to head but was soon shoved to the side by some ruffian.

"Move aside! Sister Ai Li is walking in," he said shouting his lungs out.

I turned to see this sister Ai Li and was honestly surprised. A really beautiful girl who seemed to be in her early twenties walked through the door. She was wearing the inner sect black robes that seemed to extenuate her hourglass body-like shape.

She had a small mole under her lower lip. The only imperfection in a perfect body, but it was an imperfection that gave her more charm.

Her long black hair that reached all the way to her back swayed as she walked among her peers.

"You didn't hear me! I said get the fuck off the way!" the same idiot talked again but this time he tried to grab me.

The result was obvious since I'm someone who really doesn't like being grabbed out of the blue.

My hand had clamped tight on his wrist with enough force that one could hear a snap.

"Oh… sorry about that, it's a bad habit of mine," I said to the now screaming young man.

"You there! What are you doing? It's forbidden to have fights here!" one of the booth's elders shouted.

"Fight, what fight?" I said as I shoved a pill down the young man's throat.

"He is perfectly fine, aren't you," I said to the cultivator who seemed to finally realize that his broken arm was not broken anymore.

"Euh?"

"Yeah, anyway, since I have your attention, and I really don't like to stand in line, where can I get a Merit Badge," I said.

"You must have recently gotten to the inner sect," the elder said. "But here, one must follow rules! Wait in line And wait for your turn no cutting in line!" he said.

I sighed, since I couldn't do anything, I had to wait in line with the ruffian and the girl who seemed to be too busy to wait.

I was honestly annoyed at having to wait just to get a dumb badge. But there was nothing I could do to help.

"Sister Ai Li, you can take my spot," some cultivator ahead of me said.

Just as she was about to move forward, "No cutting in line, I'm not permitting it," I said.

Everyone turned to me, in complete shock.

I was too annoyed to care, "What does that have to do with you, I'm giving her my spot," he said.

"I don't really care, she came after me, and I won't accept it unless she goes after me. The Poison Sect has rules right, respect the rules," I said. As I pointed at a text above the booth.

"No cutting in line."

"What kind of pickup attempt is this, if you want to impress Sister Ai Li, you should be more tact, instead of rude," the same disciple who tried to give his spot said.

"That has nothing to do with her, nor do I really care…" I said as I turned my head to look at the woman behind me, "Being pretty isn't something that gives you the right to be above others. Your looks are something the heavens had given you, you didn't earn them, not to mention, I've seen far prettier women, and you're not enough to move me," I said grinning.

Though I wouldn't say that they were 'far' prettier, they were at least above this girl in terms of looks. Perhaps it's the difference in cultivation that improves a woman's outer appearance.

My words however sounded pretty rude and demeaning to the girl behind me.

The girl's face seemed to redden with rage, but since she wanted to keep up appearances she held in her words.

Yet the unconscious constant tapping of her foot made everyone in the room feel second-handed embarrassment and at the same time anxiety.

"I'm feeling a bit sick, I'll be leaving the line," someone said.

Then soon another spoke giving another lame excuse.

And just like that, the line in front of me was empty.

Feels good to use someone else to clear the line.

I grinned as I moved up to the booth.

In front of me was a scowling elder who seemed annoyed at what just occurred. He was still stealing glances at the girl behind me but he still had to take my 'request' first.

"What do you need," he said.

"You already know, I'm here for a Merit Badge," I said.

The elder picked up a round white badge that didn't have anything on it.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Shen Mo," I said.

"Shen Mo… Shen Mo…" he said as he was skimming through some documents.

"Oh found you, you just entered the Inner Sect. hmm, Huh???"

The elder seemed confused as he was inspecting the paper again and again.

"Elder Huan! Is this correct?!" he said to the elder next to him.

The elder took note of what was on the paper and then back at me. "I heard rumors… it was this boy then… this year should be interesting…" he said.

The first elder sighed as he handed me my badge with a number on it this time.

60,000

Someone on the line next to use saw the number and called, "S-sixty thousand?! Didn't he just enter the inner sect?!"

"What's this fuss all about?" I asked.

"You don't know?" the elder said.

"No idea what's going on," I said shrugging.

"Well, you'll understand later, now take your badge and leave." He said.

"What about commissions, can I take one?" I asked.

"Yes, go ahead the wall is over there, once you complete a mission, you can come here and report it, and I'll add more merit points to your badge… but do be careful, someone with that many merit points can be an appetizer for some of the monsters in this sect," the elder said slyly.

"Well, then, that also can be fun," at least by then they'll know the meaning of a tiger wearing a pig's skin.