Poison God's Heritage

The Fire Lord's body began turning to dust, and soon all that was left of him was nothing but the two keys, who didn't seem keen on remaining stagnant anymore.

The soul of the Fire Lord seemed to try and run away but right before the Wind King tried to grasp it, something like a fissure in space opened up and a hand that seemed to shine like glistening gold emerged from the gate, it simply grabbed the soul and pulled it towards the fissure, disappearing completely.

The skies above us rumbled, well I say skies, but we're in outer space, there was no sky, but the manifestation of black clouds was indicative enough of one thing.

What just happened right now, was against the heavenly Dao. And the skies manifested the Divine Tribulation. This tribulation is unlike the Heavenly Tribulation, the Divine Tribulation only happens if a being outside the Vast Expanse was to appear here.

I didn't want to voice my thoughts on this.

This is the same cliché that happens whenever the bad guy is about to die, something or an even worse bad guy comes in and help them in a pinch, the same could be said for the main character.

Deus Ex Machina, or divine intervention stupid, dumb and utterly boring script to save the baddy or the goodie two shoes main character from certain death, only to face them later on when they powered up.

I hate this development, especially since that fucker basically escaped scot free, and we're here trapped with these two damn keys about to blow up in our face.

Yet, unlike what I expected the keys didn't blow up, no, the just stopped. Then cracked and shattered as if they were made of glass.

"NO!" I heard

Turning I saw the face of the Queen turning pale, as the Wind King and most of the cultivators here could do nothing but sigh.

Something seemed different.

As if the world itself lost something, as if the link to the heavens had been cut.

Looking at the cultivators around me they all had an eerie air about them.

"It is for the best…" muttered the Grand Elder.

"What a waste…" said Master Rain.

Then the Wind Lord interjected, "All is good, at least we got rid of the Fire Lord…"

"That was damn anticlimactic don't you think?" spoke Dao Shen who appeared next to me.

"I say, it was a fitting end, but you're right… it feels too unreal…" I replied to him.

Meng Hao approached us, he was butt naked. "I guess this is how it ends for the Fire Lord…"

"Wear this, I don't like seeing butt naked men, especially when they're rocking something as big as that…" I said to Meng Hao.

"Oh, excuse me," he said and grabbed the spare set of robes I gave him.

"What now?" he asked.

I looked around, "Recovery, reconstruction, and thinking of what to do next," I said to them.

"Shen Bao," spoke the Queen.

"Yes?"

"You seem too relaxed; do you know what just happened?" she asked.

"Yes, the path to the Beyond is cut," I replied.

"Then how come you're so nonchalant about it? We'll forever be imprisoned here!"

"Then what do you want me to do about it? I'm not a god. Also, why do you want to go to the beyond?" I asked her.

"What do you mean why? To achieve Dao, to reach the peak, we can't do it here, in this prison. We've been stuck at our stage for an eternity, you just reached here, do you not know the fear of Death? Ever so creeping, approaching and coming our way? No, you must know more than any of us, you already experienced it, twice at that! Is that not so, Du Shen!" she said.

This bought the attention of everyone around us to me.

"What do you mean by that?" Dao Shen said.

"In case you all didn't know, he isn't Du Shen's disciple, he isn't the Poison God's follower, but he is the Poison God Du Shen, he cheated the heavens and found a way to come back to life under the name of a mortal."

"Don't call me that," I said, "Du Shen died, he failed to break past his limits and died. I have his knowledge, his memory, and his life, but I'm not him, and he is not me. I may be the Poison God, since I surpassed him, but I am not Du Shen, I am Shen Bao, and Shen Bao shall I be, as for this gate…" I said as I looked at it. "It's missing two keys, so… why not just make copies?" I said.

Everyone looked at me as if I was needing to get checked up.

"What do you mean?" Master Rain spoke

He was the only one who didn't think of me as an idiot and was to ask before judge.

"What I mean is, these things, they're not natural," I said.

Everyone kept looking at me.

"So, if they were not natural, then that means they were made, created, and crafted by another… So, what is it that's stopping anyone from making them again?" I asked.

Master Rain sighed.

"They were made using laws that are far more advanced than our understanding, we couldn't even hope to glean any form of comprehension no matter how long we deduced and tried to understand the complexity of the Keys," he said.

I went to the shattered key bits and collected all of them.

"That applies to you guys, not me. You all see things as what is given to you. I'm different," I said.

"Spoken like a true cultivator, so are you sure you're that different," said Master Rain.

"Yes, because cultivators speak from Pride and Confidence, I speak from understanding and knowledge. There is a difference, because when I say I'll do something, I already know I'm fully capable of doing it. If someone else had done it, I have no reason not to be able to do it also, especially given enough time," I said as I gazed upon the remains of the keys.

"Give me your keys," I said to the group around me.

The Wind Lord was hesitant a bit, but still handed his key to me, and Meng Hao didn't even, think twice before giving me his, I had Yuyu's key in my hand already, to which I turned my head and noticed her nodding at me.

"I'll be entering secluded cultivation, unless another Fire Lord shows up, don't bother me. The gate here looks stable enough, it shouldn't be going anywhere…"

"Are you really planning on deducing the Keys?" asked Master Rain.

"Yes, I'm not leaving until I make it, you all want to leave this prison so badly, I can't just sit down and watch, but I hope that you all don't come to regret this decision. Remember, big fish in a small pond, or small fish in an ocean… it is your own choice to make…"

"Automaton, let me in, everyone else, tend to your own things. You still have a fire nation to subdue, and a shit ton of political issues to deal with, after all, there is one less Lord in the Vast Expanse, that much power and domain is bound to be fraught with debate and fighting for who to claim. Who today was an ally might become an enemy tomorrow."

My words were clear, with one powerhouse down, it created a void that needed to be filled rapidly and the Wind Realm, Earth Realm and Water Realm will be vying for it, granted the Water Domain was ruled by a puppet, but it also has advisors and managers that would want to take power in their hands… it's not going to be an easy time for the Vast Expanse and I don't want to be pulled into a political debate.

Once I was inside the Lord of Lords pagoda, I immediately entered the white space.

I sat in front of a table that I use to work on, there was a mug of tea in front of me ready and hot. I then placed the bits and pieces of the two destroyed keys on the table and the remaining functioning keys, I needed to understand how the key came to exist, how it was created, and how the intangible law became tangible and physical, manifested into a key.

"Automaton, increase the time difference to the maximum, we're going to be here for a while, also hand me some paper and inkstone, I'll need a lot," I said

Almost instantly the papers and the inkstone were placed on my table.

Although focused on the key, I was still a bit surprised, because I'm sure as hell that the automaton didn't have an arm and a hand made of flesh.

I looked at the owner of the hand and frowned.

"How did you get here… Black Merchant…"

All I could see was a grin from under the shade of his cowl.