Poison God's Heritage

The first thing we did, was to make sure that Liang Yu was well housed. The documents from Hwa had a detailed map of the cave we can use. It was below a small house on the far side of the main housing area.

It didn't look too shabby from the inside, a small room with minimalistic decoration, a bed a study table with an oil lamp on top, and a small stool. Nothing too fancy.

But underneath this small shack-like house was a trapdoor that led further down. I could feel the natural heavenly Qi coming from underneath the ground.

"This is amazing, it's far richer in Qi than my own Mansion," Liang Yu said.

"I could feel a Spiritual Vine right underneath the whole city, no it's even more than a spiritual vine, this is a Spiritual Dragon Vine," Liang Yu said.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"The latter is far more robust, it has more… vitality to it, and far purer in quality, this stuff is really hard to come across in nature. And it's given for the new recruits to use, I can't even start to imagine what the upperclassmen get as treatment," she said.

"Then better get going, I'll place some restrictions here to ward off some flies, okay?" I said.

"Oh yes, that'll be helpful, thank you," she said and went down the trapdoor.

I began writing some restrictions all over the room, blocking access to unwanted people. I tried to make sure that they weren't deadly, and were all illusion-based, this way they'll probably not get killed off and I get blamed for it.

Once the settings were set, I sent a sound transmission to Liang Yu, "I'll be leaving, for now, I'll come back when I'm done with the tower, okay?" I said.

"Don't stay for long, and be careful, I heard a few students die every year in the tower," she said.

"Who do you think I am?" I said.

"Well, you're strong, but frankly speaking, everyone here at the academy is not just your everyday small fry, so still be careful," she said.

"I'll keep it in mind," I replied to her worries.

It was true, there was no point in hubris and arrogance, I'll make sure to keep my head leveled.

The tower was at the flying island high above, but one could still access it without being there.

Once I headed to the location on the map I was given, I found a teleportation gate guarded by two bored-looking disciples.

They both wore Yellow Robes, the second-lowest robe of the Heavenly Academy.

"What do you want?" one of the two disciples said in a bored tone.

"I'd like to access the tower," I said.

"So do I, but I don't think you have the ability, go away, you'll only waste your life and our time," the disciple said.

"Don't be like that brother Lue, you, do you have the proper payment?" the second disciple said.

"How much is it?" I asked.

"That'll be two hundred thousand Top Grade Spirit Stones," he said.

His words caused the other disciple to have his eyes widen for a moment then he retained his calmness.

"That…is a bit too high, don't you think?" I said.

"Well, that is the amount, pay it, or leave," he said.

"Is that so…" I said.

"Yes," he said smiling.

I took a deep breath then said, "Okay then, I agree," I said and handed him a pouch full of Top Grade Spirit Stones, I was pretty wealthy, or relatively, since all those top-grade spirit stones were from the man in purple. But since I knew I was being scammed…

"Just don't come to regret this," I said as I handed him the pouch.

The disciple spoke back, "Regret what? It's in the regulation," he said go ahead.

"I will," I said and entered the teleportation gate leaving the two there.

There was no need for me to make a fuss, I'll be sure to get the Stones Back in full but not now.

Once I entered the gate I appeared within a massive circular hall that seemed to have no ceiling, not because it didn't exist, but because the ceiling was so high that even my divine sense couldn't touch it.

It must be an illusion of some sort because there is no way a building could be built that is more than fifty kilometers in height that's just impossible…maybe.

The hall itself was pretty damn wide and had all sorts of people in it.

They varied from green, blue-red, and even some occasional purple robes. Hell, there were barely any Yellow Robes here, and definitely, I was the only White Robe here.

I was more obvious than a sore thumb and everyone took note of me once I arrived.

But seeing the color of my robes, everyone immediately ignored me.

Looking around, I tried to ask one of the disciples what was going on here, but I was flatly ignored.

Even yellow robes seemed to be looking down on me, since they were the bottom feeders, finding another one in a worse situation than them must have inflated their nonexistent ego.

However, against all the odds a person approached me, he was wearing red robes and had a wide smile on his face, "I knew you'd make it," he said.

Looking at his face I smiled back, "Brother Xiao Feng," I nodded back to him and this caused everyone in the room to pay attention to our conversation.

"I suppose I owe you this," I said and handed him a pouch full of Top Grade Spirit Stones, almost all I had on me, I kept a bit just in case.

"Oh, there is more here than I gave you," he said.

"Consider it interest, since I wouldn't have made this much if it wasn't for your generous donation back then at the border inspection," I said.

"Hah, good man, I like people who keep their promises, so tell me, Shen Bao, how did your trial go?" he asked.

He didn't seem to care about the disparity between our 'Robe' Status and spoke loudly for all to hear.

"Well, it went like this," I said and tried to give some details on what happened back at the race while omitting a pretty good bit of it, but giving him just the facts.

"That sounds interesting, I wish I could have seen that," he said.

"What about you? I thought you'll just join the Academy, you're already a Red Robe," I said.

"Oh this, ah it's nothing much, to be honest, took me a week to get it though, you know because I'm talented and all," he said grinning.

'Wow, this guy's ego… or maybe confidence, I couldn't tell, but he doesn't look like a bad apple.'

"Congratulations then, so," I said as I looked around, "How does this Tower work?" I asked.

"I guess they skimped on the introduction for you, I can explain it, you see that," he said as I looked to where he pointed.

There were several rooms surrounding the tower's base, doors to small private rooms with incredibly intricate confusing, and mind-bogglingly complicated inscriptions.

They were almost at the level of Master Rain's own inscriptions…

"Every room there hosts an Ancient One," he said.

He then looked at me and figured out from my dumb expression that I had no idea what he was talking about.

"You see, a long, long, long time ago, this area used to belong to another sect before it came to be known as the Heavenly Academy. A great calamity happened upon that sect and eradicated them. Yet, their bodies were for some reason eternally preserved. Their bodies are incredibly durable and hard to destroy, and with the use of great inscriptions, the Heavenly Academy manages to use these bodies that were left behind to simulate reincarnation."

"You mean…" I said as I looked at the door once again, "People actually possess these bodies or something?"

"Something like that, the cultivators need to rent a room, find a body, and live the body's life. You'll have a mission to do once you are sent back, and you'll be awarded based on your performance."

"This sounds very complicated…" I said.

"It tends to be like that, especially living inside another person's body and living their lives…"

'Yeah, tell me about that…'

"But, don't worry, it's an enlightening experience, everyone here will be incarnated as an inner sect disciple, your goal is simple, learn the techniques of the Ancient Ones, and survive long enough until the calamity," he said.

"The calamity? What is that? And what do you mean by survive? It's like I'll die if I go there," I asked.

"Well, so far no one knows, no one lived long enough in the simulation to see what it was or how the sect came to cease to exist. But you don't need to worry about it, the longer you survive the more points you get," he said.

"You still didn't answer the most important question, what happens if you die there?" I asked.

"Oh, a bit of mental pain, nothing too worrisome, but you'll be sent back here after death, so don't be too concerned," he said.

"Who survived the longest there?" I asked.

"That person," he said as he pointed further up," I traced his finger and saw a name on the hall's wall.

The name was printed in gold, and it said "Gong Yue Tiantang, The Rejoicing Heaven… who is that?" I asked.

"The founder of the Heavenly Academy," he said, "And he was the only one to survive for as long as he did…"

I looked up again and saw a number next to that name.

3650…

"Are those years?" I asked.

"Oh, no days, he survived ten years there. It's honestly an incredible feat, look at the second one," he said.

Looking at the name underneath it I was frankly shocked

"Feng Weng Zhang… the wind king…"

"Yes, he made it to nine years and couldn't keep going, he had to concede, however, the most impressive isn't any of them, it is the third name," then I looked at it and couldn't read it, I was heavily scratched like if someone wanted to remove the name from there.

"Yes, of course, they had to scratch that name off because it was a disgrace for the Heavenly Academy, he was the only one who actually managed to make far greater progress in the simulation, not only that he threatened the first place as he progressed far faster than anyone due to his genius, however, every genius is envied and a lot of things happened,"

"Interesting I wonder who it could be," I asked.

Xiao Feng smiled and said, "I can only do this for a moment, pay attention to the name," he said and then flexed his hand.

I could feel law surging from his hand and shooting towards the name, it was very fast and almost instantaneous, but I could see it.

The law lines touched the writing and as if the world denied the Scratches on it, the name became visible for but a moment.

"Du Shen…"

And that was enough to have my eyes almost bulge out.

"That's…the Poison God…" I whispered and that caused a lot of eyes to snap toward me.

'Shit,'