"What a shame, someone like that should never have been in the academy, what a vile man!" I added immediately afterward.
And like jackals who realized that whatever it was in front of them was no longer worthy of being eaten, they ignored me all together and continued their talking with each other.
"That was close, I guess Du Shen isn't really that popular here," I spoke through sound transmission.
"On the contrary, he is very popular, or more like infamous, he caused a lot of problems when he was alive and was like the dark period of the heavenly academy," he said.
"I guess I need to keep a low profile, anyway," I said to Feng Tian, "How can I rent a room?" I asked.
"Well, among the many rooms here, the best ones are all taken," he said.
"The best? Care to explain?" I asked.
"Well, this is a very big establishment, and the number of Bodies in it is limited, and there are a lot of students. The bodies are not your everyday person, some of them were truly powerful, and the stronger the more influential the body is the higher the price for Possessing it, there are other bodies available, but they're mostly Outer Sect Disciple bodies, and those don't have enough…how do I explain it, not enough power to be able to take you all the way to the final days, usually the outer sect bodies kick the host out in a manner of hours, so no one wants to waste their Top Grade Spirit stones on those," he said.
"Oh, is that so," I said, "I'll check the prices first," I said then moved ahead.
"If you need Spirit Stones, you can just ask by the way," he said smiling.
"Ah don't worry I do have some left," I said replying, and the moment arrived at the first room I had to swallow my words.
1,000,000 Top Grade Spirit Stone to use this room…and it was already in use.
And this didn't even look like a room of a powerful disciple since many were standing in front of it waiting for their turn.
The reason behind it was, that the more expensive the room was, the fewer people it had in front of it.
I kept checking the prices which only kept making my heart drop.
Some of the rooms even had Saint Grade Spirit Stone cost of entry.
"This is bloody expensive," I muttered.
And a couple of Disciples heard my words, "Of course, it will be, for a country bumpkin like you, if you can't even afford this room why are you blocking the way, getaway!" he said.
I didn't have an argument against that, I actually couldn't afford any of these rooms and had to walk away.
Feng Xiao was smiling as he looked at me, "What's wrong?" he asked.
"You know what's wrong, the heck was that, this shit is expensive as hell," I said.
"Hmm, perhaps it is, if you wish I can lend you, after all you have a good credit score and you give a good interest back," he said smiling as always.
"I'm afraid I can't, I'll have to declare bankruptcy at that point," I replied coldly.
"Hmm, how about you take one of the less expensive ones, but I think the backlash isn't worth it, however, a few disciples occasionally try them out for the experience," Feng Xiao said.
There were actually other rooms and they had even fewer people than the others.
I walked up to the rooms and checked the prices, some were as low as 100 top-grade spirit stones. But they were also occupied and full.
Looking around, there was only one room that was empty, and the entry price was 1 top-grade spirit stone.
"What's with this one?" I asked.
"Oh, don't bother with that, that room the moment you'll enter you'll die, it's the body of a person that was in the middle of cultivation deviation, anyone incarnating in that body gets immediately rejected, the school couldn't destroy the body still so they kept it there, it's just a prank," he said.
"Cultivation Deviation…Interesting," I said as I approached the room.
"I know you're an interesting person, but you shouldn't do uninteresting things, I told you, it's not worth it, and you'll only be getting a severe backlash not to mention the pain you feel there is all too real, you'll really not like it," he said.
"Let me guess, this is the reason why a few disciples die in the Advent Tower of the Heavenly Academy?" I asked.
"Yes, sometimes the pain is all too real and it will get into a person's head, you really don't want to go in there," he said.
"How much of my ability can I use in that place?" I asked.
"Well… mostly anything, but you're limited by the cultivator's own cultivation rank," he said.
"Right then," I said and headed into the room.
"I won't try and persuade you anymore, but be careful there," he said.
"Look, he's going in there," someone spoke.
Other cultivators took note of me walking to the room and began watching me.
Some even began snickering and sniggering at me.
"Do you think he'll do it?" one of them said.
"Well he's paying the fees, so he must be doing it," another said.
"Does he know that he'll immediately be rejected? I mean it's only one Top Grade Spirit Stone but still, it's a waste, not to mention the cost of treatment from the immediate rejection…" another added.
Another person, the vilest most despicable, and honestly the smartest of them all spoke, "I'm opening bets on how long he'll stay there, who's in!" he said.
And immediately everyone gathered around him.
'Smart man.'
I placed the top-grade spirit stone on a small tray and it disappeared.
The formation on the room's door clicked and began twisting and reshaping itself unlocking.
Then the room opened up on the stone body of a young kid, he looked to be in his teens
He was sitting in a meditative pose, however, his body wasn't made of flesh, but hard rock.
It looked like a statue, but it felt…like it actually was alive.
There was a formation behind the kid, the formation was shaped like a palm, and I figured out immediately what I needed to do to use it.
I closed the room behind me, cutting off the ruckus of what was happening outside, and went behind the body.
I sat down and took a deep breath then exhaled.
Once I felt ready, I pressed my palm against the palm print inscription behind the body's back.
It took a moment before the inscription reacted to my presence, and I immediately felt my mind sway and go blank.
Then suddenly, I was in some sort of forest somewhere within the high mountains.
Before I could even take in the scenery in full, my whole body was assaulted with soul-wrenching pain.
Every Meridian in my body was screaming in agonized pain, and for a moment, just a moment I felt something I never felt before.
The breath of the world itself, I could sense something I had never been able to before.
The nature of Qi, the thing that I was denied of, the thing I perused with blood, sweat, and eighty years of hard work, I felt it, for a single fleeting moment. And was completely disappointed.
Qi, heavenly Qi, really wasn't something to write home about, it was just the ability to absorb Qi from the world and sense it, I could do that on a whole other level, though what I can absorb is only Poison Qi, poison Qi in itself is far purer than this qi, it's far too full of impurities.
Suddenly, the pain reminded me of my situation. And unlike what most people would do and try to stop the Cultivation Deviation from taking their lives…
I raised my finger up and decisively began stabbing all over my body with that finger.
Exactly, 108 times.
The pain from the cultivation deviation was far less imposing than the pain from personally destroying my own meridians. However, there was no way for me, or anyone else to survive this catastrophe without doing exactly this.
The Cultivation Deviation was forcefully stopped, since there were no Meridians for them to explode as I already killed every meridian personally, and now, the real trial begins.
My mind was reeling from pain, but for some reason, I didn't feel too pressured, it was actually refreshing, I felt like I was actually doing something that I was confident in.
The pain continued for a long while before it began subsiding.
I was saved from the Cultivation Deviation, but at the same time, I was currently turned into a mortal.
Usually, what I was trying to do would not have actually worked, since what I'm doing is rebuilding my cultivation based not on the Heavenly Qi, but on the Poison Meridians. However there is one thing I need to create Poison Meridians, and that is Bone and Body Grinding Poison.
That thing doesn't grow on trees, and I should normally, die immediately after I stabbed myself here and have no Bone and Body Grinding Poison. And since I couldn't take any Bone and Body Grinding Poison with me, I should die shortly.
However, this Possession is special, because of the word itself, Possession.
My soul itself is also Poison.
And if it's the Bone and Body Grinding Poison, my soul is basically the embodiment of such a poison.
Immediately, the destroyed meridians were ruptured once more, blood surged out and my Soul began filling the void that was left inside this body, the poisonous nature of my soul began supplementing the body with copious amounts of Poison Qi and reforged the ruptured meridians anew.
My body was in shock and I felt like fainting more than once.
The old pustules and tumors began appearing all over my body once again as it was slowly reconstructing, but then, they also began disappearing the moment they appeared.
The ruptured meridians healed up to something new, Poison Meridians and after a while of painful shuddering and teeth crushing pain, I was finally able to breathe out.
A foul, vile, and rancid breath shot out of my mouth, expelling all impurities from the body, and was finally able to open my eyes.
The breath I released was potent enough that it caused the trees around me to dry and wilt.
I stood up and looked all over my body, it was pretty scarred and looked malnourished, whatever this kid was trying to do seemed to be utterly stupid.
There was a cultivation manual in front of him depicting a Demonic Cultivation technique, the chances of survival were slim. Especially since he was barely a foot into the Nascent Soul and was in no way or shape to survive a cultivation technique designed for Soul Transformation level which was two entire big realms above his cultivation.
I wonder what would cause a person to go through with such a cultivation technique…
Looking around, I didn't find anything worthy of note, and once I expanded my Divine Sense I was able to see where I needed to go.