"That's an interesting domain you have there," I spoke all casually and felt far better than before.
"You seem too relaxed for someone about to die!"
"Well, that's because I'm not going to die, not here at least," I grinned.
"You know not of the fear that many cultivators had suffered under the Forsaken Poison Abyss! You shall know despair, you shall forsake all hope: and you shall die a death full of agony and despair," he said.
"Well, that might have been the case if not for two reasons," I said.
My words gave the man who was currently shaped as a world-devouring snake pause.
"The first," I said as I pointed down, "This is fake, I've seen the real one, you're just a hack," I said.
"You speak lies! Words to increase your lifespan nothing less nothing more!" he said.
"You can think about it like that," I shrugged, "Du Shen's domain was far more… convincing," I said.
The giant snake stopped at the mention of the Poison God.
"What can a fledgling even know of the God of Poisons! Your end is nigh, prepare to meet your maker!" he said as he lunged forward.
"I didn't say the second reason yet," I said as he was rushing towards me.
"Domains don't work on me," I said and closed then opened my eyes.
I was back in the real world, and in front of me was the poison cultivator, eyes wide and in full shock.
"In three, two…one," I said.
And then suddenly the cultivator's mind seemed to reel as if it was hit by a sledgehammer, a loud shout of agony, pain and excruciating ache seemed to rush through his whole body like a bolt of divine lightning.
His whole body began to seize as if he was being rattled by the hands of god himself as he shook and shuddered.
His eyes began bleeding, so did his ears nose, and mouth.
Pain beyond what anyone can handle once their own domain had been broken and to be honest, this person among all that I have escaped their Domains, seemed to be suffering the most.
He was suffering so much that his face seemed to expand, as the purple skull that inhibited his body seemed to want to extract itself from the agony but was pulled back by some unknown force.
"Well, I guess it's time for me to dip," I said as I turned and used my arms to run past this man.
I could try to kill him here and then, but I know for a fact that this pain won't last long enough for me to kill that person, especially with all of my abilities sealed and locked.
However, I've had some things to note after this encounter.
This person was also a Poison Cultivator, to be more specific, a Poison God cultivator. Like me. He seemed to be able to move unlike me, but that was under one condition. He was injecting himself with variable neural poisons to agitate his muscles and body to act.
Unlike me who is still paralyzed.
No one else had this affliction but me and him, and I could deduce that it was due to our cultivation method.
Why can't we operate and function properly? Also, there is a matter when Lin said that I smelled different.
Did something happen to my body? Well of course it did, I'm not functioning properly.
A loud shout cut my train of thought, it seems that the poison cultivator is regaining his mind.
That man is strong, I can admit that he showcased a powerful application of the Poison God's skills. However, he seemed to be too reliant on poison and far too…reckless with all the pain he was inflicting on his body.
A man, made of flesh and bones can only suffer so much before his body collapses. And I'm sure what I did to him accelerated that process a fair bit.
His constant injection of poisons into his body to operate must have been too toll taxing on his body, no wonder he suffered way more than anyone else when I broke his domain. And for him, it's only gonna get worse. Not that it's a good thing, because from the looks of it, and his words, he is apparently an Ascendant or above it, who managed to sneak into this place.
Meaning, even if wounded and heavily damaged he can still kill me or everyone else in this place.
I have to get my holding bag back and my Poison God's book. I need Y's assistance and my belongings.
"Shen! Here!" I heard.
Turning to the left I saw Lin calling me with her hand flailing about.
I turned in her direction and noticed that they found a cave in the depth of the forest.
"What's this?" I asked as I stopped.
"It's a man-made cave, it also blocks divine sense, he can't sense us when we're here," she said.
Pretty damn convenient, but I have no other options.
We got inside and I saw what she meant by manmade.
There was a massive open area paved with hard stone that seemed to spread all under the forest.
Beams and pillars of enormous size were supporting the ceiling, which in this case was the whole forest from crumbing on this area.
And in the middle of all of this was a building, a single building made to look like a giant palace.
"I guess we found the rest of the cave," I said.
"Yes, but what are we going to do to these people?" she asked.
I looked around and finally seemed to notice the people on the ground, they were placed neatly like some sort of Triage area.
I tried to use my Divine Sense to scan them, but it completely and immediately shut down.
It couldn't go even a meter beyond me before it fully dispersed.
"It's the ground," spoke Lin, "these stones are made of some strange material that is heavily blocking Divine sense.
I guess I could understand why, it's to protect this place. Good, this should buy us enough time before that madman could get here.
I got to my knees and looked at the first of the patients, it was Liang Yu who seemed to have black spores and tumors growing on her face and body.
I subconsciously went to my holding bag only to realize I didn't have it.
I placed my hand on Liang Yu's forehead and spread my divine sense as far as I could, even one meter was enough for me to realize what was happening to her.
"Shit," I cursed.
"What's wrong?" asked Lin.
I turned to her and noticed that she too had some black spots on her face.
"Black Flesh Eating Plague, Corrosive Soul Poison, Fulmarus Albedo, Teracotic Negredo, and more. Poisons, so many deadly poisons, you all are afflicted with them, their purpose isn't to kill immediately, but to cause pain so agonizing one would wish that they were dead sooner…" I said
Lin's face turned paler at the mention of the first poison, not to mention the rest. "Can we even cure this?" she said.
"No, that's not possible, not without my kit and tools…" I said as I looked at YuYu who also seemed to be suffering, but she had the great idea of using some of her Ice to seal some of the damage.
She stood up grunted then looked at me, her face half-black due to the poison.
"Is there a way to deal with this?" she spoke.
"What sort of willpower do you have to be able to move about when you're the most infected person in the group," spoke Lin, shock clear on her face.
"I've been through worse," she said as she grunted once again.
'Technically, she is right, the Ice Destruction Poison is really, really painful, and she had been struggling against it for a long while. So no wonder she has great pain tolerance. But.'
"You can't overtax your body, you can block the pain, but your body still is harmed. Move less, talk less, and only do the necessary," I said to her then aimed my eyes toward the palace.
"We'll need to get there, hopefully we'll find something that can help us stop this, it's our only shot," I said.
"Shouldn't we go look around in the forest?" asked Lin.
"The moment one of us goes out of this cave, we'll be open to divine sense, if that man finds us in this case we're all dead, not to mention we'll probably not find anything of use in this forest, I've been scanning it ever since I got here for any unnatural or spiritual herbs, there was not a single one there," I said.
"Many of us can't even function," I heard the voice of a girl who seemed to be fighting against the pain.
She was the same person that the guy in white saved, the one who dispersed the poison tornado…and died for it.
"How come you're unharmed, we're all in agonizing pain, and you don't seem to be affected, you must have an antidote, name your price I'll give you all you want and more," she said.
"I don't have an antidote," I said.
"Listen here, I know what you are, it's all over you, from your face, from the way you're dressed, and from the way you move, act and speak, you may be a disciple of the Heavenly Academy, but you are clearly someone of low birth, I can give you treasures and gifts that will let you live a life of eternal luxury, just give me the damnable antidote!"
Everyone in the room looked at me at once.
Shit, I'm not affected because I consumed the poison! Not because I have an antidote, I'm a poison cultivator, but if I tell them that, they'll pair me up with that same asshole.
Choices, choices!
Wait, I consumed the poison.
"Right, I have a way to lessen the damage and the affliction on you, but I'll need an oath of heaven that you'll not expose my secrets," I said
In their current case, everyone from every faction seemed far too eager to swear upon the heavens.
All, even the Fire Palace, all besides one group.
Looking at them they all seemed as dull and as emotionless as they first came here.
I approached one of them, they were from the Water Domain, the same group as the poison cultivator.
"Hello, you there, are you not going to swear an oath?" I asked.
The person in front of me seemed to have the dullest eyes I've ever seen, a frozen fish would have more expressive eyes.
And just as I touched him. he turned to dust.
"What the fuck?!" I cursed as I took a step back.
The rest of the Water group the remaining seven of them turned to dust afterward.
"What's going on?" asked Lin.
"It seems that they were all dead before we even entered here… that man must have killed them, we can't stay here," I said.
"The antidote!" spoke the girl from the wind palace.
I came toward her, slapped my hand on her forehead, and almost immediately all the dark spots from her body disappeared.
"That's your antidote," I said.
She shook and shuddered then stood up, checking upon herself using Divine Sense, though I doubt that would work.
"Good…actually good, I feel better…what's your name?" she asked.
"Call me Shen, now I have more patients, please step aside," I said as I completely ignored her and went 'healing' the rest of the groups here.
I took a few moments hesitating between helping or not helping the Fire Palace since some of them attacked us before.
"Save them sill," said Lin as she approached me.
"At least they can be used as live bait for what's waiting for us there," she said as she pointed at the palace.
"Good thinking," I grinned and then slammed my palm on the forehead of the closest Fire Palace Disciple.