Chapter 30: Gifts

Packing the library proved to be far easier than I thought would be. Thanks to the poison god's book having a dimensional pocket, it was able to suck in all inside it just as I thought about how I was going to start gathering the books.

The only thing left was what was left beyond the closed door frames.

Once I opened the doorway, which came out easier than I thought it would be. The hinges had actually rusted overdue to the passage of time, and when I used my sword, the Creeping Demise, it easily tore through them and toppled the doors inwardly, causing a lot of dust to float up in the air.

There were a lot of withered plants inside the formerly closed chamber. These must have all been spiritual plants that have been contaminated by the Braided Mourning Petal and were now dead and no longer useful. As for the Braided Mourning Petal, it was everywhere. It was a strange-looking vine plant; it had climbed its way through all of the shelves and furniture in this small chamber and made itself comfortable inside pots, crevices, the ceiling, and the floor. It looked like a deadly garden that had overpowered the creation of man and had claimed its place.

I began by plucking the plant that looked exactly as its name suggested, it was a vein that had its leaves shaped into braids. I plucked the first plant, and almost immediately after the whole thing began to move as if it was a beast that had been rudely woken from its slumber.

The poison god's book immediately came into action. It shone brightly from inside my chest then it came out, rattling its pages as it opened up and began absorbing the plant inside it. Fully consuming the material and leaving nothing but the chamber devoid of all life and leaving a neatly dressed skeleton inside.

"I guess that's it," I said to no one in particular then headed out. There was nothing left for me to do here so I'll have to move to a new place and find something new to do. I have enough materials to climb to the next stage of cultivation so there was no need for me to wait here in fear of someone coming in to investigate the decimation of the purple cloud sect.

As I have vowed to find the perpetrators of this ploy, I needed to first know who was responsible for this incident, and the reason behind such cruelty in uprooting an entire sect. so, I needed information, and the best way to get information was to either join another sect or go to the big cities.

I had learned quite a lot in my brief existence in the purple cloud sect, and the most important piece of information that could be regarded as useful to this incident was the fact that the imperial court had sway over the eight and ninth tier sect.

Supposedly, the imperial court is comparable to a seventh-grade sect, where the emperor is a mortal but is still supported by a powerful seventh-grade sect. The current Zho Emperor should have information. But I'm but a mere Qi condensation cultivator. And would never get an audience with the Emperor.

Therefore, I'll need one of two things, either I should strengthen up and be powerful enough that even the imperial court would have to be wary of me or manage to somehow get the king's attention. Neither seems to be a plausible nor possible answer to my dilemma. As both choices are difficult.

The first would mean that I'll need to be powerful enough to compare to a seventh-grade sect, of whom the sect master is usually a Soul Formation cultivator. Which is a grade above Nascent Soul, the same grade where elder Lao the alchemist of the Purple Cloud sect.

That would take a lot of time not to mention an incredible number of resources.

The second option would mean that I'll need a private audience with the emperor, and the only way an emperor would heed my words, is if I had something that he would value. And for emperors, there are rare things that would sway their needs. Not to mention, if I have something he needs, he could easily take it away by force. This was a world where if you have a treasure that you can't protect, you don't deserve it.

The only thing I could have and he would dare not risk messing with me into taking is the emperor's life. Easy as that, I'll need to put myself in a position where only I have a say if the emperor could live or die. This is the quickest of the two methods but by far the riskiest. And all of this is just to get information about the sect.

I changed my clothes to the set of clothes that the skeleton inside the inner chamber had. I didn't need to be questioned if someone recognized the robes I have. The robes were dark black and had a hood. Which was perfect as it would draw less attention if I was wearing more flamboyant colors.

I started walking towards the north while munching over one of the petals of the Braided Mourning Petal. I used the poisonous herb as a snack as I walked towards the general direction of the imperium.

I began thinking about what I should be doing while rotating my meridians, there was no need for me to waste any time not cultivating, and I needed to become more powerful fast.

More time had passed as I walked, and I grew fond of it. And it didn't take more than eight days before I managed to breakthrough and finally achieved Foundation Establishment.

The moment I broke through I sat down, in the middle of nowhere and began rotating the poison Qi within me to achieve stability. After a few hours of concentration and a powerful vomiting fit, I stood up in front of a pile of impurities that left my body. I was able to sense even more of my meridians. Exactly fifty-four of them. All over my body and one big lump a couple of fingers below my abdomen.

"Dantian unlocked!"

Finally, I managed to truly step into the path of cultivation.

The poison god's book shot out of my chest and switched pages until it stopped on a new page that I haven't seen before.

)==)===

Foundation Establishment.

Disciple of mine, you have reached Foundation Establishment with a lot of time to spare before the Bone Grinding Poison could fully corrode and destroy your body. This would give you great power in your upcoming trials.

The more powerful the body is when it reaches the next milestone, the greater the benefit, and I'm not talking about body cultivation, but poison resilience. As the longer the Bone and Body grinding poison saps from your body before the next millstone, the weaker you'll become in the following phase.

Now I could disclose to you when you can fully rid yourself of the Bone and Body Grinding poison and make it an asset instead of a blade that is looming like a guillotine above your neck.

The Ascendant Phase. Which many of the lower worlds would consider it godhood, here in the upper realm it is nothing but the starting point of the real journey of cultivators.

Still being an ascendant means that you'll need to cultivate for hundreds if not thousands of years, but worry not, following this book's guidance and with a little bit of luck, becoming an ascendant, unlike for the beliefs of the people in the lower world isn't a myth, but a true and honest fact.

Now, same as the Qi condensation stage, cultivating to the next stage of the Foundation Establishment and reaching core formation will need you to cross nine stages, three lower stages, three middle stages, and three upper stages of foundation establishment.

And as the name suggests, your foundation must be immaculate, perfect, and strong if you wish to go far in the world of cultivation.

You have now unlocked fifty-four of your meridians, which is the norm, but in the foundation establishment, you'll need to unlock the rest of them. Preferably at least a hundred meridian, but if you manage to achieve the legendary perfect meridian body and unlock all one hundred and eight of them, then your cultivation path will fully unfold in front of you, giving you access to power never seen before.

I have sadly never been mentored and only managed to unlock a hundred and six of them, but follow my teachings and you shall surpass me.

First things first, I have kept a few treasures for you in this book that will aid you in your journey, and they shall present themselves to you whenever you reach a millstone. The first is this flying sword.

===

And immediately a sword shot out from the book. It looked like a giant slab of brittle steel, it didn't look fancy nor was it that beautiful, it was barely a piece of steel with a handle that could scratch the conceptualizations of a sword.

This is by far not the most powerful of swords, nor is it meant for combat, however, under fourth level traveling artifact, there are no flying swords that could match its speed.

The most special thing about this sword is that it will not work for anyone but A follower of the Poison God's teaching. Meaning only, you can operate it, as it doesn't work based on the world's Qi, but poison Qi.

It shall be tough to use, as it consumes a lot of the user's energy to fly, but it is a tempering weapon that will aid you in cultivating.

The book changed pages and a new page appeared.

As of now, you should have mastered the Poisonous Tiger Claw, and this is the diagram of the upper technique of the same cultivation path.

Before I could even see the technique I smacked my forehead, I had completely forgotten about the technique I learned in that Yeti's cave. And never practiced it. but curiosity got the better of me and I looked at what the new technique had presented.

It was a man that stood still the disappeared appearing somewhere else nearby, but now there were two of them.

Poison escape

A technique that allows the user to use poison as a reflective substance to create a mirror image of themselves and then fade into a nearby position. This is an advanced technique that requires an understanding of poison emission to cast.

It is extremely similar to teleportation, but in reality, it is a high-level movement technique, as teleportation would only be available to cultivators who reached the nascent soul level.

"Perfect," I said to myself, but I cannot use this now, I need to find a secure way and before even risking the attempt I need to first master the Poison Tiger Claw, a skill that I neglected due to ease of life and the comfort of the Purple Cloud sect.

I looked at the floating slab and said, "So, I guess you can fly huh, let's try you out then, shall we?"