Poison God's Heritage

Our group pressed onward, moving faster this time. What started as a steady walk quickly turned into flight as we plunged deeper into the tunnels. Tao Yang led the way, and though her speed could have easily left us all in the dust, she held herself back, controlling her pace with great effort. I could sense the tension in her—an emotional storm she was keeping buried beneath her cold, determined exterior.

No one was truly prepared for the weight of what had occurred. Tao Yang, once the ruler of Solarous, had returned to a twisted legacy. Those who had survived and failed to make it to the Bastion had woven a story that turned her into the Dread Princess—a dark figure they had come to despise. What I had gleaned from the memories of the Ascendant cultivator was even uglier than I had told her. There were details too grotesque to mention, whispers of her being labeled the very cause of the rakshasa scourge.

According to these twisted tales, Tao Yang had been accused of committing incest with her father, a sin that had supposedly invoked the wrath of the Heavenly Dao. It was said that this curse had led to the creation of the abominations known as rakshasa. The Broodmother, who birthed the three First Borns, was said to be the result of this heinous union, and from those First Borns, the rest of the rakshasa were born. It was a vile, horrific story, one that was easy for desperate survivors to believe.

As we moved, I mulled over what I had learned. The so-called Liberator, who had crafted this tale, was likely the true architect behind what these people called the Fallen God. The rakshasa revered him, obeying him without question, even the Broodmother. The Liberator had organized the creatures, spread them across Solarous, and assigned settlements where humans were bred like cattle, raised only to be devoured.

And why? Because without such a system, the rakshasa would have consumed everything. The land was barren, and its ecosystems were destroyed. The rakshasa had devoured every living thing in their path, leaving behind nothing but desolate wastelands. The world was silent now because the creatures had eaten all the beasts, both on land and in the sea. Only small critters and insects remained, hardly worth the effort to hunt.

"Up ahead," Tao Yang's voice echoed in the tunnel. Her words were clipped, the underlying fury barely restrained as she flew faster, propelling herself toward whatever awaited us.

We followed, emerging from the dark tunnel into a vast, circular chamber. The moment we entered, a sickening stench hit us—worse than anything I had encountered. The air was thick with the scent of rotting flesh and death. The chamber was filled with piles of bones and decaying human remains. Skulls littered the floor, some shattered, others still intact, but all of them marked by the unmistakable signs of a brutal death.

At the center of it all was a massive hole that plunged deep into the earth, so deep that it seemed to stretch all the way to the gates of hell itself. From its depths came the constant growls and roars of rakshasa, their guttural sounds echoing up from the abyss.

"The feeding grounds," Tao Yang said, her voice cold as she stepped on a pile of bones.

The sight was horrific, the energy in the chamber even worse. Without even tapping into Qi, I could feel the dense death energy that hung in the air, so thick that it was almost visible. It clung to everything, saturating the walls, the ground, and the very atmosphere around us. This place was far worse than the Death Sun's cave, where millions of lives had been sacrificed for cruel experiments.

"What do we do now?" Law asked, peering over the edge of the hole.

I took a moment to scan the area, my gaze lingering on the multiple tunnels that branched out from the chamber. "Look over there," I said, pointing toward the numerous entrances that led into the feeding grounds.

Liang Yu and the others followed my gaze, their eyes narrowing as they noticed the same thing I had. "There are more tunnels," I explained. "This means other groups are likely heading this way soon. We'll need to wait for them to arrive so we can gather more information about what's going on here and who's behind it."

"You want us to hide?" Law asked, a hint of disbelief in his tone.

"Yes," I replied. "We're all at the Void Stage or higher. If we suppress our presence, no one below our level will be able to sense us. And from what I've gathered, the strongest cultivators working for the Liberator are at the Emperor Realm. The Liberator himself is a Sun Stage cultivator, and he's paranoid enough to kill anyone who comes close to surpassing the Emperor Stage. If we lie in wait, we'll have the upper hand."

"Sounds like a decent plan," the Jade Dragon said with a nod. "Let's hide our presence and wait for them."

Without further discussion, we all concealed ourselves, our presence fading into the shadows of the chamber. Soon enough, the sound of footsteps echoed from the tunnels, the heavy clatter of boots growing louder.

"Hurry up!" a voice barked from the depths of one of the tunnels, commanding and impatient.

A man emerged first, leading a group of captured people—around a dozen or so, all of them dressed in ragged leather clothes. Their faces were pale and gaunt, their bodies bruised and battered, as if they had been dragged through hell before arriving here. The rope that bound them was rough, cutting into their skin as they stumbled forward, forced to march toward their doom.

Their despair was palpable. The moment they entered the feeding grounds, they began to wail, their cries filled with the raw, primal fear of those who knew their deaths were imminent. They had no strength to fight, no hope left. They were nothing more than cattle being led to the slaughter.

I watched them in silence, my emotions a mixture of disgust and rage. The scene before me brought back memories I had long buried—memories of my own helplessness, trapped in a cave, thrown into a pool of poison without my consent or will. I had been nothing more than a tool, stripped of my humanity and used for someone else's goals.

The fury in my chest surged, my hands clenching into tight fists. The injustice of it all, the cruelty of those who wielded power over the weak—it was enough to set my blood boiling.

Yu Yu, ever perceptive, sensed my inner turmoil. She stepped closer, her voice soft and steady as she spoke through Divine Sense. "All life is equal," she said, her words carrying a quiet wisdom. "But it is those with power who decide the value of that life, who give or take it as they please."

I nodded, my voice low with barely suppressed anger. "Yes. Those in power choose the fates of the weak."

More footsteps echoed from the tunnels as additional groups arrived, none of them noticing our presence. As I suspected, they were all Ascendant cultivators, far below the level needed to even perceive us.

"Looks like everyone is here," one of the men said, his voice casual as he surveyed the captives.

"No, Lu Sheng isn't here yet," another of the Ascendants replied.

"Should we wait for him?"

The group fell into conversation, their tones light and uncaring. One of them, an obese man with a sickening grin, spoke up, "No need to wait. He's the farthest from the center, and his group will take longer to arrive. Let's just throw these ones in and be done with it. I've got matters to attend to back at the settlement."

I watched as the obese man, who had brought only males with him, smirked arrogantly. "Disgusting bastard," another Ascendant muttered with a chuckle. "You really enjoy tormenting mortals, don't you?"

The fat man shrugged, his grin widening. "Yes, but they break too easily. That's part of the fun, though—figuring out just how far they can go before they snap. the wails and cries of those mortal women is a most pleasing tone my ears can hear, you should try it, well you must have didn't you?"

That was enough.

"Tao Yang," I said, my voice tight with barely contained fury.

"Right, right," she replied, understanding what needed to be done.

I stepped forward, breaking away from our hidden position, my presence no longer concealed. The moment I moved, the eleven Ascendant cultivators turned toward me, their faces twisted in shock and confusion.

"What's with those expressions?" I asked, tilting my head, my tone icy as I released a fraction of my pressure. The sheer force of my aura washed over them like a tidal wave, and I could see the terror bloom in their eyes. "It almost looks like you've seen a ghost…"

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