Poison God's Heritage

The Suns kept thinking about it for a while and then the Dusking Sun Jumped in. "This, thing of yours, how many do you have?" he asked. .net

"About a hundred thousand give or take," I said.

He scratched his chin and said, "Not enough, not nearly enough to cover a good spatial foothold, we need more… How many can you produce within one month time?" he asked.

"If fully focused on it, about three million," I said.

"That can barely cut it, within a month it should be when the Endless Night arrives," the Dusking Sun said.

"Then get to work and start making them," the Cryptic Sun interjected.

When he said that I understood what the Dusking Sun wanted, he baited the Cryptic Sun into saying those words and trapped him for me. Good man.

"Why?" I replied, "Am I getting paid for it?" I frowned.

"What do you mean? It's the safety of the Beyond, we need all the help, or are you trying to rebel and be a traitor?" his words were on the offense because he knew he was trapped.

"You're not expecting me to do work that I'm not getting paid for? Nor are you expecting me to fund it out of my own pockets. If you want the Tungsten Rods, you'll have to pay for the material and manpower," I shrugged.

"Pay? Me? HAH!" he laughed as he used his divine sense to prove through the Tungsten Rod next to me.

"Now I know how it was made, I'll just make them myself," he laughed.

My lips quivered, showing a bit of anger, and I stood up, "I'll excuse myself from this meeting. As you all said I have a territory to protect," and walked away.

"Shen Bao, hold up," the Wisest Sun said as I was moving away and stood up to follow me.

The Lord of Lords also stood up and threw the Cryptic Sun a snide eye, "You dared and coveted the property of a junior, shame on you."

"What! He can't protect his things, it's his fault," the Cryptic Sun said shamelessly.

The Blue Sun also stood up, and followed us, "In a seat of Suns you dared covet what was not yours from those who can't defend themselves, I pity those who serve under you."

The meeting was adjourned just like that due to the Cryptic Sun's behavior.

Indeed it was a world where the story prayed on the weak, and if one can't protect their things, they don't deserve it.

"Tell me, Shen Bao," the Red Sun followed immediately after us. To my surprise, he was the only one who wasn't fuming in rage inwardly.

"Can you really only make Three Million a month?" he asked through divine sense.

He caught on, smart man.

"No, I can make more, much more," I said.

"Good, do you want me to go and beat the ever-living shit out of that guy? I really only need a good enough reason, and this is slightly just under a good reason,"

I knew he only tried to comfort me, a fight between two suns is never a good idea as it can cause too much damage to the surrounding. "Nah, it's fine," I said.

"Hmm, knowing you, you probably meant to show him the rod anyway," the Red Sun squinted his eyes at me.

I grinned replying, "Now I can't confirm that for you, can I?"

He laughed and said, "I knew you always keep something under your belt, good I won't pray anymore, I'll just wait and enjoy the show. For now, here," he said as he handed me a ring full of the materials he promised me before. And I handed him a small jade of all the symbols and inscriptions inside the Bastion with a sypher for him to deduce the words and knowledge in there.

"The knowledge isn't complete just so you know, because we only went through one pathway. Some many other rooms and halls are yet to be explored and I'll share that with you the moment I get them," I said.

"Good, I'll keep on waiting for that, for now, I'll see what I can figure out myself from this, as for your crusade in the Sea of Demons, I can send one or two of my heralds to help you," he said.

I shook my head, "If that happens it will cause even more problems. It will show to others that I can only rely on a Sun to obtain the territory, don't worry I already have many ways to claim that throne and land," I said.

The red sun nodded and said to the rest, "My business here is done, if there is anything else needed of me, just tell me. Old foxes, it's been a good tournament and a good few days, let's hope that the incoming threat is not as frightening as we expect, and good luck to all.

The Suns began disappearing into the distance as they went back to their territories to help protect it while the Blue Sun remained with me.

"Would you like to come visit my land?" she asked.

I nodded, "Of course,"

She waved her arm and opened a similar portal to the one that led to the bastion. Only this time it was leading to a vast canyon valley.

Once I took a step in I arrived into a quite windy area with nothing but red rocks, some were flying and floating and some were anchoring the earth to the heavens. Long spiraling rock formations rose up to an incredible height and canyons that seemed to have an endless depth spread all around us.

And not far from where we stood was a vast blue. The sea spread all over the horizon and seemed endless. And just between the sea and the canyon was an incredible amount of black smoke rising up.

You can smell it from all the way over here.

We flew up toward the smoky area and found a massive city waiting for us. It was so large it would put some of the metropolises I remember to shame.

People looked like ants from where we stood and it was bustling with loud noises and hasty steps. Cultivators moved all over the place via flight or walking as they got from one area to another to do business or their… jobs.

"Wait, you have people working here? Like, actual blue-collar workers?"

"Blue Collar?"

"I mean manual workers industry, you even have factories here… hold up something isn't right," I'm sure the setting hasn't changed, why am I seeing a modernized city?

"That's my city, my land, and the people I wish to protect, as for this layout it is the result of innovative thinking and processing."

'I'll be damned, an industrial revolution in a cultivation world… what next, Steampunk Civilization?'

And before I could even swallow my words as being sarcastic, my eyes landed on a man who was moving heavy objects from one place to another. He was fully decked out in metal and tubes, all over his body, and heavy murky goggles to protect his eyes from the smoke.

The man had lost an arm and a leg and they were replaced with visible quite rusty but functional hydraulic prosthetic limbs.

I looked dumbly at her, "I thought I was the only crazy one who used metal and steel like this."

"You're not the only one, I was also once called a madwoman for believing that hard cold steel can ever amount to anything against a cultivator. But look at where I am," she smiled.

I laughed as I asked "I'd like to go down and see for myself."

"Go on ahead, I'll accompany you," she said.

And the two of us landed. Unbeknownst to me, she changed her appearance in an instant and blended in with the crowd with me.

You could hear the loud noises of engines running all over the city and several cars? Or cart cart-like vehicle moving about on a paved roadway.

Hustlers and muggers, even beggars were all over the place. And a lot of drunk people and busy people all moving about the city.

It's been a very long time since I've had to breathe in the stinky air of fuel, and smelling it here brought back some good old memories.

"You processed oil?"

"It wasn't that hard to do so once we discovered its flammability, although it's far less powerful than many other resources, it can be used for a variety of things," she said and began explaining what I already knew about it.

I couldn't help but laugh because I almost felt like home. Almost being the keyword here, because this was no longer my home.

I moved along the city looking through many things, from shops to salons to workstations where builders were erecting more buildings inside the city and creating skyscrapers.

Safety measures are almost nonexistent here, after all, everyone here is at least an ascendant-level cultivator and even if a wall-sized brick were to fall on them it would feel like they were hit with a feather.

"I can see why you desperately need the knowledge from the Bastion," I said.

"You do?" she asked.

"You don't really want to realize the step beyond a Sun, but you're interested in the method of making Soulsteel."

"Right on the dot, no wonder many of the Suns were praising your mind. Indeed I need to figure out a way to make it my own and create it here. The possibilities are endless. A malleable metal that can turn harder than even a Heavenly Treasure, and can be softer than cotton when needed, morphed and changed to whatever shape and form and has the ability to harness and exert electrical discharges.

That is a gift from heaven." She said.

"Don't forget, the cost of using such a thing isn't that easy," I said.

"I feared so at first," she said as she pulled a small cube in her hand of Soulsteel, "It uses too much Soul Power for little effect, it's far too inefficient, I would have given up hope if I didn't have a critical and crucial piece of information that you yourself had provided me," she said as she looked into my eyes with her azure almost shining eyes.

"And what's that information?" I asked.

"The fact that this is nothing but a prototype," she said.

Indeed she wasn't wrong. The people of the fallen world made this in haste by culminating all of their knowledge and had yet to fully explore its potential. Given enough time, one would uncover even more secrets and could probably discover the full potential of Soulsteel.

I guess the knowledge I hold isn't that simple for her after all. And now I get to work alongside her to discover the true strength of Soulsteel.