Chapter 3651: Poison Heart Pavilion
Alex and Bladedance were welcomed into the Deathly Poison Sect by a female elder of no small cultivation base. She was a Divinity.
"Welcome to our sect," the female elder said with a slight bow. "The ancestor awaits you in the Poison Heart Pavilion. Would you like to follow me?"
Alex nodded. "Please, lead the way."
The sect lay on mostly flat land that seemed to slope downward a bit, quickly dropping a decent altitude before finding flatness again. A thick smog of sorts covered the lower area, and only the peaks of the various buildings and pavilions could be seen from where Alex stood.
And the female elder took him to one of those very pavilions.
As Alex and Bladedance went down the slope, climbing down a bunch of stairs, he smelled a subtle aroma that he knew could only belong to a specific type of poisonous flower that could dull a person’s mind.
This was an incredibly weak poison, but if one were to stay for too long and not realize there was poison, they could unknowingly fall victim to it and could easily let their guard down in moments where it was important to be on guard.
That made Alex suspicious at first. Were these people planning something similar? However, his worries quickly came to an end when the elder herself explained about the fog.
"You may be smelling something sweet right about now. If you do, do be aware that it is a mild toxin. It is nothing to worry about for someone who won’t be staying here for long. This fog is mostly here for our disciples to train themselves against poisons," she explained, placing not a single lie in her explanation and leaving out not a single truth.
That made Alex trust her a little more.
"If you are still worried, we have a pill that can help you," she said. "Would you like one?"
"That’s fine," Alex answered. "We don’t intend to overstay our welcome. We will be out of your hair in no time."
The woman didn’t say anything else and simply continued walking. Alex followed her.
Along the way, Alex saw many disciples of the sect who roamed around the place. A few looked in his direction, but most didn’t pay any attention to him at all.
Alex looked at the dark and green robes of the disciples, with a very few having silver vines and coiling snakes embroidered onto their robes. Alex asked the elder about the design and was told that these were the core disciples of the sect.
Alex got curious and asked more about the sect. What was its purpose, and what did they excel at?
The woman seemed surprised to learn that Alex didn’t know much about the sect at all, considering he had come to meet the founder, after all. It was even more surprising for her since the founder had warned her to be respectful to him, which meant that he likely had an identity that she could not dare offend.
"Our sect deals in poison. Whether it be in the form of naturally occurring poisons or pastes and pills that we make ourselves. We encourage understanding poison, using it in cultivation and battle, and learning ways to fight against it."
"An outsider looking in may consider us to be a demonic cultivation sect since we deal in poison, but the truth couldn’t be further from it. We are very orthodox in what we teach and what we practice."
Alex nodded slowly, holding back the words he wanted to say. The way the woman explained her sect came off as someone who was used to speaking on behalf of her sect for so long that she began fighting off accusations before they could even arrive.
Alex had been reminded of the Poison Fighters Sect he had first joined upon arriving at the Immortal realm, which was a true Demonic sect, but he had no intention of bringing that up at all.
So the fact that the woman brought it up herself was quite funny for him.
After a short walk, they arrived before a massive pavilion that was made of dark green jade, black stone, and pale wood. A curved roof hid behind hanging vines, with flowers of unusual colors blooming in strange places around the building.
Despite the grandeur of the pavilion, there was no one around the building at all. Either they had all been commanded to not get too close to the building, or that was how everyone treated this building in the first place.
Alex looked at the board with the text written upon it in a massive font.
Poison Heart Pavilion.
"This is as far as I can take you," the woman answered. "Our ancestor awaits you on the top floor of the pavilion."
Alex gave a nod and thanked the woman before heading into the pavilion. As soon as he stepped in, his legs froze, and his eyes looked all around.
Bladedance stopped next to him as well, more so because of him than anything she sensed herself. "Is something wrong?" she asked in a weak voice.
"Death aura," Alex answered. "It’s quite strong here."
He hadn’t sensed a lick of it outside of the pavilion, and yet, the moment he entered, the entire place felt as though it had been marinating in the aura for generations. It was truly incredible just how different the outside and inside of the pavilion were.
If nothing else, it made Alex alert. He had momentarily stopped worrying because of Bladedance being with him, but he had come to the turf of a potential enemy, one who could have been responsible for the deaths of both the Artifact God and the Alchemy God.
Alex looked up, seeing an opening with a staircase built around it, leading all the way to the top. With his demon eyes, he could see a patch of black aura much stronger at the top than anywhere else.
He turned toward Bladedance and gave a subtle nod. "We should continue."
