"Now that we have all of the remaining contenders left, we will begin the final rounds of this trial."
The voice spoke and soon another voice was heard, this one, was all too familiar to me.
"I, Du Shen had only one regret in my life. I have never left words in my heart untold, I have never allowed another to oppress or suppress me. I have never allowed myself humiliation, and I have only bowed my head to my parents for giving me my life, and the heavens for allowing it. I have lived with my heart held high, using a path that many thought vile. I have never unjustly killed, and I have never unjustly wronged someone. My life had been going as I wished and willed, as I paced and wanted. But even then, I have one thing I regretted deeply."
Du Shen's words trailed, it was clearly a recording, but it felt full of emotions, unlike what I've ever heard of such a person.
"I have owned up to all my mistakes, but I've yet to correct one, and I do not think I could ever correct it. Because no man can rewind time nor change the facts of the world. I have sinned once, against myself by allowing a person whom I considered most dear, enough that I would have gladly given my life to, she was my everything, the only woman who truly understood me. Understood my vision, and knew well that I wasn't someone who would succumb to the unfairness of this Prison we live in. She was the only one who believed in my ability to break through this prison without needing a Key of my own. As I am Poison, I am not owed nor worthy to wield one of the world's Keys, but she knew, deep down, that I would be able to manage it. Though to this day I have yet to succeed, she still believed in me.
Today's trial, you will all go through the same ordeal I have went through, you will all see what I have seen, and your goal is simple. It is to partake in this event, and live to its end. No cultivator will fight another, your goal is merely to see and act upon what you see. But do know, I've done this trial tens of thousands of times, I went through this memory lane more than most of you have even lived, there is no answer, so do not try and find one, just look, watch and learn. Lest you make the same mistake I made…"
The words from Du Shen were cut, and the same earlier voice that gave us our tasks spoke once again.
"You will now be entering the Poison Mist Valley. In it you will be accompanied by Mei Ling, Du Shen's first wife, and his deepest regret. Your goal is to reach the end of the Mist Valley, but do know that you are being hunted and pursued, you will have to face many monsters as you trudge along this wretched path while making sure to keep ahead of your competition. Good luck," spoke the voice.
Soon a massive snake emerged from the center of the platform and coiled in a circle, creating a portal using its own body.
Everyone knew well to go through the portal for the next trial.
I walked up to the portal and saw the corpse cultivator smirking at me, he muttered in a divine sense message, "Make sure to survive this, because we'll be meeting in the next round."
I didn't really care enough to reply as I walked into the portal.
My vision swam as everything seemed to change within me, even physically I felt. And once my vision was back I opened them to see a concerned looking woman right next to me.
Her eyes were emerald green, the same as mine and in her hand was a small dagger that looked doused in poison.
My head felt wracked with pain and agony as information was forcefully imbedded in it.
"You are currently in the body of Du Shen, your cultivation level is at the Nascent Soul peak, as for Mei Ling she is a stage above yours at the Soul Formation level. You two are being chased by the remnants of the Imperial Family, having stolen one of their treasures, you will be executed on the spot.
You must not inform Mei Ling that you're not Du Shen, act in a way and sense that makes her know well that you're the Poison God, having your identity revealed will break the trial and you will lose.
You must successfully escape the Poison Mist Valley, you must guarantee your survival above all else, the death of Mei Ling is inevitable but you must make use of it as much as you can.
Your hunters are all at the Soul Transformation Level with the addition of one cultivator at the Ascendant Level, fighting them head on is not advised.
All of your Poison God abilities have been completely sealed, since during this time the Poison God has yet to write his books or have full understanding of his own abilities.
All the items you had on you are sealed away from you.
Good luck."
"Well shit," I said.
"That's really not a nice thing to say to a maiden you know!" Mei Ling puffed her cheeks.
"Sorry, I wasn't talking about you," I stood up and looked around, "Where exactly are we?" I asked.
"The Poison Mist Valley, Duh, you brought us here, you said you know the way around this place and you can navigate it like the back of your hands. I suppose that was a lie," she said.
I didn't try an sound persuasive, "No, not all of it, I know bit of it, but this place we're in, I can't figure out where exactly it is."
"That's really unreliable," she sighed. "I suppose we can keep heading north. I feel a thicker and heavier Qi there, we can hid there." She said.
Looking at the north, indeed there was a lot of Qi gathering there, it looked like this whole valley was begging you to go deeper to find more 'treasures'.
"No, if we do that, the people hunting us will do the same," I said as I looked around.
"Come with me," I said as I noticed a small cave in one of the massive cliffs of the valley.
The two of us got there and walked into the cave, it looked like it was here for a long time.
"Make sure to step lightly, we don't want our footprints to reveal our locations," I said.
"Why are we going into uncharted territory?" she asked.
"Because I need something from this cave, and if we're lucky, we'll find it soon," I said as we got even deeper.
Soon, we stopped at a branch inside the dark cave.
I smiled, "This way," I said as I picked a location.
"I can't feel the wind blowing from that place, it looks like a closed up room, why are we going there? We don't have much time you know, they should be here in a few hours," she said.
"Just trust me," I said as the two of us got into the enclosed room.
Once we were there, she gasped at what she saw.
Hundreds upon hundreds of poison herbs were planted there, they found a rich dark and humid environment to grow in and they grew beautifully in it.
"You're like a dog, your nose is pretty potent when it comes to sniffing out poison herbs," she said.
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you," I said as I began pulling the herbs one by one.
"We'll be here all day, let me help you," she said as she got closer to one of the herbs and was about to grab it by the stem.
"Stop! Are you stupid!" I said.
My words were a surprise to her as she backed away, "What, what's going on with you, you're acting strange," she said.
Her whole appearance seemed to fade in and out for a second.
I guess Du Shen wasn't acting too 'direct' with the company of his crush.
"That's a Purple Dragon Lily, if you touch it with your bare hand, no matter how strong you think you are, you'll die in three breaths worth of time," I said as I gracefully wrapped my hand in a cloth and pulled the lily out.
"Place this in your holding bag," I said as I continued removing the herbs.
"Why are you wasting time here? We really need to get going, if we were to waste more time on herbs they'll catch us," she said.
"Trust me, no one will ever find us once I'm done, I didn't think we'll find this many herbs here, but we're actually in luck," I said as I pulled even more herbs.
Half an hour later, and a lot of nagging from Mei ling, I was finally done.
"Now can we go?" she asked.
"No, we just started, get me a cauldron," I said.
My words seemed to almost fall on deaf ears as she got her dagger right up to my neck.
"Who are you?!" her words were firm and there didn't seem to be the slightest hint of accommodation or forgiveness.
I sighed, "Just because I didn't show you what I'm capable of, does not mean I'm trash. Listen to me, what I'm doing right now will save us both from these pesky trackers. Just trust me, just this once."
Her eyes didn't seem to waver as she pulled the dagger away from me. "You really have changed, something happened when you were at the Imperial Ruins..."
'Imperial Ruins? interesting I didn't know that there was actually something remaining from the Imperial Family. Something to investigate afterward.
"It's something like that, but for now, trust me on this," I said as i snapped my finger and called my Veridian Heart flame out.
"It's still is impressive to see you fully capable of controlling the Veridian Heart FLame at such a low cultivation level," she said.
'thankfully the Poison God too had the Veridian Heart flame. otherwise, it would have been awkward to try and explain this.'
"Now watch," I said as I began doing alchemy.
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