Ch.1

Ryan was looking forward to Divine Trials. If he was lucky enough then he might find a heavenly treasure during the Divine trials that could help him in increasing his personal strength quickly which would then allow him to carry out a lot of his plans with ease. The Divine trials were conducted by the Eternity family clan and Heaven sundering family clan to gauge the potential of their younger generations every five year. The performance of a martial artist in Divine trials determined the amount of resources he would receive from the family clan as well as his status in the family clan.

The Divine trials were conducted in an independent space. This independent space had a small world within it which was thousands of square kilometers in area. It had all kinds of creatures living inside it right from elemental beasts to undead creatures. This spatial space was named Treasure space by the founders of both the family clans.

The entrance of the treasure space had certain restriction placed by the founders which only permitted those martial artists whose age was less than thirty years and had maximum cultivation level of late mortal king realm. This made sure that only martial artists from the younger generation competed in the Divine Trials. The treasure space also made sure that none of the participants cheated. It would by default place restrictions on the treasured weapons or powerful charms or anything that gave undue advantage to a participant above others.

The reason why it was named Treasure space was due to countless heavenly treasures, immortal grade weapons and immortal grade armors that were hidden in the small world inside the treasure space by the founders of both the family clans before they ascended to the Divine world but only hundred or so of these items have been retrieved so far. All of these treasures were hidden quite well by the founders. It was not at all easy to find them. All these treasures were priceless and could even make the martial artists of the senior generation vie them. It was said that many of these treasures had sentience and would only surface if they find someone worthy of them. No one knew if this was true or false.

The Divine Trials were also projected to the Divine world where the main branches of both the clans had established themselves. If the performance of a martial artist in the Divine trials was dazzling enough to attract the attention of a martial artist from the main branch then he or she could become his or her personal disciple. The treasures in the treasure space paled in front of such an opportunity which made it the major reason for which the martial artists of the younger generation participated in the Divine Trials.

If martial artist was able to become the personal disciple of a martial artist from the main branch then he or she would have exponential rise in his or her status. He or she would be given the best cultivation resources and nurtured carefully by his or her respective family clan. The best part of being a personal disciple of the martial artist from the main branch didn’t end at just that. The martial artist from the main branch that took him as his personal disciple would descend on Grandura from the Divine world to personally teach him or her but this had not happened for past millennia. Ryan would have also aimed for the same had he not met Sheldon and his four companions. They had already promised him that they would recommend his name to the main branches personally once he reaches immortal realm.

Ryan’s only intention for participating in the Divine trials was to find treasures left behind by the founders. He was certain that he would have no problem in finding them as he possessed Asura physique which gave him heightened senses and Asura eyes. If Ryan was able to retrieve these treasures then there was a chance that he would be able to execute his future plans with extreme ease.

Ryan was currently heading towards the chamber of one of his grandma. This grandma of his was called Alia. He had requested her find him a particular poison. This poison was known as Tears of angel. This was a high grade mortal poison. This poison could make all mortal realm beings shriek in fear as it could seal their soul cores and elemental cores. She had somehow found it for him. Ryan was extremely giddy after knowing about it. He could finally increase the toxicity of Dargar which would in turn increase the toxicity of his poison attribute spirit power. This would in turn increase the overall power of his poison attribute attacks.

All poison attribute beings would continuously devour countless number of poisons during their entire life in order to increase their toxicity. The poisons possessed by them might also gain the properties of the poisons that were devoured by them.

Dargar being an emerald viper martial spirit was no different. He could also increase his toxicity by devouring poisons that were far stronger than his. If a poison attribute being were to consume a poison that was far stronger than its own then it would be in mortal danger. If it was unable to devour the poison and absorb it successfully then only death awaited it. This was method of increasing toxicity was similar to a double edged sword. If the poison attribute being were to succeed then it would have its toxicity increase by many folds. The level of toxicity directly affected the combat prowess of a poison attribute being.

Ryan wanted Dargar to devour Tears of angel poison in order to increase its toxicity which would in turn increase the toxicity of his spirit power. He had not told Alia about his intentions as this might derail his plans and he wouldn’t be getting Tears of Angel poison anymore. He had lied to his grandma Alia that he needed it for research purpose. All poison martial artists would research countless poisons which would in turn increase their understanding of poison elemental laws as all poisons were nothing but an amalgam of poison elemental laws. Alia was initially against getting it for Ryan as it was extremely lethal to mortal realm martial artists but she gave in under repeated requests from him.

The Tears of angel poison was a rare kind of poison that worked against only mortal realm martial artists. Alia was only able to procure a single drop of it and that too from the black market. It was illegal to buy and sell Tears of angels poison in Grandura. If a person was found selling it then he would be executed on spot by the powerful factions of Grandura.

Generally, Tears of angel poison would be used to deal with talent mortal realm martial artists of powerful factions without killing them as killing a person of strong background had many problems associated with it. The martial artists from powerful factions would have tracking seals placed on them. These seals would attach themselves to the killers of their host and let the family clan of the assassinated martial artists know the location of the assassins. Such a situation made it dangerous for an assassin to assassinate a martial artist with powerful backing. Assassins started using Tears of angel poison in order to deal with the problem caused by the tracking seals. Tears of angel poison didn’t kill its victim instead crippled its victim which was no different from being dead in eyes of the people of Grandura. Even powerful factions didn’t have a way to detoxify a mortal realm martial artist poisoned by it. The moment someone tried to detoxify the victim it would lead to instant death of the victim. Death was the only option for the victims of this poison. This was the main reason for banning it.

Tears of angel poison was a naturally occurring poison that was birthed by the poison attribute treasured lands. It takes millions of years for the formation of a single drop of it. So, its rarity could be imagined which in turn made it precious. Generally, if somebody possessed it then he or she would never sell it. Ryan had no idea how difficult it was for Alia to procure it. She had to mobilize all her contacts and part away with half of her wealth for a single drop of it.

When Ryan entered Alia cultivation chamber, he found her sitting on a chair. She was reading a book. She kept her book aside after Ryan entered her cultivation chamber.

“Thanks, Grandma.” Ryan said in a sincere manner. A smile appeared on the beautiful face of Alia. She seriously liked this sweet talking grandson of hers.

“Don’t tell about this matter to anyone especially your worrywart grandfather.” Alia said as she handed over a small black colored glass bottle to Ryan. Ryan handled the small bottle with care as he put it into his spatial pouch.

“Ryan, handle this poison with care. Make sure you don’t handle it with injured hands as this could lead to the poison entering your blood streams then no one will be able to save you.” Alia said in a grave manner. Ryan hurriedly nodded his head.

The Tears of angel poison would only affect someone if it was inject into the blood streams of the victim. So, Alia knew that Ryan would be ok as long as he didn’t handle the poison with injured hands. This was the main reason why Alia agreed to get Ryan Tears of angel poison. This poison might be deadly for mortal realm martial artists but was only when injected into their bloodstreams otherwise it was no different from a harmless liquid.

Ryan and Alia talked for some time before Ryan returned to his own cultivation chamber. He had a big smile on his face. He could finally boost his strength.

“Ryan, let’s get started immediately.” Dargar said in an impatient manner. Anyone could feel excitement in his voice. Yama and Earl also echoed similar suggestions.

“Don’t worry. I have similar intentions.” Ryan said.

Ryan informed everyone that he would be entering a closed door session before sealing his cultivation chamber so that no one disturbed him while he helped Dargar devoured tears of angel poison.

Ryan sat in meditative position on the floor as he took out the small black glass bottle from his spatial pouch. The first thing he did was to summon Caius. His right arm had lit up with green colored runes. A small spatial rift opened inside his cultivation chamber. Soon Caius flew out of it. He had a happy expression upon seeing Ryan. He had been exploring the forest of Darkness for the past few months. Ryan’s expression was no different from Caius. He was also happy to see Caius.

“Did you enjoy your outing?” Ryan asked as he gently rubbed his forefinger on Caius’s head. Caius quickly nodded his head as he sent a stream of mental messages to Ryan. The mental messages contained images of different parts of the forest of Darkness that he visited during the past few months. Ryan was marveled seeing them as he himself had yet to explore the forest of Darkness.

“It seems that you have already visited every part of the forest of darkness.” Ryan said with a light laugh.

Caius shook his head as he sent another mental message to Ryan. This mental message contained an image of an island in the middle of a lake. The specialty of this island was the vicious black fog that covered it in its entirety except for some parts of the island. Caius was unable to explore the island as he was summoned back to the estate by Ryan the moment he was about to enter the black fog.

Ryan had already decided to explore this island as soon as possible as he was certain that the fog was created by a heavenly treasure of death attribute. Ryan could deduce this from the fog. The fog was actually miasma which could only be released by death attribute beings or death attribute heavenly treasures. The Miasma around the island was too dense and vicious for it to be a conjured by a living being of Grandura. So, there was very high chance of it being emitted by a death attribute heavenly treasure that existed on that island. Miasma was a gas that would slowly erode the vitality and life force of the living. It could be conjured by death attribute living beings or emitted by death attribute heaven treasures. Ryan was currently far from conjuring the Miasma. The other thing that he was unable to understand was the existence of a death attribute heavenly treasure in a darkness attribute treasure land. He was certain that this heavenly treasure was not birth by the forest of Darkness. This fact alone had piqued his interest. Ryan quickly sent the matter regarding the island at the back of his head temporarily as opened the small black glass bottle.

“Caius, let’s get started.” Ryan said as he became serious. A colorless liquid droplet flew out of the small black glass bottle under Ryan’s control. This colorless liquid was enveloped in the poison attribute spirit power of Ryan.

Caius flew towards the colorless droplet and absorbed it. Caius entire body was covered in light green light followed by runes shining on his body. Ryan wanted to evolve Dargar’s poison as well as increase his toxicity. If Dargar would have directly devoured the Tears of angel poison then the chances of his poisons gaining the properties of Tears of angel poison would have only been one percent. Dargar had ten percent chances to evolve his poison if he devoured the Tears of angel poison after Caius refines it for him. This was one of the specialties of Viper’s touch plant spirits which made other poison elemental beings envious of emerald vipers.

Soon a green colored liquid droplet appeared in the hands of Caius. This green colorless liquid droplet was the refined form of Tears of angel poison. Ryan conjured Dargar once Caius was done with the refining. The green liquid droplet flew out of the hands of Caius and entered the mouth of Dargar under Ryan’s control.

Dargar was shrouded in green light as the poison was slowly digested by him. Soon he entered into a state of deep sleep. A smile crept on Ryan’s face as he recalled him back in his soul world.

Ryan was certain that the Dargar would be able to devour Tears of angel poison without his life being in danger as he possessed Asura physique. The Asura were being that were immune to fire attribute and all evil attributes. Poison attribute was also an evil attribute.

Generally, a poison attribute being would need to put his life on line when devouring poisons that were many fold stronger than theirs. Dargar being a martial spirit was immortal as long as his host was fine so the entire life threatening process became a joke in front of Ryan. If Ryan had lacked Asura physique then he would have been affected by the tears of angel poison and his soul cores would have been sealed the moment Dargar had devoured the drop of tears of angel poison. Ryan was happy with the way things were moving in his favor.

“Ryan, your insights in fire elemental laws is lacking in comparison to death elemental laws.” Earl said with concern as Ryan was enjoying the moment. Earl’s warning quickly brought him back to earth. He had been concentrating whole heartedly on death elemental laws for the past few months which had resulted in his understanding in fire elemental laws lacking in comparison. Ryan’s understanding in death elemental laws was already reaching the threshold requirement to advance his death fire dual attribute soul core to mid mortal lord realm.

“Ryan, you should cultivate fire elemental laws until Dargar was done with devouring Tears of angel poison.” Yama said. Ryan readily agreed with Yama and Earl’s suggestion. He immediately started cultivating fire elemental laws. It didn’t take long for him to enter into a deep cultivation state.

Time passed and soon half a month had already passed. In the meantime, the green light that had shrouded Dargar was growing stronger with each passing day. Ryan being in a deep meditative state was not in the know of the phenomenon that was taking place inside the green side of his soul world. This phenomenon was only witnessed by Yama and Earl.

On the sixteenth day since Dargar had entered deep sleep state, a powerful energy ripple was released from Ryan’s green side of the soul world. The source of this powerful energy ripple was Dargar. This energy ripple was so powerful that it jolted Ryan out of his deep cultivation state.

Ryan quickly sent his consciousness into the green side of his soul world. He saw that Dargar was shining with blinding green light. Soon the green light receded and Dargar opened his eyes slowly.

Ryan had an expectant look on his face. Yama and Earl were no different. Dargar didn’t let them down.

“I was able to successful devour tears of angel. My toxicity has increased many folds. It is now comparable to a mid-mortal king realm poison attribute being that had yet to devour any poisons to increase its toxicity. My nightmare gas has also gained a few properties of the Tears of angel. We should test it as soon as possible.” Dargar said with a laugh. Even a real emerald viper would have been unable to achieve this feat so easily. The only reason Dargar was able to achieve this feat was due to him being a martial spirit and Ryan possessing Asura physique.

Ryan, Yama and Earl were extremely ecstatic upon hearing this. This was big news for them. Since Dargar was successful this meant that the toxicity of Ryan’s poison attribute liquid spirit power would also increase by leaps and bounds. Now, the power displayed by his poison attribute attacks would be comparable to mid mortal king realm poison attribute beings that had not increased its toxicity by devouring poisons.

Ryan decided to leave the estate in order to explore the mysterious island as he still had about half a month’s time until the day for his departure for Heaven Sundering family clan in order to participate in Divine trials. He had a feeling that he would regret not going to that island before going to Heaven Sundering family clan.

Ryan informed his grandpas and grandmas before venturing out in the forest of Darkness. Many of them volunteered to go along with him but Ryan declined their help and informed them that Caius was going along with him. They didn’t force themselves on Ryan as they knew how powerful Caius. He was completely different from other Viper’s touch plant spirit as he didn’t possess the weakness of a typical viper’s touch plant spirit i.e. a weak body. Someone of them had even exchanged blows with Caius and they were alarmed when even their most powerful attacks were not able to leave any marks while the toxins released by Caius were extremely lethal to them.

Once outside the estate, Ryan asked Caius to lead the way to the mysterious island. Caius nodded his head in approval as he created poison barrier around himself and Ryan before they took off in the sky.