Poison God’s Heritage

625  Rude Patient

“Do you seek death! Because if you do! Then I shall grant it!” the old man said.

“Then you will die, maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but you will die, far sooner than you think, and far crueler than you can ever believe,” I replied.

The man tried to grab me by the throat as he extended his hand. At the same time, Old Fu pulled out his sword, and everyone inside the cube was ready to risk losing their Qi once again to come help.

That brought a smile to my face, but I knew for a fact that this man could never act upon his current anger.

Or so I thought as he moved his hand away and roared like a beast, causing the entirety of the cave to shake and shudder.

The Dusking Sun took a long sigh, and said, “What is happening to me? That thing which was dormant is now squirming inside my head…”

“Because it’s dying,” I replied.

“How so?” the Dusking Sun replied, “If it’s dying shouldn’t it be a good thing,” he said.

“Not all things die peacefully, some die while struggling in their death throes you know, and living creatures are no exception. In your attempt to take my blood, which is poison by itself, though it would cause you nothing but mild discomfort, it is a lethal dose for the small thing inside your head.”

I explained as I backed away. Displaying how the slime on the earth was avoiding me as much as possible.

I gripped against a small bit of the slime and placed it on my palm. It shuddered and shook then soon died out, not moving one bit.

“Living beings all have coping mechanism, especially against death, even a chicken will run around when its head is cut off. As for a fungi that’s suffering from a terminal and lethal dose of poison, it will do all in its power to struggle and survive, including releasing more of its pathogens into your head.”

“Patho…what?” the Dusking Sun asked.

“It’s what causes you pain currently, never mind the terminology. What’s happening right now is that a type of poison is being released into your head and you need to stop it, or you won’t survive,” I said.

“Poison should have no effect on me, I’m a Sun! A SUN!”

“And even suns and stars die out, you’re not special,” I said to him in the calmest way possible, “Eternity is nothing but a thought, inaccessible and impossible, you can live long, but you’ll never outlive time itself, not it’s beginning, and not its end.”

The man had veins bulging on his forehead but he couldn’t help but to suck it up because I wasn’t saying anything wrong. Nor could he act upon it because only I can help him.

16:21

“Then how can I fix this?!”

“I don’t know,” I said.

I could feel the rage in his eyes surging up once again.

“But you should start by giving me back what’s mine,” I said.

The man flexed his arm and a drop of pure golden blood manifested on top of his palm. I swiped it back the same way he did to me the first time. And reclaimed it.

“Good, with that done, how about you let me treat your illness? Having one of the suns owing me a favor would be pretty interesting,” I said.

“Did you not say you don’t know how to fix it?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t know. You’ll be my test subject. Follow me,” I said.

“Test subject? If the world were to hear of this, then I’ll be the mockery of a lifetime!” he said.

“But if you die here, no one will ever know that the Dusking Sun had lived or died. Forever forgotten, would you rather that?” I questioned.

A forgotten man is worse than a dead one.

The Dusking Sun followed after me until we arrived at the cube and we entered. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes squinted and his brows furrowed tightly.

“Qi? This place can combat the natural seal of the Sea of Demons… interesting design? This is nothing short of the work of one of the Wisest Sun’s direct disciples… Which genius made this masterpiece?”

I didn’t reply, but everyone inside the cube pointed at me.

“…”

“Not all things are as they seem, and no book must be judged by its covers. Everyone, leave the cube for a second,” I said. “Just make sure you don’t leave the barrier’s range, you’ll lose your Qi if you do.”

The soldiers all went outside the cube and stood within the limits. Not to walk a single step outside.

I pressed on a special compartment outside the cube, and every small window, every minigun, and every hole or hatch instantly closed. Sealing the cube instantly but for a small hole.

I snapped my finger summoned my Veridian Heart Flame, and then threw it inside the cube. The flame surged and incinerated everything inside.

The goal wasn’t to damage the components of the cube but to cleanse and purify it. And after the whole thing was purged, I opened it once more, “Only the Dusking Sun might get inside, everyone else, you’ll have to wait here for a bit.”

The Dusking Sun entered, he didn’t even have an ounce of worry or care in the world because as a Sun he did not need to worry about ‘lesser’ beings harming him. Why would an elephant care if an ant wants to harm it? It is but an ant.

I pulled a table from my holding bag and placed it inside the cube. “Get on,” I said.

“Don’t order me around!” he shouted back.

I gave him a stern look.

“A request would suffice…” he said.

“Then, please get on the table,” I said as I swallowed a sigh.

He went on the table and leaned back, resting his back against the table while waiting for me.

“Why did you set up the cube on fire first?” asked the Dusking Sun.

“Because nothing purifies better than fire. This place had many people in it, breathing, farting and touching things with their hands, it would be an annoyance to try and cure a patient with all that around us. Cleansing the place first helps.”

“That shouldn’t affect a Sun,” he said.

“It wouldn’t, but you can’t be too sure, remember, your current condition is caused by a very tiny organism that could easily be dealt with before it enters the body, but now that its inside things become more annoying, anyway, let me take a closer look at you,” I said as I pressed on hand on top of the man’s forehead.

I sent several waves of Divine Sense into his mind to have a better read of what was going on. And I was surprised the moment I received the images in my head. The organism that was as small as an ant’s head has now grown and spread all over the man’s brain, against the crust of it, filing its membranes into the brain matter of the Dusking Sun’s mind.

“You know how far this had progressed, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I do,” replied the Dusking Sun, “It’s my brain, I know what it is suffering from,” he said.

“Why didn’t you discard your body, and look for a new body,” I asked him.

“And give up a body that reached the stage of a Sun, to decrease my cultivation level and grind back up, not a chance, I’d rather die than do all of that again…”

“Fair enough,” I said.

“You speak with certainty and confidence that would convince a man that there is a cure,” said the Dusking Sun.

“Because there is,” I said.

“And what is the cure?” he asked.

“To kill the pathogen and all its spores inside your body, without it ever knowing,” I said.

“I tried that, I tried many things, but it can read my intentions, the moment I try and do something against it, I either fall to slumber or an incredible pain wracks my body.”

“That’s because it is attached to your mind, and can translate when you’re being suicidal, if the host is threatened the parasite will try its best to keep it alive, even if it means to harm the host in the process. Because if the host dies, the parasite dies with it. However, if the parasite does not know when it happened, it cannot do anything,” I said.

“How so?” he asked.

“Simple,” I replied, “I just need to put you in deep sleep,” I said.

“Hah!” the man laughed, “I haven’t slept in more than tens of thousands of years, what makes…you…think I’ll…” The man couldn’t finish his words as his eyes closed and he went into deep sleep.

“Yep,” I said as I pulled my hand off his head. “Nighty night, now let’s get working,”