North Ghu Inheritance Site
Yaan stopped in his tracks. Hearing the ever-illusive 'North Ghu Inheritance' being mentioned by Nadda, a flurry of thoughts immediately began rushing through his mind. He turned around slowly, then after pondering for a moment, he replied to Nadda's question.
"Supposedly, the North Ghu inheritance was left behind by an extremely powerful senior. The death rate in this inheritance is 90%, making it sound extremely dangerous, but…"
Ghu Nadda's dead eyes lit up. From the sounds of it, Yaan had some insight into the true nature of the mysterious inheritance which was situated just outside of North Ghu City.
"Only those at the Spirit or Demon Core Realm and below can enter. There are many traps within, which is why the groups are often filled with Qi Gathering Realm and Innate Qi Realm cultivators…they're used as bait, to scout ahead and trigger any traps in advance. There is still a serious chance of death for the prepared individuals, but it's much lower than 90%…perhaps 10-30%, depending on luck and the specific danger which varies with each opening."
"Impressive…" Ghu Nadda complimented honestly, his grey cracked lips curling into a demonic looking smile.
Yaan was never bothered by Nadda's appearance. After getting to know the young ghoul, he found that they had a lot in common and got along quite well.
The Ghu Clan young master was about to continue, but his eyes widened when Yaan continued to speak.
"I think the reason for North Ghu City being placed here, should be because of this inheritance, right? To place such a grand city here…the only reason I can think of is that the Ghu Clan wants to monopolise the inheritance, so it must be an incredible inheritance. But for someone like me, it's far too dangerous." Yaan concluded.
The ghoulish young man took a deep look at Yaan as his smile gradually widened. He nodded in admiration, before revealing something fairly major that very few people outside of the Ghu Clan were aware of.
"You're absolutely right…the inheritance is the reason for North Ghu City being placed here…and for the grand elder being stationed in this far out place despite his status…"
Yaan's eyes lit up and he listened with rapt attention. He was always curious about this nearby inheritance which was shrouded in a layer of mystery, so he had researched it on a few occasions when he had time to spare. Yaan had long since realised that much of the information surrounding the inheritance was being withheld by the Ghu Clan.
Before Ghu Nadda continued speaking, he waved his hand, materialising a piece of black jade. There was a single red rune on the jade, emitting a deep bloody aura from the centre of the rectangular material.
Yaan stared at this thing for a while, but he didn't know what it was and ended up looking at Nadda questioningly.
"This is a Poison Oath Jade…it's a method used to ensure that people keep secrets…like this, we can keep our secrets from the outside world whilst sharing information with a select few individuals…I won't force you, but if you want to learn more about the inheritance, then you need to take this oath…"
Ghu Nadda didn't wait for Yaan to reply, but instead waved his hand. A string of blood red words appeared across the black jade, exuding a dangerous presence. Yaan leaned in and read the writing carefully.
'I hereby declare that I shall divulge no information regarding the North Ghu inheritance site to others unless given permission to do so by a Ghu Clan Elder. This blood oath will remain in effect for 300 years, or until a Ghu Clan Elder dispels it.'
"This is…?" Yaan looked up doubtfully. The red rune exuded a deadly yet also harmless aura, leaving him feeling confused and doubtful. Ghu Nadda understood Yaan's confusion, he remembered feeling similarly when he first laid eyes upon the Poison Oath jade.
"This red rune is called a Poison Oath, it can only be inscribed onto these black jades….there is a single drop of Oath Poison contained within this rune….by cutting your thumb and placing it over the rune, your blood will combine with the Oath Poison and enter your body…this is a Rank 3 Oath Poison, meaning that it can instantly kill a Rank 3 beast, a 3-Star Realm demon or a Qi Temple Realm Qi refiner…even those at a higher realm will be injured if they break the promise…"
Yaan frowned. It wasn't that he minded keeping this secret, but having the poison enter his body was a bit troubling…
Despite seeing his hesitation, Ghu Nadda wasn't at all bothered and waved his hand once more. An almost identical jade appeared, only the writing upon its surface was different.
'I hereby declare that the Poison Oath before Yaan can only be activated by breaking the oath himself. This Poison Oath will remain in effect until Yaan's Poison Oath is released.'
Without saying a word, Ghu Nadda cut his own thumb and pressed it onto the red rune. The rune glowed brightly for a moment, then absorbed nine drops of his blood. The rune combined the nine drops of blood with a single drop of Oath Poison, before seeing the mixture back into the wound.
Nadda trembled in pain for a few seconds, but he quickly relaxed and returned to normal after a short period of time.
Not waiting for Yaan to ask, Ghu Nadda immediately explained.
"A Poison Oath can be created by another person, but the oath is an agreement with the poison itself, not with the creator of the oath…there is no way for the poison to be activated unless the oath is broken…"
Yaan looked at Ghu Nadda deeply. By taking a Poison Oath of his own, Nadda had displayed his own trust in the Poison Oath, whilst also providing Yaan with reassurance that this oath was legitimately safe to use.
After some thought, Yaan bit his thumb, then placed it down on the blood rune. A scene identical to the one from earlier played out once again. Nine drops of blood filled the glowing rune before combining with the Oath Poison and then returning to his body. A sharp pain shot through his body, but it faded over the next few seconds and soon enough, he felt completely fine.
Yaan closed his eyes and sensed his condition. He could feel that an illusory drop of poison was now sitting within his heart, but it was as if the droplet was just an illusion, unable to interfere with his body in any way. He determined that it would remain this way until it was either activated or dispelled.
Yaan wasn't blindly trusting this 'Poison Oath'. Over the past few months, he had studied formations and other strange contraptions, so he was able to roughly understand the overall effect of this rune. This Poison Oath was harmless, so long as the oath was not broken.
On top of that, there really was no reason for Ghu Nadda to poison him sneakily like this…Ghu Nadda was at the Qi Palace Realm, he could easily kill Yaan whenever he wanted to. With his background, he would at most be punished lightly.
Most importantly though, Yaan felt like the risk was worth the information. Since Ghu Nadda was being so serious that he was even willing to take a Poison Oath himself, it could only mean one thing…
"Yaan, I want you to join the next exploration of the inheritance…if you join as an official Ghu Clan Guest, then you will be considered part of the main group…not like those used as bait to pave the way for everyone else…"
Yaan's eyes lit up, it was as he expected! However, his response was calm and showed his caution.
"But surely with my cultivation level, it will be far too dangerous? And how could I hope to earn anything with Ghu Clan powerhouses all around me?"
The ghoul smiled and shook his head.
"There's a limit for entering this inheritance site; below Rank 5….as for Spirit Core and Demon Core Realm powerhouses, they are also restricted…their core is actually removed from their dantian upon entry…! Usually, this would result in death…but this inheritance is too mysterious, so they simply fall back down to the stage below…"
Yaan sucked in a big breath in shock. Just what sort of method was that? He had never heard of such a thing! For a Spirit Core Realm powerhouse, having their core destroyed meant certain death! If not immediately, they would definitely not be able to hold on for longer than a few more years at most, with their strength rapidly declining and their physical ageing accelerating by the day.
"What's even stranger is that they aren't injured at all…the cores are not even damaged…the cores are extracted perfectly from the dantian, appearing in the cultivator's palm…! They can even store their undamaged core and refine it later on. Like this, it is possible to gradually work back up to their previous stage of cultivation…of course, basically nobody is willing to sacrifice their realm just to enter an inheritance…"
The more Yaan heard, the more shocked he became.
"Then what about lower realm Qi refiners…and body temperers?"
Ghu Nadda had expected him to ask. He grinned ghoulishly, then spoke through his dry grey lips.
"Aside from the extremely low atmospheric energy density, lower realm cultivators aren't suppressed at all…in fact, 4-Star Realm body temperers, are unaffected by the inheritance, they retain their full strength…! Unfortunately, such people are too rare…there were only two I know of in the past, but they both ended up dying within after entering numerous times each…"
Yaan became silent for a while as he seriously pondered all of this new information.
After a few moments, his eyes lit up and he looked up at Ghu Nadda with a disbelieving look.
"Is this the inheritance of a demonic body cultivator?!"
"It is." Ghu Nadda nodded. Seeing Yaan's excitement, he felt relieved. He wasn't sure if Yaan would be willing to take the risk, or if Yaan would even trust his words, but it seemed like the possibility alone was enough to entice him.
"What else do you know about the inheritance? Who's inheritance was it, how strong were they, what race were they, what did they leave behind, what-"
"Alright, wait a moment…" Ghu Nadda laughed. He had never seen Yaan so excited before, but it was perfectly understandable. With his dantian crippled, body tempering cultivation was his only option! This inheritance was basically a god send to Yaan!
In fact, it was such a ridiculously blessed coincidence, that later on, Yaan would come to feel sceptical that his luck could actually be so good…
Yaan rubbed his nose and calmed down after he realised that he had gotten slightly carried away there. He waited silently for Ghu Nadda to continue, but his heart beat didn't calm down at all.
"I don't know what race left behind this inheritance, but they were definitely a body temperer, based on the rewards inside…the trials also change every time, so it's impossible to plan ahead and predict the dangers…what I do know, is that in many areas, body temperers have always had an advantage over Qi refiners….also, it's possible to obtain the Fiend Transformation Technique within this inheritance…maybe, whoever left behind the inheritance, allowed low realm Qi refiners to enter, only because they still have a chance to switch their path…"
Yaan's eyes shone and he slowly nodded. After a while though, he sighed, shaking his head as he calmed down and thought about this rationally.
"But still, if your Ghu Clan has been trying to complete the inheritance for so long, yet still hasn't succeeded, what hope do we have? Also, I may be a demonic body cultivator, but I'm still too weak to contend against Qi Temple Realm cultivators."
"That's true…" The eery young man nodded and didn't deny it. "But there's still over two years remaining until the gate opens…I'm going to be increasing my operations, offering prizes to Qi Temple Realm and Spirit Core Realm participants in death matches in the arena…I have enough money, but not enough corpses…so long as my plan works, I should be able to reach the 4th Layer Qi Palace Realm before the inheritance opens…and for you, Yaan…if you agree to join the expedition as my guest, then just for these two and a half years, I'll increase your cut to 1.5% and your bonus to 15%…"
Yaan's eyes widened. He mulled it through, but there really wasn't much to think about. He knew it would be dangerous, however…
Wasn't the life of a demon destined to be addled with danger and adversity? If he backed down from such an incredible opportunity, he didn't deserve to call himself a demon!