Chapter 93: Into the Poison Valley

I inspected the flute as much as I could, besides the small grooves of jade and beautiful designs, there was nothing inside it that would explain why it could influence other animals. No inscriptions and no source of power or energy. This thing was strange.

I kept the flute on my person as I went to check up on the kid and the two girls with him.

"Any injuries?" I asked as I looked at the abashed group of kids.

"A few scratches and some bruises, Han'Er has  a broken rib though, she can't continue forward, I think we'll stay near the exit of the Lord's Tomb until she heals." The kid said, but worry was clear on his face.

"Here you go kid," I said as I threw him a pill bottle.

"Damn, old man, the last pill you gave me brought with it some trouble, now a whole bottle, heck If this wasn't healing pills I say you are tempting fate to kill me." The kid said smilingly, though I understood that he meant it as a joke I failed to understand the meaning.

"If you don't want it, I'll take it back," I said as I  showed him my hand.

"No, no! we're really in need of these, here, Han'Er, Xue'er," he said and he handed the girls a pill each that they ate and sat meditating.

"I'm in your debt Shen Bao, I'll make sure to repay this favor when I can." the kid said.

I waved my hand in dismissal, "Don't worry about it." Still, I was impressed as I looked at the group.

'Han'Er and Xue'Er, the suffix at the end mean a close person, family? Perhaps even lover If it's the latter, damn, this kid can pull.' I grinned a the kid and turned to leave.

"Are you leaving, uncle Shen Bao?" the kid asked.

"Yes, I still have a mission to do."

"Right, the Rose." The kid replied.

I frowned, "To be honest I actually understand now how privacy could help a lot, that damn Tarta'Ghoul should have relayed the mission to me in private.

"I guess it's payback for you having peeped at his daughter."

"Heck, kid, you think I look like a creepy old peeping tom?"

"Actually, you have an evil expression to you, so I wouldn't deny it."

"Courting death aren't you!" I said feigning anger.

The kid held both his hands "I apologize, I'll never do it again!" he said also feigning apology, the kid was nice and had a good air about him.

"Hope to see you later, train well, and train hard," I said then I headed towards the Poison Valley. The map that Tarta'Ghoul gave me had clear indications of where the Valley would be, and I'm not that far.

I jumped on my flying sword and had it fly forward towards the valley. If even that little kid knows where I'm going, then it's definitely a certainty that those from Vitra'Ghoul's side already know it.

Vitra'Ghoul would definitely have a lot of people shoving their faces into danger to get the Black Nether Rose for him, and I'm already late because I was playing around with the Sky Pearl I have for an eye now. So I'll need to hurry up.

I infused more poison Qi into my sword and my speed increased exponentially. I raced through the trees, small monsters, and even away from shocked cultivators who shouted for me to halt but I ignored them, as long as they cannot catch up to me, there was no need for me to stop and measure dick size with them.

An hour later, the forest darkened, as it seemed that nighttime has come and imposed itself on this domed prison that's called Lord's Tomb. I removed the eyepatch on my fake eye, and the Sky Pearl shone as it began translating the view and sending uninterrupted input into my brain that translated it automatically into images.

Nothing seemed to be in the vicinity, but some heat signatures of creatures hidden under the ground or within the trees gave me a sense of prudence. Many monsters have been hiding within this jungle-like area and were hard to spot with mere sight, unless one used their divine sense they wouldn't spot them. 

My sight caught the silhouette of a few cultivators that were going at a full sprint towards the valley, there were more than twenty of them and they raced to the valley as their lives depended on it.

I urged my sword to take a roundabout way and keep moving, though I could have flown high and unimpeded by the numerous trees, I'll be an easy shot to any cultivator with a ranged spell and good aim. I'd rather remain within cover and move than be a sitting duck to anyone with extra Qi.

After a while, I noticed five of the twenty split up and head towards me, though they were sprinting, I was amazed that they could actually keep up with me if they put their minds to it. 

This was bad, they definitely noticed me and I needed to increase the gap or I'll be caught in a fight I don't want to have.

The five that split from the group had three demons and two cultivators among them, easy to identify due to the massive heat signatures the demon horns projected in the night.

But thankfully there were behind me and I only needed to stall them.

I spat a gout of Joyful Smoke behind me, there was no need to use any poison too toxic for them, I don't want to kill people just because I can, there is no enmity or hostility between us yet so I'll have them enjoy a good whiff of High.

The group behind me immediately stopped once they encountered the poisonous cloud, one of them eve used a talisman to block the gas, but another shouted at him, I could clearly hear it even as I widened the gap, that the second person told the first who used the talisman it was a waste and this was not a harmful poison.

The group picked up their pace but I had long since gone off their divine sense range. If I continued at this rate I should arrive at the Poison Valley and have half an hour head start, but that won't be much especially if the Poison Valley was as dangerous as Tarta'Ghoul had said. 

A couple of hours later I arrived at the entrance of the Poison Valley, and as its name suggested, it was a Valley of death. Skeletons of dead animals, creatures, and even humans and demons littered the place.

Evil Qi propagated in the place and seeped through the dark plants and trees like a pervasive gaseous substance, it was so thick that one could even see the evil Qi with one's eye.

This is a great area to cultivate Yin energy. Though I'll never be able to cultivate it due to my inability to cultivate the world's natural energy, it would be an amazing place for a demonic or Devil Cultivator aside from me.

I continued flying through the valley that had two wide cliffs acting as walls inside it. The cliffs would usually be split by a massive wall in the middle that led to two different paths and even these paths would be split again, it was like a maze, and without the map from Tarta'Ghoul, I'd have a hard time finding the Black Nether Rose.

After a few twists and turns, I met my first hurdle, blood bats, so many of them in fact that trying to fight them is nothing more than suicide.

I spat another breath of Joyful Weed at the bats and dashed in between them. I could have used a more powerful poisonous substance but it would not be beneficial to me. For two reasons, the first is I would actually kill many of the bats and that would be bad because their corpses would make it obvious for anyone who was chasing after me to know where I passed. The second thing is, why make it easier for the ones following me? If the blood bats are stoned for a few moments they'll regain their baring fast, and be ruder to the ones perusing me as I'll have already gone past them.

Soon after my poison cloud washed over the batts, they fell gurgling and struggling some even hissed and squealed but none looked to be on the verge of death, they'll soon be able to rid themselves of the Joyful Weed effect. 

I continued flying forward and grabbed a few plants that were growing on the side of the canyon, it would be a waste not to take these plants as they were toxic and spiritual in nature and could work great in making pills and concoctions.

As I continued forward I met several other monsters and demonic creatures, snakes that coiled around dead trees, scorpions that dove through the ground like it was mud, and toads that croaked and tried to take me out with their fast, sound barrier-breaking tongues.

I didn't want to waste time with these creatures so I escaped whenever I had the chance and avoided battles I didn't need to take, I'm not some main character in a story, and wasting time-fighting these things would only end up exhausting me. I'm not too proud to think I'll be saved by some stupidly bad scripted divine plot armor, I'll need to make the best of my current situation and avoid any circumstance that proves of no value to me or my current objective.

Life is easy to lose, especially in a cultivation world, and there is a fine line between cowardice and prudence. Once I was away from the massive numbers of creatures inhabiting the valley, I found the location of the Black Nether rose. It was a cave that was carved inside one of the walls of the valley. A few trees were covering the entrance but it was obvious to anyone who can use a divine sense.

The cave didn't seem to be hard to access, and all the trouble Tarta'Ghoul had said about getting the Rose seemed unfounded. I mean, the few creatures would be a hassle but with dedication and a few well-trained people one could easily go beyond them, so why couldn't they get the rose?

My question was immediately answered as I noticed a creature peering from within the trees that were the cave's entrance, I was lucky enough to be behind cover and hid from the creature's sight. 

It was a massive toad, with several pustules and growing bulges of poisonous liquid that squirmed above its skin. The toad was ugly to behold, and it croaked with might strong enough that I feared my eardrums were about to burst.

This is a Sixth-grade demonic beast! Damn you, demon king, you never said anything about a sixth Grade Demonic beast!