Poison God's Heritage

"What the hell is he talking about?" Law asked.

I held my finger up and said, "One moment let me hear."

The man in the projection was terrified. But he still explained, "That which you hear, is the sound of its offspring. The real thing is far deadlier. We on our home planet, have lived for ages. A utopia is what we created, where all life's most desirable things are available for all. From cultivation materials to knowledge of Dao, to the path of ascension.

We have climbed through the ranks of cultivation so much that some of us dared think of ourselves as gods…"

The man's words continued, speaking of terrors that we haven't seen yet, but terrors that lived in his eyes still.

"Our path toward the peak of cultivation was smooth, and we have engineered ways to assist everyone to climb. We disdained riches and the material. And did our best to help those who wish to take the steps to cultivate from the day they were born. But, one of us… a man who's forever cursed for his greed knew no bounds. He tampered with the Laws of life itself.

He stole the Heavenly Dao and incorporated it into a living organism. Which became alive, a creature that first looked like a man, who soon showed that it was nothing short of a devil spawn. It began by killing, slaughtering, murdering, and soon by consuming the flesh and souls of our people."

The man had tears dripping down his face as he recounted these events. "It was far too late. When we figured it out, he had already slaughtered millions of lives to achieve a stage that even his creator couldn't reach. He then consumed his own creator, taking the knowledge of the stolen Heavenly Dao.

By doing so, he was able to split himself into innumerable parts which would latch onto a living organism, grow inside them then once they were done growing, they would explode from within their bodies, creating a new life form that was disdained by the heavens themselves."

Another soul-wrenching scream echoed and the door behind the man shook. The creature which these people were running away from was apparently on this vessel. And it was hunting them.

"Our planet which was once prosperous and advanced, fell in less than a full rotation around its sun. the spawn of the Fallen God had grown to an extent that they couldn't be stopped or controlled. If they were to meet a river, they'd drink it all, if they were to see crops they'd eat it all, and if they were to see cultivators, they'd consume them and breed more of themselves.

They would eat and grow stronger by the day, evolving into the most atrocious forms. Until there was nothing left in our world."

"This vessel," he said with a long sigh, "We gathered around, those of us who dabbled in alchemy and craftsmanship to make this material," he said as he showed a small cube in his hand."

Soulsteel…

"We used it to build this vessel. It is an unholy creation, but it came at the cost of desperation. This metal takes in soul power to create. And it helped us block and fend off these fiends since they cannot break through it no matter how long or how much they try. It was our only bastion, and many lives were sacrificed creating and perfecting it.

It is easy to shape and transform, it only needs one to inject their soul into it and it will morph to the will of the user. And since these creatures have no souls, they couldn't affect it or break it. It is weaker and softer than gold, but against the soulless, it is stronger than the chains of hell itself.

Our last bastion, our bastion of hope was hidden away from these creatures, we tried our best to survive there, and wait them out until they died since they had consumed everything in our world. We thought that they would die out from hunger and starvation, only for us to realize our mistake.

They outlasted us.

They had evolved in a way that allowed them to start harvesting the heavenly Qi. Thus were able to sustain themselves with just Qi. Then, the terror began when they learned how they could break through our walls, they didn't need to go against it, they merely used humans they caught, mind-controlled them, and made them open the walls to our bastion.

We fought desperately, our last stand until we managed to enclose a group of the ones that invaded our bastion and separated ourselves from them."

The man then displayed another projection.

Looking at it, I was given a glimpse of what they had suffered through. From a bird's viewpoint, I was able to see a massive shelled dome. The dome itself was gold in color and seemed to be alive. It moved and spiraled around itself. The dome was at the peak of a gigantic mountain far bigger than anything I had seen before.

The mountain itself was high, and around it were vast swaths of land that were constantly on fire. Forests had burnt and turned to ash, and even the ash itself seemed to smolder once more. The atmosphere had broken, and the world itself from just what we could see felt like it was dying.

Tens of millions of white creatures were climbing the mountains, and around them, billions more, enough that they would cover the entire land beside the enflamed areas.

They were all moving toward that peak, where the last people of that world lived.

These creatures… even I have a hard time describing them. It was a form of exquisite terror. Jagged spikes jutted out from its body like frozen stalactites. Its skin was icy white, shimmering against all sources of light and reflecting against them. Their organs could be seen as the only coloration inside them was the fading red of consumed prey.

After all, they were transparent if not for the light that reflected against them.

Their eyes were blue, the color of the frigid death. And their movement was that of an eerie predatorial grace. Each step left behind a mark of ice, they were quadrupedal, and on each foot, they had three toes up front and one at the back for balance, they were quite taller than a man. At least twice in height, as for the length they were more than four times that the length of a man.

They were all in a hunched position as they prowled the prairies and the land.

They stood on four legs and used them to march forward, while their arms were tucked under their chests like that of a praying mantis. As for its back, it had one protruding tail that seemed to extend and shorten subconsciously as it swayed around for balance.

The head of these creatures reminded me of xenomorphs, a long sleek skull that extended in a cone behind it. It had several holes on the side where the air would constantly vibrate creating a steam-like vapor and at the same time a soul-wrenching screech.

As for its mouth… it had a jaw that could dislocate itself from the mouth. Which I saw as they were carrying half-dead people, who were struggling to get out of their grips.

These hostages had one role, and it was to be used to open the dome.

Once they opened the dome, they'd be nothing but appetizers for the horde outside.

But the dome remained shut as more cultivators desperately used their own souls to stop the dome from opening.

The creatures tried desperately to bring the caught humans to the dome, only for the dome to blast the humans to bits. Since if they got them close enough, they'll open it. And if they were to die, they'd both rest in peace and keep the safety of the dome and its last occupants. However, these creatures were cunning.

Proven with what they did next.

A long screech echoed through the frozen landscape. I wouldn't give it justice by saying it was terrorizing. It was far, far worse. It builds up in intensity until it crescendos into a high-pitched shriek that cuts ripples across the very fabric of space itself.

That was one shout, far louder than the combined screech of the entire species. And it was all it took for all of them to suddenly stop. They didn't move when they were blasted to pieces, didn't move when they were slaughtered or killed, they just stood still like statues.

Then another screech echoed, sharp and discordant like the grinding of rocks together filled the field. And everywhere, the skulls of these beings began vibrating, shooting outwards torrents of frigid smoke that covered the entire mountain.

Hiding them from sight and view. They moved through the veil of the frigid smoke and planted a man next to the dome. Opening it wide for them to enter.