Poison God's Heritage Chapter 854 Afterward

Chapter 854 Afterward

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking against the soft light filtering into the room. My body felt heavy, the kind of weariness that comes after an intense fight and even more intense recovery. My limbs ached, a dull reminder of the poison overload, the countless uses of Monochrome, and the mental strain that had nearly torn me apart. Yet, despite all of that, my body felt… well-rested.

For a moment, I forgot where I was, the blissful silence after the chaos of battle allowing me to forget.

I had slept. Actually slept. As a cultivator, that was something we rarely did—usually opting for meditation to restore energy and balance—but somehow, I had succ.u.mbed to real sleep. A deep, satisfying sleep that had carried me away from the burdens of war. And yet, I knew it wouldn't last.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pushed myself upright. The bed beneath me was absurdly comfortable, the cus.h.i.+ons so soft it felt like I was sinking into a cloud. It was, without a doubt, the finest bed I had ever slept in—a far cry from the modest accommodations I had become accustomed to on the battlefield or through my ventures in both the Vast Expanse and the Beyond.

I looked around the room, realizing I was still alone. Liang Yu and YuYu were nowhere to be seen.

Strange. The two of them should have lingered after a night like the one we shared. They probably went out carrying some duties to attend to, I reasoned. After all, the councilor would need a lot of help managing the logistics after the orders I had given the previous day. And since the whole war is now over, they probably felt the need to a.s.sist no matter how little.

Still, I found it odd that they hadn't woken me before they left. I shrugged it off for now, knowing they had their own ways of handling things.

I rose from the bed, wincing as my body protested the movement. My muscles ached from overuse, and the ever-present headache throbbed behind my temples. Too much poison in my system, too much strain on my Qi, and definitely too much Monochrome. I'd have to take it easy for a while if I didn't want to collapse from sheer exhaustion.

As I dressed in my robes, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked like I had been through h.e.l.l and back. My hair was disheveled, my eyes a little bloodshot, and the faint shadows under my eyes spoke of sleepless nights filled with battle and well… dying once. But there was also something else in my reflection—a strange sense of relief. We had won, at least for now, and I was still alive.

I had made it through the storm, and though the headache reminded me of how close I had come to the brink, I was still standing.

I stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind me, only to find Tao Yang waiting for me in the hallway. She stood there with her arms crossed, her eyes gleaming with amus.e.m.e.nt. A wide grin stretched across her face as if she had been waiting for this exact moment.

"What?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at her suspiciously.

"Seems like you had a good night," she teased, her grin widening.

"Ah…" I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a twinge of embarra.s.sment creep in. I wasn't the type to get embarra.s.sed easily, but there was something about Tao Yang's smirk that made me feel like a schoolboy caught in the act.

"You guys were pretty loud," she continued, her voice dripping with amus.e.m.e.nt. "And two at the same time? Quite the stamina you have there, Shen Bao."

"Believe me," I groaned, shaking my head, "I got bullied. Hard. They ganged up on me."

Tao Yang laughed, the sound echoing through the corridor. "I never thought I'd hear you complain about something like that."

I rolled my eyes and s.h.i.+fted the conversation away from last night's activities. "What's the situation with the First Born?"

At the mention of business, Tao Yang's teasing smile faded, and she returned to her serious demeanor. "The Wisest Sun finally took some much-needed rest after maintaining the reactors. The bastion's reactors are functioning on their own now, though they'll need maintenance and a steady supply of Origin Qi crystals to keep the pressure on the First Born."

"Good," I said, walking down the hallway with her at my side. "But that doesn't solve the bigger problem. That thing is still up there, like a d.a.m.n sword hanging over our heads. We're not out of the woods yet."

"What do you plan to do about it?" she asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

"Testing," I muttered, running a hand through my hair. "A lot of it. I need a piece of that creature to study. We should have plenty of fragments left over from when we bombarded it with the tungsten rods… though thinking about how many of those rods were wasted still hurts."

I sighed as I remembered the huge loss, though most of them came from the pockets of the Cryptic Sun, it still hurts.

Tao Yang nodded. "Yes, the Suns managed to isolate several pieces, but since we don't know exactly what they're capable of, they destroyed a good portion and sealed off the rest in containment. The freaky part is, the fragments… well, they're still alive. Or at least, they act like they are."

"That's troubling," I said, frowning as I absorbed the information. "I'll handle it. But we have another problem, don't we?"

"What kind of problem?" Tao Yang asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

"The Bastion is running low on Qi. I'll need to build more reactors for it. I'll order the puppets at the Lord of Lords paG.o.da to start building some more."

"Actually," Tao Yang interjected, "the Blue Sun has already started working on that."

"She's already got the knowledge?" I asked, surprised by her quick action.

"Yes. After we thought you had… well, died, I sent her copies of the bastion's schematics. She's using them to reinforce the Sea of Demons and bolster our defenses there. And is currently making more reactors for the Bastion."

I sighed, a mix of relief and frustration bubbling up, "You did that in good faith, but you should ask for a better price for your people's culture if you're in need of exchanging it.

I'm not saying that what you did was wrong, in fact I'm thankful that you would do that for the Sea of Demons, but think of yourself more the next time," I said, "Also the Blue Sun would have just given you whatever you asked for regardless of the price," I said.

Tao Yang smiled softly, a flicker of grat.i.tude in her eyes. "I know. She even offered, but it didn't feel right to take anything in return. It was the least I could do."

"You're a good woman, Tao Yang," I said, patting her shoulder. "But don't undervalue what you bring to the table."

As we entered the main palace hall, I couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration. The entire s.p.a.ce was cluttered with piles of paperwork, and the councilor was running around like a headless chicken, trying to manage the chaos. Papers stacked higher than I could ever imagine, and the constant stream of messengers and aides made it impossible for anyone to focus on one task.

My head started throbbing again just from the sight of it.