Nine Venoms Sect Founder

The next morning, while the Spiritual Wood Puppets cleaned the banquet's mess, Harun drove the clan into maximum cultivation mode. Harun didn't fear exposing the System World to the Birusk clansmen, but aiming to keep the entrance as a reward for the most outstanding or meritorious, Harun set up six Toxic Ascension Roads across the clan, using them to train all his clansmen.

And so time flew by. As the sect's main crafter, refiner and alchemist, Harun had a tremendous amount of work to do, which hampered his own cultivation. In the early stages of his faction, that much was inevitable. To minimize his time consumption, Harun ignored treasure refining. Be it from his reserves or the Vermilion Brides' treasury, Harun didn't lack in treasures suitable for his faction's current needs. Instead, he just added poisons where needed.

Across the following three years, Harun produced a plethora of pills for his sect, and freed 60 square meters of ground to bury the carcasses of countless beasts and bandit corpses to produce a steady supply of Yin Essence. The Vermilion Brides helped secure the supply, while also keeping him informed of all matters, small or large, related to the Dark Stone Country.

Yin Essence primarily came from souls. Dead souls produced more than living souls, and the more resentful the fallen soul, the more extreme the Yin produced. The Extreme Yin Prison, for example, was the result of an ancient war belonging to the lost part of the Heavenly Dream Land's history. As for why females typically possessed more yin than yang, this was due to their higher attunement to the Soul Realm—a matter for another time.

Where the dead gathered, resentful souls followed. Three years of accumulation enabled Harun's graveyard to produce Lesser Yin Essence. Compared to his Decaying Flower and Inner Cultivation Room, it wasn't worth mentioning. However, the Essence grew purer and more extreme with time—showing great promise. The day-night balance across the Birusk clan's one square kilometers of land shifted. Regardless of seasons, days became shorter, and nights longer. But the clansmen didn't care, for their Lord's golden light had long become the only radiance they relied on.

Still, dozens of Luminous Pearls now floated in the village—brightening it at night. The relentless pill refining not only enabled Harun to build a vast stockpile but also brought his refinement skills to the eighth-star grade, enabling him to produce resources of Celestial-Knight-level without much trouble—granted he had the resources—he did.

Beneath the Birusk clan's soil, a blessed-grade cultivation vein condensed, and made fast progress toward the treasure grade. To not disappoint their Lord's expectations, the clansmen spent their time between cultivation and breeding new children for the clan. So great was their determination that Harun had to remind them to enjoy the occasional banquet.

The three lucky stars proved to be a formidable source of luck-gathering, and a Lunar God Flower bloomed in the Birusk clan's field, further pushing the balance to the Yin side, while also providing exquisite Lunar and Greater Yin Essence. Harun moved the plant to his Soul Gathering Graveyard, hastening the Yin growth.

Not one man slacked off. All worked in concerted efforts, and moved by the Birusk clan's devotion and determination, Gulseni gradually became more accepting of her fate. As a celestial, she often cultivated on top of Perfect Spirit Trees, transforming their flawless Spiritual Qi into Heavenly Qi. Mukri focused on mastering his Devil Essence, and Jiyan, well…she crossed the Toxic Ascension Road in one week, reaching the peak of the First Step.

The Second Step was divided into four stages: Yin-Refining, Soul-Exalting, Inner Truth, and Tri-Yin Core. With free access to Harun's Inner Cultivation Room, Jiyan refined the finest Greater Yin Essence and reached the soul-exalting stage in three years. Fortunately, Harun kept up with her speed, completing the Third Step. At the end of the third year, Harun's focus shifted to his personal growth, leaving the clan's micromanagement to Gulseni and Jiyan, who also learned alchemy and the plaguebringer craft from him.

Throughout the following years, besides completing more steps for the Myriad Poisons Bridge, cultivating Sovereign Essence, mysteries, and honing his control of the Mythical Idol Incarnation's abilities, Harun created several techniques—mainly relying on the mnemonics of the Art of the Decaying Flower and Jiyan's Chained Sword Sutra to evolve arts and abilities suitable for his faction. Oftentimes, he'd merge his mind with Jiyan's, and when the two worked in symbiosis, they achieved five times the results with half the effort.

Thus, 12 years flew by. A total of 15 years since the banquet. Turbulent winds disturbed the Dark Stone Country as, thanks to the propaganda of the top sects, Mehran's reputation dropped to abysmal levels. From commoners to nobles, all cursed him.

Jiyan reached the peak of the Inner-Truth stage and completed her Dao Foundation. On cultivation alone, she could match a late-stage Celestial Knight. But having mastered her Devil Essence and a new secret art, her true strength was hard to fathom. At the very least, she didn't lose to her past celestial strength. No, she surpassed that level already.

On average, each of the Birusk clan's households produced four children. The villagers' numbers soared to 350, with 315 becoming fully fledged cultivators. 173 reached Organ-Quenching, 95 reached Blood-Quenching, 31 reached Bone-Quenching, 16 completed the First Step, with the 3 lucky stars, Zoran, Cildar and Gulik, standing at the helm. The remaining 45 were either flesh-quenching kids, or babies that'd yet to start cultivating, and weren't counted in the outer sect.

From a poverty-stricken hamlet, the Birusk clan now rose to an affluent neighborhood of magnificent stone buildings, with 120 Spiritual Wood Puppets, each with the efficiency of ten veteran workers, handling all manual labor in perfect coordination.

Resources abounded.

Facilities filled the streets.

The clan ground and cultivation veins reached the Treasure-grade.

The weakest of the outer disciples could defeat Daoist Realm experts, while the 19 strongest could slay Celestial Kin. And the sect master aside, three experts above the Celestial Knight Realm held the fort. Now, across the First Range, unless the top experts all left the base, none could threaten the Birusk clan.

A youth sat crossed-legged on a sky-blue redwood's branch. Purple mist swirled around his form alongside emerald-green and pitch-black haze. The youth looked about 18, with medium-length black hair tied in a laid back ponytail. His pale-white skin shone under the multicolor haze, with the corners of his black robe fluttering slightly. A silver-blue moon tattoo stood at the middle of his forehead, reminding all of his identity.

"Congratulations, boss, on completing the second quest! Reward time!" The system's voice echoed in Harun's mind, his lips curled into a lopsided grin, a dark-blue Dharma Protector took shape at his back, and his eyes sprang open.

Releasing the pressure of his aura, Harun stretched out his arms, watching the result of his 15 years of hard work from over 100 meters of altitude.

"Nine Venoms, an inherited line of Nine Plague Lords, each pushing an aspect of the Myriad Poisons Bridge to the limits—all starting with and returning to my Ancestral Venom.

Each of the Nine Venoms shall represent an eternal pillar of the sect, and an inheritance in its own right.

That being the case, I suppose there's no harm in calling us...the Nine Venoms Sect."