Pathway

"Uh?"

Jufeng uttered after he was taken aback by the sudden question. Coupled with the fact that he was still feeling a little bit groggy as he recovered from the damage sustained from the impact of the collision back in the arena.

Asura? A demiG.o.d? He never knew he resembled a demiG.o.d. Could it be his looks? But surely, it couldn"t be his aura. It was just recently that he reached the zhuji stage of immortal cultivation. Even immortal nascent soul cultivators didn"t have the same aura as demiG.o.ds. Oh, how he wished that could be true about him. An Asura, just like his mother? Surely, his life would have been much more easier.

Jufeng quickly gathered himself together and tried to mask his confused expression as he put on an appreciative smile.

"Thank you for saving me?"

"There"s no honor or glory in being suicidal, Asura."

With his gaze that was displaying annoyance, fully fixed on Jufeng, the demiG.o.d continued.

"We all seek glory here but not in a senseless manner."

"I"m not trying to get myself killed, by the way."

"Pff, If you are not carelessly courting death, then, why are you partic.i.p.ating in the Eternal-legacy?"

"Eternal-legacy? The rite of glory?"

Jufeng asked in surprise as his stomach churned in primal fear.

"So, are you telling me you are just realizing that now?"

The demiG.o.d shook his head lightly as he examined something on the floor.

"That"s a mockery of the rest of us, you know. Or don"t you realize that?"

Jufeng looked at the demiG.o.d but he couldn"t find any word in response. He recalled the words of uncle Primus to his mother before she attended the rite of pa.s.sage for the demiG.o.ds. About a deadly demiG.o.d"s trial that happened in a dimensional place of s.p.a.cetime known as the Deathkeep. A trial so dangerous that it would take thousands of years for the young demiG.o.ds to prepare before being approved for the trials. Even with that, there was no a.s.surance of them surviving the trials.

Eternal-legacy. The rite of glory.

The extremely dangerous customary act designed for all young, coming of age, demiG.o.ds. Partic.i.p.ating demiG.o.ds would have to do battle in the Deathkeep arena where they would be eliminated, one by one. Any demiG.o.d that stepped outside or thrown out of the arena, would be eliminated from the first trial. No eliminated demiG.o.d could get back into the arena until it was all done and only one was left.

The champion, the last remaining demiG.o.d in the arena, would get the Dew of Heavens and a token. The token was a pa.s.s to the first tunnel which contained more treasures and lesser amount of danger. He would also be having a period of time ahead of the other demiG.o.ds to look for the Sacredcrest stones, as an advantage over them.

The Sacredcrest stones were used to exchange for a universal gift. The universal gifts were the divine traits bestowed on the demiG.o.ds after the conclusion of the trials of the rite of pa.s.sage. The Sacredcrest stones would be presented after the conclusion of the rite of pa.s.sage at the valley of G.o.ds.

The rules and regulations of the eternal-legacy were set in stone by the laws of creation. They couldn"t be altered or changed by any living ent.i.ty. All must follow the rules.

This trial was a great benefit to true demiG.o.ds from the dimensional plane between the mortal plane and heavenly plane. Though, it"s more closer to the heavenly plane. True, there were demiG.o.ds all over the mortal plane, but the true demiG.o.ds resided in this dimensional plane.

The Lumence dimensional plane. The home of the true demiG.o.ds.

There were five realms in this dimensional plane and each realm was made up of a different kingdom of demiG.o.ds. Every ten thousand years, young demiG.o.ds from these five realms that were seeking heavenly glory in the Eternal-legacy sojourn, would be sent to the Deathkeep. The young demiG.o.ds would have to fully prepare and must be approved by their respective gathering of elders.

The Deepflow realm which was the home of the Yaksha demiG.o.ds.

The Windglade realm belonging to the Rakshasa demiG.o.ds.

The Crystalsky realm, the place where the Laksha demiG.o.ds called home.

The Frozenfire realm that served as the habitat of the Asura demiG.o.ds.

And the Cloudfall, home of the Deva demiG.o.ds.

Out of all the kingdoms of demiG.o.ds, only the Asuras fully resembled human mortals. They also had no remarkable birth marks a.s.sociated with other demiG.o.ds.

"Mm. So, that"s why he thought I was an Asura."

Jufeng thought to himself as he examined his body for any sign of lingering injuries. He had sustained serious injuries back then, but right now, he couldn"t find traces of them any longer.

"I had to fix you up since I couldn"t bear the look."

"I"m very grateful for everything. I really thank you. My name is Jufeng in case you are wondering."

"Mm."

Jufeng changed the path of the discussion when he noticed the eyes of the boy were still locked on him with all seriousness.

"I guess I was out for a time."

"Obviously."

With a softer gaze, the boy still sitting in the lotus position, continued to observe Jufeng.

"Why did you have to come here, Asura? Why did they even allowed you to come here?"

He shook his head before turning towards the arena.

"I don"t understand. You could have died in there had I not saved you, you know. Despite the fact that I"m a Laksha and you are an Asura, I still save your live. Do you know why? Because, you reminded me of an Asura I met, many a year ago. I was in a difficult situation back then too...."

The young Laksha demiG.o.d trailed off as the memories of the past kept flooding in. Jufeng, noticing the change, quickly quipped in.

"Don"t forget, we all have our teleportation seals. We can leave at anytime if we are in danger."

He still remembered the details from the words of uncle Primus and decided to raise it maybe it could make a difference.

"Mm. Still, you shouldn"t be here, Asura. I know the one who attacked you was a Terra Deva, nevertheless, no demiG.o.d here should take injuries like that from his blow. Do you know how long I was locked in combat with him for? Many hours, trading blows with him before I was eventually out of the arena. I would have entered back if I could but that"s the past now. Do you know what I come to realize while I was trying to patch you up?"

He turned his attention back to Jufeng.

"You are far from being ready for this. Your soul is weak and your body is even weaker. Forgive me Asura, but I"m finding it really hard to believe that you have trained for a thousand years talkless of ten thousand."

Thousand years? He wasn"t even more than ten years old. Was that a joke on him or on the Laksha demiG.o.d?

"You are right. I haven"t trained for that long and I truly shouldn"t be here."

"Even with our teleportation talismans, they are only useful, if we are alive long enough to use them. Unless you have a large amount of life saving talismans, which I doubt, you will simply die."

As they were talking, a loud chiming sound went off which indicated the end of the arena trial. It would soon be the time for them to enter the tunnels for the Sacredcrest stones and other treasures.

The Laksha demiG.o.d gave him a sympathetic look.

"If I were you, I wouldn"t enter the tunnels. You don"t want to rely on other Asura demiG.o.ds. In there, it"s all demG.o.d to himself or herself. Others might not be that kind to you as I am. But, if you decide to enter the tunnels, please, don"t get in my way."

"I will be heading towards the mountains, the tunnels are not for me."

"Your choice."

The Laksha produced a silver-grey longsword made from the rare thorne steel, out of his spatial sac and offered it to Jufeng. Thorne steel contained chromium, nickel and vanadium.

"I noticed your sword was shattered. Take this sword, though it has no core, there"s a sharpness runes embedded in it. It was forged by my father"s own hands. Consider this a gift from me to you."

He appeared to be in thought before continuing.

"Fang Zedong, that"s my name."

"Thank you Fang Zedong."

Jufeng cupped his hands and gave a curt nod.

"Be watchful of the armored critters. Remember, demiG.o.ds do die. Farewell, Asura Jufeng."

"Farewell. Laksha Fang Zedong."

Jufeng watched Fang Zedong blurred towards the arena before turning his attention towards the longsword he just recieved. Despite not having mystical core, the sword was made from the finest thorne steel. The craft work on it could only have been made by a master Swordsmith. The runes of sharpness also indicated a master Soulforger. He couldn"t contained his joy knowing the sword now belonged to him. To him, this was a perfect sword.

He heaved it in his hand and performed some sword moves. It was of the right feel. Now off to the scattered mountains to find the mystic order.

As he headed towards the mountain, he noticed many blurred afterimages streaking past him and heading towards the opened tunnels. The many numbers of demiG.o.ds that had been eliminated from the arena were now going for the tunnels.

He could only observe and shook his head in silence knowing that some of them might not even return. How happy he was that he wasn"t heading in the same direction as them.
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After the streaking figures were gone, he looked at the scattered mountains in the far distance. Hoping to reach them on time, he decided to make haste. Jufeng started using the quicksteps as he made his way to the first of the scattered mountains. Nearing the base of the mountain, he slowed down and approached cautiously.

He saw what looked like a loose boulder with bright glitters on it at the other side of the rocky mountain. He was trying to examine it with a strained eyes, when a voice sounded near him.

"That"s a mountain critter."

A young human girl materialized out of the thin air beside him and streaked off towards the tunnels before he could say anything. Going by what he had recently learned, she must be an Asura demiG.o.d.

"Thanks."

Jufeng shouted to her disapperaing back. He hadn"t seen a critter before. He switched to his spiritual sight and saw the death aura coming from the critter. Not wanting to attract unwanted attention to himself, he quickly adjusted his steps. He went round the other side of the mountain towards the white patterned mountain at the far distance.

As he finally arrived near the patterned mountain, he approached it cautiously, wary of any lurking danger.

After waiting for quite a time at the base of the mountain and didn"t hear or noticed anything out of place, he proceeded towards the place on the mountain where the sealed opening was located. He put the talisman given to him by the tree on the spot of the sealed opening which allowed him entrance through the invisible opening.

As a zhuji cultivator, his eyes were fairly sharper than before and he could see more clearer in darkness. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jufeng saw a black narrow pa.s.sage with runic inscriptions in front of him. He touched the black pa.s.sage and inspected it more closely.

"Black diamond."

Jufeng muttered to himself.

Black was one of the various colors of a valuable type of rock stone known as carbonado. Although it was one of the hardest rock stones in the universe and extremely precious, its true value lied in its ability to contain defensive runes. Carbonado was one of the two known types of rock stones that could take the Total-Fortress runic inscriptions without dissipating. The other being the emerald-cloud stone.

Extremely rich cultivators used it to build safe rooms containing their treasures vaults.

For it to be used here with runic inscriptions that he suspected to be defensive runes made the situation clearer to him. Whoever made this measures was either trying to keep something much more larger from getting out or going in. But he had the notion that it must be to keep something big from getting out. This was an ancient mountain without a shadow of a doubt.

The pa.s.sage was about big enough for him to squeeze through. He managed to drag himself forward, though slowly, for a few yards before he finally exited into an open s.p.a.ce facing a large tunnel. With the look of the tunnel, it was leading downward in a spiral.

He removed the new silver sword that the demiG.o.d, Fang Zedong, gave him and examined the tunnel and the darker path that winded downward to the unknown.

This illusion was already a danger to his life. He had nearly died inside the heavens" forsaken arena and now, he was having a sense of alarm of him walking in the shadows of death. He didn"t like the idea of him getting used to it. If he continued living like this, he could die without him knowing he was dead.

"From the shadows of death, straight to the light of reincarnation."

He was only ten. He only joined a sect recently and yet to achieve any meaningful thing in his life.

"No. I"m too young to die."

He shook his head and contemplated turning back now that he was still alive. Life was too precious to throw away, reincarnation or not.

It was at this time that reality dawned on him and he knew that come what may, he couldn"t turn back.

The urge of knowing the unknown was simply too much for him to ignore. The free life to explore the wider expanse. He knew the immensely inevitable dangers that were seeking his death from the time of his birth. He knew the extreme dangers of looking for the things hidden. But, he was who he was.

An adventurer.

A soft sigh of resignation escaped from him. He looked at himself and the sword he was holding and smiled.

"At least, I have a better sword."

In that, there was comfort but he needed to be extra careful all the same.

He entered the more darker tunnel and paused in order for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A source of light would have been a welcome sight but it could also put him in the spotlight. He continued to follow the downward path of the tunnel slowly but steadily as it was much better in navigating the darkness.

Some meters downward, the spiralling tunnels stopped and Jufeng could now see a levelled open area that led to another three tunnels. There were lunar bugs that were giving off a faint light, scattered all over this area. These were delicacies. Though they were not magical, they were of excellent taste as lunar grubs. He was inclined to pick up some but decided against it. That could be a terrible idea in a place like this.

Thinking, he was beginning to notice that the layouts inside the mountain were more than that of average tunnels.

He could easily get lost while looking for the mystic order talkless of getting killed by whatever monster was down there. Better than the Eternal-legacy tunnels, anyways. What did they called the spiders in those tunnels again? Yes, nephilia spiders and critters. Wouldn"t be too nice to be eaten by those. What about the ancient killers, the Death-Eaters. How many demiG.o.ds they had killed in those tunnels.

No. Even thinking about was already making his heart palpitated.

Jufeng entered the first tunnel and found himself inside a dense black mist. Realizing that he was beginning to loose consciousness, he quickly retraced his steps back into the lunar-bug lighted area. That was a scary experience. He wouldn"t be going back inside that one for sure.

The second tunnel, he would try. He entered it slowly and after walking for several minutes, he found himself looking at a wide area of chanels of water streams. Walking cautiously along a channel of stream, he found a radiance coming from a part of the stream. Upon closer look, he discovered that it was coming from a small orb-like source in the shallow stream.

"Waterglade."