The elders were surprised and shocked by the item in front of them that was called the Sinnughar core. Their facial expression was that of amazement, a complete display of wonderment as their gazes were fixed on the core. They had seen many items or artifacts before, heavenly and luminous treasures. Those were expected appearances with some degree of surprises. But this was a different thing entirely. What they were seeing wasn"t what they were expecting. They were expecting to see a normal core with a different color but they were seeing a wonder of its own."The Sinnughar core!"
"Yes. I was like you too when I first saw it, surprised and bewildered by its look."
The grand elder watching their faces, nodded with a wry smile.
"How can this even be a core?"
"Yes. Looks more like a heavenly artifact."
"More like a luminous treasure."
"How did you come by this core, grand elder?"
Words were coming from the elders in a flurry and directed towards the grand elder.
"Immediately I saw it, I started asking myself many questions too. "what type of core could this be? Where did it come from?".
He paused, he was still enjoying their facial expression.
"At that time, none of us had the answer to these questions. Hence, we could only find out from the grand patriarch who was undergoing his immortal ascension tribulations. We knew the dangers and the risks he was facing. Any form of distraction or disturbance could be very costly. So we patiently waited for his return although we were anxious to know about the core. But at that time, we could only hoped the grand patriarch was successful and return to us in good health."
The grand elder put the core back into his spatial sac, walked over to the stone stool and sat down on it.
"After several weeks, grand patriarch returned back to us alive and in good health. He had successfully completed his tribulations and would soon be ascending to the heavenly plane. We were extremely happy and joyful that he had succeeded. We waited for many days before telling him about the incident. When he heard of what happened, he was extremely furious to the extent that the ground he was standing on was starting to dissolve. He was angry with us too for not telling him when he got back despite the fact that there was nothing he could do at that time."
With his eyes staring at the ground, he let out a deep breath.
"For many weeks, grand patriarch was furious. We had to wait for many more weeks before we could show him the core. "Primordial beast", that was his response. Not just any primordial beast but a powerful ancient one due to the size of the core and the amount of power of the chaotic energy exuding from it. The sect defensive arrays were tightened and redoubled. Grand patriarch continued to be alert to any danger but he was also preparing for his ascension. The excitement of joining his ancestor was evident in him despite the threat of the Revenants. His ascension was only two weeks away when he received a need of urgent help from his friend, Targom."
He paused for a time as he ruminated on his thoughts.
"Targom was the demon supreme of the Urgorod planet. He was a very good and kind man. Targom and the grand patriarch had been friends for millions of years without a single form of dishonesty between them. It showed the level of trustworthiness and reliablity between the two."
He raised his head to look at them.
"Urgorod was one of the planets by the border of the Netherplane and the Forbidden domain. He said there were some extremely powerful Revenants killing many cultivators in his world. He had been trying to recover his world from the brink of extinction only to be facing new form of threat."
He opened his spatial sac and brought out a Red Cloud seed which he deposited in his mouth.
"When he took hold of the message, the anger in him escalated. "The Revenants couldn"t just be coming to kill us and disappeared." Those were his words which were totally understandable and accepted. Grand patriarch made up his mind to go and help his friend in his time of need. He tediously journeyed to the Netherplane and arrived at the time when the situation was getting dire for Urgorod. With the death toll mounting, Grand patriarch had fought fiercely with his mighty sword, Astoroth. An ancestral heirloom of incredible power used at critical times. Whenever he took the heirloom, you knew he was planning on doing something drastic. He also took the Dead G.o.d seal, the luminous treasure of the sect only to be used in an extremely critical time. Although, it saved his life, he also broke the heavenly rule of forbidden items because the seal is a forbidden one. He was concerned about the powers of the Revenants. The Revenants were G.o.d level Revenants with unbelievable powers. They had been killing demonic cultivators in the surrounding worlds, either looking for something extremely unusual or indiscriminately collecting demonic cores."
He shook his head as he remembered grand patriarch"s words.
"The battles had been intense. Grand patriarch"s first surprise attack had mortally injured one revenant, he wasn"t involved in the battle for a while. But more Revenants had joined the battle against him. He was quickly exhausting most of the items he took with him. Afterall, he was just entering G.o.dhood but he could only enter full G.o.dhood after he ascended. His G.o.dhood powers were greatly limited which was totally different from that of the Revenants. They had been been cut off from immortal cultivation but they had been consuming various sources of power. Though they couldn"t advance in levels anymore, their power kept on increasing. A G.o.dlevel revenant possesses the power in the region of a G.o.d, he could face a G.o.d in battle depending on the level of the G.o.d anyway. But they don"t have the aura and divinity of G.o.ds.
He stood up and glanced at them.
"He was fighting the two G.o.dlevel Revenants when he realized that he couldn"t match up to them on his own and his life was on the line. The other three including their leader was streaking towards him like lightning, thus, he used the Dead G.o.d seal. A forbidden luminous seal that shouldn"t be used in a mortal world. All the immortals around during the use of a G.o.d Scroll will be locked inside the scroll and the scroll will appear inside the White hall at the valley of G.o.ds.They will be locked for the period it takes the bell of the judgement room to sound and that is one million years.
Then he turned around with his back to them and stared ahead.
"One million years of total agony for everyone in the immediate surrounding when it was being used. The reason it was forbidden. Yet, grand patriarch had used it making the Revenants and many demons to be locked inside it before it disappeared and reappeared in the valley of the G.o.ds. The injured one who was staying far-off was the only one to survive among the Revenants when he quickly used teleportation seal. Grand patriarch will face the heavenly consequences for using a forbidden item when he ascended to the heavenly plane."
He slowly turn around raising one finger.
"But, it was during the battle that grand patriarch learned some valuable information about the circ.u.mstances surrounding the Revenants and the Sinnughar core."
The grand elder raised an indicative finger.
"Firstly, during his battle with them, he discovered that the Revenants are much more powerful than we think. He had gone there to find out in person the danger level of the Revenants. He found out that heir average power level is that of an ascendant. Most of them are at G.o.d power level. How? Either they are still possessing their old G.o.d powers or they found a way to achieve G.o.dlevel powers on their own. And we know their powers were diminished to nascent soul level when they were banished which means they had found a way to increase their powers. And the fact that they are still increasing them. This made them a grave danger to immortal cultivators in mortal worlds."
He raised the second finger making two.
"Secondly, That the cosmic divines would not intervene in any conflict or battle that doesn"t threaten the balance of the universe. Cultivators in the mortal worlds, especially the ones below nascent soul, need to always protect themselves against a present danger. The Revenants know this now and they are planning their attacks accordingly".
The third finger joined the raised two.
"Thirdly, that the cores of the primordial beasts are like divine artifacts and they do exist. Many others might be in the hands of other cultivators or Revenants. Sinnughar core was as powerful as a divine artifact, therefore the reason to protect it more."
Raising four fingers up.
"And lastly? That dimensional domains exist and that one can be containing a body of the fallen primordials. It can be a beast or it can be that of a divine."
He stopped again and put another seed in his mouth. He chewed a bit before he continued.
"The Revenants had discovered one of the dimensional domains of the dead primordials. After the great wars, the cosmic divines had been dealing with the primordials bodies both the divines and beasts. But some of these bodies had entered dimensional domains. These domains are discovered by chance and pure luck. The Revenants had discovered the one belonging to a primordial beast."
He adjusted the folds of his robe.
"The foremost leader of the Phantom realms had sent a group of Revenants led by his general into the domain to retrieve the valuables that were inside the domain including the body of the primordial beast or the core and any part they could take. The group of ten Revenants had entered but only two survived the implosion of the domain. The leader of the group had the core with him and was at the other end with another revenant when the implosion occurred. They had quickly used the teleportation seal before the complete implosion but the implosion altered their destination. Unfortunately for them, their teleportation portal had appeared on Urgorod just at the same time and the same place the demons were opening their own portal. The portals energy had collided on a ma.s.sive scale and exploded outward with a loud bang. The explosion caused many around to be teleported to different places."
With his hand folded behind his back, he paced up and down.
"The revenant general was transported into our world. It was after he arrived in our world that he had that encounter with our sect grand elder."
He stopped for a moment to think.
"The other revenant must have found his way back to the Phantom realm and reported to their foremost leader. He sent more powerful Revenants to the demon world of Urgorod to find out where they were hiding his general and the core to recover them by all means. The first world they entered was a neighbouring world to Urgorod, not the right world they were looking for. But this had already alerted them at Urgorod and that was when Targom called for help."
Before continuing his pacing.
"The Sinnughar core wasn"t with me before, it was kept secured in the sect"s inner safe. But, when the grand patriarch returned from the Netherplane, he asked me to keep this on me at all time. He said i should never let it get into the hands of the Revenants."
The elders started to quip in.
"True. Who knows what they plan to do with it?"
"Especially, their foremost leader that he wants it at all cost."
"Maybe another bloodline power harness."
"Or he would just consume the chaos power inside the core and mutate more."
"Perhaps to make a divine wespon?"
"Imagine the power he will have."
"The core can"t be allowed to fall into their hand."
"Yes, we can"t allow them. That"s why the grand patriarch embarked on having a heavenly golem made that will be protecting the sect and the Sinnughar core will be infused into it. It"s construction had been going on ever since and will soon finish. I wanted to show you all as a surprise but the circ.u.mstances have changed."
They continued discussing for a while before the elders left to attend to their daily duties. They would come back to check later.
Few hours later after the remaining elders had left, the three core disciples Shao Cheng, Quan Zhi and Li Ling returned from the lake of streamlight. Their bruises and cuts had disappeared. Their nerves and veins were relaxed and settled. They were no longer their jittery old selves.
The grand elder smiled tenderly after seeing them.
"How are you all feeling now?"
"We are feeling much better, grand elder."
"We are sorry for looking very bad be-"
"No need. You don"t need to say anything about it."
The grand elder cut them off with a gentle swipe of his hand.
"We understood your plights and the conditions of your predicaments. Few disciples of your levels could stood up and performed the way you did in the face of true mortal danger. We greatly admired your efforts."
He raised his hand in a gesture.
"Come, follow me. I have some small gifts for you."