The Pathway

They were about to reach her position, when the blood cultivator appeared behind her making them stopped in their tracks. They had slowly but steadily backtracked their movement and left the area to a safer distance.

As a full premier, a true Zhuji cultivator, Jufeng could see the vastness of the chromium red aura emanating from the rogue blood cultivator using his spiritual sight.

Although, cultivators below the Zhuji stage wouldn"t manifest a full aura, they still had traces of aura of copper. The Zhuji stage was where manifestations of full aura began. After a cultivator reached the Zhuji stage, the aura displayed would be silver. At the Jindan stage, the aura would be gold. While that of the nascent soul was chromium. A nascent soul cultivator could manifest the chromium aura in relation with the elements of the Chi essence in the dantian.

The aura of the Lang Hai was a pure chromium red and the element of blood essence. It was truly a sickening sight.

He glanced at elder w.a.n.g Xiu and saw the blinding chromium white aura she had manifested. He quickly switched from his spiritual sight to the normal sight which couldn"t see any aura manifestation. From the way her aura was exuding, the extent of her killing intent was glaring.

This was becoming a dangerous situation. He was trying to envision the thoughts of elder w.a.n.g Xiu to no avail. But he was certain of the fact that, the rogue blood cultivator too was out for blood which could result in mortal harm to any of the two. Thpugh, it was elder w.a.n.g Xiu he was worried about. Would she be able to take care of herself? From the little he had seen of her, he knew she had the power to hold her own against such cultivator. Yet, something kept nagging at the back of his mind that this blood cultivator was extremely dangerous.

This was a grievious situation but with great optimism, he held the resolute conviction of elder w.a.n.g Xiu holding her own if the need arose.

With his mind occupied, he didn"t pay much attention to the worried conversation that was going on around him. Especially to Chenric who was trying to get his attention with his words.

"Jufeng. Jufeng!"

"Eh?"

"What is with you? We are facing a serious situation and you are here daydreaming?"

"Sorry, just thinking. What were you saying?"

Chenric shrugged while staring at him.

"Anyway, what do you think we should do? We were thinking of what to do if it escalate."

Chenric leaned closer towards them as he glanced at their faces.

"As for me, I think we should flee if it comes to that."

Yingjie who was looking at the unfolding event in silence, suddenly voiced.

"There"s nothing we can do here to help. Maybe some of us should go and look for help while the rest stay to keep an eye on the situation?"

"Why don"t we wait a little bit more before deciding. We don"t want to do anything that will put elder w.a.n.g Xiu in a more difficult situation."

Jufeng nodded as he contemplated the words of Daxia.

"Mhm. I will go with DaXia. I think we should wait and see first before doing anything that will jeopardise the whole thing."

After much delibration, they agreed to wait at a distance where they would be watching the proceedings.

Jufeng continued watching the two nascent soul cultivators as they were having a confrontation. He held a faint hope of them settling their differences amicably with no need for a fight but the moment elder w.a.n.g Xiu took out her sword, he knew his hopes were simply a mirage. Reality quickly dawned on him, this were differences that had gone beyond reconciliation for the two nascent soul cultivators.

He watched on as elder w.a.n.g Xiua sent two blade lights towards the blood cultivator. A fight between two nascent souls was always grave news for the bystanders and their surroundings. He still had vivid memories of the legendary swordman and swords he read about that had caused utter destruction in the mortal worlds. Afterall, they were all nascent soul cultivators even if they were hegemons or ascendants.

He looked around his surroundings and wondered whether they were safe at the distance they were standing. They would simply disintegrate if they were hit by an attack from a nascent soul cultivator. They might walked the path of reincarnation if they only died. But if their souls were to be obliterated in the course of the attack? That would be their existential oblivion.

He snapped out of his thought just as the two nascent souls were in a blur as they exchanged swords in clashes. This was on a different level of power compared to the one he witnessed displayed by the two genius core disciples at the sect"s training ground. He tried to follow their movement but his eyes became dizzy and his head turned heavy. He closed his eyes as a banging headache arose in his head.

He opened his eyes at the same time as elder w.a.n.g Xiu was sent flying backwards.

"We can"t just stay here, let"s help."

"How can we help? We will simply die if we try to intervene."

"We would have died in the hand of the demon spider if not for her anyway."

Although his mind was not on the conversation, Jufeng still got wind of it. He too, had been thinking of ways they could help but knew there was none. No matter how it seemed, they had to help. At least, they would have tried even if they didn"t succeed.

He looked at them and sighed inwardly. No matter how hard he tried, he was always walking in the shadow of death. If that was the way it was, that was the way it would be.

"Yes, we can"t just stay here. We need to help out."

"By doing what exactly? Cutting him up with your bronze sword? You will simply die."

DaXia observed her brother as she ruminated on his words.

"You have a point Chenric, but we can"t stay here without doing anything. Maybe we can even take him by surprise if we approach with caution."

With a sad expression, Yingjie nodded his head in agreement.

"We are who we are, both in life and in death. We can"t just stand still and it"s too late to look for help. We do whatever we can to help."

Not long after, they headed in the direction of the two nascent souls. They were cautiously moving towards the two fighting cultivators when elder w.a.n.g Xiu executed the Vermillion Divine Judgement that was blocked by the move of the blood cultivator. The impact launched them in a flight several yards backwards leaving them in a disoriented scramble.

Jufeng, partially recovered in time enough to see Lang Hai executed the Oath of the Fallen Stars. He tried raising his hand but knew there was practically nothing he could do to help elder w.a.n.g Xiu as she spat out blood. He kept looking on as the rogue blood cultivator lept into the air and was bringing down his glaive only for the scenery to change.

They tried but the end was inevitable. He closed his eyes as he waited for the killing blow to land on elder w.a.n.g Xiu only for him to feel a breeze of air on his face.

He opened his eyes to find himself inside the powerfully encircling right hand of elder w.a.n.g Xiu. Beside him was DaXia while Chenric and Yingjie were on the other side of elder w.a.n.g Xiu who was moving in high speed away from the battle ground. Somehow, she was literally carrying them as she moved in breathtaking speed despite the injury she sustained in the fight.

It was quite after some time that they suddenly stopped and elder w.a.n.g Xiu released her hold on them making them crashed on the valley gra.s.s. She reached insider her spatial sac and took out some medicinal pills which she quickly put in her mouth as she tilted her head backwards.

DaXia sat very close to elder w.a.n.g Xiu with a disoriented frown on her face. She was totally lost for words as she rumaged through the events of the recent past in her head. She had been sent flying from the impact of the collision and was thinking it was over. Only to find herself next to Jufeng speeding away from the village vicinity. After gaining more composure, she examined her surrounding before

Yingjie was only staring at elder w.a.n.g Xiu with raised eye brows as utter disbelief was written all over his face. He remembered scrambling on the ground from the impact but moment later, found himself being held by elder w.a.n.g Xiu alongside others as she sped away. How could he explain that? His mind wandered to his parents and the thoughts of asking her for help crossed his mind. How could he even think about that? It wasn"t her duty to see to the safety of his family anyway. He pried his eyes away from her and stared hard at the floor. Lost in his thoughts.

Jufeng was sitting with Chenric who had quickly composed himself and was holding the map. They were trying to check their location and which direction they should be heading when they suddenly heard the voice of elder w.a.n.g Xiu.

"Ivory Yonder."

"Huh?"

They all voiced in unison as they turned towards her position.

"Ivory Yonder."

Elder w.a.n.g Xiu balanced her from the tilted position and glanced at them.

"That"s where we are if you are wondering and we better get going now."

They all stared at her as if she was a talking statue.

"Now!"

Her word quickly brought them out of their trance as they hurriedly arranged themselves and were about to move when Chenric suddenly stopped them.

"Wait."

They turned to him as he opened his structural bag and removed the red box before placing it on the ground. He opened it revealing the large red Jasper ring that was making soft vibrant sound.

"Careful. That"s a powerful magical item. It must have been created by a true Soul-Forger."

Said elder w.a.n.g Xiu as she examined the item with her spiritual sight.
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"But I can"t see any ill-intent from it. Since you said it"s from your grandfather, you can try it on."

He slowly removed it and put it on his finger. As he was slowly moving his hand around, the ring flared bright and increased its buzzing sound when it faced a particular side of the valley.

"Maybe the forsaken palace is nearby?"

"It"s possible."

Answered elder w.a.n.g Xiu while she glanced at the direction they came from.

"Let"s get moving. We need to leave this place now."

Chenric, who was beaming happily, quickly extended his hand that was holding the red ruby, forward towards the side of the valley as they all headed towards the direction.

As they approached, they saw the red light of the ruby getting brighter as it started to resonate with the side of the valley. The side of the valley started to turn to red as two ma.s.sive gates began to materialise out of the thin air.

"We found it!"

Chenric shouted happily as he grabbed his sister and Yingjie who were beside him.

"The forsaken palace? Are you sure?"

Asked Yingjie in surprise.

"The forsaken palace of the Jade Emperor Wan Bao. A legendary tale that turned myth."

Elder w.a.n.g Xiu smiled apprehensively as she scrutinized the runes on the ma.s.sive gates.

"So, it"s real."

Jufeng uttered in a low voice as he too gazed at the ma.s.sive gates. He never thought they would find it so easily after coming to the valley of the Ivory yonder. But here were the gates of the forsaken palace, right in front of him. How fortunate.

"That confirmed it. Grandfather was right. It does exist."

DaXia nodded joyfully before turning her attention to elder w.a.n.g Xiu.

"Elder w.a.n.g Xiu, what do you say we do now?"

"Are we still not on adventure? If we are, then, forward we go but we must approach cautiously."

Yet, none of them moved as they continued to look at her. After everything that had happened, why would any of them take the lead? Wouldn"t it be better for her to lead and they to follow? The strongest would stay at the front to ward of attack while the weaker ones would follow. That was a principle of survival provided danger didn"t come from the back. Anyways, as far as this was concerned, they would stay behind her.

Seeing their reactions, elder w.a.n.g Xiu nodded and moved forward.

"Alright follow me but stay alert."

They reached the closed gates where they discovered a key hole on one of the pillars of the gates that fitted the size of the Jasper ring on Chenric"s finger. They placed the ring on the key hole and was sucked inside.

Slowly, the ma.s.sive gates started to open. When they finally opened, the scenery inside, was one of a magnificent sight. The long entrance led to a large emerald Jade palace flanked by two statues of Luduans [wise but deadly divine beasts with the bodies of lions and paws of bears] and a row of metal golems on each side.

To the right and left side of the palace were trees of different varieties of fruits, sections of variants of plants and a glowing river flowing through the landscape. It was truly a beautiful scene.

The large red Jasper ring was floating in the air in front of them which elder w.a.n.g Xiu plucked from the air and handed over to Chenric.

"Keep it in the box."

They continued to revel in the beauty of the place as they slowly walked up the long entrance.

They had just started when elder w.a.n.g Xiu suddenly stopped and turned around with her msterialised sword. They all did the same in time to see the back of a woman who was staring at the closing gates. High on alert, they moved behind elder w.a.n.g Xiu as they waited for the gates to finally close prompting the woman to turn towards their direction.

Jufeng rubbed his eyes to see if he was seeing clearly or it was just an hallucination. He couldn"t help but look in total disbelief and shock at the woman in front of him.

"Mother?"