The Pathway

Jufeng turned towards the direction of the voice in apprehension but couldn"t see what or who was making the utterances. A single voice in a plain of snow and ice was really un-nerving.

"Who"s there?"

High on alert, he strained his eyes in his attempt to detect the exact location of the voice when his mind struck him to use his spiritual sight. He switched to his spiritual sight and discovered that the whole area to his front was devoid of any living ent.i.ty. Every direction on the open plain was of the view of the falling snow and snow-filled ground. The area was giving off the normal ice auric light except for one particular thing.

A single small grey tree.

The small grey tree wasn"t radiating any auric light. Although it looked strange in the snow, it was a beautiful small tree in the large area of falling snow. Moreso, it appeared to be generating a serene and peaceful atmosphere.

"Over here."

"Uh?"

It couldn"t be the tree making the utterances. Could it?

He focused on the tree and keenly observed it from the distance. He waited for a time to be sure whether it was the tree that was talking or not. After being satisfied, he heaved a sigh of relief.

A small tree like this couldn"t be the one talking. Just looking at it, he felt at peace, though, the existence of a single tree in a place like this looked strange.

"For a moment, I thought the tree was actually talking to me. Such a strong illusion."

"Illusion? What illusion? I"m surely talking to you. Have you not seen a talking tree before?"

"Demon!"

Jufeng shouted as he jumped back in alarm.

True, he had seen some strange occurences before. From alking statues to large emerald eyes among others, but for a lone talking tree to be in a place like this, it must be either be an extreme illusion or immense danger. As he had learned in the ancient Book of Findings, apart from illusion, the only type of trees that could talk and reason were the cognizant daimonic trees? Or demonic trees as appropriately applied.

The daimonic trees were the trees that gained sentience and awareness due to vast amount of spiritual energy that they had absorbed over hundreds of millions of years to billions of years. Although, their emerging awareness was slow, they would become powerful ent.i.ties upon transformation. This was the reason why their cultivation was slower than that of mortal and immortal cultivators. Cultivation was an added advantage since they had absorbed a lot of heavenly spiritual energy before gaining sentience.

The demonic trees on the other, were once daimons that had turned due to the amount of karmic sins they had accrued. These were the daimonic trees that were reincarnated as demonic trees in the netherplane.

Karmic sins and karmic virtues determined what a daimon would become and where it would be reincarnated after experiencing death.

"Demon is a strong word, young one. You can"t go around and be calling every talking tree you see, a demon. As a young one that you are, some may overlook it while others may still find it extremely rude and could kill you for that, you know. Don"t let ignorance be the end of you? Do I really look like a demon to you?"

An audible sigh could be heard coming from the direction of the tree.

"Because I"m a talking tree doesn"t mean I"m a demon. Even as a child, you should know that. You can"t see any demonic aura on me and this is not netherplane. That should have given you the idea of what I am. I am a daimonic tree. Do you see the difference?"

Jufeng nodded his head in confirmation while he continued to gaze at the grey tree with a mixed expression of fright and curiousity. Whether it was a daimon tree or demon tree, he would be weary of them all. No matter the glaring differences.

"I do. Not trying to be rude. I"m just wary of all demons. That"s all."

"What is it with you and demons? Do you have grievious disputes with them?"

"Not that I have with them, but I think they have with me and my family. They did tried to kill us before."
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"Why go straight into killing? Makes little sense. You should try to resolve your differences amicably at first before deciding to kill each other if you don"t succeed. Let me check you."

The tree twisted slightly before returning to its original state.

"I can"t seem to find any demon mark or sign on you, so, I think you should be fine. Nevertheless, you can still die if you are not careful enough."

Jufeng appeared to be having a more clearer perspective of the daimon tree that was starting to emanate a gentle but powerfully deadly aura. He had seen powerful demonic auras before when the demon army led by the daemon kings attacked them by the lunar mountain. But this small grey tree was starting to generate a different aura that made the atmospheric condition of its sorrounding rang a primal danger alarm in his head.

Yes, he had felt extreme fear from powerful ent.i.ties before, but this was on a primeval level. With all indication, this was a tree that appeared neither to belong to the mortal plane nor to the nether plane. It could only be one thing.

G.o.dly daimon tree.

"Come closer. I"m not going to bite you now. Am I? Not that I have the teeth anyways."

Jufeng took a couple of steps towards the tree before mindfully checking the sorroundings again to be sure he wasn"t walking into a trap of illusion or the ever deadly trap of dreams.

"Don"t stress yourself, young one. If I want you dead, you"ll be dead by now. Not reaching transformation doesn"t stop me from killing you where you stand."

He continued to observe the grey tree with extreme caution as he contemplated maybe it was time for him to use the safe word and bade farewell to the place instead of facing another revenant-like situation.

"Are you just going to stand there while my poor soul wallows in sadness? A lonely tree like myself can do with a little company. It"s been a long time since I last saw a living soul, though, never seen one pitiable like yourself."

Jufeng closed his eyes and continued to ruminate on the situation. It would be reasonable and just for him to call it a day and to return to others. But, from the little he had seen of the small grey tree, he could truly have been dead already. What"s the point of standing where he was if it didn"t make any difference? Hence, he decided to move closer to the tree and to find out more about the place.

"My name is Jufeng. What is this place? Is it even real?"

"Is this place real? It"s like you asking me if I am real. Do you want me to show you by killing you for you to find out?"

"Uh?"

"Hehehe. Relax your mind, young Jufeng. That"s only for a good laugh. But you should be able to know the difference between an illusion and reality. Maybe you are too young to know which is fair to you, although, you are definitely too weak which could have also affected you."

The tree changed its voice to a more serene one before continuing.

"Can you see me?"

"Mhm."

"Can you hear me?"

"I can."

He replied with a thoughtful nod.

"And you can also feel the snow. That"s real enough for you, young Jufeng. Now that we have settled that. Welcome to Aculum Divinis. The unending frosty s.p.a.ce between illusion and reality."

"This place has no end?"

"It"s the effect of this place that affects the s.p.a.ce and time creating traps of illusion and dreams. You could be lost in illusion or dreams of this place forever if you are not strong enough. The time in here is very much different from that of the outside s.p.a.ce. This I have come to know. Do you understand what that means?"

"This is a dangerous place."

"Yes. You see, I don"t care how got here or why you came here. But, ignorance could easily get an ent.i.ty killed. Maybe you wouldn"t have come if you had known what this place is. But, here you are and I don"t mind a little company either. And if I were you, I would try to make the best use of my time here. Although, this place is filled with illusion and dreams, many are the great things hidden in here. Great things like treasures, if you know where to look."

"I guess you know where to look."

"So true, young one. So true. For billions of years I have been existing here. At first, I wasn"t the only one here. There were others but they gained transformation before me and they went after most of the treasures. Some were fortunate enough while others were not so fortunate, but most left with one item or the other. Then, I came to be, at this side of the Divinis, all by myself. One thing is that, It takes a very long time for divinis daimon trees like myself to gain awareness talkless of any form of transformation. During all this time, I have been gathering more information about some valuable things especially treasures. Treasures you wouldn"t even imagine. It may look like saddened life, solitary life has its advantages too. I guess you also want to know where to look, don"t you?"

"Well, if it"s not too dangerous. It"s worth a try."

"That"s the spirit of an adventurer. We all know that every adventure carries an amount of danger. It is left for you to use your own initiative to survive them. I will give you the location of the treasures you need to know and are much more safer for you, their specific directions and steps. The rest is left to you. Is that alright by you? "

"It"s alright."

"But first, you have to bargain for the information you are going to get. What do you have?

"Bargain?"

Jufeng stared at the tree in surprise. What bargain was it talking about?

"Yes. Life of a daimon is about give and take, young one. It is just what it is."

Jufeng started to think about the situation. How could he tell whether the grey tree was telling the truth or not? And, if he was telling truth, what was the a.s.surance that he wouldn"t die trying to get the "so-called" treasures? Moreover, what treasures did he even have to make a bargain for the information?

He decided it was worthy of a try. What was to gain if there was nothing to loose?

"I have a top grade spirit crystal containing spiritual energy."

"A top grade spirit crystal? Even a thousand will have no effect on me."

"A magical Eddaros treasure?"

"One has no true value. How can you make an heavenly array with just one? Such a pity."

Jufeng contemplated harder. He had no more treasures apart from the recently acquired heavenly solitude fruit. Should he use that also? Who knew what the tree would say again? He never liked the fruit anyways.

"I also have the heavenly solitude fruit."

"Is that all you have?"

"I have nothing of value apart from all these."

"Hm. You tell the truth and I like you as a reasonable young one. I have thought very hard about it, so, I will take the Eddaros crystal, the heavenly solitude fruit and the spirit crystal. Also, you will bring back a particular item for me. That should be a fair bargain. Don"t you think?"

All his three treasures for some treasures he didn"t know if they even exist? How could that be called fair? More to loose, more to gain? He wouldn"t miss any of them anyways. Or would he?

"Don"t know if it"s fair enough but I accept."

He replied as he sent the treasures floating towards the tree.

"Wise decision nonetheless. Afterall, your little treasures means little to me but you still gave them up not knowing what you are getting in return."

The grey tree recieved the treasures which entered an opening at the side of its trunk.

"There are five treasures I will tell you about. It"s left for you to choose the three you want and after that I will tell you the specifications, directions and steps. Alright?"

Jufeng nodded in acknowledgement.

"Perfect. First, there"s the Soul Banishing Seal. From what I managed to gather, this is an ancient heavenly treasure that could send the soul of an ent.i.ty into the samsara cycle. Even the G.o.ds couldn"t escape the power of it if it was used by another powerful G.o.d. Although, it should be one of the forbidden seals."

"The second one is the Ring of destruction. It"s a magical treasure that belonged to a fallen primordial necrosist celestial during the primordial wars. The ring could raise a powerful army of daemon G.o.ds from the netherplane. The ring is powerful enough to conjur them and open a portal for them to pa.s.s through. This is a truly terrifying item."

"The third one is a spatial sac. It"s no longer in good shape, so if you are fortunate enough, you may find it whole. What it contains? I have no idea. But since it"s a spatial sac, it means it didn"t belong to any G.o.d since the G.o.ds use spatial dimension."

"The fourth one, Mystic Order. A small crystal spark. I figured it should be either a heavenly or luminous treasure. Though, it might also be a powerful magical item."

"And lastly, a big lump of Primodium. I don"t know if you know about it but it"s a valuable metalline."

"These are the five treasures and I know you are not disappointed by them. All you need to bring back to me, is the Script of Sentience. It"s even the easiest to find. So, what do you say, young one?"

Jufeng stared at the grey tree lost in thoughts before asking.

"What if I couldn"t find the script?"

"Then you will leave one of the items you find. But, I don"t really want to take from your spoils, hence, it"s better to just try and bring back the script."

"Fine. I accept."

"I truly admire your will spirit, little one. Very well then, let me give you the directions and steps you need to take."