The Pathway

"Ah, my snowy plain."

Having confirmed he was truly back at the beautiful snowy plain, he crashed down on the ground. He planted his face on the snow filled ground to his much needed respite. Oh, the calming solace of the snow. The feel of the snow had become a soothing relief from the apprehension of these recent events.

Several minutes later, that seemed like hours, he stood himself up and quickly located a moundy spot where he sat down heartedly. He rumaged through his sac and brought out some preserved turtle meat and goat milk. He chewed the meat and washed it down with the milk as he ruminated on the events of the recent past. He had found the crumbling spatial sac before its total disintegration. If the spatial sac had completely crumbled before he could access it, its content would have been lost to the dimensional s.p.a.ce of its creation.

Only the cultivator that crafted the spatial sac, could locate and retrieve its content, if the sac was destroyed.

He put the remaining meat and milk to one side, as he retrieved the content of the sac. A white medallion, a scroll and one copper coin. That was all. He decided to examine them closely before he would start cursing the forsaken tree or not. The white medallion was like a coin in shape, but bigger. There were intricate designs on the two sides of the medallion. On one side, it resembled the face of a woman but with a G.o.dly touch. While on the other side, there was a delicate pattern in the semblance of a bird.

He couldn"t determine the material that was used in the making of the medallion. One thing he was certain of, the medallion was definitely not an artifact, since there was no form of energy radiating from it. Could it be a token? A token of prestige or recognition? Or, something that belonged to someone who lost it?

He put the medallion away and continued to the scroll. The scroll was giving off a faint yellow gold light. From the look of it, this would be a treasure. He slowly opened the scroll and almost had a combustion. The scroll was blank. There was nothing written on it. He tried to push Chi energy into the scroll but nothing was happening. Even the faint yellow-gold light, had disappeared. Maybe, it was a bloodline scroll or something like that, which meant he would never be able to read it.

With a long suffering sigh, he glanced at the two copper coins.

"And one copper coin. Great."

After observing the items for a time, he decided to put them back in his spatial sac. Although he was a little bit angry with the findings, he accepted the fact that, anything or nothing, could be inside a spatial sac. At least, he got a medallion. And his own share of the Iradium coins from the sojourn to the Springflame. His mind trembled slightly as he recalled them being sorrounded by an army of scavens and two argonians, without them knowing. coupled with the sight of the three rulers of Aalag.

From the words of Shi Lingxian, they had unknowingly entered the Frozen Stars lock. A time freezing lock. They would have been destroyed if not for his uncle, sovereign Yin Qian who was the ruler of the human kingdom. He had, coincidentally or intensionally, opened a portal that had destroyed the frozen lock. From the sound of it, the portal alone shouldn"t have destroyed the lock, which meant that sovereign Yin Qian had intentionally destroyed the lock. On the soil of the scavens!

This was a major breach of the pact. A nascent soul and above must not get involved in the affairs of lesser ones.

Jufeng remembered his conversation with the tattered clothed boy, who he later learned his name to be Tan Wu.

"As you already know, the sovereign had intervened because of his nephew."

"Mhm. Such a great risk."

"True. That was why sovereign Yin Qian had brought those gifts. Their values could only be imagined."

"He must truly be fond of his nephew."

"Very much. You see, Shi Lingxin"s mother, Yin Ying Hui, was the elder sister of Yin Qian, the sovereign. Long before the foming of the fortified cities, there was only one human city. This human city was founded by their father, Yin Xinyi. It was the first human kingdom. Despite being a turbulent time, the human city was holding fort. Yin Xinyi came to have two children, Yin Ying Hui and Yin Qian. Two geniuses of the human kingdom. But since Yin Ying Hui was born way before Yin Qian, she was given the first-born spirit pill. Her cultivation kicked off in a bang. She was growing up very strong in mystical and martial arts. There was a great expectation of her being the future pillar of the kingdom."
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"So it seems."

"Thousands of years after the birth of Yin Ying Hui, Yin Qian was born. He turned out to be a genius of his kind. Despite being born several thousands of years after Yin Ying Hui, he reached Jindan stage only few years after his sister. But, he was too impatient and too eager to impress their father. After both reach the golden core stage, they decided to have outland cities in expansion of the human kingdom. Yin Qian moved to the right of the city towards the argonians while Yin Ying Hui, took the left on the side of the scavens."

"Please, continue."

"Although there was no pact then and the kingdoms were just few in population, there was regard shared among the rulers. But in his eagerness to expand the human territory, Yin Qian was systematically infringing on the argonians. One of the outland territories of the argonians, infringed, was gorverned by a member of the argonian highest. Yin Qian thought at the Jindan level, he was at the top to prove himself. But, he was wrong."

"Was he?"

"Absolutely. There was a first son of their founding Highest. His name was Khutam. He was much stronger and powerful than Yin Qian. He had gone a great length too, to prove himself and avenge their member. He had been, patiently, planning his attack. And masterfully, he had attacked Yin Qian when Yin Xinyi was undergoing his ascension heavenly tribulation."

"How did he survive it?"

"Yi Ying Hui. That was how."

"Uh?"

"Have you totally forgotten? Oh, okay. You see, Yi Ying Hui, had used the Chains Of Targarsus."

"Chains Of Targarsus?"

"Yes. The ancestral heirloom of the house of Yi. As the first child, it was hers by right to maintain but with an acknowledgement. She couldn"t use it anytime soon, if at all. It was only to be in her care. If it was absolutely necessary, it would be used by a nascent soul at the least."

"Why was that? I"ve seen cultivators used higher level weapons before. Even a luminous one, I believe."

"You are probably right. Though, I"ve not seen one before, I"ve heard of such, also. But, the Chains Of Targarsus was different. It was an errant weapon. Created by a shadow soul-forger, a highcelestial refered to as, Thudom. A true-born Natthada dwarf. As you know, Natthada was a heavenly shadow realm created on the Abyssal Shadow Deep."

"Very true."

"Myths had it that, Thudom was plagued by shadows of his own demons, hence, he had proceeded to the depth of the abyssal shadow core to forge his heart manifestation. And his heart manifestation?"

"The Chains Of Targarsus?"

"That"s right. Chains Of Targarsus. According to the tales, some claimed he was already lost in his own shadowed mind before he began to forge the chains. While others said he had totally lost his mind to the shadows of his own demons while forging the chains. But, one thing they all agreed was that his demons had fed on the abundance of shadow element at the abyssal depth."

Errant weapons!

Jufeng"s mind trembled in primal fear at the potential existence of an errant weapon on the mortal plane talkless of being in this world. Errant weapons were totally different from other weapons. Divine weapons, luminous weapons, heavenly weapons, worldly weapons and terran weapons[weapons with runes], were definitive in their creation. A luminous treasure would forever be a luminous treasure. It"s power would never increase further. Same went for the others. But errant weapons were completely different.

Errant weapons would continually and greedily devour the soul elements of the owner when in use, making them progressively dangerous. Once an errant weapon was brandished with the intension to use, soul demons would be manifested, plaguing the owner. A cultivator"s soul could be lost in its own shadows, if the cultivator couldn"t control the streaming of the soul elements and the soul demons.

Errant weapons could only be forged by celestial soul-forgers at the depth of an elemental core. But most importantly, the soul-forger would be totally lost in the elemental soul. Only soul-forgers plagued by their mind demons could ever undertake the forging of an errant weapons. Since the primordial beginning, only a few had ever found their way out of their soul elemental bondage. And they were the ones that managed to leave the depth of the elemental core with their souls in their bodies. Any forger that left the soul behind, would never find the way out. Forever lost.

This was why errant weapons were not common on the heavenly plain talkless of the mortal plane. Unlimitedly powerful but extremely self-hazardous.

"True immortal danger."

"It is. As I was saying, Yin Ying Hui, who was trying to locate her brother due to some development, had came upon the dangerous scenario. Realizing that if she didn"t do anything, her brother would die, Yin Ying Hui had used the chains."

"I"m listening."

"Granted, the chains had shattered the mind of Khutam and chained his soul in eternal shadows, still, the shadow energy of the chains was too much for her to manipulate. It had spiraled out of control, making her soul lost in its own shadows. She was only at the Jindan level at this point, how could she withstand the backlash."

"Terrible."

"Yes, terrible fate. Two first-born, nothing more than living corpses. It could have led to war, but due to the fact that it happened to the two of them of the same cultivation level, the two rulers made a pact. Any disputes between two cultivators of the same level, must not be intervened by a higher level cultivator. And, unless a kingdom is threatened, no nascent souls and above should engage in any form of battle. Only Jindan and below could indulge in battles. Any loss must be taken in good faith."

"A good-will pact."

"Absolutely. The pact still delicately stands till this day."

"What about Yin Ying Hui?"

"She resides in the shadow-Maw cave, under the lord manor of Chanuan city. She had never been seen outside the cave since that battle."

"Hm. So, Yin Qian had intervened to save Shi Lingxin for the reason that, his own sister and the mother of Shi Lingxin, had lost her own soul to save him too."

"Indeed."

The kingdoms of Aalag that was sitting on a fragile pact of good-will. Also his world as a citizen of Chanuan city.

Jufeng recollected his thoughts as he snapped back to the present. Not all doom and gloom. He looked at the single piece of Iradium gold and silver coins in his hand as he smiled broadly. His own share from the sojourn to Springflame. He looked around satisfactorily, he had Iradium coins of his own. Coins of the immortals and G.o.ds. How about that?

A cheerful smile on his face, Jufeng walked towards the last entry point.