The Pathway

The defensive formation on her robe had been exhausted after bearing much of the brunt of the dreads. Even with the robe, she had barely escaped with long scratches and slahes to her body. This was, mainly, due to her own evasive skills. Checking her body properly, Reena put one bloodroot medicinal pill into her mouth as she tilted her backwards. The injuries were nothing that medicinal pills couldn"t take care of.

After resting for a while, Reena examined her sorroundings. She was in an alleyway that led to a large emerald hall. She noticed there were images and symbols lining the alleyway up to the large hall. Looking closely at the images and symbols, she felt a tug at her memories. There was something about this that looked familiar but she couldn"t place her hand on it. She proceeded cautiously, towards the center of the hall while she continued to observe the images and symmbols.

The ma.s.sive doors and walls of the hall, had no image or symbol. Only the floors. As she entered the ma.s.sive hall, she noticed that the images and symbols had intertwined to form a spiralling image all over the floor of the hall. Fourteen images and fourteen symbols. Eyes farting back and forth, realization dawned on her as she remembered the words of uncle Primus.

"Images you see, the shadows you don"t. Symbols you notice, the signs you don"t. On the path you thread, are the threads of your path. As you thread the path, a spiralling threads you see."

t.i.tan"s torso!

She had seen something like this inside the mountain abode of uncle Primus. Although, this one was much more bigger than the one in uncle Primus mountain. The only visible thing about the images and the symbols, was their beauty. The deadly arrays of pure-grade heavenly formation they contained, wouldn"t be noticed at all. After seeing her lost in the seductive illusion of the images and symbols, uncle Primus had told her about the G.o.dly arrays. She clearly remembered what uncle Primus called the arrays.

Infernal lock.

Quite different from what she initially thought of them. When she first saw them, she thought they were just magical images. It was to her utter surprise when she eventually learned about them. Once activated, this array was one of the most deadly and dangerous heavenly arrays. And, much more difficult to fully understand, if not impossible.

Arrays like this could only be in place by a G.o.d or higher ent.i.ty, to protect immense treasures and artifacts. Could they be protecting the martial legacy? Possible. But, there was no way she would face an array like this? Inspite of her advancement, she knew little of formations to be able to deactivate this one.

"I will be careful, if I were you."

Reena turned to the sight of a tall old man in a black-green robe with a divine aura emanating from his body. The human appearance could only mean one thing, an Asura demiG.o.d. Coiling out from under his robe and resting its head on his shoulder, was a Thorne viper, his divine beast.

"Uh?"

"The heavens Infernal lock and it"s already active. Any wrong step and you"ll be locked in the infernal chains. Given, for a million years but I reckon your soul wouldn"t be the same again, after that long in those chains. All these you already know, I believe."

Reena materialized her phoenix sword as she took a few steps back. Flaming force-field bust into life around her as she kept her gaze on the demiG.o.d before her.

"Relax, Asura. No need for all that. If I meant you harm, I don"t think you"ll still be alive. Though, you"ve reached the gates of the peak-stage nascent soul, you are still a late-stage nascent soul. But you see me, believe it when I say I"m something else entirely. So, you can relax. By the way, It seems you"re surprised to see me here. Hmm. You probably thought you were the only one here, didn"t you? Well, sometimes I"m surprised I"m still here too. Hehe."

He laughed painstakingly, as he stared at Reena. He walked up to the edge of the huge image at the center of the hall, keenly observing the details of the image.

"Once, we were many here. I can"t even remember how many years ago that was. One thousand? One million? The time is not that important. What matters is that, now, only I remain. You see, these pictures are prisons. Once locked inside, the time would have to pa.s.s to be free. Imagine being locked in infernal chains for a thousand, needless to say a million years. Strange, you"ll say? Yes, strange it is. Many years facing the infernal lock and I tell you, this one is meant to incapacitate all."

The Asura demiG.o.d shook his head solemnly as he continued to look at the image.

"So close, yet, so far away."

Raising up his head, he turned in the direction of Reena who had relinquished her flaming force-field but was still extremely cautious. With eyes still fixed on Reena, he pointed upwards at the floating scroll.

"I believe you are after that legacy too, Asura. I know you"ve earned the right to be here, to take a shot at the legacy, but I tell you this Asura, this lock is a different thing entirely. It"s a world of its own. You see it floating harmlessly, but the dangers are of G.o.dly plane. I know you have no reason to believe my words as we are after tge same thing, but this?"

Was it pity Reena saw in his eyes? Why would she need him to pity her? This wasn"t a do or die affair for her. If she couldn"t get the heavens" forsaken legacy, she would simply leave this place and go home. What was the need for pity in that? Even the Thorne Viper had hint of pity in its eyes. Did they think she was insane like them?

"If I can, why not? But it appears that I can"t. I know what the heavens infernal lock is and I know it"s beyond me. So, it"s all yours."

"Mhm. A good resolve, to be sincere, but do you know what martial arts this legacy entails? No you don"t. You see, Asura, in this world of cultivation, only the strongest can truly survive. And this... this legacy, is what you should have. If you want to be one of the surviving ones. You may think you are strong by your own standard, but let me tell you, there are many stronger than you. And some of them, won"t need an excuse to kill you. You will need a martial arts technique like this one."

"So, what do you want me to do? You said it"s dangerous, of which I know, yet you want me to have it. Is that not like courting death? If I"m dead, to what purpose will the legacy be? And moreover, we are talking about a legacy. A very special one from the looks of it, which made it even more glaring as we already know. Only one can have the legacy and from the way it appears, you are stronger than me. So, whats the purpose of me wasting my time here when you"ll be the one having it, if at all?"

"Ah, important question you ask, Reena. Hm. The more I think about it, the more I see your point. Alright, let me put it this way. If you help me get the legacy, I will make a vanishing copy for you. That I a.s.sure you, whatever happens after that will be on you."

A vanishing copy. Though, it was time limited, it was good enough. Despite the fact that she would need a grandmaster scribbler to transfer the content into a true scroll, this was the best she could get as long as the scroll is concerned.

"Alright, what help do you need?"

"When we first arrived here, we thought these images were just formations we could disable here inside this hall. We were wrong. Many lives were lost before we realized what it was we were dealing with. You see, these images are not just formations, they are blackholes. Each image, from the entrance of the gates to the center of this hall, are elemental destinations. In each of these destinations, are fragments of the key. To survive this blackholes, life-essence is required. I have exhausted mine and there is one more image I need to complete to get the last fragment of the key. That"s where I need your help."

"So, you need my life-essence in-order to get a fragment of a key in-order to get the legacy. Pfff. Why would I want to do that?"

After Reena"s question, the Thorne-Viper began to hiss dangerously making Reena took a step back. This made Zhang Wei to calm it down with a gentle wave of his hand. He tried to maintain an uneasy smile as he continued looking at Reena.

"Is there something you want to know about the events of your past, Asura?"

"What do you mean?"

Reena replied with furrowed brows. The question really caught her off-guard as her brain processed different informations. Events of her past? Was that a joke?

"We were five nascent soul demiG.o.ds that arrived here, inside this very hall. It was a long journey for us to get here. Long dangerous journey but we made it. When we reached here, we met quite a number of others here trying to decipher and attempt the infernal arrays. We waited and we observed. By the time hey figured it out, many had died. But that was the beginning. The hardest part was getting back once you get inside the blackholes of the images."
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He shook his head as he let out a soft sound.

"After many years had pa.s.sed, the very last ones of us, finally figured it out. The solution? There must be one of us here, on the outside, that must make a life-essence connection with the one going in. The connection must be maintained while the other is still inside the image, if not, the lock would come into effect. And there"s no known way of beating the lock from the inside when its locked. But, you see Asura, there"s a good in all these madness. Each of these images, can reveal a secret of the past. And the only image remaining, is that of the Death-Necron. Thus, I ask you, is there any death or sorrow of the past you wish to know?"

"Are you truthfully serious?"

"I am, Asura. So, can that and the vanishing copy of the legacy, be enough bargain to gain your interest?"

"Can you make this bargain of yours under eternal oath?

"That I can do, Asura. By the way, Call me Zhang Wei."

"Reena."

"Alright Reena. Let"s begin with the oath."

After the eternal oath was made, Reena agreed to help with the life-essence connection. But she couldn"t help but wondered how this demiG.o.d had managed with the images until only one was remaining.

"Insanity. You stayed here, for that long, because of a legacy? Total insanity."

"You know little of the martial world, Asura. What stage of martial arts are you even on? Yinhu? I"m already knocking on the doors of Jinlong. With my eyes closed, I can still kill you. Not that I need the sight to do that anyway. But, in the world of true martial arts, I mean nothing without a graded martial arts technique. And what"s better than a supreme technique. You want to be at the top, where no one bothers you? You have to be the best."

Zhang Wei floated to the mid air before landing gently in front of Reena.

"I know that not many could boast of it, but as you advance in your arts, the aim is to form a mythical art. No better mythical art than a combination of a supreme martial arts and a total-grade mystical arts. An artist will be a supreme divine."

"How many cultivators have you ever seen that have combined their martial arts and mystical arts together to form one mythical art? Even if they are low grade arts?"

Asked Reena with a raised brow.

"Good question, though, I won"t answer that one. But the point is, you have a chane to form an excellent mythical art with a legacy like this. And for someone like me, it"s the top of martial arts or nothing at all. Enough with the talk, Reena."

Zhang Wei gently swiped his hand as he acknowledged Reena, expectantly.

"So, is it a death or a sorrow you want to know about? Either way, I will need something of the dead or of sorrow."

Recieving the item from Reena, Zhang Wei gently flicked his hand and it disappeared.

"If you are ready, please let"s proceed."

Composing herself, Reena circulated a ma.s.sive amount of Chi energy as shenade the connection with Zhang Wei. The moment the connection was made, Zhang Wei made some hand seals as the s.p.a.ce at the top of the last image started shimmering. Sensing the life-force connection of Reena, Zhang Wei stared at her before nodding his head in agreement. With a mirage step, Zhang Wei disappeared into the shimmering s.p.a.ce.

It was several hours later that Zhang Wei returned ma.s.sive cuts and slashes. Breathing heavily, he collapsed on the floor beside Reena . Fully exhausted from the amount of energy and life-force dispensed, Reena was solemnly looking at him with great expectations and eagerness. Was he saying the truth about the elements in the images? Did he manage to find anything out about her request?

After resting for a while, he told Reena about the outcome. Ju Huan exist. Information at the netherplane in the Mourninghall. She must go before the next lunar alignment which was not too far away.

A demiG.o.d in the netherplane. They would rip her apart. She would have to go with adequate powerful forces, to have any chance of survival. But at the least, she now knew what she had been longing to know for ages.

With the vanishing copy of a lunatic celestial in her spatial sac, Reena left the immortal cave with joy and complete anxiety. What would the future hold for her? In time.

Waking up from her memories of the past events, Reena adjusted the position of her head properly as she smiled anxiously.

"Soon."

And she fell asleep.