The Pathway

He looked around and found a moundy spot to sit. He looked around and smiled mildly, as he patted his spatial sac. The mystical order was safe and sound in his spatial sac.

Nevertheless, he opened his sac to check, just to be sure. He brought out the golden colour stone and his smile broadened. The mystical order. That was the only thing he knew about the crystal. He didn"t even know what power the crystal held. Even the demiG.o.ds had thought he was going mad for asking Liu Luoyang to exchange the stones.

The grey tree had said it was a heavenly treasure. But was it truly a heavenly treasure? And not simply a worldly treasure or no treasure at all?

Liu Luoyang hadn"t even wasted any time in agreeing to the exchange. True, his group still needed one more Sacredcrest stone. And the luminous lock seals he had, could only be used three times. His grandfather had used it once before and he too had used it again recently. It only had one use left.

Why would he waste the seals on another primal death-eater they might come across?

That was the question he had asked Jufeng while they were exchanging the stones. Maybe, that was the reason he hadn"t even worried much about the mystical stone. The allure of an extra divine ability. Probably, too much for a demiG.o.d to resist.

Divine evasion, divine projection, divine emission, divine sight, divine craft, many divine abilities they could choose from. The advantages of being a true demiG.o.d. It was a good thing that only one stone could follow any demiG.o.d out of the Deathkeep. He was fairly sure that if not for that, many demiG.o.ds would attempt more Sacredcrest stones. More Sacredcrest stones would have meant more divine abilities.

Even with one stone, how was it fair?

Jufeng shook his head as he contemplated what he could do with a divine ability. Divine evasion. Before they could look for him, he was already gone. Or a divine craft. Like a divine soulforger or a divine farmer.

He sighed as he recollected that he wasn"t a demiG.o.d. He remembered watching them bid their farewells, as they disappeared in an instant white flash. They would be returning to the Lumence dimensional plane while he, would be returning to the mortal plane. They were from different planes. No matter how they might look, half G.o.ds or not, he knew he was only fortunate to have been among them. He had no reason to question the fairness in their ways.

Regaining his thought, he looked at the crystal again. With a sudden strange feeling, he knew the grey tree was telling the truth. It was indeed, a heavenly treasure. He would only have to ask the tree about the crystal"s power again.

His mind returned to his peaceful state after the thoughts. He looked at himself and his torn robe. Only his robe was torn in many places but knew he could have died many times in there. Somehow, he had managed to survive them all. Probably, death was allowing him to enjoy a little more of life.

He freed his mind and closed his eyes.

After resting for a time, he decided to proceed towards the next entry point. What he would be searching for? The spatial sac. Just like the Mystical Order, he couldn"t remember why he chose it. But, he knew he must have had a reason for choosing them.

Reaching the place, he took out a dream stone and put it in his mouth. Also, he removed his sword from his spatial sac and held it ready. He would be prepared going in. He didn"t want to be looking at his body from the eyes on his cut off head. He had learnt that every first step into the unknown was of the utmost importance. The memory of Deathkeep was still fresh.

After confirming his readiness, he stepped into the s.p.a.ce.

Upon entering, he found himself in the woods, staring at two yellow eyes. Instinctly, he raised his sword as he quickly recovered from the shocking surprise of the two yellow eyes. Swiftly, he took in the shape of the creature. Serpent-like heads and a whip-like tail. They were not of heavily builds, but were still of considerable stature. Their red and black scale of spotted patterns, could not be mistaken.

Scavens!

Ultimate scroungers. Descendants of the black dragon, Heilong. One of the four ancestors of the dragonblood. These were creatures driven by their l.u.s.t for the blood of the living. Even the sacred ones among them would be hard to reason with. Anywhere Scavens appeared, death would follow.

Jufeng slowly raised his left hand with his palm facing the creature.

"Easy. You go your way and I go my way."

Maybe, due to it being surprised, the sight of the sword or both, it sent out a big roar as he, speedily, charged at Jufeng.. Definitely, this one was not a sacred one. It could neither reason nor talk. Using the SwiftSpine technique, he moved out of the way as it sped by, lashing out with his tail.

If it was only this one, Jufeng knew it couldn"t do anything to him. But, where there was one Scavens, there would be several others.

He knew the direction he had to take to find the spatial sac. The words of the tree were still ringing in his ears. He changed to the SwiftSteps technique and in a blur, he left the area. He was in no mood to be having a fight with the Scavens when he could simply leave.

Though, he was avoiding the road, he stayed close to it. He continued moving in high speed towards the intended direction. The Scavens could follow scents to a great distant. But with this, they should have lost the scent by now.

After swift stepping for several minutes, he came to a place full of large shrubs. From there, he could see a small town in the distance. Dropping the steps, he slowed down and moved onto the road. He decided he would stop by the town. Though, his journey would take him pa.s.s the front of the town, he wanted to find out more about this place.

From its appearance, this was a human city, quite alright. It must have been a remarkable city before but now, it a ghost of its former glory. There were a number of guards at the entrance along with a white-robed cultivator who was holding a scrying orb.

Jufeng wondered why there would be an arrangement like this here. As he neared the entrance, one of the guards called out to him.

"Halt!"

He stopped as he saw the scrying orb flying towards him. The orb circled him before returning to the cultivator who said some words to the guards.

"Approach!"

As he pa.s.sed them, he heard the white-robed cultivator.

"Go and report to the village council."

Without another word or look from them, he proceeded into the town. After walking for few minutes, Jufeng quickly veered off the main road onto a more quieter street. Some of the buildings had been abandoned. It looked like a place that had suffered attacks over many years.

As he was pa.s.sing by a tavern, he saw three men talking in whispers. He could barely hear what they were saying but looked an important matter. He was about to be moving on, when he heard the word "Scavens". With his acutely improved hearing, he strained his ears to get more meaning of what they were discussing.

"The Scavens will be all over the place."

"I say, we hire some mercenaries."

"Mercenaries?"

"Mercenaries is not a good idea. They can"t be trusted not to turn on us."

"If we don"t, we could die on our own."

"I agreed with the two of you. It will be extremely dangerous to cross the Argonian traits. If we are unfortunate, we could come across the Scavens and the Argonians. We could easily loose our lives."

Whispered the one at the center, who appeared to be the leader. He paused for a second before continuing.

"Also, if we manage to cross and get some Iradium coins, the mercenaries are still dangerous. They could ambush us on our way back. And then, the cavalry going north. I don"t think we could afford to join them. It could be a bloodbath at the traits."

His voice trailed off.

"I will try to figure something out."

Jufeng quietly left the area as he proceeded down the street. It seemed the Argonian traits would be a dangerous place to pa.s.s. And his way, happened to pa.s.s through it.

Since it was getting dark, he found a shaded spot at an abandoned house and settled down. After checking to make sure he was alone, he brought out some turtle meat and started eating.

Halfway through his food, he sensed an approach towards his position. Using his spiritual sight, he watched as the figure move quietly and slowly from one shadow to another. A shadow affiliate. But, he was a little bit concerned about the weak aura coming from the source. Either the person was truly weak or extremely powerful to conceal his or her aura. Either way, he had to stay watchful. If it"s an extremely powerful person, he could be dead without knowing it.

He waited for the figure to come a bit more closer before raising his voice.

"No need to hide. I can see you in the shadows."

Few seconds later, he heard a shaky voice to his right.

"Don"t move. Give me everything you have, now! Or else."

Jufeng turned to the source of the voice. To his surprise and relief, he found a boy in tattered robe with a short sword in his hand. His tattered robe made the one Jufeng was wearing felt like royalty. The way he was holding the sword showed someone who hadn"t had a formal martial arts training. He was only a weak and starving boy.

"Stop brandishing a sword like that, unless you mean it."

Jufeng shook his head as he watched the boy with pity. He took some of the meat and lilly tubers and offered them to the boy.

"Take. You look starving yourself."

"I"m warning you. You better give me everything you have. Now!"

"Put that sword away before you injure yourself."

The boy looked at his shaky hand and at the food offered. He shook his head and sighed before taking the food.

"I am a laughing stock. No matter how hard I tried, it never worked. I couldn"t even threaten you to give up what you have. You even saw me in the shadows."

He found a spot opposite Jufeng where he settled down.

"How can I take care of my family if I can"t even take from people like you."

"Taking from people like yourself, is not the right thing."

"For people like me, around here, no other way."

He divided his food into two and kept one half in his loin sac. He started munching the other portion of his food.

"Which village are you from? I saw you entering the village and I know all the faces here."

Jufeng who had been observing the boy keenly, swallowed the meat in his mouth before answering.

"Two villages from here."

"You mean, Haidong?"

Asked the boy in surprised as he expressed his shock.

"Yes, Haidong."

"I thought Haidong was overwhelmed by the Scavens."

"Well, some of us are not dead, yet."

"I guess so. This village too has been suffering from the attack of the humanoids too. We have been holding them off but many villagers are dying."

"Any help from the city?"

"The fortified city? Pfff. Sometimes, they would send a couple of warriors that meant little to the scavens. I guess they are pulling their resources into one place."

The boy stared at Jufeng as he pointed at the floor.

"This city can"t afford to hire true mercenaries. High level cultivators to fight off the Scavens. Me and my family, could have moved to the fortified city. We love to, but we can"t afford the money to move. That"s why I"m also going to the Springflame tomorrow. "

"Must you go when you have a family that relies on you?"

"I have to. This place has turned to an outland. Not much here to survive on and the Scavens are ambushing us outside. If we stay, we"ll just die. I"ve already bid my farewell."

"Hm. I see your point. I will be going too."

"Till tomorrow then. I need to rest now."

The boy put his loin sac under his head and slept off.

Jufeng continued to watch attentively until he had confirmed the boy was asleep. He could relax his mind. He slowly sat in lotus position and began to meditate. His spiritual sense created an awareness around him. Just not to be caught off guard, if someone had decided to sneak up on him.

He was like that until the following morning, when the sound of the cavalry rang through the town.