36 The Forsaken Palace The Garden (1/2)
”Jufeng?”
Reena pretended as if she was just seeing him for the first time with a look of shock and surprise.
”Mother! It's really you.”
Jufeng ran to his mother and gave her a hug. Momentarily, he forgot about the situation they were in as he continued to hold his mother. After taking control of himself again, he looked in bewilderment at his mother.
”Mother you are here too. Did you also know about the palace? How's grandma, grandpa and uncle Primus?”
”Easy now. They are all fine. I heard about the location of the palace from some merchants and decided to come and check it out. Sometimes, it's good to see the world outside. Luckily for me I found it just as described with the gates opened and I entered.”
With her head lowered, she continued to feign suprise as she looked on at her son affectionately.
”But, what are you doing here? Are you not suppose to be learning right now?”
Reena raised her head and glimpsed the other disciples.
”It seems we have a little group here. Are you out on adventure too?”
”Uhm.. yes mother. This is our luminary week. So, we decided to go out on a little adventure. These are my friends, Chenric, Daxia and Yingjie. Together with our sect elder, elder Wang Xiu.”
Voiced Jufeng as he introduced them to his mother who acknowledged them one by one but changed to her mindvoice as she communicated with elder Wang Xiu.
”I greet you, elder Wang Xiu of the Last-Sword sect.”
”My greetings too, demigod. Thank you for your intervention back there. I appreciate it.”
”Didn't mattered much. You would have escaped the place like you did anyways.”
”Greetings elder Wang Xiu.”
Reena uttered as she extended her cordiality towards elder Wang Xiu and recieved one in return.
”Greetings demigod.”
”Reena, call me Reena.”
Reena switched back to her mindvoice as she continued to address elder Wang Xiu.
”You could have left once that seal was broken but you stayed. You would have escaped but your disciples might not have been so lucky, hence you decided to stay behind. You are a true elder. I commend you, elder Wang Xiu.”
”Thank you lady Reena. Unforseen dangers occur sometimes.”
”Yes, they do.”
They turned their attention back to the scenery in front of them. Truly, the forsaken palace was a glorious place to behold. The place was so peaceful and serene that a cultivator could meditate without any disturbance. This was a place truly befitting a Jade emperor and emperor Wan Bao was as ancient as they could get.
After a moment of delibration, they decided that the best course of action was to continue moving forward. Since they didn't know who or what could be outside the gates were they to leave especially with Lang Hai still trailing them.
They gradually began walking down the entrance path that led to the palace. They had only taken a few steps down the path when they heard a voice.
”Stop. Show me your pass.”
A huge figure in a large black drape suddenly but silently, appeared from the thin air right before them. His exceedingly large frame could only mean one thing, a giant. White, curly hair tight in a ponytail with a furrowed face of hollow brown eyes that were set firmly within their sockets. Half dead eyes that seemed to watch cautiously over the soul they've been isolated from for so long. A large ragged beard that matched his eyes and would leave a haunting memory of his former glory. But, what really caught the eye were the golden seal around his neck and the golden rune on his forehead.
A residuum [a remains of an existence].
Residuum was a fragment of an entity's previous self containing part of the consciousness necessary to function, diminished life-force that would dissipate if the seal and rune were removed and the soul that was entrapped inside the broken shell of the entity's own body at the point of death. The entity was no longer dying or completely dead and wouldn't be able to die completely and to reincarnate until being freed from the bondage. This was a forbidden practice. When an entity was subjected to death, the soul had to undergo a reincarnation. That was the law of creation. Preventing a soul from reincarnating was against this law of creation.
”Your key.”
Chenric quickly fished out the large jasper ring and showed him.
As soon as he saw the ring, the giant waved his hand and the ring appeared in his hand. He examined the ring before lifting his head to gaze at them with a short nod of his head in cognizance.
”Welcome to the grand palace of the eternal Jade emperor, Wan Bao. I am Dargehk, the caretaker of this palace. Since you were having the ring which showed your right to be here, I will treat you fairly. But, you won't be getting the ring back. The alignment is right and all the five keys are now here which meant the palace would cease to be accessible after this period. This palace is a domain world created with rules. Obey the rules while you are here.”
With his gaze still fixed on them, he paused for an instant before he continued.
”You are entitled to a fruit each as a welcome gift. If you are ready, follow me.”
Dargehk moved to a location on the right side of the walkway that overlooked the garden and made a hand seals gestures. A path appeared before him and gestured for them to follow.
They moved to the opened entrance leading to the garden. They expected to see what they already saw from the outside but what they were seeing was a different scenery from the one they saw from the outside.
The first sight was that of a path of marble stones that looped around the garden. Ruby beds of grass that were accompanied by what seemed to be mutated ruby flower bushes and shrubs. There was a runic fountain of mist that stood near the back of the garden, spouting mist high up into the air. Behind the ruby flower bushes and shrubs were the plants and different types of spirit grasses. After them were the ancient huge trees with single fruit each. Most of them had no fruits since they had been plucked.
Jufeng and the other three disciples could only look on in utter alarm at the scenery in front of them. What had appeared to be a peaceful and beautiful garden turned out to be the exact opposite. They need to thread carefully.
”This is different from what we saw from the outside?”
”Doesn't look the same garden?”
”What's with the place?”
Reena and elder Wang Xiu observed where they were carefully with their divine and spiritual sight respectively but didn't see any sign of deception.
”What did we missed?”
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Degarhk turned to look at them with indifference.
”This is the true state of the garden. The ruby beds are ancient death beds that would entrap anyone who forcefully enters or disobey the garden rules. The same thing with the misty fountain. But how could you have seen it from the outside? This is a godly domain. True, it exists here but it's not part of the mortal plane. Afterall, you are just a demigod and you, only a nascent soul. How could you have known?”
”Are you an ascendant or hegemon?”
The highest a cultivator could go in the mortal plane before being forcefully ejected from it into the heavenly plane through the heavenly tribulations was an ascendant. Ascendant were nascent soul cultivators who had reached the gates of godhood and had traces of godhood traits. If an ascendant didn't want to be sent out of the mortal plane, the ascendant would have to let go these traces of godhood and would be able to undergo a different tribulations from that of ascension.
The abate tribulations.
This tribulations made an ascendant a permanent hegemons with no possibility of future ascension. Hegemons were ascendants that refused ascension into the heavenly plane.