Pathway

Total darkness, extending for miles without end, was the scene before him. Ju Feng watched in apprehension as the massive doors slowly closed behind him. The darkness was soul disturbing in its complex entirety. Only the vicinity where he was standing, which was of a few yards, had some sort of light. After the small region of the light, was the area of complete darkness.

As he watched the darkness and listened closely, he decided to use his spiritual sight to have more knowledge of the situation. Within seconds, Ju Feng quickly backed himself up to the closed doors as he gasped in primal fear. The complete darkness was not the source of that fear, but what he could faintly detect in the darkness. He couldn't see or hear the source of his fear, but he could sense a powerful force in the darkness.

There was definitely a colossal raging shadow in the darkness. There was no way in this reeling existence, he would enter this darkness. He knew he would simply die the moment the darkness enveloped him. He might think he was on a sojourn to acquire an artefact, but rather, he would find himself on a journey into the light of Radia. Straight into reincarnation. Not an ideal path to take at any moment in time.

Ju Feng was still contemplating on the disturbing scene before him when a soft voice sounded beside him.

"The Soul-Phantoms."

"Uh?"

Ju Feng swirled to his right side in the direction of the voice. A small figure, dressed in luminance white robe was floating in the air, right beside him. He took a few steps back as he cautiously examined this new entity. How did he even get beside him without his knowledge?  And that solemnly ancient face. Ju Feng could already sense a dreadful alarm radiating from the entity. Upon closer observation, Ju Feng saw a faint mark in the shape of a full-lunar circle on the entity's forehead. He swallowed hard as comprehension dawned on him.

A Rakshasan god!

The lunar circle was the symbol of the Rakshasans. As demigods, they were born with the half lunar circle's symbol on their foreheads. This symbol would later turn into full circle after their ascension into the heavenly realms. Rakshasans were renown for their wildly erratic mentality. And here was one, hovering silently in the mid-air, not too far away from him. Caution! His attention shifted back to the eyes of the Rakshasan god. Pitiless, solemn and refractive. These were the eyes of a silent but extremely deadly entity.

There was something about the figure that made Ju Feng felt like digging a hole and buried himself inside it. Despite appearing in his demigod form and masking his aura, the feel of the energy coming from the figure was exceedingly frightful. Necessity was laid upon Ju Feng to bow in the face of such enormousness.

"Greetings, senior."

Ju Feng cupped his hand and bowed low. Though, he had no idea who the entity was, he had to be careful. His life could depend on it. He had to wait for the Rakshasan god to acknowledge him before he would raise his head.

"Hmm."

The Rakshasan god nodded his head as he continued to examine Ju Feng, closely.

"The Soul-Phantoms, that's what's inside the darkness. They are the manifestations of Sammar, one of the guardians of the Rembulum realm on the cosmic plane. A shadow entity that fell during the great wars. So sad. As long as you have no reason to take the path, you need not fear."

With a soft sigh, he gave Ju Feng a solemn smile.

"Enough with that already. Coming here, is a dangerous path  to take, young one. A dangerous errand for a mortal who just started the path of immortality to embark. I guess you agreed to a bargain. Is that right?"

Receiving Ju Feng's nod as a confirmation, he continued.

"To make a bargain blindly is not wise, young one. Not wise. Yet, little you could have done in a face of a power far greater than yours. How fortunate of you to still be alive. Truly fortunate. Anyway, I could smell the scent of the others on you the moment you appear in this world. I guess that means they are still alive. Ah, so long, indeed."

The god slowly shook his head before gazing into the past beyond the darkness. After a moment of silence, he turned to Ju Feng and asked.

"Well, what do you have for me, young one?"

"Please forgive this young one, senior. I'm to ask you where to go if I find myself in the dark and who to ask for."

"You can only go to the Emberless grove and ask for Regallash."

"Thank you senior for your patience with me. I'm to show you this scroll."

"En."

After reading the scroll of sentience and had it returned to Ju Feng, he turned his attention back towards the direction of the total darkness ahead. His gaze was fixed on them for a long time before his voice sounded in a soft but firm tone.

"Several millions of years ago, there were four demigods. The Frost-Dreamer. A Yakshasan who was adept in manipulating the energies of ice and dream and illusion. The Plane-Drifter. A Lakshasan who could conjure the energies of air and shadow. The Dawn-Gazer. An Asura who was a master of fire and light energies. And a certain Soul-Carver."

There was a soft sigh followed by a short pause that seemed eternity.

"Yes. The Soul-Carver is myself."

He took an expressionless glance at Ju Feng before focusing on the scene ahead.

"They called us geniuses of the martial and mystical arts. It didn't take us long to pass the trials of the demigods. Though we were new lowgods on the heavenly plane, we could survive most highgods and could even match some of them in power."

Turning around, he faced Ju Feng with a shake of his head.