Pathway

A Saladar fairy.

Fairies! Extremely powerful entities of the Starstride dimensional plane. Their powerful immortal nature was due to the fact they were born as innate bloodline entities like the divine beasts and with a golden core.  That was the reason why they were directly used by the celestials to carry out deeds and errands. 

"That was a loud voice, right? Yes, I know. I had to put some effect on it to sound like that. It's first-time effect is impressive. You should have seen your face. Hehe." 

"All-right, now back to you, Who are you, and why are you here?"

Just as the demigod was about to reply, she was quickly and swiftly cut off.

"Just joking with you. I know who you are, Asura. And, I know why you are here. A demigod looking for her share of the treasures of the Silent-Seeker. I know that too well but don't get me wrong, that's fine by me and by you too, I guess. If not, you wouldn't be here. Right?"

The fairy stared at Zhang Xiu Ying in expected confirmation of his words. After recieving a shrug from Reena which he took as an agreement, he continued.

"Very well then. Kindly follow me, demigod."

The Saladar fairy made some hand seals before ceading the xemigod into the immortal cave. The sight of the interior made her smile in surprise. The inside of the cave reminded her a little bit of their own cave-house. It was a cave, no doubt, but the inside was an open space that led to two massive stone doors. The place could have passed for a plain if not for a small mildly glowing energy pool to the right of the cave and a designed area to the left.

"I welcome you to Suorang, Asura. This was the immortal cave of the highcelestial Silent-Seeker. He left behind many treasures for worthy souls. Most of his treasures had been claimed over the years but some still remain. Which one are you here for, Asura? Are you here for his martial arts legacy?"

With gleaming eyes, the Saladar fairy asked Zhang Xiu Ying in anticipation.

"Yes."

Zhang Xiu Ying answered. She had no idea what martial arts legacy the fairy was talking about. But, she would just play along. Though, the thought of having a martial art legacy of a highcelestial was more than appealing.

"The Symphony of the Soaring Sky? At last, after many years, a demigod is here to claim the martial legacy. If only you could see how happy I am for you, Asura. But there'a little problem, Asura. This legacy is behind those doors. All you have to do, is just to pass through those doors to the other side. If you don't mind this, then you need not worry much."

The fairy spread his hands around as he gave a nod to Zhang Xiu Ying.

"As you can see, this is a spacious area. You can replenish your lost energy and quickly recuperate here, if there's need for it. You have the energy pool to the right and training area to the left. It's possible you might not need them, though I doubt that. But if you need them, as I know you will, You can make use of them as much as you want."

"What is this about, fairy?"

"High treasures come with some obstacles. This one is no difference. You see, for you to get to the legacy yo seek, you have to face a little obstacle. Don't worry, it's just a little one. But if you try to pass and you manage to, you can come back here to replenish yourself in the energy pool and then do some practise, if you want. No need, if you don't want.

He waited as he keenly observed the demigod.

"Or rather, you can just go back and leave this place behind you. No harm done."

After waiting for couple of seconds and no response from Zhang Xiu Ying who had her eyes fixed on the doors with grim determination, the fairy nodded his head.

"I see you have made up your mind. Proceed when you are ready. And please, try not to die in there. I've had enough of demigods who thought they could make it in fastlight to the other side but ended up in Radar's light. You will have a fixed time to try your luck, Asura. When the time runs out, you will have to leave this place. There will be three warnings that your time is running out, if you are inside, you should leave immediately. If not, you will certainly die."

With a flaming force-field sorrounding her, Zhang Xiu Ying approached the massive doors. As she neared the doors, they slowly swung open outward, giving off a grinding sound. She examined the doors, carefully, and discovered that they were covered in different types of runes. The runes were giving off strong white glows and powerful energy emission.

Though the energy were not posing any known threat to her, she could feel its intense power. They had to be inscribed and embedded with an heavenly grade rune-maker, at the least.

Inside the doors of the Saurang cave, she found a wide path in front of her. They led to an opening at the other end. That must be the exit out of this place. To her instict, everything seemed too quiet and too peaceful. Using her divine sight, she could see traces of powerful essence but couldn't detect what was causing them and why. She didn't wait for long before she had her answers. There was a shimmer of energy and entities started to manifest on the two sides of the path.

Invisibility array. Had to be heavenly grade too. She should have thought about that possibility. Her attention was quickly drawn back to the present. She couldn't afford to be lost in focus in a place like this with this entities. Heavily built mortal-like entities with arms and legs that resembled oak trees. With their pebbly dark skin, wide mouths with sharp pointed teeth. Large and dark unblinking flat eyes, showing no emotions. Their large bodies were covered by big throbbing veins, sparsely covered by obsidian armor plates.

Dreads.

Just like the demigods, the revenants and many other dimensional entities, the dreads were also located on a dimensional plane. The Dark Sumara dimensional plane. Naturally, they were more powerful than mortals and some immortals. They were ones of the most powerful entities on any dimensional plane. 

And these were not just dreads, these were the mutated dreads. Without their mutation, dreads were already powerful immortals. Adding mutation to that, increased their power level beyond their natural limits without ascension.

She watvhed as they loomed over her, patiently waiting like coiled snakes for the word to strike. They all fixed their glance, down at her as she stood inside an array at the entrance of the opened gates. Their gazes were as cold and vengeful as those of the nether fiends.

And there were tens of them standing there, lining the path. Zhang Xiu Ying could feel the cold stares and the twisted divine auras coming from the dreads. A demigod she might be, but she also knew the indications of true forces when she saw one. And these dreads? They were true forces. With the look of things, she would have to pass through them to get to the other end.

How would she do that?

She knew she couldn't defeat even one at this level of her stage, talkless of a double figure. Alright, she would have to rely on her divine evasion to get to the other side or to flee.

"If you are ready Asura, you may step out of the array and proceed towards the cave. Remember, you have limited time. You can come back outside and prepare yourself again if you need to."

Few minutes after entering, Zhang Xiu Ying returned to the outside in a rush. Looking very uncomfortable, she had come to realize that the dreads are more powerful than she thought. True, she had faced the godly golems at the valley of the gods, but these ones, they were totally different. These were deadly opponents who were ready to cut her into little pieces. Unlike the golems, they were not reducing their strength rather, they were happy to get rid of her as quickly as possible.

She had tried to use her phoenix inferno mystical arts but was not even effective against one dread. She had also used the divine evasion but realized that they were as fast as she was. There was no way she could face them in martial or mystical arts, she would have to outrun them. The only possible way to stsy alive.

Where was the fairy, anyway?

Quickly checking her sorroundings, she couldn't locate the whereabouts of the fairy. If he was here, maybe he could tell which way to go. Heaven's forsaken Salader. She decided to replenish herself from the energy pool before trying again. Every day, she would attempt the the dreads path and would come back to the pool to replenish herself. Though, she noticed the water of the energy pool was fast depleting, she continued making use of it.

On the second day, immediately after drinking from the last amount of the energy water, the demigod sat down in a lotus position and started to cultivate using the Timeless Soul technique. Before, she was only drinking the water to replejish herself and now, she decided to cultivate with it. This was a random thought that came to her mind.

After few hours, she began to feel the roiling of the energy in her soul. Deep into her own soul, Zhang Xiu Ying could feel her soul being covered by a nimbus of chromium yellow-blue fire. It was forming a cocoon around her soul. She could feel her nascent soul undergoing transformation which made her smile broadly.

Several hours later, the nimbus dissipated and Zhang Xiu Ying stood up smiling. Her nascent soul had advanced from the middle stage to the gates of the late stage of nascent soul.

"Hehehe."

Her joy knew no bounds. Advancement like this, was the dream of all cultivators. Divine favour on the the highcelestial Silent-Seeker. She continued doing this and trying the dreads passage, for the remaining days. By the end of the fourth day, Reena wal already knocking on the doors of the peak-stage nascent soul.

With the energy pool drained, she decided to try the dreads passage. With a stronger flaming force-field, she proceeded towards the massive doors.