Pathway

Ying Jie sat in a lotus position inside his room, removed the two valuable content of his sacbag and began to examine them.

The  first was the Wyvern Scale spirit fruit that would make his body almost indestructible when facing a jindan level cultivator and below. What a fortuitous encounter this was. Though, he was still far from the stage necessary if he wanted to make any difference concerning his parents, this was a step in the right direction.

And the second item?

Never in his wildest dreams, would he ever imagine himself in possession of it. His mind started repeating the events of the forsaken palace. After acquiring the fruit in the garden of the Jade emperor, he remembered the gruesome encounters with the Crucible and the golems. He had never experienced such mind-wrenching confrontation in his life before that. He never even thought he could experience such in this world, yet, he had.

Nonetheless, he had entered the forsaken palace and everything had frozen around him. Only, his ears were functioning as he heard the words of the giant guardian, Darghek, about appearing in various fruititous, yet, deadly places.

As his feet landed on the other side, he struggled for a firm hold as they were crunching over the crystal carpet of snow blanketing the ground. A storm had recently battered this area from the feel and look of things. Ying Jie steadied himself before looking around. He was standing on a snowy plain with scattered pine trees covered in snow. Right in front of him, was a road that led to a passage between two small mountains at a distant.

After taking a closer look, he could guess the passage led to a valley of some sort. With no one around him, he walked with a cautious steady pace in the direction of the valley. As he forged ahead, he noticed another storm that was rolling in with deadly icy wind. But he ignored the slashing wind, clawing at the exposed flesh on the face and hands as he pushed some Chi energy into his outer body.

An icy wind like this, he could ignore. He remembered when his parents were captured in that cave when he was young and he had to spend many nights shivering in the abandoned caves and desolate valleys as he hid himself from the sinful demons. And they could have caught him, if not for the two elders from his village who happened upon him at the right time.

He could still remember, like tormenting nightmares, everytime he closed his eyes. Before rising through the ranks of the village's rising stars, he had fought and impressed with other kids of his village to lay a claim to the village's susteinance and support. One of the given support, was sending him to the Last-Sword sect. A privilege that came with his position as a rising star.

With eyes kept on the road ahead, he continued moving forward. Though, he had no idea of where he was heading, yet, he understood that there was a compulsion laid on him to forge ahead.

The storm and icy winds, were only ephemeral, an illusion brought about by his appearance in an unknown place and a way to make his nature, stronger.

As he walked on, Ying Jie came to a side of the valley that was a little bit steeper than the rest of the area and was littered with rubbles and some boulders. It sloped down to a strait of a flowing river. On the other side of the strait, were two creatures engaged in a gruesome battle. One was a massive Shadow Raven while the other was a huge White Mountain Crow.

Ying Jie quickly ducked for cover behind a large boulder before peeping around the boulder to observe the scene before him. The small hills and mountains in the sorroundings of the fighting beasts, had been shattered and the ground was filled with giant slashes and gashes with few bodies of giant birds littering the ground.

Volants. Air sacred beasts.

Since they were in their bed forms, it meant they were yet to reach the full transformation stage. Yet, they were still powerful enough to kill him.

Ying Jie continued to watch the raging battle from behind the boulder. At the other side of the batle, was a sealed massive cave that was shimmering in death energy. It appeared the two sacred beasts were fighting over what was inside the cave. What could possibly be inside a cave like that? A death treasure or a primordial beast? No matter what it was, he was not going towards that direction.

He had to be very careful here. If they sensed his presence nearby, they would be quick to turn on him, though, he would simply use the safe words and leave the place. Still, he had no plan to leave until he was sure of leaving. With extreme caution, he continued to watch and he saw the two battling birds, separated for a moment as they regarded themselves.

From where he was hiding, he could clearly hear what they were saying as their voices sounded out.

"Raven!"

Shouted the giant crow whose feathers were like deadly arrows.

"Don't make me do this. We came on this sojourn together based on the agreement we had. I remember a time when the crows and ravens were together as one. Though, we have move our seperate ways, we are still tribes of the same lasting accord. Or, have you forgotten that?

"Forgotten what?"

"That any treasure found in the Land of Beyond, would be taken according to the Ways of Lives. That was the rules agreed on between us."

"Rules? You talk about rules? Hahaha, you made me laugh. You mentioned rules but do you follow the same rules, crow? A tribe for a sojourn? Is that not the rule? And, wasn't the last sojourn for your tribe? I still remember clearly, in case you've forgotten. The Cloud Sword that was inside the dream cave was for your tribe to take, yet, you left it behind. You left it behind not us. That day, was the day of your Way."

"What was not taken couldn't be counted. And, you know that!"

"Know what? Your group was led by Orodian. Have you forgotten what happened? You all abandoned the treasure hunt when you saw the Black Dragon of Dream Cave. You saw the dragon and you ran. You could have stayed and fought, but, you ran. That was your treasure as agreed. If you didn't take it, your loss. Rules are rules."

"There are exceptions when no treasure is taken."

"No exception!"

Shouted the Raven in a deafening sound as its eyes started to emit shadow energy.

"Do you want us to settle this now or you want the others including the Thousand-Talon Eagles to meet us here when they arrive? We still have many other sojourns to make together, crow. The Conchi Shell in the realm of the Shadow Shield? That is yours as agreed."

Unlike most Volants[air sacred beasts], the Thousand-Talon eagles were one of the epitome of the air. Extremely powerful and exceedingly angry. If the cave truly contained a great treasure, they would not hesitate to attack the two of them. The lure of an ancient cave like this would prove too difficult for the other volant sacred beasts to ignore. And, with only the two of them remaning, they could simply be courting death to stay.

"Do you even know where the Shadow Shield realm is? NO. Move aside Raven, and let me get what belongs to us. I won't tell you again."

"A pity then. You have no idea what I am, crow. For the sake of who we once were, I will give you a last chance to leave and live."

Said the Raven as it turned its back on the Crow.

"Give yourself the chance to live. You want a battle, you get a battle."

With raging anger, the Crow flipped its wing and closed the distance between them in a single flap as it gathered vortex of terra energy before releasing it. The Raven swirled around suddenly to face the Crow, and with swirling wings, sent a mighty shadow blast that collided with the terra flare of the Crow.

The impact created huge boulders all over the valley as the two engaged in close combat. Furious energy claws clashed in rapid succession as colossal deadly beaks sought openings to deliver fatal blows.

After what appeared to be infinite exchange of claws, the Crow let loose a battle cry as it shot into the sky and descended in a yellow terran energy as it aimed its spear-like beak at the head of the Raven. The beak dove through the head of the Raven, burying itself several inches deep.

With a quick flick of its head, the Crow wrenched its beak from the Raven's head and watched the Raven with expectant keen eyes. But the Raven didn't fall to the ground, but instead dissipated into nothingness before re-appearing a few yards back.