Pathway

Throughout the following month, Ju Feng was spending more time cultivating his soul and vigorously practicing his martial arts. He had resolved not to disappoint his mother and grandparents, but rather, to make them proud in all things.

Everyday, he practiced martial arts from morning till the afternoon, mystical arts from the afternoon till evening and cultivation technique till late in the night. These extensive trainings were having a massive effect on his development.

In martial arts, he was focusing more on the Shifting Heavens hand technique since It was not an element affiliated technique, but a technique that relied on the chi energy inside the body. Although he was still at the initial stages of swordsmanship, he shifted his attention to hand combat which was more easier to learn.

His training in the mystical arts had continued with him using the Soul Pith technique making his soul gained more awareness and got more connected to his affiliated elements.

Meanwhile, he was still at the early stage of Chi refining in cultivation, but using the astral primal technique had increased the quantity and quality of Chi in his body to an alarming state.

As the festival date got nearer, there was great happiness in the air as the villages were gripped in the celebration mood, preparing food and drinks to be shared with others. Lunar dumplings made of rice, lunar cakes of millet, lunar grubs of moon-bugs and lunar milk from the mountain yaks, were some of the treaties that were being arranged for the festival.

Ju Feng was extremely anxious to see what a major festival would look like as the following day would be the beginning of the lunar festival. The villages chieftains, designated village elders and the nascent soul cultivators would all be there. However, if there were no nascent souls in a village, golden core cultivators would be representing the village. And since it was an open festival, any villager who could also make the trip was a highly welcomed.

He had never seen a major festival before talk-less of one involving all the nine villages, hence, he had been preparing for the day. At one corner of the room, was his folded the new robe, given to him by his mother. All these were creating anxiety in him which he tried to alleviate through meditation, but after a while, he slowly slept off.

The following morning, he woke up very early and cleaned himself before putting on his new robe. As a special day, there would be no form of training on this day. He arrived in the living chamber as his mother and grandmother were preparing the morning food, and the ones for the festival.

"Good morning ma, grandma."

"Good morning, son."

"Good morning, my grandson."

Zhang Wang Jing smiled before pointing to her grandson's robe.

"Is that a new robe you have on?"

"Yes grandma. Ma just got them for me."

He smiled gleamingly while patting his robe. His conversation with his grandma was cut short by Zhang Xiu Ying who set the prepared food on the table before reaching for the basket.

"That's the last one, ma."

The lunar plain was at the centre of the nine villages which was over seventy miles from their village. As a special occasion's day, they decided to ride their swords which quickly turned to streaks of lights as they sped towards the plain. And in a matter of seconds, they arrived at the lunar plain.

Alighting from their swords after arriving in a matter of seconds, they quickly located headman Huan Yu and the section for their village containing needed cultivators and other villagers. As they headed in the direction of headman Huan, they continued exchanging greetings with the people they met from other villages who were happy to be there.

Standing beside Huan Yu, was the other peak-stage nascent soul cultivator in Sky-Spring village, Chu Shang Wu — the terra bane — a powerful terra element cultivator. He cordially greeted Zhang Xiu Ying due to their non-competitive relationship as nascent soul cultivators before extending greetings the other family members.

It was a joyful day and everybody was in great spirit. After all, this only happened every thousand year. And all the villagers continued to exchange numerous food and other gifts they had prepared, as the festivity's happy mood kept on increasing. Really, it was a special occasion.

"Let me introduce the two of you to the other dignitaries according to the tradition. Please follow me."

Voiced Huan Yu before moving ahead of the two nascent cultivators — Zhang Xiu Ying and Chu Shang Wu — who easily followed and kept up with him, as he continued to address them.

"Lady Zhang Xiu Ying. I know this is your first time witnessing this festival, but I believe you've already heard about it before. Nevertheless, I will reiterate it to you. This festival is a way of promoting unity and harmony among the nine villages, and at the same time, making them work harder in preparing the future generations. The nine villages were formed by nine siblings of the same ancestral lineage. Sky-Spring, Red-Eagle, Rain-Water, Wind-Fall, Fountain-Fox, Yellow-Bay, Solar-Peak, Wall-Mount and Mountain-Crust. Being siblings, they looked for ways to stay united."

He stopped for a second and glanced at Zhang Xiu Ying before smoothing the sleeves of his robe.

"So, they created the lunar festival. The siblings discovered that every thousand years, when the nine orbital stars aligned with the moon, it would cause a reaction at top of the lunar mountain. It creates the floating lunar stone — radiant stones that shine for a thousand years. Although they were just ordinary light stones, they determine the ranking of the nine villages. The first lunary to come back will make his or her village to be the number one ranked village and it goes on like that. Just to let you know, we ranked fourth the last time."

Huan Yu looked sideways with a bright smile.

"The first day of the festival, like today, is for a friendly competition among the villages. Before this day, each village will determine its representative known as lunary who must be at the Zhuji stage. Each of these lunaries will gather here at the lunar plain. At the sound of the gong, they will race to the top of the mountain to collect one lunar stone and return here. The main test is at the top of the mountain where there's a mist that affects the mind of lower cultivators. However, the Zhuji stage cultivators can withstand it, but they will be greatly slowed down. That's why we prepare our lunaries properly for our villages' honours."

He halted for a few seconds when he saw some recognizable faces before speaking rapidly.

"And as part of the tradition, you may be asked for some friendly spars. It's really good because it will raise your prestige as a nascent soul cultivator and the honour of our village."

"I can manage with that."

Voiced Zhang Xiu Ying with a nod of her head as she glanced at Chu Shang Wu who was following the conversation without any words. His gaze was keenly set on the nascent soul cultivators ahead.

First was Fountain-Fox. The village headman was Jiang Bin, a peak-stage golden core cultivator, and with him were two nascent soul cultivators. One was Tu Yun Fan, a late-stage nascent soul cultivator and an air and ice elements affiliate. While the other was Yun Wu You, also a late stage nascent soul cultivator and a water element affiliate.

Away from Fountain-Fox dignitaries, they were introduced to the other village chieftains and their nascent soul cultivators or otherwise.

Four of the villages — Fountain-Fox, Rainwater, Sky-Spring and Red-Eagle — had two nascent soul cultivators each. Another four villages — Wind-Fall, Yellow-Bay, Solar-Peak and Mountain-Crust — each had one nascent soul cultivator and one golden core cultivator. Whereas, Wall-Mount had no nascent soul cultivator, but came with two peak stage golden core cultivators.

After a while, it was time for the lunar competition to begin. The lunaries were stationed at the starting points with some distance among them. At the sound of the gong, they took-off, racing up the mountain. As with the rules, no teleportation talismans and portal seals were allowed — not that they could afford to use any here, anyway. Only movement techniques or talismans were allowed to be used.

Some lunaries used quick steps and light steps techniques, others used flash steps talismans. Zuo He, the lunary from Sky-Spring was using the lightning steps talisman, making him climbed the mountain at a very fast pace. Despite this, others too were at the same level with him while some were even above him.

Although it took them few minutes — with some seconds' interval, they all reached the top almost at the same time. Once they entered the mist, they lost sight of one another which caused them not much panic. They all knew what was involved, hence, they had all prepared adequately for the situations beforehand.

Some distance from the base of the mountain, all the delegates from the nine villages were monitoring the situation with the lunaries, using their divine and spiritual sights. They could, clearly, see what was happening around the mountain and were monitoring the situation to avoid any foul play, and to handle any danger that could arose.

They were watching the proceedings when a portal suddenly opened, and two legions of twenty four demons led by four daemon lords came barging through. Unlike the normal nether demons, these ones were totally different. They were taller, bigger and stronger, and their bodies were covered in blankets of atrament — shimmering blackness of corrupt dark