Pathway

After the departure of lord Chang Wu, Chang Chang had been sitting alone in her small chamber, contemplating on the words of her second uncle. She was now a named blood of their clan. A named deity! A full blood! She beamed in a wide smile as she glanced at the bronze crest on the upper left side of her Spire-Shield armour robe. The bronze crest was bearing her name which indicated that she was now a named bronze-puritan. Even before becoming a bronze-puritan.

As the receding blue and orange colours of the sky battled the forming blackness of the incoming nightfall, a beautiful colour array was cast across the surface of their small manor. A strand of this light, seeped through a small opening in the living chamber and created a light of no significant display. But, this light enchanted Ethera, who was draining the last drop of her portion of the Nine Nebula Nectar. Similar to being in a trance, she stood still and continued to watch it with transfixed eyes.

A moment later, after regaining her awareness, Ethera turned towards the direction of her parents who were standing by the opened door of the living chamber, watching her with amusement.

"A reverie?"

Asked her father, who was smiling while raising an eye brow.

"Probably an awakening of her consciousness."

Answered Chang Xi, feigning a surprise as she glanced at her husband before slowly asking.

"Another jar of the nectar to celebrate?"

"Huh?"

Exclaimed Chang Liu in despair, only to be met with a hearty laughter from his wife. Chang Liu released a long suffering sigh as he shook his head to Chang Xi's continuous laughter as she warmly held his hand. Chang Chang who was now smiling after moment of laughter, ran to her parents and held them tightly in an embrace. She continued to hold them while they gently patted her on the shoulders.

After some long seconds, she raised her head to look at her parents. Observing the wide and easy smile on her parents' faces, Chang Chang's mind was full of gratitude to them for her life.

Their colossal roles in her current existential state, couldn't be emphasized enough by her. Despite her disappointment destined path, they were still, eternally, joyful that she was existing in their lives as their daughter. After a while, Chang Chang left to cultivate.

As she was going, she couldn't help but think about herself being a full blood. That was something she had never imagined. Think of it, she would now be attending the regular gatherings of their clan's full deities to have discussions on the clan's general welfare and other less important issues. Although as a no-ranking blood, she was exempted from their clan's Shadow Council and First Conclave, the Regular Gathering was more than enough for her as a young deity who just performed her awakening.

She closed her eyes as she gently patted the crest. Yes, it was a great honour and a dream that came true, yet, there were great responsibilities that came with it. Especially, the risks that came with being a named deity of a ruling clan which were guided by a set of ways.

The Damora laws.

According to the binding laws of the underworld regarding the clans, a named blood of any level of the incipient stage could be challenged by another opposing named blood of any level of the incipient stage too. Which meant that she could be challenged by a diamond-puritan deity when she became a bonze-puritan. Despite the goodness of the Damara law protecting the incipient levels deities from being killed, she could still be immortally harmed. Particularly her essence core, which could be shattered.

Well, if her level of advancement remained the way it was now, she would simply surrender when faced with a diamond-puritan or any deity above her level, just like most others. Without advancement, how would she face a silver-puritan talkless of a diamon-puritan. Where as, without the essence crystals, there wouldn't be any advancement.

"Ahhh!"

She let out a quick breath as she agonized about her predicament. Her uncle had done great for her to soothe her agony. She reached into her spatial dimension and removed her four crystals. Three chaos essence crystals and one writ essence crystal. Normally, two chaos essence crystals would be enough to take her to the silver-puritan stage, but her path of Twin-Realms would also require two light energy essence crystals. She would need one more to reach the next stage.

However, if her uncle could find only one writ essence crystal, she knew she wouldn't be able to find any on her own. Anyway, it was better to take her mind off it for now.

As her mind wandered off to her father, Chang Chang stood up and went looking for her parents. Since it would soon be twilight, she decided to check the cultivation room. As she made her way to the cultivation room, she wondered why any deity would want to challenge her father who wasn't even part of the Conclave Of Bloods.

True, her father was a Premier blood which meant he was still a ranking blood and could be challenged, however, he was a dormant premier. Since his core was shattered, he had become a latent deity. There was simply no accredited honour in challenging him. So, why would someone challenged her dormant father? No matter what might come up later, her father must concede and relinquish the challenge. He had the right to do that as a latent blood. She would have to talk to her parent about this.

Nearing the cultivation room, Chang Chang could sense the presence of her parents inside the chamber. She gently eased the stone door opened and peeked inside. The cultivation room was serene and her parents were sitting down in lotus position with their eyes closed. Meditation. Why were they even meditating? They should be worried about the upcoming situation.

With a slight frown on her face, she walked into the room. Seeing that they didn't acknowledge her presence, she sat down silently and joined them in meditation. After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes to find that her parents were still deep into meditation. She knew they had already realized her presence through their spiritual sense before she entered the cultivation room but didn't want to disrupt their meditation.

Well, sooner or later, they would have to open their eyes and she would be the first thing they would see. As she was about closing her eyes, her father's voice sounded in a whisper in her mind which made her snapped her eyes wide open.

"In this chaotic world of Xu Wus, the one thing we have is our honour, my child. Honour is the immortality in us as bloods. It is the shield of the deity soul. The very first thing to be put on by it and the last to be laid down. Soon, you will understand this, my daughter." 

Chang Chang was staring widely at her father's closed eyes while his words sounded in her mind. What honour was her father talking about? Wasn't there honour in admitting defeat and avoid the unseen dangers of a challenge?

She continued gazing at him as his eyes slowly opened. It was at this time that her mother's eyes suddenly flew open which caught her attention. She turned her head towards the direction of her mother who gave a soft breath before locking eyes with her which threw her off. There was a dim blue-white glow in her mother's eyes that she had never seen before. She quickly realized she truly knew little about her mother.

"We know why you are here, my daughter. You are worried about your father because of the immortal challenge. Aren't you? You don't need to be. This is a clan's challenge, not a clan's war. Honour will be at stake on both end to prevent mortal harm. As a blood of honour, your father has to be there. His hard earned honour is at stake as well as the honour of the clan."

"But mother, father is a member of the ruling clan. The honour is always there. He doesn't need to accept any fight."

"There are better ways to concede defeat in a challenge without tarnishing the honour, Chang Chang. If your father thinks he can't continue with the challenge, he would concede in a way where he won't loose too much face as a ranking blood. But it will be a great dishonor if he won't appear to duel at all. Dishonour that he may not be able to amend and the consequences could be severe."

With an easy smile on his face, lord Chang Li stretched his and placed it on his daughter's shoulder.

"Rest your mind, Chang Chang. I have no plan on dying anytime soon. And surely, not in a challenge. Alright?"

After recieving a nod from his daughter, Chang Li's smile became wider s he examined the spire-shield robe armour on Chang Chang. Today was the third day after her awakening and the day she had to get her soul weapon in the valley of A-Thousand-Death. Going by what he had seen of his daughter, he knew she had prepared so hard for this day.

"Now let's go and get your soul weapon."