Pathway

"You see, child. The essence of the Universe was Oneness, and harmony was the underlying nature of the Universe. Oneness, Unity and Harmony were the basic qualities that the Universe operated on. Those who knew these insight facts, were truly enlightened. The more one was able to understand oneness and creative harmony in all areas of life and situations, the more enlightened one would become in viewing and interacting with reality.

Millions of years later after the cosmic beasts, mortals came into existence. They were created from the vital essence of life of the Alpheron — the Chi essence of life — according to the laws of creation. Mortals were created on different planets — worlds of different sizes. These worlds were divided into minor worlds and major worlds. Among the mortals, were the humans. You are half human. So, you should know. Although you took more to the human side. Many mortal worlds belong to humans while other species occupied numerous worlds too.

For millions of years, mortals were living extremely short and difficult lives. It was a circle of short life, death and reincarnation. But mortals were reluctant to accept these forms of living. Hence, they started the ultimate search, the search for immortality. The ability to gain eternal life, the capacity to live forever. The cosmic divines seeing the mortals predicament, decided to give mortals a chance to achieve the eternal life they had been craving. The answer provided by the divines was cultivation! Immortality through tribulations and trials. Cultivating chi and practicing martial and mystical arts through the created methods.

The first of the cosmic divines, the three pure ones — lord of primordial origin, lord of luminous treasure and lord of true way — decided to teach the 'Dao' of the universe[the way] to mortals. The teaching — Dao produced Taiji; Taiji produced Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang produced Yin, Yang and Chi — was spread throughout the mortal worlds. Luminous treasures from them, were scattered all over the universe to aid mortals in their cultivation and other arts.

Cosmic divines, the Adi-Buddhas — lord Buddha Bhavana and lord Buddha Bodhisattva — added the "Dharma" of the universe, the path. They taught the Eight-fold path and the Bodhisattva path. The enlightenment and awakening of the mortal self to reach immortality. Luminous artifacts from them were also created and placed all over the universe.

The roads were opened for mortals cultivating these techniques, to have eternal lives. This was due to the fact that the mortal body had a dantian — the centre of oneself. By sensing the heavenly spiritual energy, and absorbing the energy to form Chi in the dantian, mortals were capable of improving their health, increasing their longevity and growing more powerful. Mortals were able to achieve these through the circulation of Chi through their meridians. The cultivation of Chi in the dantian, was the root of the immortality tree.

As you already know, in order to record and preserve these techniques, manuscripts were created. These were scriptures and manuals containing detailed instructions on different techniques in cultivation, mystical arts and martial arts. Over the course of millions of years, many mortals had used these manuscripts to achieve immortality. Therefore, these manuscripts became being regarded as extremely valuable treasures and were well-guarded by clans, sects[schools] and loose cultivators who were in possession of them.

Mortals have their paths towards immortality designed for them. Nonetheless, cultivation was an act of defiance against the mortal laws of creation. Mortals lived, died and reincarnated. That, was a mortal law of creation. For mortals to be immortals, was going against the natural order of creation. And that immortality, would not come easily. This also applied to sacred and demonic beasts that practiced cultivation.

Though cultivation was an act of defiance, it would bring immortality after its trials. The immortality trials were the wrath of creation which came as the heavenly tribulations. This also applied to sacred and demonic beasts that practiced cultivation. Every major steps into immortality brought heavenly tribulations. But, surviving the tribulations meant immortality."

The voice paused, and continued after a long silence.

"Cultivatiion of cosmic energy was for mortals and immortals that could sense the energy. But what about those that couldn't sense the heavenly and cosmic energies. Yes, there were many like that. That was where divine Xue Wu Ye and Xue Wu Ma, the divine blood twins, created the Xue Wu. Life-force cultivation. The one you know as blood cultivation. Every living thing has blood or life force. It was an extremely powerful cultivation that, initially, received rejection from other divines. But with time, they came to accept it. Why, you asked? On the day of its creation, there was a divine prophecy from the cosmic oracle about a young blood, a girl, that would determine the fate of the universe. A prophecy about you. Ask your mother about your birth. Tell her about me and she'll tell you. Good bye, child."

Chang Chang woke up with a strong startle. It was an astral dream projection that was definitely of dreamy reality. What kind of astral dream could that be? Chang Chang couldn't bring herself to believe the idea of the essence of a dying entity could summon her and appear to her in a dream. Moreso, an entity from an all-seeing place? It had to be an illusion of a dream.

Dreams!

Although she was only ten deity years of age, she knew this could only be a mere astral dream of her subconscious self. Nonetheless, even if it was only a dream, could she actually have a core?  Also, what was he talking about regarding her mother? Of course, she knew her mother was a blood from another realm, but a fairy? What else was there to know about her? Even if the dream projection was true, the entity got it wrong that she didn't know much about her mother. 

Anyway, she wouldn't allow herself to dwell on these things so as to affect her mind. Next morning was the Rite of Summons. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind while concentrating on the night. The day she had been preparing for, for so long, which had finally arrived. She knew she couldn't afford a bad trial.

True, she was of a notable clan but that didn't mean much in this chaotic realm. The realm bloods could be challenged or attack at any time. She feared for her uncle, Lord Chang Wu. If he was to be killed, they would loose their status in the realm. If they were to loose their main protection which was lord Chang Wu, they could be opened to annihilation in the hands of angry bloods. And the first one to go, would be the weakest ones. This, she wouldn't allow. She had to show strength tomorrow at the summoning valley.

After recollecting herself, she sat down in a lotus position to meditate. As she closed her eyes, she wondered if she could truly cultivate. It would be beyond comprehension in the realm. She had woken up quite early from the induced sleep, hence, she decided to meditate a bit. Moments later, she cleaned herself and put on the new armoured robe that her parents had bought for her for this glorious night. After preparing herself, she went looking for her parents and found them in the living chamber, deep in discussion. They were pretending as if they hadn't been watching and expecting her. With their side to the entrance, they appeared to be lost in their conversation.

"Good morning, father, mother."

"Oh, Chang Chang! Good morning to you too."

Her parents replied in surprised pretence as they turned their attention to her.

"We didn't see you come in. A bit early for you today, don't you think? "

"And look at you, Twin essence. All dressed up and looking lovely this morning."

"Is there any occasion for you today?" 

"Huh?"

Chang Chang exclaimed in astonishment. What is going on? Could they have forgotten about her summoning rite this morning?

She was still thinking about this when she caught sight of the large marble table at the corner of the chamber. On it were the required items she would be taking to the rite, carefully packed and arranged in order.

"Arrgh."

Screeched Chang Chang before smiling while shaking her head. She might be a young deity, but she knew the extent of  her parent's love for her. She knew they were even more concerned about the rite than her.

"Thank you, father, mother."

"It's the least we could do, Twin essence."

With faces full of smiles, they proceeded to check the prepared items together. Everything in order, it was time to head towards the valley of a tbousand death for the rite of paths. After checking the protective arrays of his small manor, lord Chang Liu removed a seal from his dimensional space and threw it into the air. The Valley's portal seal. The seal that was delivered to them after their confirmation of their daughter's participation.

Immediately after its activation, a portal opened. On the other side, they could see the valley in its glory. Feeling a little apprehensive, Chang Chan glanced at her parents who nodded their heads in assured confirmation.

"It's all good."