Pathway

The Ankhora continent had never seen an atrament attack before. The attack by the lunar mountain was the first time the energy attack was witnessed on the continent. Although they had heard of atrament before, an energy that existed in the void, they simply had never seen its nature until then.

The utter fear it had created in the mind of the villagers, could be detrimental, if left unchecked. There would always be the fear of such an attack happening again, which would affect them from carrying out their daily activities. Hence, the titan lord had decided to remove the memory of the daemon attacks from their minds. Only the nascent souls were left with the memory of the event.

Primus had used his mind-voice to transmit his words to them. The villagers were to continue with their celebration. He had already notified the other titan on Lorra, Urdith and the three monarchs, as well as the Conclave — a gathering of entities on the heavenly plane.

The festivity had continued for the next two days after the demons encounter. The atmosphere remained one of happiness, as food and milk continued to be shared in a joyful manner. The delegates that returned from the lunar plain joined their respective villages in their celebrations without raising the issue of the demons attack.

A week later, Chu Shang Wu was planning a visit to the titan lunar mountain, but first decided to check on the Zhangs. From the events at the lunar mountain, he had become aware that the daemons were after the Zhangs, but didn't know the reasons. He was hoping he could learn more about what was happening from lord Primus, and maybe the Zhangs would also want to know. He sent out his divine sense and quickly came across a familiar divine sense.

"Lady Xiu Ying, I meet you well."

"I meet you well too, lord Shang."

"Thank you, lady Xiu Ying. I'm just on my way to find lord Primus. And I want to know if you don't mind me stopping by your place?"

"Not at all, lord Shang. You know you are always welcome in our place at anytime. You only need to inform me, and I will welcome you. If you are ready now, I will meet you by the entrance."

"Alright then, lady Xiu Ying. I will see you soon."

Few minutes later, Zhang Xiu Ying was in the air to welcome the arriving Chu Shang Wu. After landing on the ground, Chu Shang Wu turned to Zhang Xiu Ying.

"The defensive arrays in this place always impress me. It would have been impossible for me to enter without you. You wouldn't even know you already missed the place. I tell you this, lady Xiu Ying, this place is truly impressive."

"If you say so, lord Shang."

The demigod smiled gently before gesturing towards the entrance of the cave. After receiving a nod of gratitude from Chu Shang Wu, she nodded back and continued, as they walked towards the cave.

"But we all know our Divine-Oriental arrays can't compare to your Thousand-World, lord Shang."

"Hehehe. You flatter me, lady Xiu Ying. The Thousand-World formation is not as powerful as you tend to believe. After all, it's only an heavenly treasure."

Chu Shang Wu replied with a joyful face as his mind wandered-off to his own ancestral treasure, the Thousand-World formation. A pure grade array with tremendous capacity of trapping any soul inside a shifting deadly world with each step.

"A heavenly treasure? Why do I have a feeling it's as powerful as a luminous treasure?"

"Probably just a feeling, lady Xiu Ying. Although its power is almost at a luminous grade."

"Aha. I thought as much. A luminous treasure in the making."

"Hehehe. If you say so, lady Xiu Ying. If you say so."

Entering the cave abode, Zhang Xiu Ying introduced the Terra-Bane to the rest of the family who were already waiting for them in the living chamber. They had been informed by the demigod about the imminent arrival of the other nascent soul in their village, hence, they had quickly prepared.

"My greetings master Li Xiang, mistress Wang Jing and young master Ju Feng."

Chu Shang Wu's gaze lingered on the young Ju Feng as his mind momentarily wandered off in thoughts. Ah, the distressed child who had been carrying an enormous weight of sorrow, right from his birth. He had wondered why they named him Ju Feng without their ancestral name, until he was later told of the words of a powerful oracle in regards to the boy. Even now, the boy was being followed around by the many shadows of death. He sighed inwardly before shifting his attention to the others.

"Greetings lord Shang. We meet you well."

"I meet you well too, and thank you for welcoming me."

He nodded his head as he regarded them while Zhang Li Qiang quickly gestured towards an empty chair.

"Please have a seat, lord Shang, and accept a little refreshment from us. We insist on this."

"Alright then, please don't mind the trouble."

After receiving the refreshments, the nascent-soul took one bite of the millet cake, and his facial expression was of utter amazement.

"Delicious! How can I even remember who I am after eating all these? I've even forgotten my own name already."

"Hehehe."

They all laughed at Chu Shang Wu's funny complimentary words. Zhang Xiu Ying waited for a moment to pass, before turning her attention towards the Terra-Bane.

"Lord Shang, you said you were going to pay a visit to the titan lord."

She stared at the other nascent soul who nodded in return. After a quick recollection, the demigod shook her head slightly in disbelief as she gazed in the direction of the opened doorway.

"I still couldn't believe that we have been living very close to a titan. A titan lord! Legends of old! Do you even know some of them existed during the great wars too?"

"Yes, lady Xiu Ying. And he's even a Terra elementalist. So much I could learn from him."

"We've agreed to follow you. If he will see us, that is. We want to know more about the atrament and learn everything we could from him."

"Let's go and find out what he thinks then."

After a little deliberation, they all left for the lunar mountain. Shortly after, they arrived at the base of the mountain. Remembering the lunar incidents, they were very cautious in their approach. After all, this was the domain of a titan lord.

As they moved closer, a voiced boomed out from the mountain.

"I've been expecting you."

And the next moment, they found themselves standing at the top of the mountain. From a quick observation of their new surroundings, they quickly realized they were in a personal domain. Further examination revealed a huge man sitting on a meditation mat, wearing a simple yellow robe. This huge man looked like an ordinary villager after concealing his aura and his halo light.

"I knew you will come sooner rather than later."

Realizing it was the titan lord, they quickly raised their cupped hands with a respectable bow.

"Greetings, titan lord Primus."

Ju Feng, who was caught in the moment, suddenly became aware of his situation and hurriedly followed suit, bowing deeply. He knew his body and soul, could be disintegrated by an angry titan lord, before he even realized what he had done wrong.

"Greetings, titan lord Primus."

"My greetings too, fellow immortals."

Lord Primus replied as he swiftly glanced at them, making a quick assessment of their various states.