Pathway

The passage of time was like a brisk wind. It flew over existence but left only its shadow behind. And before its presence was realized, it had already gone. It felt like it was onky yesterday, but five hundred years had gone by since the wheels of reincarnation were turned.

A young woman was sitting in a lotus position in a cultivation chamber that was located inside an ancient cave. This was the place she called her home. It was located inside a knoll [a small hill] which was situated at the outskirt of Sky-Spring village. This was a large village in the southern province of Ankhora, one of the three colossal continents in this world called Lorra.

The young lady was using the ancient Astral primal technique to circulate the Chi in her body. The astral primal technique was a rare primordial cultivation technique and extremely difficult to cultivate. The level of difficulty would only get worse as the cultivator advanced in stages. This technique absorbed two different types of cosmic energy into the body. These were the heavenly spiritual energy and the stygian energy.

The heavenly energy was the energy needed to form and to replenish Chi in the body which was necessary for cultivation advancement. While on the other hand, the stygian energy was the sparse dark energy that caused the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. The astral primal technique combined these two energies, to expand the dantian and the meridians in the body. Then, these energies would form a large amount of highly condensed Chi in the dantian.

This technique was excruciatingly painful on the meridians and the dantian. It also made breathing extremely hard when practicing it. But there were great benefits derived from it. The meridians would be greatly enlarged making the Chi flowed freely and in large amount. More importantly, the dantian would be bigger and able to store larger amount of Chi energy.

The best thing about this technique? Its breathing and meditation methods were similar to the rhythms of the universe. It was a true treasure of her family. Though, not many cultivators would embark on its painful journey.

This young woman was Zhang Xiu Ying, an Asura[demigod]. Her father was Zhang Li Qiang. He was a swordsman from the Eagle-Blade clan and a middle-stage golden core. While her mother was Zhang Wang Jing, the flaming claws, an early-stage golden core from the Phoenix clan. Zhang Xiu Ying was born five hundred years ago — as a matter of reincarnation — in a village known as White-Fountain. A village on the continent of Xuanpu, on the other side of the planet.

Planet Lorra was a major mortal world of the human race. A world of three continents and monarchies. Ankhora, Xuanpu and Yimachi. Each of these continent was ruled by a supreme monarch [A monarch was an immortal of the hegemon soul who had achieved immortal ascension but failed to ascend to the heavenly realm to become a god]. Why? It was due to the general knowledge that every cultivator in the cultivation world had come to acquire.

If an immortal ascended to the heavenly realm, neither the deity's main body nor avatar would be able to come back to the mortal world. The laws of creation that protected the fabric of the mortal planes from being destroyed by higher powers. Only a deity's image could be sent back to the mortal world due to its limited power.

This was unbearable for some mornachs. They simply didn't want their physical bodies and nascent souls, to part with the mortal worlds. Hence, they refused ascension. For some hegemons, it was due to their families, while for others, they preferred their ruling powers in the mortal worlds. But in accord with the laws of the universe, an immortal without ascension would forever be at the quangtian stage of the hegemon soul. The stage preceding the transformation into godhood.

This was the situation on this planet of Lorra. All the three supreme hegemons had refused ascension and remained on the mortal plane. Although they were at the gates of godhood, they would never enter to become deities. Nonetheless, due to their luminous and divine treasures, they reigned supreme as they ruled three continents of Lorra.

Due to the massiveness of these continents, they were divided into four smaller provinces. The northern, the southern, the eastern and the western provinces. Each of these provinces was under the control of a marquis or a marquees. Every province was further categorised into cities that were controlled by the city lords. The headmen — villages heads — were given the supervision of the villages under the direction of the city lords.

Zhang Xiu Ying was a young beautiful pregnant lady, when her parents moved here with her. They had bought this land from the owner, a young man who had been eager to move to the city. The bargained price had been very steep, costing them most of their ancestral inheritance. However, they loved the quiet location and the vast land.

The large areas of land would be ideal for the farming of millet and the rearing of animals. Furthermore, it was located outside the village area which made it more perfect. They, being farmers, had settled in perfectly.

The land was divided into four parts of two large parts and two smaller parts. The two large parts are for farming the millets and the rearing of goats. One of the two smaller parts was designated as the practice area for martial and mystical arts. The second smaller part was where the dark-water pond was. They had been unaware of the cultivation chamber located under the knoll. Until her father made the discovery while creating underground storage in the building.

The cultivation chamber had been secretly carved out from the rich deposit of emerald green jadeite and emerald blue nephrite that were located under the knoll. The walls of the cave were all emerald green jadeite while the large area at the centre was all emerald blue nephrite. There was a clear and peaceful stream of water flowing through it. The circular sides of the floor were of white marbles, and attached to the cave's ceiling were the red rubies. This was a marvel of a cave that could only be a heavenly blessing.

Since her pregnancy had manifested, Zhang Xiu Ying had been absorbing vast amount of spiritual and stygian energy that were continually trapped inside the cave. She was also consuming large amount of Chi, in the form of blue crystallines. These blue crystallines were edible transparent essence rocks formed on the surface of the emerald blue nephrite. This was due to the crystallization of vast amount of highly dense spiritual energy with streams of water and the emerald blue nephrite.

These were materials that occupied a very wide area at the centre of the cave. The effect of one blue crystalline in the dantian could last from several weeks to few months, and a number of these powerful crystallines had been formed over the course of hundreds of millions of years that the cave had stayed hidden. The inside of the cave was littered with these crystallines when it was discovered.

They had spent an amount of time mining these crystals secretly and created a safe storage room for them underground. But a handful of these crystals were left on the floor of the cave to create a serene atmosphere.

Zhang Xiu Ying's advancement in cultivation had abounded in leaps. She had advanced from the Jindan stage to the nascent soul stage within one hundred years. At the young age of five hundred. The avatar of the nascent soul she formed was the mini replica of herself. An avatar in white feathered armour and flaming wings. Having been born as a half demigod with the divine evasion power, she had quickly grown into a full Asura[demigod] that could survive on her own.