Pathway

Elder Wang Xiu walked to his side and patted him on his back.

"I understood. The feeling of seeing and being one with the true soul. It was truly an unforgettable experience. You see, the Soul Budding technique is only taught to the genius core disciples but you are very different. I could sense your soul the first time I saw you. Your soul is different, I could sense it swimming in a large pool of Chi energy. Never seen that before but I've heard of such, so I decided to watch and wait. When i saw you this morning, I knew I was right, the soul of a premier shouldn't be that powerful. I could sense the power of your soul and it's drawing more energy.

Seeing the facial expression of Ju Feng, elder Wang smiled widely.

"Are you wondering how I knew all this? It's my ancestral bloodline, that's all I can tell you. The truth is that, If you hadn't learned to control your aura, you would have been like a beacon drawing all sorts to yourself. But now, it's alright."

After some minutes, Ju Feng regained his faculty and bowed to elder Wang Xiu.

"This disciple thank you elder Wang Xiu. I am in your debt."

"Debt can be too great to pay, Ju Feng. After all, you are my disciple. But, if I need your help on a good course in the future, will you consider it?"

Ju Feng was more bewildered. How could he help an elder of a nascent soul in the future? That was weirdly funny. He didn't even know if he should laugh at himself or at elder Wang or even at the universe.

"On the essence of creation, I will consider it."

"Very well then. Continue focusing on your training. You can go now."

"Thank you elder Wang."

Ju Feng uttered as he bowed low.

It was like watching himself through the eyes of a god. A god! That was the word for it despite the fact that he had no idea how the sight of the gods worked. But for him, that was the feeling. This encounter was an eye opener, the embryonic true existence of a cultivator's soul.

Da Xia and Chenric had been waiting outside the hall since they came out. They were wondering why elder Wang Xiu told Ju Feng to stay behind. Could it be that she found out about their grandfather's box? Is she after the treasures too? If not, then why?

They were still questioning themselves when Ju Feng came out.

"Ju Feng. What happened?"

"Did elder Cao found out about the box?

"Did she want you to bring the box?"

"No, not at all. You can both relax your minds. She doesn't know anything about the box."

"Then, why did she asked you to stay behind?"

Ju Feng looked at the two siblings with an easy smile.

"It was about my spiritual aura. She said it was getting too bright and that I could suppress it to the minimum."

"Why would she say that? Have you become a full premier?"

Ju Feng not wanting to affect the mood of the two, shook his head. He couldn't tell them at this time.

"Not yet. But I think it will be next week too."

"Yes, we are all looking forward to next week for the crazy tribulations. The elders said we will know when we are having your tribulations and we have few minutes to get to the Dragon Hide valley where it would be easier and safer for us."

"Leave the tribulations alone for now, Da Xia. You know what Ju Feng, when I became a full premier, I would never want to suppress my aura, i would make it shine brighter."

"You are right Chenric, especially if we want to become a core disciple."

They arrived at the cafeteria to find Yingjie already waiting at one corner.

"Hello Yingjie."

They all chorused at the same time.

"Hello Da Xia, Chenric, Ju Feng. What took you so long?"

"Sorry about that. It's because of Ju Feng. Elder Wang was telling him why he need to suppress his aura after advancing probably next week."

"Aura suppression has advantages and disadvantages too. But it will be too early at the Zhuji stage. Anyway, I'm still processing the energy in the pill too and I should be able to finish that by next week."

"Tribulations and aura aside. Now, let's make our plan concerning the forsaken palace."

"If we leave very early on the first day of the luminary week, we should be able to be back same day, I believe."

"I think we should prepare for more days in the mind of uncertainty. It's possible to stay longer than anticipated."

"So we should prepare for the uncertainty. How safe is the place by the way?"

"Grandpa said it was a safe place. But we still need to get ourselves ready for any danger."

"Yes, we should. That's settled then."

"Where should we meet?"

"I think outside the gate will be fine, not too many eyes."

"Okay, outside the gate it is."

After they all agreed to meet outside the sect gates early in the morning in two day's time, they went their separate ways.

Ju Feng headed towards the market. He would have to get a sword, he didn't have any weapon to use if he needed one. Although, he wouldn't want the situation where he would have to use it, the situation might be looking for him. Even, if he was not using it, it was better to know he had a weapon in his possession.

He arrived at the market and found the stalls for weapons and armours. He chose one and entered. The stall was full of different weapons of different sizes to one side and armours of various forms to the other side. He didn't need any armour since he wasn't going to battle, he was only going to a place full of fruits and plants. Would he be using armour to defend against fruits and plants? But the armours looked great, nevertheless.

The merchant noticed Ju Feng looking at the weapons and raised his voice a little.

"Are you in need of a weapon, young man?"

"Yes senior. I need a good sword."

"Alright. It depends on the type and grade you want. I have iron swords, bronze swords and steel swords. And either low grade or high grade."

"I want a good one that is a bit cheap?"

"The iron swords are the cheapest at ten gold coins, the bronze swords are twenty gold coins and the steel swords are fifty gold coins. Those are the arranged prices for sect disciples, they are more expensive outside."

All the money on him totalled twenty two gold coins, the combination of his own savings, money from his mother and grandparents for his time in school. Should he put all of it on the purchase of a sword? Very soon, he would have more money than this if everything turned out fine.

"Okay senior. I will take a bronze sword."

He paid twenty gold coins for the sword and left the market place. His mind was on the forsaken palace of the Jade emperor Wan Bao. What kind of a place was it? A place that contained many spirit fruits and plants.

With his mind still occupied with these thoughts, he didn't pay much attention to where he was going, walked into an invisible powerful force field and vanished.

The force-field's attack on him was a devastating one. His body and soul were almost ripped apart that he had to push a massive amount of Chi energy into his body to strengthen it. An average Zhuji cultivator would have been fatally wounded and a weaker one would have died.

It only lasted for some seconds but he was already vomiting blood by the time he materialised flying from the impact of the force-field. He appeared just couple of feet from a group of disciples who were coming out from one of the sect buildings. This group was of core disciples and at the front was Shao Cheng. A space-time element cultivator who had already formed his evanesce core, he was the number one genius of the Last-Sword sect.

Instantly, Shao Cheng contorted the space just before Ju Feng collided with them allowing them to move out of the way. This also slowed down Ju Feng's flight making him hit the ground a little bit softer, few feet behind them but was still vomiting blood.

"Who are you?"

"Where do you come from?"