Pathway

The elders were surprised by the item in front of them. The Sinnughar core. A core belonging to a primordial beast from chaos. They had seen many items or artifacts before, heavenly and luminous treasures. Those were expected appearances with some degree of surprises. But this was a different thing entirely. What they were seeing wasn't what they were expecting. They were expecting to see a normal core with a different color but they were seeing a wonder of its own.

Their facial expression was that of amazement. A complete display of wonderment. The primordial beasts were legendary creatures which none of them had seen before. How could they? When the primordial beasts were creatures beyond their universe. And now, the grand elder was holding what contained the essence energy of one of them.

"The Sinnughar core!"

"Yes, I was like you too when I first saw it. Surprised and bewildered by its look."

The grand elder who was watching their faces, nodded with a wry smile before asking.

"How can this even be a core?"

"Yes, grand elder. It looks more like a heavenly artifact."

One of the elders quipped in.

"More like a luminous treasure."

"How did you come by this core, grand elder?"

Words were coming from the elders in a flurry and directed at the grand elder.

"How, you asked? We'll get there as soon as I finish telling you the rest of the events. Alright, where was I? Yes, Immediately I saw the core, I started asking myself many questions too. What type of core could it be? Where did it come from?"

He paused, still observing their facial expression.

"At that time, none of us had the answer to these questions. Hence, we could only find out from the grand patriarch who was undergoing his immortal ascension tribulations. We knew the dangers and the risks he was facing. Although we couldn't interfere in his tribulations, any form of distraction or disturbance could be very costly. So we patiently waited for his return despite being anxious to know about the core. But at that time, we could only hope for the grand patriarch's success, and for him to return to us in good health."

The grand elder put the core back into his spatial sac, walked over to the stone stool and sat down on it.

"After several weeks, the grand patriarch returned back to us alive and in good health. He had successfully completed his tribulations and would soon be ascending to the heavenly plane in seven days after his alignment. Since we were extremely happy and joyful that he had succeeded, we waited for many hours before telling him about the incident. When he heard of what happened, he was extremely furious. His anger grew to the extent that the ground he was standing on began to dissolve. That was the first time I truly witnessed the force of an ascendant. Terrifying. He was angry with us too for not telling him when he got back despite knowing there was nothing he could do at that time."

With his eyes staring at the ground, he let out a deep breath.

"For several hours, the grand patriarch was furious. We had to wait for many more hours before we could show him the core. 'Primordial beast' was his response. Not just any primordial beast but a powerful ancient one due to the size of the core and the amount of power of the chaotic energy exuding from it. The sect defensive arrays were tightened and redoubled. Grand patriarch continued to be alert to any danger, but he was also preparing for his impending ascension. The excitement of joining his ancestors was evident in him despite the threat of the Revenants. His ascension was only days away when he received a need of urgent help from his friend, Targgom."

He paused for a time as he ruminated on his thoughts.

"Targgom was the demon god of a small demon planet known as Urgorod. He was a good and kind demon. Targgom and the grand patriarch had been friends for millions of years without a single form of dishonesty between them. It showed the level of trustworthiness and reliablity between the two."

He raised his head to look at them in silence, then continued.

"Urgorod was one of the planets by the border of the Netherplane and the Forbidden ddominion. Targgom said there were some extremely powerful revenants killing many cultivators in his world. He had been trying to recover his world from the brink of extinction only to be facing new form of threat."

He opened his spatial sac and brought out a Red Cloud seed which he deposited in his mouth.

"When he took hold of the message, the anger in him escalated. 'The revenants can't just be coming to kill us and disappeared. Even the demons are not safe?' Those were his words which were totally understandable and accepted. The grand patriarch made up his mind to go and help his friend in his time of need."

The grand elder remembered the accounts of the grand patriarch. He had tediously journeyed to the Netherplane and arrived at a time of raging battle and the situation was getting dire for Urgorod. With the death toll mounting on Urgorod, the grand patriarch had fought fiercely with his mighty sword, Astoroth. An ancestral heirloom of incredible power used at critical times.

"Whenever he takes the heirloom, you know something drastic was about to happen. And with him was the Dead-God seal. The luminous treasure of the sect only to be used in an extremely critical time because it's a forbidden talisman. Although it saved his life, he also broke the heavenly rule of forbidden items. He was concerned about the powers of the Revenants. The army of revenants were at the ascendant level with unbelievable powers. They had been killing demonic cultivators in the surrounding worlds, either looking for something extremely unusual or indiscriminately collecting demonic cores."

He shook his head as he remembered grand patriarch's words.

"The battles had been intense."

From his words, the grand patriarch's first surprise attack had mortally injured one revenant. The revenant wasn't involved in the battle for a while after that. But more revenants had joined the battle against him. He was quickly exhausting most of the items he took with him. Afterall, he was just entering godhood, but he could only enter full godhood after his ascension. His godhood powers were greatly limited which was totally different from that of the revenants. They had been been cut off from immortal cultivation, but had been consuming various sources of power, secretly.

"Although they couldn't advance in levels anymore, their strength kept on increasing. A godlevel revenant possessed the power in the region of a true god's stage. It could face a god of the same level and below, in battle. But they didn't have the aura, divinity and traits of godhood."

The Grand elder stood up and glanced at them before shaking his head.