Pathway To Eternity 11 The Crystal Pagoda

How could a child of ten years old, of Lianchi stage, have the strength of a grown adult?

This knowledge had to be preserved. There were things that must be kept quiet, there were many people that would cause him troubles justfor the awareness of it. One of the reasons why people always kept their silence.

The most alarming was his spiritual aura. Although he didn't have divine aura because he wasn't born a divine neither was he a divine being, his spiritual aura was still imposing for his age. The energy coming off his body was tremendous for his level.

The level of Chi in his dantian was of high amount. He had not been using Chi in his training, yet, the amount of Chi he was absorbing daily was terrifying for his age.

He couldn't have asked for a better cultivation method. The astral ma.n.u.script was indeed a divine treasure or what other reason could be for it being so powerful.

The continous effect of the astral primal technique on him had been tremendous. It really amazed him that he could feel his own dantian and meridians expanding. He could also feel a vast amount of Chi flow through his own meridians whenever he circulated Chi in his body. It was even significantly different from two years ago. Indeed, the technique had further enlarged his dantian and meridians. He would have been worried about these developments but he had calmed down after a.s.surance from his mother and grandparents. They were born into the family lineage of cultivators using the astral primal technique, thus, they knew everything about it.

Still, it felt to him like the phase of his Chi cultivation was a bit more than average. It scares him a bit.

In the s.p.a.ce of two years, he had advanced to the middle stage of Chi refining, although advancement at the early stages were faster naturally. True immortal cultivation would start from the Zhuji, the foundation stage. From there, advancement would be much more slower and would require enlightenment, insight into the universal existence. In the mortal plane, for many cultivators, it could take hundreds of years to millions of years to advance from an early stage to middle stage of Zhuji. The most difficult was the completion of the nascent soul formation, it could take several millions of years.

From ascension stage, the Shenxian stage, that was the stage of the myths. From the early stage of Shenxian to middle stage could take hundreds of millions of years to billions of years.

Creation really had a stronghold on G.o.dhood.

Although he was happily thinking about his cultivation, his mind had been greatly worried lately.

He was worried about his mother. He knew his mother had things bothering her lately. He couldn't say exactly what they were, but it was starting to worry him too.

Would it be the rite of judgement? Or, the fact that we are target of the daemons'attack? It could even be something else.

He was also worried about himself too. Unlike other kids, he had neither friends nor foes. Then, the thoughts of the daemons quickly crossed his mind which caused him to recoil a bit. He truly had bad foes. Mortal foes for that matter, foes who wanted him dead!

Whoa. What kind of world would the very life of a child be in mortal danger ? Marked for death? Insanity.

He had discussed with his mother and grandparents about him joining a sect, a learning school where he would be able to a.s.sociate with kids from other places. They too had already thought about the same thing and had agreed with him. It would be a great experience for him to see the bigger outside world It would be a great pportunity for him to have friends for once and he would also be able to gain more knowledge more knowledge. He remembered the words of the t.i.tan lord which he had been keeping in his memory.

"knowledge is the key to true power, learning and opening of the heart to knowledge gained is the foundation of true power."

On a very beautiful and bright day, Haider woke up as before and after was.h.i.+ng his face, he went to the training ground to train in martial art. He had finished mastering the basics of the s.h.i.+fting heavens hand technique. Although it was a simple technique, it's efficient enough in combat. He decided to resume his sword technique training, the mystical art of skylight technique. With weapons, mystical art is the pinnacle. All mystical arts are affiliated with the elements therefore cultivators must be attuned to the elements to use mystical. A weapon without mystical arts is of little or no use.

He started training the sword technique, he was on the first level of the technique, sundering heavens. He tried to focus his mind on the training, but his mind keeps wandering. He made the decision to let his mind wander freely. With his mind not on his traning, thoughts so occupied. He didn't noticed when the edge of the the sword nicked one of his left finger, but because his body was so strong, it took some time for traces of blood to show.

When he finished his sword training, he left for the cultivation chamber.

He needed to calm his is mind. The raging thoughts in his mind were distractions to him.

How could he find peace in his heart?

He arrived to find his mother in the cultivation chamber deep in cultivation. Looking at his mother's face, he could see worry on his mother's face. He didn't want to disturb her, hence, he decided to cultivate in his room. Inside his room, he sat cross-legged and started breathing in and out using the soul serenity method. His mind started to calm down and he closed his eyes to meditate. He suddenly remembered the crystal paG.o.da, his grandmother had said it was good for meditation. He took out the paG.o.da and placed on the floor in front of him. Adjusting the position of the paG.o.da with his left hand, he didn't see the trace of blood that touched the paG.o.da. Yet, he felt a tingle in his hand which he casually shrugged off. He sat in a lotus position, closed his eyes and started to meditate.

He didn't know when he fell into a trance. The paG.o.da started to give off a faint glow, still in trance, he reached out his hand. He touched the pahoda and he simply vanished.

He must be dreaming after falling asleep. Or not? Should be dreams.

He looked around him, the place seemed familiar yet very strange.

He had seen this place before in his dreams, the sparkling gates, the runic gateway. He had been here before. How he wanted to take a peek inside the gate and now, he wasn't keen on the idea.

"What is this place?"

"The childling is back again."

"Who's there?" Haider asked in a quivering voice.

"Oh. The crystal mark. That changes everything."

"Please, who are you? where am i?"

"You do have the crystal mark, that can only mean one thing. Mhm, that you are the holder of this gateway. Under this condition, necessity is placed upon me to attend to you, childling." Sighed the voice.

With a shrilling sound, a figure appeared in front of him. A frail old man, of average height, wearing a white robe of distorting ripples.

"My name is Hypatios. The keeper of this crystal gates to the planes of existence. I'm one of the ten Ouranias, the keepers of the gates to all planes."

Haider, lost for words, glanced nervously at the gatekeeper.

"The gateways were created at the begining of creation and we were created to watch and guide them. The gateways are our domain, that's why we have absolute power over them. No one can cross into any plane without the right of pa.s.sage. It's very important that we do so. This is because, the gateways are direct pa.s.sages to all the planes of creation. It leads to twelve planes of existence. There are four planes in this universe, two planes in the primordial chaos and one known as the conjecture, the place where the paths of all ent.i.ties from the three existence meet. This gateway is one of the pa.s.sages to all of them."

"Senior, the planes of existence? Am i dreaming?"

"It depends on the perspective of it. If you are talking about this place being a dream place to be, i believe it is. Ent.i.ties from all over existence would be happy to be here, i guess. There is benefit of travelling around, may sound great to you. Other benefits out there if you are strong enough to take them. But, if you are talking about you having a dream of this place right now, then the answer is no. This place is very real."

"Senior, forgive me. How did i get here? This must be a mistake."

"You have the mark of the paG.o.da, which can only happen if you have been accepted by the paG.o.da. A gateway can be activated by the holder through his will or to a new holder by trance, as in your case. You unconsciously activated the panG.o.da when you were in trance and you entered the door to appear here. Maybe a mistake, maybe not, i don't make the choices for people, i only make sure there's law and order in the use of this gateway. Anyway, after today you won't be able to come here through trance anymore."

When Hypatios saw that Haider was speechless, he continued.

"You see, these gateways were created differently. There are many gateways in existence that connects one plane to another, but there were fewer numbers of gateways connecting all planes. There are ten in the whole existence. This one had been holderless until now."

"Senior, Is this like a portal?"

"It is like a portal, but there's no portal like these gateways. These gateways work differently from portals. Unlike portals, they don't need arrays or formations to work. There's no need for the worries of getting lost due to destination alignments, you get to where you are going and back, if you dont die before coming back. And we, the gatekeepers are always here to maintain order. Can you see the difference now?" Hypathos smiling asked.

"Yes, senior. I can see it." Haider replied. He was still lost in the moment.

"There are worlds out there, worlds without numbers, both major and minor worlds. Planes to see. But you are not strong enough yet, you must wait until you are much more stronger to survive out there before you attempt any use of the gateway."

"Thank you senior, i will remember that." Haider bowed towards Hypathos

"And remember this too, others will desire what you have if they know you have such a treasure. How you do it, is left for you."

"I will, senior. Many thanks. Senior, if i want to go back, what do i do?"

"You can't go back on your own for now, i will send you out this time. You won't be able to come in through the trance anymore, you will have to enter through the doors. Not to worry, once you are strong enough to power the paG.o.da, a door will appear that leads to my place and when you are through, you will leave through the same door. When you can power the paG.o.da to open a door, then you will be strong enough to see the worlds out there. Here is the token of authority as the holder of this gateway. It's the right of pa.s.sage."

"Thank you senior, it's an honor to have met you." Haider was having thoughts of waking up later to find all these are a dream.

Oh, how much he really wanted to wake up now.

"Farewell childling."

Moments later, Haider found himself in his room. He was relieved after confirming he was really in his room. He was about to collapse in his bed for a deserving sleep when he noticed that the paG.o.da was still radiating a faint light. Remembering the encounter with the senior, he quickly checked and found the token he had hidden in his robe. Suddenly, he felt very light-headed.

It wasn't a dream. The whole encounter was real. That means the paG.o.da was really a gateway. This made him happy and frightened at the same time. The thought of having such a means frightened him

Why was he even happy? To see other places? Maybe. Why would he even wanted to see other places? To be food for demons? No way. No, he wasn't that happy but frightened. Who knows what is out there? He might even find himself in the void mistakenly. I'm fine here, thank you.

He decided he didn't need to disturb his mother and grandparents about his encounters for the time being. He went back to sleep, it was still a long time till day break. He immediately fell asleep.

"ZOTHIKOS! Come out and face me!" Bellowed the voice of the wyvern out of the cloud.

"Do you think you can threaten me with some useless moves? Come out. I will sit on your stupid ugly face and trample your more stupid and ugly body. You stupid turtle."

Fotios was raging furiously in the cloud. He was here to finally put the turtle in his place which is, under his a.r.s.e.

"Zothikos! Where are you? Show your stupid face."

"Go away Fotios." Came a deep mellowed voice in reply.

"Show your face Zothikos, i'm up here waiting."

"What do you want, Fotios? Why are you disturbing my peace?"

"Come out and find out for yourself, Zothikos."

Zothikos slowly rose from the water sending ripples down the surface of the water. His gravely eyes set on the wyvern in a silent fury.

"Aha, finally, the turtle raised his ugly head. Zothikos, give me what is rightfully mine and we can avoid any unnecessary fight over it."

"If it is yours, how come i have it? Doesn't that make it mine, Fotios?"

"You stupid turtle, if you don't hand it over then don't blame me for what happens next."

He finally had the chance to get his revenge on the stupid turtle. Five hundred million years it took him to prepare for this day, it was time to show the ugly turtle what true power means.

He took out a seal, the cosmic void rift and activated it. The destructive power of the seal was so terrifying that its use was forbidden in the universe. The seal was last use during the great war and was one of the items that ended the war.

"What are you doing, Fotios?" Shouted Zothikos with wide frightened eyes.

"What i'm doing? Can't you see? I'm trying to kill you. Why is it so hard for you to see?"

"Are you insane? You used a forbidden seal! It will destroy everything here."

"Oh yes it will. Oh, how wonderful will it be to finally sit on what remains of your ugly head, Zothikos. Good bye my friend."

Fotios took out another seal, the greater teleportation seal that could be used to move from one world to another. He activated the seal but he didn't teleported, he checked again nothing. He used another one, the same result.

"What's happening?" Fotios asked in alarmed voice.

"If the place was to be destroyed, you are not going anywhere too. That was the heavens on earth pentogram technique. Yes, it was a forbidden technique, my old friend."

"Noooo. You stupid turtle. I will kill you."

Zothikos smiled as he was looking at the raging wyvern. Lonely life, miserable life, all coming to an end. His soul willbe free from it all.

Haider woke up with a terrifying feeling. Another dream vivid and intense dream of the turtle and wyvern.

What are they? Sacred beasts, divine beasts or even primordial beasts? If i even know what any of them looked like.

Calming himself down. He washed his face and headed towards the training ground.