"Please, could you tell me where they are?" Zhang Tian asked of the old man.
The Lord of Lords tilted his head, "And what will you do with that information?" he asked.
"He is my friend, I need to help him, they look like they are in trouble," Zhang Tian said.
The Lord of Lords smiled as would a father smile upon his child, "I understand your worry and your fear for your junior brother, however, the distance between here and where he is, is grand and great. It would take you hundreds of years to reach it at your current level. Not to mention, you will not be of aid."
"I might not be as mighty as you, Lord of Lords, but I still take pride in my thousands of years of cultivation," Zhang Tian replied, clearly dissatisfied with being looked down upon.
The old man let out a small laugh, "I am not looking down on you, in fact you clearly are leagues above many cultivators the same level as you. I can see the way law is attaching itself to you, as if Law itself want to be part of your knowledge and power. However, the Sea of Demons is treacherous. In there, the moment you go under to the Sea of Demons and into the Dark Garden is where you will meet your mortality. Any cultivator would find themselves completely helpless and weak, nothing more than a slightly powerful mortal, which is not really anything here in the Beyond."
"…"
"Don't be too discouraged, I am not stopping you to help your junior brother, but I am stopping you from becoming a burden to him. Shen Bao is strong and resourceful, I've seen very few people capable of a fraction of what he had done with so little resources and those people are pillars of their own worlds. Not to mention I'm betting big on Shen Bao to discover the secrets of the Dark Garden and realize the truth of the Sea of Demons," he added.
"I see…"
"Then back to our topic, why wors.h.i.+p what you do not believe in?" asked the Lord of Lords.
"I wors.h.i.+p the heavens and the parents that had given me birth, as for you, I respect your power and effort that had given birth to the Lord of Lords,"
"I see," the Lord of Lords replied, "However, you gained favor and piqued my interest, so speak your mind what do you want?"
"My wish is far too grand and arrogant to be given by another," said Zhang Tian.
"The words you speak, if others were to hear it, they'll think you are looking down on me, but I think I know what you want," said the Lord of Lords.
"…"
"You want knowledge, understanding and the world's wisdom as your goal. I cannot give you that, for even if I had lived what most would think an endless life, I too know not everything under the machinations of heavens. Thus I cannot grant you your wish. However, I can help guide you in the proper path to seek it. Go down, train with the ways of the Lording Sun and earn your way into the grand library. Then some of your curiosity might be satisfied, but trust me you will come out with far more questions that you entered with," the Lord of Lords said.
"What about my junior brother?" Zhang Tian asked.
"Who do you think I am?" the Lord of Lords grinned.
"The Lord of Lords, the Lording Sun, and one of the mightiest of the Beyond.
"Then by my will, no grave harm shall befall Shen Bao as long as I am watching over him," he said.
Zhang Tian nodded and soon found himself back at the base of the mountain.
He stood up and went back to the group of cultivators he was with earlier since they didn't even move far away.
"You're back already?" asked the Banner Carrier.
"Yes," replied Zhang Tian.
"Have you met the Lord?" asked the Banner Carrier.
"I have," Zhang Tian replied.
"Lies," someone muttered from within the crowd, "If you had met the lord why are you the same as before, not to mention you didn't wors.h.i.+p for more than a breath of time, stop trying to act all mysterious and important, newcomer," the man added with spite between his teeth.
The Banner Carrier was about to burst out at the man who just spoke, but Zhang Tian shook his head.
The Banner Carrier sighed and said, "This is the land of the Lord of Lords, And if Zhang Tian were to lie about meeting the Lord of Lords, he would have been smitten by thunder and lightning where he stood, because the Lord of Lords hates discord. Meaning he had met the Lord of Lords indeed and is back. Stop creating unnecessary problems."
The people next to Zhang Tian were still dissatisfied with the favors he was earning. Jealously and envy was clear in their eyes, and Zhang Tian couldn't help but sigh.
No matter how one cultivates and elevates themselves, they cannot leave their human nature.
Human is born of greed and lives in greed. Shen Bao's words still ring true from the day they first met.
***
our group was sitting inside the hanging wooden cage. Everyone was resting waiting for these tribal people to come and 'judge' us.
We didn't have much to do anyway.
"We're not planning an escape?" Old Fu asked.
"Not really, there is no need," I said.
"Senior, you're speaking as if we can leave whenever you wish," said the captain.
"Of course, you think I'd be trapped here?"
The soldiers looked at each other and one 'brave' one said. "Then why are we still here? Can't we escape then?"
"And then what?" I replied to his question with a question, "You see that s.h.i.+t over there," I pointed.
The soldiers squinted his eyes and was able to see large shades in the distance.
"Yeah, those are beasts that live here, believe me, that obsidian creature we saw first was probably not the only dangerous thing in this forest… isn't that so," I said as I lifted my head up.
Two golden glowing eyes were looking at us from behind the leaves of the tree.
"How did you see me?" she asked. It was the same small girl from before, the one they called princess.
"You did well covering your scent and positioned yourself against the wind, you did well not moving and remained still, however, you were too still. Unlike the leaves around you that move thanks to this breeze, only the leaves wrapped around you remained fixed. Stealth isn't about being invisible, it's more like being one with nature," I said.
"My older sister told me the same thing before… sorcerer, what is your name?" she asked.
"You can call me Shen," I said, "So what brings you here to watch over us 'sorcerers'?" I asked.
She didn't reply.
"Well, you better hide, your sister is coming over," I said.
Everyone looked at the waterfall's top waiting to see the older sister who I presumed to be the leader of this tribe, but she wasn't there.
"Liar, she isn't here," said the little girl.
I smirked, "That's because she is behind you," I said.
The little girl frowned then looked behind her, and only then did the appearance of the Tribal leader appear to all.
She wasn't wearing any camouflage or leaves of any sort, but was able to reduce her presence so much that she was one with nature, or as close to it as possible.
"How did you see through me?" said the Leader.
"I've met with someone who has far better camouflage stealth than you'd ever dream of, they were the ones who were truly one with nature, but you're on the right path," I said.
The leader thought for a second and said, "Follow me," then she disappeared.
"Go," old Fu said, "We'll wait here."
"I'll see you guys in a bit," I said as I stood up and simply pushed the cage's gate open.
The distance between the cage and the waterfall was about a dozen or so meters. It was nothing a mortal could ever dream of jumping. Since everyone was affected by the Sea of Demons's atmosphere everyone besides those who have inhuman strength could cross it.
As for me, it wasn't anything more than a single step forward and I was already at the other side of the waterfall.
A man carrying a plank was coming over and when he saw me already out of the cage he couldn't help but grumble under his breath.
"Let the others out, and guide them to the arena," the voice of the tribal leader sounded.
"You, meet me in the arena," she said.
I walked up between the high trees where many of the demon tribe were watching, some were also booing.
Clearly, we weren't very popular right now.
The woman was standing in the middle of the arena, holding a ma.s.sive spiked mallet over her shoulder as if it didn't weigh anything.
"What is the meaning of this?" I asked.
"My sister said that you were strong, prove it and we will let you go, fight with all you got!" she said.
"That's not fair," I said shrugging.
"I told you, chieftain, these soft skins are nothing but cowards, we should have killed them," said a man whom I saw for the first time. He approached menacingly and stood at the rim of the arena.
Around his neck were dozens of small skulls of rodents. And in his hand was a staff that had the bones and fangs of beasts adorning it. He was fully painted in white and had red tattoo marks all over his body.
This must be the shaman of this village.
"If you find it unfair, I can use only one arm and not the weapon," she said.
"Chief!" the shaman said, he didn't seem to be too keen on giving me an advantage.
"Shut up! I need to see with my own eyes, my sister never lies," said the chieftain.
I smiled, "No, what I meant by unfair, I wasn't talking about myself," I said, "It is you who will perish if I were to be serious," I said.
The booing continued from everyone around us, and it looked like I hurt the pride of the chieftain.
She was angered, "Then don't blame me if you get flattened!" she said as she swung the mallet with enough force a gale wind blew outward of her swing.
"I'll let you have the first move!" she said.
And just as she finished her words, I took a step forward.
…
Everyone in the crowd was too stunned to continue booing.
I was already behind her, with Creeping Demise next to her neck.
"You just died."