God Of Immortals

Chapter 94: Death-Keep [III]

Watching carefully to make sure no one and no critter was following him, he made his way inside. As a zhuji cultivator, his eyes were fairly sharper than before and he could see more clearer in darkness. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ju Feng saw a dark narrow passage with various runic inscriptions, in front of him. He touched the walls of the dark passage and inspected it more closely.

"Obsidian shadow diamond."

Ju Feng muttered to himself. Although it was one of the hardest rock stones in the universe and extremely precious, its true value lied in its ability to contain defensive runes. Obsidian shadow diamond was one of the two known types of rock stones that could take the Total-Fortress runic inscriptions without dissipating. The other being the emerald-cloud stone. Extremely rich cultivators used it to build safe rooms containing their treasure vaults.

For it to be used here with runic inscriptions, which he suspected to be defensive runes, made the situation clearer to him. Whoever made the extreme measures, was either trying to keep something much more larger and stronger from getting out, or going in. But he had the notion it must be to keep something big from getting out. This was an ancient mountain without a shadow of a doubt. It could contain something powerful. So, he had to be exceedingly careful.

The passage between the walls was about big enough for him to squeeze through. He managed to drag himself forward, though slowly, for a few yards before he finally exited into an open space, facing a large tunnel. From the look of the it, it appeared the tunnel was leading downward in a spiralling pattern. 

He removed the new silver sword that the demigod, Fang Zedong, gave him and proceeded to inspect the tunnel. Then, he stopped and stared at the darker path which winded downward to the unknown. He was beginning to think the place was no illusion of reality, but a true reality. Even if it was a reality of illusion, the illusion was already proving to be a danger to his life. He had nearly died inside the heavens' forsaken arena. He wondered what would have happened to his soul if he had died. His mind told him he would've entered the samsara cycle for reincarnation. 

And now, he was having a sense of a danger alarm. Of him walking in the shadows of death. He had been doing that lately, and he didn't like the idea of him getting used to it. If he continued living that way, one day, he could die without him knowing he was already dead.

"From the shadows of death, straight to the light of reincarnation."

How could that be a good life. He was only ten years of age. He only joined a sect recently, and yet to achieve any meaningful thing in his life. He shook his head and contemplated turning back now when he was still alive. Life was too precious to throw away, reincarnation could burn in the nether flames for all he cared. As he turned back towards the passage way, realization dawned on him all of a sudden. 

He couldn't turn back.

The tree was right. The adventurous spirit in him, of knowing the unknown, was simply too much for him to ignore. The reason why he agreed to come on the adventure with the others. The free life to explore the wider expanse. He knew the immensely inevitable darkness and shadows who were seeking his death, right from the time of his birth. He knew the dangers of looking for the hidden things. But, he couldn't stop. He was simply who he was.

An adventurer.

A soft sigh of resignation escaped from him. He looked at himself and the sword he was holding, and smiled.

"At least, I have a better sword."

In that knowledge, there was comfort. But he needed to be extra careful all the same. He entered the more darker tunnel and paused in order for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A source of light would have been a welcome sight, but it could also put him in the spotlight. Slowly and steadily, he continued to follow the downward path of the tunnel. It was much better in navigating the darkness.

Some meters downward, the spiralling tunnels stopped. Ju Feng saw an open area which led to another three tunnels. Scattered all over the place were lunar bugs which were giving off a faint light. Those were delicacies. Though they were not magical, they were of excellent taste as lunar grubs. On a different day, Ju Feng could have taken a handful, but that particular day was no mild day. That could be a terrible idea in a place like that.

Thinking, he was beginning to notice that the layouts inside the mountain were more than that of average tunnels. He could easily get lost while looking for the mystic order talkless of getting killed by whatever monster was down there. 

Still, better than the Eternal-legacy tunnels. What did they called the spiders and critters in those tunnels again? Yes, nephilias. It wouldn't be nice to be eaten by one of those. What about the ancient killers, the Death-Eaters. How many demigods had they killed in those tunnels. He could only imagine. No, even thinking about was already making his heart palpitate.

Ju Feng entered the first tunnel and found himself inside a dense black mist. Realizing he was beginning to loose consciousness, he quickly retraced his steps, back to the lunar-bug lighted area. That was a scary experience. He wouldn't be going back inside that one for sure.

The second tunnel, he would try. He entered it slowly and after walking for several minutes, he found himself looking at a wide area of chanels of water streams. Walking cautiously along a channel of stream, he found a radiance coming from one area of the stream. Upon closer look, he discovered it was coming from a small orb-like source in the shallow stream.

"Waterglade!"