2. Ghost In The Night
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Lotus Lake, Mid Realm.
Moonlight fell on a beautiful lake whose still dark surface was nearly covered with brilliant lotuses.
Right in the middle of the lake were a set of quaint little buildings, linked together by small wooden bridges. The buildings looked regular, but the entire structure was floating right on the water!
Suddenly, there was a streak of bright blue light from the sky, and a young man appeared.
He walked to the arched doors of the largest building and knocked.
"Elder Bao!" He called out with tears running down his face.
A quiet power emanated from him, and he had an attractive face, if one ignored his tears.
There was a jade pendant swinging from his belt, and it read *'Tian' on one side and *'San' on the other.
A pendant worn only by Immortals.
(*Tian - Heaven/sky)
(*San - Three)
"Who dares approach my doors?" The voice sounded calm, but it was so loud that a force pushed the young man back till he almost fell off the wooden ledge.
But he was unbothered by the danger, and he fell to his knees.
"Elder Bao, he's gone... Brother Bai is gone..." He said, and the ornate wooden doors flung open.
An old man with long silvery white hair suddenly appeared in front of the weeping young man.
"Repeat what you said." The old man spoke quietly, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen.
"Brother Bai is gone." The young man repeated. "I hear they sent a ten-fold *tribulation against him."
(*Tribulation Lightning - Lightning directed at an immortal as a test or punishment.)
A ten-fold tribulation was equal to a hundred bolts of severe lightning.
"But he can handle double that!" The old man said in disbelief.
The person they were discussing was so powerful that Sky Realm feared him more than the worst being in *Shadow Realm.
(*Shadow Realm- Demon world, full of demons, evil spirits and monsters)
Something as trivial as a hundred bolts of lightning should not kill him.
"What happened is still unclear." The young man responded. "But his life force has completely vanished, even in the stars! Isn't there something you can do?!"
His eyes filled with hope, but those hopes were dashed when he saw the old man's grave look.
"Yin Xing, as the Night Immortal, if you can't find his life-force among the stars, what can be done?"
Yin Xing fell into quiet sobs.
He had rushed here, knowing it was useless, but a small part of him had hoped the elder would have some long lost way to resurrect a person missing from the stars.
The old man said and did nothing as Yin Xing cried.
He simply remained standing, his hands crossed behind his back.
But anyone who looked a little closer would see that silent tears also ran down his face.
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Back to the Present.
The Young man in the caves saw the vision of the beggar, and of the boy and old man on the lake.
They were memories. Things he had seen after his death.
After the lightning shattered his existence, a tiny spark of his soul had drifted to see the people who had been a large part of his life.
'To think there are people who still miss me...'
But he shook his head, refusing to dwell on his emotions.
And if anything, the memories confirmed he had indeed died.
'So how am I here right now?!'
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At the same time, at Yue City, TianYue Temple, Mortal Realm...
Rain drops splashed off the peaked roofs, and as it thundered and poured outside, an old woman knelt before a white jade statue, counting beads in prayer.
It was the statue of the Sky Emperor, ruler of Sky Realm.
'Lord of the skies, please protect the Zhang family. Bless A-Chun. Bless A-Cheng, Bless the Zhan-.'
"Huang Su!" Several creepy voices echoed, and the old lady gasped.
The temple room doors flew open, blowing in fierce gusts of wind and rain.
"No matter how much you pray, you cannot escape your crimes!"
The old woman turned in shock, but her beads had hooked on a small ridge on the altar and were ripped apart as she turned.
The beads clattered to the floor in rhythm, as the wind howled, and the rain poured in.
The old woman's eyes widened in shock.
All the candles blew out, and dark wraiths flew in, followed by a younger woman who boldly walked in.
This woman was eerily beautiful, but impossibly pale, making her skin contrast the bright red robes she wore.
Her eyes were completely black, with blackened veins fanning outwards, her hair blew wildly about, and blood stained both sides of her mouth, running down her chin.
The sight of her made the old woman's hair raise, and the ghostly woman's face bore a chilling smile.
"Huang Su!" She repeated, and again it sounded like a multitude of voices accompanied her words. "The time has come to reap what you sowed, and the Zhang household is marked for destruction!"
"Lies!" Huang Su shrieked, desperately clutching a talisman which hung around her neck. "You can never touch me! You can never touch us!!"
But the ghostly woman slowly lifted a finger, pointing it at the old woman.
"No!" Huang Su backed away. "No! Stay away!" The dark shadows in the room rushed at her, lifting her off the floor and flinging her around the room.
She felt like a thousand nails were being driven into her body and she screamed in pain, calling for help.
But all her cries were drowned out by the thundering storm outside...
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Sky Central Palace, Sky Realm...
The Sky Palace was a grand and beautiful palace of white and gold, and in the entire Three Realms, nothing matched its sheer majesty.
The Palace's Structure was complex, and had numerous gold and white arches and pillars, but its beauty from afar was the most breathtaking, as it resembled a six-tiered giant lotus floating in the sky.
It was also the dwelling place and seat of the Sky Emperor.
The current Sky Emperor, Zhurong Tianlong, was a legendary Flame Dragon with silky red hair, but in contrast, his eyes were an icy grey, and at present, those icy grey eyes opened in shock.
He had blacked out and seen a vision of an old woman torn apart by evil spirits in a temple.
But the deity temples in the Mortal Realm were usually fortified with enchantments and formations which kept demons, evil spirits, and ghosts out.
So how had they entered?
Also, something shrouded his vision, so he couldn't see where the temple was, nor could he remember what the evil spirit in red had said.
But he put it aside.
There was a more pressing issue, and his attention shifted to the two Immortals who knelt before his throne.
"Paying our respects to the Sky Emperor!" They both linked their thumbs and curled their fingers inwards in salute.
Tianlong simply waved his hand. "I summoned both of you because you're the assistants in Fate Immortal's and Night Immortal's villas. Tell me the truth...
"Is Yin Xiaolong really dead?"
The two immortals exchanged a look, especially since four months had passed since the Black Dragon's death.
But they could guess why the Sky Emperor was bothered...
Mount Caoyang, home of the Black Dragon, was a floating island anchored to the ground by frozen chains which dangled from it.
But Yin Xiaolong was the one who kept Caoyang afloat, and he was supposedly dead... So why was it still floating?!
Also, Yin Xiaolong had cast an age seal on Caoyang, which prevented anyone above thirty from approaching it.
Most immortals were born as babies, but their parents had poured at least five hundred years of cultivation into them, and Yin Xiaolong had capitalized on this, so Immortals couldn't enter Caoyang.
But Yin Xiaolong was supposedly dead... So WHY was Caoyang still sealed?!
There were also COUNTLESS petty and mischievous things in Sky Realm, which should have vanished after Yin Xiaolong's death, but were still there!
For example, there was an old Immortal whose entire teeth Yin Xiaolong had once removed with an unknown curse, saying: "Live like this until I die!", and the immortal was still toothless!
And there was even a section of the Sky Palace that had been cursed with a strange creeping vine, which should have vanished after Yin Xiaolong's death.
No. The two Immortals were certainly not surprised at the Sky Emperor's question at all.
One of them bowed.
He was Tai Yue, a young merman who still had fin-like ears and glittery scales on parts of his neck and arms.
He served at Starry Pavillion, the Night Immortal's Villa.
"Your Majesty, I was present when Yin Xiaolong's star fell, and I had never seen anything like it.
"Usually, when a star falls, it returns to a sea of stars in the sky, which represents the Sea of Fate. But in Yin Xiaolong's case, it fell, shattered and dissipated. This means he can not even be reborn."
He remembered how crazed his master had been, searching through all the stars but failing to find Yin Xiaolong.
"To make sure," Tai Yue continued. "Master and I conducted a thorough search of the stars, but there wasn't even a shred of his essence."
The Sky Emperor said nothing, but his gaze shifted to the second Immortal.
Jin Lan was also young, with a neat look, and a floral crown on his head. His primordial form was an orchid, and he was one of the princes of the Floral Clan.
"Your Majesty, news from Fate Immortal's Villa is even more direct. Yin XiaoLong's essence has completely vanished from the Immortal Fate Mirrors, and there is no shred of his existence in the Mortal Realm."
"Hao." The Sky Emperor nodded. "You may return."
They saluted and bowed again, then rose and exited the throne room.
Zhurong Tianlong watched them go.
The evil spirit at the Mortal Realm temple still bothered him, especially since she looked somewhat familiar.
But his biggest worry was Yin Xiaolong.
Was he alive...? Or dead...?
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