"Where are the hallucinations?" mumbled Wuzhi as he curiously scanned his surroundings. "When are they going to appear?"
An hour or so had passed since Wuzhi had begun his ascent and yet he had not seen a single vision or hallucination that Second Mother had warned him about.
'Did she lie to me?' Being naturally suspicious, this was Wuzhi's first thought. However, he soon denied this assumption since she had no reason to do so. What would've been the point of telling him such a lie?
Sometime later, a second and more probable assumption appeared within his mind. 'Could it be that my psyche is too fortified for whatever methods that were left behind in this mountain trail to be able to penetrate?'
Traditional practitioners used their Cores to harness and refine World Energy and converted it into a strength called 'internal energy.' Wuzhi, on the other hand, used a combination of his fleshy body and psyche to use raw world energy to fuel his Path Techniques.
Overcome with the desire to test his assumption, Wuzhi stood still and closed his eyes. After adjusting his state, he controlled his technique carefully to lower the psychic defences that he had installed within himself.
The instant his psychic defences started to move and were lowered, he felt the air around him suddenly grow gloomy, dark, and depressing. A cold wind attacked his back causing a shiver to crawl down his spine. Strange thoughts began to appear and flood his thoughts, almost causing him to suffer from another 'episode.'
Wuzhi instantly stopped his actions and returned his psychic defences to full capacity. All strange sensations immediately disappeared and his speculation was proven to be true.
'I see. So that's how it works!' Although done with his experiment, Wuzhi did not immediately begin moving. He instead stopped and rested under a nearby tree and collated his gains.
The unnamed Path that Wuzhi was in the process of creating was something that did not exist before. Therefore, his every step of progress was the result of an untold number of experiments and enlightenment.
After spending more time resting and collating the results of his sudden inspiration than he had spent walking, Wuzhi stood up and continued on his journey. Since he had understood how the hallucinations worked, he had nothing to fear and could spend the time enjoying the scenery.
Unlike what the Second Mother and Third Mother thought, Wuzhi faced no insurmountable difficulties or challenges while ascending the mountain. Contrariwise, he spent a pleasant time breathing in the fresh air, listening to the sweet notes, and appreciating the fine scenery that the Ancestral Mountain overlooked.
It was only when the sun had reached its zenith in the sky did Wuzhi finally arrived at the end of the mountain trail. There, just as Second Mother had described, he came face-to-face with a gigantic round stone door etched into the mountain's surface.
The surface of the stone door was patterned with many esoteric runes running across it. Wuzhi tried to read and make sense of the ancient inscriptions but soon gave up when he realized that he could not identify the language in which they were written.
Walking up to it and nearing the construction, Wuzhi realized to his awe just how large the stone door was. If he was akin to the height of a writing brush, then the stone door would be as tall as a person. The scholar simply felt puny before the magnificent and ancient construction.
After appreciating it for a few more minutes, he was suddenly overcome by another query. "Where do I smear my blood? Does anywhere do? How much blood must I smear?" He realized he knew the answers to none of these questions.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Thinking about it for a moment, Wuzhi realized that it would simply be better to try first. He scanned the portion of the round stone door right before him and discovered that it was the same as anywhere else. As such, he retrieved the plain dagger from within his robes and smoothly slit his palm. After waiting a few seconds to let the blood accumulate, he then smeared his blood across the surface of the stone door.
Just to be safe, Wuzhi smeared the characters of his name using his blood. After he was done writing, he pulled back his hand, retrieved the bandages that he had recently got into the habit of carrying on his person, and wrapped the bloody wound.
While he was doing so, he noted that his smeared blood had begun to seethe and boil; like water coming into contact with boiling oil. He then felt the entire mountain quiver and shake as if it was experiencing an earthquake before he saw the stone door ever so slowly roll open.
Just when the massive stone door had rolled over to reveal a small crack, the movements and tremors stopped. Wuzhi waited for a few moments, expecting something to happen but nothing did. After heaving a disappointed sigh, he entered the crack.
A long, wide, and unfathomably tall corridor appeared before him. The walls and stones were built from polished stone and were smooth and cold for him to walk; a change which he welcomed given the numerous small wounds that he had suffered on his way here.
Wuzhi walked the seemingly endless and torch-lit corridor for an unknown amount of time. By now, his initial interest towards the ceremony had waned and boredom had begun to set in. He wanted to finish this paying of respects as soon as possible and return to the Inner Residence where he was scheduled to meet his grandparents and other elders of the Mu Family.
Another inordinate period later, Wuzhi finally saw the boring corridors open up into a massive space. This was it; he had arrived at the ossuary where the bones of his long-dead ancestors were buried.
Looking around, Wuzhi reasoned through observations that the layout of the Ancestral Mountain was circular. The particular corridor that he took was separate from the rest of the construction and led specifically to the spot where incense was burned to pay respects to those who had long passed.
Currently, a cauldron-sized incense burner stood solemnly in front of Wuzhi. He stared at the cauldron for a few seconds before approaching and kneeling in front of it. Wuzhi performed a few kowtows to show his respect before reaching into his robes to retrieve the joss sticks that he had brought with him.
He then looked around in search of a lamp or matchstick to light the sticks and realised that there were none. Giving it a moment of consideration, Wuzhi then walked over to the nearest torch and used its blazing fire to light the incense sticks. He then stuck the sticks into the cauldron-like burner and kowtowed once more.
Finished, Wuzhi stepped past the cauldron and walked over the stone stele behind it. On its smooth, black surface, Wuzhi spotted many familiar names and equally as many unfamiliar ones. After a few minutes of scouring through the names, he finally found his own at the very end of the list.
'Mu Wuzhi.' It read.
Wuzhi reached forward and touched his name with his long fingers, a lost expression appearing on his face. He soon recovered from his daze and waited for the instructions to appear.
The instant his hand left the surface of the stele, the names crowding its surface disappeared suddenly, revealing a pure and flawless black surface. Then, akin to the ripples produced on water after it was disturbed, the surface of the black stele rippled with many tremors.
Lines and shapes appeared and disappeared, twisting like worms that were tortured. A moment later, pure white words appeared on the black surface.
[Succession Stele]
[The name that garners the greatest number of contribution points will be named 'Heir.']
[Complete these three tasks to earn contribution points.]
[1. Protect the Family.]
[2. Grow the Family.]
[3. Restore the ????????? ??????]
The third task immediately caught Wuzhi's interest. 'A series of question marks? It appears like two words; the first having nine characters and the second having six.'
Innumerable words and combinations appeared and disappeared within his mind yet for the lack of proper clues, he could not say anything for certain. Wuzhi stood quietly and emptily stared at the stele. He understood the first two conditions and had even come up with numerous nascent schemes on the spot to accomplish them.
However, the third task appeared like an itch inside his heart. His instinct told him that the third task was the most important condition on this stele and even his reason for arriving at this place had something to do with it.
Wuzhi quietly stood for a long time. His eyes remained eerily unblinking and his posture stood perfectly still; he appeared lost in his thoughts.
"I see," he suddenly muttered. His argent eyes glowed with unholy brightness as a deeply suppressed emotion of fanaticism appeared for an incredibly short instant at the depths of his eyes before disappearing.
"So such," the line that he always chanted appeared alien, "is the will of the heavens…"
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