The day passed by quickly. As far as the path she traveled, it was well maintained but empty. Even after several hours, she had not seen a soul. A sign that the Dark Water Kingdom truly closed itself away. Not even peddlers or farmers could be seen, much less farms and stalls.
As the sun began to set, Ming Yue had arrived at the gates of the Dark Water Kingdom. She looked at the map to make sure that this was the correct place before approaching.
Strangely enough, there was only a stone gate but no walls. As imposing as the gate was, there was no point to it if you could just walk around. But it wouldn't be so easy to enter a place like the Dark Water Kingdom.
Ming Yue knew that there was something strange about this. Walking to the edge of the stone gate, she looked past it, seeing nothing but a lush forest behind the gate. She couldn't help but feel something familiar when she got close, an energy of some sort.
"This looks like the same illusions that was in the Spirit Hall..."
She examined it upon realizing that it was all an illusion. But with her limited knowledge, she could not find much.
Her two pets stood back, watching her figure out this strange gate.
She walked back and faced the gate, studying it. It was an incredibly ornate design, carved with circular patterns. At the center of the gate was a deep hollow sphere, something resembling an eye of sorts.
There were no guards here, so how would she be able to enter?
She walked up to the gates and pushed but it did not budge.
"Right...", as much as she hoped it would open, she had expected such a result.
"Then should it be like this?", rolling back one of her sleeves, she revealed the sigil left on her arm by Elder Shen.
Walking in front of it, the hollow sphere suddenly hummed with power. White wisps of energy gathered forming an ethereal eye that scanned her body and locked onto the sigil. It thrummed with energy as if analyzing the authenticity of the sigil. The white eye turned blew and disappeared.
The gates suddenly opened, revealing a scene much different from what she saw before. There was no sign of any forest but a flat field of grass with a single road. It was made of black bricks and led her to another set of gates that had stone walls higher than the ones in Heaven's Gate.
The walk to the next gate was strange. The atmosphere was eerie as she could feel strange forces all around her. It did not feel like she was being watched but rather a gentle clashing of energies. Even Hei Yue and Xiao Yin looked wary, glancing around and looking for the source of it. It was very faint feeling but she knew that it came behind the next gate.
This stone gate had guards, though it was hard to consider them ones. They wore no armor and carried no weapons outside of a rather elaborate staff. Their uniforms were quite light, merely a thin layer of clothes. They wore masks on their faces, similarly patterned like the gates with some added details. They were dark blue in color and had streaks of black coming down.
When they saw Ming Yue arrive, they held their staffs at her, looking at the fox and owl standing next to her
"Who are you? I have never seen your face before. How did you pass the first gate?" they questioned.
The staffs in their hands lit up, the markings on the surface glowed with power. One sparked with lightning, the other started to smoke with flame.
Ming Yue bowed before introducing herself.
"My name is Ming Yue and I come from Heaven's Gate. Elder Shen Zhong is my master and I've come here per his instructions. I am to find someone known as Ou Fenhuang, perhaps they are an elder here?"
Revealing the sigil on her arm, she showed it to the two guards.
They examined the sigil and gave an audible gasp.
"This is the sigil of a High Assayer!"
The guards looked at her and straightened up.
"I will bring you to Grand Researcher Ou, please follow me."
With their staffs, they opened the gates and one of them led the group in. It was another empty field past these gates but the difference was that there was a small building not far from the gates.
Inside, it was spacious with a desk and supplied for the guards, food and what not. At the center was a stone circle carved with a very complicated formation composed of strange symbols. Ming Yue understood that it was a transportation circle and will probably lead her to the capital of the kingdom.
Standing on the center of the circle, the guard stabbed his staff into the centermost point of the circle. Inserting the staff, it dropped in and enter the stone circle. The formation glowed and their surroundings began to twist and turn, changing into a completely different scene. Walking out, she found herself in a vast hall, lined with some gnarled pillars and a stained glass piece at the end.
Stranger than that, she realized that those gnarled pillars were not pillars at all but giant trees that supported the hall.
The guard led her through the hall towards a set of stairs that led her to the second floor. There was a single pair of black stone doors.
"Grand Researcher Ou! There is a student of a High Assayer by the name of Shen here! They come from Heaven's Gate!" the guard announced.
The stone doors rumbled and opened, as the voice of a young woman called out.
"Let her in."
The guard stood to the side, allowing Ming Yue to enter. She walked in and the gates slowly closed behind her. Inside, she saw a very familiar scene.
Floating above an endless sea, there was a small island a distance away. This island had a singular tree and small hut, it was just like the one within Elder Shen's quarters. In fact, it was the same.
The trio floated towards the island as their feet descended onto the soft soil. Standing there, the same voice from before called them into the hut.
"Please come in, my master is eager to see you."
Entering the hut, Ming Yue was treated to the pleasant scent of jasmine tea. There were two people, a young woman that seemed to be around her age and a much older woman who sat on a chair, looking out of the window. She held a cup of tea, sipping it every now and then.
The former was dressed in a simple deep blue uniform while the latter wore a gray one. The only difference was that the gray uniform had the image of a white crane standing within a shallow pond. As for her aura, it was withdrawn, making it difficult for Ming Yue to accurately estimate her cultivation. But she knew for sure that the old woman was at least of the Sky Realm.
The young woman stood behind dutifully. In her hands was a pot of tea that she used to fill the cup of tea for her master. Her aura was not kept in secret and Ming Yue saw that she was at the peak of Earth Realm.
"My name is Ming Yue. Are you Ou Fenhuang? The one Elder Shen told me to find?" Ming Yue bowed to the two before asking.
The old woman spoke quietly. It was lower than that of a whisper but it seemed that the young woman heard her clearly.
"Yes, my master is Grand Researcher Ou Fenhuang and I am Zhi Qing, her student. My master would like to ask you for the full name of your elder. She must verify something."
Ming Yue abided, rolling up her sleeve once more to show the sigil of Elder Shen.
"The name of my teacher is Shen Zhong. He told me that you will bring me to the Stellar Sky Foundation."
Zhi Qing looked slightly surprised.
"The Stellar Sky Formation? For you?"
As for the Grand Researcher, she set her cup of tea down before whispering some instructions to Zhi Qing.
"Yes, master, Miss Ming, my master will need some preparations to take you there. For now, you must have been traveling for quite some time. Please follow me, I will take you and your little pets to a suitable room."
She took Ming Yue and the others away, leading them to a spacious room with a wide courtyard. Grand Researcher Ou continued to watch outside of the window in her hut. She gave out a long sigh and took another drink of her tea.