Late at night, Ning sat alone under the only tree in her home back garden. Over the years, it became her favorite spot, silent and peaceful. The city and the clan she grew up in became something she would very much like to leave behind forever. However, she could not; she did not have the heart to leave her younger sister to fend for herself, all alone, a helpless child.
Two silhouettes flashed and appeared in front of Ning. She stood up, bowed slightly then raised her head. "Yao Ning greets master and elder sister."
One of the two graceful ladies moved closer and took Ning in a sincere hug, kissing her gently on the cheeks and head. The woman looked like an older version of Ning, a realm toppling graceful fairy.
"Have you finally decided to follow us back to the sect?" Said the lady while still hugging Ning.
Ning shook her head in her sister's bosom. "We cannot leave and abandon Ling."
Sighing, the other lady moved forward and stroke Ning's head. "We have spoken about this before Ning'er. There is nothing that could be done for your sister's condition; she and your father belong to a different world than ours. No cultivator can observe their mortal ties and consider them like you are doing, all they will end up doing is either drag them into their struggle or watch them die of old age."
Ning stepped back away from her sister and looked at the mansion. "There is a man in the house, father's guest."
From her pocket, she pulled a piece of paper and handed it over to her elder sister. "He claims to have a way to help Ling. This list is what he needs to accomplish it."
Ning's older sister lifted her sister's head while running her thumb gently over Ning's lips. "Speak carefully, little sister. Is this you being wishful, or you have absolutely no doubt that he was speaking the absolute truth?"
Fully aware of her sister's gift, Ning's older sister needed to know if Ning allowed herself to be tricked, or she has gleaned the truth about this unknown man through her gift.
"He has not uttered a single lie in front of me so far. He was not willing to consider it before I pressed him on it when I noticed that he was holding back a method to help Ling when he heard about her condition. According to him, the process is fatal, and he can only pull it off reasonably safely if he has everything on the list." Said Ning.
The two fairies opened a piece of paper Ning handed over and read what is on it. "Ning, what is this? You know very well that we cannot get our hands on a grade four Flawed crystal, let alone a Law gemstone. Our entire Countdom does not have a single mine that produces any Flawed gem or crystal." Said Ning's master.
Ning did not say anything and kept staring at her elder sister. Her master quickly caught on why Ning called them here with this impossible to fulfill demand.
"Have you lost your mind!? You will not be just risking your own sister's life but the entire sect. No, you will doom us all to a fate worse than death by trusting a stranger with your sister's secret." Said Ning master, not believing her bright, talented student would think of taking such a mortal risk.
Ning elder sister tilted her head, smiling faintly. "We can always kill him after he is done helping Ling. He would not be the first or the last man we kill."
Ning shook her head. "We cannot kill him. He is our father's guest."
Ning's master shrugged. "He won't be his guest forever. In any case, what does he wants in return anyway?"
"Aside from what's in the list, he did not ask for anything else." Said Ning.
Ning's elder sister flicked her sister's forehead. "He is a man and a cultivator, of course, he wants something. He does not have to say it for us to know already what he truly wants. You."
Ning shook her head. "He is different."
"He prefers men? Then what is his motive for helping?" Said Ning's master.
Ning sighed, both her sister and master despised men zealously. She did not blame them. She herself was on the verge of developing the same prejudice.
"Tomorrow, I will be showing him around the city with Ling. Master and elder sister should observe him for themselves and formulate their own opinion of him. He is only in the Elementary Realm; accordingly, he is no threat to anyone, and he won't discover either of you." Said Ning.
Ning's elder sister cupped her face and groaned. She was starting to have doubts about Ning's judgment, and it might be all a desperate sister looking for hope anywhere, even from the trash.
"Sister, master, if I made a mistake, then I will return to the sect with you immediately and cut all my ties with Ling and father." Said Ning, using the last card in her deck.
"You promise?" Said Ning's master.
Ning firmly nodded.
"Very well, Ning, you won't have to cut ties with our little sister since I have no intention of doing so myself, but you will leave immediately with us once this man is exposed for the fraud he is." Said Ning's elder sister.
***
After a delicious breakfast, Ning and Ling took Amon on a stroll around the city early in the morning.
"Where should we go first?" Said Ling.
Amon stopped to think. 'I could not have arrived here based on random probability. If it were a probability-based event, then landing on any terrestrial planet is highly improbable when there are more than four hundred million of lifeless, dead planets in our galaxy, if not more. At the same time, only a few are habitable.'
"Is there any distinct place in the city or around it? Any mysterious place? Perhaps a naturally forming cave system?" Said Amon.
The girls looked at each other then back at Amon. "It is just an ordinary city established by a side branch of the Yao clan where two rivers meet nearby." Said Ning.
"I see, what do you know the two who are following us?" Said Amon casually.
Ning pressed her lips puzzledly. She wondered how did Amon notice both her master and elder sister already when they are leagues above him in rank and strength. "Please pretend you did not notice."
Amon frowned. "No. Who are they?"
Ning sighed. "My master and elder sister."
Amon nodded, thinking it probably has something to do with his talk with Ning yesterday.
Ling hmphed and started walking forward, hearing her eldest sister was here and did not visit her angered the little girl.
"Little princess. Take us to where we first met outside the city." Said Amon, thinking they should start from the place he first found himself at.
Walking leisurely, they soon arrived at the open grassland where Amon met Ling for the first time.
"Alright, this tree should do."
Climbing up the tallest tree he could find Amon peered around him. Looking for anything of interest with his eyes that can see the Ether.
'Damn the Ether is sparse and scattered. Leaving this planet will not be easy without adequate resources to break through the Nine Mortal Realms. If I'm lucky, I'm looking at twenty years of hard work. Fuck, why can't the sky just rain Source?'
Amon dropped down from the tree and landed in front of the two puzzled girls.
"I know what I'm doing does not make sense, but I'm looking for something, and I don't know where it is. Come on; let's take a walk around the city from the outside." Said Amon.
"What are you looking for, big brother?" Said Ling.
"I will let you know as soon as I know." Said Amon.
The group of three followed by hidden two soon arrived at the small cliff behind the city.
"Ling'er, Ning'er, my two sweet ladies when I asked you two about any exciting or peculiar place in or near the city, how come neither of you mentioned this place?" Said Amon while looking at the two girls with a twitching eyebrow.
"It is just a circular stone with some funny carvings." Said Ling with Ning nodding after her.
"It is a runic platform you dense...sigh never mind, I just have to dock points from both of you." Both girls did not understand what points Amon was talking about, but irrationally it irked both of them more than they cared to admit.
'Another cliff, at least this one is just above a running river, and it's not that big of a jump. Now, what are you?'
Amon stared at the roughly 6m radius circular platform, containing another slightly elevated circular platform at its center. All appeared to be carved on the surface of a large boulder inserted in the cliff.
Frowning Amon could not make much out of the runic carvings on the platform. They were mostly destroyed by the passage of time and appeared nothing more than a child scribble on a cave wall. Even the arrays that span the whole platform and suppose to guide Source from one point to another seemed to be blocked by dirt or damaged by wind.
"There has to be one. If the designer meant for this platform to survive the passage of time while exposed to the elements, they must have included it in their design." Said Amon to himself.
"Where would I have carved it?" Amon walked in circles around the platform, looking for a specific rune. In his mind, it had to be at the outer edges of the whole thing.
Hours passed slowly. The two girls have long sat down, watching Amon walk in circles was both tedious and dizzying.
"Big brother! Can we go back now, I'm hungry and its past lunchtime." Complained Ling.
"Seriously? nothing here excites you or interest you?" Said Amon.
"No! It is hot and boring. I'm all sweaty now. What is it anyway?" Said Ling.
Amon walked back to the two girls and sat down in front of them on the grassy ground. "It is a portal platform, or so is my best professional guess since the carved runes are heavily damaged and unreadable now."
"Portal?" Said Ning.
Amon nodded. "It is a teleportation device. I estimate it is over 300 million-year-old platform."
Ling's eyes lit up, fueled by child curiosity. "Where does it lead to?"
Amon shrugged. "It depends on the medium it is using for its intended function. The first medium and the easiest to use is a naturally forming Ether bridge."
Looking at Ning, Amon explained further.
"What you call 'the energy between heaven and earth' has a name; it is called the Ether. Like I explained to Ling earlier, the Ether is abundant everywhere in the universe, not just between heaven and earth. There might be spots in the starry sky devoid of any Ether, but they are scarce and far in between.
Over many eons, the Ether of two different realms, modernly we call solar systems, will reach out to each other, and form a bridge, an Ether tunnel between those two realms. The naturally constructed Ether bridge has always been the most accessible way to travel between two different planets, skipping an impossible distance to cover physically." Said Amon.
Ning thought of a different matter. "Is this how those who break through the Nine Mortal Realms leave our realm into a higher one?"
Amon nodded. "Yes. Since ancient times this has always been the way forward for Sorcerers or what you call cultivators from the lower realms like the realm we are living in currently. There are other means for travel, but none are readily available like Ether bridges."