"Fuck? What the....!!! "
Sam saw a different world inside the palace. The palace was full of undead yet it had a different atmosphere compared to the city.
The undead all had a normal expression on their face like a normal person. They still had the black and eerie eyes like a candle flame burning but those eyes were full of vitality. One could witness different kinds of emotions flashing through them if they look carefully.
"I never knew that undead could have emotion and normal life like us. Maybe they even have their goals and convictions. The outside world could have never guessed undead like them could even exist or Maye be they don't even care".
Muttering to himself, he observed every undead he could see inside the palace.ofnot for their stiff body movements and their eyes, Sam could not even differentiate between undeads and normal humans.
'Undeads might be another race of living beings like us human beings. I wonder if we could communicate with them and conduct a trade of some sorts'. Sam thought to himself.
Whoosh.
While Sam was busy observing, an undead appeared out of nowhere in front of the shadow Sam was hiding in. It was like he reported there. The undead had the appearance of a middle aged man with tattered clothes and black flame like eerie eyes. He looked directly at the shadow that he was hiding inside startling Sam.
However, there was something mysterious about the look of that undead. It felt that he could see through him with his eyes like he was an open book to him. He was finding it hard to believe but his intuition was telling him otherwise. He got an unfathomable feeling from the undead a feeling similar when he saw the old man from the unity academy but there was a evident difference between them. The undead gave him a feeling like he was vast ocean encompassing everthing while the old man from the unity academy was just a small pond compared to him.
"What kind of powerful beings reside in this palace. Just this u dead could easily kill everyone in the northern region like slaughtering pigs and chicken. I have to get away from this palace".
Sam wanted to run however just as he had this thought, his connection to his shadow clone was severed as he was forcefully pushed out of the shadow. It was like that undead read his thought. Sam felt like that look of this undead could see through everything even his thoughts and heart. He felt like he was stripped naked before those errie eyes as fear started to rise from the bottom of his heart.
Sam was a fearless youth. Although, he liked to take safety precautions before rushing into anything, he did not fear anything . However, today he experienced fear for the first time in his life after he started to cultivate. He felt fear towards the undead and this palace.
The eyes of undead changed to normal instantly as fear started to rise within him like he could feel it. That sacred him even more. The undead looked at Sam as he showed a stiff and a bit creepy smile. The smile looked awkward as he was smiling for the first time after a million years. Sam felt like he was witnessing a devil's smile. That is how a devil would probably smile while looking at his prey.
"City-City master is waiting....for you".
A stiff and horse voice sounded in the mind of Sam. He was sure that this voice came from the undead man before him but he did not even see him moving his mouth.
'The undeads are even capable of speech. They could not communicate verbal so they use the spiritual communication like I can do it with little Titi '. Sam thought.
"Follow me".
The undead said again as he walked towards the place. Sam could only meekly follow behind him. He didn't want to but he did not have any option. Only now did he know, how suicidal his thought were when he wanted to steal treasure from this horrible place.
'Birds die for food while men die for treasures'. Sam suddenly remembered this old saying as he smile ruefully.
Sam cursed himself inside him mind as he promised to be never greedy for treasures again. Sam followed behind as they passed through a large hall and climbed stars and arrived in front of the door. The whole journey was silent as nobody said anything. Sam saw many undead along the way. All of them had were intelligent, guarding the palace.
They stopped before the door. The undead man bowed to the door before returning back leaving Sam hanging before the hall.
"Is this my execution spot? I should go inside and at least take a look at this citymaster before dying right. Maybe I could even be reborn as a undead after dying here".
Sam consoled himself as he pushed the door open. The door opened slowly with a creaking sound. Sam entered inside as the door closed behind him.
Sam arrived in a large room filled with luxurious furniture and decorations after passing through the large door. A large transparent glass was placed at a side of the room replacing a single side of the wall. A table and two chairs were placed before the glass.
Sam noticed a old man standing in front of the glass looking outside seemingly lost in his though. He looked like a person longing for something. His emotions were infectious like the whole room was expressing his longing. Even Sam was affected by it as he also began to feel similar emotion.
'This must be the city master of the city of the dead. But what is he longing for. His emotion is so strong that it is even affecting my feelings'. Sam thought.
The old man turned back and looked at sam. He had white hair and face full of wrinkles. Unlike other undead, he wore a clean grey robe. Sam could feel kindness from his black eyes. Ignoring the fact that he was undead, he looked like a kind grandpa looking at his grandson.
"Welcome young man, come take a sit. It has been a long time since I last received any guest. So please forgive me if anything is lacking".
A kind voice sounded in his mind like earlier. Sam smiled as he cupped his fists and bowed to old man:
"This junior greets the citymaster. It is this junior's fortune to meet the city master".
"Hahaha". The old man laughed,"You are too polite. I am just a ghost trapped in this city. Just calling me old man will do. As for the fancy title like citymaster, I don't deserve it".
The old man invited Sam to take a seat. Sam politely took the seat. He noticed two teacups and a teapot with tea on the table. He took the tea pot and poured a cup for the old man and himself taking the role of the junior.
The oldman laughed as he drank his tea. Sam also did the Sam. The old man broke the silence.
"You must be curious about why I invited you inside the palace".
Sam nodded as he replied frankly, "I am indeed curious about that. I am just a weak cultivator who was lusting after the treasure of this place. I don't think I have anything remarkable that could attract the attention of a powerful being such as yourself"
"Quite straightforward and honest. I like your character". The old man laughed again as he continued:
"You have something that did attract my attention but before I tell you, you can ask me anything. I have noticed your curiosity about this place since you entered this city".
Sam was surprised by his straightforward reply. Still, he probingly asked,"I can ask you anything? "
"I will answer the things that I can answer. As for things that I could not answer... ". The old man just smiled not finishing the sentences. Sam got the hint from his words.
"Then, I won't be polite anymore". Sam said as he looked at the old man.
"When I entered the city, I saw many undead walking around the city. They had no intelligence, emotion and we're like walking corpse. But inside this place, I noticed emotion and intelligence in the eyes of those undead unlike those outside. They were just like any other human being and I couldn't help but think that undeads might be another species of creatures like us. I don't know if my assumptions are correct or I am just delusional".
The old man laughed heartily. "Just what I expect from the being born with those eyes. The world is vast and there are countless thing that you don't know about. There are trillion and trillions of living creatures and millions of different species and races living in this world. Just the fact that you can think about those things shows that you are exceptional. You can think outside the box and have good imagination. That is one of the quality required to reach the peak of cultivation world".
Sam bowed as thanked the old man. "Senior prises me too much. I just said what everyone would think after observing this place" .
"Not everyone can think like that. I have been in this city for a long and I have only seen one other person you had the same thinking as you. Maybe, he was the only being who could arrive in front the palace and see the things that you saw".
The old man looked towards the large transparent glass as he continued:
"As for us, we undead are indeed a different kind of race. We are not born like you. When a powerful cultivators die, their body due to their cultivation and refining does not decompose even after their death. After countless years, their death body due to some stroke of luck could go against the heavens and gain sentience to become an undeadand we are the newborn sentience beings. We undead are born from the corpse of powerful cultivators due to which we have powerful bodies and endless lifespan. Even the heavens tolerate the existence of such race so, we must endure a heavenly tribulation before truly being born. As for why there are so many undead inside this city, that is because this city is special. Even the heavens rule doesn't exist in this place. ".
Sam was astonished as he murmured, "There is such an amazing race in this world. What others things are there in this world that I have never heard or seen. I must experience them all".
The old man just continued smiling as he looked at Sam. Sam calmed his emotion after a while as he asked:
"Senior mentioned earlier that another person had the similar thoughts to mine. Who is he? Can you tell me about him? "
"That was the most interesting person I met in my lifetime. He thought about things other could not think about. He even performed a miracle by coming inside this place neglecting the barrier inside the place. I was impressed by him. I even gave him my two lifebound weapons that this body used before its death: The immortal slaying sword and devil decapitating saber".
The old man smiled as a saber and a sword floated out from the storage ring of Sam on its own accord. The old man gently caressed the sword and saber with his fingers. "Hello old friend".
The old man's eyes flashed with a myriads of emotions after seeing the sword and saber. That was the first time, Sam saw a undead being so emotional. It was a new experience for Sam.
"Senior, you mean to say our progenitor came to this place and this sword and saber were taken out from this place? " Sam asked in a astonished tone.
The old man lightly smiled. "This immortal slaying sword and devil decapitating saber are weapons that shine in battle. They were rusting inside this city where no battle ever occurs. So, I gave them to that man to let them battle again. So, he is related to you. This sword and saber must have been passed onto you".
"Indeed. They were passed down to the sectmaster of our heavenly martial sect. It represents our status as sectmaster".
Sam understood the old man's thought. These weapon were murderous and they really did shine in battle slaughtering the enemies and bathing in their blood.
After a long time of silence, the old man sighed as the two weapons flew back to Sam as he stored them inside his storage ring.
"I am assured that they will experience the most fabulous battle with you but I am not sure if they will be of too much use of you in the future".
"Rest assured senior, I will use them well".