I am Yue Lin- someone envied by all immortals, possessor of endless wealth and unassailable strength, leader of one of the three great sects. But these were things reserved for me since birth. What I really wanted… want… is something else.
It was just another day, boring day. The same 32 seats flanked the path to the throne. Thankfully, they were empty, which meant I did not have to deal with the nagging elders. I sat on the 33rd seat in the room, the throne- made of pure gold. It was cold… and fucking hard. I had complained a gazillion times before- to put a cushion on the damn seat- but to no avail.
Every time, the elders said the same thing.
It was the tradition. I must follow the examples of my ancestors and also set an example for my successors to follow.
Some geez- 'wise men' even took it further. "The coldness of the throne is a way to remind you that you must be cold in your decisions, and the hardness is there to show you that the Dao is hard…"
Bullshit!
Anyways, we are getting a bit away from my story here. I had reached a bottleneck a couple of years ago, and regular cultivation was useless to break through. But I did not care. There was only a handful of cultivators in the entire martial realm who could fight me toe-to-toe, let alone defeat me.
Nevertheless, what was even more painful than a lack of worthy opponents was the duties of a sect leader… and there I was.
The gigantic hall doors opened again.
Two hags- *cough* I mean beautiful ladies entered. The 7th elder with fiery red hair, and the 14th elder with icy cold aura.
"Greetings, matriarch." They cupped their fists.
"What?" I asked, used to their everyday forced courtesy.
The redhead's eyes twitched. "We bring orders from the grand elders."
"Tsk. You don't have to tell the obvious. Get to the point."
The 7th elder could not control her rage. "You-"
Fortunately- for her- the 14th elder grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.
Mhmmm… Glacial Scripture of Severing Emotions- an extremely strong art, capable of freezing an entire ocean.
But it's not suited for me. I don't wanna die a vir- *cough* We are deviating from the story again.
The fiery elder cooled herself down. "The vortex has opened again. The grand elders nominated you to head in."
The vortex? The grand elders' decision baffled me. For ages, countless had delved into it, but none returned. Were the foggies too impatient to send me to my death?
"I decline. You can go in yourself," I waved my arm. Though I was curious of what was on the other side… I was too lazy. Not that I was afraid or anything.
The 14th elder opened her mouth for the first time. Her voice was as cold as her demeanour. "Matriarch, please think it through. The grand elders have promised to grant any of your wishes as long as you can explore 'the other side'."
"Any wishes?" They had finally uttered what I wanted. I could quench my curiosity, get what I had been trying to gain for centuries, and also possibly break through my bottleneck- it was three birds with one stone.
"Yes," the 14th elder confirmed.
"When are we leaving?" I asked. Don't misunderstand. I wasn't eager at all.
"Now."
Me, along with the two elders, boarded Nuwang- my guardian beast. Though the Phoenix was as big as an entire Island, it had the heart of a little girl- completely innocent. Though her whole body was blazing, she exuded a special type of warmth- making my body melt to the nature, bringing peace to my mind.
But that was not the case for those two elders. Their whole bodies were drenched in sweat.
Nuwang screeched as she took off and headed for the West, a screech only I could comprehend. It was a mischievous chuckle.
With a few flaps of her wings, we beelined through countries and reached the ocean that cupped the central continent from the West- Sea of the White Tiger.
The ocean was how you would imagine a regular sea- full of blue and foaming waves, sprinkled with islands large and small, ships small as ants- nothing special. Why was it grandly named after one of the four divine beasts, the White Tiger, the King of Beasts? No other reason except the fact that the sea lied in the West.
As for the actual White Tigers, they were all monopolised by a certain sect. But they are weak, compared to my dear Nuwang that is.
She took twice the amount of flaps to reach our destination- the Vortex. Even though the sun was still high in the cloudless sky, it was dark all around. It was as if the sun shone in the night- an eerie sight indeed.
Why was it dark? Because all the light were getting sucked into the whirlpool below. The waters below were twirling with blistering speed, sending high tides all around. At the eye of the whirlwind lied a void- an abyss so deep that even I could not see through to its end.
It devoured all the air and the light and air around, still hungry to take in what comes in its sight, and we were not even a kilometre away from that line of no return.
"Are you sure you don't want to meet the grand elders before you dive in?" The cold woman asked.
Tsk. The irony. The last person who showed goodwill in my home-world was none other than an emotionless woman.
"No need. Just tell mother and father that I will be back."
The sect was strong enough to hold its own even without me. And as for my parents, they were immortals in the truest of senses- unkillable. I had nothing to worry in this world.
As for Nuwang-
"I will be back." I tousled her flaming but soft feather. She let out a quivering screech in response.
She was the queen of skies, of fire, of Nirvana itself. Worrying about something eternal would be dumb.
I gave her one last smile and jumped into the Vortex.