Temple of the damned

Just when it seemed that the young boy was going to kick the bucket, a holy maiden - or at least that was what Bai sheng thought she looked like - stopped the old man in his frenzy. She unleashed a white bolt of lightning which burned the demonic elder black. His heart-wrenching screams chilled the atmosphere and made Bai sheng grew wary of the saintess.

"Don't be so tense. Meng cultivate the heavenly dao, and it is especially strong against those sinners whose ways have strayed from the orthodox path."

There was so much information in this sentence that Bai sheng didn't even know where to begin.

'Meng? Does that mean that you know her?'

'Heavenly Dao? What is this pompous name? Is this dao really a thing?'

'Orthodox path? What is that? Who decides what is orthodox and what is not?'

Was all the questions Bai sheng wanted to ask. Seeing his inquisitive gaze, Fang mei tried to clarify :

"She is a childhood friend of mine from the academy. I'm not privy to the details about the Heavenly dao as those who cultivate it suffer from a backlash if they expose more than they should."

"Basically, everyone has karma, whether it is positive or negative. The Heavenly dao cultivators favor those who have positive karma and rid the world of those that have too much negative karma. They are called heavenly cultivators because they literally enforce the will of the heavens, that's how they cultivate."

"But who decides if someone has good or bad karma?"

Fang mei shrugged and pointed at the sky.

"The heavens, maybe?"

Under the dubious gaze of Bai sheng, Meng chen arrived to their side after dumping the overly thankful young boy.

In passing she threw a ominous glance to a group of people who had a sinister and unholy aura.

"Hello miss" Bai sheng flashed an harmless smile at her.

"Hello. You should be mister Sheng. I've heard a lot about you. If not for you I would be short a friend now" She laughed.

Bai sheng sighed in relief. At least his karma wasn't so bad he would be hunted.

"Congrats on ridding the world of another scum Saintness Meng" Fang mei teased.

"Fang, save the usual banter for later. I need to warn you about this temple ; I got bad vibes from it."

"Anyone would have bad vibes about this place. Look how flippant it is. Don't tell me you're scared." She replied in a light tone.

"I don't mean that.. I mean yes, it looks scary but that's not the point. It has the most damned aura I have ever sensed." Meng chen said. This time her tone had no hint of jokes in it.

Fang mei eyes widened and Bai sheng curiosity was further aroused.

"Don't worry Meng, I'll be careful"

"You..*sigh*. I won't even enter because I might get a backlash from the heavenly dao. Just remember that whoever made that temple is an enemy of the people."

'An enemy to the people? Just because the aura of the temple is a little off?' Bai sheng thought. If this heavenly dao of hers could guess the intent of a person just by the karma they gave off then it would be overpowered.

'If all criminals have bad karma, then why is there even an investigation force in Lubia city? There are many things that just doesn't click with her reasoning.' Bai sheng was doubtful about her judgment, but he had no other opinion about the temple.

The first batch of people that had entered the temple returned. They all had wide eyes, like they discovered something they should have never seen.

Seeing this Meng chen gritted her teeth.

'Just like I thought, the bast*rd who created this realm is divulgating the secrets of the Heavenly dao. Isn't he even worried about not being able to reincarnate?'

Realizing that her friend was going to enter, she wanted to stop her, but relented.

'With this personality of hers, there's no way I'll be able to convince her.'

The trio entered the temple. There was only one wide space with nothing in it. No windows, no tables, no chair, only darkness.

On the walls, 3000 sentences were written. Each letters were red and reeked of blood.

Bai sheng could easily count the number of lines with his spiritual senses, but just reading one was a challenge. They each had an aura of sin and damnation. He instinctively knew that these were not sentences that should be read or spoken. Yet, he was curious. He focused on a line with all his willpower and managed to decipher it :

[You shall not pass the boundaries of the universe]

After he read that, a huge headache overcame him and the sound of an aged voice resounded in his ears :

"I, Venerable Shen, have defied the heavens all my life but fell short in the end. Yet, even at the twilight of my life, I am not resigned. This dimension was created and will open every 1000 years in the hope of finding a successor to my quest. The first trial will take 10 days starting from when you enter this place. The more sentences you read, the greater the rewards. Those who want to leave the dimension will forget everything they have seen here."

10 seconds latter, Bai sheng regained his spirits.

'Is he trying to convert people to his ideology? To defy the will of the heavens? Isn't that just courting death?'

From what Bai sheng just learned, damned like Venerable Shen would not have a good karma. This means they will be chased by heavenly cultivators all their life.

'I'm not against it, but that's just a question of whether the rewards are worth the risks.'

'Whatever, I might as well read some lines to know what it's all about'

He read another line :

[The temperature of a fire shall not be higher than that of the sun]

'Is creating such fire possible in the first place?' Bai sheng wasn't a fire cultivator, but he at least had that much common sense. A hundreths of the temperature of the sun was enough to kill a legend in his eyes.

[You shall not create life outside of natural procreation]

[You shall not wield the power of more than one star]

That's when it struck him : these were the rules of the Heavenly dao. He instinctively knew he was right.

When he was in the academy, he heard that star cultivators - practitioners of the dao of Stars - could only harness the power of one star that was designated when they started cultivating. This correlated perfectly with the words on the mural.

Instead of wavering, his curiosity was further aroused, and he continued reading. He was curious about the limit of the dao he cultivated. Especially Time. He wasn't sure why but he wasn't feeling very good.

Fang mei was dumbstruck by the voice that just talked in her head. She turned to talk about it with Bai sheng, but when she saw his appearance, she relented. His breathing was ragged and he was in a trance, reading the lines. The uneasy feeling in her heart deepened.