1 Descending to The Spirit Realm

Heavenly Realm, Gu Pavilion,

In the middle of a courtyard decorated simply, with bits of moss invading from the cracks in the wall giving it a bit of an ancient feel when one would stand there. Stalks of bamboo lined the walls obviously well maintained which could be seen by the height they stood at, lights cresting the top of the courtyard walls providing subtle lighting to the couple standing there.

"No, its still to soon!, it's not yet time for him to go, why must you send him now?", a figure dressed in silver colored clothing asked shakily. You could hear the anguish ringing out in her tone causing the man's heart to quiver.

Due to the silence from the question you could here the faint sound of someone crying along with the "pitter patter" of tears hitting the solid stone underneath them.

"Perhaps, however thing's have progressed much faster than we expected, if we put this off any further danger will befall our beloved son", a tall yet gentle looking man said whilst sighing and holding the woman in his embrace.

...

The man and woman stood hand in hand, whilst watching a young boy, whom couldn't have been past the tender age of 4 or so walk into a 8ft by 4ft wide dimensional portal. As he walked into the portal he turned around to glance one last time at his loving, gentle mother and his father who had a glaze over his eye's that made him seem like he wasn't even there.

Watching her son turn around she couldn't help but notice the well of tears that he was struggling to hold in, seeing this she couldn't restrain her motherly instincts and began to sprint towards him with speed that almost seemed inhuman.

As the young boy saw this, the first tear rolled down his cheek and began to fall towards the ground, falling faster and faster this tear seamed to reach the ground in no time at all. His vision blurred over until he could no longer make out his mother's figure, all he could see was silver silhouette rushing towards him.

Running as fast as she could, she got as close as right in front of him in a matter of seconds, yet at the same time she arrived the first tear hit the ground.

"BOOM", a loud thunderous roar came to life as the dimensional portal completed charging. A large flash of light erupted from the center of the portal, stretching as far as 10,000 miles in all directions! Darkness had evaporated in that moment and it was like it was day time, almost as quickly as it came the light began to die, shadows began moving to there original place while the darkness settled back in.

The only difference in the courtyard at that moment was that there was no longer a young boy standing in the center of the portal. Seemingly having vanished all that was left behind was a black void of space.

Crashing to her knees, Gu Xinya began to soak the floor beneath her with tears as her head dropped into her hands. After having sat there for minutes she began to gather her thoughts, wiped her eyes clear of the tears, Gu Xinya began to stand and walk along the stone path towards a building in the distance. " Gu Lingxin, I wish to lay down, and do so alone tonight please find somewhere else to sleep."

Walking through the creaking door that led to her bedroom Gu Xinya climbed into her bed and curled her self underneath the covers. As soon as her head hit the pillow the reality of the situation gradually returned to her mind, causing her to begin crying once again, and she did so until she drifted to sleep.

...

Still standing in the same courtyard without having moved an inch was Gu Lingxin with a glossed over look on his face, after standing there for a while longer his glossed over look immediately disappeared, it was as though a new fire was lit inside his body. His eyes gained an unprecedented resolve, as though he hardened himself for the future and what was to come.

Beginning to walk out of the courtyard Gu Lingxin began to fly towards a mountain off in the distance that looked tall enough to scrape the sky. Coming closer and closer to the mountain he could see a small opening on the side, dimly lit up by an amber color sweeping out of the entrance.

As he landed at the base of the mountain he slowly began to climb up the path leading to the entrance. Looking around him he could see the dense vegetation that was breathing out a very strong life force. Trees and vines intertwined with each other, along with various other flowers and plants inducing the feeling that one was within the deep jungle. Regardless of what it felt like Gu Lingxin couldn't forget that surrounding the mountain at this very moment was a prosperous city. A prosperous city that would never feel like home to his son. The very thought of this weighed on his heart like a thousand pounds of stone.

Coming to the top of the mountain Gu Lingxin walked into the cave and surveyed the area around him. In the center of the cave was a large circular table, and around this table were a total of 9 chairs, actually it was probably more appropriate to call them throne's than chair's. The throne in the middle

of the table was raised significantly higher than the rest, obviously representing a elevated position.

Sitting in the elevated chair was an old man, his eyes closed as though he was lightly sleeping, yet radiating out of him was a powerful aura that demanded respect.

Gu Lingxin stood there, not saying a word as to not disturb the peace that the room carried.

Eventually the old man's eyes slowly began to open, as they opened a brief feeling of oppression assaulted the room. Gu Lingxin slightly faltered from the feeling, obviously he wasn't prepared, as he was immersed inside his mind, thinking, feeling, hoping.

Awakening from his state of rest the old man looked at Gu Lingxin, slowly speaking he asked, "have you done as I told you?".

"Reporting to Clan Leader, I..., I...", Gu Lingxin stuttered as he found trouble in confirming what he had just done.

Seeing the troubled look in Gu Lingxin eyes the old man spoke with a rare gentleness within his voice, "it's okay to hurt, it's okay to feel regret, let your emotions out"

As soon as Gu Lingxin heard those words the wetness which had been building up from the moment he sent his son away burst out like a tidal wave! Flowing constantly, even though there were no sounds escaping from Gu Lingxin, you could almost hear the pain inside his body.

Standing up the old man walked towards his son, Gu Lingxin, and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm sorry, I cant even begin to understand the pain that your experiencing, all I can say is that I am truly sorry"

Nodding, Gu Lingxin gathered his self into a semblance of being okay. "Can you explain to me why this needed to be done, the truth, the whole truth. I deserve this and even more so my wife does."

"Sit", the old man said whilst pointing to a chair, the chair next to the most elevated one. When Gu Lingxin reached the chair the old man began talking, "do you know why we've constantly been the strongest family since the birth of the Heavenly Realm?"

Wondering why his father was asking him such a question he responded, "is it not because we have the most powerful Bloodline, techniques, the most talented geniuses born each era?"

"Partially, we truly do have some of the best techniques and talents within the family, however, that alone isn't enough", the old man said. "Have you ever considered that what goes up must come down?"

"Not in particular, no i haven't", Gu Lingxin said. His patience growing tired he asked,"what does any of this with my son?"

Walking outside of the cave the old man looked up at the starry night sky, "sigh", "Those above us will not allow one family to reign supreme for too long, for they fear the potential assault that we may embark upon to enter the Realm of Gods, Although they can't physically do anything to us, due to rules allowing one to ascend to the Realm of Gods, but not descend from it, however, there are people here who report to them, people here strong beyond our realm, whose sole mission is to secure the God Realm family's position. But there is one rule which is to never be broken! That rule is when someone ascends to the Heavenly Realm they and their family are given a 2-generation grace period, this is not because they are "good, nice, thoughtful people", no, when one ascends you are surrounded with huge amount of karmic luck for 2 years, as long as you don't commit evil act's you will retain this luck for the entire duration, within these 2 generations no one from the God Realm will touch you because they are afraid of the karmic retribution the may befall upon them"... "Can you get what i'm trying to say now?"

Looking at his father, Gu Lingxin sat there with a pensive look on his face. "so you're saying that he was sent to the Spirit Realm so that he can rise up, break into the Heavenly realm to lead the clan to more glorious heights, to potentially ascend to the God Realm?"

"That is my aspiration, as it was my father's before mine, he ascended from the spirit realm to lead the Gu family to its current state. Where we now stand at the peak, there is no more room for us to grow here, we must move to the next realm, these are the hopes and aspirations I will leave on his shoulders." the old man said.

"Why my son, you have countless grandchildren, why did you choose him!" Gu Lingxin asked." Not to mention what of his living conditions, whom will love him, protect him in his early years.

With a burning gaze that held a bit of envy the old man turned around, looking at Gu Lingxin he slowly said, "As you know our bloodline is extremely formidable, although I can't genuinely compare our to those of the God Realm, I would speculate that ours rank among the top, technically with every passing generation the bloodline should grow weaker and weaker, however something unprecedented has occurred. His bloodline level has surpassed the Ancestors level. I don't know why his bloodline is so strong but it is definitely a blessing, perhaps it is the blessing that we need to charge into the God Realm. To put simply, it is he whom I believe has the greatest potential in our family since it's creation! That's why I've sent him. As for his living conditions he will of course reside within the Gu clan of the Spirit Realm as my father did. "You need not worry about this, there is a woman in her late 20's whom due to an unfortunate accident cannot reproduce which has left her childless. She will take him in, love him and provide for him.

A look of pride passed through Gu Lingxin eye's," I believe he will return, he has to! Father I am going to return and enter closed door cultivation, I must become stronger, to pave the path for him to walk once he arrives!"

Watching as his son left the mountain cave the old man let out a sigh... " I really hope that young one can make it back, it's just..., the more one rebels against the heavens the harder they push back" he muttered lightly.

....