Chapter 3

Somewhere in the dark forest, a little light begins to come into existence in the middle of the night which scares some creatures into hiding since they don't know what it is. From a little blink, the light began to expand until it was big enough to fight two people.

After the light has completely grown in size, Jason and his mother suddenly walk out of the light, and not even waiting for a little while to catch their breath, she suddenly took Jason by the hand and started running.

"Slow down mother, I don't think that I would be able to keep up with all this running" pleaded Jason who seems to be exhausted from all the running. 

"I'm sorry Jason but it is still not safe for us to linger here, knowing the kind of person commander Eric is, he is not going to sit down and watch us as we make our escape" replies queen Jeanie as she continues to run.

Hearing his mother's reply, Jason could only endure a little as they continued to run deep into the forest.

After some time passed, another light began to shine in the forest, and before long, the ten guards that volunteered to look for the queen were now standing in the forest but they were transported to a different location.

Looking around where they had landed, one of the guards decided to speak up.  

"Who would have thought that I will be setting foot in the lower heaven".

"Everything about this place just seems to get me angry, with the lack of supply of spiritual energy. I wonder why the queen picks a place like this out of all places" complained another.

"That's enough guys, we have been given an assignment by commander Eric and I would advise that we put unimportant matters aside" said another guard. 

"Just take a look at this place, where do you think we should begin the search for the queen. If you ask me, I'm going to say that it was a big idea for us to volunteer to go after her" said the guard who complained about setting foot on the lower heaven.

Hearing what his fellow guard said, the other guards went silent for one, they don't know where to begin their search since, in the whole of the three heavens, the lower heaven happened to be the biggest of them all which is why the spiritual energy that flows there is thin compare to the other heavens. 

Seeing that there is no other way that they would be able to cover more ground at a place like this, one of the guards came up with a better idea which is for them to form a team of two splits all over the lower heaven which they all agreed to and started choosing their team before making their way out of the forest but before that, the same that came up with the idea of forming a team, advice that they all suppress their realm to the same as those in the lower heaven to avoid causing commotion and catching queen attention.

In the lower heaven, the requirement for being a guard in the palace is the celestial realm and here in the lower heaven, where the spiritual energy is thin, it would only be a pipe dream for one to cultivate all the way to the celestial realm. So left with no choice, the guard decided to suppress their realm all the way to Nascent soul realm before splitting up and going their separate ways. 

After some hours passed, the sun begins to rise and Jason and his mother were still on the run but this time, they have finally made it out of the forest and what lays in front of them is a little village with a wooden gate at the entrance while standing at the entrance happen to be a middle-aged man who held a fork-like spear while keeping a watchful eye over the village. 

Queen Jeanie turned to Jason who seemed to be in the process of catching his breath she whispered to him in a calm tone as she kept her crown away.

"I guess we will be taking shelter here so try not to act out of place okay".

 Jason nodded his head in reply before following his mother who had a wide smile on her face as they approached the village but just as they were about to take a step inside, the middle-aged man who had been sitting beside the gate suddenly stopped them. 

"I have never seen your faces in our village so start talking. Who are you and what business do you have with my village" asked the middle-aged man with a deep grin on his face as he stared at them.

Taking a step forward, queen Jeanie lowers her head a little as a form of greeting to the middle-aged man before speaking up.

"My name is Maria and he is my son Gary. I hope that you are not offended by our approach but you see, we are just travelers who need some rest and good food".

The middle-aged man didn't speak up quickly and just gave them a look with his arm crossed together as he began to observe the two before speaking up.

"You may be able to find a good place to rest here but I don't think that you would be able to find anything good enough here to eat" he replied.

"Thank you for your understanding but I think nothing will do for now" replied queen Jeanie with a smile.

Since he didn't see any reason why he should decline them access to the village, the middle-aged man decided to let them inside while giving them directions as to where to get food and rest before focusing on his duty.

"Son, you would have to make do with what we can find in this place since we don't have any other choice and if I may say, don't tell anyone your identity no matter what" warned queen Jeanie as they continued to follow the middle-aged man's instructions.