The Endless Promise

2. Ghost In The Night

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Lotus Lake, Mid Realm.

Moonlight fell on a beautiful lake whose still dark surface was nearly covered with brilliant lotuses.

Right in the middle of the lake were a set of quaint little buildings, linked together by small wooden bridges. The buildings looked regular, but the entire structure was floating right on the water!

Suddenly, there was a streak of bright blue light from the sky, and a young man appeared.

He walked to the arched doors of the largest building and knocked.

"Elder Bao!" He called out with tears running down his face.

He had an attractive face, if one ignored his tears, and a quiet power emanated from him.

Also, a jade pendant swung from his belt which read *'Tian' on one side and *'San' on the other.

A pendant worn only by Immortals.

(*Tian - Heaven/sky)

(*San - Three)

"Who dares approach my doors?" The voice sounded calm, but it was so loud that a force pushed the young man back till he almost fell off the wooden ledge.

But he was unbothered by the danger, and he fell to his knees.

"Elder Bao, he's gone... Brother Bai is gone..." He said, and the ornate wooden doors flung open.

An old man with long silvery white hair suddenly appeared in front of the weeping young man.

"Repeat what you said." The old man spoke quietly, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen.

"Brother Bai is gone." The young man repeated. "I hear they sent a ten-fold *tribulation against him."

(*Tribulation Lightning - Lightning directed at an immortal as a test or punishment.)

A ten-fold tribulation was equal to a hundred bolts of severe lightning.

"But he can handle double that!" The old man said in disbelief.

The person they were discussing was so powerful that Sky Realm feared him more than the worst being in *Shadow Realm.

(*Shadow Realm- Demon world, full of demons, evil spirits and monsters)

Something as trivial as a hundred bolts of lightning should not kill him.

"What happened is still unclear." The young man responded. "But his life force has completely vanished, even in the stars! Isn't there something you can do?!"

His eyes filled with hope, but those hopes were dashed when he saw the old man's grave look.

"Yin Xing, as the Night Immortal, if you can't find his life-force among the stars, what can be done?"

Yin Xing fell into quiet sobs.

He had rushed here, knowing it was useless, but a small part of him had hoped the elder would have some long lost way to resurrect a person missing from the stars.

The old man said and did nothing as Yin Xing cried.

He simply remained standing, his hands crossed behind his back.

But anyone who looked a little closer would see that silent tears also ran down his face.

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Back to the Present.

The Young man in the caves saw the vision of the beggar, and of the boy and old man on the lake.

They were memories. Things he had seen after his death.