Hellweek has arrived so I will be scarce. Enjoy the chapter friends.
"Now let me explain." The blue Estate Spirit said. Lineir looked down the eerie hallway filled with the cleansing scent of incense. This place...though peaceful, was a place of death. Every meter or so there would be a framed portrait with many candles lighting the occupant's face. All else was darkness. Though the light illuminated the portraits, it was impossible to discern the features of the person. This gave the occupants a measure of privacy, in the light yet also shielded from the sight of the living behind a veil.
"This place is the Sanctuary. Here, numerous Ice Elemental disciples of our order were cremated and interred after death. As you are now a disciple of the sect, I can tell you a secret." The phantasmal blue baby drifted forward, about a meter off the ground, and Lineir followed alongside.
Tap Tap Tap
Lineir's lone pair of footsteps rapped down the halfway as he followed the floating spirit. He trusted that the Estate Spirit would elaborate and soon enough as they passed from darkness into candlelight the spirit spoke again.
"Have you found it odd that this place is styled after the path of Buddha? You are probably unfamiliar with Ice Elemental history, but you must have noticed, we are not usually practitioners of the Buddhist way." It said and Lineir nodded. He had found it odd that there was such a Buddhist aspect to the Trial Grounds but assumed it was because of the Sect Master's personal taste in the past. They passed another portrait and entered darkness again.
"Once, we were simply a low grade sect of the Divine Realm. We practiced the Ice Laws which are the standard for our race. However, that was not to last." The baby snapped his fingers and Lineir and he were transported through a local spacial distortion to the end of the hallway.
Click.
Suddenly a bright gleaming altar adorned with hundreds of softly burning candles was in front of him. Upon the altar was a giant tablet, taller than a man, and three times as wide as a bull. The front of the tablet, though lit, was obscured and blank in the white light.
"The Sect Master stumbled upon this deep in the mountain. He called it the Tablet of Buddhas' Palm." The baby said and he puffed out his little blue cheeks and blew a soft gust which extinguished the many candles. Suddenly the hallway was dark and the obscuring veil on the face of the tablet was lifted. A magnificent golden glow appeared on the limey surface, as if the tablet was perhaps bronze or even pure celestial gold.
MMMmmmmmmm
A gentle hum permeated the hallway as a deep, quiet chant began to pound through Lineir's very core.
Amitabha...
It called to him. However, he realized he could not understand its intricate meaning. Some part of him just did not blend with the Buddhist hymn. Then the face of the tablet began to shine and an ancient scene was revealed.
"This is..." Lineir's eyes lit up as he gazed upon the wonder on the surface. It was a palm print carved into what seemed part lime stone, part pure gold. However...Lineir's mind failed to comprehend what was inside the tablet. The palm print was ginormous, seemingly all encompassing and fierce, more stable than the earth yet with the majesty of the shifting air.
"Tablet of Buddha's Palm!" Lineir gasped as he realized the palm was filled with a mystery. The palm print at times appeared to be pressed into the golden limestone, yet at times, when one was sure of this, would instead appear to be carved so that it was coming OUT of the limestone. It was a peculiar illusion. He was about to activate his Madness Eyes to see through the truth of the matter when he felt a primordial premonition. It called to him through the void,
"Do not look upon me with those eyes!" It said, almost as if some part of the tablet was communicating with him. He faltered and continued to try to perceive the tablet as the Estate Spirit continued its story,
"This tablet...ended up being the sect's greatest fortune! For millennia, our greatest warriors would meditate upon it, and if even one in a hundred thousand was lucky enough to perceive a tiny fraction of its infinite mysteries, our sect would be destined for greatness! However...it was also our undoing. One of our uncareful warriors unwisely displayed his skills in front of one he should not and it drew a great calamity. The sect was destroyed and the survivors have either fled far far away or perhaps have been hunted to the last. Now all that is left is this tablet." The baby said. Lineir, listening with half his mind and focusing on the tablet with the other finally looked away from the tablet.
"So this great power never found the tablet in the end? Else it would not be here right?" He said. The blue baby nodded.
"Our disciples though foolish never divulged the location of the monastery in the end. Perhaps they committed suicide or bravely sealed their own minds and meridians to avoid being soul scoured, who knows. Now it is just me. I hope someone of your talent can gaze upon the tablet and comprehend the mysteries within and accept the task of delivering revenge to the one who destroyed our sect millennia ago! I beg of you!" The Estate Spirit who usually seemed to be a jolly being suddenly knelt down in the air and kowtowed!
"Please!" It cried and Lineir felt the weight of destiny settle onto him. However...there was just one problem.
"I'm sorry. I do not believe I can help you. My cultivation path is...unusual. This tablet, while amazingly mystical, cannot help me. I trod a path which is by nature, against that of this tablet. It's mysteries are useless to me." Lineir sighed. He had puzzled it out finally. Madness could not coexist with the Laws contained with the tablet. They were fundamentally opposed and thus he could not even perceive the slightest bit of the mysteries within, let alone practice them!