Chapter 2: A Wake-Up Call

Hm…

Ah, so peaceful… Ah, this is life…

What is life? What’s the meaning of life? Why do we live?

Hmm, perhaps, it’s for such calmness… serenity, tranquility…

Yup, life ought to be enjoyed... What’s better than this? Hm, hm…

Ah, wish this lasts forever…

Ance—

Hm? Did I hear something?

Nah, must be my imagination…

Ances—

Yup, my imagination…

Ah… So peace—

ANCESTOR, WAKE UPPPP…!!!

My ears…!!

A little while ago…

“Aaaaaa…!”

A little girl shouted as she fell into a deep hole, one which appeared all of a sudden! As she feared for her life, a little force bounced her off the air a little, yet she fell back in.

“Ouch! Aaa! Dang!”

She fell on her butt, then rolled and fell on her back, bounced off and hit her head on the wall! Then she fell flat on her face!

Talk about luck!

“Dammit gravity! How dare you treat this princess this way! You’ll see! Uhhh,”

The little girl groaned in pain, tone as if being subjected to injustice!

She held her head, tears in her eyes. Questioning heaven for lacking eyes, she threw a tantrum, kicking her surroundings while lying flat on the ground. What a spoiled girl, hmph!

Soon, she stopped.

Finally bothered to see where she was, she wondered where that hole took her. The little girl was about ten, eleven years old. Wearing a pink-lined floral robe of her sect, she had quite a charm with her plum-like cheeks and black ponytailed-hair. Her eyes and mind continued to analyze her surroundings, looking out for possible dangers.

Originally, she had gone to her sect’s ancestral hall in search for help. Hoping that one of the ancestors would solve her problem, she went deep into the ancestral forbidden chamber. In front of the ancestral altar, she kowtowed on the floor, crying out for ancestor to help for some time. She hit the floor so desperately her forehead bled, yet nothing emerged.

Who knew, when she was about to curse all the ancestors for being lazy, hypocritical old baggage, the ancestral token she had stolen, um, borrowed from her father suddenly lightened up.

The floor under her abruptly disappeared!

“Where is this…?”

She observed the surroundings.

It was quite dark, barely lit by luminous stones placed every so often. Soon, her eyes adjusted to the light, enabling her to see the whole chamber. The chamber itself was like a hall, spacious enough to fit tens of thousands people at the same time. The walls of the chamber were filled with inscriptions and rune. The ceiling was high, she thought even tens of her would not reach it.

She turned to look at what she thought to be the ‘stage’ of the hall, an elevated platform.

“Hm? A rock?”

Something large was placed high on the platform, as if it was something worthy of worship. Six big stone statues surrounded it, as though guardians of an ancient deity. As she took steps towards it, the ancient inscriptions on the walls glowed, ferocious glyphs appeared. She jolted in shock! It appeared as if warnings, to never take another step.

She gulped.

The glyphs struck a little bit of fear into her, yet she braved herself to continue walking. As she took steps, she felt some force dragging her. Her hairs stood on end, stories of Yin-element ghosts craving for a living body crossed her mind. Fortunate enough, it was only momentary. She made haste. As she neared the platform, the ancestral jade token on her chest pocket glowed, vibrating stronger.

She felt perplexed, a bit panicky.

“What, why is it glowing like this? Is ancestor here?”

She stopped her steps just before the stairs leading up the platform.

Looking up, she realized it was not a large rock, but rather, a large turtle shell. Her mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape. She had seen many spirit beasts bigger than the turtle shell, even ten times bigger, yet somehow this shell struck her as awesome, magnificent. As for why, she herself had no idea. It barely had green light covering the outer part of the shell, yet its majesty could not be denied.

She stepped up the stairs.

There were three levels leading up to the turtle shell. On each level, two of those stone statues stood erect, standing regal with glowing red linings all over their body. Each three-metre high, it was carved to be warrior-like, body fully clad in armor. On the first level, she noticed the two statues, each had a long spear. They somehow gave her the feeling that they were alive, silently observing her. When she stepped on the first floor, winds moved.

She blinked.

Two sharp blades of spears locked her neck! The blades had crescent curve, enabling the two to surround her neck with just two blades. She froze, the speed they moved was too much for her to see! Red eyes of the two statues were on her, as if deliberating whether to off her neck or…

The girl paled, she felt damp on her lower half. Legs a bit weak, she gritted her teeth.

“I-I’m not afraid of you! I’m here for ancestor! Make way!”

Neck still locked, she pouted while staring at the statues.

Their eyes gleamed, as if making up their mind. Their spears moved away, leaving her be. They returned to their position, standing still.

“Ahhh…”

She fell on her knees and butt, legs weak. She put up an air of bravery, but within she was cursing, actually wanting to run away.

“Which ancestor is this?! So stingy, I only want an audience, no need to be such a jerk—”

She got up, then walked up to the second floor. A swoosh! This time, the two statues locked her neck with large battle axes!

“Again…?!”

This time, she felt the coldness of the steel, they were that near!

“Ha, ha, haa…”

Passing the last two guardian statues with swords, she was huffing in relief. She felt her robe, the lower part and the back. Um, not bad. At least she did not wet herself. Well, not too much.

“Sadistic ancestor! Can’t you be graceful like me?!”

Looking to the front, she realized.

The six statues were powerful, so they were clearly protecting something or someone important. She thought of the ancestors she only heard from childhood, err, even earlier than now. She overheard from her father and the grand elders’ discussion, that the most powerful ancestor still around was Ancestor Aomi. The last time she woke up was fifty years ago. Could this be her dwelling, err, isolation chamber?

She had no idea how powerful any of the ancestors would be, but surely he or she would be strong enough to render help? Her father and Grand Elders were hesitant to request help from their ancestors, weighing whether or not the matter was important enough. While many of them wanted to, they could not make up their mind immediately.

But for her, she did not need any time! The matter was utmost importance to her. After smuggling out the ancestral token from her father’s study, she came here straightaway. Or at least, the upper part of this place.

This place was unlike the shiny and grandiose ancestral hall in the upper part. Not only it was too deep underground to be normal, it also seemed unlikely to be frequented by others. Which of the ancestor would stay here? Even if they were sleeping, would it make sense to be so deep underground like this, devoid of care?

Perhaps he was a loner, she thought. She started to pity this ancestor.

Other ancestors would at least allow core disciples cleaning up the interior hall. Even if they were locked within their isolation chamber, they would not let their outside be without care.

Then again, it was weird. The whole place was not dusty at all. In fact, there was even wind flowing within! She took a look on the opening of the shell, the place a head of a turtle would be. It seemed flesh-like material was covering the whole inside of the turtle shell.

Gulping, she poked the inside.

Poke.

“Ancestor?”

Poke.

“Ancestor, are you there? Hello?”

Poke.

After doing this for over how many times, her eyes twitched.

If there was no ancestor here, then she would have wasted her time. Who knows how long it would take for her father to realize the ancestral token was missing, and came here for her. By that time, forget asking an ancestor for help, it would be her who needed help!

Dire help!

“Ancestor, if you’re not there, just say so. No need to stay silent, it’s rude… Xiao Mei really needs help,”

She poked several more times. She thought again, with the six awesome statues standing guard, it would be weird if there was no one around.

“Really, are you sleeping? You sleep a lot more than babies! How envious,”

She pouted, losing patience.

“Xiao Mei couldn’t even sleep until noon, yet you sleep all day. This is unfair…”

Poke!

Enough poking!

She hit the turtle shell several times, many times. Yet still, there was no reaction. Remembering something, she took out the ancestral token from her chest pocket. It was glowing before, so she thought, it could be the key.

But how to use it?

“Hm, place it here?”

She put it onto the opening. Nothing.

“Maybe up there?”

She climbed the upper part of the turtle shell, almost falling. She placed it up there.

…

Nothing.

“Uh, how to do this? If I can’t meet ancestor, Sister Shuren would…”

She sniffed, but shook herself out of it.

Calming herself, she tried to recall how the elders would usually use jade token. They infused their Qi inside it, activating it. While she had seen the elders and her father did that many times, she never had the chance to use high-grade jade token yet.

She had used low-grade token before, it did not require much Qi to activate. Only a tinge of it would suffice. Recalling how the elders and her father used the high-grade one, she infused her Qi into it.

After a minute…Nothing.

Ten minutes… Nothing.

“Why isn’t it working? Did it break?”

She was still in Purification Stage, the beginning of the Pre-Star Realm. It was the lowest cultivation any disciple of the sect would have. There were a lot of things she did not know. Even a trash cleaner had higher cultivation than her, so it was normal for them not allowing her to use any high-grade jade token. What she did not know was, to activate a high-grade jade token would require a higher purity Qi, so no matter how much she put her Qi in, it would not be enough.

Infusing some more, she grew agitated.

She knew, if she failed here, she would regret it the whole of her life!

“Ahhh, Ancestor, I really need your help! Wake up!”

Gripping the jade token tightly on her palm, she slammed her fist onto the turtle shell. The sound of a child pounding the hard shell pervaded the spacious chamber. The statues nearby remained still, not bothered at all by her act.

“Ancestor! Don’t be lazy!”

Still nothing, she grew desperate. She kept hitting the turtle shell. Her hand was in pain, yet she was not in the mood to bother. The jade token had sharp edges, so when she pounded it violently like this, her hand bled. Red blood came out from her hands, and without her realizing, it infused into the ancestral jade token.

Taking a deep breath, she put her whole head down, into the flesh-like opening of the turtle shell.

ANCESTOR, WAKE UPPPPP…!!!

Her voice reverberated within the chamber.

After she did so, she was huffing. She was already out of breath, and out of Qi. Her throat was parched, sore. Still, no trace of any ancestor lifeform within the vicinity. She wanted to cry.

Tears gathered in her eyes.

“Ancestor, you bully…”

GRUUU—

“Eh?”

A slow rumble around her, then stronger. Was it an earthquake?

Looking around, she realized. It was not an earthquake, but the turtle shell she was on was trembling. Soon, a deep voice came from within the shell.

“…So loud! You’re bothering the neighbours!”

“Ancestor, you actually woke up!”

=== Chapter 2 ‘A Wake Up Call’ End ===