The Arrival Of a Letter

The day when everything changed wasn't anything special at all.

The Blue Sky was the same , the fragrance of the spring blossoms was just as enrapturing , the seas churned as they always did and the cultivators meditated peacefully within the shelter of the caves that they had hollowed out for themselves.

In a time of peace this day was one of many others of its ilk the passing of which blurred away in the remnants of the memories of the Cultivators to whom the passing of time was measured in the span of decades and centuries.

Still , there was surely something special about this day otherwise these words won't have been written .

On that day Nine Prominent Personalities whose fame was widespread throughout the Cultivation World for one reason or the another found a letter at their doorstep.

It didn't matter how secure their residencies were ; fortified by layers and layers of arrays that could easily trap a Nascent Soul Expert permanently without any leeway.

Nor did it matter how inhospitable the way to reach them was ; through Regions under the tyranny of powerful Demonic Beasts who could assume Human Form and Barriers erected by Nature the letter had travelled in defiance of the possible and the probable.

When such an enigmatic letter arrives naturally the person in question to whom it is addressed feels particularly curious to view the contents.

Therefore after a brief inspection to ensure that it wasn't a trap of any sort each letter was unceremoniously opened.

There was no mention of the sender anywhere .

As for the contents they were written in the cheapest of ink possible , still among the Nine there were those whose Cultivation had reached a stage of Great Profundity and these people were able to identify something that put a frown on their faces.

However regardless of their reaction towards the form of the characters what truly captivated their undivided attention was the content itself ; to be more precise the meaning that was revealed when the words were strung together deep inside their heads.

The subsequent reactions could be carefully juxtaposed on a linear spectrum or to be less obscure if the emotion expressed by each person could be said to represent a certain colour then if all colours are to be laid together a rainbow would surely result.

When I saw their reactions a smile slowly crept across my face .

You shouldn't wonder why I am able to observe them all the way from my lair deep in the Outlands being a Demon if I wasn't even capable of such trivialities then I might as well hang up my coat and retire to the pastures to tend to sheep.

Not that I have ever liked sheep , the damn wool gets in my nose always and I end up getting the most frightful of itches .

That aside the reactions of my subjects were priceless !

The Nine regardless of the veneer they displayed were unified by the turmoil that surged within their minds and hearts ; whether they externally showed an emotionless , dispassionate face or a raging pallor or even a shaking look that wouldn't be out of place in a tragic play their eyes showed the exact same emotion that was hidden deep within.

That was precisely the reason why I had elected them in the first place.

Certainly there was some doubt ; the possibility of the letter being a prank was likely and even worse it could be a malicious trap meant to catch them off guard and then reel them in like a fisherman adroitly capturing the fish that his net had snared .

Luckily , certain 'passages ' in the letter squashed that possibility thoroughly .

Deep within the meandering words written with a hand that was as common as could be certain 'inferences' could be found ; these inferences were mere conjectures of course , based on what little had been revealed to the sender by his dear 'friends ' who had perished long since even so they were quite shocking to say the least to the people who viewed them .

Unanimously with hands that were trembling yet firm they took deep breaths and scanned through the rest of the letter and came to the expected conclusion.

In the world of Cultivation where fate was paramount and all danced to the will of the Heavens the existence of coincidences were frowned upon .

Really , it had got to to the point that I would head to the weekly market in the nearest town and end up being swarmed by several of those Righteous Fanatics who would not only in their unreasonable prejudice thrust me with the sin of Tyranny but also pull out their swords before I could get an opportunity to explain .

Give me a break will you ?

Not every Demon is interested in the uninteresting feat of 'World Domination ' I certainly have far better things to do with my time.

Thanks to that troublesome attitude of yours I was reduced to a lonely shut in who only had the company of the paintings of his favourite fairy maidens to accompany him through the deep , dark night.

Regardless of how hard he sighed , the Nine who lived in an entirely different world were unaffected .

They were far more interested in the cryptic message and a couple of bothersome provisions in particular that caused them to hesitate and the more fidgety among them to pace around their residences , the more reticent leaned back in grave thought ; though their response may have been different , their thought processes were pretty much identical.

At least that was what it seemed like through the hazy screen through which I viewed them.

Part of the Reason for the apparently different responses could be attributed to their differing backgrounds , there was a fairy maiden from the Ruism Orthodoxy and another from the Joyous Sect as different as chalk and cheese the two of them were, Oh Yes ! there was another fairy maiden , a little one in fact , the Daughter of the Sect Leader of the Blue Clouds Sect , she was but twelve that one , quite cute too !

Naturally being a thoughtful person I sent a letter to her father as well.

Let's see who else could be seen ?

There was the Abbot of the Vajrapani Monastery and that good for nothing Young Master of the Seeking Sword Sect .

Oh Right ! I almost forgot the Sect Master of the Pill Clouds Sect and his disciple and that assassin fellow .

What was his name ?

Right , Shadow Star !

An incredibly conspicuous name for an incredibly banal man with no sense of presence whatsoever.

Of course , being Nameless myself I am certainly no expert in the profound art of Nomenclature still I honestly feel that fancy names are practically useless and are just a bother to bear.

Wouldn't you prefer , especially if you were an assassin that your name after being heard once disappear completely from the mind of the person who heard it ?

I certainly would since being a Demon I unavoidably am forced to perform some stunts that are frankly embarrassing still what can I do ? I am but a humble Demon oppressed by society at large .

Anyways , whilst I was wallowing in self pity ....

Meanwhile the Nine of them slowly tensed and relaxed as they pondered their next course of action.

Though the fact that they had to travel to the scheduled place all alone that too with their identities hidden was certainly a handicap if what the sender promised was true ...

The hearts of even the most frozen among them jumped furiously and pure excitement pumped through their meridians.

They couldn't afford to take the chance of giving up , each of them due to their own individual circumstances were in pursuit of something that might as well be illusory ; for regardless of how hard they tried in the mundane Cultivation World their goal was impossible to be attained.

Still as the saying went there was an opportunity in every crisis and if they played their cards right it was certainly possible for they who stood in the summit to walk away as victors.

It was decided then ..

All that was left was certain preparations that had to be made...

My smile grew wider at the sight.

Really the time tested method of dangling a carrot in front of a starving donkey worked like a charm just as it always had .

I flexed my muscles and yawned exaggeratedly.

Certainly not becoming of a Demon but there you go we get tired too sometimes and frankly long distance Immortal Arts had never been my forte .

The iridescent moonlight that made its way through the open window landed on my parched skin bringing a refreshing coolness that made me yawn further .

The gentle breeze drifted along carrying with it the lingering song of the crows that very fittingly reached my ears at the exact same moment that I confirmed the next course of action.

A good omen indeed.

With one last yawn I headed off to sleep since I had to get up early tomorrow.

After all Guests should always be welcomed when the Host is at his best.