Immortal Druid

Mab led the way deeper into the secret realm, and the forest itself seemed to bend before her passage. Ancient trees shifted their branches aside without a single rustle. Thick roots withdrew into the soil, clearing a path where moments earlier none existed. Pale silver light filtered through the canopy overhead, and the moon hanging above the realm somehow appeared brighter than before, as though acknowledging her presence.

The sensation reminded me uncomfortably of my own authority over nature.

My party stayed near me while we followed behind her. Even Roo, who usually bounded around with enough energy to flatten a hillside, dragged his feet with half-lidded eyes and an offended expression plastered across his furry face.

“I was havin’ the greatest battle of my life!” Roo complained loudly. “There were like… ten thousand monkeys! No, twenty thousand! And I was winnin’ too! Then somebody woke me up before I got to the awesome part!”

The kangaroo turned his accusing glare toward me.

I ignored him completely.

Beside me, Tao Wolong stared wide-eyed at the drifting motes of light floating through the forest. Tiny wisps danced between the trees in shades of green, blue, silver, and faint gold. Some resembled little stars while others looked like glowing butterflies made entirely of mist.

“Woah…” Tao Wolong breathed. “Mother, look! They’re following us! They’re so cool!”

“Be careful,” Zhen Ai warned immediately as she pulled him slightly closer. “You do not know what those things are.”

“They’re harmless,” I explained. “Natural born wisps. Elemental properties that gained life through concentrated nature energy. Spirits born from the forest itself.”

Jia Ping immediately pushed her glasses tighter against her face, nearly stumbling from excitement.

“Another term for them would be elemental spirits, and they’re not just numerous, but quite varied in numbers. Their appearance suggests the state of the forest. Truly, incredible.”

She rapidly scribbled notes into her booklet while sketching crude illustrations using a charcoal pencil. Her eyes darted everywhere with barely concealed obsession, as though she feared the wisps might disappear if she blinked too long.

Mab glanced back toward us, her silver hair flowing softly despite the absence of wind.

“Stay close to me,” she warned calmly. “Otherwise, you may become lost within the forest.”

The way she said it made Tao Wolong instantly stop reaching toward the floating wisps.

The deeper we traveled, the stranger the forest became. Trees grew larger than mountains like an illusion. Rivers flowed upward through the air before vanishing into clouds of glowing mist. The scent of flowers lingered everywhere despite there being no visible blossoms nearby. My Druidic Insight stretched outward constantly, trying to understand the structure of the secret realm around us, but the deeper we went, the less certain I became.

Eventually, the forest opened.

At the center of the hidden region stood a pavilion made from ancient gray stone. Moss covered the edges of its pillars while moonlight pooled gently across the smooth flooring. It looked peaceful.

I frowned slightly.

Even after flying throughout this secret realm repeatedly over the past weeks, I had never discovered this location. Not even a trace of it. My senses should have detected something this massive long ago.

Yet there had been nothing.

Mab slowly turned toward us and spread one hand gracefully.

“Welcome to my abode.”

She lowered herself onto her knees atop the pavilion floor and watched us with quiet expectation.

My Druidic Insight stirred uneasily.

There was something hidden here.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at her.

“You’re hiding something from us, aren’t you?”

Mab released a soft sigh before smiling faintly.

“Your abilities truly are remarkable.”

She lifted one hand.

The world shifted.

The forest behind her distorted like rippling water before dissolving entirely. My eyes widened as enormous ruins materialized beyond the pavilion. Endless structures of white stone stretched across the horizon beneath the moonlit sky. Broken towers rose from the earth like ancient spears while enormous roads cut through the remains of the dead city.

At the center stood a colossal palace towering above everything else.

Its mere existence radiated an ancient majesty that made the surrounding mountains appear insignificant.

“Impossible,” Jia Ping uttered weakly. “This just can’t be… This is the Ruins of the Forgotten, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Zhen Ai asked immediately.

Jia Ping swallowed hard before speaking, her voice trembling slightly.

“There were three sacred symbols entrusted to the Willow Order for safekeeping. The World Tree, the Shén, and the Sacred Willow City. The World Tree was hidden away long ago, while the Shén remained under our protection. But the Sacred Ruins…” She stared toward the distant palace with disbelief. “They believed it had been lost forever. Eventually, later generations forgot it entirely.”

The scholarly woman was visibly shaking now. Awe and fear mixed together within her eyes as she stared at the impossible city before us.

Mab stood once more and quietly faced the ruins.

“According to what my master told me,” she explained, “this place once began as a village of hunters. Over time, it grew into a holy city and eventually became a symbol of faith during the Age of Supremacy.”

Nobody spoke for several moments.

Mab resumed walking, and we followed her toward the ruins.

The closer we approached, the more overwhelming the city became. Massive stone arches stretched overhead while broken statues lined the roads. Many had eroded beyond recognition, but several still carried symbols resembling branches and crescent moons.

Eventually, we arrived before a towering archway at the entrance of the city.

Ancient symbols were carved across its surface.

I stared upward helplessly.

“What does that say?”

Zhen Ai examined the inscription carefully before reading it aloud.

“New Willow.”

A strange feeling settled inside my chest.

The characters used there differed from the writing system I recognized. Even stranger, Zhen Ai herself looked increasingly troubled the longer she observed them.

“Even my people possess stories regarding this place,” she murmured quietly. “But they knew it by another name. New Willow, the capital city of a powerful civilization from the ancient past.”

The symbol of “Willow” really carried an absurd amount of significance, huh?

Roo was the first one to cross the archway.

Or at least, he tried to.

The kangaroo hopped confidently past the stone entrance before a golden barrier suddenly flashed into existence. A loud bang echoed across the ruins as Roo was violently launched backward through the air like a furry cannonball.

“GAAAAH!”

He rolled across the cracked ground before springing upright with pure outrage burning in his eyes.

“The AIR ATTACKED ME!”

Before anybody could react, Roo charged again with absolute conviction.

“I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE, INVISIBLE ENEMY!”

Boom!

The barrier hurled him backward a second time.

Roo bounced off the pavement, landed on his feet, and pointed accusingly toward the glowing wall.

“YOU THINK YOU’RE TOUGH?!” he shouted furiously. “I FOUGHT TEN THOUSAND MONKEYS IN MY DREAM!”

He rushed forward again.

Boom!

Back he flew.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Eventually, after the seventh defeat against the concept of air itself, Roo staggered back toward me while clutching his stomach dramatically.

“SAGE WO LI!” he cried indignantly. “TEACH THE AIR A LESSON!”

“Sure, buddy… Sure…”

I approached the entrance and extended my hand toward the shimmering golden barrier. The surface rippled faintly beneath my fingers like liquid sunlight. Instead of resisting me, however, my hand slipped through effortlessly.

The barrier suddenly pulled me forward.

My vision blurred for a split second before I found myself standing on the other side of the archway.

“What?”

Zhen Ai looked visibly startled.

“You passed through it?”

“Impossible…” Jia Ping muttered while adjusting her glasses frantically.

Meanwhile, Mab remained completely calm.

“As expected,” she remarked softly.

I blinked once before casually stepping back through the barrier, forward again, backward, forward, backward, and forward.

“Huh,” I muttered. “Cool barrier.”

Roo immediately attempted to imitate me.

The barrier responded by launching him backward hard enough to uproot a nearby chunk of stone pavement.

“It hates me personally,” Roo declared bitterly from the crater.

The others tried afterward, but every single attempt ended the same way. The barrier rejected them without hesitation. Even Zhen Ai’s spiritual energy failed to penetrate the golden wall.

Meanwhile, I walked through it like someone entering a grocery store.

If there was a reason this city allowed me passage, chances were it had something to do with the Dark Sun of Misfortune inside me.

Which honestly raised several concerning questions.

“That’s unfair!” Tao Wolong complained loudly. “I wanna explore too!”

I ignored his whining and turned toward Mab instead.

“How much do you actually know about this place?”

“Not much,” Mab answered honestly. “Before my master ascended, I was ordered to safeguard the Sacred Ruins and remove myself from the affairs of the cultivation world.”

There were so many things I wanted to ask her that I honestly did not know where to begin anymore.

Mab seemed to notice my thoughts.

“There are matters I cannot speak of,” she revealed quietly. “I am forbidden from saying them. Therefore, I cannot tell you everything. However, I shall attempt to answer whatever questions I am permitted to answer.”

It was very convenient.

For her, it was an excellent method to avoid answering anything she disliked.

“I don’t have any questions right now,” I eventually replied. “I’ll explore the city first.”

I gestured toward my companions.

“Please entertain my friends while I’m gone.”

Mab inclined her head gracefully.

“I shall be hospitable to them.”

Jia Ping looked like she was suffering spiritual torture after hearing she could not accompany me inside. She gnawed on her sleeve while staring longingly toward the city beyond the barrier.

“The historical value…” she whispered painfully. “The architecture… the records…”

Meanwhile, Tao Wolong pointed at me accusingly.

“My godfather gets to hog all the fun again!”

“I’ll bring you back a souvenir,” I promised.

“That’s not the same thing!”

I waved them goodbye before departing deeper into the ruined city alone.

The deeper I walked, the heavier the atmosphere became.

Broken statues lined the streets like silent guardians abandoned by history. Cracks split the roads apart while enormous walls had collapsed onto nearby buildings long ago. Entire districts had partially sunken into the earth.

Yet despite the destruction, something about the city remained unnaturally preserved.

There were no corpses, skeletons, bloodstains, or signs that people had died here.

It felt less like a destroyed civilization and more like a city everyone simply abandoned overnight.

I entered building after building while exploring the ruins. Most homes remained untouched. Furniture still rested where it had been left a long time ago. Bowls remained on tables. Clothing hung neatly beside dusty beds.

One large structure resembled a training ground filled with shattered practice dummies and weapon racks. Nearby, I discovered an armory overflowing with swords, spears, shields, and bows.

Most of the weapons remained in surprisingly good condition.

Whoever forged them clearly knew what they were doing.

Then came the books.

Thousands of them.

Libraries.

Records.

Manuals.

Entire shelves had somehow survived the erosion of time. I grabbed several at random only to realize I couldn’t read most of the script.

Great.

Ancient civilization literacy problem.

Eventually, my wandering brought me toward the massive palace overlooking the city.

The throne room alone was larger than some sect compounds I had visited.

Six enormous statues stood on either side of the chamber. Time had damaged their features beyond recognition, leaving cracks across their stone faces and bodies. Despite that, each statue radiated an oppressive presence that made even me instinctively cautious.

It felt like standing before beings far beyond ordinary cultivators.

Suddenly, a formation array ignited beneath my feet and light exploded throughout the chamber.

I instinctively stepped backward as a figure materialized atop the throne.

His body appeared unstable, reduced partially into drifting motes of light. His face remained blurred and indistinct, as though time itself had eroded the recording.

The figure slowly looked toward me.

“This is a pre-recorded message,” he declared calmly.

Well.

That answered one question.

“You who stand before me must be the new Avatar of the Source.”

The title alone immediately made me uncomfortable.

The figure continued without pause.

“I care little for your inclination. Good. Evil. Neutral. Such matters are irrelevant to me.”

His voice carried immense authority despite the obvious degradation of the recording.

“However, you must become strong. Failure to do so shall condemn the world I painstakingly created into oblivion. And I do not desire that outcome. Make use of this city. Grow stronger. Become more. Break your limits. Harden your resolve. Find your conviction. Protect this world. Fulfill your destiny. I want you to do them all. Leave no regrets behind. Do as you please, so that the people around you can do the same. Become a symbol, their faith, and seek your place in this world, so that you may fall in love with it, cherish it, and protect it with all your might.”

The figure slowly rose from the throne. A longsword appeared in his hand from nowhere, and then he drove the blade into the ground.

A massive flag manifested behind him.

A golden cross against a pure white backdrop fluttered proudly despite the absence of wind.

The figure stared directly toward me, despite the lack of sight.

“Take the throne,” he challenged. “Accept both the responsibility and seize power for yourself.”