Chapter 49: Case

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"What makes you say that Uncle?"

Raven became a bit worried, the plan about that Righteous Bestowal Ceremony was incredibly important for his plans for them and it would truly make it hard for them if they are unable to experience it.

"Apparently there is quite a misconception that the ceremony only brings harm and no help to the people who experience it. Recently, there were few cases of people experiencing harmful damages on their bodies after the ceremony."

"At first we thought that it was only a coincidence but during the last batch, at least fifteen percent of the people who went were harmed and the rest experienced no gains at all. And to make things worst, the people who were harmed at the process came from formidable backgrounds and their parents were the one's who started the movement. If this is to continue then we have no choice but shut down the place."

The crew went silent upon hearing his words. The excitement that they felt earlier was washed by a cold bucket of water.

The reason for their downcasted expression had a very deep source. Raven told them before that there were three paths of cultivation, and those are Body, Energy and Spirit. The Righteous Bestowal Ceremony's most common use, is to allow a cultivator to smoothly tread the transition out of the Fighter Path towards the Knight Path. But to Raven and his crew, it was more than that.

The ceremony's true benefit will be unleashed once they experience it. It's true benefit is to deepen the connection within the cultivator and his/her Spirit Entity, given that there is a connection already. And since the techniques that Raven and his crew uses were aligned towards their Spirit Entities, then they will experience this benefit.

The ceremony will also strengthen their own spirit, to those who wish to follow the Spirit Path, the ceremony is a must since it is the safest way to tap into their own spirit. Raven, Anne, Ellen and Luna planned on following the spirit path and if the ceremony was to be suspended, then it is an incredible waste.

On the other hand, Raven was incredibly puzzled. He had no clue that something like this happened during his past life, or if it even happened in the first place. Back in that time, he and his brothers didn't think about going since they barely progressed in their cultivation and ceremony is only open to youths on ages thirteen to seventeen, Paul and Mark were nineteen when they reached Marrow Cleansing Realm while Raven reached that stage a year later.

Raven was convinced that this was the result of a butterfly effect. The things that he did, though very minimal, had already affected the overall situation of the kingdom. He could only smile wryly as he now had another headache to deal with.

"Has there any results after the investigations?" Raven could only ask since he truly didn't want to change his plans.

"We have been investigating for a while now but sadly, nothing came up." Bradley shook his head and sighed, sometimes he couldn't help but worry about things that's beyond his power.

"Bring me to the place, with my background it shouldn't be a problem. We are looking forward to the ceremony and I don't to cancel our plans knowing that I could've done something." Raven firmly said.

Bradley was startled as heard the conviction behind his voice. He started thinking and thought that his words were true, as the son of Hawk he truly won't have any difficulties entering that place, plus he will be there so he could also be Raven's backer.

"Alright, you wanna go now?"

Raven nodded and said: "Yes, the sooner I see it, the better." Raven looked towards his friends and said: "You guys stay here and train. I'll leave the formation activated. Oh right! Here."

Raven took out several scrolls from his spatial ring and said: "Battle Arts along with notes why I gave you that. Practice well. Let's go Uncle."

Without even wasting a second, Bradley nodded. He grabbed Raven on his shoulders and together they disappeared like a flying silver comet leaving five people who held on to the scrolls that Raven gave them, sighing on the fact that they couldn't be of help once again.

***

The pair reappeared in front of a majestic gate behind a lush greenery.

Beyond this gate is where the Righteous Bestowal Ceremony occurs. Few guards were alerted by their presence but when they saw Bradley's badge, they instantly dropped their guard and saluted towards him.

"Greetings Royal Guard Bradley!"

The salutations were heard across the area making everyone aware of their existence. Bradley nodded and Raven's eyes started looking everywhere. Before they could even take a step forward, another figure appeared in front of them.

"Greetings Royal Guard Bradley! It's rather embarrassing that we didn't received any news that you will be visiting this place."

"It's fine Korra, I wasn't planning on visiting as well, It's just that my nephew became quite curious and wanted to see what the place looks like inside. With me here there shouldn't be any problems right?"

Korra is one of the managers of this place. He had been working here for at least a decade already and became one of the most trusted individuals here, even Bradley was impressed by his dedication. Korra then noticed Raven behind Bradley, he saw that he was looking all over the place with his eyes shining, he smiled as he thought that this kid must be one of those adventurous types.

"Of course there's no problem! Allow me to escort you two." Korra can't deny Bradley's request since he understood how kids could be whenever they're curious. In fact, he too recently experienced this with his own son and brought him here on multiple occasions.

Korra gave a sign and the guards opened the massive gates. Now the interior of the whole place was exposed to Raven's eyes.

It was a large piece of land that had a deep crater, it looked like a dried out pond. Surrounding the crater were six tall totems that had tribal markings all over them and on the center of the crater, there was a lone bronze chalice.

Raven's mind reeled and pictures of what this place looked like in the past overlapped with the current image he saw right now. Instantly, he noticed a few things that didn't fit the picture.

"So how's it Avi? Not that impressive right?" Bradley chided as he glanced over to Raven, his words actually had a deeper meaning in them. This was him asking him if he saw anything suspicious.

"Right, not that impressive. Looks like a dried out pond." Raven passively said which made Bradley and Korra laugh.

Suddenly, Korra took something out of his sleeves and pressed it. Instantly, there was a loud rumbling that occured. The totems lit up and the chalice levitated up. With a fierce shake, the chalice started overflowing with water, it was unceasing and strong to the point that the whole pond was being refilled with water in a speed visible to the naked eye.

By now, the totems had formed a solid see-through barrier that prevented the water from spilling out. Now, the place looked like it had an enormous water prison. Raven's shone as he saw this but it was coupled with a grim expression.

"How's that little guy? This is the true appearance of this place." Korra was a bit proud upon saying this, but when the two of them saw Raven's expression, it made their hearts sank for a very unknown reason.

"Yep, I can see it now. And it's very disgusting." Raven spat out venomously. Korra was dumbfounded while Bradley started to worry even further, his words mean that Raven might be seeing something that none of them could.

"What's wrong Avi? Tell me..."

"No need, I'll just show you instead." Raven's voice were cold, he sat where he stood and took out a few materials from his spatial ring. A mortar, herbs, and seeds appeared. He started grinding one ingredient after another, Korra and Bradley watched with anticipation and after a few minutes, Raven took all of the grounded ingredients and leapt towards one of the totems.

As he stood on top he was still wearing that disgusted expression. Using two hands, he rubbed the powder between and mixed it with the water, and it didn't take long before a horrifying sight was exposed to Bradley and Korra.

There was a creature, coiled like a turd at the bottom. It's skin looked like a washed intestines while it wriggled here and there. It had no limbs, it followed the shape of a snake and doesn't have any scales. It's eyes were closed, and close to it were little round shape balls scattered everywhere.

Raven's exposure was perfect since they saw one of these balls crack in half and spawned another type of that creature but smaller this time around. It wriggled and swam around, seemingly happy to be out.

"W-what on earth..."

This was all Korra can say after witnessing that true appearance behind the waters.