Few minutes later, the old man raised his head to observe Jufeng. He took a look at Ju Feng's robe and hat before giving a nod. The young boy might not be an adept, but a scholar nonetheless.
"Young scholar, welco to the House of Riddles."
"Greetings, elder scholar."
"You must be here to help with so of these riddles, I suppose."
Without waiting for any reply, he continued.
"Very well then, co closer. Young one, these riddles are a thorn in my robe. I just couldn't find the right answers to them. Since you are here, maybe you can help solve them."
"Okay, elderly scholar."
"But there is a little problem, young scholar. You see, with the importance of what I'm doing here, I can only afford a total of two wrong answers. The third wrong answer can create so sorts of problem."
The elderly scholar raised a finger to draw Ju Feng's attention and alley his fears.
"But then, you can still leave or continue after the second wrong answer. Only, if you can afford five Irrium gold coins. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, senior."
Ju Feng replied with a nod of his head. What else could he say? He had a telling comfort in knowing that he was having the Irrium gold coins given to him by the tree. The tree truly had knowledge of the happenings there.
"Excellent. Here are the riddles."
And there we go. Ju Feng knew the trial had started. He could only miss the answers twice, missing them three tis ant he would be in serious trouble. The tree already told him that the questions would be on his level of understanding and reasoning. The tree better be right. If not, then it would be on the tree for not getting the cursed scripts. But the oaths put the burden on his shoulders.
The elderly man gently raised the feathered pen as he stared at Ju Feng with a slightly raised eyebrows.
"The first one.
"I never was, am always to be,
No one ever saw , nor ever will,
And yet I am the confidence of all,
To live and breathe on this creative existence.
What am I?"."
How would he know? Ju Feng scratched his head as he mused on the riddle. He had done a few riddles before but nothing close to this. That was a hard riddle. If the first one could be that hard, he wondered what the other two would be like. The ti was gradually passing by, and he was yet to co up with an answer.
"Young scholar, why do you ponder so long on sothing that never cos?"
"Ah, I see. That's it!. The answer is 'tomorrow'."
Ju Feng voiced in delight after recieving the hint from the elderly scholar. The joy of getting the answer right was satisfying despite the dire situation of things.
"Thank you senior."
"Aha. That's the Grace you have, young one. Hint is on every first question, but after that, the rest is on you. Now, for the second one. This second riddle is no better than the first. Here it goes.
'I'm the beginning of eternity,
The end of ti and space,
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place.
What am I?'."
The beginning of eternity and the end of ti and space? It could only be one thing. The Void. The beginning of every existence. Everybody knew that. Could the answer be that simple? Jufeng was musing very hard in thoughts as he tried to resolve the riddle. He ca to the conclusion that it had to be the void.
"The Void?"
"That is a wrong answer, young one. Do you want to give it another try?"
Huh? Wrong answer? If it wasn't the void, what else could it be? Could it be the Alpheron then? That was the beginning of everything in the universe. He had to be careful especially now that he only had one more wrong answer left. After thinking hard for what seed to be an eternity, he cleared his throat as he drew the attention of the elderly scholar.
"The Alpheron?"
He had just said those words when sothing flashed through his mind and it instantly dawned on him that he gave a wrong answer. But before he could make adjustnt, the elderly scholar gave his remarks.
"Wrong again, young one. You know what that ans. Five Irrium gold coins. Then you'll decide whether you want to leave or continue."
Ju Feng sighed deeply as he removed the five Irrium gold coins and gave them to the elderly scholar. He felt a huge relief knowing he would have another chance at the riddles. But heavens tears, now that he had used the precious Irrium gold coins, he had no substitute left. Only, if he had waited a bit longer. It didn't matter anymore. With a bitter smile, he answered.
"I want to continue, senior. You are 'E', letter E!."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Though it took you ti and missed chances, you are still wiser for your age. You should take pride in that. Just one more riddle for you to help with. Here it is."
The scholar responded before continuing.
"Three n are standing, each is holding a box. In only one of the boxes there is a treasure, the other two are containing evil. The n know what is in their respective boxes. Each man will say only one sentence. Only one of them is telling the truth about the treasure and the other two are lying.
The first person says: The treasure is not in my box!
The second person says: The treasure is in third person's box!
The third person says: The treasure is not in my box!
In whose box is the treasure?"."
Ju Feng closed his eyes as he pondered on the riddle. It was a difficult riddle. How would he answer this one when he couldn't tell from their responses? After thinking for so ti, he opened his eyes only to discover that the elderly scholar, the table, the chair and the shelf, are all gone. The room had grew darker and the only source of faint light was the runes on the walls. At the center of the house were three boxes labelled accordingly.
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