Gate of God

As the ink flowed around, the ink outline on the white canvas became clearer and clearer. The dragon’s head, its body, its claws, and its tail, together with the rest of its body, started materializing.

“Did it come alive?”

“Drawing a dragon with a single stroke?”

There was no way that Fang Zhengzhi was completely unastonished. After all, something like this was mysterious and unnatural.

Most importantly, the painting on the canvas did not disappear this time unlike previously!

While Fang Zhengzhi was feeling curious about this occurrence, a loud and clear roar of a dragon was heard. It came from the ink dragon swimming on the canvas.

“Roar!” the dragon suddenly opened its eyes and glanced at Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan. Its eyes were bursting with a golden radiance.

Just then, something eerie happened.

The ink dragon which was swimming on the canvas suddenly bolted out of the canvas and headed straight into the sky.

In the next moment, Fang Zhengzhi felt countless images appearing in the sky. There were mountains, water, flowers, rocks, oceans, forests, lakes, hurricanes, flames…

Countless images lit up in the sky like a mirage, but they did not exist for long. Soon, the images disappeared, restoring the peace in the sky.

“…”

“…”

Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan both looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

“Is it over?”

While Fang Zhengzhi was still trying to figure things out, he suddenly realized that the rain was getting heavier, from a drizzle to a downpour. It eventually became a violent storm. For a moment, he felt like his entire body was soaked by the storm, and the raindrops seemed to have entered his body, bringing him comfort. However, this comfort did not last long, as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from above.

“Boom!” It was followed by a deafening thunder.

“Again?” Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes opened wide subconsciously because the bolt of lightning was pitch black. Just as he had expected, the pitch-black bolt of lightning came straight for him as if it could tell where he was.

“…” Fang Zhengzhi really wanted to exclaim that he was the one who finished painting the last stroke, and he even did it by grabbing Chi Guyan’s hand.

‘Does it really have to go this way?’

‘Wait! The lightning is coming for Chi Guyan!”

Fang Zhengzhi was speechless, he wanted to move away, but Chi Guyan was obviously not letting him go. Although his hand had broken free, his body was still under Chi Guyan’s tight restraint, and he couldn’t even budge.

“Boom!”

Fang Zhengzhi felt his soul trembling, even Chi Guyan’s eyes lit up brightly for an instant while she was tightly bonded to him.

“So…Is this what it meant to be struck by lightning together?”

While Fang Zhengzhi was sighing over the fact that he was sabotaged by Chi Guyan into enduring the bolt of lightning, a majestic voice was heard.

“Fang Zhengzhi shall enter the Ninth Heaven!”

“Fang Zhengzhi shall enter…”

“…”

“What? I have made it to the Ninth Heaven?!” Fang Zhengzhi was startled, but it was soon overtaken by joy. He felt that life was truly full of plot twists, and happiness had descended upon him without warning. Even though he was still uncertain about the situation, the voice from the sky did say that he would be entering the Ninth Heaven.

That meant that he had won the bet, and Chi Guyan would have to become the leader of his bed warmer team.

Life was really full of surprises!

Fang Zhengzhi’s face was charred, but his smile was dazzling. However, his joyous emotion was soon interrupted by the voice from the sky.

“Chi Guyan shall enter the Ninth Heaven!”

“Chi Guyan shall enter…”

“…”

The majestic voice echoed in his ears for a long while.

“Are we entering the Ninth Heaven together?” As Fang Zhengzhi looked toward Chi Guyan and her smirk, he felt like his feelings had been trampled by 100,000 raging beasts.

“If we enter at the same time, it’s considered my win! From now on, you’ll become my lowly servant!” He heard Chi Guyan’s voice at this moment.

…

Meanwhile, at the Holy Reservoir in Heavenly Dao Pavilion.

A figure approached rapidly from far and soon came before the Sixth Elder, huffing and puffing.

“Sister…Sister Chi Guyan and Fang…Fang Zhengzhi have…Have entered the Ninth Heaven together!” The figure collapsed onto the ground right after he delivered the message.

“What…What!?” The teacup in the Sixth Elder’s hand fell to the ground again, followed by the swords in the Heavenly Dao Pavilion’s disciples’ hands, clanging loudly.

For a moment, time seemed to have frozen around the Holy Reservoir. There was a dead silence.

Be it the Sixth Elder, or the disciples, everyone were staring dazedly at the collapsed disciple Wang.

They held their breath, for they were either in shock, or struck dumb by the news.

“The Ninth Heaven?” The Heavenly Dao Pavilion’s disciples stared at each other with disbelief. The shocking factor of this piece of news had far exceeded that of the bet. None of them was thinking about the winner anymore, because it no longer mattered.

What was important, was that the Ninth Heaven in the Holy Reservoir had finally been reopened after thousands of years. Furthermore, two people were granted entry simultaneously.

…

While everyone outside of the Holy Reservoir was awestruck, Fang Zhengzhi, who was currently in the Ninth Heaven, was feeling pretty annoyed. Although Chi Guyan was right that the bet stated that if the two of them entered the Ninth Heaven simultaneously, it would be counted as her victory, but he obviously didn’t accept that they were granted entry at the same time. After all, his name was announced before hers, so logically speaking, he should be the winner.

As such, Fang Zhengzhi felt the need to discuss this matter with her thoroughly.

Of course, Chi Guyan was obviously not in the mood to discuss about the outcome that had already been decided.

“Is this…The Ninth Heaven?” Chi Guyan looked surprised after scanning the surroundings.

“Hmph?” Fang Zhengzhi was up for a debate, but he subconsciously looked at their surroundings after hearing Chi Gu Yan. “What? How does the Ninth Heaven not contain nine pillars?” The Ninth Heaven obviously did not have to contain nine pillars, but since the Seventh and Eighth Heaven contained seven and eight pillars respectively, Fang Zhengzhi felt that the Ninth Heaven ought to have nine pillars.

However, in reality…The Ninth Heaven that appeared before them didn’t contain a single pillar, moreover, it actually looked desolated. That was right, it looked desolated.

However, its desolation was different from the vibe of the bloody ruins in the Fourth to the Sixth Heavens. It was literally desolated.

There was nothing as far as their eyes could see, and they were astonished by the vastness of this place.

Every where was covered in sand, and there were no trees or lakes, only white pebbles that were barely visible in the sand.

This was completely different from what Fang Zhengzhi had envisioned the Ninth Heaven to be.

“Does the Ninth Heaven really look like this?” Fang Zhengzhi felt puzzled. In his opinion, even if there were no pillars, there had to be something like a clue. For example, a few paintings for him to comprehend, or at least a card or something.

However, there was nothing but sand…Could it possibly mean that he had to play in the sand?

“Do you get a feeling that there’s something weird about this place?” Chi Guyan’s eyes lit up as she spoke.

“What’s weird about it?” Fang Zhengzhi answered with a question.

“The rain…Has stopped.” Chi Guyan pointed to the ground and looked toward the sky.

“Hmph? It really stopped. Didn’t you say that the blessed rain existed throughout the Holy Reservoir?” Fang Zhengzhi instantly understood her.

“That’ right. Under normal circumstances, even the Ninth Heaven should be a part of the Holy Reservoir, so the rain shouldn’t have stopped. Unless…” Chi Guyan stopped mid-sentence and fell into a deep thought.

“Unless what?” Fang Zhengzhi asked again.

“Unless, this place is not within the Holy Reservoir, in other words, it has left the Holy Reservoir. However, this couldn’t be possible, the Ninth Heaven can’t possibly be out of the Holy Reservoir!” Chi Guyan squatted down as she spoke and grabbed a handful of sand with a frown.

“In the Holy Reservoir…Not within the Holy Reservoir?” Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t wrap his head around her words, but he still roughly understood what she meant.

However, just as what she had said, since the Ninth Heaven was within the Holy Reservoir, it was literally impossible for it to be out of the Holy Reservoir.

It wasn’t out of the Holy Reservoir…But the blessed rain didn’t exist here, meaning that this place was not controlled or affected by the Holy Reservoir.

‘What the hell is this place?’

‘Normally, shouldn’t this place contain more enlightenment for one’s understanding of Dao? Why am I not feeling anything?’

While Fang Zhengzhi was pondering these questions, his chest started shining again, and the light that was coming from beneath his tattered clothes seemed to be getting brighter and brighter.