The Path Toward Heaven

The mountain range blocked the ferocious ocean wind and large waves, keeping the dew and sunshine on the other side.

It was a dense forest on the other side of the mountain range. Looking down at the forest from the sky, it looked like the fuzz, while outside the forest was fertile field resembling a green blanket.

The distance between here and Chaotian was over ten thousand miles, but the Thoughtless Sword seemed to know where to go without hesitation, so it must have come here before. The Thoughtless Sword dropped lower from the high altitude in the sky, heading toward that land.

The southernmost part of the land sloped down to the ocean, and countless sprays rose up in the ocean, not to mention that innumerable sea birds flying over the ocean, seeking the opportunity to catch their food, letting out the high-pitched sounds.

The Thoughtless Sword hovered quietly amid a cluster of shadow-like birds. The tip of the sword pointed at the forest on land, and the sword shaft was covered by a thin layer of frost.

The fairy sword was damaged slightly when traveling at such a speed between the empty realm and the thunder region.

The birds here were not so different from those in Chaotian, but the trees in the forest were completely different here. The brown tree trunks were normally one thousand feet high, with huge green leaves, looking like a fan that could be only used by the giants; hundreds of leaves gathered close together, covering a fruit in the middle.

The outer crust of the fruit was semitransparent with a faint pink color, looking like a huge lotus flower.

As the ocean wind blew over, the edges of these huge green leaves fluttered ceaselessly, like the ocean waves, making whistling sounds.

Along with the sounds of friction, the outer crust of the lotus-like fruit peeled off, exposing the scene inside.

There were a few human beings inside each fruit, holding a thin spear that let out a metallic glow; and they watched the Thoughtless Sword over the ocean vigilantly.

These human beings were somewhat different from the humans in Chaotian. They were more attractive, and even more beautiful than the Cultivation practitioners in Chaotian, having long limbs. It was unknown if they were men or women.

All of them had a pair of semitransparent wings, like those of the cicadas in Chaotian. They looked probably like the fairy demons in the fairytales in Chaotian.

A person, maybe the chief of the group, walked to the front and said something tersely to the Thoughtless Sword.

The Thoughtless Sword didn’t respond.

The chief of the fairy demons furrowed his brows and said something more.

Then two fairy demons flapped their wings, flying toward the large mountain behind the forest. Maybe they went to ask for help.

…

…

The dark clouds suddenly appeared in the blue sky, with the thunder and lightning bellowing, but no rain dropped.

The fairy demons in the trees cheered, seemingly quite excited.

Hundreds of thunders and flashes of lightning fell on that mountain range. A bright sparkle would occur once in a while, but most of the time the lightning would disappear noiselessly.

The ground suddenly quaked violently, and innumerable demon animals fled the forest and jumped into the ocean in horror.

The huge waves arose on the ocean surface, and the sea birds flew away in surprise, a shadow moving away on the ocean surface.

Yet, the fairy demons were not scared, and they still cheered and shouted happily; their eyes, gazing at the mountain range in the distance, revealed respect and admiration.

The mountain range had gradually risen up. Was this an earthquake? Would that mountain collapse?

No. That mountain range stood up.

The mountain was actually a giant human being.

…

…

The Giant was very tall.

As he stood up, the dark clouds were blown away by the strong wind created by his huge moving body, and the thunder and lightning also disappeared without a trace.

His head seemed to reach the terracotta-like blue roof of the sky. One would think that the sky could be broken into small blue ceramic pieces if he raised his heels and stood on the tiptoes.

There were many scars on the Giant’s face, and some burning scars; he looked tired and old, as if he had experienced innumerable hardships and misfortunes.

Yet, the expression in his eyes was very clean, full of child-like naivety and curiosity. When he saw the Thoughtless Sword above the ocean, the Giant let loose a soft smile.

The fairy demons in the trees sensed the Giant’s feeling, putting away the thin spears in their hands and returning to their own residential lotuses.

The Giant curled a finger toward himself while facing the Thoughtless Sword. His movement was quite slow.

The Thoughtless Sword headed toward the sky, and arrived in front of the Giant after flying for a while.

Compared to the Giant, the Thoughtless Sword looked like a grain of sand, being too small to notice.

The Giant cocked his head looking at the Thoughtless Sword, feeling a bit surprised and also a little perplexed.

“Aja?”

The strong wind occurred again in the sky.

His voice boomed like thunder, and could be heard even in the cities and towns three thousand miles away.

The Giant intended to ask: why didn’t you leave?

Before I fell asleep that year, I had already bid farewell to you. I remembered clearly that I felt quite sad at the time; but why did you come back?

The Thoughtless Sword vibrated at a high speed, giving out a buzzing sounds, and then flew around before the Giant at a fast speed, drawing all kinds of circles in the air, just like a dancing bee, but its circles were much more complex.

The Giant understood what the Thoughtless Sword meant, and he gasped in surprise as his eyes filled with happiness, his brows moving up and down to show his contentment.

“Aja.”

His deep and booming voice reached the ocean surface, as loud as hundreds of whales screaming together, arousing innumerable ocean sprays.

The Thoughtless Sword decided it was the time to leave, so it turned around and flew toward Chaotian. It flew faster and faster, soon vanishing in the sky.

The Giant waded into the ocean, creating countless huge waves. As he stepped on the rocks at the bottom of the ocean, they were immediately crushed to tiny pieces, turning into mud, changing the color of the ocean.

An hour later, the Giant arrived at the deep part of the ocean.

The farther he waded in the ocean, the deeper the ocean water became. The ocean was already over a few thousand feet deep, at the knees of the Giant.

The Giant kept on wading forward. As the sun was above his head, a black shadow appeared in the ocean ahead of him.

The shadow was the Luoshen sea ditch, an extremely deep valley at the bottom of the ocean. It was said that a secret tunnel leading to the Underworld was located here, but it had never been discovered. The currents were quite complex here, not to mention the horrible windstorms all year long and countless hideous monsters in the ocean. Even the Cultivation practitioners in the Broken Sea State didn’t dare to come here without caution, though the precious boats of the Penglai Island would come here once in a while.

The ocean was indeed deep here, and the sea water reached the Giant’s neck.

Looking at the ocean surface ahead, the Giant felt a bit uneasy. Though he wouldn’t drown here, he was somewhat nervous nonetheless.

But soon, the Giant had thought another idea. Since he hardly had a chance of wadding in a deep ocean like this, it would be a great idea to take a bath here!

However, he hadn’t accomplished the task requested by his friend yet, so he’d better keep going.

…

…

From the early morning till sunset, the Giant wadded in the ocean, like a moving mountain.

The fish and monsters in the ocean and the birds in the sky fled away in terror when they saw the shadow in the distance.

The Giant couldn’t opt for running, because his head would easily reach the empty realm if he did so; and the pain would be excruciating if he couldn’t breathe the air there.

If he ran a little faster, he could even jump above the ocean surface and reach the thunder region.

It was painful to be hit by the heavenly thunder. He had known this since his youth, because the scars on his face were the proof.

He moved his steps slowly. Fortunately, his every step was far enough, so he arrived at the destination by dusk.

The place was a cluster of islands enshrouded in fog.

The Giant had come here before and knew the fog was very strange; he couldn’t blow it away or scatter it by fanning his hand.

He had even tried to scoop up the sea water in his palm and pour it onto the islands back then, but he still couldn’t disperse the fog.

After some thought, the Giant waded to the north and arrived by the Large Whirlpool.

He reached his left hand into the bottom of the ocean and held onto a rock-hard mountain, and reached his right hand into the Large Whirlpool fumbling for a long while, and then he pulled out an ancient tree of ten-thousand years old.

The ancient tree had soaked in the sea water for many years, and its leaves were all gone. The thick trunk of the tree was the only remaining part.

Though the ancient tree was one thousand feet long, it was just like a small stick in the Giant’s hand.

The Giant returned to the foggy islands, and shouted to a distant place; and then he sat down in the ocean, holding the ten-thousand years old tree while looking down at those islands.

The Giant could see vaguely some objects moving on the island, several Cultivation practitioners shouting something in horror and pointing at him.

The Giant didn’t heed them and kept on guarding these foggy islands; yet, he felt somewhat bored after a while and wished to take a nap. He yawned once.

…