The Path Toward Heaven

The deviant wind and fine drizzles fell on the official’s face, causing him immense pain.

He had no idea what had happened, but he could sense that something went wrong. He quickly squeezed the charm treasure in his sleeve to shreds before he reached State Duke Lu.

Boom!!!

The ground shook; the smoke and dust rose up; and the screams were everywhere.

A few people nearby were blasted into the, their bodies smashing into walls.

As the smoke and dust settled down, that official was found sitting on the ground, full of blood covering his body as green slabs full of cracks lay beneath him.

As he broke the charm, a shapeless light shield fell down from the flying eave of Taichang Temple, encasing him inside.

The light shield was a sort of magic treasure, hemming in all the explosive power of the charm treasure within the shield, and as such, this official received the full effect of the charm treasure all by himself!

The strong wind rose again. A few clear imprints appeared on the body of that official, and an iron chain roped his wrists, which was the Source Lock of the Pure Heaven Bureau.

There was no way for this official to resist all this; his eyes revealed extreme shock when he saw State Duke Lu sitting in the chair.

The charm treasure was the chosen weapon for assassinating State Duke Lu, but somehow it failed even to break through the light shield!

Was this the rumored “Deviant Wind and Fine Drizzle”?

As the official thought of this possibility, he quickly realized that Taichang Temple had prepared in advance; was it possible that this assassination attempt had been leaked beforehand?

“How could you identify me?” he asked State Duke Lu in surprise.

State Duke Lu didn’t answer this question, remarking, “I thought you people would find an opportunity to do it outside, but I really didn’t expect that you would choose to do it inside the temple. Don’t you know that nobody can kill me here?”

The official was taken aback, unable to figure out what he meant.

State Duke Lu continued, “You are only an assassin, so you have no idea why the Old Ones want to kill me; but, I am certain that you know the relationship between the Old Ones and the Underworld, and so for that, you will spend the rest of your life to repent underground

Thinking of the darkness underneath Taichang Temple, the official turned even paler, his eyes showing immense resentment and despair.

He would rather commit suicide under the circumstances, but he didn’t have enough time to do it since everything happened too fast. At the moment, he had absolutely no opportunity to kill himself.

Looking at the assassin being dragged away, State Duke Lu reached his hand reflexively to pick up the tea cup, but touched an empty space. He smiled wryly and asked, “Is there any more?”

“The danger has passed.”

A slightly fat man walked out from the crowd, wearing a coat.

He was Sir Jin of the imperial court.

The crowd retreated like the receding tide, and Taichang Temple returned to its usual quietness and order.

The earlier chaos was man-made, and the quietness was controlled in kind.

Jin Mingchen asked with furrowed brows, “It’s odd to create such chaos by assassinating a state duke; why did the Old Ones want to cause chaos here?”

State Duke Lu said, “If they could get the key from me and cause chaos by assassinating me, it would be killing two birds with one arrow; why not?”

“It looks like the target is indeed the Fiend Prison,” said Jin Mingchen with a grave expression.

“It’s not hard to find out that the Fiend Prison is located underneath the Taichang Temple,” State Duke Lu said, “but not so many people know the key is on me and are confident that they can achieve their goal by obtaining the key. This means that this person knows a great deal about the Fiend Prison.”

Jin Mingchen said, “That person is most likely not a high-level official.”

“No,” State Duke Lu agreed.

“It’s because he didn’t know that nobody could kill you here.”

Jin Mingchen repeated what State Duke Lu had said earlier.

State Duke Lu said with a smile, “The key issue is why the Old Ones want to get in the Fiend Prison. This is something your people need to investigate.”

Jin Mingchen said, “They have already seen to it in many places. We should have an answer by the end of the day, but I doubt that the investigation would reach a high level.”

He sat by State Duke Lu, saying nothing more.

The spring rain fell in the courtyard outside.

It was considerably quiet in Taichang Temple.

Presently, the voices burst out one after another amid the spring rain, announcing the names of the people who had been arrested.

That day the arresting took place in many places of Zhaoge City; the Pure Heaven Bureau and the Magic Guards came out in full force.

What was unknown was that an elder of the Center Sect, in the Godly State, had been at the Pure Heaven Bureau since last night.

Hearing those names, State Duke Lu and Jin Mingchen didn’t show any changes in their expressions; yet, they shared a look when they heard two names.

The first name was Liu Xiang, a disciple of the second generation at the Kunlun Sect, the south commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau.

The second name was Yang Changyu, the assistant chief of the Taichang Temple.

The rain was still falling outside, but the announcement stopped for a while. The arresting should be over.

Jin Mingchen stood up, shaking his head regretfully, as he said, “These are merely little bugs.”

State Duke Lu said, “When the bugs are numerous enough, they could bite through the beams to break them, and the big buildings could collapse because of it.”

“The Emperor won’t be pleased with the result,” said Jin Mingchen.

State Duke Lu said, “The important figures wouldn’t show up so easily.”

Jin Mingchen exclaimed, “What the Emperor doesn’t understand is, why is the First Child Sword still in the same place after so many years? It hasn’t moved at all.”

State Duke Lu didn’t respond.

It was he who brought Zhao Layue and Gu Qing to the Royal Palace that night; so he was naturally aware of the event. But until now, he still failed to understand why the Emperor gave away the First Child Sword.

…

…

On Shenmo Peak.

Jing Jiu said, “Like I said before, the Emperor gave you the sword only as a favor. If he is certain that the person at the West Ocean is indeed the disciple of the old crook in the South Sea, he will for sure try to take back the First Child Sword. Then, the pressure will be on the Green Mountain due to your action. Even if the Green Mountain could tolerate the West Ocean for a few more years, the war would still break out a few years ahead of schedule.”

“I thought the relationship between the Emperor and the Green Mountain was close; I didn’t expect that the Emperor would use us,” said Zhao Layue, surprised.

Jing Jiu said, “If I were here, the Emperor would have treated the Green Mountain differently for sure. But, I was in the snowland at the time, so he probably didn’t know what was going on.”

“However, nobody had anticipated that I would give the sword to Liu Shisui,” said Zhao Layue.

Taking the tea handed by Gu Qing, Jing Jiu said, “A simple act of giving it away makes many people feel confused. You have a very good fortune.”

“What you should be concerned of is his fortune,” said Zhao Layue.

Listening by the side, Gu Qing and Yuan Qü knew she was talking about Liu Shisui.

Jing Jiu said, “It’s a game of playing house, but it shocked the whole world. Though I’m not sure about his fortune, I’m certain that his ambition is quite evident.”

Zhao Layue and the other two could sense from his words that he wasn’t in a good mood, and the compliment sounded more like a mockery, or even an irritated statement.

Liu Shisui, according to his temperament, wouldn’t choose to leave the Old Ones before the schedule.

Would he have enough time to leave the Old Ones after this day?

“Let’s enjoy the scenery,” said Jing Jiu after sipping the tea.

The disciples and masters of Shenmo Peak gathered together chitchatting again after an interval of many days, and Gu Qing had also boiled a pot of tea; it was because there would be a marvelous scenery to enjoy.

Hundreds of flying swords suddenly appeared above the Green Mountains.

Then, they turned into hundreds of white sword lights flying to the distant West Ocean, like the shooting stars.

It looked fabulous.