The Path Toward Heaven

Normally, the old man would go to the bottom of the Fiend Prison to check it out himself; but the water in the pond was way too poisonous and erosive, and also he felt it too troublesome to do so.

The most troublesome part was that he would feel uncomfortable if he had gone there.

He checked his stomach by rubbing against it and didn’t find anything uncomfortable; so he sat down by the cliff’s edge.

If the devil was to leave the Fiend Prison, he must come out from here.

The old man had watched the green pond at the bottom of the cliff for quite a few days.

He felt bored and hungry. He lifted his head to look up, and then grabbed his hand at a spot in the distance.

The violent wind whistled amid the cliffs of the first level of the Fiend Prison; the talking and singing had vanished instantly again.

The door of a cell opened, and a thin and tall man was thrown out from the cell and landed heavily on the ground.

This thin and tall man was a highly achieved swordsman of a deviant sect in a high Cultivation state; unfortunately, he was bound by the Source Lock and had no way to resist.

The invisible force appeared in the dark world, like a shapeless hand, grabbing the highly achieved swordsman of the deviant sect and dragging him backward at high speed.

After a long while, the highly achieved swordsman fell off a cliff, passed the scorching hot sandy field, and finally arrived in front of the old man by the cliff’s edge.

The old man squeezed the upper arm of the deviant swordsman, and felt it fairly muscular. “The meat and tendons are pretty good, full of deviant energy. It should be a decent meal,” he commented in satisfaction.

The deviant swordsman was faintly aware of the biggest taboo in the Fiend Prison, yelling sharply, “You weird demon, just kill me if you want to, but don’t humiliate me!”

The old man ignored him, as he grabbed the right arm of the deviant swordsman and pulled slightly to tear the whole arm off the shoulder socket.

The fresh blood splashed out from the shoulder socket. The deviant swordsman’s face turned pale due to the excruciating pain, but he merely grunted once.

The Source Lock was slightly loose due to breaking off of one of his arms; the deviant swordsman summoned all of his Zhenyuan to attack his own head, as he wished to die a quick death.

An extremely formidable force appeared by the cliff’s edge.

The old man strangled the deviant swordsman’s throat and said emotionlessly to him, “Even though you are a brave man, the meat of a dead man doesn’t taste as good.”

Having said that, the old man threw the deviant swordsman off the cliff.

As the old man flung his arm, the extremely formidable force entered the body of the deviant swordsman through his finger, and the deviant swordsman’s energy outlet was sealed so that he couldn’t move an inch.

The deviant swordsman fell into the green pond deep down at the bottom of the cliff, splashing the greenish water in all directions. He sank and floated up a few times, as his flesh started melting away. His body then sank down to the bottom of the pond.

Standing by the cliff’s edge and looking at the scene in the pond, the old man brought that broken arm to his mouth and ate it like a carrot. He chewed roughly and swallowed it down after a few bites.

He rubbed his stomach and burped satisfactorily, feeling full eventually. His mood had improved as a result.

A commotion occurred in the pond at the bottom of the cliff. A figure looking like a white fish swam soundlessly to the shore. He swam through the dense lotus leaves and came to the edge of the pond.

That man brought an object from the bottom of the pond, that object having an odd shape and resembling the tree branch being hit by the lightning, or resembling a long and narrow rock.

The man looked at the object in his hand and said something. He then stood up with his back facing the old man. As he shook his body slightly, the poisonous pond water had evaporated like the smoke, disappearing without a trace.

The man took out a white cloth to put on, ran his right hand across his face to cover his true appearance with the Sword Force, and then turned around.

The old man stood by the cliff’s edge, remaining silent.

Who was this man? How come he couldn’t even recognize this man’s true appearance behind the Sword Force?

The most puzzling part was that this man had snuck to the lower level of the Fiend Prison so noiselessly as to not discovered by the old man, and then came back harmlessly, utterly disregarding the poisonous pond water.

This man’s energy and Cultivation state were not that powerful, so how had he achieved all these feats?

It must be that he was very powerful in some other aspects.

This was a good thing.

It was because such a powerful devil would taste better.

This devil’s body looked so perfect, so his spiritual energy would also be abundant; and he would taste great and be very nutritious as well.

If he could eat this devil, he would probably be able to live a few years longer, the old man thought.

Thinking of all this, the old man’s eyes displayed a greedy expression as saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, exuding a nauseous stench.

…

…

In the meditation room of the Justice Hall at the Fruit Formation Temple, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect set down the script in his hand and turned toward the young man by his side.

He found that Yin San was deep in thought.

This was extremely rare for him.

It didn’t mean that Yin San had seldom thought of something deeply; but it was usually unnoticeable even when he was thinking of the schemes that could destroy this world.

The fact that thoughtfulness was so obvious on his face indicated that the matter was quite significant, or important to him.

He didn’t act like this even when the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom gave birth back then.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect squatted in front of Yin San and asked carefully, “What’s the matter?”

Yin San said, “I have sent a letter to the Fiend Prison.”

Though the Great Grandmaster knew that the Old Ones were carrying out a task for Yin San, he didn’t know the matter was related to the Fiend Prison.

He was rather surprised to hear it, but the Great Grandmaster showed a calm expression, like he did many times before.

Yet, soon he found that his reaction was inappropriate, so he immediately showed a shocked emotion.

He glanced sideways at Yin San and was relieved that Yin San didn’t notice his changed expression. “That is the Fiend Prison…” he exclaimed.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect remembered clearly that Yin San was packing luggage that day to get ready to leave; did it have something to do with the Fiend Prison?

Yin San had a very low Cultivation state; if he revealed his true identity, it would be very dangerous. So he seldom took on anything by himself.

For the significant event like the destruction of the Cloud Platform, he had only gone to the Foggy Island once and talked to Xiwang Sun briefly.

So what did he now need to deal with by himself?

Yin San didn’t say anything more. He walked toward the outside of the meditation room.

He passed the shadows cast by the pine forest and came to the pagoda forest, and then he took out a roll of script and put it in a stone pagoda.

It was then that the bell rang to signal the end of the evening session.

Along with the echoing sound of the bell, Yin San walked out from the temple and came to the vegetable garden. Seeing the house and the courtyard that seemed ablaze in the twilight, he thought of the Underworld River underground that was always on fire, and remained silent for a long time.

The mosquitoes of the Fiend Prison hadn’t brought back the Soul-Fire of the Underworld Emperor in three years, and crying could be vaguely heard on both banks of the Underworld River.

Yet, he didn’t think that the Underworld Emperor was dead, his initial guess was that Jing Jiu went to the Fiend Prison to solve his problem regarding the Sword Ghost had been proven.

Since the day when he guessed that Jing Jiu went to the Fiend Prison, he had started plotting the scheme.

This time he had done less, and his plan was simpler.

He asked the Old Ones to send a letter to the Fiend Prison.

As long as Jing Xin was not too stupid, he would tell this matter to the Center Sect.

No matter how the Center Sect thought of it, they would definitely investigate the letter, which had been sent to the Fiend Prison.

The sound of quarreling could be heard in the backyard, along with the smell of cooking oil. That fat monk must have stolen and eaten something he was not supposed to. Yin San mused, who would be able to resist the delicious foods in the world?

That dragon would be able to think out a way to eat Jing Jiu.

Yet, it would be hard for him to swallow Jing Jiu though.

As it happened, the turmoil would take place.

Zhaoge City would receive an “earthquake”.

Jing Jiu would die.

The old dragon would kick the bucket.

The Underworld Emperor would come out.

These were the results Yin San was looking for.

He knew how greedy that dragon was, and he had full confidence in Jing Jiu. The only issue was that he didn’t know so much about the Taichang Prison.

The bell at the Fruit Formation Temple rang again.

He looked at the last strand of the twilight, thinking that Jing Jiu had to rely on himself this time.

Nobody could help Jing Jiu in this world…no one but besides Yin San anyway.