The Path Toward Heaven

During the last part of his behind closed doors on Green Mountain, Jing Jiu had already figured out what he would encounter in the Fiend Prison.

If nothing unexpected had happened, he would have returned to Green Mountain undetected by now and lain on the bamboo chair by the cliff’s edge on Shenmo Peak, waiting for the news from Zhaoge City.

But the unexpected had happened. Someone figured out that Jing Jiu had entered the Fiend Prison and informed the Center Sect.

That person should be his Big Brother.

He by and large knew what his Big Brother wanted to do, and Jing Jiu had also figured out how he should leave the Fiend Prison. As such, he had been waiting for that event to happen.

The populace in Zhaoge City would have suffered a great deal of casualties if he left the Fiend Prison and the Old Dragon went mad and chased him outside the prison.

Though Jing Jiu didn’t care so much about the mortal world, he didn’t like seeing the mortal world suffer because of him either.

Even though he was aware that damaging the Fiend Prison would cause great quakes, drawing many swordsmen of Chaotian, he had done it nonetheless.

The earthquakes occurred one after the other in Zhaoge City, and the residents were evacuated by the imperial court. This was the result he was waiting for.

Then, Jing Jiu stayed put to wait for the Underworld Emperor.

Before he left the green valley, he received a bunch of purple wild flowers from the Underworld Emperor as a gift.

This was an accidental decision he made during his three years of Cultivation in the Fiend Prison, not something he had thought out during his behind closed doors on Green Mountain.

It turned out that this accidental decision was his best chance of leaving the Fiend Prison.

The bunch of purple wild flowers was rippling with the wind.

Since the wind had risen in that place, it was the time for Jing Jiu to leave.

“I hope you like the gift I have prepared for you,” Jing Jiu said to the old man.

The old man sneered, “It’s impossible! Even if you found the Underworld Emperor, you still couldn’t lead him out of here because you are too weak.”

Jing Jiu stood up slowly and said nothing while staring at the old man.

“It’s impossible!” the old man shouted sternly. “Even if you could leave an anchoring point for him on the opposite bank, he still wouldn’t be able to come out, because he is even weaker than you!”

“Those mosquitoes haven’t sucked his Soul-Fire in three years,” said Jing Jiu.

The old man’s looks grew dreadful, as he exclaimed, “It’s impossible!”

Even White Ghost felt it troublesome to deal with the mosquitoes in the Fiend Prison, so they were not so easy to deal with.

The method Jing Jiu used to help the Underworld Emperor seemed simple enough, but in fact it wasn’t so.

Under the circumstances of isolating from heaven and earth, Jing Jiu could still employ the Method of Wind and Rain of the Great Marsh to keep the patch of dark cloud in the sky, and could also call down lightning from the dark cloud. Though the bell of the Hanging-Bell Sect played a role, it was his understanding of the rules of heaven and earth that had contributed the most to the success.

For such an understanding of heaven and earth to eventually become applicable, one had to be in a Cultivation state similar to the Heavenly Arrival State.

It was nearly impossible to find the Emperor, leave imprints on the opposite bank, and then drive away the mosquitoes.

It was why the old man said “It’s impossible” three times.

It was the Immortal Taiping who had designed these things back then, and it was Jing Jiu who carried them out.

For the two of them, there was nothing in this world that was impossible.

Looking at the deepest part of the darkness, the old man’s gloomy face looked even darker than the night.

What should happen had already happened.

Jing Jiu brought the iron sword back into his body.

This was the first time he had done so.

He flew toward the darkness at an indescribable speed, his figure like that of a ghost.

Half a minute later, he came to the second level of the Fiend Prison.

This was the dilemma Jing Jiu left for the Old Dragon:

To chase Jing Jiu.

Or to deal with the Underworld Emperor.

…

…

In the deepest part of the Fiend Prison and in the green valley where time and space were chaotic, the Underworld Emperor looked at the dark cloud over his head in silence.

Since Jing Jiu had left, this is what he had been doing. His pupils, as dark as black jewelry, were seemingly able to leave imprints on the dark cloud.

It was unclear what had awakened in him or when, but the Underworld Emperor reached his hand into the patch of the dark cloud. As he retrieved his hand, the bright and small silvery bell was already in his palm. His movement was carefree and relaxed, as if he were picking fruit from a tree.

Without the bell, the dark cloud couldn’t generate lightning, and the mosquitoes hiding everywhere in the valley flew out in tandem.

The Underworld Emperor headed toward the outside of the valley while holding the bell.

The formation diagram scattered after being stepped on by him.

The Method of Wind and Rain disappeared.

The dark cloud lifted.

The mosquitoes came to his side. Though they were too small to be seen, the buzzing sounds were just as annoying as they had over the past six hundred years.

The Underworld Emperor didn’t pay the slightest attention to them. He stood by the broken cliff’s edge, looking at the unidentifiable dark deep sea.

The mosquitoes of the Fiend Prison fell on his body. They appeared crazy and formidable since that they hadn’t tasted the Soul-Fire for three years.

The reflection of the deep black sea in the Underworld Emperor’s pupils was extremely dark; yet, a beautiful glow suddenly emitted from his pupils.

The beautiful glow came from the deep part of his body and turned into countless tiny bolts of lightning after coming out from his skin and clothes, killing all the mosquitoes instantly.

The wind came over from the outside of the cliff, and the corpses of the mosquitoes piled up like the dusts.

The Underworld Emperor stepped forward into the midst of the wind, and then he plunged into the deep black sea.

It was said that time and space didn’t exist in the Fiend Prison, and though that wasn’t entirely true, it was close enough to the truth. The deep black sea was more like a river composed of the shards of time and space. Even the swordsmen in the Heavenly Arrival State would drift many years here if they didn’t have an outside frame of reference for their perception.

If the concepts of time and space were ambiguous here, where was the outside world then?

No matter which side one was at, they had to cross the river to reach the opposite bank.

The outside world was the opposite bank.

The Underworld Emperor crossed the river, as he did to the Underworld River when he was a child, effectively ending his drifting.

The green valley or the black and white illusion had instantly vanished.

Six hundred years later, the Underworld Emperor had finally left Taichang Prison and arrived in the real world, though he was still inside the Fiend Prison.

He saw the passageway leading to the Abyss, which was full of the chaotic winds. And he also saw a faint purple object under faint light.

There was a bunch of purple flowers amid the rocks.

Jing Jiu asked the Underworld Emperor to give him a gift as he was leaving. The gift was this bunch of flowers.

In fact, this was a gift given by Jing Jiu to the Underworld Emperor.

It was the Flower of the Opposite Bank.

The arms of the flowers rippled gently along with the wind caused by the movements of the Underworld Emperor.

The spirit and the soul had merged together.

The Underworld Emperor laughed out loud.

It wasn’t happiness he felt after escaping from the prison.

It was a peaceful and determined laugh.

Back when he was attacked by the swordsmen of the human race, he was hit by a magic treasure coming from the outside. His Cultivation foundation was damaged, so he couldn’t return to the Underworld. If he left the Fiend Prison now, he would encounter the attacks of the swordsmen of the human race. In his current Cultivation state, he had no hope of escaping from here, and his death would be the definite outcome.

What would he plan to do then? Would he cause a big commotion in the Fiend Prison?

The Underworld Emperor flew toward the long and gloomy passageway.

The passageway was filled with the chaotic winds and the smell of blood, but he didn’t mind a bit.

After a long while, he had finally arrived at the end of the passageway.

There was a translucent wall at the end of the passageway. Though it looked thin and weak, it was actually the strongest barrier in all of Chaotian.

The Abyss was on the other side of the translucent wall.

The dark and cold Abyss.

The Underworld Emperor gazed at the Abyss.

And the Abyss gazed back at him.

Both of them were affectionate toward each other.

…