The Path Toward Heaven

The earthquakes in Zhaoge City kept happening.

Yue Qianmen grew more anxious. He had tried to forcefully enter the Fiend Prison to check out the situation, but was blocked by the magic army led by Jin Mingcheng.

Xiwang Wanshu and others had also arrived at Taichang Temple, grave expressions forming on their faces.

It was Zhang Yiai, the chief commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau, who had the gravest expression of all. With the status as a high level official of the imperial court and a Center Sect disciple, he felt as though two heavy mountains were bearing down on him, making it difficult for him to breathe.

State Duke Lu behaved the way a trusted chancellor of the Emperor should. He left Taichang Temple without hesitation and entered the Royal Palace as soon as he could. After reporting the situation to the Emperor, he asked, “If the earthquake won’t stop soon, the Center Sect members will go mad for sure. What should we do then?”

“Even though the Fiend Prison is fairly important, the populace in the city is important as well!” the Emperor said. “Ask the immortal masters of the Center Sect to help the imperial court evacuate the residents. Now that the Cloud-Dream Mountain tells the world that they take the well-being of the world as their responsibility, they of course have to do their part at this urgent moment.”

Though what the Emperor said was sensible, it was impossible for the Center Sect to give up on their great grandmaster and to help those mortals.

State Duke Lu thought that had it been he who sent the message to the Center Sect, he would be beaten to death by Yue Qianmen.

As a result, the person passing the royal decree to Taichang Temple was not State Duke Lu, but another master of the Royal Palace.

“Thank you, Mister Niu.”

State Duke Lu bowed to Sir Niu slightly and saw him off on the cloud he was riding. Watching the cloud disappear on the other side of the Royal Palace, State Duke Lu felt relieved eventually.

It was great to know that the two masters of the Royal Palace would be at Taichang Temple together. Even if it was the Immortal Center Sect Master who came here in person, they would be able to hold him off for a while.

“Send my decree to all the sects. The Fiend Prison is in trouble; come to the rescue as soon as possible.”

The Emperor’s voice rang out once again.

State Duke Lu glanced at the Emperor in surprise. He was certain that the Emperor knew that Jing Jiu snuck in the Fiend Prison three years ago and that the commotion in the Fiend Prison today must have something to do with Jing Jiu; but why would the Emperor want all the Cultivation sects to come to the rescue? Wasn’t he afraid that Jing Jiu would be discovered and captured?

“The Cloud-Dream Mountain is too close to Zhaoge City,” the Emperor said emotionlessly.

State Duke Lu suddenly understood the reason. He ran toward the deep end of the Royal Palace hastily while wiping off the beads of sweat on his forehead to send letters to all the sects.

Royal Concubine Hu had been standing to the side. Yet, she was totally at a loss regarding the conversation between the Emperor and State Duke Lu; she could vaguely sense that the Emperor didn’t like the Center Sect that much.

This finding made her feel delighted, though she felt even more surprised and baffled.

The Jing Royal Family had been close with the Fruit Formation Temple; but they relied on the Center Sect and the One-Cottage House to rule the country.

During the time when she was in the Royal Palace, the Emperor showed tremendous respect to the One-Cottage House and trust in the Center Sect…Did the Emperor fake it?

The most important issue was why the Emperor didn’t like the Center Sect!

“Do you know that the Center Sect has always been the number one orthodox Cultivation sect in the world in the hearts of all of Chaotian?” the Emperor turned toward Royal Concubine Hu and asked.

Royal Concubine Hu thought that her delightfulness was noticed by the Emperor, so she felt slightly embarrassed and replied, “I think it’s because they are very powerful. They have two in the Heavenly Arrival State…”

The Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect had been in the competition for the leadership of the orthodox Cultivation sects. This had been going on inside the Cultivation circle for a long time.

But in the hearts of the mortals, the Center Sect was truly the number one in the world, a feeling felt by all but the populace in the south lands.

Why did such perception exist? There were many answers to the question. One of the answers was that the location of the Center Sect was close to Zhaoge City, and the relationship between the Center Sect and the imperial court was closer as well, which meant the Center Sect had a higher status among the officials and the populace. Some people would cite that it was because the Center Sect had produced more young talents in the last few decades, so they had a better reputation. However, this answer became less convincing after the death of Luo Huainan and the outstanding performances of Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu. Moreover, the perception had existed in the minds of the people before these talented Cultivation practitioners of the younger generation appeared recently.

The answer given by Royal Concubine Hu was the most common one and also the most convincing.

Yuan Qijing, the Sword Justice of Green Mountain, had broken through the Heavenly Arrival State only a few years ago, but the Center Sect had two figures in the Heavenly Arrival State who had already done that years ago.

“Yuan Qijing broke through the Heavenly Arrival State a long time ago,” said the Emperor. “Some said that it was because he intended to conceal it from the Sect Master of Green Mountain. As a matter of fact, he intended to conceal it from the Cloud-Dream Mountain. Yet, it was unclear if there was some kind of conflict between the Center Sect Master couple, or they had the special ability to put up with anything. Anyway, they didn’t take the advantage of the situation of two against Liu Ci, and didn’t strike over the years. After so many years, it became unnecessary for Yuan Qijing to conceal it any longer.”

This was the first time Royal Concubine Hu heard of such a secret. “Then…then…why?” she asked in a trembling voice due to the surprise.

The Emperor said, “It’s because the last practitioner who made the ascension one thousand years ago was the Center Sect Master, and her name was Bai Ren.”

Back then, the Center Sect was unbelievably powerful.

As time passed, few people in the world knew the name of Bai Ren, and this was especially true of mortals.

However, the immortal master who had ascended still had some influence in Chaotian, or in the deep part of the perception of the populace.

“But…but the Green Mountain Sect had the Immortal Jing Yang.”

Royal Concubine Hu said seriously, “Your Majesty, he was the great grandmaster of Jing Yao.”

The Emperor said nothing.

The Immortal Jing Yang was indeed marvelous. He and the Immortal Taiping had spearheaded the revitalization of the Green Mountain Sect and improved the status of the Green Mountain Sect, which was on the verge of decline, to a level similar to that of the Center Sect. Yet…the styles in which immortal masters who had ascended chose to return to the world had completely different effects on the that world.

Regardless, the Immortal Jing Yang was very important to the Green Mountain; and he was even more important to the Royal Jing Family.

As such, nothing bad should happen to him.

A few powerful energies were on their way to Zhaoge City.

The closest energy came from the Cloud-Dream Mountain.

The Emperor looked in the direction of Taichang Temple, and found something was happening over there. “He hasn’t come out yet!” he remarked gravely.

Jing Jiu was still in the Fiend Prison.

The Emperor thought that he had no choice but to offer his help if it was necessary.

This meant that he would destroy the rules set by the seven major Cultivation sects at the first Plum Meeting several hundred years ago.

Chaotian would fall into chaos as a result.

However, this was something he had to do.

…

…

The houses surrounding Taichang Temple had already collapsed, with only the main buildings still remaining erect. The dark eaves were in and out of sight intermittently amid the dust.

The looks on Yue Qinmen’s face were so terrible that if looks could kill, they would have; not to mention how he felt the reaction of the imperial court was suspicious.

The earthquakes came from the deep part of the underground were more frequent now. “If a mishap occurred to the divine dragon, who would take responsibility?!” Xiang Wanshu yelled anxiously.

A sneer appeared on the fat and round face of Jin Mingcheng, as he remarked, “Even if the divine dragon had a mishap, what help could you or I offer? To bury ourselves with him?!”

Though it was a sensible remark, it would be impossible for the members of the Center Sect to ignore the fact that their great grandmaster might be in trouble.

Yue Qianmen signaled with a raised hand for Xiang Wanshu and other disciples to stop talking, and said tersely, “The Immortal Sect Master will arrive here soon.”

Upon hearing this, Xiang Wanshu and other disciples felt relieved, thinking that any trouble in the world, regardless of how serious it was, would be resolved as long as their Immortal Sect Master came in person.

The ground under their feet shook again, but it was a lot weaker than dozens of the quakes that had happened before.

Pah!!!

A faint sound could be heard, but its origin was unknown. It sounded like a paper bag filled with air being popped by the finger of an obnoxious kid, and also like Cold Cicada sliding down to the Icy-Jade Bed from Liu Ada’s head.

A hole appeared on the ground somewhere in Taichang Temple.

The hole wasn’t very big, just big enough for a person to go through. The edge of the hole was extremely smooth, like being cut out by the sharpest sword.

The stinky and bloody smell along with the bone-piercing cold intent turned into mist after coming out from the hole.

What was going on?!

Did something come out from the Fiend Prison?

“It is in the sky,” Yue Qianmen shouted.

The crowd craned their heads in tandem.

There was a black speck in the blue sky, which was just big enough to be barely seen.

The object had become a black speck in their eyes in such a short time; it could be postulated that it must have traveled at an extremely high speed.

Whose flying sword was it?

The more puzzling fact was that the black speck had suddenly disappeared, and it had arrived at an elevation of several miles in the sky when it reappeared.

It was obviously not a flying sword.

What was it then?