The Path Toward Heaven

Soon after, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in the east, preventing morning sunlight from shining toward the west.

Though the shadow was very dark, it didn’t give onlookers a sinister feel; on the contrary, people felt uplifted when seeing it.

It was because the object blocking the morning sun was an ink stone.

The ink stone could be used to hold the ink, and the ink could be used to write words. The words usually contained ethics and rightfulness, so the ink stone should be uplifting.

This ink stone was one of the guardian treasures at the One-Cottage House: the Dragon Tail Ink-Stone.

Coming with the precious ink stone was Bu Qiuxiao, the House Master of the One-Cottage.

Both the Center Sect and the One-Cottage House had a close relationship with the imperial court, and both of their sects were also close to Zhaoge City; as a result, these two sect masters had arrived the fastest.

Since such a significant event had happened in Zhaoge City, they would normally have arrived at Taichang Temple. But somehow, they had stayed high in the Empty Realm.

The reason for it was not because they were concerned about disturbing the populace, but because the Great Formation of Zhaoge City was not opened up yet.

It was unclear if the Pure Heaven Bureau had forgotten about it, or if there were other unspeakable reasons.

As far as the Center Sect Master and Bu Qiuxiao holding the precious ink stone were concerned, it was merely a matter of waving their hands to dismantle the Great Formation of Zhaoge City; but they chose not to do so. It showed their respect for the Emperor and to the accord of the Plum Meeting, and also the respect to the masters of the Plum Meeting as well as to themselves.

It was also because of the sudden pause of the earthquakes in Zhaoge City.

The Center Sect Master perceived the spiritual awareness of the Old Dragon and knew the situation was under control. As such, he could feel relaxed and enjoy watching the expansion of land from above with Bu Qiuxiao while also paying close attention to Taichang Temple.

If the Fiend Prison had another mishap and the Old Dragon encountered any real danger, they would have no choice but to employ their most formidable methods to kill the Underworld Emperor.

There was such a big commotion in the Fiend Prison today. These most important and powerful figures in Chaotian had basically figured out what was going on.

In the Royal Palace.

State Duke Lu was shaken by the events that had happened one after the other, coming before the Emperor with the weak knees. “Was it that person?” he asked in a trembling voice.

He had been in charge of the Fiend Prison for many years and was familiar with it. And he had vaguely guessed why the Old Dragon had presented himself and then returned to the underground so appallingly.

The Emperor looked in the direction of Taichang Temple without replying, his expression calm.

State Duke Lu wondered in surprise whether the Immortal Jing Jiu intended to rescue that person after having spent three years in the Fiend Prison.

Otherwise, why did that person strike right after Jing Jiu fled from the Fiend Prison? And why was the Emperor so calm?

Jing Jiu was a Green Mountain disciple, but why would he do such a thing?

The Emperor didn’t say anything; all he did was gesture for Royal Concubine Hu to return to her palace.

State Duke Lu said in a low voice, “We forgot to dismantle the Great Formation of Zhaoge City. This is disrespectful to the Immortal Tan and the House Master Bu. Should we…”

The chief commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau, Zhang Yiai, was a swordsman from the Center Sect; it was impossible for him to forget to dismantle the Great Formation to block his own sect master.

There must be another reason for “forgetting to dismantle the formation”.

State Duke Lu had guessed the reason a bit, feeling uneasy as he did; hence, he offered counsel carefully, to see if the Emperor needed the excuse to dismantle the formation.

The Emperor didn’t have the need for the excuse, as he said, “Let’s wait.”

The Emperor hadn’t taken one look at the sky until now.

He had paid attention neither to the glow in the west nor to the dark shadow in the east.

State Duke Lu understood the intention of the Emperor, feeling even more nervous.

He was a noble state duke in the imperial court and the well known official favored by the Emperor, enjoying an extremely high status in the imperial court.

However, the two figures blocked by the Great Formation of Zhaoge City were incredibly influential in the world.

The Immortal Tan was undoubtedly the leader of the orthodox Cultivation sects, one of the strongest swordsmen recognized by all of Chaotian. Though the House Master Bu was a bit inferior in terms of Cultivation, he was the leader of the scholars at the One-Cottage House whom were loved by the populace and respected by all the officials, the foundation of the imperial army. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that these two were the foundation of the country.

In some sense, the two figures in the sky had a similar status as the Emperor.

Though the spring breeze wasn’t so warm, State Duke Lu started sweating; the back of his official uniform had become soaking wet as a result.

Time had passed.

State Duke Lu had finally felt a bit relaxed.

The red morning sunlight in the sky grew redder. It wasn’t due to the changing color of the sun but rather to the arrival of a red cloud from Moqiu. It was the Young Zen Master’s Lotus Sedan.

The Great Formation of Zhaoge City was dismantled.

The glow was still visible from the west.

The Center Sect Master acted as rumored, having a Dao Heart as steady as a huge rock.

The morning sunlight had suddenly brightened. The dark shadow in the east disappeared.

The House Master of the One-Cottage, Bu Qiuxiao, landed in the ruins of Taichang Temple. He retrieved the Dragon Tail Ink-Stone and raised his hand to indicate to the others not to show too much courtesy to him.

As he shot a glance at the deep hole in the Fiend Prison, he revealed a small smile while pulling up a corner of his mouth.

Now that the Immortal Tan and the Young Zen Master were both here, there would be no need to worry even if the Underworld Emperor came out.

Yet, he smiled not because of this, but because he felt the reaction of Zhaoge City was laughable.

It had been proven that the relationship between the Jing Royal Family and the Fruit Formation Temple was the closest.

All of a sudden, a formidable sword intent arrived from the south.

The thin clouds in the sky parted and then gathered again. They received that sword intent gently and easily.

No matter how formidable the sword intent was, it didn’t give out an intimidating feel. It felt mild and just, and even comfortable.

It was the arrival of the Sect Master of Green Mountain, the Immortal Liu.

State Duke Lu noticed that the Emperor raised his brows slightly.

As a close chancellor of the Emperor, he knew exactly the hidden meaning of the Emperor’s each minor movement.

The raised eyebrow didn’t indicate that the Emperor was contented, but meant that he was truly relieved.

…

…

Royal Concubine Hu returned to her palace while holding the Jade-Egg of Rosefinch carefully in her hands.

She was so nervous that she didn’t know where to put it; as she was to ask someone about it, she found that her palace was in chaos.

It turned out that a few servant girls had passed out due to the scare by the presence of the divine dragon, and a rescue was under the way.

“A bunch of useless people!”

Royal Concubine Hu spat at the ground and walked inside of the palace, wondering if her son had been scared by the scene.

As she walked to the window, she found that her son was more excited than scared. He was talking to Gu Qing while pointing to the peculiar phenomena in the sky excitedly.

Seeing the scene, she felt startled, thinking that he was indeed her child born after many years of pregnancy, and was actually a foolishly brave one.

“That glow is the Immortal Sect Master of the Center Sect. He is in the Empty Realm at the moment. Normally, we can’t see him there. The fact that we can see him there is because he wants us to see him, to avoid any misunderstanding. The Center Sect is one of the leaders of the orthodox sects, in the same status as the Green Mountain Sect. Moreover, many officials of the imperial court come from the Center Sect. Hence, they are popular among the populace. The one who had just landed from the sky is the House Master of the One-Cottage. As I told you a few days ago, the One-Cottage House can be trusted.”

“Teacher, are the Center Sect and the One-Cottage House on the same side?”

“You can think that way.”

“Who else are on their side?”

“The Kunlun Sect.”

“Is the Sect Master of Kunlun coming today?”

“The Heavenly Pond is too far from Zhaoge City, and also the Sect Master of Kunlun is a bit inferior in the Cultivation state, and their divine guardian animal, the Cold-Signal Bird, is not good at traveling long distance; so he will arrive a lot later. Maybe he won’t be able to arrive in time.”

“He is so weak…”

“The Kunlun Sect has weakened in popularity over the past hundred years. In many people’s eyes, they have almost become the Center Sect’s accessory. However, the Kunlun Sect is still one of the seven major Cultivation sects in the world, with profound resources. So nobody knows what they will become in the future.”

“Teacher, who are on the side of our Green Mountain Sect?”

“The No-Mercy Sect. Back then the No-Mercy Sect was engaged in a few fierce battles with the devils of the Underworld, and eventually they had succeeded in defending the entrance of the Abyss at the Longevity Mountain. For this deed, they have been respected a great deal by the Cultivation circle.”

“There are only five sects so far. Who are the other two sects?”

Standing by the window, Gu Qing and Prince Jing Yao were talking about these matters while facing the sky.

It was unclear if the little prince could understand what Gu Qing said; but, he listened with great effort, showing tremendous interest.