The Path Toward Heaven

An unexpected event happened in the sky over Zhaoge City.

Bu Qiuxiao looked at the cloud where the Center Sect Master was and said calmly, “Sorry, Immortal.”

Having said that, an ink-stone flew out of his sleeve, growing in size many times over under the sunlight, shadowing a sizeable area outside Zhaoge City.

The ink-stone looked ordinary, with a dim color; it had the dragon figures on its surface, with a large dragon tail extending from it.

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

Seeing this, Liu Ci felt a bit surprised. The One-Cottage House had always been friendly with the Center Sect, but Bu Qiuxiao was about to attack the Old Dragon.

Yet, the Emperor thought it was an expected action. The One-Cottage House was always concerned about the specific issues themselves, not about who were involved. The scholars of the One-Cottage House would definitely come to the rescue as long as the lives of the inhabitants in the world were threatened.

And this was the one of the agreements reached at the Plum Meeting back then.

The Center Sect provided the Fiend Prison; the imperial court was in charge of the prison; the One-Cottage House had the power of making decisions regarding how to run the prison, and the Dragon Tail Ink-Stone was the magic treasure to be used by the One-Cottage House to control the Old Dragon. Otherwise, the imperial court wouldn’t have agreed to let the Old Dragon turn himself into the Fiend Prison and hide under Zhaoge City for so many years.

Seeing the Dragon Tail Ink-Stone brought out by Bu Qiuxiao, the Immortal Bai gave a bitter snort while in the sky, but she didn’t do anything unexpected.

The Dragon Tail Ink-Stone flew up into the sky with a bright glow and hit the tail of the Old Dragon.

The Dragon Tail Ink-Stone had grown quite big at the moment; but it was still fairly small in comparison to the dreadful huge body of the Old Dragon.

It seemed that the Old Dragon’s tail was attached to a weightless and glowing amulet.

Yet, for some reason, the Old Dragon’s body froze in the sky after being touched by the Dragon Tail Ink-Stone.

The dumbfounded Old Dragon was made aware of the attached object on his tail. He struggled with all his might instinctively, causing a good deal of violent winds, which had destroyed many buildings; but he still couldn’t move an inch.

It seemed that a huge and shapeless mountain arrived in Zhaoge City and pressed the Old Dragon’s tail underneath it.

After a few moments, the Old Dragon realized that he had no way to get free from this magic treasure; and he gave up resisting and changed back to that dark cloud stretching from south to north while hovering in the sky over Zhaoge City.

His pupils revealed pain and perplexed expressions. It seemed that he didn’t know what was happening at the moment. In the end, those expressions changed to something nonchalant, with only a trace of cruelty remaining. He breathed softly, and the stinky and bloody smell came out from his mouth in the form the whistling wind. The birds, that were alarmed and flew up in surprise from the distant new Plum Garden, dropped from the sky to the ground in tandem, dead after inhaling the dragon breath.

The patch of cloud in the west drifted to Zhaoge City. As the white glow in the cloud faded, the Immortal Center Sect Master walked out from the cloud.

In the Cultivation circle, nobody was more famous than the Immortal Tan; however, few people had seen his true appearance.

His looks were ordinary, except his broad forehead, which gave a feeling of numbness and also made one feel he was as broad as heaven and earth.

Seeing the tragic condition the Old Dragon was in, the Immortal Tan had a hint of anger in his eyes before yelling sternly, “The Underworld Emperor, come out and be killed!”

The Old Dragon blinked his eyes slowly, and a bloody gap suddenly appeared between his eyes; a dark figure drifted out from inside.

The approaching figure was the Underworld Emperor himself. He folded both of his hands behind his back, his pupils gloomy and black, without eyebrows; a faint smile hung on his white and transparent face.

“Am I rather obedient?”

The Underworld Emperor said with a smile while looking at the Immortal Tan, “I’m just like what I was back then. You people wanted me to come up to have a talk, and then I came.”

The moment the Underworld Emperor left the Old Dragon’s body, at least four strong energies fell on him and suppressed him directly.

One of the energies belonged to the Immortal Tan naturally, and the other three energies were not weaker than his.

All the strongest swordsmen of the human race had gathered in Zhaoge City that day.

In comparison, the battle of the Cloud Platform was not taken part in by as many strong swordsmen.

The last time so many of them showed up together was during the ascension of the Immortal Jing Yang.

The four strongest energies suppressed the Underworld Emperor at the same time; so long as they struck him all at once, the Underworld Emperor would be dead for sure.

However, neither the Center Sect Master couple nor Liu Ci or the Emperor had struck. It was because they realized that the spiritual soul of the Old Dragon had been locked inside the Underworld Emperor’s body, or in other words, this person was the body formed by the spiritual soul of the Old Dragon, but the body was occupied by the Underworld Emperor now.

If they chose to kill him, the Underworld Emperor would definitely die, and so would the Old Dragon.

A crisp wind occurred in the sky over Zhaoge City, which blew away all the stinky smell breathed out by the Old Dragon.

Along with the pure and genuine sword will, Liu Ci arrived by the side of the Old Dragon.

“Your Majesty, don’t you want to comply with the accord reached by you and us?” he asked softly, his sword sleeve ruffling gently with the wind.

The Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect were undoubtedly two leaders in the Cultivation world.

The two sect master immortals were definitely the most formidable figures in Chaotian.

Being asked questions by these two immortals, most people would be unable to stand still, let alone speak properly.

Yet, no change was found on the Underworld Emperor’s face, as he said dispassionately, “This greedy dragon wanted to eat me; should I have just let him do it?”

This statement was plain and clear; as far as the violation of the accord was concerned, it was the Old Dragon who struck first.

“Truly benevolent, truly benevolent.”

A Buddhist mantra rang out in the sky.

The Young Zen Master arrived in the sky, and his white bare feet were quite noticeable, resembling two lotus flowers coming from nowhere.

“If what he said is true, I beg the Emperor to let the spiritual soul of the Old Dragon live first. The Emperor has the power to do so. The spiritual soul of the Old Dragon wouldn’t be able to survive much longer.”

The Underworld Emperor was somewhat surprised and commented, “A little child is in charge of the Fruit Formation Temple now! He talks in a naïve and lovely way.”

The Young Zen Master gave an embarrassed smile before saying, “Rest assured, Your Majesty. The Fruit Formation Temple will investigate the matter and have an impartial finding later. But there is no need to destroy both of you.”

The Underworld Emperor laughed, as he remarked, “What kind of finding are you going to get? You will at most show your sincere regret, and then lock me up for another six hundred years in the Fiend Prison.”

“If the Old Dragon were at the fault,” the Young Zen Master said seriously, “the Fruit Formation Temple would invite Your Majesty to cultivate in our Pagoda Forest. I can guarantee that nobody would dare bother you there.”

The Underworld Emperor remained silent for a while, and said, “The Fruit Formation Temple is truly quiet. I like it very much. Back then I told him that I would read the Buddhist scripts there if the peace could be maintained…”

Hearing this, the forehead of the Immortal Tan’s brightened up a little; Liu Ci’s eyes gleamed a bit. They were both convinced. Bu Qiuxiao also thought it was a good idea.

They had all believed what the Underworld Emperor had said.

The Underworld Emperor had been sealed by the Great Grandmaster Bai in Taichang Prison and had no chance of coming out. His silence of six hundred years was the proof. If someone could enter the Fiend Prison, find the Underworld Emperor in the Fiend Prison and let him out…it would be the Old Dragon himself; it’s because the Old Dragon is the Fiend Prison, and also he has the desire to eat the Underworld Emperor.

The Immortal Bai’s cold snort came from the sky again.

She didn’t believe in what the Underworld Emperor said and disagreed with the suggestion by the Young Zen Master either; but under the circumstances, she didn’t want to cause any more troubles.

There was only one person present who knew that the Underworld Emperor wouldn’t agree to the suggestion made by the Young Zen Master; he was the Emperor.

It was because the Emperor was not a Cultivation practitioner.

It was expected by the Emperor.

“It is evident that there is no difference between being locked in the Pagoda Forest at the Fruit Formation Temple and being locked in the Fiend Prison. Is it the real scenery that matters? It would be boring to look at the same scenery day in and day out; it would be unimportant whether it is real or fake. But I will always be the iron chain that you can use to restrain the inhabitants of the Underworld.”

The Underworld Emperor said sentimentally, “Living like this is no better than being dead.”