The Path Toward Heaven

Everybody understood why the Emperor was so angry.

If the death of the Old Dragon had something to do with the person sent in the Fiend Prison by the Royal Teacher Liang, then, was the turmoil caused by the remaining members of the Old Ones, or was it that the Palace of the Prince wanted to do something sinister?

The Palace of the Prince even dared meddle in the affairs of the Fiend Prison, how could the Emperor not be angry?

Moreover, there was another more possible and frightening suspicion that would make the Emperor feel alert and furious.

It was that the whole thing was possibly a scheme plotted by the Center Sect!

Did they send the imperative person to the Fiend Prison in an attempt to let the Old Dragon eat the Underworld Emperor and help the Old Dragon ascend?

Sensing dozens of gazes fixed on him, Yue Qianmen’s look grew even gloomier.

If possible, he would’ve killed everyone there to avoid such a gaze.

He believed that the messenger sent to the Fiend Prison by the Palace of the Prince was dead, and that this messenger was absolutely not the person who had escaped from the Fiend Prison; but he couldn’t offer an adequate explanation to the others.

The major issue was why the Center Sect had sent a member of the Old Ones to the Fiend Prison in the first place.

Yue Qianmen had already given an answer to Monk Duhai about this, but his answer was not deemed acceptable.

The Center Sect couldn’t tell anybody the truth, that the Prince Jing Xin paid an assassin of the Old Ones to assassinate Zhao Layue and was then blackmailed by the Old Ones for it. If this was revealed to the public, Prince Jing Xin would be finished. Even if the Center Sect did all they could to save his life, there would be no way for him to become the next emperor.

…

…

The investigation of the turmoil of the Fiend Prison couldn’t continue because the Center Sect refused to cooperate and kept their silence.

To prevent the matter from getting even more complicated, the decision regarding the matter had been received by Taichang Temple a few days later.

The Prince Jing Xin was not allowed to leave the Palace of the Prince for three years.

The remains of the Old Dragon would stay underneath Taichang Temple.

The Emperor didn’t press the matter, probably because the Old Dragon died a tragic death, and also because the Center Sect had made the above resolutions.

It was somewhat unexpected that Zhang Yiai didn’t get any punishment, or even a word of admonishment. He was still carrying out his duties as the chief commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau.

Given the anger the Emperor displayed in the beginning, the punishments were relatively light. This was obviously the case in which the talk was much louder than the action, like the thunder was loud but the raindrops were flimsy.

The Center Sect seemed to have not suffered in the least in this event; but those who knew better were fully aware that that was not the case. At all.

The great grandmaster of the Center Sect died a terrible death, but they couldn’t even do anything about it; and the remains of the Old Dragon had to stay in Zhaoge City. This was an immensely embarrassing situation for the Center Sect.

It became an impossible task to find the true culprit or to direct their anger at the real culprit. It was because the Old Dragon died in the hands of the Underworld Emperor.

Still, who let the Underworld Emperor out?

It was evident that the reason Zhang Yiai didn’t get any punishment was because the Emperor liked how he behaved in this event.

Yue Qianmen even suspected that he had named the Royal Teacher Liang on purpose that day to scandalize the Center Sect.

Seeing Zhang Yiai in the distance, Yue Qianmen showed a cold expression, wondering if the Immortal Bai would leave him alone even if he served as the guarding “dog” of the Emperor in Zhaoge City in the future.

“The matter has been settled. No one should mention it again,” said Monk Duhai while staring at the representatives of various sects and the officials.

It wasn’t until then that the representatives of many sects found out that the Underworld Emperor had been locked in the Fiend Prison, and that the Fiend Prison was actually the Old Dragon; they naturally knew how important it was that this matter be kept secret, so they all promised to do so after their initial shock subsided. If the public knew of the secret that the Old Dragon had eaten people, what would happen then?

The Cultivation circle was good at covering up this sort of thing. As time passed, nobody would remember what had happened, like what had happened to at Green Mountain back then. Yue Qianmen thought of all this and then looked at Chi Yan, who was sitting in a corner. This elder of Shangde Peak at the Green Mountain Sect didn’t say anything at the meeting, which Yue Qianmen considered odd; he couldn’t help but be cautious.

“The person who had escaped from the Fiend Prison must be found,” Yue Qianmen said to Monk Duhai and State Duke Lu after pulling back his sight from Chi Yan.

Though the matter was not allowed to be brought up again, it didn’t mean that it was over. If the Center Sect wanted to regain their reputation and win back their right to speak, they had to push the investigation into this matter.

State Duke Lu asked, “When that person escaped from the Fiend Prison that day, Elder Yue was closest to him. What are your thoughts?”

“As I said before, that person was at least in the Shenhua State.”

Yue Qianmen said this with furrowed brows, as he recalled the unimaginable speed and swift movements of the black figure.

An elder of the Kunlun Sect said tersely, “The number of practitioners of the various sects in such a state of Cultivation is quite low, so it should be easy to check them all and find out who it is.”

“It has been checked already.”

State Duke He walked in from outside.

Monk Duhai glanced at him.

State Duke He shook his head.

Seeing this scene, Yue Qianmen felt ill at ease again.

“All the elders in the Shenhua State of various sects were either cultivating quietly in their respective manor caves or doing something else, and all had an alibi for not being here at the time.”

State Duke He handed a Jade Ornament over to Monk Duhai, and said to Yue Qianmen, “This is not checked by the imperial court, but is rather the conclusion by the Curtain Rollers.”

It was obvious that he knew the Center Sect wouldn’t trust any investigation finding by the imperial court or other Cultivation sects.

The Curtain Rollers were the only ones in Chaotian who could find out the locations and the movements of so many highly achieved swordsmen in such a short time.

Yet, the Curtain Rollers must have spent a great deal on checking out all this information.

Since the person who had escaped from the Fiend Prison was not an elder of the orthodox sects, then he must be a free-traveling practitioner or highly achieved swordsman of the deviant sects. How could he be investigated?

The look on Yue Qianmen’s face grew gloomier; he had no more things to say.

…

…

The representatives of various sects had left Zhaoge City; and Taichang Temple returned to its normal quietness.

State Duke Lu held the teacup and gazed at the brown colored tea water in the cup, mulling over something silently.

The event went too smoothly.

The way the matter was dealt with made him feel it a bit odd.

First of all, he felt Monk Duhai had acted suspiciously.

This highly achieved monk of the Fruit Formation Temple seemed to lead the investigation to the inner circle of the Fiend Prison on purpose, and then to let the Center Sect find out that their own members were at fault.

And then the investigation of the Curtain Rollers was suspicious as well.

If the Emperor wanted to use this opportunity to suppress the Center Sect and depose the Prince Jing Xin, it would be easy to understand why Zhang Yiai had betrayed the Center Sect; but why would the Curtain Rollers and the Fruit Formation Temple cooperate with the Emperor on this matter?

Though the Fruit Formation Temple was close with the Royal Family, they would never do such a thing.

The most important part was that all the results of the investigation had covered up the person who was responsible, perfectly in fact.

State Duke Lu was of course fully aware that the person who had escaped from the Fiend Prison was not a remaining member of the Old Ones, but Jing Jiu.

After the investigation was over, nobody would be able to fathom such a possibility.

What was the content of the letter sent to the Fiend Prison by the Old Ones? Did it have something to do with Jing Jiu?

State Duke Lu completely forgot drinking his tea while being deep in thought of these matters.

The sunlight grew dimmer slightly, and the color of the tea water was even darker now, just like the red acid wood.

State Duke Lu lifted his head; his face suddenly changed color as he saw the figure approaching Taichang Temple.

He had disappeared from the world for three years, but appeared carelessly in public after such a significant event.

Though the highly achieved swordsmen of various sects had left Zhaoge City, many eyes were still fixed on this place. Aren’t you afraid that something bad could happen here?

Even though State Duke Lu intended to receive Jing Jiu, he dared not to make a move. All he did was watch Jing Jiu walk leisurely inside Taichang Temple as if he were on the street.