The Path Toward Heaven

The Green Girl had no idea what had happened to the Snow Girl; so she asked, “Is she

very tired? How come she suddenly fell asleep?”

“You can think of it as her meditating in a trance or hibernating.”

Tong Yan explained, “She is in such condition because she was wounded by the Sun

Banner.”

Jing Jiu shot them a glance, reminding them to lower their voice to avoid waking up the

Snow Girl.

He and Tong Yan were the best chess players in the human world and good at

calculating. They were observing and analyzing her while they remained silent earlier.

At last they had come up with the conclusion that the Snow Girl was asleep.

Yet, the Green Girl was surprised, wondering how the Snow Girl could be harmed by

the Sun Banner.

In comparison to the Underworld, the Snowy Kingdom was the most formidable and true

threat; it was a fact recognized by every human. However, the mortals only had fear

regarding that world of ice and snow, but they didn’t really know the truth of the threat

posed by the Snowy Kingdom; the swordsmen of the Cultivation circle and a true spirit

of heavenly state like the Green Girl were the only ones who knew that the Queen of the

Snowy Kingdom was the source of the fear.

The Queen of the Snowy Kingdom was an intelligent being of the highest state in

Chaotian. Even the Unicorn, a divine animal from the ancient times, was inferior to her.

She was a legendary being.

Normally, the Sun Banner couldn’t possibly harm her regardless of whether it had a

prowess as powerful as someone in the Heavenly Arrival State.

“If she were that one, she wouldn’t be harmed; but she is only the daughter of the

Queen.”

Looking at the Snow Girl, Tong Yan continued with a complex expression, “Someone

with a bloodline of such high state will have a long life. Twenty years is nothing; she is

still a little child.”

Jing Jiu agreed with Tong Yan’s judgment. He had experienced that formidable energy

back when he was in the snowland. The Sun Banner was merely a regular flag as far as

the Queen was concerned.

But he had miscalculated one thing. The Snow Girl wasn’t harmed by the Sun Banner

because she was not an adult and lack of experience; but rather, she forgot that she

was still fairly weak. As such, she treated the world like what she had done before,

judging the strength based on her previous viewpoint and thinking the Sun Banner was

indeed a small flag…

The Green Girl said gleefully, “It’s great. Let’s go then.”

Tong Yan fell silent again. Jing Jiu looked at the wind and snow at foot of the cliff,

pondering something.

The north side of the Cold Mountain was located south of the snowline designated by

the humans.

The presence of the Snow Girl would cause unimaginable disaster for the humans.

Though she was only a child, she was nevertheless a child of the Queen.

What Jing Jiu and Tong Yan needed to do at the moment was try to inform White Town,

letting the Broadsword King and the Young Zen Master come here to suppress her.

If she woke up, they wouldn’t be able to stop her.

“If she hadn’t drawn the peculiar fires of the Sun Banner, we would have died by now.”

Tong Yan added, “In a sense, she is our savior.”

What Tong Yan said evidently meant that he didn’t want to give the Snow Girl to the

Broadsword King and the Young Zen Master and have her killed.

Should they let the Snow Girl sleep on the snowy mountain then? This would be a bad

idea, because nobody could foretell what kind of mayhem she would bring to the human

world after she woke up.

As such, there was only one option left for them: they brought the Snow Girl with them

and took the responsibility of watching her.

The problem was that this would be a tremendous responsibility; would they have the

ability to do it?

The Center Sect was indeed willing to take care of things even if Tong Yan was an

expelled disciple, Jing Jiu thought.

Jing Jiu remarked while looking at the wind and snow at the foot of the cliff, “This is a

very bad idea.”

“Otherwise…you kill her?!” Tong Yan said while staring into his eyes.

Of course, Jing Jiu didn’t want to kill the Snow Girl.

First of all, he was not certain if he had the ability to kill her; secondly, even if he did,

what should he do once the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom found out about it and

wanted to avenge her? Was he willing to sacrifice the whole Green Mountain for it? He

didn’t believe that the mother would like to see her daughter be killed by somebody

else. The stories, in which the blood relatives killed each other but they wouldn’t want

any of their members to be killed by others, had occurred and re-occurred countless

times in history; the Green Mountain Sect had witnessed similar events many times as

well.

Jing Jiu didn’t know how to respond to Tong Yan’s verbal challenge.

He would swipe his sword at the challenger if it was about something else; but it was a

challenge related to the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom…with which he could put up.

It was the so-called “No trouble will come to you if you check your temper; your life will

be trouble-free if you check your temper all the time.”

…

…

Wang Xiaoming left, bringing the Sun Banner with him. The Green Sky Mirror was not

used for blocking the heavenly fires anymore, and the temperature returned to the

normal condition.

The sky in the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror had gradually grown dimmer

than the formerly dark red, It ultimately turned black like k=ink.

The eldest son of Grand Scholar Zhang had noticed the change in the sky, feeling

conceited as he thought that His Majesty had finally heard his voice.

The crisp breeze blew over his body, making him feel quite comfortable. He shuddered

a few times because of the cold temperature. Then, he remembered that he didn’t wear

any cloth and sweated ferociously, and realized that he would fall ill if staying in the

wind like this.

This world had become increasingly stranger; who knew whether the illness was still a

suffering in this world?

He waddled back with the help of the wooden stick to his courtyard at the foot of the

mountain. He felt relieved after he had checked his son, granddaughters and

grandsons, and daughter-in-law and made sure they were all well. He put on an

overcoat and went to the nearby house of the Scholar Zhao, and found that Zhao’s

family members and livestock were still asleep. Later, he went to the backyard of the

Scholar Zhao, by the well. He poked his head into the well and found that that red carp

was not back yet, feeling a bit disappointed. Thinking of the strange phenomenon that

had occurred that day, he was worried, wondering if something bad happened to the

carp.

He had been the only one awake in the whole village for quite a few years; even the

livestock and the crows at the entrance of the village were asleep. Though he was not

scared so much as to become insane by these bizarre phenomena, he couldn’t help but

feel somewhat lonely. It wasn’t until last year that he suddenly found a red carp in this

well, and that the carp could speak human language. He felt ecstatic to finally have

someone to talk to. So he would come to the well to say “good morning” to the carp

every morning after he got out of the bed, and talk to him every day. He had spent a

great deal time doing so.

He had learned through his conversation with the carp that the red carp was a

respectful divine animal of another world, with a title “King of Fire Carps”; he lived in a

scorching hot lava river. The only pity was that this King of Fire Carps was a bit slow,

and it seemed that he hadn’t been anywhere else. The content of their conversations

were mostly about how formidable he was, which made the eldest son of Grand Scholar

Zhang feel bored sometimes.

But, that red carp suddenly disappeared a few days ago. The eldest son of Grand

Scholar Zhang was so anxious that he had almost jumped into the well. Then he spent

a lot of time looking for the carp in the surrounding areas of the village, and he even

went to the market of the town, looking through the fish stalls where the fish would stay

fresh forever; but he couldn’t find a trace of the carp.

…

…

In the deep part of the underground under the barren plain and in the scorching hot river

of lava, the fire carp sensed that the formidable energy was getting further away, feeling

relieved. He came to the surface of the river at last and flipped a few times cheerfully,

splashing a great amount of lava to the rock wall; a painting was etched on the wall as a

result of the erosive lava splashed on it.

It was a good thing that the energy had moved away; the further the better. The troubles

the humans were experiencing had nothing to do with him, the fire carp mused.

I’m only a fish.

In the next moment, he sensed that the energy of the Green Sky Mirror was also

moving away. He couldn’t help but stop swaying his tail, and gazed up worriedly,

wondering if Young Brother Zhang was alright.

…

…

In recent years, the chill weather in the snowland became more intense, and the period

of snowfall in Juye City and surrounding areas became longer. It was even much colder

in Dayuan City, which usually had a mild weather.

It was finally early spring. Dayuan City had a few sunny and warm days; but a snowfall

suddenly occurred, followed by wintry days in spring.

The accumulated snow could be seen everywhere on the streets, and a thin layer of ice

formed on the surface of the river.

If a Cultivation practitioner looked down high in the sky, they would find, after some

careful observation, that the snowfall and the cold spring had nothing to do with the cold

air in the north.

The green color could already be spotted in the fields of the north; and Dayuan City and

the surrounding areas were the only places that were still covered with white snow,

which looked like a white sphere on the ground.

If one walked toward the center of the sphere, they would find that the accumulated

snow grew thicker the closer it was to the center of the sphere, and the air grew colder

as well.

There was a nunnery situated at the intersection of a mountain and a stream northeast

of Dayuan City. One would find the nunnery when they hiked to the end of the stream

and turned to the right.

This nunnery was covered with the white snow, and was the center of the sphere.

An old stone lay in front of the nunnery.

Two words were carved on it: Three Thousand.