The Path Toward Heaven

The next morning, the ice on the surface of the lake had mostly melted, and the nunnery

hall was a lot warmer now.

Tong Yan gave some instructions to the old nun and left the nunnery. He trod on the

wet mountain path and arrived in Dayuan City.

He found the antique shop owned by the Young Master Li and bought some items

there, learning some information from the neighbors and idlers.

The event of the West Ocean occurred ten years ago, so the woman the Young Master

Li met at the nunnery should be that senior master of the Water-Moon Nunnery.

It was easy for Tong Yan to come to this conclusion because he was good at calculating

and knew the secrets of that event.

By the time Tong Yan returned to the Three-Thousand Nunnery, it was dark; the

longevity lamps hung on the trees by the lakeside grew brighter. Tong Yan came to the

front of the meditation room and looked inside.

The Snow Girl was still asleep under the pile of winter quilts; it was unclear when she

would wake up.

Sitting by the lake at a spot facing the window, Jing Jiu looked at the scattering ice on

the surface of the lake while writing something on a piece of paper with a pen.

The Green Girl sat on his shoulder, humming an old song of Chu State from the

Illusionary Realm.

Tong Yan found this scene quite interesting, and a hint of smile showed on his tender

face.

Jing Jiu was not concerned with mortal affairs and was well connected with the Fruit

Formation Temple and the Water-Moon Nunnery; so he was more like a monk.

Then, Tong Yan thought of his young sister Bai Zao. His smile gradually disappeared,

and his eyebrows grew thicker as he frowned.

If Jing Jiu was truly unconcerned with mortal affairs and any other affairs, how come

there were so many interesting women associated with him?

It was the senior master Guo Dong ten years ago; and now he had the Green Girl on his

shoulder and the Snow Girl sleeping under the pile of quilts behind him…

The night wore on, and the sound of zither suddenly broke out.

Tong Yan turned around and came to the front of the bridge and looked in the direction

of the music on the other side of the stream.

The Young Master Li didn’t sit in the snow, but on a small stool he brought with him.

The ancient zither was placed in his lap, the music coming out from the plucked strings.

He was playing a music piece called “Good Night”.

This piece of music had been played ten years ago.

On the stone stool by the lake, Jing Jiu’s ears twitched once.

Sitting on his shoulder, the Green Girl sidled over out of curiosity and touched his

earlobe lightly, wondering why his ears looked so handsome even though he had a pair

of big windy ears.

Dozens of sword lights came out from Jing Jiu’s body and set up a formation of the

Inherited Heaven Sword, which insulated the sound and visibility from the outside

except for the music.

Jing Jiu dipped his hand into the lake, scooped a handful of water and sprayed onto the

Green Sky Mirror. Then he used the smooth side of the mirror to sharpen the sword.

The cold lake water soon turned into steam, rising up in the air, and his right hand could

be seen intermittently amid the mist.

The Green Girl thought this scene looked pretty nice.

The sound of music continued, and many pieces had been played; but Jing Jiu didn’t

pay attention to them.

Time passed slowly.

It was the wee hours at night.

Jing Jiu suddenly lifted up his head, and his figure suddenly disappeared from the

lakeside.

Tong Yan had also sensed the change of energy in the meditation room, and knew that

something was out of place. He stepped on the thin snow on the stream, came to the

side of the Young Master Li, and suddenly turned around to strike out his palm.

An invisible energy came out from the center of his palm, and expanded along with the

wind, illuminating the stone bridge ahead and the nunnery hall and the sky like a light

reflected off a mirror.

However, those scenes grew blurry instantly, because a thin layer of frost formed on

their surfaces.

The extremely cold ice and frost had easily overpowered the magic method of the

Center Sect attached to the invisible light mirror, which then extended to Tong Yan’s

hand, wrist and beyond.

Pale faced, Tong Yan felt that the zhenyuan in his body was decreasing as fast as a

flowing river, and that even his Yuanying grew weaker.

…

…

The Snow Girl had opened her eyes in the meditation room; the black pupils in her eyes

exuded a dreadful cold intent, making many tiny but immensely beautiful snowflakes

twirl in the air.

Jing Jiu broke through thousands of tiny snowflakes and came to the front of the pile of

winter quilts. “Stop it,” he yelled while staring into her eyes.

Looking at Jing Jiu quietly, the Snow Girl figured this person must be threatening her.

No one in Chaotian could threaten her; but Jing Jiu had done so twice already. It was

because Jing Jiu had witnessed the weakest part of her and knew what she needed the

most: an absolutely cold environment.

…

…

The cold intent disappeared completely in front of the stone bridge.

Tong Yan’s shoulders were covered with the frost and snow.

He coughed twice, spitting out some blood that looked like red crystals; it was evident

that he had been wounded severely.

Though the Young Master Li wasn’t assaulted directly by that cold intent, he was

wounded even more severely, since he wasn’t a Cultivation practitioner. He had passed

out in the snow.

Tong Yan turned to him and shook his head, and placed a magic pill in his mouth. Then

he asked the nuns to take the Young Master Li and the ancient zither back to the room.

…

…

“There are fires in the lamps. You should be able to sense them clearly and understand

the connections between the fires and lamps; afterwards, you will be able to control the

formation.”

Jing Jiu took out a thin booklet from his sleeve and put it on the winter quilts in front of

the Snow Girl, adding, “This is also a formation. You should learn it as soon as possible;

then we can all leave here.”

No word was written on the cover page. As the cover page was turned over by the

breeze coming from the outside of the window, words in fresh ink could be seen,

meaning that those words had just been written. The words and sentences were simple

enough in this booklet, but the sword moves drawn in it were so complicated that one

would feel dizzy just by looking at them. So it would be rather difficult to learn them.

If Gu Qing were here, he would be able to tell that the booklet contained the sword

moves of the Inherited Heaven Sword style, the most important sword style at the

Green Mountain Sect.

Having done this, Jing Jiu walked out of the meditation room and arrived in front of the

stone bridge.

He said to Tong Yan, “Only classes exist in the Snowy Kingdom; there is no society.

She didn’t have any peers there but her subjects. As such, she only knows how to order

others, but doesn’t know how to communicate with them. If any being failed to sense

her will and show their submissive attitude, she would think they were disobedient and

should be eliminated.”

Tong Yan asked, “As a result, the first thing she did after waking up was to kill him. But

why were those old nuns in the nunnery not attacked?”

Jing Jiu said after some thought, “Maybe she was irritated by the sound of music over

last few days.”

Tong Yan fell silent for a moment before saying, “We have to try and solve this issue.”

If this were indeed the case, people would die wherever the Snow Girl went to. They

had no way of concealing her completely from everybody; and many innocent people

would be killed by her accidently.

“Yes,” said Jing Jiu, “she has to learn how to coexist with other life forms.”

Tong Yan said, “First of all, we have to be able to communicate with her. Since you can

understand her words, you are the best candidate for the job.”

“I have never been ordered by anybody,” said Jing Jiu. “So I can’t communicate with her

effectively.”

Tong Yan prompted, “What do you mean?”

“You do it,” Jing Jiu said.

Having said that, Jing Jiu returned to the lakeside to resume sharpening the sword, as if

nothing had happened.

After a long pause, Tong Yan walked into the meditation room with heavy steps.

The cold intent was not coming out from the Snow Girl anymore. The wind and snow

stopped in Dayuan City, and the surroundings of the nunnery grew warmer and damper;

but the inside of the meditation room was still very cold, with ice and frost still on the

walls and eaves.

A dozen transparent icicles hung on the round window, dividing the scenery of snowy

lake and winter trees into many stripes, giving off a sense of eerie beauty to it.

The Snow Girl was still wrapped tightly in the winter quilts, only exposing her small face.

Her face was as white as snow. Though she didn’t have a nose and mouth, she looked

pretty charming somehow; she had a different and eerie beauty to her appearance.

Tong Yan mused that she was indeed the being of highest state in Chaotian.

Anyone in the extreme state was not ordinary; this was the common view in the

Cultivation circle.

Regardless of whether one was extremely beautiful or extremely ugly, extremely

straight or extremely crooked, they were all extraordinary. On the other hand, the truly

powerful being must have an outstanding and impressive appearance.

As Tong Yan thought of Jing Jiu’s face, he suddenly felt it rather boring.

When one felt the life was boring, they would become fearless.

Tong Yan calmed down, and said to the Snow Girl while bowing to her, “Your Highness,

I’m a disciple of the Center Sect, Tong Yan.”

The Snow Girl didn’t give any response, let alone make gurgling sound.

Tong Yan believed that she must be able to understand the human language, so he

continued, “We might have to stay here for some time and wait for the decision of our

masters.”

The Snow Girl looked at him quietly.

Tong Yan sensed a formidable energy he had never experienced. “In order to resist the

Queen of the Snowy Kingdom, the humans would choose to help you. This is based on

my calculation and postulation,” said Tong Yan.

The formidable energy disappeared.

Tong Yan continued as he steadied his mind, “You are a being with highest intelligence.

Many humans might not be able to understand your intentions; but in order to avoid

unnecessary troubles down the road, I beg you to learn a bit about the ways humans

communicate.”

Having said that, Tong Yan took out a bronze ware, a ceramic ware and a few books.

Words were written on the bronze ware, and pictures drawn on the ceramic ware. In

those books were some simplest introduction scripts and collections of the poems

written by the highly achieved poets.

He had bought these in Dayuan City today. Before Jing Jiu told him to teach the Snow

Girl how to communicate, he had already calculated what would happen next and what

he needed to do.

Becoming the teacher of the Princess of the Snowy Kingdom…was a deed worthy of

being written in the history book of the Cultivation world, which was a much more

important role in comparison to Gu Qing’s role, a teacher of the future emperor.

As he thought of all this, Tong Yan turned the side of the bronze ware with the most

words toward the Snow Girl.

He planned to teach her Jin language first, afterwards moving on to the reformation of

the ancient languages over past several hundred years. Tong Yan believed that with her

extraordinary talent, she should be able to learn human communication in a short period

of time, and that she should be able to use it in an elegant and perfect manner.

The Snow Girl suddenly stood up.

Since she was very short, the pile of winter quilts had only bulged a bit rather than fall

off her.

Tong Yan was alarmed.

The Snow Girl suddenly rushed out of the window.

The winter quilt on her was very big, drooping to the ground, covering her feet

completely. As such, it looked like she was drifting over.

Tong Yan was taken aback, wondering what was going on.

By the lakeside.

Jing Jiu was about to scoop some water to aid his sharpening of the sword; but he

realized that his right hand touched a hard object. When he lifted his head, he found

that a layer of ice formed on the surface of the lake again.

The breeze arrived along with the hurled snowflakes.

The Snow Girl came to the lakeside and stared into Jing Jiu’s eyes.

The Green Girl was scared, so she slid down from Jing Jiu’s shoulder and hid behind

him.

Before Jing Jiu started sharpening the sword, he would always set up the formation of

the Inherited Heaven Sword, insulating himself from potential outside observation and

disturbance.

Judging from this incident, the Inherited Heaven Sword style had no effect on the Snow

Girl.

Jing Jiu realized again that he should have worked harder to learn the Inherited Heaven

Sword style.

Soon after he thought of another possibility, the expression in his eyes changed.

He had given the Snow Girl a booklet on the Inherited Heaven Sword earlier; had she

already learned the instruction in such a short time?

“Gurgle.”

The Snow Girl was wrapped in the winter quilt from her head to toe; the only exposing

part was her small face and the black jewel like pupils. She looked like a naughty and

lovely little girl.

Her voice was also very childish and lovely.

Looking at her quietly, Jing Jiu mused that she was probably the most formidable being

he had encountered in both of his Cultivation careers.