The Path Toward Heaven

Three hundred and thirty years ago, the human Cultivation practitioners and the highly evolved beings of the Snowy Kingdom fought each other in a brutal war in the Lanlin Snowland.

The Cultivation world had never been engaged in any real war since.

The struggles between the Cultivation sects and the fighting between the orthodox and deviant sects could be counted as mere scuffles; the Battle of the Cloud Platform didn’t even come close in terms of scale and brutality.

However, the confrontation between the Green Mountain Sect and the West Ocean Sword Sect would be a really brutal war.

Now that it was a war, the both sides needed to have sufficient preparations and a thorough analysis of the situation ahead of the war.

If the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean was the general of their side, the most deadly swordsman of theirs was Nan Qü.

In fact, the Green Mountain Sect had already studied this First Hidden Swordsman for a great many years.

They had researched for hundreds of years to find out the method Nan Qü employed to seal off his energy in order to evade the Great Formation of Green Mountain.

Jing Jiu’s friend, Giant, had an experience with the fogs on the Foggy Island of the South Ocean; he thought those fogs were a peculiar phenomenon of nature, but it would dissipate as they drifted farther away from the island.

As such, the method Nan Qü employed must be a different one.

Two of the elders on Shiyue Peak fainted due to tiredness while conducting a complicated and detailed calculation based on Nan Qü’s background, magic methods, temperament and intelligence. In the end, the Green Mountain Sect came to a conclusion: Nan Qü more than likely employed the Gathered Soul Magic of Mountain-God of the barbaric tribes to turn himself into a living corpse.

The living corpse had no trace of life, so he could evade the search of the Great Formation of Green Mountain.

Yet, Nan Qü could wake up in time and render a fatal strike to either Liu Ci or Yuan Qijing before the activation of the Great Formation of Green Mountain.

Nan Wang hailed from the southern barbaric tribes and was familiar with the tribal magics, which is why Liu Ci suggested that Jing Jiu bring her with him for the trip.

Feeling indignant, Nan Wang growled in a low voice, “Now that you know he is in a coffin, why don’t we investigate this clue?”

“There are too many coffins; it’s impossible to find it,” Jing Jiu replied.

Nan Wang was taken aback, wondering just how many people died every day; it was beyond comprehension that there would be so many carriages transporting coffins at the same time.

Seeing her expression, Jing Jiu sighed inwardly.

He and Liu Ci couldn’t comprehend it in the beginning either, so many people dying every day went beyond imagination.

It wasn’t until the data brought in by the Curtain Rollers that they found out that on average over ten million people would die in Chaotian every year, and that over three million would die every year around the area they were to investigate, which meant that the area would have over ten thousand coffins opening and closing every day.

This was actually common knowledge, yet Cultivation practitioners had no idea of it because they usually lived a long life.

…

…

Nan Wang and Jing Jiu left Deer Mountain, heading westward and soon arrived at a mountain range one hundred miles outside Yizhou.

It was summer, but they didn’t feel cool in the mountains, instead feeling humidly hot here. And few humans could be spotted here because there was not a single spiritual source in the area.

The monks of the Baotong Zen Temple brought out the precious red moss that had been preserved since last spring for these two highly respected guest, but what they couldn’t offer were clues for the search.

Before their departure, Jing Jiu went to the vegetable garden to have a check, but he didn’t find anything suspicious there.

Squatting on Jing Jiu’s shoulder, the white cat suddenly meowed toward the northeast.

Nan Wang leapt up on her sword without hesitation, heading in that direction.

Jing Jiu followed her leaping in the sky, but he had a bad feeling.

He didn’t bring the white cat with him for the sake of safety, but rather for his ability to smell things. Apart from the Dead Dog, the cat had the best smelling sense in all of Green Mountain.

The barren mountain was filled with miasma and wild trees, devoid of paths and human traces.

The white cat craned his neck and sniffed constantly while squatting on Jing Jiu’s shoulder, meowing softly every once in a while.

Jing Jiu and Nan Wang kept changing directions according to his meowing, and later came to the deeper part of the mountain.

It was dusk now. The white cat yawned once. He shook his head a few times in an attempt to keep himself alert, then meowed once to remind them that it should be somewhere up ahead.

Seeing the solemn look on the white cat’s face, Nan Wang thought he was much more lovable than the dreadful look he displayed earlier; so she reached out her hand and intended to touch his head.

The white cat would definitely not allow her to grab his neck. The cat opened his small and bloody mouth, exposing his teeth that were sharper than the swords, and roared in a low voice, readying to bite her hand.

It was just then that the white cat changed his expression abruptly; and he climbed down from Jing Jiu’s shoulder as fast as he could and entered his sleeve, not daring to come out.

Seeing the quivering sleeve of Jing Jiu’s, Nan Wang fell silent.

Looking at the mountain ahead, an exceedingly grave look formed on Jing Jiu’s face.

They found him.

…

…

There was a ruined path covered in wild grass in the deep part of the mountain.

There were ruins of a small temple at the end of the path, with a lantern hanging outside it.

There was a black coffin in the temple ruins.

A young woman walked out from the temple. She wore a short skirt, silver bells hanging all over her body, yet no sound came from those bells as she walked.

The young woman lit the lantern outside the temple. The red light illuminated the ruined temple as night fell.

On a cliff a few miles away, Jing Jiu drew back his gaze and looked at Nan Wang.

That young woman looked like Nan Wang.

“In order to eliminate the effect of Nan Qü’s descendants might have, I ordered the tribes to kill many people; but some of them escaped after all.”

Watching the young woman walking back to the temple, Nan Wang said nonchalantly, “Her name should be Nan Zheng.”

Having said that, she took out an alcohol jar and started drinking.

She didn’t drink because she felt sentimental after seeing Nan Zheng; it was because she felt fearful at the moment.

Nan Qü should be lying in that black coffin.

She was the peak master of Qingrong, a true swordsman in the upper state of Broken Sea; but she was probably nothing in the eyes of that man.

Jing Jiu said to her, “You should drink less alcohol and practice more sword work.”

Nan Wang had an excellent natural talent; if she spent more time on Cultivation instead of drinking alcohol, singing, and being sentimental about the changing seasons, she would have been able to reach the upper limit of the Broken Sea State a long time ago.

He and Liu Ci had thought that Nan Wang would be the one most likely to enter the Heavenly Arrival State behind Fang Jingtian. Yet, she was surpassed by the Immortal Guangyuan. It was truly a pity in Jing Jiu’s mind.

Nan Wang wondered if Jing Jiu had lost his mind after seeing the black coffin; how dare he talk to her in this manner?!

Jing Jiu was also surprised that she didn’t ask him if he had a death wish. He figured that she must be very nervous at the moment. “Whom does that godly statue represent in the temple?” he asked Nan Wang while pointing at the ruined temple in the distance.

This ruined temple looked like those of the godly temples of the southern barbaric tribes; but the godly statue in the temple didn’t look like Nan Wang. It looked a lot taller, and the paint on the face had peeled off a long time ago; yet, the statue still gave off a feeling of indifference and brutality.

“That statue should represent Nan Qü himself,” Nan Wang replied.

Nan Qü was the true god of the southern barbaric tribes eight hundred years ago. His Cultivation state and status deserved it.

However, he was forgotten by a vast majority of the residents of the tribes as time passed and after he was forced to retreat to the Foggy Island by the Sword Formation of Green Mountain.

This ruined temple was probably the last remaining one.

Thinking of the possibility, Nan Wang brought the alcohol jar to her mouth and took another forceful swig.

Sensing the quiver in his sleeve, Jing Jiu knew that Ada was still scared. Jing Jiu rubbed the cat through his sleeve to comfort him. “Don’t be afraid now that I’m here,” he said to Nan Wang.

“You’re not your Master; what kind of nonsense you are talking about!”

Nan Wang wiped the alcohol off the corner of her mouth, and said nonchalantly, “You guard this place; I’ll go inform the Sect Master.”

“Let me do it,” Jing Jiu said, and then sat down cross-legged.

The white cat crawled out from Jing Jiu’s sleeve and onto his shoulder, clutching Jing Jiu’s neck tightly with his paws; it was unclear what had frightened the cat that much.

Jing Jiu’s sleeve moved without the aid from any wind; a sword bracelet fell off from his wrist, and turned into the Thoughtless Sword as it encountered the wind. It then turned into a bloody line and disappeared into the last trace of dusk.

Seeing the disappearing bloody line, Nan Wang felt it odd.

Back at the Sword Trial, she and other elders of the peaks witnessed the born shapeless sword body of Jing Jiu’s, and were certain that he had an extraordinary talent in the sword work.

But, he was still so young and had practiced sword work only shortly; how come he could make the sword travel now? And wasn’t it true that the Thoughtless Sword was left to Zhao Layue by Jing Yang? Why could he also use it?

…

…

As the mountain and ruined temple were shrouded in the darkness of night, that red lantern became more visible.

Lying quietly in the temple, that black coffin gave off an eerie and dreadful sensation.

On the cliff a few miles away, Nan Wang and the white cat stared at the ruined temple, not daring rove their lines of sight for a second.

One of them stood and the other crouched; they merged into the surroundings of the wild trees and grass.

The night was over.

The morning sunlight reddened the sky.

Jing Jiu opened his eyes.

The sword traveling was done, but the Thoughtless Sword hadn’t returned.

Nan Wang was fully aware how fast the Thoughtless Sword could travel; so she didn’t understand why.

The Green Mountain Sect should rush here with all of their force after knowing that Nan Qü was here; but why was there no message being sent back?

Jing Jiu stood up and looked at the ruined temple under the morning sunlight, saying, “I told them that Nan Qü was here; but I didn’t tell them to come over.”

Though Nan Qü employed the Gathered Soul Magic of Mountain-God to turn himself into a corpse in the coffin, it was probably not so simple.

The corpse in the black coffin had no energy, looking like a real corpse; but Jing Jiu felt that something was missing.

The eerily red lantern reminded him of a possibility.

The red lantern was used to guide the souls.

Was it possible that Nan Qü’s soul had left?

The souls of the Cultivation practitioners of the orthodox sects were yuanying, and the souls of the practitioners of sword cultivation were the sword spirits, which were usually called the “sword ghosts” in Chaotian.

The name “sword ghost” came from the Method of Sword Ghost invented by Nan Qü.

The corpse in the black coffin had no soul, meaning that Nan Qü’s sword ghost had left.

If it were other Cultivation practitioners, they would think the person was dead when the sword ghost was gone, even if that person was Nan Qü.

However, Jing Jiu was well aware that the sword ghost could stay alive alone under special circumstances.

He believed that an old guy like Nan Qü would definitely shock the entire heaven and earth if he were indeed dead; it would be unfathomable for such a swordsman to die noiselessly.

The sword ghost of Nan Qü’s must be alive; but it was hard to know where it was at the moment.

Jing Jiu didn’t ask Liu Ci and Yuan Qijing to come over because he was worried that the sword ghost of Nan Qü might go to the West Ocean.

In that were the case, the Green Mountain Sect should concentrate all their might on the West Ocean, in order to avoid any unexpected mishap.

…

…

Yet, Nan Wang couldn’t figure out why her Big Brother the Sect Master and Big Brother the Sword Justice listened to Jing Jiu’s advice.

What if Nan Qü woke up in the coffin?

Gazing at the ruined temple, she remained silent, her face pale.

The Master White Ghost was the Principal Guard of Green Mountain, and in the initial state of Heavenly Arrival; they had no chance of resisting one swing of Nan Qü’s sword even if both of them worked together.

It was then that the young woman walked out from the ruined temple and blew out the light in the red lantern.

“According to my calculation, the corpse in the coffin won’t wake up soon, meaning we are safe for now.”

Jing Jiu continued, “All we need to do is destroy that lantern and the corpse in the coffin if necessary.”

The white cat meowed once pitifully as he attempted to tell Jing Jiu that he wouldn’t dare do it.

Nan Wang sneered, “You do it then, since it’s your idea.”

Thinking of the ominous premonition, Jing Jiu said, “You’re right. You two leave here first. Let me wait here alone.”