The Path Toward Heaven

All the people in the world of the Green Sky Mirror had woken up; the hustle and bustle returned to streets and markets.

Those people who had been asleep all this time had no idea what had happened to them; they only thought that they had slept soundly.

The eldest son of Grand Scholar Zhang had been awake when everybody else was asleep, and he was not accustomed to such a bustling world. Yet, he was fully aware that he couldn’t tell anybody about why he felt this way. Feeling indignant, he decided to move to a Daoist Temple for tranquility. He was unwilling to move out of the temple no matter how hard the younger members of his family and the officials of the town begged him to do so.

Waking up one morning, he walked to the window and looked down at the bottom of the cliff, thinking of that carp in the well who could speak the human language. It was then that he felt his eyelid being suddenly seared by a flame.

It was not a real flame that had entered his eyelid, but a burning cloud.

The morning sunlight over the horizon was many times brighter than usual. It seemed as if the sun stored limitless amount of light and heat, and it would release them all at any second.

Seeing this scene, the eldest son of Grand Scholar Zhang felt it so odd that he couldn’t help becoming agitated.

Flutter!!! Flutter!!!

The Green Bird flew over from a faraway place and landed on a tree branch by the Daoist Temple, gazing at the morning sunlight. The baffled expression in her eyes showed increasingly more agonized emotions.

It was not the normal morning sunlight, but a true fairy light.

The fairy light filling the sky was the sign that a fairy book would turn up in the world.

The Fairy Book in the Green Sky Mirror had been taken by Jing Jiu, so how was there was another fairy book?

…

…

The white light in the Green Sky Mirror hailed from that fairy book.

The Center Sect was the only Cultivation sect in the world that had the fairy books.

Besides the fairy awareness, the fairy books also had a great deal of fairy energy.

In order to temper the Fairy Book, Jing Jiu had stayed many years at the Fruit Formation Temple, listening to the recitations of scripts; and he almost had a mishap.

Guo Dong was still asleep after being instilled with those fairy energies.

It was in this instant that all the fairy energies in this fairy book had been released all at once. One could easily imagine how powerful it would be.

Illuminated by the fairy light, Yin San’s face grew increasingly paler; in fact, it became almost transparent.

His hands also appeared transparent. It was unclear if his body inside the clothes became transparent as well.

A gust of violent wind whipped up in the stony room. As it blew through that bone flute, a weeping noise was audible, sounding like the cry of a ghost.

Whoosh!!!

The fairy light landed on Yin San. The clothes on him broke into pieces, which then flew up, dancing like butterflies in the sky and soon vanishing into thin air.

Yet, Yin San hadn’t evaporated like what had happened to those butterfly-like pieces of his clothes. He was still standing on the original spot.

It was unknown what magic method he had employed to make the fairy light pass through his body unharmed!

The fairy light hit the wall of the stony room, and burned a large hole in it instantly. Then, a sliver of energy dispersed from the hole.

Along with a thunderous booming sound, the stony room collapsed. The rocks above the room were knocked away, exposing the dense dark clouds in the sky.

…

…

The Cultivation practitioners of various sects surrounding Shaoming Island saw the sword boat of Green Mountain descending onto the island, looking on with complex emotions.

All of a sudden, the mountain on Shaoming Island was leveled after a frightening explosion.

A fairy light shot skyward!

Countless broken pieces of rock flew in all directions with the violent wind.

That sword boat of Green Mountain was in a position closest to the explosion; its hull suffered a great many ruptures in an instant. Fortunately, the Immortal Guangyuan blocked the incoming debris with his sword in time to bring the Green Mountain disciples back to the boat.

The Cloud Boat of the Center Sect and the Boat of Diligent Study of the One-Cottage House also shook wildly; the flying sedans of other sects were on the verge of falling from the sky. They hastily retreated to a place further away.

Their gazes fell on a spot in the collapsed mountain, and they saw the scene in the ruined stony room.

That band of fairy light hailed from the Green Sky Mirror in Tong Yan’s hands.

Yin San’s face was pale, indicating that he had been incurably wounded.

The Thunder-Soul Wood had been tempered by the thunders on the top of Bihu Peak for a great many years. He was reborn by means of the Thunder-Soul Wood; and he also learned many related magic methods. This time he employed the Method of Transmitting Thunder to let the fairy light pass through his body unharmed. In other words, the force of the fairy energy didn’t hit a tangible entity; but rather, the fairy light had merely brushed his body.

However, it was the fairy light regardless. Even though it had only brushed his body, the aftermath was still quite serious.

Moreover, the effect of the fairy book the Center Sect had prepared especially for him wouldn’t end here; the fatal effect would ensue.

As the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was about to bring Yin San and depart the island, he suddenly turned to flee with a strange shriek after taking a glance at the sky. He arrived at a spot a few thousand feet away.

The fairy light didn’t scatter or became dimmer after having left Shaoming Island. It merged into the dense dark clouds in the sky.

Above the dark clouds was the Empty Realm; and above the Empty Realm was the Thunder Region, where the whirlpools of the thunderous storm looked like iridescent eyes gazing at all the activities in the human world.

The fairy light acted as a pilot flame that had ignited the angry fires in those eyes.

The dark clouds rolled up and down restlessly; countless flashes of lightning could be seen amid them.

Innumerable thunder fires struck down at the ground with loud booming sound, bombarding Shaoming Island.

Countless huge waves formed on the surface of the ocean. The Cultivation practitioners of various sects retreated in tandem, fear written all over their faces.

The force of the thunder fires was unimaginably powerful, and was almost the same as the heavenly punishment. As such, it was understandable that the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, who had been someone like a demon god all his life, was acting so scared.

Seeing the thunder fires striking down from the sky, Yin San thought he was finished this time.

Though he still had some other hidden methods, they were useless when facing such formidable thunder fires.

The fairy light that had passed through his body failed to kill him immediately, but it had left a mark inside his body.

No matter where he fled, these thunder fires would be able to fall onto him sooner or later.

These thunder fires didn’t only look like the Heavenly Punishment; in fact, they were the Heavenly Punishment.

The corners of Yin San’s mouth curled up, flashing a wry smile.

Back when he came back from the Underworld, he had pledged that he would not encounter the Heavenly Punishment if the world was not at peace.

Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Punishment found him in the end.

Was this his fate?

The situation of the West Ocean had been under his control from beginning to the end. As long as Jing Jiu took that step, Nan Qü would die for sure, and Jing Jiu would be unable to threaten him any longer. He would become a sword of his instead, by which he would be able to fulfill all of his great plans. Unexpectedly, he encountered such an event in the end. He still had many unfinished things left to do, like what he had promised the Underworld Emperor, and what he promised himself; and he hadn’t solved the issue of how to sustain this world forever…So he was unwilling to end his life like this.

As Yin San was waiting for the end of his life, a big and tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

That person lifted his palm, blocking the thunder fires falling down from the sky.

Seeing the back of that figure, Yin San arched his brows slightly.

It was always he who had stood in front of this person a few hundred years ago; but it was the other way around now. And how come this person was taller than he now?

Countless thunder fires fell down from the sky.

One leaf can prevent a person from seeing a large mountain.

A single palm could block a patch of sky, including those thunder fires in the sky.

Countless scorching hot lights scattered in the sky over Shaoming Island.

The lightning boomed relentlessly, but nothing could strike the ground.

…

…

The lightning had finally died down after a long while.

The dark clouds scattered, and the blue sky revealed itself.

The dreadful thunder fires were nowhere to be found; it seemed no a trace could be found in heaven or on earth.

Liu Ci drew back his palm, turned around without taking a glance at Yin San, and flew to the sky.

Fifteen sword boats of Green Mountain hovered in the sky.

The Green Mountain disciples on the sword boats looked at the Immortal Sect Master, worry filling their faces.

The Sect Master had killed Nan Qü and many disciples of the West Ocean Sword Sect with a swing of his sword, and slashed the Flying Whale to shreds. In their eyes, he was like a god; but why did he block those heavenly thunders? Would he be alright?

It was then that Liu Ci suddenly staggered once.

Hundreds of flying swords of Green Mountain headed toward Shaoming Island, striking at Tong Yan!

This was utterly a reflexive reaction on the part of the disciples of Green Mountain.

The situation was too chaotic for them to understand it. They had no idea why Tong Yan showed up on Shaoming Island and what the fairy light was all about; and they couldn’t understand why the Immortal Liu Ci had suddenly appeared there when the Immortal Taiping was on the verge of being crushed to death by the thunder fires.

Yet, the Green Mountain disciples knew that the fairy light brought countless heavenly thunders that had wounded the Immortal Sect Master, and that Tong Yan was the source of all this.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect glided back to Yin San’s side when he found the heavenly thunders had abated. He was very close to Tong Yan and able to kill him instantly.

Tong Yan seemed to be in a situation of inevitable death now that hundreds of sword lights were on their way to slice him, not to mention that the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was right by his side.

Even though there were many swordsmen, including the Immortal Bai, on the Cloud Boat of the Center Sect, it would be too late for them to rescue Tong Yan.

Unexpectedly, Tong Yan had suddenly disappeared from the ruins.

In the next moment, he reappeared on the Cloud Boat.

…

…

Nobody sensed the movement of Tong Yan.

Even the Escape Method of Heaven and Earth couldn’t pass through the sword formations of the Green Mountain Sect and travel to a distant place in an instant.

What method had he employed?

The Cultivation practitioners who had participated in the Cultivation Tournament in the snowland that year, or those who had heard of the story about Luo Huainan, would be able to recall that precious treasure of the Center Sect.

It was the Seal of Ten-Thousand Miles!

Many Cultivation practitioners had figured out by now that this would be a scheme plotted by the Center Sect.

Yet, what had Tong Yan done? Were the fairy light and ensuing heavenly thunders the effects of the rumored Fairy Book?

“Appreciate your sacrifice over the last few years.”

The Immortal Bai shot Tong Yan a glance.

Tong Yan remained silent. Back when he was attacked by Wang Xiaoming with the Sun Banner on the Cold Mountain, he had thought of employing the Seal of Ten-Thousand Miles to escape; but he restrained himself from doing so in the end. The seal had saved his life this time.

What he didn’t expect was that the disciples of Green Mountain intending to kill him without giving him an opportunity to explain his action.

Even more unexpected was the fact that the Immortal Liu Ci had come to the rescue when the Immortal Taiping was on the verge of being terminated.

…

…

Shaoming Island had been transformed into ruins.

Yin San shot a glance at Liu Ci standing in the sky, and uttered “hmm”; it was unclear what emotion he felt at the time.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect came before Yin San hastily and bent down.

Yin San climbed onto his back; he was rather feeble at the moment.

Crack!!!

A crevice appeared on the ground. The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect arrived on the icy surface of the ocean outside Shaoming Island with Yin San on his back.

He was the Immortal Taiping whom the whole world desired to kill. Since all the orthodox Cultivation sects were present today, could he escape from here?

The Fairy Book the Center Sect had prepared for him was blocked by the Immortal Liu Ci; but what about others?

…

…

A crisp whistle burst out in the sky. Bu Qiuxiao, who had looked for an opportunity in silence, suddenly drove the Dragon-Tail Inkstone toward Yin San and the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect knew it was the precious magic treasure of the One-Cottage House, so he didn’t dare take it lightly. He raised both of his fists along with a band of gloomy and filthy black smoke, intercepting the inkstone.

As a deep and low dragon cry came out from the Dragon-Tail Inkstone, the glowing of the treasure scattered in all directions, blowing away the black smoke instantly.

Boom!!!

Countless ruptures appeared on the icy surface of the ocean around Shaoming Island, resembling a spider-web.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect steadied himself after swaying a few times, and resumed matching forward with Yin San on his back.

The Dragon-Tail Inkstone shot up into the sky and was ready to strike down again; but Bu Qiuxiao suddenly became alarmed.

In the next moment, a cold and bright sword light arrived in front of him.

The Immortal Guangyuan stared at him silently.

Bu Qiuxiao stared back at him, not saying a word.

Seeing this, everybody was shocked again. Liu Shisui, sitting on the Boat of Diligent Study, felt bewildered.

He met that highly achieved monk back at the Fruit Formation Temple. As he learned that he was an enemy of his Young Master, he and Zhao Layue pursued him in an effort to kill him.

Even when he learned that the person was the Grandmaster Taiping, he kept on pursuing him without a touch of hesitation. It was because he believed in his Young Master: the enemy of his Young Master must be a bad guy.

But, why would the Immortal Sect Master and the Immortal Guangyuan prevent others from killing him?

…

…

“Good riddance! Good riddance!”

The highly achieved monks of the Script Instruction Hall of the Fruit Formation Temple were drifting up in the air. Even though they were aware that they were not an equal of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, they were determined to slow him down while waiting for other stronger swordsmen to arrive, now that the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, who had been shocked mentally by the Fairy Book first and struck by the Dragon-Tail Inkstone later, was in a weak state. They were quite willing to sacrifice their lives for the cause.

“So…rrry…, soo…rrry….”

The approaching person’s speaking didn’t falter because of nerves or fear; he was born with this stuttering habit.

Mo Chi led the colleagues of various peaks blocking the path of these highly achieved monks.

Among the nine peaks of Green Mountain, the Elder Mo Chi of Tianguang Peak was renowned for his ugly appearance and mild temperament. At the moment the expression in his eyes was still as amicable as before, but his countenance had a rarely seen determination to it.

…

…

The sword lights became chaotic in the sky over the ocean surrounding Shaoming Island.

The two sword boats of Green Mountain occupied by the disciples of Liangwang Peak hovered in a place farther away from Shaoming Island; Guo Nanshan, Gu Han and the disciples of Liangwang Peak were feeling confused.

The arena was so chaotic that they couldn’t find out what was going on at the moment; and they hadn’t received any order from the masters either.

The Immortal Sect Master was standing in the sky at the moment; it was evident that he hadn’t given such an order. It seemed that the masters of the peaks had made the decisions themselves.

Some elders stayed on the sword boats, looking at that disappearing figure with a complicated expression in their eyes.

Some masters came out of the boats by riding on their swords, intercepting the Cultivation practitioners of various sects.

Liu Ci shot a glare at the Immortal Bai as she leapt into the sky along with the wind after the Cloud Boat of the Center Sect shook slightly.

The Cultivation practitioners of various sects and the people of Green Mountain were confronting each other all over the place. The Sect Master of Kunlun, He Wei, thought it was a good opportunity since nobody noticed him. “Big Demon, don’t you try and run away from me,” he yelled tersely and pursued Yin San and the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

The Cold-Signal Bird flew extremely fast. It didn’t take long for He Wei to shorten the distance to a few miles behind Yin San and the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

Yin San didn’t turn his head that was leaned against the shoulder of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

A vile cry burst out in the sky.

The Dark Phoenix suddenly flew over from nowhere. His long tail slashed the sky like a sword, knocking He Wei and the Cold-Signal Bird onto the icy surface of the ocean.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect leapt into the air with Yin San on his back.

The Dark Phoenix arrived in an instant.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect landed on the back of the Dark Phoenix.

Flapping his two wings forcefully, the Dark Phoenix flew to the deep part of the ocean at an extraordinarily fast speed.

After being sneak-attacked by Nan Qü, Yuan Qijing employed the Icy Mirror to block a frontal attack in order to save Zhuo Rusui. As a result, he was severely wounded and remained silent for a long while.

All of a sudden, his chilly and solemn voice broke out again: “Kill the bird.”

Only he and Liu Ci knew that this request was directed at Jing Jiu.

It was because the life board of the Dark Phoenix was in Jing Jiu’s hands.

If he could kill the Dark Phoenix, it would be very difficult for the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect to leave with the Immortal Taiping, no matter how powerful he was.

Yet, nothing had happened.

The Dark Phoenix was flying increasingly faster, and disappeared from the sights of the crowd.

The confrontations in the sky were unnecessary anymore.

Everybody looked instead in the direction of the deep part of the ocean.

That person hadn’t turned his head around once when he was targeted by the Dragon-Tail Inkstone of the One-Cottage House and pursued by the monks of the Script Instruction Hall of the Fruit Formation Temple and He Wei; he was hanging quietly on the back of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

Though he was wounded severely by the Fairy Book of the Center Sect and was extremely weak, he somehow didn’t take the pursuit of the powerful swordsmen of the Cultivation world seriously while traveling in a leisurely manner on the back of a phoenix.

He had acted so confidently with such an extraordinary air; he behaved more like an immortal man, instead of a devil man.

…

…

Looking at those sword lights in the sky, Zhao Layue’s face was pale.

She hadn’t taken any action because her Cultivation state was not high enough to make a difference, and also because she was rather confused.

If she went out, this act would manifest the attitude of Shenmo Peak.

Yet, she didn’t think she had the qualification to do so.

Yuan Qü, Ping Yongjia and those disciples of Shiyue Peak responsible for driving the sword boats were so stunned that they didn’t know what to say with wide opened mouths.

Jing Jiu walked to Zhao Layue’s side and looked at the sky.

Zhao Layue had already figured out many things. Thinking of his identity, she asked worriedly, “Will you be okay?”

Jing Jiu remained silent while looking at the deep end of the ocean.

He had been looking for the “devil man” on Green Mountain. Yet, he had never expected to find so many of them, even though it had occurred to him that there must be more than two or three of them.

A thought had suddenly crossed his mind: Maybe he was the “devil man” in the eyes of these people.