The Path Toward Heaven

The Young Zen Master said, “If you intend to confront Taiping, you shouldn’t have

offended the Center Sect. Most of all, you shouldn’t have lectured the Immortal Bai as if

she were a child.”

“If I am my former self, why can’t I do so?” Jing Jiu snapped.

The Great Grandmaster of the Foggy Island, Nan Qü, was dead, and Senior Master Tai

Lu was still locked in the Sword Jail; he was so far the person with the highest

generation or status in all of Chaotian.

“You should know that the Center Sect belongs to the Bai family, and you understand

better than anybody else how powerful the Bai family is.”

The Young Zen Master continued, “You were knocked down by her grandmother;

there’s no way she hasn’t figured out your identity.”

“Hmm?” Jing Jiu inquired.

The Young Zen Master said, “If she knew your identity, why didn’t she do anything? It’s

rather odd.”

“Many things in the world are not so different from playing chess. Tong Yan prefers the

general arrangement and sets up the scheme ahead of time, luring others into his plot; I

have a different approach.”

Jing Jiu went on, “I prefer letting others set up the plot first, so that I can dismantle it

later.”

“You might fail earlier than others,” said the Young Zen Master.

“But I can discover their plans first,” said Jing Jiu, “so I won’t have to do something

ineffective.”

The Young Zen Master shot him a glance before saying, “I understand what you mean,

but I still think it’s because you are too lazy.”

“Maybe,” said Jing Jiu.

The Young Zen Master said, “Have you ever thought of this: If the Immortal Bai finished

you in a single move, your way would be meaningless even if you could predict her next

moves.”

What the Young Zen Master talked about was not simply the end of the game, but the

end of his life.

Looking at a godly boat that was intermittently visible in the deep end of the East

Ocean, Jing Jiu offered, “Do you know why I’m willing to come out and travel around

now?”

It was not because he had become the sect master of Green Mountain and nobody in

Chaotian dared harm him; it was because he had the confidence that nobody could kill

him easily now.

“In your current state, besides that weird sword style of yours, what else can you

employ to protect yourself?” the Young Zen Master demanded. “Is it because you have

broken through the Sea State and can use the Seal of the Underworld Emperor? But

you shouldn’t forget that you have promised the Underworld Emperor to return the Seal

of the Underworld Emperor one day. Do you think how the Underworld Master will do to

you? He is nonetheless Taiping’s disciple.”

“We’ll see,” Jing Jiu said.

The Young Zen Master suddenly changed the topic by saying, “The Immortal Bai visited

Jing Shu.”

“I don’t recall the two of them ever having known each other,” said Jing Jiu, feeling

surprised.

The Young Zen Master said, “The two of them had met in the eastern field back when

you stayed behind closed doors on Shangde Peak, and they have maintained a

relationship ever since.”

Since the first meeting of theirs happened when he was on Shangde Peak behind

closed doors rather than on Shenmo Peak, it must have happened more than three

hundred years ago.

“It was because of you that the Hanging-Bell Sect decided to side with Green Mountain

six hundred years ago, and Jing Shu was nevertheless a descendant of your Jing

family. But she only feared you and held no affection and respect toward you.”

The Young Zen Master went on, “The blood spilled everywhere in Zhaoge City before

the late emperor took the throne, and nine out of ten members of the royal family had

died. Who wouldn’t be worried after experiencing that event?”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Jing Jiu.

The Young Zen Master said apathetically, “The human race was on the brink of being

wiped out in Chaotian before the Plum Meeting; but how many of them were killed by

the monster invasion of the Snowy Kingdom? The number of the humans killed by the

monsters was much less than those killed by the hoodlums, the deviant practitioners

and even the Cultivation practitioners of the orthodox sects. Hence, the world can’t

afford to experience another turmoil like that. If the turmoil occurred, Cao Yuan and I

would have no choice but to take action.”

…

…

The sunlight shone on Morning Lake, making its green waters among the mountain

ridge look more like a huge mirror.

Standing on the top of the peak and looking down at the wonderful scenery, the

Immortal Bai remained reticent; it was unclear if she was reminiscing about the Green

Sky Mirror at the moment.

A tense atmosphere filled Morning Lake and that small island. All the disciples of the

Hanging-Bell Sect turned white in terror.

Sitting in the wheelchair, Chen Xueqiao gazed at the peak top quietly.

As the Sect Master of the Hanging-Bell, she had to come here and maintained her

calmness, even if she would die in the next moment.

Standing behind the wheelchair, Sese lifted her head to look up at the peak top. She felt

alarmed and uneasy, but more than that, she felt helpless.

After the meeting at the Fruit Formation Temple, the Immortal Bai didn’t return to Cloud-

Dream Mountain with the Cloud Boat; instead, she came to the Hanging-Bell Sect,

visiting the cemetery on the peak top.

The Grandmaster of the Hanging-Bell Sect was buried there.

Nobody knew why she came here. It was nothing alarming if she came here to simply

pay her respect to the late Grandmaster; but what should the Hanging-Bell Sect do if

she intended to avenge the Grandmaster for what they had done to her? If a strongest

swordsman in the Dachen State wanted to do something, who in Chaotian would be

able to stop her?

There was only one Green Mountain in the world.

The Immortal Bai gazed at Morning Lake quietly, and didn’t draw back her gaze until the

sunlight moved to the other side of the sky and the lake water reflected the red light.

She came before a stone tomb and took a look at the words on the tombstone, saying

nonchalantly, “You probably didn’t realize till your death that he was the uncle you had

feared all your life.”

The words on the tombstone recorded the life of the Grandmaster, like how she came to

the Hanging-Bell Sect by marriage and arranged the alliance with the Green Mountain

Sect and had done many outstanding deeds in the Cultivation circle; but the tombstone

didn’t mention her life before coming to the Hanging-Bell Sect. She was addressed as

the Grandmaster De, not Jing Shu.

The Immortal Bai went on, “To think about it, your fear of him was justified. When it

comes to scheming and deceiving, nobody is a match for that pair of brothers.”

She was unaware that the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean felt the same way.

“I don’t care about the matter related to the Underworld. It was merely a test this time,

and somehow it proved that my judgment was correct.”

She continued calmly, “Now that he is good at playing chess, I shouldn’t have laid my

chess piece first. If I don’t play my piece first, he won’t be able to calculate what my

thoughts are.”

The wind arose above Morning Lake under the setting sun, blowing over to the

cemetery along the mountain ridge, making the white banners flap with a fluttering

sound.

“The most interesting part is that the pair of brothers will start to harm each other if we

don’t play our hand; it’s because the foes they are most afraid of is each other.

The Immortal Bai went on while looking at the tombstone, “Yes, this will be the simple

thing we will do, which is that we’ll do nothing. They will play against each other till their

own deaths.”

The setting sun shone on the tombstone, but the engraved words on it couldn’t respond

to her.

“You broke the legs of your daughter-in-law; one day, I’ll break her arms personally, and

then put her in front of your tomb in a vat, accompanying you.”

The setting sun descended lower, and the twilight became thicker, making Morning

Lake look redder, as if it were filled with fresh blood.

It was deathly quiet in the cemetery. The mountain wind blew back and forth tirelessly,

dispersing the Immortal Bai’s voice.

Her words contained too much secret information; it would cause a turbulence no matter

who had heard of them.

In fact, there was another person in the cemetery.

The shadow of Bai Zao was elongated by the descending sun; she looked even feebler

at the moment.

She had heard everything her mother said. As a matter of fact, that was the very

intention of the Immortal Bai in the first place.

“Are you sure your judgment is correct?”

Bai Zao asked her mother in a trembling voice.

And she had already calmed down when she finished the question.

Yet…her pale face couldn’t be reddened by the setting sun.

“Born as a human, we all fear the loneliness and aspire for perfection, spiritual

partnership and final goal; and your affection for that man is also very normal.”

The Immortal Bai continued while staring at her daughter, “What the Cultivation

practitioners desire for is the ascension, which is more important than anything else.”

…

…

The Young Zen Master had left the seashore of the East Ocean, but his words were still

lingering amid the sound of the ocean waves.

Jing Jiu came to his senses only some moments later, and he realized what the Young

Zen Master said was a warning for him. He couldn’t help but feel it preposterous.

The little child in his eyes back then considered himself the leader of the orthodox

Cultivation circle!

Warning me? He was even more ridiculous than Zhuo Rusui, he thought.

The ocean waves rumbled, as if they agreed with his judgment.

Jing Jiu came before the Heavenly Well and sat down cross-legged, meditating with his

eyes closed while waiting for Tong Yan at the same time.

Time elapsed slowly. The sun set lower still, and dusk arrived. Yet, he still couldn’t hear

any commotion.

Jing Jiu opened his eyes and looked down at the bottom of the gloomy and dark well.

He remained silent for a while after realizing Tong Yan wouldn’t show up after all, and

released a mosquito into the well.

It was then that a shadow had suddenly appeared above the surface of the ocean,

growing larger and larger.

The sword boat of Green Mountain emerged from the midst of the twilight.

As a few sword lights illuminated the dim heaven and earth, Zhao Layue and the others

landed on the seashore.

In the early morning, a godly boat from Penglai Island sailed by in the deep part of the

East Ocean, which was the boat Jing Jiu had seen earlier.

Zhao Layue and the others went to the godly boat by traveling on the sword boat, and

asked some complicated questions; so they spent some time there.

“Penglai Island hasn’t revoked the order of sealing off the island yet.”

Gu Qing reported, “The King of Boats is furious. He forbids any Cultivation practitioner

of Chaotian to get on the island, and the disciples of Green Mountain…are not allowed

in the area one thousand square miles around the island.”

Having said that, Gu Qing seemed mortified. Zhao Layue turned her head and looked at

the surface of the ocean, pretending that she didn’t know what was going on. Zhuo

Rusui sagged his eyelids as usual, as if he was really asleep.

It was impossible to reinforce the order of forbidding one thousand square miles; it was

merely a self-comforting effort on the part of the King of Boats.

If the Green Mountain Sect forced their way to the island, he would be most likely

unable to do anything; otherwise, he wouldn’t have had two of his godly boats snatched

in a row.

Jing Jiu said, “The sword boat goes back to Green Mountain first. You guys come with

me.”

The sword boat of Green Mountain sprang up in the twilight, heading toward the west,

and disappeared into the other side of the valley.

It was as quiet as ever at the Water-Moon Nunnery on the other side of the valley. The

peach flowers were still blooming, resembling blood stains under the setting sun.

…

…

A few sword lights of different colors illuminated the surface of the water.

This place was not the seashore, but a lakeside.

It was not Morning Lake surrounded by the mountains, but the expansive and endless

great marsh.

Jing Jiu walked to the lakeside and looked at the deep part of the great marsh. His calm

energy had a hint of lethal intent.

Zhao Layue had been to this small town with Liu Shisui when they pursued the Immortal

Taiping; so she knew this was the hiding place for Emperor Xiao. Thinking of this, her

spirits were boosted all of a sudden.

The Great Grandmaster of the Foggy Island, Nan Qü, was dead, and the Great

Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was fleeing along with the Immortal Taiping

all over the world. It would be a great achievement if they could kill the last hidden

swordsman.

Zhuo Rusui was in good spirits as well. His eyes beamed like gemstones. He didn’t

know that Emperor Xiao was here, nor did he like killing people. All he cared about was

combat.

With the protection from the Master White Ghost, the combat would be quite interesting

and exhilarating.

Gu Qing, holding the Sword of the Universe wrapped with layers of clothes, watched the

small town cautiously.