The Path Toward Heaven

The place for the Sword Trial of Green Mountain was on Tianguang Peak, or the Sword Forest to be more precise.

The Sword Forest was a forest of stones, formed by hundreds of stone posts about thirty feet thick and three hundred feet high, looking like numerous gigantic swords facing skyward; it was really breathtaking.

Many disciples who had never participated in the Sword Trial of Green Mountain saw the Sword Forest for the first time from such a close distance, and they were astonished by it all, but they also felt quite nervous thinking about how they would stand on top of these stone posts fighting with their peers later.

Different from the Inherited Sword Competition, the fighting at the Sword Trial of Green Mountain was more akin to actual combat. It was more dangerous, and many disciples could be wounded, even gravely. It was said that some disciples died in the fighting during the past sword trials. Because of these reasons, and to conceal the sect’s true strengths from the outside, the Green Mountain Sect had never invited other sects to observe the sword trial, including the Fruit Formation Temple, Water-Moon Nunnery, and Great Marsh, which had friendly relationship with the Green Mountain Sect for thousands of years.

A couple of hundred disciples came to the outskirts of the Sword Forest without making a sound.

A wide and straight black sword hovered quietly over the stone platform in the sky, exuding awfully chilly intentions throughout its surroundings.

This was the main sword of Shangde Peak—the Three-Foot Sword.

Today Yuan Qijing was personally in charge of the Sword Trial.

Seeing Yuan on the platform, the disciples’ breathing seemed to freeze; who would dare make any noise?

Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!!

The sounds of swords cracking the air rang out one after another.

Several flashes of sword light illuminated all the stone posts on the cliff, radiating countless light rays.

Six flying swords lowered gradually, lining up behind the Three-Foot Sword.

Some of these swords were simple and quiet, some were dominating and aggressive, and some were powerful like the thunder.

The Three-Foot Sword!

The Sword of Absolute Emptiness!

The Zither Sword!

The Sword of the Returning Sun!

The Old Sword!

The Tide Sword!

And…the Thoughtless Sword!

Seeing this scene, hundreds of disciples couldn’t help but start discussing among themselves, their expressions full of excitement.

Seven of the nine main swords of the Green Mountain arrived!

This scene hadn’t been witnessed in quite a long time.

They gazed at these famous swords.

The bloody red sword at the end of the line gained the most attention, generating strong emotions among many people here.

The elders, full of white hair, felt they had entered a completely new era

The Thoughtless Sword rarely appeared in public, as Immortal Jing Yang had never taken part in the sect affairs.

The last time the Thoughtless Sword appeared on such an occasion was when the Sect Master of Green Mountain was the Immortal Taiping and Yuan Qijing had just become the Peak Master of Shangde.

How many years ago was that?

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…

Opposite the Sword Forest were nine stone platforms situated on the cliff walls.

The seats for the elders of the nine peaks were on these nine platforms, except for the second stone platform where the disciples of Liangwang Peak were positioned, led by Guo Nanshan.

There were no seats on the second platform, the disciples of Liangwang Peak stood all the time to show their respect for the masters and elders.

Many gazes fell on the ninth stone platform.

Zhao Layue arrived.

Her expression was peaceful, devoid of maladjustment or embarrassment when greeting other peak masters or elders with the leveled sword or receiving greetings from the disciples.

The Peak Master of Qingrong thought that her temperament was far superior to that of regular disciples, even similar to Senior Master Jing Yang in his young years, so it seemed Zhao Layue deserved this position.

Looking at Jing Jiu by the side of Zhao Layue, the expression in her eyes was complicated.

Many had complicated views on Jing Jiu, though these complicated views were not all the same.

Some people thought it was normal that Jing Jiu hadn’t entered the State of the Undefeated at his age, but in terms of strength, he was a bit weaker than Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui practicing behind closed doors.

It was said that Zhuo Rusui had already entered the upper State of the Undefeated, and he might be able to reach the State of Free Travel when he came out from behind closed doors. The entire land would be shocked when that happened.

However, most elders of the nine peaks didn’t think this way.

Jing Jiu only fought once, and that was three years ago at the Inherited Sword Competition when he defeated Gu Qing.

Having witnessed that fight, many elders were certain this young disciple was an exceptional talent in sword work.

Gu Qing clearly used Jing Jiu’s sword style at this year’s Inherited Sword Competition; it was the reason the Peak Master of Yunxing wanted to take Gu Qing as his personal disciple.

Until now, these elders remained silent and didn’t offer any evaluation for Jing Jiu, as they didn’t want other sects paying attention to him, especially the Center Sect.

They had hopes that Jing Jiu would become a surprising force of the Green Mountain Sect in the future.

When they learned his appointment with the Center Sect at the Four-Seas Banquet, they expected to see how Jing Jiu would perform at next year’s Plum Meeting.

They didn’t care whether Jing Jiu could defeat Tong Yan on the chess board.

Whether Jing Jiu could defeat his peers of the Center Sect in combats was their main concern.

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The combats were decided by random drawing at the Sword Trial. The last ten remaining combatants would represent the Green Mountain Sect to participate in next year’s Plum Meeting.

If you met a Senior Brother of Liangwang Peak in the first round, then you could only blame your bad luck.

The sword fight was understood as all the things contained in one sword, with the luck being one of those things.

Nobody dared cheat during the drawing. The Sword Jail of Shangde Peak locked up innumerous demons and devils, but who knew how many more empty rooms were left for offenders!

Ji Yuanliang had bad luck.

He succeeded in inheriting the sword three years ago, but his drawing was the first round at the Sword Trial of Green Mountain today.

The worst part was that his opponent was Yao Songshan…

Two flashes of sword light left the ground.

Yao Songshan and Ji Yuanliang landed on top of two separate stone posts, standing face to face from three hundred feet apart.

The distance between the top of the stone posts and the ground was about one thousand feet, and clouds floated underneath the posts; the untrained regular people would tremble in their boots while standing on top of these posts, perhaps falling to their deaths.

Ji Yuanliang of course knew it was impossible for him to defeat this Big Brother, was ranked eleventh on Liangwang Peak, but the disciple of Green Mountain could never give up before the fight.

He forced himself to calm down, and said bravely, “Let’s begin!”

…

…

Nothing unexpected happened; Yao Songshan won the sword fight. Later, more disciples flew up to the top of the stone posts, carrying out their sword fights.

Compared to the Inherited Sword Competition, the Sword Trial of Green Mountain was much more exciting, and also much more dangerous.

The sword lights were sometimes powerful like thundering, sometimes frequent like the raindrops, shuttling among the stone posts shrouded in the clouds, with stone chips knocked off the posts once in a while.

Even though the space was shielded by the Formations, the ear-piercing sounds of flying sword breaking through the air could still be heard, and those threatening and intimidating Wills of Swords could be sensed.

When the fights got heated, the two sides of the combat would leave the stone posts and fight while riding their swords, creating thunder and lightning, and sometimes, even fires.

The disciples watched the high speed flashes of sword light and moving figures very closely, as they didn’t want to miss anything.

The masters of the peaks also watched the fights of their disciples closely with solemn expressions, ready to come to their rescue if necessary.

In this kind of sword fight, the two sides would fight with all their might, so it was hard for them to restrain themselves at the key moment.

However, Jing Jiu didn’t pay attention to the stone forest.

He had been staring at a distant mountain path all this time.

That was a narrow mountain path, leading up to somewhere unknown, veiled by the fog and clouds.

He knew the residence of the disciples of Tianguang Peak was just around that cliff wall.

Liu Shisui lived there.