The Path Toward Heaven

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The sucking force was very weak inside the egg of the snowy worm, and it couldn’t even move a hair. If Jing Jiu’s perception wasn’t so sensitive, it would be hard detect.

Looking at the egg in front of him, Jing Jiu squeezed it with his fingers, and the egg let out creaking sounds, like a leather jar full of alcohol being squeezed, but the egg didn’t give a response.

After checking it with his Piercing Discernment, Jing Jiu ascertained that the life in the egg had already awakened.

When his finger touched the egg, that little life revealed its greed and the desire for food.

But immediately, it sensed Jing Jiu’s dreadful awareness, so it pretended to be dead out of fear.

The lowest form of monster on Snowy Kingdom had already had such a strong sense of avoiding death before it even saw the real world; it’s very interesting.

Jing Jiu put it away.

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…

A hundred miles away under a black peak, a few young Cultivation practitioners were discussing something.

They were the participants in the Cultivation tournament, their clothes tattered. They should have encountered many fights already; but their spirits were very high, their eyes full of confidence

They were discussing the fights of last day, hoping that they would cooperate even better to combine the close range and long-distance attacks more effectively, and to hold the defense more successfully.

Ding!!!

A young Cultivation practitioner took out his magic treasure and looked at the scoreboard of the last day carefully. “Luo Huainan and his group are still ahead,” he said.

What he was referring to was their position on the scoreboard and also their position on the snow land.

Luo Huainan’s group had already entered the deep part of the snowy land, encountering many monsters of large size, and as such, their plum flowers in the painting were larger.

They instinctively looked at a young man ahead of them, displaying the respectful expressions. Had this person not been in their group, they would’ve had no chance of following Luo Huainan so close behind; they would’ve fall far behind and had no hope of winning first place in the Cultivation tournament.

Standing in the wind and snow, that young man’s body remained upright like a real sword.

He was Tong Lu, the genius disciple of the West Ocean Sword Sect.

By the judgment of the Curtain Rollers, Tong Lu was ranked second, ahead of Bai Zao and Tong Yan, coming only after Luo Huainan.

This was recorded as fact as well. On the paintings hanging outside the roofed corridor at West Mountain Residence, the number of plum flowers for his group was the only one close to Luo Huainan’s group.

The number of plum flowers for Tong Lu’s group wasn’t less than Luo Huainan’s group, but as Tong Lu’s group didn’t enter deep enough into the snowland and hadn’t encountered too many middle-sized monsters of the Snowy Kingdom, they didn’t have as many large sized plum flowers as did Luo Huainan’s painting.

Those four young Cultivation practitioners knew that they had slowed down Tong Lu, and they felt bad for it; as a result, they fought even more bravely in the battles.

“What has happened to Senior Jing Jiu? Why hasn’t he had any killing record for so many days?”

“No sure. There is a disciple of the Kunlun Sect in my big brother’s group. He said that Jing Jiu hadn’t done anything lately; he hasn’t even left that mountain.”

“Is it the first mountain when we entered the snowy land?”

“Yes.”

“Is he scared? If he is afraid of entering the snowland, why bother participating in the Cultivation tournament?”

The blade-sharp wind cut through the snowflakes to Tong Lu’s common and ordinary face.

Tong Lu remained emotionless and uninfluenced by his partners’ discussion.

If this had been before the chess tournament of the Plum Meeting, he would think that Jing Jiu was a coward and incapable person; but after that chess game, he of course wouldn’t think so.

One who could withstand Tong Yan’s lethal attacks on the chessboard and launched successful counterattacks must have an immensely strong Dao Heart and will power.

Yet, he couldn’t understand what was on Jing Jiu’s mind in this situation.

Suddenly, a surprising scream broke out.

Tong Lu walked back over to his partners’ side, taken aback after having seen the latest news on the magic treasure, his eyebrows arched.

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…

Jing Jiu and his group marched in the snow, a distance ranging from ten feet and three hundred feet between them to guarantee that each of them could use his best skill to help the closest partner in trouble.

The ground under the snow suddenly quivered, though soon returned to normal

Five of them stopped short.

Lu Jing took out his magic treasure and pointed to the snowy ground, his face growing even gloomier, and he spun his head toward his partners and said soundlessly, “There is something here.”

The snowland was deadly quiet. One could only hear the sound of the whistling wind.

These young Cultivation practitioners didn’t have any experience, so they only knew to hold their breathing and make no sound, but they didn’t realize that the sudden disappearance of footsteps was a clear warning for the creature under the snowy ground.

The snowy ground in the distance suddenly opened a crack, which then turned into a snowy line moving further away.

This was the first combat for them in the Cultivation tournament, so they were somewhat excited, and even more nervous. They didn’t respond fast enough initially.

In order to escape faster, that monster came out from the ground and sped up. From a distance of about six hundred feet, they could vaguely see an object that resembled a spider, the size of a regular round table and a back as smooth as a mirror, but they couldn’t see its feet because it moved too fast.

“It’s a Snow Foot Monster!”

Dai Ying yelled loudly, “Who can tell how many feet it has?”

Jing Jiu replied, “Six.”

Hearing this answer, Ying Qingme and other three felt relieved, and Dai Ying even offered a smile. The less feet a Snow Foot Monster had, the higher and more powerful it would be. The Snow Foot Monster with six feet was the weakest, never having even moving up one state. So any Cultivation practitioner could deal with it easily.

Jing Jiu untied the iron sword behind his back.

Dai Ying stopped him and said, “Let me do it!”

He had already rushed over before he finished the sentence.

The other three followed him.

In a dozen seconds, Dai Ying had arrived behind that Snow Foot Monster, and whipped it once with his green rope.

The green rope was the magic treasure of the Kunlun Sect and had the power of the python bone, so such a hit should have the force of a thousand pounds, able to break rock into pieces.

Though the shell of the Snow Foot Monster was strong, this Snow Foot Monster was only in the six-feet state, so it couldn’t stand such a powerful hit.

Pah!!!

The shell of the Snow Foot Monster broke open, green fluid shooting out like sharp arrows in all the directions.

Dai Ying jumped back in the air and landed on the ground.

Wu Mingzhong rushed forward while calling out his Sword Shield to hide Dai Ying behind it.

Ying Qingmo was a bit slow to raise her Star Pot. As she recited an instruction silently, a flash of green light came out from the Star Pot, falling down like a waterfall to cover Lu Jin and herself inside it.

Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!

Those green fluids fell down like the raindrops, with the buzzing burning sounds.

After all of the green fluids had fallen down, Wu Mingzhong and Ying Qingme put back their magic treasures.

There were many dents on the rock-hard surface of the Sword Shield, remnants of erosion by the poisonous fluids.

They had learned about the Snow Foot Monster before the Cultivation tournament began. They knew that the Snow Foot Monster’s green blood was extremely poisonous and erosive. However, when they actually witnessed this, they realized just how dangerous the lowest level of Snow Foot Monster could be. Even if they could kill it easily, it still could pose a threat to them.

Looking at the dead Snow Foot Monster ahead, Ying Qingmo couldn’t help but feel scared. She suddenly remembered Jing Jiu searched for him worriedly, though found that Jing Jiu stood not far away, not a trace of poisonous fluid on him, his white clothing fluttering.

Then something unexpected occurred.

A shadowy figure jumped out of the crack on the shell of the Snow Foot Monster, making strange creaking sounds, fleeing at high speed.

“It’s the Listening Ear!”

Seeing this, Dai Ying wasn’t surprised, but rather, excited.

The Listening Ear was the rare intelligent being among the middle-level monsters of the Snowy Kingdom. It lived in the shell of the Snow Foot Monster, and could use its voice to control hundreds of snow foot monsters at the same time.

On the battlefield, the most important mission for a Listening Ear was to order the snow foot monsters attacking the human army like a tide wave.

The Listening Ears were not dangerous except for their fast speed.

They didn’t expect to see a Listening Ear residing in a six-feet Snow Foot Monster of the lowest state, far away from the center of the Snowy Kingdom.

This was a lucky encounter for them.

Dai Ying was about to chase after this Listening Ear without hesitation.

But Jing Jiu felt something was wrong, and he tried to stop Dai Ying.

Dai Ying mistook Jing Jiu’s behavior as trying to take the credit from him, so he pushed Jing Jiu’s arm aside with a sneer and darted out.

Moving in the wind and snow was the specialty of the Kunlun Sect since they resided in the cold mountains.

Without riding the sword, Dai Ying jumped up in the air, and became a tiny dot in the distance in a few seconds, and he caught up with the Listening Ear.

The green light illuminated the snowy land.

Dai Ying whipped his green rope toward the ground.

All of a sudden, he fell down from the sky with a terrible shriek.