The Path Toward Heaven

Jing Jiu came to the foot of the mountain peak during the night while no one was around, undiscovered by the Yunxing Peak caretakers .

There was a map formation in the small building that displayed the positions of the sword cards, only showing the sword card of Zhao Layue, which deep in the remote ends of the clouds.

The sword card belonging to Jing Jiu was resting in the corner of his manor cave.

A few monkeys were jumping back and forth on the cliff walls outside the manor cave.

Jing Jiu walked on the Sword Peak.

There were no trees atop Sword Peak, where the rocks between the cliffs exuded the fearful will of swords; it was hard for other plants to grow here except weeds.

Not one animal could be sighted; it barren and dead as far as the eyes can see.

It was a very difficult deed to walk among the peaks for a regular inner sect disciple; even those who had successfully obtained sword still felt jittery whenever they recalled their experience on the Sword Peak; but the Sword Peak was the same as anywhere else to Jing Jiu; there was nothing special about it.

He walked between the peaks and cliffs with great ease and at a high speed, almost as if he were on flat ground, though not as fast as flying.

No matter how steep the cliff walls were, he didn’t use his hands to climb, though he could always get on the cliffs regardless.

Soon enough, he came to the middle part of the Sword Peak, by the edge of the clouds.

If someone was looking up from the bottom of the peak, he would be seen as a dark dot in the midst of rugged rocks.

Any inner sect disciple who could climb to the edge of the clouds for the first attempt would have accomplished an outstanding feat.

Those disciples who could walk into the clouds were very rare.

Jing Jiu walked into them.

…

…

Yunxing Peak was the place where the clouds were forever moving.

The thick clouds were wet and moist, constantly rolling up and down, back and forth, blocking all the sun’s rays, bringing darkness everywhere.

It was here that most of wills of the sword could be found, the more terrifying ones, and it would be impossible for the regular disciples to withstand the forceful wills of swords for even a brief moment.

These wills of swords and darkness had no effect on Jing Jiu; actually, he didn’t have to hide his body, so the speed of his upward travels became faster, like a streak of smoke, and he could stride one hundred yards at a time, with two ears moving in different directions with the wind, listening to the earthly and heavenly sounds to make sure he wasn’t going to encounter any danger.

Jing Jiu came to a standstill after traveling for a long time.

The distance from here to the top of the peak shouldn’t have been too far. Lin Wuzhi’s judgment was right; the Senior Master of Shiyue Peak had indeed demonstrated his last pride, inspired by Jing Jiu before his passing, and placed his sword at an extremely high elevation, surpassing his own limit.

Jing Jiu could feel the volume of the wills of swords decreasing, but the dreadful atmosphere exuding from a few hundred swords was getting worse, and in this case, the sword should be somewhere much higher; he jumped upward.

Both his feet landed on the ground, silence everywhere.

The thick clouds gradually dispersed.

Jing Jiu saw a pair of eyes.

The eyes were so beautiful, the white parts of the eyes like mercury, black pupils looking as though they were painted on.

For any regular person, suddenly seeing a pair of eyes amid clouds would be extremely scary.

Likewise, the owner of that pair of eyes would be scared as well.

But Jing Jiu and the owner of those eyes were not regular people.

Thus there was no screaming, only silence.

They could only see each other’s eyes, which meant their faces were very close to each other.

“Sorry, I didn’t know someone was here,” Jing Jiu said.

A chunk of his hair swung over the eyes, initiated by his breathing, like a willow branch dipping into the water while swinging.

Jing Jiu stepped back and saw the face of the other person.

It was a pretty face; not as good-looking as his own, though it could be said that the eyes and eyebrows were like that from a painting.

Yet, the eyebrows on this young girl were a bit short, really dark, and her hair was short…very short.

The dust was visible on her face and hair, giving her a dirty appearance, as if having not been washed for a long time.

In the middle of the cliff existed a cave, half the size of a man.

The young girl sat there with legs crossed, as if she were a stone statue.

Jing Jiu remembered who she was.

At the Green Mountain Sect, only one person stayed all year long on the peak, practicing the Tempered Will of the Sword, who was Zhao Layue.

“Who are you?” asked Zhao Layue.

Her voice sounded very pleasant, as clean as the sound of a whizzing sword, the end of the tone lifting upward slightly, as like a sword bent by the spring water in autumn bounced back.

“Jing Jiu.”

“It seems I have heard of you,” said Zhao Layue after some thought.

“I have also heard of you,” said Jing Jiu.

Zhao Layue tilted her head, looking at Jing Jiu, suddenly saying, “You are not as good looking as the rumors say.”

“The rumors are probably exaggerated.”

Jing Jiu nodded to her, left the cliff, and moved upward to higher elevation.

Zhao Layue didn’t pay much attention to him, closed her eyes without much thinking, and continued feeling and experiencing the surrounding will of swords.

If you let your will follow nature and use nature for its own sake, then nature will benefit you.

Her breathing pulsated with the will of sword, gradually calming down, became slower and slower, till no breathing was perceived for long periods of time.

Her heartbeat became slower amid the roaring sounds of wind and chaotic wills of sword among the cliffs, and was barely audible.

…

…

Jing Jiu came around to a cliff wall on the west side of the Sword Peak.

He was still thinking of Zhao Layue.

He wasn’t sure if the reason he became familiar with the name was because he heard so many times before or because of something else; it seemed he had heard of the name even earlier.

He felt he had seen the eyes, both the distinctive white and dark parts.

As somebody who was the most favored disciple of all the sects and masters and would become a shining star after the Inherited Sword Competition Zhao Layue was believed by all to possess aggressive and self-confident emotion in her eyes.

But what Jing Jiu saw in her eyes wasn’t that simple; it seemed as if she were hiding something, and he sensed a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.

But it had nothing to do with him.

Looking around, he was sure that the sword he was looking for must be here somewhere, and he activated his mental power to spread out the Piercing Discernment.

Within the range of his Piercing Discernment, about one thousand yards and even further than that, the swords hidden in the deep parts of the peak were responding.

The rocks on the peak shifted slightly, as if being blown by the gentle wind, and some rocks started to fall down.

Many rays of light from the wills of swords rushed to get out of their hidden places, but as they met his Piercing Discernment, they returned to the midst of cliffs and dared not come out again.

They acted like the rabbits sensing the danger.

Anybody would find it funny to witness this scene.

But nobody could clearly see what was transpiring within the clouds of Sword Peak.

Unless you were inside them.

Sitting among the cliff walls on the east side of the Sword Peak, Zhao Layue opened her eyes and felt the wills of swords changing a little, and wondered what happened.

…On the other side of the peak…

“You are not worth my ownership,” Jing Jiu told the swords retreating from him.

“Really, you are not worth being my sword,” he told them again after a pause.

At last he said, “But I don’t mind.”

The swords in the peak kept silent.

“I am not going to stay solely in the mountains anymore like before.”

Jing Jiu understood what these swords meant, and said after some thoughts, “This time, I’m going to go out and have a look.”

The swords all rushed to the fore in excitement.

…

…