The Path Toward Heaven

That person sensed Jing Jiu’s arrival and put down the wooden ladle he used to water the flowers and plants. He turned toward Jing Jiu.

“Compared to the other places of the Fiend Prison, here is like the fairy realm,” Jing Jiu commented.

“As far as we are concerned, the human world is the fairy realm. This prison is still inside the human world.”

The person’s skin was exceptionally pale, as if it had never been exposed to the sunlight.

For some reason, his face didn’t have eyebrows and eyelashes, looking extremely smooth and pale; his face actually looked almost transparent.

His eyes were very large, and the pupils occupied even a larger portion of his eyes, which looked either like a black almond or a bottomless hole, really eerie.

As the wind blew over the flowers and green grass, making rustling sounds, his ears would turn with the sounds; it would be evident that his ears were quite large as well.

The most bizarre thing was that it seemed that his body had stored an abundance of lightning, which would stream out through his colorful clothes and neck from time to time.

All these were the typical traits of the devil men of the Underworld.

It was why he had said earlier that the human world was the fairy realm.

When the devil men of the Underworld came up to the ground occasionally, they would disguise themselves as much as possible; but when they were in the Fiend Prison without visitors, they had no need to do so.

Seeing Jing Jiu approaching, his pale face let out a hint of smile, the intention unclear.

Jing Jiu walked through a patch of flowers and arrived by his side.

That person was short, and his head was as high as Jing Jiu’s shoulder; but he had a composed and extraordinary aura, looking like a king or emperor.

“This should be your first time seeing a human in six hundred years, and the first time to speak to a human. Under the circumstances, you’re even able to speak human language…”

Jing Jiu said to that person, “Such a mind is indeed outstanding. I’ve hardly admired anybody in my life, but you are the one I admire.”

That person said, “Your Cultivation state is so low, but you can find this place and wasn’t discovered by that dragon. You are truly outstanding.”

With their Cultivation states and experiences, they had no need to exchange pleasantries and compliments to test each other. So what they said were all their true thoughts.

“Even that dragon can’t find what is going on here,” Jing Jiu said.

That person said, “That’s right. So if you have anything to say to me, you can speak freely here.”

“I’m not here to rescue you,” said Jing Jiu.

That person said, “”Since you are not a member of our Underworld, of course you won’t rescue this emperor.”

“How do you know?” asked Jing Jiu.

Gazing at Jing Jiu’s windy ears, that person said wryly, “In the beginning, when I saw your ears, this emperor thought those useless chancellors of mine had finally figured out a way to rescue me; but as you got closer, I realized how beautiful you look, and thought you must be the demon man from Alien Land. They don’t like the race of this emperor.”

“It feels odd to hear you calling yourself ‘this emperor’,” said Jing Jiu.

That person’s eyes wavered a bit, emitting a glow mimicking black gemstone. “Why?” he asked.

Jing Jiu replied, “If you hadn’t left the Underworld and been caught back then, you could of course call yourself ‘this emperor’; but the fact is that you haven’t take the throne as emperor yet.”

Hearing this, that person didn’t get upset, saying, “Though I don’t know the situation in the Underworld, I believe the seat for the emperor is still empty in the Underworld today.”

“As far as I know, it should be the case,” Jing Jiu said.

That person said, “Besides this emperor, who dares call himself the Emperor? Under the circumstances, I am the Emperor of the Underworld, regardless of whether I have officially taken the throne or not.”

Jing Jiu said after giving it a thought, “That’s correct, Your Majesty.”

This important figure of the Underworld locked in the Fiend Prison was the only bloodline of the former Underworld Emperor.

In a sense, he should be the Emperor of the Underworld.

However, he had been caught before he could become the Emperor officially.

Who could have caught this Underworld Emperor?

…

…

The Underworld Emperor suddenly said, “Even in the eyes of those of the Underworld, you are quite handsome, either in terms of appearance or body; but shouldn’t you wear a cloth first?”

This reminded Jing Jiu that his white cloth had already eroded into nothingness in the pond.

After that, he had been naked when walking in the Fiend Prison and floating in midair.

If he were anybody else, he would feel embarrassed. But he displayed an even countenance, taking out a white cloth to put on. He only thought about that black iron sword that should have fallen into the pond, and he didn’t know how much of it would remain when he was to leave the Fiend Prison a few years later. He was somewhat worried about the fate of his iron sword.

The Underworld Emperor remarked unpleasantly, “I don’t like cloth of white color, though it’s better than nothing. It reminds me of beggars.”

Looking at that person’s cloth, which made up of pieces of various colors, Jing Jiu said, “In the human world, only the monks and beggars would dress like you.”

“Really?”

The Underworld Emperor felt surprised at this, and he extended his arms to the sides and let the loose sleeves drop down, and then turned around once.

The scene reminded Jing Jiu of Bai Zao turning around to let Jing Jiu appreciate her back in the Jing House.

Fortunately, the Underworld Emperor didn’t ask how Jing Jiu thought of him; it looked like he was quite satisfied with his clothes.

“Who are you?” the Underworld Emperor asked.

“A Green Mountain disciple, Jing Jiu,” he replied.

“Oh, you’re the disciple of the Green Mountain.”

The Underworld Emperor’s black gemstone-like eyes showed a hint of nostalgia that soon disappeared.

“Now that you knew this emperor is here and could find me here, you are not a regular disciple of the Green Mountain. What is your relationship with Taiping?”

When he was behind closed doors on the Green Mountain, Jing Jiu had thought of many things, especially this question. “The Immortal is my Master,” he answered in a natural manner.

Hearing this answer, the Underworld Emperor paused for a while, and then said, “Oh, that’s why you could find this place.”

“That’s right, Your Majesty,” said Jing Jiu.

The Underworld Emperor said, “Taiping and I had traveled together for twenty years, and we were friends, at least at the time. You should call me ‘Senior Master’, and do away with ‘Your Majesty’.”

“Yes, Senior Master.”

Jing Jiu said this calmly, without any change in his expression.

The Underworld Emperor asked, “Why did you come here to find me?”

Jing Jiu said, “I’d like to ask Senior Master to teach me the Control of Soul-Fire.”

Hearing this, the Underworld Emperor’s pupils shrank slightly, like a cat’s would do in the dark of night.

“Do you know that the Control of Soul-Fire is the highest state of Cultivation methods in our Underworld, and that only the Underworld emperors are qualified to learn it?”

“Yes, I know,” said Jing Jiu.

The Underworld Emperor looked at him silently. “Why do you want to learn the Control of Soul-Fire?” he asked suddenly.

Jing Jiu replied, “My Sword Ghost is different from anybody else’s, and it can’t develop with me. It has to cultivate by itself.”

All the Cultivation practitioners of the sword sects or orthodox Cultivation sects in the world had to rely on their own Cultivation to produce the Sword Ghost and Yuanying.

The Sword Ghost and Yuanying would grow stronger as the Cultivation state of the practitioner improved.

But it had never been heard of where the Sword Ghost and Yuanying of any sect could cultivate by themselves.

The Sword Ghost and Yuanying were part of the Cultivation practitioners. If they could cultivate by themselves, would they become the second entity of the original?

Would the second entity of oneself…still be one’s self?

This was utterly against the principles of the Cultivation; as such, it had no possibility of succeeding.

Since it had no possibility of succeeding, there was no relevant Cultivation method to do so.

Jing Jiu couldn’t think out a Cultivation method that would help the Sword Ghost develop either.

It was when he stayed behind closed doors and his spiritual soul drifted out of his physical body and landed on the black iron sword that he was reminded of the Soul-Fire of the Underworld.

The devil men of the Underworld didn’t have a method to help the Soul-Fire develop and cultivate by itself.

But rumor had it that the Control of Soul-Fire mastered by the Underworld emperors had a chance to achieve it.

In the Control of Soul-Fire, the word “control” had nothing to do with the ruling of the Underworld emperors; it meant maneuvering.

Once this method was mastered, the Soul-Fire would be able to maneuver itself.

If the Soul-Fire could achieve this, what about the Sword Ghost?

This was something Jing Jiu had been looking for: the method of cultivating the Sword Ghost.