The Path Toward Heaven

The snow piled up in the Palace of Prince, and the cold intent grew stronger inside the study room. The protective formation seemed having lost its effect.

After a long moment of silence, Prince Jing Xin spoke again. “Don’t know what we should do to make the Emperor, my father, feel satisfied,” he said, his voice sounding dry.

“Under the circumstances, it’s best to do nothing, just like we are doing right now,” said the Royal Teacher Liang.

Jing Xin took a look at him, and wanted to open his mouth, but decided not to.

He understood what the Royal Teacher meant. If one didn’t do anything, then they wouldn’t be able to do anything wrong; his father, the Emperor, wouldn’t have any excuse to expel him from Zhaoge City.

If he had the Center Sect and the One-Cottage House to back him, it was almost the same as gaining the support of all the officials in the imperial court. No matter how powerful his father, the Emperor, was, he needed the support of the officials to run the country, so he had no choice but to take their attitude and the opinions among the populace into considerations.

But, could Jing Xin do the same after receiving this letter from the Old Ones?

“We can’t conceal this matter any longer,” said the Royal Teacher Liang. “Your Highness should write a letter in person to describe the whole event from beginning to the end in details and ask the immortal master Xiang to take it to the Cloud-Dream Mountain.”

Jing Xin displayed a hint of determination in his eyes, as he said, “Let’s do that. But we have to make sure that the letter will be handed to the Immortal Bai.”

The Royal Teacher Liang said, “And also this thing should be concealed from the One-Cottage House as much as possible.”

Jing Xin got up and saluted the Royal Teacher Liang, saying, “I have to trouble my teacher to deal with the One-Cottage House.”

The Royal Teacher Liang said, “I’ll communicate with Mister Bu in private.”

He had studied at the One-Cottage House for many years, and had established a friendship with the current House Master of the One-Cottage, Bu Qiuxiao, as classmates; but he didn’t have enough confidence in persuading Bu.

…

…

Two years had passed, and Zhaoge City welcomed another spring.

That fat man appeared in the Palace of Prince again. He looked a bit fatter. It was unclear how someone like him could feel relaxed and enjoy his meals so much.

This time he made a direct demand, “Your Highness, please help us send a certain person to the Fiend Prison.”

Upon hearing this request, the expression in the Royal Teacher Liang’s eyes turned cold, saying, “Back then you people attempted to enter Taichang Temple, and the orthodox sects were infuriated, causing the destruction of the Cloud Platform. Do you think I’ll agree to your request?”

“Things have changed. If the Royal Teacher is still concerned, you can use the forbidding formation.”

The fat man continued with a smile, “We just want to send a letter to a certain person in there; we won’t do anything else.”

“Is that all?” asked the Royal Teacher Liang after a moment of silence.

“That’s it,” the fat man confirmed.

The Royal Teacher Liang said while staring into his eyes, “You should know what will happen to the letter carrier.”

“The letter carrier knows about it himself,” the fat man said.

“You are a letter carrier,” the Royal Teacher Liang said. “Are you prepared for inevitable death?”

The fat man didn’t show any fear. “We can always write on the other side of the writing paper; so there is no need to tear it up at once.”

The Royal Teacher Liang laughed out, as he said, “Wasting some writing paper is nothing for such an important matter. When you return, you will end up being torn up.”

“Maybe,” the fat man said after some thought.

The Royal Teacher Liang took a step and got closer to him, asking, “Are you willing to?”

“Twenty years ago I was sick and couldn’t find any medicine to treat it. And it was hard to get help from the Cloud-Dream Mountain; Moqiu was too far away. When I was on the brink of dying, the magic pill was awarded to me by my superior; as a result, I survived the sickness.”

The fat man continued, “I and my family have been living a comfortable life over the years. Had I died, I would have gained so much already before my death. Why am I not willing to?”

“I can let you live a better life,” the Royal Teacher Liang said.

The fat man said with a small smile, “One must believe in it out of their own will. Goodbye.”

…

…

Lu Ming had left Zhaoge City and stayed outside for almost three years. It was still not decided whether he should come back to become an official in the imperial court or should go to Green Mountain to evade the potential troubles.

State Duke Lu sat in the room while holding a cup of tea, looking at the spring scene outside the window. He thought of his son’s recent situation every once in a while, but he spent more time thinking about another matter.

It was normal business in Taichang Temple. Every few days a prisoner would be brought here in the carriage covered by the black cloth, and to that sunless place.

It wasn’t until this day that nobody could escape from the Fiend Prison, and not even a corpse had ever been brought out from it.

What was the situation with Jing Jiu?

…

…

The second prince grew older by two years.

The things Gu Qing taught him had extended from the books to the Cultivation.

However, Jing Yao was the blood of the Emperor, and he also had the inheritance of the vixen; so his Cultivation had more troubles than Gu Qing had anticipated.

Gu Qing was not sure how to proceed with the training, so he went to Royal Concubine Hu to ask for her opinion. Unexpectedly, she didn’t have a clue about it.

Though Royal Concubine Hu had a fairly high Cultivation state, it was merely an inborn state.

Before being blessed by the Young Zen Master, she was extremely naïve and clueless. If Zhu Gui and Zhu Jie hadn’t rescued her, she would have been dead a long time ago, so she didn’t know how a vixen should cultivate.

Seeing the angry and embarrassed expression on Royal Concubine Hu’s face, Gu Qing sighed inside, thinking that he had even advised Xiao He to learn from her; that was a ridiculous idea.

Gu Qing suddenly had an idea. He sent a letter that was originally intended to send to Shenmo Peak to ask for help from Senior Master Zhao to the Fruit Formation Temple via the secretive channel of the Gu Clan.

…

…

In the Fruit Formation Temple, Liu Shisui received Gu Qing’s letter. He was surprised and also glad to receive it. He handed it over to Xiao He after having read it. But she was angry after reading it, and said, “He is in Zhaoge City teaching the prince, which is a respectful and admirable job. And we are, on the other hand, growing the vegetables at a monk temple. Now the contented one asks us, the discounted ones, for help. Later on, who would get the credits if it were really helpful?”

Liu Shisui knew that she had been staying here for too long and felt bored; so she complained a little. He let out a smile and left the room.

As expected, Xiao He took out a new piece of writing paper to start answering Gu Qing’s questions after having expressed her complaint.

She was well aware that Shenmo Peak would be Gu Qing’s in the future, no matter what Liu Shisui would become.

Liu Shisui left the vegetable garden and went to the front temple to lend a helping hand.

He had learned in the winter two years ago that many sick people would come to Moqiu from all places of Chaotian to ask the monks of the Fruit Formation Temple to treat them.

Since the number of monks at the Fruit Formation Temple was limited, they had been working really hard. By and large, they didn’t have time even to rest.

It was a tragic fact that many of the sick had often died before they could reach the yellow walls of the Fruit Formation Temple.

“Dying on the way to Moqiu” had already become a saying in the mortal world.

Fortunately, there were many monks in the temple good at performing the funeral service, in addition to the doctor monks.

At least, those dead could listen to the Rebirth Script on their way to the other world.

The monks in the Justice Hall didn’t treat the sick or perform the funeral service. They were responsible for explaining the scripts and carrying out the rules.

In other words, these monks focused solely on studying and cultivating in order to find the path toward heaven and uphold the temple rules. As such, they had a higher status at the Fruit Formation Temple, and nobody dared bother them.

Yin San took a fancy to the quiet environment; but the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect had just come out from the underground not so long ago, so he felt a bit lonely sometimes.

As a result, he went to the kitchen of the front temple every morning to eat the breakfast, and meanwhile to listen to the quarrels between that fat monk and the other monks.

He and the fat monk had become acquainted over the years.

One morning, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect gave a paper bag to the fat monk unnoticeably.

As the fat monk opened the bag, he found it was a delicious barbecued dog leg. His saliva had almost flowed out of his mouth, thanking the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect many times.

“I’m good at cooking the dog leg.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect patted his shoulder with a smile, turned around and left.