The Path Toward Heaven

The air that was fresher than spring and purer than the authentic wine was none other than the fairy energy.

Most of the fairy energy was instilled into Guo Dong’s body, and the rest scattered to the outside of the isolated room.

All the flowering trees in the nunnery started blossoming, and all the koi carps in the lake started flipping joyfully.

The Great Formation of the Water-Moon Nunnery was activated. A piece of light silk about three hundred square feet in size was fluttering in the air, resembling a huge handkerchief. If He Zhan could witness this scene, he would be reminded of his Huanxi Silk, but this formation was much more powerful than his Huanxi Silk.

The fairy energy was so pure that the Great Formation couldn’t even completely prevent it from leaking out.

The hills around the Water-Moon Nunnery turned green, and the buds of the wild flowers poked their heads through the soil and started blooming. The same process extended to the distance at a high speed; it seemed that a true divine phenomenon was occurring in heaven and earth.

As the fairy energy reached the edge of the Heavenly Well ten miles away, it grew too faint to perceive, and yet it still easily aroused the amulet scripts etched into the surrounding cliff walls, creating a golden glow and increasing their power hundreds of times over. Countless sounds of faint, dreadful screams and burning could be heard in the bottomless, gloomy well.

The dark spirits and devils in the Heavenly Well were wounded or died in great numbers. The sound of their wailing was horrendous, and had gradually faded away, indicating they didn’t dare stay close to the ground to steal a look at the human world anymore.

After a long time, the golden lights in the isolated room at the Water-Moon Nunnery had died down, everything returning to normal condition.

Though Guo Dong was still sleeping deeply with her eyes closed, her face looked not as pale as before; the nice-looking flushes were forming on her cheeks.

Jing Jiu knew that she was out of danger now.

At the bottom of the West Ocean a few years ago, she was hit by the sword of the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean; her meridians were all broken and she was on the verge of dying. Normally, she would have no chance of surviving such a fatal blow, but her volition and mental state were extraordinarily powerful, and she, with the help of Jing Jiu, had held up until now.

The spiritual awareness attached to the Fairy Book of Longevity had been completed tempered, and what was left in it was the purest fairy energy.

With so much fairy energy instilled in her body, she would be cured regardless of how severe her wound was.

Jing Jiu walked out of the isolated room, and bade his farewell to the Nunnery Master.

The Master of Water-Moon Nunnery looked like a young woman, and her thoughts were like those of a young woman.

Seeing him save her Big Sister, she felt grateful; but seeing him leave, she was displeased.

He wanted to leave before her Big Sister woke up, but why?

Was it that he had done something inappropriate, thus making him afraid of seeing her?

Yet, Jing Jiu had no idea what the Nunnery Master was thinking in her mind.

Back when he and Lian Sanyue parted ways, she was still a little girl cultivating quietly in the nunnery; so they didn’t see each other that much.

He didn’t take the small green curtain sedan to leave. He came to the side of the Heavenly Well after leaving the Water-Moon Nunnery.

The amulet scripts were still emitting a faint golden glow; and it was deathly quiet in the cold and gloomy well, devoid of any commotion.

Standing by the cliff’s edge and looking at the bottomless well, he wondered how many more Fairy Books the Center Sect still had.

The Fairy Book had bore down from the sky and suppressed the Underworld Emperor back then. Jing Jiu had used six years and taken innumerable risks to temper this Fairy Book of Longevity; but if the Center Sect would strike with other fairy books, what should the Green Mountain Sect do?

His awareness went to the distant world, which was cold and expansive, and looked at the black Seal of the Underworld Emperor. He predicted that he should be able to deal with another fairy book in three years.

In the Friend Prison, Jing Jiu had learned the Control of Spiritual Soul from the Underworld Emperor, meaning that he had the qualification to employ the Seal of Underworld Emperor. But the problem was that his Cultivation state was still too low at the moment.

Then, he looked at his deformed right hand, thinking that he couldn’t give the Sword of the Universe to Gu Qing yet.

…

…

A gust of wind occurred in the Heavenly Well.

Jing Jiu few up with the wind, reaching the Empty Realm; then, he rode the sword heading toward Green Mountain.

The practitioners in the Free Travel State couldn’t stay in the Empty Ream for too long, but he was the exception. The speed sword riding was of course much faster than that of riding the horse-drawn carriage; and also he traveled on the sword at an amazing speed. As the twilight shone on Green Mountain, Jing Jiu arrived above the nine peaks, and saw the golden thread like Sword-Washing Stream.

The Great Formation of Green Mountain sensed his approaching and parted for him.

Many people saw the sword light. Sensing the sharp energy in the sword light, they were flabbergasted, wondering if it was the Sword of the Universe that had wounded the Unicorn.

Zhuo Rusui returned to Green Mountain a few days ago, and reported to others about what had happened in the grand hall of Xilai Peak.

The Green Mountain disciples all knew what had happened at the Fruit Formation Temple; so their respect and awe toward their young senior master grew substantially.

Seeing the intimidating sword light that seemed to slice through heaven and earth, the disciples all bowed to it in unison.

The sword light landed atop Shenmo Peak.

Gu Qing and Yuan Qü came out and approached Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu tossed the Sword of the Universe to Gu Qing and said, “This is your sword from now on. You get familiarized with it first; but I might have to borrow it for a few more years.”

Gu Qing felt perplexed and uneasy rather than happy, wondering what was going on.

Yuan Qü was envy of his good fortune, and wondered what precious items his own Master would bring back from the Fruit Formation Temple.

At nightfall, a flash of blood red sword light occurred over the horizon. Zhao Layue had come back; but she didn’t bring any unique item from Moqiu.

The Thoughtless Sword was indeed the fastest one on Green Mountain.

Both she and Jing Jiu started from the Fruit Formation Temple, but she was merely half a day behind Jing Jiu.

And of course, Jing Jiu went to the Water-Moon Nunnery on the way and dazed a while by the Heavenly Well.

In the far end of the manor cave.

Looking at his left hand, she was certain that the Fairy Book was not in there anymore; and she then looked at his deformed right arm and asked, “What are you going to do with this?”

“I’ll stay behind closed doors for a few days. I’ll think of something to deal with it.”

Jing Jiu said this in an imperturbable manner; it seemed as if he was talking about something trivial.

But, since he couldn’t think of a way to deal with it, his wound must be very serious.

Monk Duhai had used the Palm of the World in a sacrificial manner to sneak-attack him; as a result, he suffered from an unbearable injury, no matter how unique his body was. If he used the fairy energy in the Fairy Book to treat his own wound after having tempered the fairy awareness, he would be able to recover easily; but he gave all the fairy energy to Guo Dong, and didn’t keep any for himself.

Zhao Layue glanced at him once, turned around and left the manor cave, without saying a word.

Jing Jiu closed his eyes, and started meditating.

He was mulling over things.

Besides his wound and the deformed right arm, he was also thinking of other issues.

He was thinking of the fairy books of the Center Sect, the internal turmoil of the Snowy Kingdom, the intention of his Big Brother, the political situation in Zhaoge City, and the “ghosts” or the moles on Green Mountain.

He had never cared so much about the mortal affairs, because the mortal affairs were irritating. And he didn’t want to get involved in the mortal affairs, because the mortal world was too messy.

He had thought that all he would do after his reincarnation was to cut off all the mortal connections and all the causes-and-effects of his former life. Unexpectedly, he found himself entangled in more and more mortal affairs, instead of less.

This was truly an annoying fact.

He flicked his fingers casually, intending to drive away all the thoughts from his mind and enter the realm of transparent Dao Heart.

It was then that he heard footsteps; he opened his eyes.

The white cat strolled out from the deep part of the manor cave. His paws landed on the ground noiselessly, and the expression in his eyes was complex; he didn’t dare look directly at Jing Jiu’s eyes.

Jing Jiu felt surprised that he didn’t go back to Bihu Peak, but chose to stay here.

The white cat came to his side, raised his paw to bring down Cold Cicada and put it gently on the ground; then the cat meowed twice toward Jing Jiu.

His voice was not dreadful or ear-pleasing, but one could sense a hint of helplessness and regret in that voice.

I’m really old, and I’m truly afraid of death; so I didn’t dare strike at the time.

“Never mind. I’m afraid of death too,” said Jing Jiu, expressing his understanding.

The white cat climbed onto his lap.

Jing Jiu rubbed his head a few times.

…

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