The Path Toward Heaven

“Are you sure the position is correct?” Yin San asked as he turned toward the Great

Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

Sweeping through his sparse hair with his hand, the Great Grandmaster of the

Mysterious Dark Sect said sentimentally, “We were the neighbors to begin with, and I

had hid here under the ground for so many years. I’m sure I’m not mistaken.”

Having said this, he reached out his short and thick finger and stabbed at the air a few

times.

Countless light specks emerged from his finger, forming an exceedingly complicated

three-dimensional map that then reflected in the eyes of the Dark Phoenix.

Yin San had a different body from Jing Jiu’s, and his body was more vigorous; on the

other hand, his body was more susceptible to mishaps, like being set ablaze easily. As

such, Yin San couldn’t enter the underground and reach the river of lava, and the Great

Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect would be detected by the Sword Formation of

Green Mountain if he were away from Yin San for too long, so he couldn’t go there

either. The Dark Phoenix was the only one who could deal with this matter.

The Dark Phoenix flew up by flapping his wings, heading toward the crack in the ground

cut by Liu Ci as he disappeared.

Yin San strolled slowly to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the bottom of the

crack, his eyes full of childish curiosity and interest.

He still acted like a youth, but his body had been getting old and was deteriorating.

Looking at his back, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was quite

worried.

Two years had passed. The Immortal couldn’t even fly now, save for sitting in a

carriage. How long could he last like this?

The First Child Sword had been sent to the Royal Palace of Zhaoge City; so the

Immortal would have a hard time turning his body into a sword body. But why did he

take such a big risk coming to the Cold Mountain?

What was the significance of the scales of a fire carp?

The Magic Army of the imperial court and the Windy-Broadsword Church hadn’t

stopped cleaning up the remaining deviant practitioners here, not to mention that White

Town was on the other side of the mountain. What if they were discovered by Cao

Yuan?

Thinking of the other objects he had prepared for the Immortal over last two years, the

Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect felt even more at a loss.

A quake was felt from beneath the ground, and a squeaking sound came from the

horse-drawn carriage, with small pebbles being tossed about everywhere.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect knew it had begun.

…

…

It was not dark in the deep part of the underground, with the glows of scarlet and

crimson colors showing everywhere, some of which were even a bit bright.

The quietness of the lava river was disturbed. The scorching hot and ferocious lava

tumbled up and down, splashing in all directions. They made sizzling noises when they

hit the cliff walls.

The huge fire carp was swimming in the river of lava at a high speed. He wagged his tail

frequently as he flung the lava outwards as his weapons. He seemed furious.

The Dark Phoenix was flying back and forth above the river of lava at a fast speed; he

would strike with his sharp claws like a flash of lightning which would bring out countless

tinier bolts of lightning.

As a Principal Guard of Green Mountain who had the same Cultivation state as the

White Ghost, the Dark Phoenix’s claws were as sharp as the flying swords of those

practitioners in the Broken Sea State. They were exceedingly formidable in terms of

sharpness and lethal consequence.

The Fire Carp was diving now and float then in the lava, trying his best to evade the

Dark Phoenix’s attacks. Yet many white marks could be seen on his body.

Fortunately, the scales on his body were strong enough to prevent his body from being

truly damaged.

As a divine animal of the Center Sect in waiting, he had never been treated so rudely

save for the time when he was threatened by Jing Jiu. The Fire Carp was so furious that

he wanted to drag his opponent into the lava and burn him to death, then eat him one

bite at a time…However, this strange bird was too swift, and his attacks were too

powerful; so he was not an equal of this bird.

A bird and a fish were chasing each other toward the upstream of the lava river. The

lava would pop up like the fireworks on the surface of the river from time to time.

After a long while, the Fire Carp was forced to the end of the lava river, which was the

huge transparent wall dividing the human world and the Underworld.

The Fire Carp’s head came up to the surface of the lava river, and he looked at the Dark

Phoenix cautiously, a hint of hatred glistening in his eyes. Yet, he was ready to dive

down at any moment. “Who the heck are you?” he shouted. “You started attacking me

without exchanging a word. You shouldn’t think that you can move faster. Provoke me,

and I’ll use my magic and turn the lava upside down, burning you into a barbecued

chicken.”

The Dark Phoenix had also suffered some burning wounds. He lifted up his right claw

and licked it, and he appeared quite wicked. “You can give it a try, if you so wish,” he

said.

After a curse, the Fire Carp said, “I’ll try it for sure now!”

The Dark Phoenix put down his right claw, and said icily, “Even if you filled the

underground with lava, I could dig a tunnel and hide in it first. When you can’t hold up

any longer and the lava drops down, I’ll come out and scratch you. No, actually I’ll just

peck your eyes out.”

The Fire Carp’s heart skipped a beat, as he wondered how painful that would be. But, if

he swam with his eyes closed, it would be still quite painful if he bumped into a rock. “In

that case, I’ll just stay under the lava the whole time,” he quickly retorted.

“You can choose not to come out in a thousand years,” said the Dark Phoenix. “I’ll

simply wait here for you in one thousand years. But, you should be clear about this;

you’re a fish and I’m a bird. You are, by nature, not my equal.”

As the Fire Carp was about to argue that it was not true that all fish was not a match for

birds, he suddenly found something peculiar, yelling in surprise, “My goodness! You can

speak!”

“What’s wrong?” The Dark Phoenix felt it preposterous, since he had already spoken so

many words.

“I can speak too!” the Fire Carp said excitedly. “Look, the divine animals in Chaotian are

quite limited in number, and those who can speak are even fewer. It’s lucky for us to

meet today. There is no point in us fighting each other to death; we can talk things

over.”

As he spoke, his fish mouth kept on opening up and contracting like a ring, looking

rather adorable.

The Dark Phoenix thought that what the Immortal said was indeed sensible. But he had

his own style of action: To beat his opponent to submission first. “What is wrong with me

teaching someone of later generation a lesson?” he lectured the Fire Carp.

The Fire Carp protested, “Are you the Unicorn? Are you the Round Turtle? If you’re not,

you are definitely not as old as I am; so you shouldn’t pretend to be my senior.”

The Dark Phoenix was taken aback, thinking that he was not as old as this carp in terms

of age. He felt a bit mortified, and took a step forward.

The Fire Carp sank down into the lava a bit, as he said hastily, “Brother, we can always

talk things over no matter what the matter is. Just tell me what you want…as long as it

won’t kill me.”

“Didn’t you think you were my senior? Why did you call me your brother?” the Dark

Phoenix snapped.

The Fire Carp explained earnestly, “The capable is the master and the achieved is the

senior. This king knows this simple principle…What on earth do you want? I don’t have

any treasures.”

“Don’t worry,” said the Dark Phoenix. “It won’t endanger your life. All I want is two of

your scales.”

The Fire Carp became furious instantly after hearing this request. “The scales are in our

bodies; they are not something in a bag. How can I give them to you?” he exclaimed

angrily. “Isn’t it painful to yank them off my body? You can speak human language;

don’t you have any human sensibility? Would you want me to pull out some of your

feathers from your body?”

“I’m a bird and you’re a fish. Why do you speak of the human sensibility?” The Dark

Phoenix thought this guy was a bit ridiculous, as he continued, “As for the feathers, I’ll

pull out some of them. Though it’s painful to do so, it’s worth it if it helps me achieve

something significant.”

The Fire Carp realized that he had no way to escape from his menacing claws; so he

demanded pitifully, “Brother, what kind of a bird are you?!”

The question had a hidden intent of revenge. As long as he knew who his opponent

was, he would be able to ask the Center Sect to avenge him.

“I’m the Principal Guard of Green Mountain. You can call me the Devil Rooster,” the

Dark Phoenix said.

The Fire Carp was dumfounded, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to have his revenge

after all. As such, he felt rather upset and irritated, wondering why those of the Green

Mountain Sect acted the same way.

…

…

More than a dozen of the deviant sects of various sizes were affected during the

destruction of the Mysterious Dark Sect. Many magic treasures and method instructions

were left behind on this patch of barren land after the turmoil.

Even though the imperial court and the Windy-Broadsword Church kept a close watch

on the Cold Mountain, some bold free-traveling and deviant practitioners couldn’t help

but risk coming here in hopes of finding something valuable.

The horse-drawn carriage was a rarely seen device in this area; it was attracting the

Cultivation practitioners like a flame would a moth.

Those practitioners had become corpses on the ground now. They had died noiseless

deaths before they could employ their magic treasures and magic wares to protect

themselves.

They didn’t expect to encounter in this place a senior master of extremely high status

among the deviant sects, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

He waved his sleeve, setting those corpses ablaze instantly. Then they were thrown into

the crack in the ground by an invisible force.

The Dark Phoenix flew out from the crack while flapping his wings. He tossed two

scales the size of a large mirror to the front of the carriage. “Are you going to knock me

down again?” he exclaimed to the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect in

disdain.

He was a Principal Guar of Green Mountain; it was natural that the Dark Phoenix had a

poor opinion of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, a hidden

swordsman.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect laughed twice and didn’t argue

with the Dark Phoenix.

The Dark Phoenix didn’t pay further attention to him, and turned toward Yin San, saying,

“This Fire Carp is quite formidable. It’s fortunate that he hasn’t yet reached adulthood;

otherwise, I might not have been able to defeat him.”

Yin San’s line of sight fell on his burning wounds, as he said, “Thank you for your hard

work.”

The Dark Phoenix replied, “I only hope that the you, Immortal, won’t forget your promise

you made to me back then.”

And the promise was this: The rooster and dog will ascend with him.

The reason the Dark Phoenix mentioned this was because he would pay a steep price

for the cause itself, much more than a few burning wounds.

Yin San said, “Like I said, I won’t ascend if you two can’t come with me.”

“We’ve already have the bone marrow of the Old Dragon, the cartilage of the Flying

Whale, the scales of the Fire Carp. What else do we need?” asked the Dark Phoenix.

Some members of the Old Ones must still be in the imperial court, so it wouldn’t be

difficult for Yin San to obtain something from the Fiend Prison.

The Flying Whale was the divine animal of the Center Sect Sword Sect, and its corpse

was the property of Green Mountain. Someone must have given that part of the whale

to him willingly.

It didn’t take too much effort to procure the scales of the Fire Carp other than some

convincing.

Yin San said, “We need to go to the Thousand-Mile Windy Corridor to pick some lotus

flowers.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect finally understood.

The question he had over the last two years had eventually been answered.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect felt even a bit shocked after this

realization, even though he had extensive experiences and knowledge. “Immortal…are

you going to go through the total transformation?” he asked in a trembling voice.

Yin San uttered “hmm”, his expression calm and composed.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect asked again in surprise, “Isn’t the

total transformation…a mere rumor?”

The ultimate goal of Cultivation was to ascend through total transformation.

In the minds of regular people, the total transformation and ascension were the same

thing; in reality, they were two completely different things.

Ascension was to ascend, while total transformation meant to transform.

Since ancient times, those who had successfully ascended were rare, but there were a

few who had done it nevertheless.

But, nobody had seen or even heard of someone who had experienced total

transformation.

The total transformation was more of a legend or fairytale.

“When I have successfully done it, the legend or fairytale will come true as a result.”

Yin San went on lightly, “I had read an ancient book back then, one that spoke of total

transformation and the pertinent recordings regarding it. Yet it wasn’t detailed enough. I

have attempted to complement the rest over the years, but I’m not very successful in

this endeavor. I’m not sure that I can succeed; but I have no choice but to take risks and

give it a try since I’m in such a condition now.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect calmed down now. Thinking of the

lotus flower as the last ingredient among all the others, he suddenly understood more of

Yin San’s plan.

The lotus flower represented revival or reincarnation in the Zen sects.

It looked like the Immortal was to use the Buddhist methods to supplement the

deficiency in the Dao methods; in other words, he was to use the Buddhist methods to

correct the mistakes in the Dao methods.

To say nothing of whether he would succeed, it would be an outstanding deed just to try

to cultivate the total transformation, and it was a laudable adventure just to achieve the

Dao through Buddhist methods.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect feared Taiping and Jing Yang the

most in his life, but he wasn’t so impressed by their prowess. It wasn’t until this moment

that he was utterly impressed.

He bowed to Yin San in reverence and sincerely this time.

Yin San received his salute matter-of-factly.

There was no difference between the orthodox and deviant Cultivation at this very

moment, not even the utilizing and scheming involved in this behavior. It merely

manifested the reverence a Cultivation practitioner had for Cultivation itself.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect suddenly thought of the rumored

information, asking, “Since the rosefinch is extinct, where are we going to find its

feather?”

The feathers were needed for the total transformation.

The rosefinches hailed from the natural fire; so a power of revival existed in its blood.

The Dark Phoenix flew up onto the top of the carriage, claiming, “Use mine, of course.”