The Path Toward Heaven

He Wei didn’t feel any pain until now. He let out an angry and dreadful scream.

The disciples of the Kunlun Sect realized what had happened by now. They leapt up on their swords hurriedly in an attempt to deploy a sword formation to trap the attacker.

Jing Jiu disappeared from the original spot.

The faint sword light and the white figure brushed past He Wei again.

He Wei screamed terribly again, as his left arm broke off.

The fresh blood was dripping down, wetting the feathers of the Cold-Signal Bird.

Sensing the formidable and ubiquitous sword will in the sky, the Cold-Signal Bird didn’t dare fly away, his eyes full of dread.

He Wei jumped off from the back of the Cold-Signal Bird in excruciating pain and fled to the horizon on his sword.

Crack!!!

His flying sword was cut in half, and he fell down from the sky and dropped onto the ground with a heavy crash. With a flash of sword light, both of his legs were separated from his body.

The sword light vanished again.

Jing Jiu appeared in front of He Wei.

Seeing this scene in the distance, the disciples of the Kunlun Sect guessed his identity and were stunned speechless, thinking that the Immortal Jing Yang was indeed very dreadful.

He Wei’s pale face was full of despair, as he yelled hoarsely, “Don’t…”

He intended to say more, but he didn’t have such an opportunity ever. His head tilted to one side and fell off his shoulders, dropping on the ground and tumbling away.

A thin light ray drifted out of the cavity on He Wei’s shoulders and transformed into a human figure; then he fled to the barren mountain as quickly as he could.

Jing Jiu turned away from the fleeing figure and looked at the sword formation set up by the disciples of the Kunlun Sect, waving his hand a few times.

Dozens of formidable sword wills shot up into the air, destroying the sword formation of the Kunlun Sect like breaking a ceramic ware and cutting bodies of more than ten swordsmen of the Kunlun Sect in half at the same time.

He Wei’s sword ghost fled to the barren mountain.

Zhao Layue was waiting there.

She leapt up into the air and stabbed her finger; a dozen sword lights shot out from her finger and slashed the sword ghost into pieces.

…

…

The members of the Kunlun Sect scattered like birds and animals escaping from a disaster.

Yet, the Cold-Signal Bird was too scared to fly away. He didn’t leave until Jing Jiu shot a glance his way.

Su Ziye got up among the bushes, and bowed to Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu reverently.

Zhao Layue said, “It’s up to you to take care of the ensuing matters.”

Jing Jiu had promised Su Ziye to help him found a new sect; but the endeavor required a spiritual source.

The fire source under the Cold Mountain belonged to the Mysterious Dark Sect before, so it was basically returned to its former owner. Still, the spiritual source in the Kunlun Mountain was much better.

It was definitely impossible for Su Ziye and those former disciples and free-traveling practitioners of the West Ocean to take over the Kunlun Mountain on their own. However, with the help of the Windy-Broadsword Church and the secret support of the imperial court, they would be able to become a serious threat to the Kunlun Sect within a few decades.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the Green Mountain Sect would have to maintain its unique status in Chaotian and was powerful enough to suppress the Center Sect.

After Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue had finished off He Wei, they didn’t leave the Cold Mountain immediately. They went to the underground through the crevice and visited the Fire Carp.

As they came out from the crevice, someone was waiting for them.

The Immortal Tan stood in the midst of the wild grass covering the entire mountain; he looked so natural, as if he were a part of heaven and earth.

He sighed while looking at Jing Jiu, “You’ve killed He Wei, and now you try to steal the divine animal of our sect. Don’t you think you’re being a bit too ruthless?”

“It’s for the benefit of Green Mountain; I have no other choice,” said Jing Jiu.

The Immortal Tan said, “You and I are both the Cultivation practitioners; so you should know that the path toward heaven is invisible. It doesn’t make sense to say that one has no choice.”

“Wiping out your sect is something Yuan Qijing wanted to do the most,” said Jing Jiu. “As his senior master, I have no choice but to help fulfill his wish.”

Hearing this, the Immortal Tan didn’t feel angry, instead calmly saying, “Your sect and mine have competed with each other for thousands of years, but there is no victor. Do you really wish to destroy Cloud-Dream Mountain?”

After Jing Jiu and Nan Wang reached the Heavenly Arrival State, there were four figures in the Heavenly Arrival State and three Principal Guards at the Green Mountain Sect now, even if Yin San and his cronies were discounted. Furthermore, Green Mountain had many more talented swordsmen; there were eleven of them in the upper state of the Broken Sea and many more in the Broken Sea State.

In comparison, the Center Sect hadn’t produced any outstanding swordsmen in the last one hundred years. The difference between the two sects was obvious. However, what the Immortal Tan said was true; the major orthodox Cultivation sects like the Green Mountain Sect and the Center Sect had profound sources and a great many hidden methods, so it was almost impossible to crush the other side and destroy their mountain gate. A practical swordsman should never take risks. According to the situation in the current Cultivation world the Center Sect should be the one to contemplate taking risks.

The chilly mountain wind blew over the wild grass in midsummer.

The two of them stood one hundred feet apart, staring at each other quietly.

…

…

Nobody knew of the meeting between Jing Jiu and the Immortal Tan at the Cold Mountain.

In the minds of the people on Green Mountain, the Center Sect was in decline; if the sect didn’t have the Immortals Tan and Bai and the Unicorn who were in the upper state of the Heavenly Arrival State and the other two fairy books, they would have surrendered a long time ago.

On the other hand, the Green Mountain Sect had its own problem, one that was quite serious.

As was often stated in the proverbs, the most serious problems were often the internal ones. The camp of the Immortal Jing Yang and the camp of the Immortal Taiping had been competing with each other for more than four hundred years; some people died because of it, and more importantly, the struggle between the two camps used up a great deal of energy inside the sect, which slowed down the progress and development of the Green Mountain Sect.

Fang Jingtian had intended to bring the Immortal Taiping back to Green Mountain, and the Immortal Guangyuan also supported such a move. If they had ignored the objections from the Fruit Formation Temple, the One-Cottage House and other orthodox Cultivation sects as well as the strong opposition inside Green Mountain, they would have done so a long time ago.

Shenmo Peak, Bihu Peak and Tianguang Peak would never accept the return of the Immortal Taiping. Though the young disciples of Liangwang Peak respected Fang Jingtian greatly, they wouldn’t agree to such a suggestion. It was because it had everything to do with their ideals, morality and righteousness.

If Fang Jingtian became the new sect master of Green Mountain, he would be able to change the attitudes of the nine peaks in a few decades; unfortunately, he didn’t have such an opportunity anymore.

Jing Jiu had woken up, and reached the Heavenly Arrival State after the long sleep.

He had wounded the Immortal Taiping severely in Zhaoge City, and drove away the Dark Phoenix and the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

After that, he went to the Cold Mountain and killed the sect master of the Kunlun Sect, He Wei, in front of the elders and disciples of the Kunlun Sect and many practitioners of some small sects.

The whole of Chaotian was shocked. How powerful was Jing Jiu now? Was he as powerful as the Immortals Tan and Bai and the Immortal Liu Ci? Or had he recovered the original prowess of the Immortal Jing Yang?

The conjectures of this sort helped change many things, or rather, the attitudes of many people had been changed because of these thoughts. For instance, fewer people at the Green Mountain Sect believed what Fang Jingtian had said and thought Jing Jiu was the All in One Sword devil; and Cloudy Town was suddenly visited by more people and became crowded again.

…

…

Cloudy Town was renowned for its beautiful sceneries, and was not far from Green Mountain. As such, many visitors usually came to the town every day. However, the town had never been as crowded as it was recently. The Cultivation practitioners could be seen everywhere on the streets of the town. The elderly residents of the town could still remember the stories told by their parents and grandparents, and couldn’t help but shake their heads, wondering if a chaos would fall upon the town again. Fortunately, the Green Mountain Sect was more formidable than it had been back then, even though Yuan Qijing had departed. The Cultivation practitioners lived much longer than those mortals, so they remembered clearly that this was not a place where they could do whatever they wanted to; so they all behaved themselves.

Jing Jiu had slept in Zhaoge City for one hundred years, and nobody resided in the Scenery Garden during the period. It had been very quiet and desolate since no one visited the garden. However, it was like a public market outside the Scenery Garden again. Some practitioners were meditating by the stream; some practicing the sword work of their own sects; and some bowing their heads to the ground incessantly. But nobody dared to wield a sword because they still remembered that one of their colleagues died after being struck by a lightning.

One early morning, a few sword lights suddenly illuminated the sky; soon after, the fog shrouding the Scenery Garden dissipated a bit, and a waft of green smoke came out from the garden.

A practitioner shouted excitedly, “Look, the spirit of the Grandmaster Jing Yang has shown up!”

Because of this, the speaker was dragged away from the site and beaten by a group of practitioners. They thought he had made an inappropriate remark.

The green smoke was the steam fog rather than real smoke, and had such a color when the tripe, parsley and pepper were boiled together.

Besides Gu Qing and Liu Shisui, everyone else who should be here had arrived.

The group sat around the hotpot pot; but the atmosphere was not very pleasant. It was actually tense. It seemed that Zhuo Rusui was a bit deranged that day; he scooped up the meat a few times before Zhao Layue, which made Yuan Qü feel very upset.

The Drifter and Ping Yongjia told them briefly about what they had done in the Underworld, but they found most of the foods prepared by the Gu Clan were gone. So they stopped talking and focused on scooping up the meat and putting them in their bowls.

Tong Yan moved away from his spot after having a few bites, walked to the bank of the stream and started playing chess with himself.

Lying on the bamboo chair, Jing Jiu reflected on something while gazing at the flowing clouds in the sky.

Suddenly, he stood up.

Whoosh!!!

The steam fog was rustled by a gust of gentle wind.

Jing Jiu flew up to the high sky after passing through those flowing clouds, became a tiny dark speck, then disappeared out of sight.

Zhuo Rusui and Yuan Qü looked up at the sky with their jaws dropped and the bowls in their hands, wondering what had just happened.

Zhao Layue was busy scooping the meats with her head lowered. The Drifter was giving advice to her on the side, “The intestine is ready! Pick up this one!”

Ping Yongjia was both nervous and excited, yelling, “My Master has ascended again!”

Crack!!!

Countless bolts of lightning struck down from the sky, extending many miles long; the scene looked like a gigantic sword light.

These bolts of lightning were immensely bright; when they shone on the chessboard, even the black pieces seemed to look like the white ones.

Tong Yan picked up a piece with three of his fingers and was about to put it on the board, but his hand suddenly halted in midair. “It’s indeed useless,” said he lightly after a while.

The difference between the black and white pieces was indiscernible under the bright light, and the scheming and calculating was useless when facing an insurmountable foe.

Tong Yan placed the piece back in the urn, and picked up all the pieces on the board and put them all in the urn. “I need to take a stroll outside,” he got up and said to the others.

Zhuo Rusui and the others waved their hands casually to Tong Yan while staring at the bolts of lightning in the high sky.

They came back to their senses only after Tong Yan had left the Scenery Garden for a while. They eyed each other, wondering why he had left.

The lightning in the high sky had abated, and the thunderous boom was replaced by the croaking of the frogs in the stream.

Jing Jiu came back to the courtyard, the blue electric bolts still encircling his body.

Nobody knew what he had done, and no one dared to ask.

It was then that there was a loud knock on the gate of the Scenery Garden. The booming sound made the water in the stream ripple slightly and the frogs stop croaking.

It was easy to guess the identity of the visitor because few people could behave so brazenly and impolitely. Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui exchanged a look and left the courtyard after setting down their bowls and chopsticks hastily.

The Drifter glided onto Yuan Qü’s shoulder and slapped his head. He realized what was going on and hastened to make his way to the outside; but his sleeve was grabbed by Ping Yongjia.

He pleaded while staring at Yuan Qü with a pitiful look, “Big Brother, could you please open the door?”

Yuan Qü exclaimed angrily, “I’ve learned the Seven-Plum Sword style of Xilai Peak; and I’d open the door if it were Fang Jingtian visiting. But you’ve learned the Endless Sword style of Qingrong Peak; how can you shun your responsibility?!”