The Path Toward Heaven

The Dark Phoenix turned around and looked at him, feeling baffled.

“In all honestly, from the standpoint of Cultivation practitioners, my idea is sensible; but why don’t I have that many supporters? Is it because they all fear the unknown? No, it’s because they have known too much,” said Yin San as he pulled back his gaze and looked at the distant Liu Clan Hall. “The Cultivation practitioners who can’t ascend will try their best to leave some descendants behind; even the two of my favorite disciples had done so. How can they bear seeing me kill the members of their clans and their own descendants?”

“It’s a normal reaction,” said the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect while scratching his head.

Yin San glanced at him before asking, “What about you?”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect only had a few decades left in his lifetime, but he didn’t have any descendant and had no intention having any. “I heard that little boy Su Ziye has done pretty well in the west,” he remarked.

The Dark Phoenix said in a mocking tone, “I can’t believe that you have pinned your hope on a disciple who betrayed you.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect said after letting out a sneer, “You’re only a bird; how can you understand the meaning of inheritance for humans?”

Yin San smiled and continued, “The ancestor of the Liu Clan was the younger brother of Liu Ci. They were in this small village because Liu Ci intended to find a safe place for them to survive and sustain. Unexpectedly, the clan produced Liu Shisui. After Liu Ci’s death, no one took care of the clan anymore, and it has declined to such a sorry condition. In comparison, the Yuan Clan in Lelong County is doing much better.”

Listening to the noise in the Clan Hall, the Dark Phoenix shook his head in disdain, commenting, “I don’t know whether their lives have any meaning.”

Yin San said, “Living such a mundane life is really meaningless and useless for these mortals.”

Having said this, he bent down and picked up a pebble from the ground, and flicked it out.

The doors of the farmhouses were all closed and bolted.

The pebble hit a door, giving off a light “pah”.

A “flower” appeared on the door, a result of the wood splinters.

The pebble broke through the door and traveled forward under the night sky. It met the tree by the pond.

Jing Jiu had lain here many years ago and also taught Liu Shisui the breathing method of the Green Mountain Sect.

Pah!!!

The bark of the tree ruptured and the wood chips flew in all directions; a small hole was visible in the tree.

The pebble kept traveling forward.

It flew over the rice fields that were cut as sparsely as the hair on the head of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

The pebble flew through the forest that was as cluttered as the Dark Phoenix’s tail.

It hit the plaque of the Clan Hall and made a small hole on it.

It passed through the crying widower whose clothes were in tatters and was almost naked.

It passed through those who were gazing at her body, both righteously and wickedly.

The pebble passed through the body of that hired farmer lying in a pool of blood and on the verge of not breathing.

The pebble arrived at the highest spot of the Clan Hall.

There was a master chair there.

The grand master of the Liu Clan was sitting in the chair.

Pah!!!

A bloody hole appeared in the center of the Master Liu’s brows.

The fresh blood began to drip down.

He was falling backwards slowly.

…

…

Yin San squatted on the top of the ash tree in Shangzhou and threw the pebbles at the mice all day, pockets full of pebbles; but he hadn’t killed a single mouse. It was because he had no intention of doing that.

He was pretty good at killing others. As for whether he was willing to do so or not, it depended on his mood at the time.

Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!

The pebbles kept flying, and the wooden doors had countless small holes. And countless white flashes were seen throughout the village in the darkness of the night.

No horrified screams were heard, save for the surprised cries and frantic running footsteps. The chaos had gradually abated and eventually stopped.

Many people were lying in the pools of blood inside the Liu Clan Hall and in various courtyards.

Yin San clapped his hands a few times, and looked at the night sky in the distance again.

The nine peaks of Green Mountain were located there.

Shangde Peak was the third peak; so he called himself Yin San, in which “San” meant “three”.

Shenmo Peak was the ninth peak; so that person called himself Jing Jiu, in which “Jiu” meant “nine”.

This was a new life.

That person waded into a new river.

But he shouldn’t do the same.

It was because he was not Yin San.

He was that big river, flowing unstoppably to the east. All were doomed, whether they were for him or against him.

“Let’s go,” he said softly.

The Dark Phoenix didn’t dare fly when he was near Green Mountain. He stayed on the ground and trotted forward swiftly like a salamander.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect bent down and let Yin San get onto his back.

Green Mountain was on the other side.

And they were heading toward the opposite side.

He didn’t spin his head around.

It was from this moment on that he was not Yin San anymore.

He was the Immortal Taiping.

…

…

Liu Shisui came to the village as soon as he could after he heard of the news a few days later.

Whoosh!!!

The Lone Sword landed on his wrist after turning into a flash of bright light and transformed into the sword bracelet; it was quivering slightly to express its uneasiness.

It had been a few days after the massacre; but the bloody scent was still filling the air in the village. Fortunately, the disciples of Green Mountain arrived quickly avoid the consequence of rotten corpses.

Hundreds of corpses were piled up in the rice field, including men and women, the old and the young, each with a bloody hole in the center of their eyebrows. It was a dreadful scene.

Everybody was driven away, including the Green Mountain disciples, the public servants of the local government, and the officials of the Pure Heaven Bureau.

Zhao Layue squatted in front of those corpses, inspecting them.

Liu Shisui came up behind her, clenching his hands into two tight fists. “Can we still catch up to them?” he asked.

He hadn’t come back to the small village and seen these members of his clan since his parents died.

Though some of them might deserve death, those children were clearly innocent.

“It’s useless even if we can catch up to them,” said Zhao Layue while standing up. “Three figures in the Heavenly Arrival State are traveling together…Unless we employ the Sword Formation of Green Mountain, there is no way for us to kill them.”

Liu Shisui said after a moment of silence, “I hope they won’t age too fast and die early.”

“I don’t understand why they wanted to reveal their whereabouts near Green Mountain,” said Zhao Layue. “Is it because he tried to vent his frustration for what happened to Fang Jingtian? Or, is it because he hates the Immortal Liu Ci that much?”

“Neither,” said Liu Shisui while looking at the corpses in the rice field. “This is a challenge letter to my Young Master.”

…

…

The autumn wind arrived, and it was getting colder. Chaotian was welcoming another winter.

The news of what had happened to Green Mountain spread throughout Chaotian very quickly. They had learned that Fang Jingtian had been defeated by Jing Jiu and of the massacre in that small village. It was not until now that the practitioners of the Cultivation world and the young disciples of the Green Mountain Sect had finally understood why their masters felt so alarmed whenever the name of the Immortal Taiping was mentioned, and why they desired nothing but to kill him.

This grandmaster was truly crazy.

Nothing of this sort had happened in the ensuing days. The Immortal Taiping, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect and the Dark Phoenix had disappeared again, and the whole of Chaotian seemed to be in peace for a while. However, both the imperial court and the Cultivation sects could sense a foreboding intent in the autumn wind. Even the King of Fire Carps at the bottom of the Cold Mountain was immensely alarmed; he didn’t feel relieved until he swam in the river of lava all the way to the huge transparent wall dividing the human world from the Underworld.

The alarming sensation of such an ominous intent stemmed from a murderous energy hidden in the peaceful atmosphere.

It was the sensation one would feel before a rainstorm, before dawn…or before the destruction of the world.

Everybody was aware of what the Immortal Taiping would do; but they had no idea where he was at the moment or what he was doing.

The Green Mountain Sect sent out many disciples of Liangwang Peak to search along the banks of the Muddy River. As for the order that none of them be allowed to go out of the mountains before breaking through the Broken Sea State, Gu Han opted to ignore it. For some reason, Jing Jiu chose to pay no attention to it.

In the Battle of Zhaoge City one hundred years ago, the imperial court, the Curtain Rollers, and the Old Ones chose to cooperate with each other inadvertently. After that, a truce seemed to prevail on the surface; but this time even the superficial peace was hard to maintain.

The Curtain Rollers, requested by Gu Qing, had collected the files in secret over the past hundred years. This time they cooperated with the Pure Heaven Bureau and carried out another purge. Many members of the Old Ones hidden in the ministries of the imperial court and various Cultivation sects were revealed.

Many battles took place almost at the same time in the darkness of the night from Zhaoge City, the Fruit Formation Temple, and the Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor all the way to Yizhou. A great many people had died, all unnoticed.

However, the whereabouts of the Immortal Taiping were not discerned. He seemed to have vanished into thin air without a trace.

It was spring when winter was over. The Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor experienced a strong wind.

Instead of staying away from the strong wind, many Cultivation practitioners and the representatives of the imperial court opted to travel against the wind; they went to the One-Cottage House one after the other.

Jing Jiu had told Liu Shisui in Zhaoge City that Bu Qiuxiao would have something virtuous happening to him.

It was that he was about to become a Saint.