The Path Toward Heaven

As the small red bird was flying against the wind in the Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor, an old man with sparse hair and red nose was on his way to the Fruit Formation Temple, or in other words, he was returning to the Fruit Formation Temple.

The Young Zen Master was in the snowland, and the old Chief Monk had passed away. The one thing that could suppress the highly achieved swordsman of the deviant sects was the Great Formation of the mountain gate.

For some reason, this formation had no effect on this old man like it had one hundred years ago.

The ugly and easily recognizable old man was the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect.

He entered from the back door of the Fruit Formation Temple with ease and found the kitchen where he had cooked for many years. He opened a food container hiding in a secret spot and took out a boiled and still warm pig leg. After taking a bite of the pig leg, he mumbled, “We can only hide in this sort of place after so many years.”

In the next moment, the look suddenly changed on his face. He spat out a broken tooth gingerly, a sad expression showing in his eyes. He lost the appetite for food and put the pig leg back to the food container. “Don’t laugh,” he said to the old monk who was looking at him with a smile.

The old monk said with a faint smile, “The Chief Monk always said that we should view the matters in the world with a smiling face. I’m used to doing that.”

“Though this sort of thing has happened many times already, I’m still not used to it.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect ran his greasy fingers over his sparse hair as he asked the old monk, “Are you, the Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall, his man?”

“Back when I joined the temple, I had learned the scripts from the Chief Monk,” the Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall replied with a faint smile.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect sat down on the floor and used his fingers to count, “You’re one, and the former Chief Master of the Justice Hall was another. I’m sure there are many more. As such, this Fruit Formation Temple is basically his; why does he still go through so much trouble?”

The Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall sighed, “The disciples are in the low Cultivation states and incapable of helping the Chief Monk.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect disagreed with him, “Though your Cultivation state is much lower than mine, not even one-hundredth of my state, you’re a formidable figure at the Fruit Formation Temple.”

“I’m not as powerful as the Young Zen Master, and far from a match for Cao Yuan,” said the Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect suddenly changed the topic, “Are you ready for the task?”

“I haven’t done a good job in learning the Buddhist scripts during my lifetime and I’m in a low Cultivation state, but I’ve spent all my time studying the Amulet Formation.”

The Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall continued with a faint smile, “Nobody in the world is more familiar with the Amulet Formation by the Heavenly Well than I am.”

“What are we waiting for then?” exclaimed the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect while rubbing his red nose. “Let’s go.”

The sea wind was blowing his sparse hair and the bald top of his head. The two of them arrived at the seashore of the East Ocean and stood by the enormously gloomy Heavenly Well.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect looked down at the darkness below before saying expressionlessly, “This Amulet Formation is so powerful; are you sure you can dismantle it?”

“Like I said, I’ve spent my whole life studying how to dismantle this formation,” said the Chief Master of the Script Instruction Hall. “But many parts of this Amulet Formation were set up by the Water-Moon Nunnery, and that I can’t dismantle.”

As soon as he finished the sentence, an old nun of the Water-Moon Nunnery walked out from behind the rocks on the cliff. She said expressionlessly while staring at the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, “After dismantling this Amulet Formation, you will use your demonic magic and break through the thirty-three barriers in the Heavenly Well at the bottom of the sea. You should know what will happen by then. Are you sure you’re determined to do it?”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect returned with a laugh, “I enjoy hearing the likes of the orthodox swordsmen accusing me, a grandmaster of the deviant sects, of being not relentless enough.”

…

…

The wind from the Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor…

The sea water from the East Ocean…

What else was needed?

These two places were the most important passages leading to the Underworld from Chaotian.

Yet, when it came to the passages, the most famous was the one in the deep part of the ocean, where there was a huge whirlpool, called the Secret Realm of Singing Spring.

The Thunder-Soul Wood of the Green Mountain Sect hailed from there.

One early morning in the beginning of winter, a shrieking bird cry louder than the sound of falling water reached far and wide over the ocean.

After a long while, the peaceful surface of the sea suddenly developed a bulge; many huge dark figures could be vaguely seen under the sea water.

In the next moment, countless white water lines appeared on the surface of the ocean.

The dark figures and the white lines were the demons.

Over the years, the Underworld had raised and driven a great many demons to Chaotian in an effort to cause turmoil.

The demons hidden in the Muddy River had all been killed by the sword of Liu Ci over one hundred years ago, but there were still a large number of demons in the extensive ocean.

Hearing the shriek, all the demons came to the edge of the Huge Whirlpool. They emerged slowly from the water and craned their necks to look at the dark speck in the sky, showing their respect.

The dark speck was actually more like a fine dark line, because the tail of the Dark Phoenix was really long.

He was flying between the Empty Realm and the human world, looking down at the demons on the surface of the ocean with an indifferent expression in his eyes; it was as if he was looking at his subjects as a ruler.

Though he was the Principal Guard of Green Mountain in the Heavenly Arrival State, he still couldn’t control and order these powerful and hideous demons, to say nothing of ordering them to throw themselves into the Huge Whirlpool as sacrifice. The reason he had called these demons here was because his shriek was etched with the marks of the spiritual souls by the Immortal Taiping, and more importantly, because inside his feathers tousled by the Chaotic Wind there were a great many small amulets, feeding the surface of the ocean nonstop.

On the other side of the ocean far away there was a large island, on which there was a high mountain facing the east.

The high mountain was actually a giant.

The Dark Phoenix’s shriek could hardly be heard after it traveled the extensive sea and reached this place, and not even those sensitive spirits couldn’t even hear it. They were still sleeping soundly among the flowers.

The Giant opened his eyes and awakened. He rubbed his eyes a few times while uttering “Aja” in a low grunt.

Was the voice the sound of a mosquito as Jing Yang used to claim? The comment was indeed irritating.

What the Giant didn’t expect was that his casual whisper was like thunder for those spirits in the forest; it was indeed irritating.

As the semitransparent flowers opened up, those spirit soldiers flew out with their spears and bows. They kept reproaching the mountain-like Giant, demonstrating their courage and fearlessness.

…

…

As the clouds and fog dispersed, the Immortal Tan strolled up the stone steps and arrived on the peak top, looking at the sun beyond the ocean of clouds.

It was unclear whether it was because the morning sunlight was too strong or for other reasons that his forehead appeared evidently broader than before, but he still wore the same cotton cloth that he had many years ago.

“Ren Qianzhu has gone to the One-Cottage House.”

The Immortal Bai came to his side and said expressionlessly, “No matter if Bu Qiuxiao becomes the Saint or not, I just hope that he maintains his neutral stance.”

The Immortal Tan was aware that she was under tremendous pressure even though she appeared nonchalant. “Though the flowing clouds are not contending with the wind, the wind on the other hand can’t disperse the clouds either,” he commented.

The Immortal Bai didn’t respond to his comment, but asked, “Are you going to come with me to Green Mountain during their inaugurating ceremony of the sect master?”

Looking at the distant horizon, the Immortal Tan suddenly said, “When I had just joined Cloud-Dream Mountain, you told me something.”

“You will die on the spot where you look at the horizon,” returned the Immortal Bai.

The Immortal Tan pulled back his gaze and asked earnestly while staring at her, “Are you sure you want to go?”

The Immortal Bai said indifferently, “Rest assured. I won’t strike until one of them die first.”

The Immortal Tan sighed, “But it’s the Green Mountain.”

“But we can’t let them grow stronger and stronger unchecked,” said the Immortal Bai.

The Immortal Tan said, “The flowers, grass, plants, spirits, sun and stars grow stronger for a reason. The outside force can’t weaken them.”

The Immortal Bai fell silent for a while. She thought that everything could be weakened as long as the outside force was strong enough, including karma.

The Immortal Tan knew that he had no way to dissuade her. “Even if Taiping or Jing Yang died, how would you deal with the Great Formation of Green Mountain?” he asked.

The Immortal Bai said, “If Taiping is going to fight with Jing Yang, one of the things they will fight for is the Great Formation of Green Mountain; this is our opportunity.”

Suddenly feeling tired, the Immortal Tan said, “We haven’t eaten the food cooked by Little Zao in many years.”

“The food she cooked didn’t taste that good,” said the Immortal Bai.

The Immortal Tan said, “I’ve been to the Three-Thousand Nunnery to see her. I’m not sure when she will wake up.”

“What about you?” the Immortal Bai asked indifferently. “Your talent in Cultivation is much superior to the other colleagues’, even to mine. Why haven’t you managed to make the final step? When will you truly wake up?”

Having said that, she turned around and walked toward the clouds and fog.

The clouds and fog were very deep.

It was hard to tell where she had gone to.

She should be somewhere on Cloud-Dream Mountain, but it seemed as if she had gone to another world.

The shapeless stairs led to an exceedingly high place. The black rocks were hanging quietly in midair, making a seemingly simple but actually very complicated formation.

The Immortal Bai arrived amid the black rocks and waved her sleeve a few times. An enormously pure energy came out and scattered evenly onto those black rocks.

The black rocks began to emit some gloomy and cold glows. If one gazed at them for a prolonged period of time, they might mistake them as a passage leading to an abyss.

Soon after, those black rocks started rotating slowly. The glows twinkled like stars along with the rotating rocks, even though they were far less in number than the stars in the night sky above Chaotian.

Maybe, it was the real starry sky.

A fireball could be vaguely seen in the distance, but strangely enough, it didn’t give off any heat except for some cold intent.

The Immortal Bai knelt down toward the patch of the starry sky, saying, “I, Bai Yuan, greet the ancestor.”