The Path Toward Heaven

Among the Cultivation practitioners in Chaotian, there were many strong swordsmen; but there were only a few who were close to the heaven.

They were Taiping, Jing Yang, Liu Ci, Cao Yuan, Nan Qü and Jian Xilai, and the Cultivation couple of the Center Sect.

Of these swordsmen, the Immortal Bai was the most interesting one; and she was also the most tedious person.

No one had seen her true appearance because she had always been shrouded in the cloud and fog. However, she was not mysterious to anyone. Everybody knew what she was up to; all she wanted to achieve was to contend with Green Mountain. Yet, the Center Sect, during the years under her actual control, couldn’t surpass the Green Mountain Sect no matter how hard she had tried, and she and the Center Sect had been defeated time and again by that pair of brothers, especially during the last hundred years. Though her personal disciple Tong Yan and her daughter had saved her some face in the Battle of the West Ocean, Tong Yan betrayed her, and Bai Zao was in a deep sleep, as if in an abyss, because of her doing…

It happened that the full name of the Immortal Bai was Bai Yuan (a.k.a. abyss for her given name).

Nobody in the Cultivation circle called her by her full name, not even in their minds. It was because they were afraid of her, but mostly because they thought she was not worth the name.

It was more like a joke for an important figure with a high Cultivation state and power since she believed that she could predict everything but hadn’t achieved anything.

Jing Jiu had employed the magic method and later colluded with the Immortal Tan to tear apart that patch of cloud and fog.

Everyone thought they would finally be able to see her feeble and true appearance; but as the cloud and fog dispersed, she was not on Green Mountain but at the distant Cold Mountain.

The gentle wind tousled her black hair and blew in her true appearance.

She looked ordinary, though her eyes and brows were distinct and attractive.

Her eyes shrouded in a thin layer of fog displayed an intelligent glow, looking considerably young and vigorous.

She looked like the first dew in the early morning and a young girl who had snuck out from her family.

No emotion could be detected in her eyes, though they revealed a hint of tranquility and slight delight rather than sadness and anger.

Her eyes didn’t show any trace of melancholy because of the death of the Fairy Lady Bai Ren and the betrayal of the Immortal Tan, as if the former were not her grandmother and the divine guardian of the Center Sect and the later were not her Cultivation partner of hundreds of years; those two were like total strangers to her.

She pulled her line of sight away from the starry sky and looked at the crack in front of her, muttering sentimentally, “Today would be much more interesting if Liu Ci were still alive.”

This large crack, which was bottomless and one hundred miles long, where the underground fire could be vaguely seen, was cut by Liu Ci with the All in One Sword one hundred years ago.

If Liu Ci were still alive, whom would he choose to support when Jing Jiu and the Immortal Taiping contended for the Inherited Heaven Sword?

This was indeed an interesting postulation.

The Immortal Bai jumped off the cliff. The strong wind blew off the rocks on the cliff wall with rustling sound, and countless underground flames shot up, but none of them could reach her dress.

No matter whether it was the hard rocks or the high temperature lava, none of it could stop her. They parted to make way for her as they met the wind.

She was falling down all the way to the bottom after passing through many layers of rocks.

The starlight had vanished a long time ago, but it was not completely dark here. It was warm with a red glow, because the roof of a large cave reflected the glowing lava.

A dark red lava river was flowing slowly to the distance; a rock would fall down from the top of the cave once in a while and dropped into the lava river to cause a bright splash.

The Immortal Bai had disappeared from the cave and flew along with the lava river. A few moments later, she arrived at the end of the river.

The lava river bumped into a huge transparent wall and curled backwards after making a deep booming sound.

Drifting in the air, she looked at the Abyss on the other side of the huge transparent wall and the Underworld on the other side of the Abyss. It was unclear if she could see the tragic scenes on the banks of the Underworld River or that large Buddha.

With a rustling sound, the King of the Fire Carps floated to the surface of the river as the hot lava opened a path. He was ecstatic to see her after the initial bewilderment.

“Is it you, Immortal?”

The Immortal Bai drew back her gaze and looked at him. “The Elder Fire Carp; long time no see,” she said calmly.

The King of the Fire Carps slapped his tail onto the lava excitedly, splashing a great amount of lava onto the cliff wall to cause sizzling sounds. “It’s great! Somebody is finally here to talk to me. You have no idea how hard my life has been over the years. I was bullied by a freaking banner first and then by a wicked bird. I didn’t have anybody to talk to, feeling extremely lonely…”

The Immortal Bai didn’t say anything, but looking at him quietly.

The voice of the King of the Fire Carp grew lower. “I’ve sensed the departure of the Fairy Lady,” said he with a sigh. “You shouldn’t feel too sad about it. The Green Mountain Sect is so shameless that they even dared use the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom. But it’s not a cowardly act to evade their fierce offense for the time being…You can hide here with me. I don’t believe anyone can find you here…well…I wouldn’t’ be afraid even if that bird came! It’s because I’ll become an adult in a few days. I fear nobody now since the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom has ascended.”

“I haven’t talked to you for so many years, but you still talk so much,” said the Immortal Bai.

Feeling baffled, the King of the Fire Carps remarked, “Immortal, it seems…you’re not sad at all.”

“The fairy energy has been restored to this patch of heaven and earth after the death of the Fairy Lady,” said the Immortal Bai. “That barrier has been reinforced again, gaining many more years for the humans. It’s a good thing; why should I feel sad?”

The round mouth of the King of the Fire Carps was agape in surprise, not knowing what to say.

The Immortal Bai raised her right hand and pointed to the huge transparent wall.

An indescribable energy came out from her sleeve and landed on the wall.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Center Sect had defeated the mighty army of the Underworld at the bottom of the Gathered-Soul Valley and deployed a powerful formation along with all the Cultivation sects in the north to block this passage.

This huge transparent wall was exceedingly strong. Even if Jing Jiu employed the All in One Sword with all his might to strike it, he could merely make a tiny crack on the wall to send a mosquito to the Underworld.

However, the huge transparent wall melted a crack instantly when it met the energy coming out from inside of the Immortal Bai’s sleeve.

Since it was the formation set up by the Center Sect, the Center Sect must have a method to dismantle it; and furthermore, this method must be under the control of the Bai family.

The mouth of the King of the Fire Carps grew rounder, indicating that he was confused and frightened at the moment.

“What is going on?”

The Immortal Bai didn’t pay attention to him, as she was busy dismantling the formation.

Though the dismantling of the huge transparent wall could be seen by naked eyes, the lava river had sensed the disappearance of the barrier. The river rushed to the other side through the gap at an increasingly faster pace.

A great amount of lava flames illuminated the dark and gloomy space as the lava river rushed to the Abyss. It was unclear how long it would take for the lava river to reach the Underworld.

The King of the Fire Carps yelled in surprise, “Bai Yuan, are you crazy? What are you doing?”

“Why don’t you guess?” returned the Immortal Bai with a faint smile.

Seeing her smiling face, the King of the Fire Carps felt a chill going to the core of his body.

Even though the lava was scorching hot, he still felt extremely cold.

He was also considerably frightened; he headed toward the deep part of the lava after twisting his fish tail another way around in an attempt to flee.

Like the huge transparent wall that was under the control of the formation, he couldn’t get away from the control of the Center Sect.

An intent from the deep end of his spiritual soul forced him to turn around and headed toward the Abyss along with the torrential lava after passing through the huge transparent wall.

The King of the Fire Carps let out a yell full of anger and despair, as well as humiliation.

In the next moment, his shout had suddenly ceased; it was because the Immortal Bai landed on his back.

The lava splashed like fireworks in the Abyss.

The Immortal Bai traveled to the Underworld on the back of the Fire Carp.

…