The Path Toward Heaven

“Nothing will happen,” said Jing Jiu while heading toward the deep part of the iceland.

As the bottoms of regular boots made contact with the solidly frozen ice and snow, it seemed as if the flower petals dropped on the surface of water, soundlessly creating ripples.

Looking at his back figure moving away, Ran Handong suddenly said, “I’ll tell my father.”

This was the second time she said this.

Jing Jiu didn’t halt his steps, nor did he heed her. He kept moving forward.

Ran Handong hastened to catch up to him after a moment of silence, saying nothing more.

As long as her father and the government of the Federation of the Milky Way hadn’t made any decision, she was still Jing Jiu’s secretarial officer; she must do whatever she was expected to.

This quality of hers was the very trait Jing Jiu liked about her.

The two of them hadn’t traveled long before they saw an entrance.

As the bracelet was brought close to the sensor, the repulsive “ding” sound rang out, and the passage opened up. The two of them arrived underground.

The underground was not a top-secret military base, but a regular corridor.

Some portraits of important figures were hung on both sides of the corridor, plus the famous quotes of some famous figures. A brief introduction was posted by each portrait.

It looked like most visitors to the place should be students in primary school.

“This is the Art Gallery of the Milky Way. Today is the first day of the month; the gallery is closed,” said Ran Handong while taking a glance at him. “I don’t know why you two have made it a point to meet here; but it might have something to do with the inheritance of the female priest of the Stargate. And there are many precious remnants here all the same.”

This art gallery had the most extensive and best collection in the Federation of the Milky Way, superior even to the museum and the Art Gallery in Shou’er City. The gallery was closed that day; as a result, throngs of students that usually crowded the place were nowhere to be found. The footsteps of the two rang out tediously in the empty and vast passage.

It didn’t take long before they arrived at the modern art gallery.

The space inside the building was even larger. The monotonous iceland could be seen outside the glass windows that were as big as hills, and the distant sky emitted a dark blue color.

In comparison to the artifacts in other galleries, the exhibitions in this gallery were more varied. They seemed hard to understand because their meaning was often less than straightforward. As a result, they felt a bit eerie to the common visitors.

Ran Handong introduced the origins of the artifacts and the evaluations of the commentators. She was carrying out her duty as a secretary as well as a tour guide.

Jing Jiu didn’t stop before any of those artifacts to appreciate them further, yet he appreciated this young female officer more and more.

It was indeed unimportant whether Gu Qing would ascend or not.

…

…

The Federation of the Milky Way experienced the explosive period in technology and civilization about one thousand years ago.

The humans had almost discovered something new or had a new invention daily.

And they discovered new mining planets one after another.

The issue of exhausting energy resources had been resolved a long time ago.

The difficulty of space travel had been solved by discovering the routes of the warped black holes and by employing the gravitational field on a general basis.

It was not an exaggerated statement that the modern human society was qualified to be a highly advanced one even though it was still not as brilliant as the distant ancient civilization.

As an accessory of the society, the arts experienced a period of fast development. Because of the pressure from the Sea of Dark Matter on the other side of the universe, the modern art forms of the current society were evidently more extreme and sophisticated. If a visitor ignored the forms of the arts, they would be able to discover the despair and the conflicts of life and death hidden effectively in the work.

There was a blue swimming pool located at the end of the modern art gallery, looking very much like the clean sky.

The pipe to bring water to the swimming pool was however pumping out black dirty oil. Along with a deep plopping noise, the dirty oil kept flowing to the bottom of the swimming pool, eroding the blue ceramic bricks, before it sank into a hole on the other side, as if the dirty oil was swallowed by the black hole.

The indication of the black dirty oil was very clear and straightforward; it signified death, or the destructive Sea of Dark Matter.

The primordial petroleum on a certain planet was said to be developed from the plants in the underground after billions of years. It was an important energy source in the early period for the distant ancient civilization. It didn’t give a sense of dirtiness but a sense of hidden order and regularity when it kept accumulating and falling over and over again.

“This art device was placed here thirty-one years ago. It caused a great deal of debate at the time,” said Ran Handong.

Jing Jiu signaled for her to hold her tongue.

Ran Handong understood his intention and turned to head into the art gallery after taking a glance outside.

Jing Jiu turned to head toward the opposite side.

…

…

The whole Art Gallery of the Milky Way was underneath the ice of the south pole. The modern art gallery was on the edge of the compound; there was a cliff outside it.

The famous low valley was situated at the bottom of the cliff, where one could see a vista of endless ice and snow. The cliff was black in color, looking like the dirty oil in that swimming pool.

Compared to the other places on the Main Planet, like the Capital City, the Mansion of the priest clan and the lawn behind the mountains, where the sky was not blue because it was occupied by the lights of the stars, the sky here was evidently different and was as blue as the ceramic bricks in the swimming pool. It conveyed a sense of ancient beauty, and was more like Chaotian.

The people would gaze at the stars in the place where they could see them at night; but nobody would scream in surprise.

The people took it for granted when they were used to it.

Jing Jiu, who was used to seeing the blue sea and sky, merely paid attention to the white snow and the black mountain lying in front of him.

The black and white colors were perfectly balanced, just like the Go pieces on the board, which he disliked, because it would make him feel a bit too complacent.

It was then that a bright and red color appeared in the black world.

The red color slightly bore the scent of blood, unlike the light of the Thoughtless Sword.

Nor was it like the underground lava, which gave off a sensation of warmth.

After some thought, Jing Jiu remembered that it should be the color of the wild flowers by the cliff’s edge on Tianguang Peak.

As he was thinking of all this, the red color drew closer . Then it seemed to turn into a flag, flapping in the wind as it rustled.

The protective shield of the Art Gallery blocked the wind and snow. The red overcoat drifted down and then remained still.

Looking at the world outside the cliff, General Li showed a calm expression in his eyes.

He didn’t speak.

Nor did Jing Jiu.

It was quiet outside the cliff.

The noise of wind and snow was kept outside.

The sound of oil flowing into the swimming pool was inside.

This place was located on the precipice covered with the ice of the south pole. The permanent star was on the other side of the black cliff and was out of sight, yet the changes of its light cast from the other side could be seen.

The natural light moved as the permanent star rose increasingly higher.

It was noon; and the whole planet was experiencing its brightest moment.

The cities near the equator became extremely hot even though they were protected by the shields. It was probably because of the flow of heat that the ice and snow outside the cliff grew more ferocious and the sky grew dimmer. But amazingly enough, the sky became more transparent, and one could see much further. Standing by the cliff’s edge, the two of them looked at the dark universe on the other side of the transparent sky, at the space stations and satellites that seemed to be nearby, at those battleships and even the closest planet…

“You’ve been here for a while, so you should have a good understanding of this world.”

The voice of General Li was peaceful and deep, like the expression in his eyes and the perfect sound of a bell.

Jing Jiu said, “According to the definition of science fiction and games, this is the main universe, and Chaotian is a planet in the same orbit while at the same time being in a time region with a different frame of reference.”

General Li said, “I like to use the concept of the bubble to describe space and time; but I prefer your concept. It has nothing to do with the speed of time because the two spaces have no definite boundary.”

“What I would like to find out is,” remarked Jing Jiu, “was Chaotian discovered or created by that god of the distant ancient civilization?”

“Based on our understanding of the distant ancient civilization, that god had no ability to create a world; it was therefore probably a planet he discovered in the universe.”

General Li continued, “Given that the two worlds hailed from the same origin and same kind of humans, Chaotian must have been designed by Him.”

“If the boundary of the two worlds couldn’t be breached, how did He achieve all this?” pressed Jing Jiu.

General Li said, “The female priest didn’t reveal any information regarding this.”

Jing Jiu was aware that the female priest he mentioned was not the priests scattered on more than one hundred planets in the Federation of the Milky Way, but That One.

General Li pulled back his gaze and said to Jing Jiu calmly, “I’d like to know what conclusion you have reached after this period of time.”

“More than one hundred thousand years ago, the dark matter came to the world of the main matter after the sub-protection in the universe was torn apart because the warped black holes had altered forms, and the gravitational field weapons or other more advanced types were overused, which is why the human civilization faced potential annihilation. That god had to choose between leaving the galaxy and fighting against the Sea of Dark Matter. The distance between the major galaxies was too great, and it was a long distance that was even more dreadful than death. In the end, that god chose the latter. However, He didn’t have enough confidence in victory; so He was inclined to leave some seeds for the future human civilization. It was at that time that He had found the time region where Chaotian was located and began to make some arrangements. He placed the humans and some other lifeforms in that world, and…also placed the copies of the lifeforms that had been infected by the Sea of Dark Matter, like the monsters of the Snowy Kingdom. In so doing, He believed that the humans and those lifeforms could evolve to become more powerful species in that world in the hopes that those humans could find a way to completely defeat the Sea of Dark Matter.”

This was the longest statement Jing Jiu had made in over a thousand years.

His voice had no change in intonation. He sounded like an emotionless robot telling something most tedious in a most dreary manner.

However, what he said was the most secret fact of the human civilization.

It was close to truth at least.

General Li said after a moment of silence, “That’s basically true.”

Jing Jiu gazed at the distance, where lay the dark universe, the planets, the permanent stars, the nebulae, and the battleships among many other things.

He closed his eyes and said after he opened them, “In other words, we are all specimen.”