The Path Toward Heaven

Jing Jiu walked out as the wooden door was opened.

The child heard the coughing inside the room, and shocked, got up and ran inside

The coughing echoed in the lonely room. The white paper on the table hadn’t been filled up with words yet, and was instead covered in blood, looking like a plum flower.

Tian Jingren’s face was pale, and he appeared to be in incredible.

The child, pale and trembling, asked, “Master! Master! What happened?!!”

Tian Jingren didn’t listen to him, staring in the direction where Jing Jiu was heading as he panted uncontrollably, his pupil-less eyes like those of a dead fish.

“Bright silvery light…silvery light all over…Who are you?”

The child had never seen his master so bewildered, as he asked nervously, “Master, should we leave here now?”

After a while, Tian Jingren had finally calmed down, shaking his head with a great deal of effort.

Jing Jiu had recognized his method, so the Green Mountain Sect would take action.

For some reasons, he wasn’t worried about this, but he still felt shocked that Jing Jiu had detected his scheme, and about how he undid it.

…

…

As Tian Jingren had said before, Jing Jiu’s Cultivation time was still too short, and his Cultivation state was far weaker than his own.

If Tian Jingren didn’t try to plant the episode of the heavenly awareness secretly and instead used his Cultivation prowess, he could crush Jing Jiu effortlessly.

However, to attack Jing Jiu by mental force was futile, perhaps even deadly.

In the whole of Chaotian, his mental power was far superior to the vast majority of swordsmen, and could be said to be too powerful to be gauged; and yet, he was no match for Jing Jiu.

Of course, Jing Jiu had paid a price as well.

He took a pile of white paper as he left the nunnery.

As he walked toward the outside of the plum forest, Jing Jiu used those paper to wipe his mouth nonstop, and those paper turned red after being covered in blood.

Jing Jiu had been injured severely; otherwise he would have killed Tian Jingren in that room with his sword.

He walked away with so much resolve that he looked quite composed and graceful; but he needed this appearance to intimidate Tian Jingren.

Everybody, including Se Se, had already left, save for Zhao Layue, who was waiting outside the plum forest.

Zhao Layue arched her eyebrows when she saw Jing Jiu’s pale face.

Jing Jiu asked a question before Zhao Layue could speak.

“What do you think of the relationship between Luo Huainan and that young man in embroidered cloth?”

Upon hearing this question, Zhao Layue felt somewhat surprised, as she was thinking about what had happened to Jing Jiu. “Luo Huainan’s rudeness was intentional .”

She had already guessed the identity of the young man in embroidered cloth.

Luo Huainan was the best swordsman of the young generation, but he still wasn’t nobler than the young man; yet in front of the nunnery he didn’t even take a look at the young man, let alone talk to him.

Jing Jiu put on his conical hat, and lit the pile of paper in his hand with his sword fire.

Then he said, “They know each other, and very well.”

“Why?” Zhao Layue asked.

“The Jing Royal Family has always been close to the Center Sect, so it’s impossible for the principle disciple of the Center Sect not to know the Crown Prince.”

Jing Jiu continued, “They were attempting to avoid the gossip.”

Zhao Layue stared into his eyes and asked, “What on earth has happened to you?”

Though the conical hat covered Jing Jiu’s face and the blood-soaked paper had been burned to ashes, her eyes couldn’t be fooled so easily.

After a moment of silence, Jing Jiu said, “Tian Jingren wanted to do something, but I wouldn’t accept it.”

“Are you injured?”

Zhao Layue spun her head, shooting a glance at the old nunnery in the midst of the plum forest.

“I’m okay. He is in bad shape as well,” Jing Jiu said.

She asked, “What actually happened in the nunnery?”

Jing Jiu replied, “I asked a question, and he also asked a question; but my question was simple, and his question was more complicated, so I left on a sour note.”

Zhao Layue thought of his secrets, then guessed what had happened, saying, “I shouldn’t have come here, otherwise you wouldn’t have met him.”

“I have finally met him. It has nothing to do with you, or with him.”

What Jing Jiu said was the truth.

It seemed like he walked back to the old nunnery because of having heard Tian Jingren mention Jing Yang.

But he knew that was only an excuse.

It was the curiosity that drove him to see Tian Jingren.

The rumored grandmaster of the White-Deer Institute was the person closest to the heavenly path.

Jing Jiu had seen the heavenly path.

He wanted to find out whether the heavenly path he and Tian Jingren saw was the same or not, in order to remove some barriers in his heart.

Unfortunately, Tian Jingren was actually far away from the heavenly path, so he couldn’t provide any assistance.

It was hard to explain these matters, and he didn’t want to explain them.

They walked along the stone path to the entrance of the old plum garden, and now they could hear the noise in the nearby street.

Perhaps that arrogant young man was still trying to demolish those chess stall owners.

Jing Jiu stopped and sat down on a stone step, due to tiredness or his wounds.

Looking at the big crowd in the distance, Jing Jiu wondered, “Luo Huainan entered the nunnery to ask questions, so why didn’t he go?”

Zhao Layue knew Jing Jiu was talking about the young man playing the chess games.

She also knew who the young chess player was.

But she couldn’t answer this question.

“Because he is a truly smart person, and is proud enough,” explained Jing Jiu.

Zhao Layue asked, “I know about being proud, but how is he smart?”

Jing Jiu replied, “Because he didn’t enter the nunnery to ask questions.”

Zhao Layue thought in her mind that Jing Jiu had made a circle and come back to the same spot.

“I always feel like you think I’m stupid,” Zhao Layue said.

“But you didn’t ask any question,” said Jing Jiu.

Zhao Layue’s expression had changed slightly, asking, “How did you know?”

“Because this was the question I had raised to Tian Jingren.”

Jing Jiu continued, “I know that you didn’t ask any question, and also know what questions Luo Huainan had asked.”

Zhao Layue was rather interested in Luo Huainan’s questions.

Jing Jiu told her about his questions and Tian Jingren’s answers, then said, “The so-called questions are raised for the public, so the answers to the questions are not important. Who can predict the future one hundred years from now accurately? The key is the content of the question, because that can create certain reputation for the questioner.”

Zhao Layue could pretty much understand what Jing Jiu tried to convey.

The revelation of Luo Huainan’s questions would improve his reputation even further.

It was because what he was concerned about wasn’t grains and vegetables, or spring weather and flower blooming, but rather, the future and destiny of the mankind.

If the young man in embroidered cloth had the chance, he certainly wouldn’t ask how long the Emperor would live, though this was the question he was concerned about the most.

The young man in embroidered cloth would surely ask some righteous and flawless questions, similar to Luo Huainan’s.

So this was why the young man who was playing chess didn’t want to go to the nunnery, because he understood this, the second reason being his proud and lonely personality?

Yet Zhao Layue knew this wasn’t her reason to not ask a question.

She really wanted to know the whereabouts of Immortal Jing Yang, but she didn’t dare to take the risk.

Besides, she also wanted to know who Jing Jiu was.

“You should ask me this question directly.”

Jing Jiu said while looking at her eyes, “I’m someone you want to…”

Zhao Layue raised her right hand, gesturing for him to stop talking.

Jing Jiu looked at her silently, baffled.