The Path Toward Heaven

The hidden swordsmen were not those Cultivation practitioners hiding among heaven and earth, but were certain people who hid themselves among the heaven and earth to avoid the seeking swords.

What they tried to avoid was the swords of the Green Mountain Sect.

There were three hidden swordsmen in the world.

They were all the enemies of the Green Mountain Sect, as they had offended the sect, and were the killing targets announced to the world by the Green Mountain Sect.

Should they dare show themselves, the Green Mountain Sect would kill them with a swing of the sword, or with swing of ten thousand swords.

Killing with a swing of the sword referred to the Sect Master’s Sword of Inherited Heaven; and killing with the swing of ten thousand swords referred to the sword formation.

Killing someone from tens of thousands of miles away sounded like a magic; how could it be true?

Yet, it was quite possible for the Sect Master of Green Mountain, who had the unfathomable Cultivation state and the unparalleled famous sword, not to mention the resources they had to achieve this feat.

The reason why the entirety of Chaotian started believing in the Green Mountain Sect’s ability to destroy their enemy from anywhere was that those three hidden swordsmen had never appeared since the Green Mountain Sect announced their decree.

These three swordsmen somehow disappeared without a trace, and it didn’t matter how high their Cultivation states were or how profound their backgrounds were.

The name of “hidden swordsman” came about this way.

They must have done something terrible to the Green Mountain Sect to offend them so much; and they had to be the swordsmen in high-level Cultivation states as opposed to normal folks.

The first hidden swordsman of the rumor was an immortal swordsman who had reached the Heavenly Arrival State in the southern sea.

At the critical moment, he activated the formation to shield the island where his sect was located in the ocean fog by the large Southern Whirlpool, thereby avoiding his demise.

The second hidden swordsman was rumored as being the heir of the previous imperial court. He caused a great deal of chaos and suffering in the world in order to regain the position of emperor, resulting in many tragedies.

The Green Mountain Sect had lost dozens of outstanding disciples in this vaguely recorded rebellion in history.

That person hid in the shell of a 10,000-year-old turtle to luckily avoid the pursuit of the Tianguang Peak.

It was rumored that he had since changed his name and lived in an ordinary city by the Great Marsh, and that he didn’t dare to take down that turtle shell for even a brief moment.

The third hidden swordsman was even more famous. He was the grandmaster of the third generation of the Mysterious Dark Sect, and the most famous evil man in the Cultivation history. He was hunted by the Green Mountain Sect for his head because he had assaulted several disciples of Qingrong Peak. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to the pursuit, and he led the Mysterious Dark Sect to confront the Green Mountain Sect. However, the headquarter of the Mysterious Dark Sect had been destroyed after a bloody battle, and more than half of the swordsmen of their sect had died or been wounded. As a result, their disciples of various branches scattered around the northern lands, unable to revive their glorious days until now.

This grandmaster had lost his courage after the defeat, hiding deep at the bottom of a mountain, and not seeing the sunlight since.

The stories of the hidden swordsmen were popular legends in Chaotian.

Those three hidden swordsmen had never been seen again; they may have died long ago. However, the legends spread throughout the world, known to even the common folks.

There were numerous theories or suspicions about the stories. Some people thought the stories of the hidden swordsmen were purposefully made up by the Green Mountain Sect. Since those three men didn’t dare come out, who could prove the stories? Yet, as time went by, these stories would spread further and further, the image of the Green Mountain Sect becoming more and more impressive, causing reverence and fear among the people.

More and more people thought this way, save for the Center Sect, the Fruit Formation Temple, and the Hanging-Bell Sect, which had long histories in the Cultivation world.

That was until that snowy day when somebody had arrived along with the flute music at the cliff wall, yelling “Come out!”

If the legend was true, the hidden swordsman in the cliff wall should be the grandmaster of the third generation of the Mysterious Dark Sect, having the remarkable Cultivation state, but he didn’t dare to come out due to the threat of the Green Mountain Sword Formation.

The sound of flute had faded out, and no other sound in the valley could be heard, except for the northern wind whistling.

“You should remember who I am. As I am so weak and young, don’t you want to come out to kill me to avenge your sufferings?” the young man asked with a smile.

It was quiet in front of the cliff wall, no response.

The young man scoffed, “The great grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect is hunted by my Green Mountain like a rat hiding in the dark. Don’t you think that’s just a bit dishonorable?”

Still no response.

The young man turned around, and asked while watching the snow-filled sky akimbo, “Since I have already found you, where do you have left to hide?”

His background was quite mysterious. Even though his Cultivation state was obviously still quite low, he dared to talk to that grandmaster in such a manner, without any fearful expression on his face.

“It’s alright. As long as you don’t come out, I can’t go inside anyway.”

The young man smiled with the arched eyebrows, “I can inform those of young generation at the Green Mountain Sect, though.”

There was still no response, but a very faint tremor could vaguely be heard deep in the ground.

“What do you want from me, the madman?”

Watching the stronger and stronger snowstorm, the young man finally said after a long moment of silence.

“I just want to take back what is mine. I haven’t played mahjong in a long time, so are you interested in being my new partner in playing Mahjong?”

…

…

The drizzles fell in Zhaoge City again nonstop, making the moss green and the eaves wet.

Back in his house, Jing Jiu was passing the corridor, ready to return to his own room. When he saw his “big brother” in the living room, he stopped short and asked, “Do you play mahjong?”

The big brother of the Jing family responded hurriedly, “I have played once in a while, but not too often. You…you would like to play it?!”

“Just asking.” Jing Jiu remembered what he said last time, asking, “Have you made the bet?”

The older brother of the Jing family understood what he was referring to, and nodded numbly.

After a silent moment, Jing Jiu suddenly asked, “Can you take back the bet?”

The older brother of the Jing family became nervous, saying, “It seems…undoable.”

“Oh…Do we have the books about Go in the house? I’d like to read them tonight.”

Upon hearing this, the older brother of the Jing family grew even more uneasy, responding in a trembling voice, “Let me go check.”

…

…

Jing Jiu listened to the sound of the raindrops for a while and drank a bowl of tea; then he took out a Go chess board with all the pieces, playing it by himself.

The chess pieces had been placed on the chess board in the exact same order as was played in the game outside the old plum garden.

After a moment of deep thought, Jing Jiu repositioned the chess pieces. This time, he still owned the black chess pieces, playing by himself.

After a while, the game was over. The final result was decided by half a square.

If he started playing at the very beginning, his fate was slightly better than Grand Scholar Guo’s, but it was indeed exhausting.

Jing Jiu coughed twice, either due to the chilling air brought by the rain on the spring night, or due to the wound that had been worsened by the exhaustion.

It was then that State Duke Lu came out from the underground passage. Hearing Jing Jiu’s coughs, he immediately asked with a changed and worried expression, “Is the immortal master alright?”

Jing Jiu didn’t pay attention to the question, but asked directly, “What kind of person is Tong Yan?”

In fact, he didn’t really care about this, even if he had just met him outside the old plum garden and witnessed his profound ability in chess playing.

What if he lost in the Plum Meeting? So be it; what else could be done? These would be the thoughts Jing Jiu had had over hundreds of years.

Even if it was Jing Jiu, he couldn’t be the best in everything of this world.

Yet for Layue’s sake, and…the financial freedom of the Jing family, it seemed that he had no choice but to win the game; he had to take the matter more seriously now.

State Duke Lu’s response was quick and interesting.

He didn’t talk about Tong Yan’s birth place, Cultivation state, habits, instead he told a piece of seemingly boring news.

Normally, this kind of news would only be exchanged among the women visiting each other in the streets and alleys.

“Tong Yan is the future son-in-law chosen by the wife of the Center Sect Master for her daughter, but Tong Yan doesn’t like the idea himself.”

State Duke Lu said with a faint smile, “It’s said that he knows that Luo Huainan is the future son-in-law chosen personally by the Sect Master.”

Upon hearing this, Jing Jiu recalled the feeble young woman who played zither that day at the Plum Meeting.

He remembered her name was Bai Zao.