The Path Toward Heaven

Suddenly in the forest, the chirping of birds could be heard, and their crisp and touching sounds were truly pleasing to the ears.

In the midst of the chirping sounds, a waft of green smoke came out from the white lotus flower swaying slightly with the wind; and in the next moment, a human figure had gradually emerged from the smoke.

That figure was a pretty woman wearing a thin and transparent dress. She was dancing along with the swaying flower petals. Her dancing moves were wonderfully beautiful; her body shape was very attractive, and her eye expression was alluring. It was a scene that would make any observer mesmerized.

Having witnessed this scene, Tian Jingren rolled up his eyeballs, and his white gray eyes appeared even more frightening.

As it was well known, the Young Zen Master was the most enigmatic figure in Chaotian Land.

Tian Jingren knew that he could compete with him in calculating the heavenly secrets, but his Cultivation state was far lower than the Young Zen Master’s.

Yet, the Young Zen Master didn’t attack him, but rather, left a piece of Zen thought.

It seemed that piece of Zen thought hadn’t produced any invincible ploy to assault him.

Tian Jingren felt relieved, taking out a dozen bronze coins of the previous imperial court from his sleeves, and he threw them in front of him in a seemingly careless manner.

Those bronze coins landed in the mud; some of them sank into the mud vertically, some horizontally, and some rolled away in all directions.

Tian Jingren followed those bronze coins while walking forward, ignoring the seduction of those dancing women on the white lotuses, to say nothing of the seductive power of the White-Bone Temple.

As he was walking, a gust of wind rose inside his cloth, and then the lights exuded from his body, giving out an aura of walking like a dragon or a tiger.

The birds’ chirping in the forest had suddenly become agitated, and the white lotus flowers started swaying more violently with the wind, and the dancing women amid the flower petals moved their bodies even more seductively, with their clothes falling off gradually.

Tian Jingren arched his eyebrows.

A dozen scents came out from the square holes in the bronze coins. The flavors of the well-brewed wine and the sweet peach smelled really great.

When the dancing women smelled these scents, they immediately got drunk, and with chaotic footsteps and bewildered eye expressions, they couldn’t help but move to the edge of the lotus flowers.

Ahhh!!! Ahhh!!!

Along with the surprised screams, those women fell off the lotus flowers one after another, into the mud, and then sank deeper. It was unknown whether they would eventually sink all the way to the hell or an abyss.

Tian Jingren kept on walking forward, without offering even a glance.

All of a sudden, the strong wind blew into the forest from the outside, bringing the rain-soaked grass and rocks upon the tree trunks, making numerous creaking sounds.

The white lotus flowers growing out of the Young Zen Master’s footprints swayed even more violently, as if they would break apart in the next moment.

However, the lotus stems didn’t break in the next moment. The wind had abruptly died down, and the forest all of a sudden became extremely quiet.

A dozen holy statues appeared on top of the white lotus flowers.

Those white lotus flowers were quite small, so the holy statues atop should be even smaller; but for some reason, these holy statues looked as if they were incomparably tall and big, exuding a feeling of fear and reverence.

Inside the holy statues were Buddha, bodhisattva, dragons and elephants.

Their real bodies could actually reach the sky.

Tian Jingren’s pupils shrank slightly, and he turned over his sleeves, from which two murderous and mysterious energies came out.

The energies emitting from the bronze coins had suddenly materialized into a tree branch, with a few pink-white colored peach flowers on it.

The peach branch leapt up in the air and slapped toward those holy statues.

It was like a homeowner swinging a whip over a wall to drive away poor scholars outside who tried to have a peek at their courtyard.

In the midst of the creaking sounds, the peach branch returned broken, with the peach flowers falling down everywhere; but the holy statues were still intact.

However, Tian Jingren wasn’t panicked, mulling, “I don’t care if you have the holy statues filling the sky; since you are physically in this world, I don’t want to discuss with you about the idea ‘one flower is one world’, but I just want you to vanish with this world.”

After a few battles, Tian Jingren had already realized just how powerful this piece of Zen thought left by the Young Zen Master was.

He decided to directly destroy his opponent’s prohibition, at the expense of exhausting his own power.

Whoosh!!!

The mental energy that he had cultivated over the years in the White-Deer Institute thrust forward with a whistling sound, like the rivers, incredibly powerful.

The edges of the white lotus flowers were visibly drying up and writhing.

Those holy statues were also retreating gradually backwards, as if they would disappear into the dark night.

The issue was, where did the dark night come from?

The rivers stopped short in the darkening sky, and then grew lighter.

It wasn’t the Zen thought left by the Young Zen Master that had counterattacked.

It was Tian Jingren himself who stopped attacking.

He slowly pulled back his hands.

His face was ashen.

In this moment of life or death, he suddenly noticed something.

How could he see those white lotus flowers, dancing women, Buddha, and bodhisattva…?

Why could he see them?

In this world one didn’t have to think everything through; it was enough to think of them.

Such as life and death.

Tian Jingren had thought of why he could see things, and that was enough.

After this thought, he couldn’t see anymore.

A lotus flower entered night.

A tiring bird returned to the nest.

An old monk lived a hermit life.

…

…

Everything was illusion.

The white lotus flowers, dancing women, holy statues, birds’ chirping, and peach and spring wind were all his inner ideas.

Tian Jingren remembered what the Young Zen Master had said before his leaving.

All things existed in one’s thoughts.

The holy statues in the sky had already disappeared, so there weren’t any lotus flowers.

There were no peach flowers either. The only tangible thing was his own blood, soaking his body.

Sitting on the ground, Tian Jingren looked extremely horrible, with his long hair loose and with blood all over his body.

The child didn’t go anywhere. He had been by Tian Jingren’s side the entire time. “Master, what happened to you?” the child yelled with a surprised expression on his face.

Two trails of blood water were flowing down his cheeks from his two eyes, making his face look even paler.

“Let’s go,” he said in an awfully low and gloomy voice.

It was due to the Young Zen Master’s kindness that Tian Jingren could survive.

Of course, if he didn’t wake up soon enough and kept on attacking the holy statues in the sky, those attacks would come back and hit his Dao hearts.

When that happened, he would become an idiot even if he didn’t die.

The child didn’t dare say too much, he carried Tian Jingren by the arm, and they walked toward the outside of the Net Perception Temple.

Tian Jingren didn’t return to the old plum garden, but left Zhaoge City immediately.

His Cultivation state had been greatly damaged, so Tian Jingren couldn’t calculate the heavenly secrets for another ten years.

Worst of all, his spirit had been profoundly injured, and it was unknown when it would recover.

Could the sounds of the water stream and book-reading in the White-Deer Institute help soothe his spirit?

How would that Godly Swordsman by the Western Ocean react when he learned of this event?

…

…

The news that Tian Jingren had left Zhaoge City shocked many people, creating numerous conjectures.

Some claimed that he didn’t want to stay in the mortal world after he had done what he was supposed to do. Hiding from fame and status was a noble act.

Some maintained that he used up his energy to predict the future and destiny of the human nation, and to detect the heavenly secrets, he was struck by the heavenly force; and he needed a rest as his lifetime and Cultivation state were severely damaged as a result.

Jing Jiu of course knew all these conjectures were untrue.

Watching Jing Jiu’s expression, Zhao Layue could vaguely guess what had happened. She was a bit surprised, but at the same time felt nothing was out of the ordinary. What she was curious about was how Jing Jiu did it.

Jing Jiu didn’t explain it. Yet, he felt kind of troublesome as he believed that the above two rumors must have been released by certain people in the imperial court and the West Ocean Sword Sect.

It didn’t mean that the situation was out of control.

It was just that he felt troublesome to even think about these matters, let alone carry them out.

Zhao Layue thought the same way.

Then, both of them had thought of a subject at the same time.

They should bring Gu Qing with them later when they were to leave the Green Mountain to travel the world.

Zhao Layue intended to ask Jing Jiu about another piece of news since she didn’t know about Tian Jingren’s departure beforehand.

“Do you know the Emperor is going there?”

“Where?”

“To watch the chess tournament.”