The Path Toward Heaven

The Speaker was a disciple of the Kunlun Sect. He had done well in the first half of the Cultivation tournament, but he had been delayed for two days when he met this large group. It seemed to be difficult for him to finish in the top places under the circumstances; so he couldn’t help but get upset.

Yet, he had spoken of many people’s thoughts, though others didn’t say it out so directly like him.

Yao Songshan and other eight the disciples of the Green Mountain stared at this person with sharp and intimidating expressions, with the sharpness of real swords.

This disciple of the Kunlun Sect suddenly recalled the oral mantra of the Green Mountain and felt a chill going through his whole body abruptly.

He felt these stares were even colder than the wind in the valley, and he shut up instinctively.

“Do you people want to bully others because you have more bodies?”

Two disciples of the West Ocean Sword Sect walked out from the crowd and said, “Isn’t what this Cultivation friend of Kunlun has said right?”

Yao Songshan narrowed his eyes slightly, and his sleeves shivered a bit, looking like his sword was ready to come out; the rest of the Green Mountain disciples were prepared to draw their swords as well. This wasn’t an issue of bullying others or debating who was right and wrong; they simply couldn’t stand their master being humiliated by the disciples of other sects, even though they also didn’t agree with Jing Jiu’s idea.

It was then that Bai Zao spoke.

She said to Jing Jiu, “The West Mountain Residence has refused your request with a harsh tone. You might be in trouble with them later.”

Jing Jiu’s idea could be regarded as being inconsiderate by some; but it could also be regarded as intentionally sabotaging the important event of the Cultivation world that took place only once in a few years by those who took the matter more seriously.

Even though Jing Jiu won first place in the Cultivation tournament, he would still be punished harshly afterwards.

Bai Zao hadn’t thought that Jing Jiu wanted to lead so many disciples away from the snowland.

When facing unknown peril, he didn’t try to deal with, but chose to flee?!

This choice was totally different from her Big Brother’s style.

Usually, Bai Zao would look down on this behavior, but she somehow thought that Jing Jiu wasn’t the type of person who avoided his responsibility, but she still felt lost and confused.

Jing Jiu said, “I knew they wouldn’t agree with my idea because I don’t have any proof except my feeling. All I did was to give it a try.”

One of the disciples of the West Ocean Sword Sect demanded angrily, “Do we still have to listen to such nonsense?!”

Having said that, he picked up his sword case and led the disciples of his own sect toward the inside of the valley.

Many young Cultivation practitioners followed them as well. Thinking that they had been delayed for such a long time for no reason, they couldn’t help but stare at Jing Jiu before their departure.

Even though they didn’t dare curse Jing Jiu, they could at least stare at him.

Jing Jiu couldn’t sense the meaning of those stares, as he said, “The disciples of the Green Mountain, pay attention.”

Hearing these words, the young Cultivation practitioners in the valley were taken aback, wondering whether Jing Jiu would dare to stop them by force since the West Mountain Residence had turned down his request.

The disciples of the Green Mountain were also startled, but they obeyed his order and came out to stand in front of Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu didn’t pay attention to the other young Cultivation practitioners, as he told these disciples of the Green Mountain, ” All of you stay, and get ready to leave.”

Seeing this scene, Bai Zao emotions were complicated, thinking that Jing Jiu didn’t care about the reply from West Mountain Residence because he simply wanted to bring back the disciples of the Green Mountain.

From the very beginning, Jing Jiu chose a route by which he could gather these ten groups, simply because there was a disciple of the Green Mountain in each of these groups.

He hadn’t even thought about anything else.

The disciples of the Green Mountain were somewhat surprised and confused, wondering why they had to leave even though sect masters had already refused Jing Jiu’s request.

That disciple of the Kunlun Sect had returned to his senses, and he felt ashamed of being intimidated by the disciples of the Green Mountain earlier. “In fact, the disciples of the Green Mountain are afraid of dying!” he said with a mocking tone.

The stares of the disciples of the Green Mountain on this person became even colder.

The disciple of the Kunlun Sect got scared a bit when seeing the intimidating stares, but he gained courage from the other Cultivation practitioners around him, saying, “What? You people don’t want others to say it when you guys are actually doing it.”

The looks on these disciples of the Green Mountain were immensely awful, and their emotions were quite complicated as well.

If they really stayed and then left, what kind of Cultivation practitioners would they be?

When had the disciples of the Green Mountain become the weaklings who avoided the fights by fleeing?

Lei Yijing, a disciple of Liangwang Peak, was upset. “Jing…Young Senior Master, do you think there is a great danger ahead?” he asked Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu said, “That’s right. I believe that the danger ahead is beyond the ability of young disciples like you.”

The disciples of Liangwang Peak didn’t have a good opinion of Jing Jiu.

Though Jing Jiu’s first place performance in the Cultivation tournament had changed Lei Yijing’s opinion of him, he somehow still couldn’t help but feel strong resentment after having heard what Jing Jiu had just said.

“The Cultivation practitioners either die of old age or die in the north; this has been most common destiny for us for tens of thousands of years.”

Lei Yijing said tersely, “This disciple has chosen the latter destiny when joining Liangwang Peak, so I’m not afraid of any danger. I beg Young Senior Master to let me seek my destiny!”

“That’s right. This is meant to be a test and trial.”

Bai Zao said to Jing Jiu, “The test of facing life and death is the true meaning of the Cultivation tournament; and doing so is the only way to help our Dao Hearts settle down.”

Jing Jiu said, “In my opinion, the Cultivation tournament is meaningless.”

Upon hearing this, the noisy valley had abruptly turned silent.

Bai Zao wasn’t sure that she heard it right.

Ying Qingmo and the other five young Cultivation practitioners had been with Jing Jiu since the very beginning, so they trusted him the most.

Even when Jing Jiu had angered the whole group, they still stood behind Jing Jiu and Bai Zao silently.

But when they had heard what Jing Jiu said, their expressions had changed into troubled looks.

What Jing Jiu said negated, completely, the intention of those legends of the Cultivation world when they had started the Plum Meeting.

“The purpose of cultivating is longevity. Therefore, death is the most important thing and should be greatly respected. To use death as a test isn’t a respectful thing to do.”

Jing Jiu continued, “Besides, whether the Dao Heart is at peace has nothing to do with external objects and instead totally depends on one’s self-awareness.”

That disciple of the Kunlun Sect believed Jing Jiu was actually insane, so he couldn’t communicate with him at all.

Many young Cultivation practitioners were speechless, ready to leave while shaking their heads.

Lei Yijing couldn’t control his emotion anymore, as he said to Jing Jiu, “Senior Master, please forgive me for not obeying your order.”

Having said this, he turned around and walked toward the inside of the valley.

The rest of the Green Mountain disciples were hesitant when they looked at Jing Jiu, not knowing what to do.

By now, even the disciples of the Green Mountain had voiced a different opinion; what would Jing Jiu do next?

Bai Zao looked at Jing Jiu with a concerned expression.

Looking at Lei Yijing’s back figure, Jing Jiu raised his right hand after a moment of silence.

The iron sword shot out from the cloth wrap, turning into a flash of black light, and cut toward Lei Yijing.

There was a barrage of surprised screams in the valley.

Lei Yijing sensed a trace of formidable sword will behind him, and he instinctively called out his flying sword to intercept the incoming sword.

As an outstanding disciple of Liangwang Peak, his reaction speed and sword drawing speed were both timely.

Dong!!! Dong!!! Dong!!!

Two flashes of sword lights were traveling in front of the cliffs at high speed, constantly colliding with each other. The airwaves caused by the fighting swords blew up countless snow flurries, and the powerful sword wills directly penetrated the cliffs, causing some loose rocks to fall down in tandem.

In a brief moment, the sword fight had its loser.

Boom!!!

Lei Yijing hit the cliff wall heavily, sliding down to the ground.

His flying sword returned to his side, hovering in the mid-air as it buzzed.

The corners of Lei Yijing’s mouth had some blood trickling out, his eyes revealing a perplexed expression.

He hadn’t known what had just happened until that moment.

If he had known it was Jing Jiu’s sword, he wouldn’t have dared block it.

The disciples of the Green Mountain were quite startled, and they hurried to the bottom of the cliff to help Lei Yijing up, relieved that his injury wasn’t serious.

Another young disciple of Liangwang Peak couldn’t suppress his resentment anymore, as he asked Jing Jiu, “Senior Master, why did you do that?”

The rest of the Green Mountain disciples were somewhat angry as well.

It was obvious that Jing Jiu’s intention was to stop Lei Yijing from leaving, and he had even used his sword to stop him.

Jing Jiu said while looking at the disciples of the Green Mountain, “It’s the same with you all. No one will say ‘Forgive me for not obeying your order’ again, because I won’t forgive you.”

…

…

Unforgiven. And unable to leave.

The way Jing Jiu did it was very tough–or in other words, unreasonable.

Of course, the disciples of the Green Mountain were not convinced.

These young disciples had cultivated very hard for many years, and they had passed the Sword Trial of Green Mountain to obtain the spots representing the Green Mountain Sect to participate in the Cultivation tournament. However, before they could actually display their talents, they were to be forcefully brought back; who would obey Jing Jiu’s order willingly? And this wasn’t even the most important thing: The most important thing was that the reputation of the Green Mountain Sect would suffer due to their behavior.

If they had obeyed Jing Jiu’s order that day to withdraw from the Cultivation tournament, the Green Mountain Sect would definitely become a laughingstock of the entire Cultivation world.

But the problem was, what they could do about it even if they were not convinced?

Even though Jing Jiu was younger and had entered the mountain gate later than they had, he was the senior master of Shenmo Peak.

Would they dare use their swords against him?

Yao Songshan yelled angrily at them, “Do you actually dare to offend your senior and then receive the punishment of hearts being pierced by ten thousand swords on Shangde Peak?”

Those disciples of the Green Mountain lowered their heads without a word. They of course didn’t dare use their swords on Jing Jiu, but they felt resentful and disappointed.

“I didn’t expect to witness such an exciting play like the colleagues of the Green Mountain Sect hurting each other.”

That disciple of the West Ocean Sword Sect said in a mocking voice, “Oh, no, I said it wrong. It should be that the gutless senior master teaches the shameful disciples a lesson.”

Jing Jiu shot him a look.

Sensing something dreadful would happen, Bai Zao knew she didn’t have enough time to talk him out of it, so she called out her magic treasure without hesitation.

As her sleeve rose up with the cold wind, a magic treasure appeared in front of the cliff wall, the size of a wine cup, which had the similar shape as the Cleaning-heart Bell of the Hanging-Bell Sect.

The magic treasure grew along with the wind, and it had turned into a small temple bell instantly. Its color was a profound dark green, as if being made from the green bronze; but its surface had countless flares of dim light flowing across. The bell had an indescribable sense of beauty and intimidation.

“The Flowing-light Bell!”

A few surprised screams broke out in the crowd.