The Path Toward Heaven

The shape of the huge boat was the same as a sword, the size of a small mountain, and it let out an ear-piercing whistling sound as the boat pressed the air around it.

The sides of the flying boat had some visible damages created by the chaotic winds, but fortunately, the damages were not too serious.

Was it the Sword Boat?

The disciples of the Green Mountain were shocked speechless.

So were the other young disciples.

The appearance of the Sword Boat meant that the Green Mountain Sect had already learned of Jing Jiu’s idea and approved it.

Lei Yijing was confounded.

He witnessed such a scene after he had just said that they would be punished by the masters if withdrawing from the Cultivation tournament.

Those young Cultivation practitioners who hadn’t left yet were wondering in surprise: what was going on?

Looking at Jing Jiu’s wrist, Bai Zao thought that he must have sent the message to the Green Mountain when his sword bracelet was absent.

This flying sword could travel over three thousand miles by itself after having left its master, so it couldn’t be an ordinary sword.

And Jing Jiu couldn’t be an ordinary disciple; the Green Mountain Sect had listened to his idea.

…

…

It was quiet in the small courtyard of the Net-Perception Temple.

The sect masters and the elders of various sects were quite shocked, and they didn’t know what to say.

The Sect Master of Kunlun was extremely angry, asking, “What is going on here? Why would the Sword Boat of the Green Mountain Sect show up in the snowland?”

State Duke He didn’t respond to the question, and with furrowed eyebrows, wondered if this year’s Cultivation tournament would have mishaps after all. Why would the Green Mountain Sect have made such a decision? Why didn’t they tell other sects beforehand?

He asked Nan Wang, “What is the intention of your honored sect?”

Nan Wang responded emotionlessly, “I was in Zhaoge City during all this. How do I know what happened on the mountain?”

The Sword Boat was the important treasure of the Green Mountain, and it was taken care of by Shiyue Peak.

The Sword Boat showing up in the snowland was a kind of ocean cruise boat of the highest level.

Only Yuan Qijing, Sect Master of Green Mountain, and the Peak Master of Shiyue were qualified to employ it.

The chief commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau came in hurriedly and presented a sword letter.

State Duke He took over the sword letter and perceived it for a while, his expression turning solemn as he told the others, “The Green Mountain said that they were unsure if there would be a problem at the moment; but the Cultivation tournament would be meaningless to continue, since Jing Jiu had already won first place. They suggested strongly that all the sects take back their disciples on the safe side.”

What he missed out was that the Green Mountain Sect in their sword letter stated clearly that they didn’t really care if the host of the Plum Meeting would listen to them or not.

…but the Plum Meeting host shouldn’t blame the Green Mountain for not warning them if something terrible had happened.

A sect master asked with concern, “Did the Green Mountain Sect say what had actually happened?”

State Duke He snapped, “As I have said, they were unsure if there would be a problem; all they had said was ‘not feeling right’.”

Upon hearing the words “not feeling right”, the sect masters and the elders felt a headache come on immediately.

All the troubles in this year’s Cultivation tournament originated from these bizarre words: “not feeling right”.

“Is this Jing Jiu’s feeling or Green Mountain Sect Master’s feeling? There is a huge difference.”

That sect master considered this matter was really ridiculous, letting out a barrage of bitter smiles.

The Elder of the Center Sect asked, “How many disciples has the Sword Boat picked up?”

“Thirty,” State Duke He answered.

The sect masters and the elders were startled.

They didn’t know that Jing Jiu had forcefully held the disciples of the Great Marsh and the Hanging-Bell Sect in addition to the ten disciples of the Green Mountain Sect, and some other young disciples followed him willingly.

Those young Cultivation practitioners who hadn’t thought of leaving at the beginning changed their minds when seeing the Sword Boat.

The influence of the Green Mountain Sect in the Cultivation world was simply too strong to refuse.

The current problem was that there were one hundred fifteen young participants in the Cultivation tournament in total, and now that a quarter of them had left, what should be done next?

The discussions set off by the arrival of the Sword Boat had unnerved many people.

Should this year’s Cultivation tournament finish prematurely?

The Sect Master of Kunlun said angrily while staring at Nan Wang, “What did your Green Mountain Sect mean by doing this? You not only failed to discipline such an outrageous disciple, but also supported his nonsense!”

Nan Wang responded emotionlessly, “Our Green Mountain Sect has always respected the real talents. no matter what status they have; and our masters are open-minded and willing to accept the young people’s ideas, so what’s the problem?”

She disliked Jing Jiu before, but now his opinion of him had changed a great deal.

It wasn’t a big deal to win first place in the Cultivation tournament because the Green Mountain Sect had won it many times before.

But Jing Jiu was the first person to forcefully end the Cultivation tournament.

Many sect masters and the elders had also thought of this issue.

A young participant in the Cultivation tournament had ended it in its middle stages, so it was quite an achievement.

Even the chief monk of the Baotong Zen Temple, who was usually mildly tempered, became somewhat upset, saying, “I have to reason with Jing Jiu when he gets back here.”

State Duke He said, “He hasn’t come back.”

Jing Jiu didn’t come back with the Sword Boat?!

What did it mean?

It was deadly quiet in the small courtyard.

It was even quieter behind the window.

The Young Zen Master knelt on the bed, letting his eyes get closer to the chaotic sticks.

It was true that he couldn’t see so clearly right now.

The news from that small town was that there would be no monster invasion that year, which was the same as Shihai monk’s judgment.

That person had gone to the small town and didn’t find anything unusual as well.

As that person and himself couldn’t find out anything, why would the Green Mountain Sect say “not feeling right”?

No matter how powerful the Green Mountain Sect was, how could their feeling be compared to those of the Water-Moon Nunnery and the Fruit Formation Temple?

If Jing Jiu weren’t the personal disciple of Jing Yang, he wouldn’t have even considered this matter; but now he had to give it a careful thought.

After a long while, the time drum reached the Young Zen Master’s ears and awoke him, and it was already late night outside the window.

A slightly puzzled expression was shown in his pure and somewhat childish eyes.

He could identify the time drum as coming from the imperial palace ten miles away, but he couldn’t make out what the issue was.

Let the Cultivation sects get prepared first.

He thought to himself.

…

…

After the Sword Boat had left, the big hole in the cloud torn by the boat somehow couldn’t return its normal shape all that quickly.

The last light rays of sunlight shone on the snow mountain and reflected off the snow, filling the whole valley with a beautiful golden color.

The young participants of the Cultivation tournament had all left regardless of whether they were willing or not. The visible figures in the valley were sporadic now.

“Why didn’t you leave?” Jing Jiu asked Bai Zao.

Be it on the Sword Boat leaving the snowlands or through the depart part through the valley, all had to go

“Why didn’t you leave?” Bai Zao asked Jing Jiu instead of answering his question.

Jing Jiu said, “I’d like to have a look over there.”

Since having entered the snowland, the further north Jing Jiu went, the worse he felt.

This bad feeling had become even stronger after he encountered the cold fogs that night.

If the danger in the deep parts of the snowland was really the trap set up by his big brother, Jing Jiu would, according to what he had done before, leave right after he had sent the disciples of the Green Mountain Sect away.

This wasn’t about avoiding the fight, but about how the host and guest should behave.

He had always followed this rule discreetly for their fight that had sustained for hundreds of years, so he had never lost before.

But it seemed he had never truly won either.

Therefore, he consented to Zhao Layue’s idea.

If this was a trap, he would like to crush it with a frontal assault.

When would he enter the trap?

He still had to wait.

This time he wasn’t waiting for people, or a boat, but for an event to happen.

When the sunlight reappeared after a wordless night, Bai Zao was still with him.

“If you don’t leave now, it will be too late,” Jing Jiu told her.

Bai Zao said gently, “Don’t worry about me. I can leave anytime when I want to.”

…

…

The Jing Imperial Court occupied the third of Chaotian, with the extremely cold snowland in north.

There was a huge mountain range in the deep part of the snowland, and the Snowy Kingdom was located on the other side of the mountain range.

There was a small town in the north most part of the human territory.

The small town was about one mile wide, and its city walls were made of mud bricks. The walls were white in color most of the time due to the yearlong wind and snow, so it was called “White Town”.

White Town was very cold, a place where it was hard for even the pine trees that were usually suitable for the cold weather to grow, let alone food and vegetables. Nonetheless, some people lived there. They wore the tattered fur coats, kneeling in the street, and prayed by bowing constantly at a high point with genuine sincerity

On the road leading to White Town from the south, the pilgrims were similarly bowing and praying constantly, pulling the carts behind them with food, vegetables and meats.

White Town was built by the mountainside, and the cliff rocks of the mountain were red in color and looked spectacular in the background of the white snow, like blood.

An ordinary temple was situated in front of the mountain, in which there was a golden Buddha statue.

The statue of the Golden Buddha was about thirty feet high, the size of a small mountain, and the Buddha was fat, with his eyes closed and the corners of his mouth raised slightly, seemingly smiling.

An iron broadsword was offered in front of the Buddha statue.

The iron broadsword was about ten feet long, like a house beam, and the ground on which the broadsword shelf sat had sunk half a foot; so one could imagine just how heavy the broadsword was.

Nobody knew who could possibly lift up this broadsword in the world.

A young woman walked to the front of the temple, raising her head to look up at the couplet on the both sides of the temple.

“Helping people by alleviating their hardship and misfortune; begging oneself by praying to Buddha and Daoists.”

The couplet appeared simple and ordinary, but it had profound meanings if one could think about it more deeply.

It was like this young woman with the ordinary look, but she had a proper aura which was hard to describe.

It was as if the heaven and earth wouldn’t dare take a peek at her when she didn’t like the look of the heaven and earth.

Having read the couplet, the young woman pulled her black hair tousled by the breeze behind her ears, and entered the temple, standing in front of the statue of Buddha.

A deep and far-reaching voice rang out, with a regretful emotion, sounding like the broken bell in the Fruit Formation Temple.

“Oh, it’s just you.”