The Path Toward Heaven

Nan Zheng was taken aback.

She was prepared to die.

The situation was like that when her whole tribe was driven out of their ancestors’ mountain and her entire family was killed; she didn’t want to live anymore at that moment.

“Nan Wang has been spoiled by those old guys for many years, so she acts very nonchalantly. Nobody dares to offend her relatives in the barbaric tribes. But you are a pitiful one.”

The young woman in white demanded while looking at her, “Take out everything.”

Nan Zheng was taken aback once again, and understood her intention after a while. She didn’t dare hesitate, taking out the Barren Vase and the Diamond Boxing Glove and handing them over; after some thought, she took out the magic pills she had accumulated ever since she came to the Old Ones as well.

The young woman in white took over the Barren Vase and the Diamond Boxing Glove, but didn’t take the magic pills, saying, “Your zither is pretty good. Let me borrow it for a few years.”

There was no way Nan Zheng could refuse.

After stating her demand, the young woman in white leapt up in the air, her dress ruffling in the wind, and she drifted away.

Seeing her disappear into the distance, Gu Pan was perplexed, wondering that since the young woman in white could kill him and his subordinates easily to shut them up, why didn’t she?

Nan Zheng was wondering the same thing, but she had another issue.

Though she didn’t know the background of this young woman in white, she was sure that the young woman was an important figure in the orthodox Cultivation world.

Yet, she didn’t participate in the battle that was still taking place fervently between the orthodox Cultivation circle and the Old Ones this night, instead collecting treasures for herself during the turmoil.

What was the purpose?

The amulet paper slips which looked like fireflies grew dimmer, and the area shrouded in the fog returned to darkness again.

Nan Zheng vanished into the darkness of the night after shooting Gu Pan a glance.

…

…

The southwestern land was truly desolate, especially the mountains surrounding Yizhou City, where few humans could be found. Even Baotong Zen Temple, which was a large temple by any standard, had few visitors and pilgrims. During the intervening time between the morning bell and dusk drum, it was fairly quiet, save for the sounds of the monks reciting their scripts.

There was a vegetable garden a mile away from the zen temple in the west, which was responsible for providing the monks with provisions. In recent days, the garden had three young guests in addition to the monks who took care of the vegetables.

Looking at the green vegetables and tofu in the clay bowls, He Zhan displayed a helpless expression, remarking, “Our faces will all turn green if we keep on eating like this.”

Su Ziye, who was lying on the bed, glared at him.

In the vegetable garden of the Baotong Zen Temple, he was not the famous young master of the Mysterious Dark Sect, but a regular patient.

“I’m not mocking you,” He Zhan said. “You were a green vegetable, but you are an eggplant now. Though the color is a bit lighter, you still look like an eggplant.”

Tong Yan came in the room from the outside and put down the medicine on the table. “This medicine is quite effective. It should be able to flush out the remaining poison from your body in five more days,” he told Su Ziye.

Though there was a “zen” in the name of the Baotong Zen Temple, this temple wasn’t a branch of the zen sect, and had nothing to do with the Fruit Formation Temple. It was said that it had a closer relationship with the Water-Moon Nunnery. Yet, like the Fruit Formation Temple, the Baotong Zen Temple was good at medical treatments. Moreover, the mountain forests were exceedingly damp and hot in the southwestern land, and its miasma was extremely poisonous. As a result, they were even better than the Fruit Formation Temple at treating poisons. Even though the poison that inflicted Su Ziye was quite resilient, his life was finally saved after the treatments by the monks in the temple.

In the beginning, the chief monk of the Baotong Zen Temple was unwilling to treat Su Ziye after learning of his identity; he reluctantly agreed to treat Su Ziye after Tong Yan pleaded with him. However, he couldn’t let a devil man of the deviant sect stay in the temple, so he placed them in the vegetable garden. Tong Yan went to the temple secretly to bring back the medicine, making sure nobody knew about it; otherwise, the good reputation of this thousand-year-old temple would be ruined.

The three of them lived in the vegetable garden for quite a while now, and the alcohol He Zhan brought had been consumed up a long time ago. His desire for more alcohol was nearly unbearable. Hearing Tong Yan mentioning five more days to complete treatment, He Zhan was finally put in a better mood.

Tong Yan walked to the window, continuing to play the remaining chess game.

Su Ziye drank the medicine with the help of He Zhan and moved a bit toward the window with some difficult, looking at the chessboard.

The sunlight streamed through the window and shone on the chess board, which was then reflected onto his face. His green skin appeared lighter under the strong daylight, truly looking like the green vegetable.

The sunlight shone on Tong Yan’s face. His skin was as tender and white as the jade, and his brows appeared even thinner, looking really like a child.

Because He Zhan didn’t want to play chess anymore, Tong Yan was playing with himself. He had played this chess game for five days already. Su Ziye watched the game just as long. He knew how to play chess, and thought he was a smart person, yet he couldn’t understand the game till that day. So he realized the level difference between Tong Yan and himself.

Su Ziye asked, “Are you still not convinced after losing to Jing Jiu?”

“We need to work hard to achieve something. Not everybody is the same as some guy who depends on his pure luck to get what he wants.”

Tong Yan didn’t lift his head, his eyelashes casting a long shadow as crisp as his voice.

Glancing at He Zhan, Su Ziye commented sentimentally, “We all envy his life.”

He Zhan was their common friend, and also their sole friend.

In the Cultivation circle, He Zhan was not famous for his talent, nor for the title of the Second of the World, which was merely a joke even though his talent was fairly outstanding.

He was famous for nothing but his luck.

As a free-traveling disciple, he had never learned any magic methods of the orthodox Cultivation sects or the secret methods of the deviant sects, but he was the equal to the likes of Su Ziye and Tong Yan.

Was he famous because of his bearing and morality? Of course not. It was because he had enough luck to make himself strong and powerful.

He Zhan was peeling the water edamame to put in tea later. Listening to their conversation, He Zhan walked to the window while rubbing his hands.

“You don’t have to envy me, because I don’t even understand why. And now I feel more strongly that this isn’t a good thing.”

Many years ago, there was an ordinary nunnery outside a certain city where an old nun and four stone steps in front of the gate were.

One night, an abandoned infant was left on the second stone step.

In the early morning, the old nun found the abandoned infant and brought him into the nunnery.

The abandoned infant was He Zhan.

The old nun recited the scripts every day, and He Zhan listened to them from infancy so that he could recite them easily. Later, he started reciting the scripts with the old nun. When he grew older, he realized that those scripts were actually the magic methods for Cultivation.

It was in this way that He Zhan got on the path of Cultivation.

Eventually, the nun passed from this world. He Zhan left the nunnery and began his traveling experience in the world.

He Zhan thought that the nunnery where he grew up was quite ordinary and that the old nun was also quite ordinary, so the magic methods he had learned should be quite ordinary as well. Accordingly, he kept a low profile during his travel, not interacting with any Cultivation practitioner, and he even considered applying to the Pure Heaven Bureau.

One day, he happened to find a magic treasure by a stream, but a young disciple of the Sect of Three saw it and wanted to snatch the treasure from him.

He Zhan didn’t dare contend with him and handed it over with both of his hands; unexpectedly, the disciple of the Sect of Three intended to kill him in order to shut him up forever. He Zhan had no choice but to fight back in despair.

The disciple of the Sect of Three turned into a band of smoke right in front of his eyes.

It was then that he realized that the nunnery and the old nun were not ordinary at all, especially not their special magic methods.

What occurred to him later on had proven that he wasn’t an ordinary person, at least in terms of luck.

He encountered many unexplainable things, such as picking up many magic treasures, including the bones of the dragon, and a case of crystals.

Whenever he needed something, he would encounter it.

It was a common occurrence in his life, surviving mishaps.

He Zhan grew up this way, and gradually gained some fame in the Cultivation circle, even becoming the potential disciple wanted by all the major sects.

As Su Ziye said, who wouldn’t envy such a good luck?

Su Ziye asked, “Why is it not a good thing to have good luck?”

He Zhan shrugged as he said, “I didn’t want to cultivate this way. One needs to experience the hardship and misfortune to strengthen their will power and temper their Dao Heart, but I didn’t have such opportunity.”

Su Ziye and Tong Yan exchanged glances, saying nothing.

He Zhan muttered, “But I don’t want to be like Liu Shisui either.”

It was quiet for a while in the room.

Pah!!!

Tong Yan slammed down a chess piece and said softly, “No matter what, we have finally succeeded in our endeavor.”