The Path Toward Heaven

The reason State Duke Lu left in a hurry was that he was eager to tell the Emperor about the new clue.

It was the same reason why Monk Duhai gave the interrogation a break.

Now that the matter was related to the Center Sect and the Prince Jing Xin, how the interrogation would proceed was not something the people present in the hall could decide anymore.

The officials of Taichang Temple and the Pure Heaven Bureau and the representatives of various sects left Taichang Temple in tandem.

The Great Marsh Sect felt satisfied with the misfortune of certain people; the Kunlun Sect and some other sects were worried. And those smaller sects wished that they had never attended the meeting that day in the first place.

Zhang Yiai couldn’t leave the place of course. He was brought to a side room in Taichang Temple.

Monk Duhai sat on a futon outside the room, for the purpose of guarding the door, obviously.

Seeing the sunlight streaming in through the window, Zhang Yiai recalled many of his experiences.

He had left the Cloud-Dream Mountain many years ago. The sceneries and people on the mountain had already become unfamiliar to him. In comparison, he was more familiar with the people and affairs in Zhaoge City; he was more familiar with his status as the chief commander of the Pure Heaven Bureau, but nothing else.

He was also familiar with the smell of the paint on the windows of the side room that was not totally dry yet.

All the buildings of Taichang Temple were rebuilt on the ruins, which was supervised by him personally. It merely took seven days to finish.

The door of the side room was pushed open, and Yue Qianmen walked in.

Zhang Yiai felt somewhat surprised. Though it was understandable that Yue Qianmen came in to see him, why didn’t Monk Duhai stop him?

“Master Duhai is willing to offer a favor to the Center Sect and let me come here to persuade you to tell the truth.”

Yue Qianmen said this while staring at Zhang Yiai, the expression in his eyes extremely chilly.

What he intended to express was obviously different from what he had just said.

“What did Big Brother intend to say?” asked Zhang Yiai emotionlessly.

Yue Qianmen’s eyes turned even colder. “Are you mad? How could you bring the Palace of the Prince into this matter?” he scolded in a low voice.

“I’m just doing my job as an official in Zhaoge City, but you people have kept on asking me to do things for you…”

Zhang Yiai demanded while staring into his eyes, “And you even asked me to send people to the Fiend Prison for you. Did you ever consider my predicament?”

As soon as Zhang Yiai opened his mouth, Yue Qianmen’s look grew more terrible. He signaled Zhang Yiai with his cold eyes to shut up immediately.

Yet, Zhang Yiai had no intention to shut his mouth. “The person you sent to the Fiend Prison caused such a big turmoil; do you expect me to take the whole blame?” he demanded.

Yue Qianmen couldn’t stand it any longer, and yelled curtly, “Do you know what you are talking about?”

Staring into his eyes, Zhang Yiai asked calmly, “If the death of the divine dragon had something to do with that person, do you know what this mean for you?”

Yue Qianmen pushed open the door and walked out. Glancing at Monk Duhai on the futon, he knew that the monk had heard everything, and left in anger.

Monk Duhai opened his eyes slowly, and said, “I’ll record the whole conversation.”

Zhang Yiai walked to the door, lifted the front lapel and sat down on the doorsill, saying, “Thank you, Master.”

…

…

On the same night, turmoil occurred again in Zhaoge City, just when it had recovered from the last one not long ago.

The hooves of the magic army’s armored horses echoed in the city like the thunders. The grounds of the streets shook continually, as if something happened again in the Fiend Prison.

The lights were all lit in the Pure Heaven Bureau. The officials didn’t sleep all night, busy with compiling the files and investigating the case.

All the clues the officials found from their investigation pointed to one place; so hundreds of the magic army’s armored horses encircled that place.

It was the Palace of the Prince Jing Xin.

…

…

Taichang Temple was as quiet as usual the previous night, and another seemingly common day arrived with the morning sunlight.

Zhang Yiai had breakfast with Monk Duhai after brushing his teeth and washing his face. Each of them had two bowls of millet congee and three thin vegetable pancakes. The only difference was that Zhang Yiai ate half of a preserved duck egg.

Besides the two of them, the person who arrived at Taichang Temple the earliest that day was not State Duke Lu or any representative of a Cultivation sect; it was Yue Qianmen.

Though the Palace of the Prince Jing Xin was encircled tightly by the magic army, nobody dared stop Yue Qianmen from leaving the palace.

Yue Qianmen was the guest in the Palace of the Prince, so he of course knew that the Old Ones used the assassination attempt on Zhao Layue as a threat to ask the Palace of the Prince to send a letter to the Fiend Prison.

More specifically, this matter was carried out via his consent.

The Fiend Prison was the body of the divine dragon. More powerful forces had no chance of causing any trouble in the Fiend Prison.

And also he truly wanted to know the contents of the letter sent by the Old Ones to the Fiend Prison; so he agreed to the idea of the Royal Teacher Liang after receiving the letter from the Immortal.

Yue Qianmen didn’t think too much about it afterwards; but who could have thought…the divine dragon was dead because of it!

It was apparent that the imperial court and some people in the Cultivation circle wanted to connect the death of the divine dragon to the letter.

In fact, they had already connected the death of the divine dragon to the letter. The siege of the Palace of the Prince by the magic army at night was the proof.

He came to Taichang Temple in the early morning before everybody else in an attempt to talk to Monk Duhai and to reduce the damage as much as possible.

The morning sun had just peered over the horizon, and the birds hadn’t woken up yet. An eave of Taichang Temple cast a peculiar shadow in the backyard.

Monk Duhai and Yue Qianmen talked in low voices while standing under the shadow.

“This is the truth. That person was indeed a member of the Old Ones. We tried to interrogate him for certain information but couldn’t get it, so we had no choice but to send him to the Fiend Prison.”

Hearing this, Monk Duhai remained silent for a long time.

What Yue Qianmen tried to convey was clear. The Center Sect couldn’t get the information they wanted, so they had to send the prisoner to the Fiend Prison to let the Old Dragon eat him; in so doing, they might be able to get some information more or less.”

It was not the way an orthodox Cultivation sect should do. If this was leaked out, the reputation of the Center Sect would be damaged. Yet, Yue Qianmen admitted the violation of the ethics generally accepted by the orthodox sects. Anybody hearing this would think what Yue Qianmen said was the truth.

But Monk Duhai didn’t think so. “The monks are unable to lie; but it doesn’t mean that the monks are easy to be fooled,” he said evenly.

“It’s certainly the truth,” Yue Qianmen said, the look on his face terrible.

“You said that person is dead, not the one who escaped from the Fiend Prison. Do you have any proof?” asked Monk Duhai while looking at Yue Qianmen calmly.

The look on Yue Qianmen’s face was unsightly. The prisoners in the Fiend Prison suffered tremendous casualties, and many of them didn’t even have their corpses left behind. Where could he find the proof?

He asked with a cold repression, “Does Master really want to get to the bottom of the matter?”

Though the Fruit Formation Temple had a long history and profound resources, the Center Sect had a higher status in the Cultivation circle and all of Chaotian; and they had been on good terms.

The Center Sect gave him a perfect answer even at the expense of revealing their own scandal; but Monk Duhai didn’t accept the explanation. What was going on?

Monk Duhai said evenly, “The matter is not concluded yet; so I have to continue the investigation.”

Yue Qianmen exclaimed angrily, “The divine dragon is dead already. We don’t even want to press the issue; why do you still want to investigate it?”

“As I said to the chief commander Zhang yesterday, the Old Dragon turned into the Fiend Prison and died, causing the earthquakes. This is not a matter for the Center Sect anymore. Even though your sect doesn’t want to press the issue, it doesn’t mean this matter is over. Elder Yue should remember that the Young Zen Master had promised the Underworld Emperor to investigate the matter thoroughly.”

Monk Duhai said while looking at him calmly, “I’m a monk…the monks are unable to lie.”

Yue Qianmen stared at him sharply, and then turned around to leave, without uttering another world.

…

…

The morning sun was fully out in the sky, and the fog had mostly dispersed in the forest. The representatives of various sects and the officials arrived at Taichang Temple again.

Without any small talk, State Duke Lu told them the news that they wanted to heard the most.

“The Emperor was furious. He demanded that we must find out the truth of the case.”

State Duke Lu turned to Yue Qianmen and said expressionlessly, “The Emperor wanted me to ask the elder, what the Center Sect intended to do this time.”