The Path Toward Heaven

“What are you looking at?” Jiang Yuxia asked curiously.

Jing Jiu noticed that her voice was rather clean and pure.

Such cleanness and pureness couldn’t be trained; the traits were authentic.

If the foolish part of naivety is removed, what is left in the curiosity.

As such, her curiosity was genuine.

He had the intention to answer her question, which was rare for him.

However, he could in no way do so.

…

…

In addition to the clouds with edges shone on by the sun, there were other things in the blue sky.

There were a few battleships hidden behind the clouds.

Jing Jiu had been watching those battleships in the last few days when he bathed in the sun.

He had access to the military network by means of placing a marker on the Wild Rabbit, and he found the battleship fleet that was stationed on the Stargate Base and spent half a day writing a program to hack the central computer.

All he could do next was wait.

If that ascendant intended to warn him again or to kill him…he or she had to use the gun of the battleship to shoot him.

Come on, go ahead.

He watched those battleships with squinting eyes, thinking that he would charge over and find the person as soon as that ascendant employed the weapon, be it the super gun with fairy energy or the laser gun.

…

…

Could he tell all this to the girl with black hair named Jiang Yuxia?

Of course not.

As such, he opted to ignore her.

Jiang Yuxia was still not upset. And yet, she felt a bit bored and hot; she fanned herself with her hand.

It was not hot during the season when the gingko trees turned into yellow flames. Moreover, the surface of this planet was usually cooler in comparison.

A faint fresh air came out from her palm along with the breeze, condensing into tiny water beads after it landed on the grass blades.

It was probably the magic method of life force she had learned at the College of Divinity or from the priest clan.

A regular person would feel refreshed and comfortable when they perceived such fresh air; but it was merely similar to the basic energy of the water sects in the eyes of Jing Jiu, which he disliked very much because of the Immortal Bai.

“You sit a bit farther away from me,” said Jing Jiu.

Jiang Yuxia had never encountered such treatment, feeling embarrassed, her face flushed.. She stood up helplessly and moved to the underside of a gingko tree.

A breeze blew a few gold-colored leaves off the tree, which fell onto her shoulders. The leaves on her shoulders looked like the best designed and most beautiful décor.

Jing Jiu saw the scene through his spiritual awareness, which reminded him of the begonia tree in the courtyard of the Jing House in Zhaoge City and Bai Zao.

He made a decision without a second thought that he would not talk to this girl with black hair again no matter how much he disliked the energy of the water sects.

Sitting under the gingko tree, Jiang Yuxia held her bent knees while gazing at him with a tilted head. The more she thought about him, the more curious she felt.

Who was this guy in a blue tracksuit? Was he Zong Lizi’s boyfriend?

Lizi had come up from the underground only a few days ago. According to her desolate temperament, it was impossible for her to have a boyfriend so soon. Had the two of them known each other before? Maybe, this youth fled up here from the underground, which is why he didn’t dare go to anywhere else besides bathing in the sun on this lawn devoid of scanners.

The games in this world had a general structure, and the players needed to design the detailed plots. Such culture had a profound influence on the inhabitants.

The young girls like Zong Lizi and Jiang Yuxia took a fancy to making up stories, and more often than not, they would be enmeshed in the stories they had invented.

As another draft of breeze blew over, one more gold leaf fell down and landed squarely on her hand.

She held the stem of the leaf with her fingers and gazed at the leaf resembling a tiny fan in mesmerization.

The leaf of the gingko tree was indeed beautiful, but the eyes of the youth were even better looking.

She saw his eyes when they talked near each other and she able to get a close look at them.

The pair of beautiful eyes was like crystals…no, like gems…no, like glass…no, like none of them.

His eyes were brighter than the twinkling stars and cleaner than lakewater.

Jiang Yuxia suddenly came back to her senses. She shook her head imperceptibly, thinking that she shouldn’t think about this sort of thing since she was someone who would become a female priest.

Jing Jiu knew the girl with black hair was gazing at him, and he didn’t mind.

There were many stories about being “captured” by the watchful gaze in the classic novels in Chaotian and in this world.

Yet, he couldn’t understand why. His conclusion was that those youths were mentally too feeble.

If one felt uncomfortable when being gazed at, how could he survive all those years?

The other people on the lawn couldn’t see his face; all they could see was his head and face covered in the clothes, looking like a weirdo, which inevitably drew some suspicious gazes.

Some others paid absolutely no attention to him, like those cheerful children chasing each other and the dogs.

The Human Federation of the Milky Way was a flower growing out of the ashes of the distant ancient civilization and was in its youth. It was provided with boundless resources from the colonized planets, and the threat of the Sea of Dark Matter was impeded by the star chain for the time being. The populace was more willing to give birth to kids due to the beneficial well-fare policy. Jing Jiu saw more children in Shou’er City than those he had seen in the last one thousand years. In comparison to Chaotian, the commoners lived a happier life here; the inhabitants in the underground neighborhood even lived a better life than those in the slums of Shangzhou City. Thinking of this, Jing Jiu made a slight adjustment as to the evaluation of the two civilizations.

As the permanent star in the distant was descending behind the mountain range on the other side of the canyon, the twilight grew thicker. School would be out soon.

The ring on his finger emitted a faint glow, bringing his awareness to the interplanetary network. Countless fake digital markers brushed past it as his awareness passed through more than ten information-skipping bridges and the deepest part of the internet before arriving in that room.

The snowflakes were drifting in the room. No information could be found about the assassin in overalls, but the Wild Rabbit left a few words for him.

The female officer in charge of maintaining computers on a battleship pointed out in her note that he was a shameless and untrustworthy person and shouldn’t be a Cloud Ghost.

By now, Jing Jiu found out that the other party was Ran Handong, a girl, but he had no idea why she called him a shameless and untrustworthy person.

It occurred to him that figuring out others’ thoughts was more difficult than cultivating the Inherited Heaven Sword style and the theorem. As such, he didn’t bother thinking about it further, and came out of the room.

The ear-pleasing electronic music rang out on campus, as if hundreds of drops of various sizes dropped onto ice of different thickness.

Soon after, Zong Lizi came to the lawn. Seeing Jiang Yuxia sitting under the gingko tree, she couldn’t help but feel surprised.

Jiang Yuxia waved her hand toward her and raised the paperback book in her hand, indicating that she would sit there for a while longer.

The artificial lights on campus were adequate, but it was still a bit dark under the gingko tree. How could she read the words there?

Zong Lizi didn’t have time to think it through because Jing Jiu had come to the edge of the lawn.

The two of them walked toward the outside of the university just like what they had done in the last few days.

Jiang Yuxia put the book away and looked at the young man and young woman in the shadows of the gingko trees. No one could see a hint of resentment and desire in the ends of her eyes.

…

…

The lights were much brighter after the two of them walked out from the forest of gingko trees. The glows of the floating skyboards could be seen once in a while in the night sky, which sometimes reminded Jing Jiu of the sword lights in Chaotian.

Zong Lizi suddenly sighed.

Jing Jiu was aware that she did it to trigger a conversation. He uttered a soft “hmm” through his nose, meaning it was the prelude for a conversation.

“I feel a great deal of pressure.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not talking about the gaming company…They’re bothering me less and less now…I’m talking about the study.”

Zong Lizi held the briefcase with the computer inside tighter as she continued, “My classmates are all growing up in the upper world. They went through the gene modification at a young age and had the knowledge inputs in middle school…”

The knowledge inputs were done through a system of brain communication in which the basic knowledge was instilled into the deep awareness of the humans and then awakened accordingly in the future study. This instilled knowledge in the awareness was merely the basics, mostly the memorable knowledge, which had nothing to do with the improvement of other capabilities like logical thinking, calculating and analyzing.

Jing Jiu was startled when he learned of this method. As he was about to jack up his evaluation of this civilization further, he found this method had its drawbacks.

There were many theses at the Science Academy suggesting that too much knowledge inputs could negatively affect the students’ capabilities in other aspects.

The human brains could in no way withstand so much information input in a short time.

Few people could store a large amount of information and data in their awareness like Jing Jiu did.

The reason the brains of those students who received the knowledge inputs didn’t go up in smoke was because they had gone through the strictest evaluation before they had the knowledge inputs in terms of the volume, the number of cerebral cells and the development of their brains.

They couldn’t have the knowledge of their chosen subjects instilled until they had passed the tests, and the amount of knowledge instilled was strictly limited.

The success rate of the knowledge inputs was quite high so far; it was by and large risk free.

Nevertheless, the students who were qualified to have the knowledge inputs must have a profound background and were the elites specially trained by the federation, like these proud students at the University of Stargate.

The New Era Institute where Zong Lizi studied was a regular school, so she didn’t receive the knowledge inputs. As a result, she had a hard time catching up to her classmates.

Jing Jiu was not interested in this. “Change the topic,” said he.

Zong Lizi was well aware of his personality. She felt delighted now that he had uttered “hmm” twice and requested to change the topic on his own. “I’ve received seven love letters!” said she cheerfully.

Her expression was quite natural and her smile was genuine when she said this, as if she was sharing interesting news with her “girlfriend”. In fact, she had been watching Jing Jiu the entire time from the corners of her eyes.

Jing Jiu had even less interest in such a matter, saying, “Change.”

Zong Lizi felt dejected, pouting her mouth. “I know Jiang Yuxia was not reading the book,” said she. “She was there to meet you.”

Jing Jiu didn’t deny it since it was a fact, saying, “Stay away from her, like the other girl…”

He forgot the name of the female student at the New Era Institute.

Zong Lizi found that she had forgotten her name as well.

…

…

“Jiang Yuxia is different from her.”

Zong Lizi said softly, “I’m staying in a hotel, but this proud girl resides in the dorm. When she finds out, she didn’t say anything to dissuade me.”

If she were the girl with the surname Lu at the New Era Institute, she would advise her: You should stay in the dorm like everybody else, etc. for this or that reason.

These words might be sensible and sounded like a friendly advice, but they were nevertheless redundant because of other purposes.

“Don’t worry about me. I can tell a good person from a bad one. I’ve lived by myself since a young age and grew up in that underground neighborhood; so my ability of identifying people is better than you think,” said she while curling up her eyebrows playfully. “The reason I agreed to share the rent with you that night was because I knew you’re a good person.”

Jing Jiu said while flicking a fallen golden leaf from the gingko tree in front of him with his fingers, “You’re an idiot.”

There was no such a person in the world who was born good or bad.

A good person might do something evil; and a bad person might do something benevolent.

Judging a person and their future actions based on their superficial behavior was stupid.

“No matter what you say, I think anyone can encounter some hardships sometimes in their lives; I will help them as much as I can.”

Zong Lizi continued after a moment of silence, “The reason I’m willing to be Lu Shuiqian’s friend is because I don’t have any friend to begin with. Even though she feigns friendship, I don’t care.”

The two of them came to the edge of the swimming pool at the foot of the hotel. The reflections of the large trees on the surface of the water rippled gently.

The reflections of the trees and the surface of the water seemed to be one entity; but in reality, they were not.

It was truly a troublesome fact.

She suddenly stopped short, and said to Jing Jiu, “I’m reallysick.”

“And I really have the medicine for it,” returned Jing Jiu.

…

…

In the dead of the night, the clouds and smoke had all dispersed. The figures of the few battleships could be seen more clearly.

Lying on the chair on the deck, Jing Jiu looked at those stars rather than the battleships.

He suddenly reached out his hand and grabbed at the night sky, as if he wanted to catch the starlight in his hand.

He was not cultivating by absorbing the fairy energy at the moment, nor was he thinking of the Round Turtle and Ada. He didn’t have any idea why he had made such an incomprehensible and redundant move.

And he had no idea he had done so many unnecessary and redundant things lately.

The terms like particles, gravitational force, change of light speed, and change of rules had appeared in his awareness again.

After he came to this world, his physical strength had decreased; was his heart growing mellower as a result?

Thinking of all this, he stood up and came to the suite with a small breeze, which helped Zong Lizi fall into a sound sleep.

Sitting by the bed, he moved his palm slowly half a foot away from her body.

A faint and formidable sword will came out from his palm and scanned the girl’s body from head to toe.

Apart from formidability, the sword will was also exceedingly cold, giving off a sensation of the Ice Formation of a Thousand Miles he had deployed in the Sword Jail.

The sword wills were formless and immaterial, but they seemed able to alter the space, making the starlight sifting in through the windows unable to reflect back to the outside. As a result, the room was a bit brighter now.

Crack!!!

The water in the cup beside the bed froze into ice cube instantly, and then the cup broke apart.

After a long while, Jing Jiu left the bedroom and returned to the chair on the deck, and started sleeping for real, his eyes closed.