The Path Toward Heaven

The frozen time was also reflected in the space.

For instance, the smoke rising from the incense and the flower petals brought in through the window by the wind were all frozen in the air, a very eerie and amazing scene.

And this too could be seen, and in the next moment, the other senses would follow suit, like sound losing its effect on the ears, bringing about an absolutely silent environment.

In such a quiet environment, the individuals who enshrouded by it couldn’t give a response; but the observers of such an environment would have a totally different perception.

The child, standing outside the old nunnery, couldn’t see the eerie scenes in the quiet room, but he could hear it…or rather, nothing at all.

This eerie feeling made him nervous; then he recalled that he had had similar experience when he was younger, and his face suddenly turned pale.

He was brought to the White-Deer Institute as an orphan, and had been serving Tian Jingren by his side since he was young.

Years ago, he had witnessed an important guest being received by Tian Jingren.

That important guest was the No-Mercy Sect Master.

It was said later that Tian Jingren attempted to reconcile the conflict between the No-Mercy Sect and the Western Ocean Sword Sect, as he didn’t want to see the orthodox Cultivation sects harm each other.

They had exchanged letters in advance. The Western Ocean Sword Sect had expressed their intention to withhold the attack.

The child remembered full well that the White-Deer Institute then had been as quiet as it was this day, without any sound to be heard, not even a breeze.

What he remembered most clearly was that his grasshopper in the living room hadn’t chirped once through the entire thing.

It was absolute silence, as quiet as death.

Later, the No-Mercy Sect Master left the White-Deer Institute. It was said that he declined Tian Jingren’s advice, insisting on declaring war on the Western Ocean Sword Sect.

Afterward, the master fell ill; as a result, the registration of new students at the White-Deer Institute had to be postponed for two months.

The No-Mercy Sect Master had been wounded severely in his dual with Godly Swordsman. If the Sect Master of Green Mountain hadn’t intervened, he would have probably died on the spot.

Since then, the No-Mercy Sect had become the underdog, with no chance of getting the upper hand.

Nobody connected the conversations in the White-Deer Institute that day with what had happened later.

Most people thought that Tian Jingren fell ill because he spent too much energy using the heavenly detection in order to persuade the No-Mercy Sect Master.

The child stood outside the door that day, so he knew that the truth wasn’t so simple; but he of course wouldn’t tell a living soul about it.

That day, he perceived absolute silence once again.

What would the master want to do?

Wasn’t Jing Jiu merely a disciple of the young generation at the Green Mountain Sect?

…

…

Space was frozen.

Sound had disappeared.

This is what was.

Or to put it in another way, these were the illusions created by the powerful heavenly awareness.

The real-time stillness would make all the objects and even the actions inside the object stop moving.

Like the mind.

However, Jing Jiu was thinking of some matters at that time.

As his sight fell on Tian Jingren’s white eyeballs, Jing Jiu’s mind slowed down, gradually getting even slower.

Even if this condition went on, his mind wouldn’t completely stop operating; but the difference between his thinking speed and the real time-flow would let him miss the goings-on at the moment.

This was the so-called “amnesia.”

Yet Jing Jiu didn’t let such things happen.

The instant his thinking speed slowed down, he realized what had just happened.

Usually, the mind couldn’t perceive its own changes.

However, Jing Jiu could, because he was very special to begin with, and his analytical ability was so strong that he could even sense the subtle changes of his analytical speed itself.

Realizing what was going on was the awareness itself, so Jing Jiu woke up.

He found that an episode of the heavenly awareness had somehow entered his body.

The heavenly awareness was minuscule, but extremely strong.

To condense the heavenly awareness into such a tiny episode and to transmit it into others’ body through the sight-line needed a mental force as powerful as the oceans.

This episode of the heavenly awareness didn’t carry any energy with it; it was as clean as the purest jade-piece.

Even if the Cultivation practitioners reflected on their own minds, they still couldn’t find the tiny episode.

This episode of the heavenly awareness had moved through his meridians undetected, and already reached his Perception Sea, and then stealthily landed on his Dao Tree stealthily.

Jing Jiu became alerted.

He sensed a great danger was lurking ahead.

This was the most dangerous situation he had been in since he stepped into that river the second time. This was even more dangerous than the moment when the Xilai peak master, Fang Jingtian, found him when the fake Jing Yang manor cave was opened.

This episode of the heavenly awareness seemed to be harmless, but it might change with time, and could easily pollute the Dao Tree and damage the Sword Pill. It could hinder his Cultivation, undetected, and disturb his Dao Heart; and it could even affect his fighting state during a critical battle…and he still couldn’t discover it.

The most alarming thing about this episode of the heavenly awareness was that it would most likely discover his secret if it stayed in his body.

So Tian Jingren really had some special tricks. This method was undetectable, even for immortals and devils.

If he used this method against others, those elders at the Green Mountain Sect or the Center Sect, even the highly achieved monks at the Fruit Formation Temple, would fall for it, to say nothing of Luo Huainan and Zhao Layue.

However, even if he was Tian Jingren, he would use up a great deal of the heavenly awareness by employing this method, which would come at great expense, so he wouldn’t do it that often.

Jing Jiu was certain that the master had been asked by someone to do this.

The problem was, who was that person? Fang Jingtian? Xilai? Or the person he was cautious of the most…his Big Brother?

If it were years ago, Jing Jiu would ask this question directly, or leave that episode of the heavenly awareness in the body, pretending he didn’t know about it; but it wasn’t a proper course of action right now.

In a brief moment, he had done the analysis three times, and decided that doing so would be very dangerous.

His Cultivation state was still relatively low, so he couldn’t have this trouble remaining in his body.

His intent was confirmed.

And his sword will was aroused.

Jing Jiu concentrated the energy in his eyes slightly, a flash of chilling light dashing away.

The sword pill in his body had abruptly spread out, turning into three hundred sword wills to slice the episode of the heavenly awareness.

The time had returned to its normal speed.

The space had become normal again.

The white smoke rising from the burning incense had scattered.

The flying flower petals had landed on the window sills, making faint sounds.

In a place where the sound couldn’t be heard, the sword wind was howling and the thunder was rumbling.

In a place where nothing could be seen, the three hundred sword wills had sliced the episode of the heavenly awareness into snow-like tiny pieces.

A thunder bore down with the heavenly awareness on those tiny pieces and blew them into oblivion.

…

…

The strong wind was howling.

The white hair was dancing.

Tian Jingren’s body started trembling, his face ashen, his expression extremely pained.

As the formless thunder occurred, he couldn’t endure it anymore. The fresh blood oozed out from the corner of Tian Jingren’s mouth, and he groaned in a hushed tone.

…

…

“Who are you?”

Tian Jingren stared at Jing Jiu with his blind eyes, his voice full of shock and disbelief.

“As I said, the answer to this question is too much for you to withstand.”

Jing Jiu took a pile of white paper from the incense table and walked toward the outside of the nunnery.

As the door was opened, the sunlight fell on his face.

Jing Jiu’s face was a bit pale as well.