The Path Toward Heaven

Two figures of the Green Mountain in the Heavenly Arrival State were both here.

What could the West Ocean Sword Sect do then?

The figure of the Heavenly Arrival State thirty miles away had given his reaction.

To wield the sword one more time.

That sword light was even brighter than before, and more intimidating, as if it would take over heaven and earth. The sword flew up like a huge magic bird, soon passing through the empty realm and vanishing without a trace. It should have arrived in the thunder region.

Was the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean going to take the risk of fighting against two swordsmen of the Heavenly Arrival State by drawing the heavenly thunder with his sword?

Countless gazes were fixed upon the deep end of the night sky.

With emotions of every sort, the Cultivation practitioners waited nervously for that sword light to reappear.

Yuan Qijing stood on the back of the whale, looking at the night sky with his hands clasped, remaining silent.

The wind and snowstorm had all stopped, and the starlight shone through again. Still, the tall figure in the empty realm didn’t take any further action.

What was Yuan Qijing waiting for? And what was the Immortal Sect Master of Green Mountain waiting for? Why didn’t they initiate an attack?

Bu Qiuxiao felt ill at ease as he looked at Xiwang Sun, who was bound by the sword shadow one thousand feet away.

Though Xiwang Sun was badly injured and had a pale face, he still maintained a dignified aura. The only difference was that his eyes gazing at the night sky were not gloomy and profound anymore, instead showing a hint of mockery.

Bu Qiuxiao suddenly understood the situation, shouting to the Cultivation practitioners close to him, “Move back more!”

As soon as he finished these words, that sword light struck down again.

Hiss!!!

It was as if the sky was sliced open a gap.

A flash of sword light had come down along with the shining starlight, like lightning, illuminating the whole Cloud Platform.

Countless surprised screams burst out and echoed in the night sky around the Cloud Platform.

…

…

It was very quiet on the Green Mountain.

The formation was upheld, and the thunder and lightning on the top of Bihu Peak had disappeared completely; as such, the young girls of Qingrong Peak couldn’t enjoy the rain, which would plunge like the waterfalls.

Except for Nan Wang and other peak masters and the elders and disciples behind closed doors, all disciples of the Green Mountain in the Undefeated State and beyond had gone to West Ocean.

Though the disciples in the state lower than the Undefeated didn’t know exactly what had happened, they guessed that something significant must have occurred. They were either worried, or felt unsettled, unable to focus on their sword work.

As a result, all nine peaks were quiet, especially Shenmo Peak. Besides the sound of boiling water in the iron kettle, nothing could be heard there.

Lying on the bamboo chair, Jing Jiu held a tea cup in his hand, looking at the distance and taking a sip of the tea once in a while, pondering something.

Zhao Layue, Gu Qing and Yuan Qü looked at his back, shaking their heads after sharing a look, as they really had no idea what Jing Jiu was pondering.

The situation at the West Ocean must be quite tense. Liu Shisui would be in danger as long as he was not back on the Green Mountain, since he was the one who started the whole thing. Why wasn’t Jing Jiu worried?

It was because they didn’t know the deal between the Immortal Sect Master and Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu had sent the Thoughtless Sword to the Alien Land to ask his friend Giant to keep an eye on the islands enshrouded by the fog, and the Immortal Sect Master had to ensure the safety of Liu Shisui.

The Giant had taken out a tree that had existed ten-thousand years from the Secret Realm of Singing Spring, and currently felt drowsy while staring at that patch of fog.

As far as Jing Jiu was concerned, Liu Shisui shouldn’t be in any sort of danger, since Liu Ci was looking after him, not to mention the help of the Lone Sword and the jasmine flower; otherwise, his luck was indeed quite bad.

But Jing Jiu forgot a fact that Liu Shisui’s fortune had always been bad; and Jing Jiu failed to predict that Liu Shisui wouldn’t come back to the Green Mountain right away after having left the Old Ones, and he instead went to fetch that sword.

Yet, Jing Jiu wasn’t concerned about the outcome of the battle between the Green Mountain Sect and the West Ocean Sword Sect. it was because he had no need to worry about it.

“Why?”

Having heard Yuan Qü’s inquiry, Jing Jiu handed the tea cup to Gu Qing and said, “It’s because there is one extra Heavenly Arrival when two Heavenly Arrivals have gone against one Heavenly Arrival.”

But this was a senseless statement.

Even a small child knew this basic calculating fact and would feel bored of repeating it.

It was nonsense simply because everybody knew it without being told.

Normally, the fact that is known without being told is the absolute truth.

The simplest arithmetic fact is something which cannot be overruled

Yuan Qü rubbed his head, thinking this was indeed the case.

But Gu Qing felt a bit surprised, asking, “Have the Immortal Sect Master and the Sword Justice both gone there?”

Zhao Layue thought that if this wasn’t the case, why would she and Jing Jiu have invited the Master White Ghost to come here from Bihu Peak a few years ago?

Thinking of this, she glanced at the white cat, and then asked Jing Jiu, “The West Ocean has their own divine guardian animal–the flying whale–which we have seen.”

Jing Jiu said, “That whale is a fake Heavenly Arrival, and also the name of Yuan Qijing is an antithesis of it.”

Gu Qing was taken aback at first, but then couldn’t help but laugh out after figuring out what Jing Jiu meant.

Rubbing his head, Yuan Qü thought this explanation was not very convincing.

The white cat listened to their conversation while crouching by the cliff’s edge, musing that this explanation was quite interesting and also sensible, and that he shouldn’t be considered as the equal of that stupid huge hunk, since he was far superior.

He reached his right paw out to pull Cold Cicada back and clutched it, and then yawned.

It was late spring, and the weather had become hotter, so White Ghost liked holding Cold Cicada while sleeping.

He had never cared about whether Cold Cicada liked it or not, or how many bottles of the icy jade marrow were used to keep Cold Cicada healthy and alive.

“I still think it unfathomable.”

Gu Qing washed Jing Jiu’s tea cup and refilled it with new tea. Gu Qing handed the new tea to Jing Jiu and continued, “Though the West Ocean Sword Sect might get some benefit from it, the risk is still too much; unless they want to change the whole arrangement of the Cultivation world.”

What he referred to was the fact that the West Ocean Sword Sect controlled the Old Ones in secret.

Zhao Layue said, “This is obviously their purpose; otherwise they could never surpass the Green Mountain Sect.”

Many years ago, the West Ocean Sword Sect had suddenly arisen by the West Ocean. And everybody could tell what they had done afterwards was apparently intended to target the Green Mountain Sect.

Yet the question remained: Where did the West Ocean Sword Sect’s hostility toward the Green Mountain or their strong desire to surpass the Green Mountain come from? Was it only that the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean didn’t like being weaker than anybody else?

Zhao Layue couldn’t answer this question, so she looked at Jing Jiu.

Gu Qing and Yuan Qü fixed their gazes on Jing Jiu as well.

Jing Jiu drank the tea with his head lowered, pretending that he was unaware of their gazes.

Zhao Layue and other two gazed at him all the same.

It was quiet on the peak top for a long time.

Jing Jiu put down the tea cup.

Gu Qing took it over as quickly as he could.

Jing Jiu felt helpless, and said, “This story is too long, so it’s tiresome to tell it.”

Yuan Qü let out a cheer and ran into the manor cave, and soon he brought out three embroidered futons.

Zhao Layue indicated that she didn’t need the futon. She sat on the bamboo chair after asking Jing Jiu to move aside.

The white cat wasn’t interested in the story, so he continued his sleep while holding Cold Cicada.

He knew all those things that had happened before, so he had no need to hear them one more time.

“This story started like this,” Jing Jiu stated.

…

…

A great many years ago, a boat arrived from the ocean, carrying spices, jewelry, crystals, and a youth onboard.

The name of that youth was Nan Qü, a prince of a small country in the South Ocean, according to the rumors. He came to Chaotian thousands of miles away for one purpose, which was to join the Green Mountain Sect due to its popularity. His talent for Cultivation was excellent, so he entered the inner gate easily. At the Inherited Sword Competition, he was wanted by many peaks, but he wasn’t willing to go to any other peak except for becoming the personal disciple of the Sect Master, the Immortal Dao Yuan. But the Immortal Dao Yuan thought his desire for killing was too strong, and forget taking him on as his personal disciple; the Immortal Dao Yuan didn’t even think he was suited to learn the true Green Mountain sword style. Yet, the Immortal Dao Yuan was willing to introduce him to the Fruit Formation Temple to continue his Cultivation.

Nan Qü wasn’t willing to take the advice. He was so angry with the Immortal Dao Yuan that he left the Green Mountain and traveled around Chaotian. After experiencing some tragic events during his travel, his temperament became even more radical. Later, he happened to find a manor cave left by the immortal swordsman of the previous generation on a certain island in the ocean and obtained the inheritance. As a result, his Cultivation state improved very fast, and reached the upper state of the Heavenly Arrival within two hundred years, becoming an immortal swordsman of the generation himself. Later, he came back to Chaotian. To get revenge for being refused by the Immortal Dao Yuan, he killed many disciples of the Green Mountain, and succeeded in the sneak attack with the help of the devil men of the Underworld, taking advantage of the moment when the Immortal Dao Yuan attempted to ascend.

The Immortal Dao Yuan was wounded severely during the sneak attack and failed in his ascension attempt. Yet, before his death, the Immortal Dao Yuan employed his One Of All Sword to cut Nan Qü’s Dao Tree in half from a distance of ten thousand miles, and meanwhile activated the Green Mountain Formation to kill him. Nan Qü realized that he had no chance of holding off the Green Mountain Formation, so he activated his own formation on the island to keep himself on the island where his manor cave was, being enshrouded in the ocean fog all year long.

…

…

Jing Jiu was not good at telling stories. He didn’t use elaborate and elegant words to describe the scenes and the plots were not vivid and interesting; but Zhao Layue, Gu Qing and Yung Qü listened very fastidiously, feeling astonished in the end.

They of course knew whom Jing Jiu was talking about.

The legends of the Hidden Swordsmen were the most famous stories in the Cultivation world of Chaotian.

But it wasn’t until this day that they had learned there were so many misgivings between the Green Mountain Sect and that immortal swordsman of the South Ocean in the Heavenly Arrival State, and this was the first time they had learned his name.

The Immortal Dao Yuan was the Sect Master of Green Mountain many years ago. According to his generation, he should be the grandmaster of the Immortal Taiping and the Immortal Jing Yang. He died after failing to ascend. Yet, the true reason for his failure was due to the immortal swordsman of the South Ocean in the Heavenly Arrival State. This was why the Green Mountain Sect swore to kill him no matter what.