The Path Toward Heaven

…

…

He Zhan understood what Tong Yan meant.

It was like what Bai Zao told Jing Jiu many years ago in Zhaoge City: “The issue of the Old ones has existed for too many years and not been solved by the orthodox Cultivation sects. It’s mostly because they lack the motivation, and the masters of various sects think it will take the time away from their cultivating.”

However, it was different this time. Tong Yan and others turned the table around thanks to Liu Shisui and showed the evidence to the world; as a result, the masters had no choice but to take some action.

In some sense, the ferocious battle that took place outside Haizhou City the day before was declared by the masters under the tremendous pressure from their young disciples.

Yet, He Zhan didn’t think the endeavor was that meaningful, saying in a slightly mocking tone, “You can’t call it a success if you haven’t totally wiped out the Old Ones.”

Tong Yan said without raising his head, “The Cloud Platform has been destroyed, and the West Ocean Sword Sect is not allowed to enter Chaotian for one hundred years. So it is a success.”

He Zhan said, “Back then, you people promised that you wouldn’t deceive yourself like previous generations had, that you wouldn’t compromise so easily. What would you call this then?”

The gathering of various sects outside Haizhou City was remarkable, and the Green Mountain Sect had asked two of their masters in the Heavenly Arrival State to help; but the whole endeavor still ended in compromise.

The Godly Swordsman of West Ocean killed his own young brother and drifted back to his territory without any significant consequence.

Though He Zhan was fully aware that it was quite difficult to kill someone like the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean, he still felt dejected at the fact that the Godly Swordsman wasn’t punished.

“Your Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect are both freaking disgusting,” He Zhan proclaimed while staring at Tong Yan.

Tong Yan said softly with his head still lowered, “Those old guys don’t have any strength anyway.”

Su Ziye found it quite interesting when hearing their negative evaluations of their masters. “Who are you then?” he inquired out of curiosity.

He Zhan answered with raised eyebrows, “A secret group made up of the young disciples of various Cultivation sects.”

Su Ziye’s green face displayed a seeming smile that was both ridiculous and terrifying.

He Zhan shrugged as he said, “I don’t know if I can describe it accurately. That year when I took part in the Cultivation tournament the first time, and also the last time, everybody happened to get together one night to drink alcohol and eat meat. We drank a bit too much and talked a bit too much as well; somehow, we touched upon this matter…

Don’t look at me like that. I was there by accident and not involved that much. I am at most an outside member of their group. If I weren’t a friend of Tong Yan’s, they would probably have killed me already to shut me up.”

“What did you or they want to do?” Su Ziye asked.

Tong Yan was playing chess by the window and closer to him, but Su Ziye still pressed He Zhan.

He Zhan glanced at Tong Yan and said with a smile, “What they wanted to do was of course to kill all those people like you.”

What kind of person was Su Ziye? He was the young master of the Mysterious Dark Sect, a famous devil man of the deviant sect, and of course the enemy of the orthodox Cultivation sects.

Hearing what He Zhan said, he laughed. “Now that you have saved me, you won’t kill me to shut me up. But why would you let me know all this?” Su Ziye asked.

Tong Yan lifted his head after putting down another chess piece, saying softly, “The Mysterious Dark Sect is not yours anymore; I think you should join the orthodox camp.”

Su Ziye stopped laughing, and asked calmly, “What benefit do I get from switching sides?”

“We can help you take back the Mysterious Dark Sect,” said Tong Yan.

Su Ziye pressed, “If I could take back the Mysterious Dark Sect, what is the point in switching sides?”

“The point is, if you switched sides, you could also help the whole Mysterious Dark Sect switch to the orthodox Cultivation camp,” Tong Yan replied.

“You have a huge ambition,” commented Su Ziye after a moment of silence.

Tong Yan said, “No, it’s not an ambition, but a grand plan.”

Su Ziye said, “A smart person like you should know very well that the difference between the orthodox and the deviant camps is mainly the manner of cultivating.”

The main reason why the orthodox Cultivation circle couldn’t tolerate the deviant Cultivation sects, including the Bloody Demon Sect of the old days, the current Mysterious Dark Sect and many deviant sects in the Cold Mountain, was that their cultivating methods were awfully deviant and evil, such as drinking blood, worshiping with blood, and using the demon embryo to replace soul, not to mention their cruel actions and killing innocent people at random.

“It has to do with the limited spiritual sources or inadequate cultivating methods, so you people have to utilize the deviant manner to substitute for the spirit of heaven and earth. These issues can be solved.”

With a calm expression, Tong Yan continued, “The fact that Liu Shisui has already reached the fifth level of the secret method of the Bloody Demon Sect without killing anybody is proof.”

“He is probably a genius, and he might have gained other things at the Green Mountain Sect at the beginning, so his approach can’t be applied to everyone else.”

Su Ziye added, “Even if you and Jing Jiu, the two smartest brains in the world, came together, this issue has no chance of being solved.”

Tong Yan said, “I have never expected to solve all the issues of the deviant cultivation, but I at least intend to solve the issue of the Mysterious Dark Sect.”

Su Ziye arched his brows slightly, as he inquired, “How?”

Tong Yan replied softly, “There are many spiritual sources underneath the Cold Mountain, though most of them are not pure, save for one or two of them.”

Su Ziye’s eyes narrowed.

The spiritual sources were the foundations of the Cultivation sects. The Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect had the two best spiritual sources in Chaotian, and the rest of the sects had their own spiritual sources.

Over tens of thousands of years, the Cultivation practitioners had searched for the spiritual sources in Chaotian countless times, so there was no way the new spiritual source could exist somewhere.

Even if one could find a spiritual source that wasn’t claimed by any sect, it would be snatched by those powerful Cultivation sects anyway.

There were many flammable spiritual sources underneath the Cold Mountain, but their energies were too untidy. The only spiritual source of high quality was buried one hundred miles under the Heavenly Pond.

It was not one or two sources.

There was only one.

The Kunlun Sect was on top of that spiritual source.

What was the meaning behind Tong Yan’s statement?

If it were somebody else, they wouldn’t dare to think more deeply on it. However, Su Ziye was the kind of person who thrived on deep thinking.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt it worthy of further consideration.

However, he was fully aware that it would happen only a long time from now, even hundreds of years later, even if he agreed to Tong Yan’s suggestion.

Su Ziye proclaimed, “You people should solve your own issue first.”

He Zhan was at a loss, asking, “And what would those be?”

Su Ziye said with a smile, “Liu Shisui has contributed the most to the success of defeating the Old Ones; but he killed Luo Huainan. Isn’t that a problem?”

He Zhan was taken aback, thinking it was indeed a troublesome problem. Though the West Ocean Sword Sect retreated back to the ocean and the Old Ones would stay out away from the scene for a long time, the conflict would occur between the Green Mountain Sect and the Center Sect if the problem involving Liu Shisui couldn’t be solved properly. The situation in Chaotian would become even worse.

“That is something Jing Jiu will take care of. You go make a pot of green vegetable porridge.”

What Tong Yan said had a deep meaning, but Su Ziye and He Zhan couldn’t understand it.

Making the green vegetable porridge was He Zhan’s job.

He Zhan was somewhat upset, snapping, “Why don’t you go make it?!”

“I have to play chess,” said Tong Yan while looking at the chess board.

He Zhan walked to the vegetable garden and looked at the green filling his vision, feeling distressed. He squatted down and pulled out the leaves of lettuce. “It would taste much better if you wrapped meat with these leaves,” he complained while working.

All of a sudden, his fingertip touched a hard object.

…

…

The two in the room raised their heads at the same time, looking at the outside of the window.

That energy was so crisp and clear that the sunlight became even a bit dimmer.

He Zhan returned to the room and put down the object on the table, saying nothing.

Su Ziye and Tong Yan looked at it and found it was a sword.

It was this sword that exuded the crisp and clear energy.

The Center Sect didn’t use swords that much.

Nor did the Mysterious Dark Sect.

Yet, it didn’t mean that they didn’t know anything about swords.

This sword was not an ordinary one for sure.

“What is going on?” Su Ziye asked He Zhan.

He Zhan replied, “I have just picked it up from the vegetable garden.”

Recalling of the discussion of He Zhan’s luck, Su Ziye commented sentimentally, “I suddenly feel honorable to be picked up by you in Yizhou City.”

Walking to the table and looking at the sword for a while in silence, Tong Yan said, “But I think he has brought back big trouble.”