The Path Toward Heaven

Hearing the arguments in the manor cave, Guo Nanshan and the others felt confused, and also ill at ease.

The elder Bai Rujing was a Cultivation practitioner in the upper state of the Broken Sea, having a cold temperament and lonely Dao Heart; what did Liu Shisui say to make him so upset?

In their eyes, Bai Rujing had treated Liu Shisui really badly. Even if Liu Shisui had truly stolen and eaten the Devil Pill, the elder shouldn’t have shown such a relentless attitude toward him. Like Gu Han said, a master was always a master who cared about their disciples…

Along with a crisp breaking sound, indicating something had been broken, the door of the manor cave was opened, and Liu Shisui walked out.

Guo Nanshan and Gu Han approached him with a worried expression.

Liu Shisui shook his head a few times, saying nothing.

Gu Han patted his shoulder and led him down the peak.

The sunlight was penetrated by the bamboo leaves, shining on Liu Shisui’s face to cast many shady stripes, and yet he displayed a very peaceful countenance.

The green bamboos, lack of human care, looked lush and natural.

…

…

The trees were everywhere on Bihu Peak.

Among the cliffs were the pine trees, ash trees, ginkgo tree, and bamboos.

Especially by the lake on the peak top, there were so many green bamboos that they formed an endless forest. When the wind rose, these bamboos would waver up and down, like the blue water in the lake.

The Daoist Hall of Bihu Peak was also located in the forest. The hall looked gloomy as the sunlight streamed in, while the peak master Chen Youtian’s face looked even colder as the sunlight shown on it.

Bihu Peak had regained some esteem and respect after he led the disciples of the Green Mountain to the battle of the Cloud Platform. But he had just received the news, and realized that the position of Bihu Peak within the nine peaks was still not ensured. They could still be in trouble if something had happened to their peak.

“There is a case, which some people wish I could take the initiative to push for further investigation on.”

Looking at the old man sitting across from him, Chen Youtian said icily, “I don’t know what Big Brother’s thoughts are on that.”

The elder of Bihu Peak figured that this was the test by the peak master, so he said nonchalantly, “Under the circumstances, we’d better keep a low profile.”

Hearing the answer he wanted, Chen Youtian still didn’t let it go; he pressed while staring into the elder’s eyes, “But that case had everything to do with our Bihu Peak, so it’s not that easy to ignore it.”

The expression had changed slightly on the elder’s face, as he thought that the case related to Bihu Peak and that was getting so much attention must be the death of Lei Poyun, their former peak master; but that case had been concluded by both the Immortal Sect Master and the Sword Justice, who would dare to overthrow it?

“What case is Peak Master talking about?”

Chen Youtian replied emotionlessly, “It’s the murder of Junior Master Zuo Yi. Has Big Brother forgotten about it?”

Upon hearing this, it grew deathly quiet in the Daoist Hall, and the sunlight outside became even colder.

It was something that had happened thirteen years ago.

Zuo Yi of Bihu Peak had come back from outside one night, and was killed by somebody on the same night. His head was cut off by a formidable sword, and his corpse was carelessly thrown in the bank of a stream.

This incident had caused a tremendous shock throughout the Green Mountain, since this sort of thing hadn’t happened on the nine peaks in many years.

The subsequent action of the killer seemed meant to show off, or to challenge the Green Mountain.

The worst part was that the killer must be a disciple of the Green Mountain since he committed the murder inside the Green Mountain Sword Formation.

Shangde Peak was requested to investigate the case thoroughly, and it was heard that some clues had been discovered during the investigation; but somehow the investigation was halted all of a sudden.

As a result, the death of Zuo Yi became an unsolved case. Many people had already forgotten about it, though some still remembered it.

After a moment of silence, the elder said to Chen Youtian, “The current Bihu Peak is not the same as the former Bihu Peak; actually they are not the same peak anymore, at all.”

Chen Youtian’s expression grew softer, saying, “Okay, all I want to hear from Big Brother is this statement. Then we just forget about this case as if we’ve never even heard about it.”

The elder said, “That’s right. Let’s discuss the next matter. Later, the fairy lady of the Center Sect will visit us. If she insists on having a look at the Blue Lake, what should we do?”

Chen Youtian said with a small smile, “Had she become Young Brother Jing Jiu’s Cultivation partner, she of course could go there. But she can’t right now.”

The elder laughed and said, “If this thing occurred, Young Brother Jing Jiu would go to the Cloud-Dream Mountain with her. I hear that the sceneries over there are pretty good as well, so there is nothing to be missed here.”

What he said had a deep meaning.

Chen Youtian commented sentimentally, “This is Young Brother Jing’s opportunity. Let’s see how he will make his choice.”

…

…

The Center Sect would soon celebrate the thirty-thousand years of the founding of their sect. This was a very significant event for the Center Sect. The goal of the group from the Center Sect was to invite some important figures of the Green Mountain Sect to attend this event.

It would be the ideal result if they could invite a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State.

This celebration event wouldn’t happen until many years later. Yet, the higher the Cultivation practitioners’ state, the more often they stayed behind closed doors. Since the Center Sect intended to invite the Immortal Sect Master of the Green Mountain or the Sword Justice Yuan Qijing and knew that they were not behind closed doors at the moment, they didn’t want to miss the opportunity to invite them beforehand.

For such an important task, the representative of the Center Sect was of course not a regular elder; he was Yue Qianmen, the Valley Master of the Qianyuan Valley. This Elder Yue and the Elder Ren Qianzhu who appeared in Guiyun City years ago were the brothers of the same generation, but the Elder Yue had a much higher status on the Cloud-Dream Mountain, responsible for explaining the sect rules and in charge of punishments. His status was similar to the Sword Justice Yuan Qijing’s on the nine peaks of the Green Mountain; additionally, he was a swordsman in the Lianxu State, which was the same as the upper state of the Broken Sea at the Green Mountain Sect.

The members of the Center Sect had seldom visited the Green Mountain, and they sent such an important figure to the Green Mountain this time, apparently showing their friendliness. Similarly, the Green Mountain Sect did their best to receive him. Fang Jingtian, the peak master of Xilai, accompanied him the entire time, and the Sword Justice Yuan Qijing had already met him over ten days ago. It was said that the Immortal Sect Master would meet him in person a few days later.

There were a dozen disciples accompanying Yue Qianmen, and Bai Zao was one of them.

The rumor of a marriage proposal was just a rumor, not true.

Bai Zao was the only daughter of the Center Sect Master. For her to come to the Green Mountain a long distance away to propose marriage was something unheard of, and completely out of the custom. Besides, how could the Cloud-Dream Mountain afford to lose their face like this? However, the saying “The wind can’t come from nowhere” was applicable here; the rumor must have its source. Perhaps, during the conversations between Yue Qianmen and the important figures of the Green Mountain, Yue Qianmen vaguely mentioned it, but nobody knew why it was leaked out. It seemed that someone spread the rumor intentionally and secretly.

If she were any other woman, she would feel embarrassed when hearing the rumor, and might even become so angry that she would turn around and go back to the Cloud-Dream Mountain immediately.

Yet, Bai Zao behaved as if she hadn’t heard the rumor at all, and her demeanor was quite calm and composed. Accompanied by the disciples of Liangwang Peak, she visited several peaks of the Green Mountain, enjoying the sceneries that were different from the Cloud-Dream Mountain, and discussed with them about different Cultivation ideas.

All disciples of the Green Mountain liked her. It was because she was very pretty, feeble but devoid of self-pity, quite attractive in her own way. Since the story was told by Luo Huainan, everybody in Chaotian had known of her affection for Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu was their most favorite young senior master at the moment.

They felt proud to be the disciples of his sect.

And it was natural for them to like Bai Zao because of her relationship with Jing Jiu.

Though the Young Senior Master would go to the Cloud-Dream Mountain after he and Bai Zao became Cultivation partners, and the Green Mountain would lose a very talented disciple, the Young Senior Master would probably one day gain the whole Center Sect. They didn’t have any reason to oppose this partnership considering the benefits the Young Senior Master would get, and they believed that the Immortal Sect Master and the Sword Justice would think this way as well.

Yet, the girls of Qingrong Peak didn’t like Bai Zao, and were even open with their hostility. In their minds, the Young Senior Master was too lazy to think about the matter of Cultivation partnership. Even if he really wanted to find a Cultivation partner, he could select from them or the Young Senior Maser Zhao; why should he choose someone like her from another sect? As for the alliance of the orthodox sects…the Cultivation practitioners were not supposed to resemble the royal family, and they didn’t have to follow the way the previous imperial court from ten thousand years ago by marrying off their princesses to the Underworld in the sunless underground.

Regardless of how the girls of Qingrong Peak thought about it, Bai Zao went to Shenmo Peak in the early morning next day.

The morning fog had mostly lifted, and the monkeys remained silent. The stone path was slightly damp. Bai Zao arrived at the peak top.

It was different from the previous day when Liu Shisui arrived at the peak top, everybody was present this time.

Standing on the peak top were Jing Jiu, Zhao Layue, Gu Qing, Yuan Qü and Xiao He.

The white cat sat on his haunches in the deep end of the manor cave while holding Cold Cicada, squinting in that direction, without emitting any of his energy.