The Path Toward Heaven

The sign of entering the Undefeated State was that the flying sword could be hidden in the Sword Pill.

Since Jing Jiu was in the Undefeated State already, why couldn’t he accomplish this basic skill?

Gu Qing and Yuan Qü hadn’t even heard of this, nor did they give helpful advice.

The manor cave suddenly turned quiet.

And the quietness lasted for a while.

Jing Jiu finally returned to his senses and said, “Just pretend like I haven’t said anything.”

Gu Qing and Yuan Qü shared a look, feeling awkward.

Zhao Layue offered an advice.

“Stay behind closed doors for a while.”

It occurred to her that Grandmaster Jing Yang had a surprisingly powerful Cultivation state back then, because he had often stayed behind closed doors on Shenmo Peak for over one hundred years at a time.

It was quite different from what he was doing now…even if he was still a genius, yet he had been lazy over the years and wasn’t focused enough during Cultivation.

This was actually a misunderstanding.

Both in his past life and this life, Jing Jiu didn’t like staying behind closed doors practicing at the Cultivation circle.

According to his own view, one needed to isolate oneself from the outside world and focus on breaking through the Cultivation state only when they reached a critical moment of their Cultivation and didn’t want to be disturbed. Under normal circumstances, all they needed to do was meditate and cultivate in silence, absorbing the spirit of heaven and earth and sensing its essence; why would they have to lock themselves up in the cave for so long?

Hearing this, Zhao Layue realized that Jing Jiu wasn’t a regular Cultivation practitioner.

For a regular Cultivation practitioner, including herself, they often needed to stay behind closed doors at the critical moment of breaking through the state; and they needed a quiet and undisturbed environment for their regular Cultivation as well. Such an environment was helpful for them to better absorb the spirit of heaven and earth and cleanse the Dao Heart.

Jing Jiu didn’t need all this.

As all of them on Shenmo Peak knew, he could cultivate even while lying on the bamboo chair.

And more often than not, he had a cat crouching on his head, with a cicada sitting on top of the cat, during his Cultivation.

It seemed that Jing Jiu might reach the state of transparent Dao Heart at any time.

Zhao Layue even suspected that he had probably been in such a state the whole time.

This was indeed an admirable talent.

“Why has Big Brother Zuo Rusui of Tianguang Peak stayed behind closed doors all the time?” Yuan Qü asked out of curiosity.

Zuo Rusui was the personal disciple of the Sect Master as well as the most talented disciple before Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui, enjoying a high status among the disciples of the Green Mountain.

This fact hadn’t changed that much, even though Zhao Layue had become the peak master of Shenmo and Liu Shisui had achieved so many significant deeds.

The reason for it was simple. It was because Zuo Rusui had been behind closed doors all this time.

Many disciples of the Green Mountain had learned since their first day here that Big Brother Zuo of Tianguang Peak stayed behind closed doors.

Many years later, Big Brother Zuo was still behind closed doors.

Even Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu hadn’t seen this Zuo Rusui, let alone those disciples.

It was not unusual for Cultivation practitioners to stay behind closed doors for a few decades, or even longer; however, it was rare for a young Cultivation practitioner like Zuo Rusui to stay behind closed doors for more than ten years right after entering the mountain gate.

It would of course seem extraordinary if one could do anything to an extreme extent. The longer Zuo Rusui stayed behind closed doors, the more mysterious he appeared, which would draw more attention.

Jing Jiu remarked, “To borrow a phrase from the human political affairs, what he is doing is ‘nurturing respect’.”

Gu Qing understood what Jing Jiu meant, saying nothing as he smiled softly.

Yuan Qü understood the meaning of “nurturing respect”, but he didn’t know whether it had anything to do with Zuo Rusui staying behind closed doors.

Jing Jiu asked, “When the imperial court intends to employ a famous scholar for an official job, but the position isn’t what he expected, what will he do next?”

“He will vehemently decline employment. In so doing, his fame will grow, and he will perhaps gain more in the future…”

Yuan Qü said, “But I still can’t understand it. Since the Green Mountain Sect doesn’t have any official positions, what is Big Brother Zuo waiting for?”

“What he is waiting for is a moment. It’s a moment when he is certain that he will be the strongest swordsman of the young generation on Green Mountain.”

Jing Jiu continued, “I can even imagine it. In the past ten some years, he had successfully broken through states several times, and as he celebrated his success, he suddenly learned that another young colleague on the Green Mountain had achieved more success in Cultivation. He had no choice but to return to the manor cave dejected after the initial shock.”

Gu Qing and Yuan Qü looked at Zhao Layue reflexively.

Many Cultivation records of the Green Mountain were set on Shenmo Peak, either by the Immortal Jing Yang or by Zhao Layue.

Jing Jiu referred to the latter.

Zhao Layue said to Jing Jiu, “To guess the intent of a colleague without any evidence is not a good form.”

Jing Jiu said, “I’m not guessing his intent. The Sect Master took him as the personal disciple, probably because he likes Zuo Rusui. And a person is more likely to like someone who is like himself.”

“I don’t think I’m like you in any respect,” said Zhao Layue.

Jing Jiu said, “Actually, we are quite alike.”

Zhao Layue was taken aback before saying, “It seems that today you…have talked too much.”

“Since you want me to stay behind closed doors, I have told you what I want to say but can’t while I’m behind closed doors.”

Jing Jiu looked at her and said, “Don’t delay your Cultivation while I stay behind closed doors; otherwise he will surpass you.”

“You’d better worry about yourself,” Zhao Layue said impatiently.

She usually respected Jing Jiu very much, intentionally displaying a nonchalant attitude in front of others; however, she couldn’t put up with it this time.

…

…

For a Cultivation practitioner, staying behind closed doors was of course a significant event.

They had never seen Jing Jiu staying behind closed doors besides lying on his bamboo chair; so they were more cautious about it.

Zhao Layue wrote a sword letter to inform all the peaks and then inserted the Thoughtless Sword into the crack of the cliff wall to activate the prohibiting formation to shield the whole of Shenmo Peak.

The stone gate of the manor cave closed slowly.

Zhao Layue told Gu Qing and Yuan Qü, “It’s unclear how many years he will stay behind closed doors; so there is no need to wait here. Let’s go back, and come to check on him in a few days.”

A few monkey screams could be heard somewhere in the cliffs. Nobody could be found on the peak top.

The white cat sauntered out from the manor cave, squinting at the autumn sun, revealing a pleasant expression.

The forbidding formation on Shenmo Peak was dismantled, so he could come out to bathe in the sun at any time, which pleased him very much. The only sad thing was that he couldn’t crouch on Jing Jiu’s head anymore.

Along with a band of dust on the ground and a faint sound of friction, Cold Cicada ran out and squatted carefully beside the white cat.

…

…

There were many manor caves on Shenmo Peak that were unoccupied.

Jing Jiu found a manor cave on the peak top randomly and walked into it.

The furniture was quite simple in this manor cave. It had nothing but a stone bed, with the clean spring water streaming down from the cliff wall; it didn’t even have a futon.

Unlike other Cultivation practitioners behind closed doors who would form a Dao Imprint or set up a formation, all Jing Jiu did was walk over and sit on the stone bed. His behavior seemed quite imprudent.

Jing Jiu sat with his legs crossed, his body leaning forward slightly. With his right elbow resting on the knee, he supported his chin with his right hand, deep in thought.

He remained deep in thought this way for more than ten days.

During this time, he didn’t get up once or drink the spring water once, and his posture hadn’t even changed a bit.

Zhao Layue and the other two came to check on him twice after they were sure that he didn’t mind being disturbed. But they didn’t quite understand what he was doing, except that they had merely a vague idea what Jing Jiu attempted to achieve.

Jing Jiu in deep thought looked like those fairy immortals in the famous murals at the Double-Forest Temple, revealing a solemn and mysterious beauty.

…

…

One day, Jing Jiu opened his eyes and looked at the iron sword by his side, summoning it slightly.

The iron sword flew up and arrived at his side.

According to the Cultivation methods of the Green Mountain Sect or other sword sects, after entering the Undefeated State, as long as the practitioner summoned, the flying sword and the Sword Pill would merge together.

This process was called the “retrieving sword”.

There were many methods of retrieving the sword; some practitioners would let the flying sword vanish directly, and some would swallow the flying sword.

And there were other peculiar ways of retrieving sword, for instance, some elders of the ancient sword sects preferred sending the Sword Pill outside the body to retrieving the sword in midair.

For any practitioner in the Cultivation state of the Undefeated, retrieving sword was the simplest thing to do.

Yet, Jing Jiu couldn’t do it. No matter how hard he willed his Sword Awareness, he couldn’t make the iron sword get close to his body.

If one observed closely, they would find that the iron sword seemed fearful or even terrified when being summoned.