The Path Toward Heaven

Jing Jiu said, “If I had brought the Thunder-Soul Wood with me, it would be nice to make two inclining chairs with it.”

The Underworld Emperor knew that Jing Jiu had already guessed his idea, sighing, “It would be more than nice; it would be great.”

“Your idea is indeed very good,” said Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu of course didn’t refer to the Underworld Emperor’s method of driving off the mosquitoes, but his idea of escaping from this place.

After that person acquired the Thunder-Soul Wood, he employed the method of Soul Transfer of the Underworld to attach his soul to a devil man of the Underworld to successfully escape from the Sword Jail.

It was no doubt that the Underworld Emperor had a much better understanding of the method of Soul Transfer; if he had obtained the Thunder-Soul Wood, he would probably transfer his soul to any of the prisoners at the second level to escape.

When he locked that person in the Sword Jail, the Underworld Emperor had already been in the Fiend Prison for a long time; so he wouldn’t know what method that person employed to escape.

The fact that the Underworld Emperor could think of this method in such a short time indicated that his intelligence was not inferior to that person’s.

Jing Jiu asked, “As a smart and level person, how could you be tricked by him to come up to the ground?”

The Underworld Emperor said sentimentally, “It was of course because he was very good at tricking people; also, I wanted to come up to have a look myself.”

No Cultivation practitioner didn’t want to ascend, and likewise nobody in the Underworld didn’t want to come to the human world, even though the magnitude of difficulty of the two endeavors was not the same.

The regular swordsmen of the Underworld could like to come up by all means to bathe in the sun on the ground, but…

The Underworld Emperor said nonchalantly, “It was not easy for me to come up; but it would be almost impossible for me to do so if I had become the emperor. So I wanted to come up to have a look before becoming the emperor.”

Jing Jiu understood him.

The human emperor couldn’t go to the snowland, and the Underworld emperor couldn’t come up to the human world.

The chancellors would advise against the idea of their emperor coming up to the human world even if they were sentenced to death for it; or, they would kill the emperor directly to avoid him being captured by their enemy and then used as the hostage to humiliate and threaten the Underworld.

Even though the emperor was important, he was still not as important as the safety of the entire Underworld.

“You should have known the danger of your travel to the human world, so why did you still get caught in the end?” Jing Jiu asked.

The Underworld Emperor replied, “It was because I wasn’t defeated by scheme; I was defeated by the sheer force.”

Having said that, the Underworld Emperor fell silent, not talking about the past events anymore.

Jing Jiu fell silent for a while as well. “Do you still want to drive the mosquitoes away?” Jing Jiu asked.

“Definitely,” the Underworld Emperor answered.

Jing Jiu taught him the Magic Method of Wind and Rain.

The method was the secret method of the Great Marsh Sect. Jing Jiu had some knowledge of it because the Green Mountain Sect and the Great Marsh Sect had been on good terms. Though it was not a high-state method, it should be sufficient for the purpose.

The Underworld Emperor was a special person with special talent; so this kind of low-state magic method was not that difficult for him to learn, even though their Cultivation system was different from human’s.

It didn’t take much time for him to have learned the Magic Method of Wind and Rain. Shortly, the dark clouds filled the sky in the green valley, and a strong wind rose, assaulting the face. It seemed that a rainstorm would arrive soon.

Perceiving the omen of wind and rain, the mosquitoes around the Underworld Emperor scattered since they were not used to such a weather; yet, they didn’t go very far, lingering about thirty feet away.

Looking at the dark clouds in the sky, the Underworld Emperor said with furrowed brows, “The power is not enough, and it’s too tiring to operate the method. It’s not so much different from using the soul-fires to drive away the mosquitoes.”

“You can stamp the method into the formation diagram,” Jing Jiu suggested.

The Underworld Emperor understood what Jing Jiu said, but he shook his head as he said, “This place is isolated from heaven and earth; if I wanted the formation diagram to operate for a longer period, the power of the diagram would be very weak.”

“It would work as long as the wind and rain lasted,” said Jing Jiu.

Without another word, the Underworld Emperor stamped the magic method into the formation diagram.

The instant the formation diagram was activated, the dark cloud in the sky became smaller, and the wind grew weaker; and the rainfall became sparse.

A moment later, the formation diagram stabilized. The dark cloud and the rain only covered a small patch, hovering quietly over Jing Jiu’s and the Underworld Emperor’s heads, in an area of about one hundred square foot.

Those mosquitoes flew toward them again, because they had become accustomed to the changed environment, and also because the size of the dark cloud and rain was truly small.

The Underworld Emperor didn’t complain, and he looked at Jing Jiu, waiting for his next arrangement, because he was certain that this resourceful young disciple of the Green Mountain must have other methods in his disposal.

Jing Jiu took out a bell hesitantly from his tattered sleeve.

“It has a high state.”

The Underworld Emperor couldn’t help but praise it. This bell was indeed not an ordinary one; it was the gift given to Jing Jiu by Sese.

If Sese had known that Jing Jiu used this bell she had selected with a great deal of care for such a thing, she would be very disappointed.

In this case, the thing she would ask Jing Jiu to do for her would be extremely troublesome.

Jing Jiu was hesitant when he thought of this scenario; what if she would ask him to kill all the elders of the Hanging-Bell Sect?

And then he thought he should deal with the problem in the future when it happened; there was no need to worry about it now. Besides, she might not be able to find out that he had left the bell in the Fiend Prison.

The bell left Jing Jiu’s palm automatically, flying into the dark cloud.

Those mosquitoes had flown back to the side of the Underworld Emperor, making buzzing sounds; strangely, they didn’t have any intention of landing on his skin and sucking his blood.

A crisp sound rang out in the dark cloud.

The effect of the highest state magic, the Cleansing-Heart Bell of the Hanging-Bell Sect, was obvious; as the ringing of the bell echoed in the valley, the green grass grew more lavish, and the flowers more colorful.

Both Jing Jiu and the Underworld Emperor felt their minds grow more relaxed and pleasant.

The most peculiar change occurred at the source of the sound.

The patch of the dark cloud started twirling around when being bombarded by the ringing of the bell, and a bolt of lightning was spotted in the dark cloud.

The lightning was very tiny, as wide as a finger and as long as a chopstick.

The small lightning couldn’t give out a booming thunder since it was too close to the ground, except making a faint cracking sound.

It sounded like a chopstick being broken, and this chopstick was made from bamboo, rather than hardwood.

The cloud looked like a large umbrella.

The lightning looked like a chopstick.

It sounded like people eating at the dining table.

Everything was so lovely, and just as lovely as the small bell appearing intermittently in the dark cloud.

…

…

Anything that was lovely would have less of the lethal effect; but it was sufficient for driving the mosquitoes away.

The Underworld Emperor at least hadn’t lied about it; those mosquitoes were indeed scared of the thunder. They scattered gradually, fleeing into the cracks between rocks in the valley and the grass, and dared not show up again.

Jing Jiu gazed at the Underworld Emperor.

The Underworld Emperor let loose a small grin. It looked like he was satisfied with the result. And soon, he wiped off the grin on his face and started teaching lessons unexpectedly.

“The Soul-Fire isn’t something that can generate in the body naturally. We have to go to the Underworld River to cultivate in order to find one’s own underworld fire, same as the disciples of your Green Mountain seeking their swords.

“To absorb the underworld fire into the body is part of the Cultivation in the Underworld River. We call it ‘Possessing Fire’.”

The Underworld Emperor continued, “The next step is the most important, which is to merge the underworld fire into the blood, forming the Soul-Fire.”

There had always existed several passages between Chaotian and the Underworld; and the contact between the two worlds was inevitable.

No major war had happened between the two worlds, and the hostility had gradually lessened on both sides; all sorts of contacts, intentional or unintentional, had gradually increased.

The origin and cultivation method of the Soul-Fire were not the secrets kept by the Underworld any longer, especially for someone like Jing Jiu.

Yet, he still listened wholeheartedly, and didn’t interrupt or prompt the speaker.

The Underworld Emperor said, “Since you don’t want to cultivate the Soul-Fire, what I said is not so meaningful to you; so I’m just touching on it a little.”

“Please elaborate,” Jing Jiu prompted.

Though his Big Brother had told him about the cultivation methods of the Underworld, it was still not as detailed as taught by the Underworld Emperor himself. The opportunity was simply too precious.

As the Underworld Emperor agreed to teach Jing Jiu, he didn’t regard it a troublesome matter; the Underworld Emperor described the Soul-Fire states and Cultivation methods in details.

Jing Jiu listened with a good deal of concentration.

Out of all the matters in the world, Jing Jiu was only concerned with one.

He was extremely serious about Cultivation, though he usually looked lazy.

The bell’s crisp occasional sounds, along with the Underworld Emperor’s voice, echoed in the green valley.

The grass became greener, the purple flowers more purple, and the breeze softer.

It was in the middle of spring.

It was a good time to cultivate.