The Path Toward Heaven

The family name of the young master was Li. His father was the governor of Dayuan City; so he was in a sense the prince of Dayuan City.

Though he didn’t have too many sinister friends due to the strict rules of his family, he often had no choice but to attend many social parties.

He was invited by a friend to a dinner party the night before.

That friend knew that he wouldn’t dare to visit the brothels if the party were hosted in the city; so his friend chose the site by the streams for the party.

There were a few brothels here where the food and girls were both expensive.

The Young Master Li had never experienced such a situation, so he felt as uncomfortable as sitting on a needle blanket. After being forced to drink a few glasses of wine, he had no desire to stay there any longer; as such, he used the excuse of going to the washroom to slip out of the brothel.

This brothel was located deep in the mountains, where it was dark at night. He lost his way and was anxious to get as far away from the place as possible. He treaded along the stream and arrived by the bank of the pond full of lotus flowers.

He didn’t dare walk about randomly. He sat on a hill holding his knees for the whole night.

After his friend and the people at the brothel found out that he was missing, they were worried. They went outside the mountain to search for him; but they didn’t expect him to have walked upstream.

Having sat for half a night, the body of the Young Master Li grew rigid. As the morning sun peeked, he was eager to look at the lotus flowers in the pond in a hurry, but he lost his footing and fell into the pond, and almost drowned.

It was lucky for him that two people were by the pond at the time.

Jing Jiu of course was not interested in learning all these details; it was the Young Master Li who told them all this.

Young Master Li followed them all the way back to the nunnery, and talked about these matters all the way there. If the road were longer, he would have been able to tell them all of his life history.

Jing Jiu and Guo Dong didn’t pay any heed to him, but he didn’t mind. He stopped talking after he was blocked by the old nun. Then he turned around and left reluctantly.

Early next morning, the Young Master Li came to the nunnery again. He brought a few carriages with him, full of prepared gifts in the carriages.

He came here for the purpose of expressing his thanks. He asked to see Jing Jiu.

However, the one he wanted to see the most was the feeble and cool young woman in the wheelchair, but he couldn’t just outright ask. This was basic courtesy.

Jing Jiu didn’t see him; actually, the old nun didn’t inform of Jing Jiu at all.

The Young Master Li didn’t feel dejected. He turned his head around to look at those gifts in the carriages, thinking that he was indeed too materialistic.

In the next few days, the Young Master Li visited the nunnery every day.

After being declined by the old nun, he would stand outside the nunnery for an hour and then leave, showing good bearing and determination.

If it was not raining or windy, the sun would be scorching hot. It wasn’t comfortable to stand outside the nunnery under any of those circumstances in the middle of summer.

Young Master Li kept coming every day in an attempt to show his sincerity, since he thought that his tenacity would be able to move others.

The problem was that it was nearly impossible for those two in the nunnery to be affected by these behaviors.

The Young Master Li didn’t show up in the hottest day of the year. Even though the old nun felt somewhat surprised, she thought that she finally could get some peace.

By dusk, he appeared outside the nunnery again.

He didn’t alert the old nun this time; but instead, he summoned courage to enter the nunnery. He was frightened by the big horse on the grass after he entered the front gate of the nunnery.

Who would raise a horse like cats and dogs in the courtyard?

The Young Master Li hushed the horse and walked to the front of the stone bridge.

There was a thin layer of fog on the other side of the bridge, so he couldn’t see clearly the scene on the other side; but he believed that the young woman in the wheelchair was on that side.

He untied the ancient zither and sat down on the ground cross-legged, starting to play the zither.

The zither music echoed in the dark night like the sound of streaming water.

In the beginning, he was ill at ease, because he was afraid that the old nun might come out to drive him away; he was actually more concerned that the elder brother might come over to beat him up.

It was the early evening. The feeble young woman might sleep earlier than normal folks. His zither playing might disturb others’ sleep, so it was he who asked for being beaten…

Thinking of these things, the zither music became a bit disordered, but it soon resumed its normal rhythmic tunes.

The old nun didn’t come out and Jing Jiu didn’t jump out to beat him. The nunnery was deathly quiet, except for the sound of zither music.

The sound of hooves suddenly broke out.

The horse ambled over and stood by him, listening to his music.

Young Master Li didn’t feel embarrassed by playing the zither for the horse; he actually felt pleased. His zither music grew more cheerful.

An hour later, he finished playing the zither. He got up, put the ancient zither on his back, bid farewell to the horse, and turned around and left.

As he walked out of the nunnery, he couldn’t suppress his excitement any longer and shouted out joyfully; but he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

In the following days, the Young Master Li didn’t come to bathe in the sun outside the nunnery, or stay in the rain and wind. He would sneak into the nunnery at every night, playing a few pieces of zither music.

Nobody had come out to stop him. The horse would as usual halt its steps to listen to his music quietly. He still felt quite satisfied.

As long as he played the zither music here, she would be able to hear it.

…

…

On the other side of the stone bridge, the thin fog wasn’t dissipating.

Before the round window in the meditation room, Jing Jiu and Guo Dong sat across from each other, listening quietly to the zither music.

Jing Jiu didn’t know how to play the zither.

Though Guo Dong had won the first place in the zither tournament at the Plum Meeting, she couldn’t play zither that well.

Yet, they could judge how well the zither was played.

The Young Master Li played the zither well enough; his music was very crisp and clean.

So they didn’t drive him away.

The piece of zither music the Young Master Li had just played was called the “Flowing Water”.

The music he was playing at the moment was the “Prelude of a Good Night”.

Jing Jiu knew it was the end of his zither playing for the night.

Time flowed away soundlessly like the flowing water in this way.

Accompanied by the zither music, it was seemingly easier to spend the hot summer nights; and it also grew cooler day by day. It could be said that Jing Jiu and Guo Dong had been having wonderful nights.

One night, they didn’t hear the zither music.

Jing Jiu and Guo Dong eyed each other, without saying a word.

…

…

In the following days, the zither music hadn’t turned up again.

The Young Master Li hadn’t come to the nunnery either.

One would cherish something only when it had been lost or was about to be lost.

Though Jing Jiu didn’t cherish the zither music, he would still think about it once in a while.

He and Guo Dong continued recuperating in the nunnery, until the leaves outside the round window turned red.

It was the time to leave after having seen the autumn scenery for a few days.

The old nun was not a Cultivation practitioner, and she was close to the end of her life. It seemed to be an ordinary farewell; in fact, it would be hard for them to meet again.

Guo Dong exchanged a few words with the old nun and then pushed the wheelchair out of the nunnery herself.

The old nun brought her sight back and looked at Jing Jiu, saying, “Though the Dong Girl seems to have a nonchalant temperament, she is actually quite warmhearted. Please take good care of her.”

“I will,” said Jing Jiu.

The old nun asked, “What should I do with the gifts left by the young Master Li?”

“You can go ahead and use them.”

Jing Jiu continued, “I’ll take the horse with me. You don’t have to raise it anymore.”

The old nun thought of something and took out a case, saying, “This gift is too precious. There is no way we should keep it.”

There was a pill in the case, exuding a faint fragrant scent. It was a magic pill for the Cultivation practitioners.

The Young Master Li must have obtained this magic pill for Guo Dong.

Though Jing Jiu didn’t care about the magic pill of this level, and since he also knew the pill was of use for Guo Dong, he took the magic pill in the end after some thought.

Then he was surprised to find the trademark of the Precious-Tree House on the case.

It was unclear if the governor of Dayuan City knew the boss of the Precious-Tree House or had some kind of connection with the Gu Clan.

…

…

The next destination for Jing Jiu and Guo Dong was Yu County. They had to pass through Dayuan City on their way there.

It was very busy in Dayuan City, quite crowded too. They could hear the clamor of the city even inside the carriage.

All of a sudden, they heard zither music up ahead, followed by the mockery and laughter.

Jing Jiu rolled up the carriage curtain and saw a zither master wearing green cloth in a corner by the street, looking at the ancient zither before him with his head hung low.

The zither master was mocked by others for some reason; but he didn’t defend himself. Yet, his fingers plucking the zither strings were trembling faintly; it was unclear if he felt embarrassed or distressed.

It looked like he was a distraught loser. Yet, his plain clothing was very clean, and his fingernails were well manicured. Even his ancient zither was well maintained.

“Didn’t you want to clear your father’s name? Play the piece ‘Snow of June’ then.”

“This ancient zither is worth something; why didn’t you sell it?”

“You could be fooled when selling a painting; how could you become smarter when selling the zither?”

“Young Master Li, people like you should stay at home all the time. Don’t think too much about anything else.”

Some goodhearted neighbors came out to disperse the crowd.

The zither master lifted his head to let out a wry smile on his face. He was the Young Master Li whom Jing Jiu and Guo Dong hadn’t seen for a while.

It was merely that they didn’t know what he had experienced to make him look thin and tired, even with a few strands of white hair on his sideburns.

Jing Jiu looked at Guo Dong and found she was gazing outside of the window.

…

…

Dayuan City was a large city, so it should have many medical houses and also the ones Jing Jiu looked for.

He didn’t look at the plaque of the medical house this time to find out what flower it was. He walked in directly and then took off the conical hat.

The doctor led him inside the quiet room. Before he could recover from his initial shock of seeing Jing Jiu here, the doctor was stunned almost speechless by Jing Jiu’s inquiry.

What had happened to the governor manor house in recent days?

How could such a trivial matter be worth his concern?

Though the doctor thought of this in his mind, he told Jing Jiu in details about the affair.

Three years ago, the Governor Li had sent in a petition to the imperial court to suggest having the second prince Jing Yao as the Crown Prince.

The Emperor didn’t pay any heed to him at the time. It could be regarded as a way to protect him.

But, those chancellors in the imperial court who supported Jing Xin, however, didn’t forget about it.

Following the event of the Fiend Prison, the situation in the imperial court became more complicated so that the struggles behind scenes grew more heated.

The both sides revealed their true attitudes. As a result, the Governor Li became their target.

No official was innocent enough to survive the thorough investigation. Soon, the Governor Li was found to have been involved in a bribe case a few years ago, so he was discharged from his official position immediately.

He was trampled on when he was down. The Li family had a hard time after moving out of the governor manor house. The Governor Li fell ill on the bed and died a few days ago after having held up for twenty some days.

The Young Master Li felt immensely angry and resentful after the initial sadness faded away. He thought that his father was a prudent and honest official, that he must have been framed due to offending chancellors in the imperial court. As such, he started appealing for his father’s innocence, in an attempt to change the decision about his father’s sentence.

To prove one’s innocence, the evidence alone was not enough; money was often needed to buy the access to certain important officials.

After the Young Master Li sold all of his the possessions, he had finally acquired some accesses. He got to know one of State Duke Lu’s trusted cronies in Yu County.

When the critical moment came for him to use money to bribe a certain key official, the Young Master Li took out the most precious and also the last possession of his family without hesitation and asked one of his old friends to sell it.

It was an ancient painting passed down from the ancestors of the Li family.

When the Young Master Li sold other possessions, it was that friend who had helped him; so he trusted his friend.

Unexpectedly, the friend ran away with the painting…

The Young Master Li had no other way to obtain the money needed to bribe the official but to play the zither on the street to collect some money.

Hearing all this, Jing Jiu fell silent.

The doctor said while looking at him, “The bribery case was true. He was guilty on that end.”

Jing Jiu knew that Governor Li was opportunistic when sending the petition of supporting Jing Yao, not to mention the bribery case.

Jing Yao was so young at the time, and State Duke Lu must know this fact clearly; otherwise, he would have protected this person. There was no point in young Master Li getting access to State Duke Lu’s crony.

Jing Jiu was about to leave.

The doctor suddenly remembered an important matter, and said hurriedly, “The event of the Center Sect has been determined. I’ll report it to you.”

Jing Jiu mused that he would get information from the Curtain Rollers without even asking for it now.

…

…

The Young Master Li returned to his house, untied the ancient zither, placed it carefully in a safe spot, and then walked in the backyard.

His current house was not nearly as comfortable as the governor manor house. He had merely one old man left as the servant; but the old man cleaned the courtyard so well that it was dustless.

Seeing the figure in the kitchen, he rubbed his face a few times and walked in with a smile, saying, “Mom, you can’t even cook the salty fish well enough for us to eat it with the rice. Let me do it.”

As they were talking, a thud suddenly broke out in the courtyard.

Startled, he turned around and found a box in the yard.

The box was filled with the golden leaves.

The Young Master Li was startled by this finding.

A moment later, he came back to his senses and pushed open the side door hastily to come out to the street.

There was nobody around but a horse-drawn carriage moving away.

The Young Master Li recognized the horse, revealing a delighted smile on his face. He ran a few paces in that direction and wanted to shout at the carriage while waving his right hand…

Then he halted his steps, dropping his waving hand slowly.

He didn’t say anything. As he saw the disappearing horse-drawn carriage, he felt a complex emotion, the warm tears running down his cheeks.

…

…

Guo Dong didn’t ask him why he did it; and Jing Jiu didn’t mention it again.

A more important event would happen soon. The date of the Center Sect Meeting had been officially announced; it was going to take place in three years.

It was undoubtedly the most important event in the Cultivation world after the ascension of the Immortal Jing Yang.

The Center Sect had given invitations to the Green Mountain Sect some time ago, and Bai Zao reminded Jing Jiu a few times about the event as well. It must be very beneficial to attend the event.

It was a common practice in the Cultivation world that any significant event would offer a reward valuable enough to match the event, which was similar to the top price of the lottery in the mortal world.

However, the item offered by the Center Sect was simply too precious; it turned out to be a Longevity Fairy Book.

Of course, the event would have the relevant rules regarding how to win the reward; otherwise, it would become meaningless for all the others when the event would end up in the situation where a few figures in the Heavenly Arrival State fought for the Fairy Book.

Jing Jiu planned to attend the event.

There were a few ways to treat Guo Dong’s wound; one of them, which was the most direct and effective way, was to instill the fairy air into her body.

The fairy air was not the same as the description of someone’s aura, like describing someone as having a bearing of fairy immortals; it was the true fairy zhenqi, or the true fairy energy.

A disgraced immortal had no true fairy energy; so Jing Jiu couldn’t do it.

Before Jing Yang, the last one who had successfully ascended in Chaotian was Bai Ren.

Bai Ren was the then Center Sect Master, the grandmother of the Immortal Bai, and the great grandmother of Bai Zao.

The Cultivation practitioners of this generation were used to calling her the Great Grandmaster Bai.

If the history of Chaotian in the last five hundred years was written by him and his Big Brother, the Great Grandmaster Bai had played the similar role a thousand years ago.

And her influence continued until now. It was because she had left several Fairy Books behind after her ascension.

The Center Sect had used one of the Fairy Books to severely wound the Underworld Emperor and suppressed him in the Fiend Prison for hundreds of years.

The Fairy Book of Longevity that the Center Sect offered this time was not a magic treasure as precious as the one used against the Underworld Emperor; it was an accessory book.

Yet, the accessory book was still the Fairy Book. The fairy energy inside the book would be enough for any ordinary person to change their body and bones to step on the path toward heaven, and for any Cultivation practitioner to prolong their life for decades.

As for how many years the Fairy Book could help a Cultivation practitioner gain, nobody knew; it was because nobody had ever tried it.

“The Cloud-Dream Mountain offers such a precious reward this time; what will they really want to achieve?” Guo Dong asked with furrowed brows.

Jing Jiu didn’t want to see the worried expression on her face, saying, “Don’t think too much about it. The Fairy Book is offered for your use anyway.”