The Path Toward Heaven

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…

Master Mo understood what Jing Jiu meant, saying, “It’s because the path is different.”

The path toward heaven was right in front of Master Mo, but he hadn’t taken a step toward it. It was because he cared about the well-being of the world, and it was the price he was willing to pay.

Though Jing Jiu had no objection to his decision, but Jing Jiu still felt a bit regretful for him.

Master Mo found that Jing Jiu could discover that he was merely one step away from the path toward heaven; this was something he had been worried about.

It meant that this famous slow emperor was absolutely anything but.

“Back when Zhang Shaoqiu told me about Your Majesty, I found that he didn’t quite reveal his true thoughts. To think about it now, it seemed that he knew that Your Majesty was a true genius even back then.”

Master Mo looked at Jing Jiu and added with a sigh, “But for the well-being of the world, I still have to kill Your Majesty today.”

The well-being of the inhabitants in the world was more important than the interests of the imperial court, and much more important than the welfare of the Emperor, and so the Emperor himself had to die.

This statement seemed to be lighthearted, but it was actually as powerful as a thunder; and it could be recorded in the history book.

Yet, Jing Jiu didn’t respond to it, as if he hadn’t heard of it at all.

Liu Shisui behaved the same way.

But Tong Yan suddenly felt something out of place.

Everything seemed to proceed as he had planned so far.

Though the Grand Scholar Zhang didn’t have the ambition to take the throne, he needed time and energy to suppress the ambitions within the high ranking officials; and Cangzhou had also created enough troubles for him to deal with. Once Master Mo entered the Royal Palace, there would be no possibility for Jing Jiu to survive; but why did Jing Jiu display such a calm countenance?

Tong Yan focused his gaze on the Go board. He suddenly gripped the arms of the wheelchair instinctively as he comprehended the meanings of life and death on the board.

“It’s impossible!” he suddenly raised his head and exclaimed while staring into Jing Jiu’s eyes.

Jing Jiu said bluntly, “There is nothing that is impossible.”

Tong Yan fell silent for a moment before saying, “Since you planned to kill me from the very beginning, I would think Zhuo Rusui should be here soon.”

“Yes,” said Jing Jiu. “But I don’t even know where he is right now.”

Tong Yan said, “Zhuo Rusui is willing to listen to you, meaning that he hasn’t forgotten the experiences in the previous world, nor has the bodyguard of yours. The Green Mountain Sect is indeed outstanding.”

Tong Yan vaguely guessed the identity of Jing Jiu’s bodyguard, who was a No-Mercy Sect disciple; but he didn’t have any proof yet.

“Forgetting is not because of the experiences in the mortal world, but because of time.”

Jing Jiu continued, “If one can’t overcome time, they will forever be the slave of time. The Green Mountain disciples can’t be slaves.”

Hearing this, Master Mo reflected on it a bit. “The desire is also a shackle. One should take it off like a cloth.”

“It’s the same idea,” Jing Jiu said.

Looking inside the pavilion, Master Mo couldn’t determine how profound this young emperor’s Cultivation state was. “If that’s the case, why would you insist on doing so? Otherwise, the outcome would be better today,” he suddenly remarked.

As soon as he finished speaking, the cold wind hurled up the snowflakes, and Master Mo disappeared from the original spot. As he reappeared, Master Mo arrived in the pavilion and placed his both hands on the wheelchair in which Tong Yan sat.

Seeing this, Liu Shisui dropped the umbrella in his hands slowly, his expression grave.

Liu Shisui thought that the Cultivation state of his opponent was too powerful, and it would be impossible for him to stop it if that man struck the Emperor earlier.

Master Mo pushed the wheelchair with Tong Yan in it toward the outside of the palace.

The swishing sound of wheels rolling on the snow was not unpleasant.

“You gave up on killing me, but I won’t.”

The calm voice of Jing Jiu’s rang out in the pavilion.

Master Mo halted his steps.

Tong Yan arched his brows, as he said, “The Grand Scholar won’t let you kill me. He is someone who wants to have a good name in history; so he would care how the annals of history would record these events.”

“I don’t care,” Jing Jiu said.

He didn’t care how the event would be recorded in the history book, or what the Grand Scholar’s thought was, or anything else.

All of a sudden, they heard a few thudding sounds outside the palace gate, and the noises of weapons colliding with each other.

The few eunuchs who were sent by Cangzhou more than ten years ago to the Royal Palace sprawled among the pool of blood in the snow.

Along with frequent footsteps, a great many guards and royal army soldiers encircled the grand hall; then the knocking on the door broke out.

“Your Majesty, the threats outside the palace have been weeded out. Please stay calm. Let me persuade Master Mo to leave!”

The haggard and anxious voice of Grand Scholar Zhang was heard outside the gate of the Palace.

Master Mo turned around to look at Jing Jiu in the pavilion.

Jing Jiu didn’t respond.

The Grand Scholar Zhang shouted again outside the palace gate, “Your Majesty, please think about your decision carefully? Master Mo, please think about you decision carefully too!”

Looking at the palace gate not far away, Tong Yan said, “He won’t let you kill me. And you shouldn’t kill me. If I were dead, King Jing would take his army to Qin State, and all the resources and forces I have accumulated in the last twenty years in this world will be given to Bai Qianjun. By that time nobody in this world will be able to stop him, and you will have no choice but to admit your defeat.”

“As I said, I don’t care,” Jing Jiu said.

“Even though you beat me in the game of Go and kill me, it’s useless as far as the final result is concerned,” Tong Yan said. “The victory of the grand game of fighting for the world will be mine in the end.”

“You have underestimated your importance,” said Jing Jiu. “The outcome of the Dao Competition will be finalized by either you or me alone, right under the pavilion, not the world.”

After a long moment of silence, Tong Yan said, “I feel rather proud after being evaluated highly by you; but I still don’t understand why you think of me so highly.”

“It’s because you understand what I’m doing. Even if you didn’t understand it, you should have understood it by now. Otherwise, why would you give up such a good opportunity and gesture for Master Mo to take you away?”

Jing Jiu continued, “…and this is exactly the reason why I have to kill you.”

Tong Yan remained reticent.

It was indeed his idea of letting Master Mo give up the attempt of killing the Emperor; it was because he had guessed what Jing Jiu had planned to do, and he must tell his Young Sister about the plan.

Otherwise, the Dao Competition would have an unexpected outcome.

Unfortunately, even though he gave up the opportunity to kill Jing Jiu, Jing Jiu was not willing to let him go.

Glancing at the nearby palace gate, Tong Yan asked with arched brows, “Are you sure you can kill me?”

Jing Jiu was inside the pavilion; Liu Shisui was outside the pavilion; and Zhuo Rusui was nowhere to be found.

Master Mo was pushing the wheelchair in which Tong Yan sat. The wheelchair was merely a few paces away from the palace gate, so they could leave the palace soon.

Master Mo was the strongest swordsman in this world. No matter how talented the Green Mountain disciples were, or whether they started cultivating since they were in their mothers’ wombs, there was no way they could fight against Master Mo.

Tong Yan thought to himself: “Even if they could kill me, they would be dead as well.”

It seemed that this would be the final outcome.

The snowfall had stopped earlier. The chilling wind whistled, blowing away the dark clouds. The crisp and clean sunlight shone down on the Royal Palace.

The sounds of fighting and turbulence could be vaguely heard outside the Royal Palace.

The anxious voice of the Grand Scholar could be heard outside the palace gate, but it seemed as if he were somewhere very far away.

It was quiet around the pavilion.

Likewise, it was deathly quiet in the real world.

The Cultivation practitioners outside the Huiyin Valley were staring at the scene in the sky nervously, waiting for the first face-to-face combat between the Green Mountain Sect and the Center Sect in the Dao Competition.

“Let’s go,” Tong Yan said.

His voice had no hint of being disturbed by anything, and his tone was composed. It sounded like a guest bidding farewell to the host.

Jing Jiu commanded, “Kill him.”

A figure leaped out from the shadow at the palace gate, with formidable and lethal energy, heading toward Tong Yan in the wheelchair.

The snowy appearance was the white cloth covering his face, and the shadow was his body.

It turned out that Zhuo Rusui had been waiting here the entire time.

From the very beginning, Jing Jiu didn’t intend to let Tong Yan leave here alive.

Tong Yan took out a gun nonchalantly from his right sleeve and pulled the trigger without hesitation, and squeezed an amulet treasure into pieces in his left hand.

He had been watching the palace gate for a long time and prepared for the attack.

It seemed that Master Mo had full confidence in the feeble son of King Jing. He didn’t heed Zhuo Rusui, but disappeared from behind the wheelchair.

As he reappeared, Master Mo had already arrived inside the pavilion.

With a stately cry, he drew his famous sword.

The cold sword turned into a flash of light to thrust forward.

Jing Jiu didn’t move.

Liu Shisui had somehow arrived in front of Jing Jiu.

The cold sword pierced through his chest, the blood pouring out, with half of the sword still remaining outside his chest.

Liu Shisui didn’t give Master Mo the opportunity to pull out his sword; Liu Shisui’s hands reached down and held the shaft of the sword like two iron clamps.

The style he employed was not the Locking Autumn, but the Inherited Heaven Sword.

The fresh blood seeped out between his palms and the blade.

Liu Shisui was fully aware that he wasn’t the equal of Master Mo; so he hadn’t thought of fighting with him. All he wanted to do was hold his sword for a brief moment.

Both sides had chosen the same tactic, which was that the weak member of the team had tangled with the strongest member of the other side.

It all depended on how long Tong Yan could withstand the violent attacks mounted by Zhuo Rusui, and whether Liu Shisui could lock Master Mo’s sword.

Master Mo sensed an amazing energy from the hands of this young bodyguard, and both his hands seemed to become the real sword sheath. Master Mo curled up his brows slightly.

Now that he couldn’t pull out his sword, Master Mo decided to push it forward.

With a soft scream, Master Mo pushed the sword forward brusquely. The cold sword was thrust all the way into Liu Shisui’s chest and came out from his back, heading toward Jing Jiu in the pavilion.

Liu Shisui stepped backward, the blood pouring out like a stream.

Pah!!!

The cold sword penetrated a pavilion post.

Yet, Jing Jiu was not at the spot.

With a crashing sound, the pavilion collapsed.

Master Mo turned his head around in surprise.

Outside the palace gate, the booming sounds hadn’t stopped yet. The burning smell assaulting the noses had spread out, and the blood splashed like a fountain amid the smoke and dusts.

The combination of the gun and the amulet treasure could generate a formidable power.

Tong Yan was born feeble in this life and couldn’t improve his Cultivation much, so he had prepared adequately in this aspect. He succeeded in blowing one of Zhuo Rusui’s arms off with the gunshot. However, he still couldn’t stop Zhuo Rusui from killing him. But at least, he had gained some time. As soon as Master Mo killed Jing Jiu and Liu Shisui, he would be able to come to his rescue.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t wait for that to happen.

An elegant hand imprint appeared on the back of the wheelchair.

The hand imprint was directly etched on Tong Yan’s back after passing through the steel material of the wheelchair.

The splashing blood came not only from the broken arm of Zuo Rusui’s, but also from Tong Yan’s mouth.

It was Jing Jiu who struck Tong Yan. But, how did he come to the spot from the pavilion?

The more baffling part was that Jing Jiu was nowhere to be found at the moment.

Master Mo suddenly felt somewhat cold, and then much colder, as if countless chilling winds were gathering around both his body and mind.

He looked at his own body, and discovered that there were hundreds of tiny holes on it from which the blood was seeping out.

Those bloody holes were tiny enough that the snowflakes couldn’t enter them; but the chilling winds could.

The blood and flesh gradually refilled those tiny holes; but the harm had been done, and was beyond repair. His zhenqi was scattering hither and thither in heaven and earth like threads, and so was his life force.

Seeing those disappearing bloody holes, Master Mo was puzzled. He thought the Emperor indeed had a profound Cultivation state, but was still not as powerful as his…

The chilly wind rose again. Jing Jiu reappeared in the snow, his face a bit pale.

Master Mo looked at Jing Jiu blankly, and asked, “How could you move so fast?”