The Path Toward Heaven

Xi Yiyun was coughing out blood continuously, his eyes full of frightened expression, wondering who this person was, and why this person could unsettle his Dao Heart simply by uttering a few words.

The skin on that person’s face was very smooth, looking quite young, but the bulging veins could be spotted under his skin, looking like a vine extending upwards and eventually sticking out at the forehead, forming a horn the length of a finger…It was impossible for him to be was a regular Center Sect disciple.

Seeing the horn, Xi Yiyun and the others in the Tranquil Garden thought of one possibility, but they soon figured it was impossible.

The Monk Duhai was the Principal Justice of the Fruit Formation Temple, and ranked fourth or fifth in the temple; he had the highest Cultivation state or generation among the group. He waved the sleeve of his monk robe to bring Xi Yiyun to his side, as he looked at the strange man of the Center Sect with a startled and bewildered expression, asking, “Could you please tell me who you are?”

“Since you don’t dare say this old man’s real name, you can continue pretending you don’t know who I am then.”

The person added after a sneer, “I’m as mighty as heaven, and as intelligent as all the beings in the world; you can call me Qi Ling.”

Hearing this name, the people in the Tranquil Garden couldn’t deny the fact that he was the one they wished he was not. The horrified expression filled their eyes after they had finally confirmed who he was.

Though the pronunciation of the name was slightly different, they could nonetheless figure out his identity.

The Monk Duhai, the Monk Dachang, State Duke Lu and the others bowed to him hurriedly, in a very reverential manner.

The Unicorn was the divine guardian animal of the Center Sect, had a formidable prowess. He had lived since the ancient times, probably tens of thousands of years. In all of Chaotian, the Round Turtle of Green Mountain was perhaps the only one who had lived longer than the Unicorn. The elders in the hermit peaks of Green Mountain and in the back valleys of the Cloud-Dream Mountain were his juniors, let alone this group of people.

Zhuo Rusui looked at the futon in front of the small stone pagoda with the lowered head. He didn’t lift his head, nor bowed to that person; it was unclear what was on his mind at the moment.

The Monk Duhai asked while hunching forward, “I don’t know…what guidance Mister Qi would like to offer us by coming here today?”

“I came here to find someone,” Qi Ling said with an indifferent expression.

The Monk Duhai’s expression changed slightly, as he prompted, “Who?”

The group in the Tranquil Garden felt flabbergasted, as they wondered who in the world was worth him coming all the way here from the Cloud-Dream Mountain.

“Jing Jiu, show yourself!” Qi Ling suddenly shouted loudly.

The shout sounded like a mountain had just collapsed; the violent wind rose in the Tranquil Garden, with the white banners twirling in the air as if they would be torn to shreds at any moment. The smoke and dust came out from the cracks between the stone slabs due to the quake in the ground, blurring the eyes of those present.

A moment later, the echo of this shout had gradually died down, and the smoke and dusts faded away as well, and no other commotion ensued.

After a pause, Qi Ling turned to Zhuo Rusui and demanded, “Where is he?”

Zhuo Rusui was looking at the evenly scattered dust on the ground with his head lowered. He looked calm, but he was in fact quite scared at the moment; his clothing was soaked in cold sweat.

Qi Ling’s two eyes were like two tangible sharp knives, driving into his Dao Tree.

“I don’t even know what you are talking about…”

Zhuo Rusui continued droopily, “Mister, if you want to meet my Senior Master, you have to go to Green Mountain; but this is the Fruit Formation Temple.”

Qi Ling ignored him, and said tersely, “Jing Jiu is studying the Buddhist methods here. Did he learn to become a turtle? On the other hand, the great grandmaster of your Green Mountain Sect is indeed a turtle…”

Zhuo Rusui snorted, thinking that he would thrust his sword into Qi Ling if he were Qi Ling’s equal, otherwise, he would feel too ashamed to see the Master Round Turtle when he went back to Tianguang Peak.

State Duke Lu intended to say something, but he couldn’t even breathe properly when being threatened by this ancient divine animal, let alone speak.

The voice of Qi Ling grew increasingly fiercer, as he claimed, “If you don’t come out, I’ll tear this garden and the temple apart!”

The Monk Duhai couldn’t stand listening to this kind of threat any longer; he took a step forward against the formidable energy, and sighed, “Mister, in that case, our Fruit Formation Temple has no choice but to activate the Great Formation.”

The Cultivation sects in Chaotian had their own resources, and they would have their own formidable formations of the mountain gate.

Qi Ling glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, and pressed, “Little monk, do you really think your formation could confine this old man?”

The Monk Duhai said with a bitter smile, “I hope it could confine you for three days for when the Young Zen Master will be able to return from the snowland.”

Though it was supposed to be a threatening statement, the way this highly achieved monk said it made it sound quite helpless.

The Fruit Formation Temple hadn’t had any experience of fighting against others, and worst of all, they were confronted by such a formidable figure that day.

The divine guardian animal of the Center Sect, the Unicorn, had been the friend of the great grandmaster of the Zen sects; the building of the Fruit Formation Temple was helped by the Unicorn to some extent. As such, how could the Fruit Formation Temple do anything against him?

Qi Ling figured out the hidden meaning in what the Monk Duhai said, as he said icily, “This is something between the Green Mountain Sect and me, you shouldn’t meddle with it.”

“Mister, could you wait until the respect is paid to the pagoda, for the sake of the late emperor?” the Monk Duhai offered after sighing.

“The imperial court of the Jing has paid sufficient respect to me. If it were under any other circumstances, I would wait; but I can’t do so today.”

Qi Ling fixed his gaze at the deep end of the Tranquil Garden, an unstoppable energy exuding from his body.

He chose to confront Jing Jiu that day for a reason.

Jing Jiu was most vulnerable during the time before he completely tempered the Fairy Book. If he were disturbed at this critical moment, his tempering effort would be totally nullified.

The Immortal Bai still wanted to proceed with the initial plan and let the spiritual awareness enter Jing Jiu’s body. She thought that they could kill Jing Jiu only if the plan didn’t work out.

But, it was evident that Jing Jiu wanted to use the opportunity of paying respect to the pagoda to skip the most vulnerable time of his tempering endeavor. The Unicorn couldn’t let him take the opportunity.

Sensing the horrifying energy from Qi Ling, the group in the Tranquil Garden felt quite nervous, and it was deathly quiet in the garden.

Monk Duhai showed a bitter expression, since he knew that the Fruit Formation Temple had to stop the carnage from happening. He was ready to break the rosary beads on his wrist in an effort to inform the Chief Monk to come out from behind closed doors and activate the Great Formation.

All of a sudden, a squeaking sound broke out in the Tranquil Garden.

A door was pushed open.

In the meantime, a crisp and unemotional female voice rang out.

“Hold on, Master Monk. There is no point in getting the Chief Monk involved. Since we are the guests here, we wouldn’t want to put our hosts in a predicament.”

Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu walked out from the back room of the Tranquil Garden.

As they came to the courtyard, Jing Jiu looked at Qi Ling with an imperturbable expression and asked, “What do you want to see me for?”

Upon hearing this, everybody in the Tranquil Garden was flabbergasted.

The way Qi Ling spoke and behaved was extremely rude and intimidating, but nobody dared rebuke him in the least no matter how upset they felt at the moment; all they could do was treat him reverentially, including Xi Yiyun who was wounded by him. It was because he was the Unicorn!

Regardless of how rude and inconsiderate Zhuo Rusui’s was, he only dared stare at the ground, rather than at him.

Yet, Jing Jiu dared stare at his eyes with such an imperturbable expression; didn’t Jing Jiu know who that person was?

However, Qi Ling didn’t overreact to Jing Jiu’s behavior; it was because he thought that Jing Jiu should behave this way, if the Immortal Bai’s speculation was correct.

Qi Ling stared at Jing Jiu’s eyes, and declared emotionlessly, “I came here…to ask you about an event. If you don’t give a satisfactory answer, I’ll kill you.”

“Ask then,” Jing Jiu said.

A painful and brutal expression showed in Qi Ling’s eyes, as he yelled sternly, “Why did you bring death to the Old Dragon?”

…

…

Hearing this, the group in the Tranquil Garden was stunned again, and they simply couldn’t believe what they had just heard.

Back when the turmoil occurred in the Fiend Prison, causing the earthquakes in Zhaoge City, they all knew the true reason for the event, though the populace didn’t know it.

The Underworld Emperor escaped from the prison, and in the end died along with the Old Dragon.

After hearing what Qi Ling said, they wondered if the event had something to do with Jing Jiu.

Even though Jing Jiu was in the middle state of Free Travel and the strongest swordsman among the Cultivation practitioners of the young generation, he wasn’t qualified to participate in a fight of such a level, not to mention it was many years ago.

However, they soon recalled a certain fact during the turmoil of the Fiend Prison: There was a strange figure escaping from the Fiend Prison at an extremely fast speed before the Old Dragon leaped out from the ground. It was said that the Pure Heaven Bureau of the imperial court and the Center Sect had been searching for this person; actually…Xi Yiyun and Bai Qianjun fixed their gazes on Jing Jiu as they recalled the unfathomable movements Jing Jiu displayed in the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror; an unbelievable idea formed in their minds.

Of the people present, State Duke Lu was someone who knew the ins and outs of the event the most, because it was he who had arranged for Jing Jiu to enter the Fiend Prison.

Upon hearing what Qi Ling said, his legs felt weak as he demanded, “I’m the Chief of Taichang Temple, in charge of the Fiend Prison. I’d like to know what evidence you have of this?

“He would be dead a long time ago if I had the evidence!” Qi Ling yelled sharply.

The violent wind rose up again in the Tranquil Garden, followed by an extremely formidable energy, which made everybody feel hard to breathe.

Jing Jiu, in the center of the formidable energy, like a boat in the center of a hurricane, was on the verge of capsizing.

It was just then that a meowing was heard outside the Tranquil Garden.

Qi Ling wheeled around abruptly, but he didn’t see anything.