The Path Toward Heaven

“The late emperor had no attachment to the mortal world, and he only had a dozen years left in his life; so what would he leave his useless body for?” the Monk Duhai shot back. “If his body could be used by the Immortal for hundreds of years more, the great goal of the Immortal might have already been achieved and everybody would have been blessed. What was wrong with the Immortal’s idea?”

It was meaningless to argue about whose idea was correct; Jing Jiu seldom talked about differences of ideas or passed any judgment on them.

The Emperor didn’t bother arguing with Monk Duhai. “Were you a young monk serving him back then?” the Emperor asked him.

The Monk Duhai let out a mocking smile, as he said, “Those big brothers who served the Immortal were all killed by you people; and the purging at the temple went on for thirty years. If I had served the Immortal, do you really think I would still be alive?”

The bell of the Zen temple rang crisply, as if it came from the otherworld. Yet, when this sort of thing happened, the temple could turn into a death pit.

The Emperor didn’t mention why the Immortal Taiping had failed or what had happened afterwards, but the scant words from Monk Duhai were enough to help any listener imagine how many people had died at the Fruit Formation Temple back then and how bloody the scenes were.

Zhao Layue displayed an indifferent countenance, taking all this as granted.

Yet, Liu Shisui felt sentimental, asking, “But, why are you still following the Great Grandmaster Taiping?”

“Back then, I was only an unnoticeable young monk at the temple. Though I wasn’t bullied, nobody would notice me or pay any attention to me at the time.”

Looking at the outside of the meditation room, Monk Duhai continued nostalgically, “One day I met the Chief Monk while I was sweeping the fallen leaves in the pagoda forest. He asked for my name and what script I was studying and what I had understood and whatnot. He swept the fallen leaves the whole afternoon with me.”

Liu Shisui recalled those nights when the Immortal Taiping explained the scripts in the vegetable garden.

If they were the ordinary folks, they would ask Monk Duhai why he would follow Taiping steadfastly and join the Old Ones, even after he became a highly achieved and respectful monk.

Liu Shisui didn’t ask him about it, nor did Zhao Layue; it was because they all understood the reason.

No matter what the Cultivation practitioners cultivated, and no matter whether it was Dao or Zen, the ultimate goal for them was to cultivate their heart.

The only difference is that some practitioners focused on cultivating the mental honesty; some of them on the mental stillness; and still some on the mental affection.

Among the abundance of Zen stories, the mortals were most familiar with the story about whether the flapping flag was caused by the wind or the mental affection; but most people misunderstood the mental affection for the affection between a man and a woman.

It is not the case of course.

The affection between a man and a woman is too limited and too singular; it isn’t powerful enough a path to lead to heaven.

The Emperor demanded, “You have kept your mouth shut these last three days; why are you willing to open your mouth now?”

Monk Duhai said while looking at Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui, “You two are the disciples of Shenmo Peak and inheritors of Ying Yang. I open my mouth now to tell you two that you have been defeated this time, and next…”

Zhao Layue cut in expressionlessly, “Time will prove that he is right?”

The Monk Duhai said with a grin, “No, the Immortal will prove it himself.”

Having said that, he closed his eyes, with no more breathing coming out of his mouth.

In order to kill Jing Jiu, Monk Duhai had employed the Palm of the World, a method of sacrificing oneself, so his Zen energy had been exhausted, and he would die within ten days. Moreover, all of his meridians were broken by the Emperor’s palm. It was a truly difficult feat for him to wait until Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui came back. He died with his eyes closed, but the corners of his mouth displayed a hint of a smile, showing a peaceful and pleased emotion.

Some monks of the Fruit Formation Temple came in and brought the corpse of Monk Duhai out of the room. It was quiet again in the meditation room.

Zhao Layue walked to the side of the bed and looked at the pale face of Jing Jiu, saying, “If Monk Duhai didn’t lie, the key should be the Fairy Book.”

The Emperor said, “Though the wounds on his body have been suppressed, this emperor still can’t eradicate the Fairy Book. It all depends on when he wakes up.”

The bodies of the practitioners in the Heavenly Arrival State were much superior to the mortals’ and not afraid of the Chaotic Wind, so they had the incredible recovery ability and exceptional perception of the communication between heaven and heart. As such, they were almost impossible to kill. For instance, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was hit by the Emperor head-on and then pierced through by Liu Ci’s sword, yet he wouldn’t be in the fatal situation if the sword weren’t filled with the lethal energy of the Sword Formation of Green Mountain.

Though Jing Jiu was in a much lower Cultivation state, his body was quite unique, which was comparable to that of someone in the Heavenly Arrival State, so it was also hard to kill him.

Yin San’s scheme was well planned and spectacular to the extreme, and he predicted that the Fairy Book in Jing Jiu’s left hand would be the fatal strike.

The fairy awareness left by the Great Grandmaster Bai in the Fairy Book had been mostly tempered by Jing Jiu, but a sliver of it was still remaining.

If Jing Jiu couldn’t suppress the last slice of the fairy awareness, he wouldn’t be able to wake up; in fact, he would be gnawed to death by the awareness in the end.

However, the reason he was still sleeping deeply was because his spiritual soul was affected by the fairy awareness after he was wounded severely. How could he be aware of the danger and wake up?

…

…

Zhuo Rusui woke up first.

He opened his arms to clutch something in front of him instinctively; but he hugged an empty space. Then he found that the small stone pagoda was gone.

He walked out of the meditation room and asked a monk of the Fruit Formation Temple to finally find the White Mountain meditation room by the pagoda forest.

Seeing Jing Jiu unconscious, Zhuo Rusui felt startled. As he learned of what had happened, he said with a smile, “There is nothing to worry about; let me do something for him.”

When the Dao Competition was over, Liu Ci had wrapped Jing Jiu’s left hand with countless sword wills to prevent the fairy energy from leaking out.

Zhuo Rusui was the personal disciple of Liu Ci and had a profound Cultivation in the Inherited Heaven Sword style, so he believed that he could do something to help.

Walking to the side of the bed, Zhuo Rusui called out his flying sword, which traveled around Jing Jiu’s left hand at a high speed, bringing out countless light threads.

The light threads bound Jing Jiu’s left hand more tightly with each additional round; in the end, the head of the light thread tied up with the end of the light thread.

As soon as the binding was finished, countless light rays shot out from Jing Jiu’s left hand, full of the fairy energy.

Zhuo Rusui grunted once and was knocked out of the meditation room and into the pagoda forest. He rolled on the ground more than twenty times, and didn’t stop until he held onto that familiar small stone pagoda.

The Emperor retrieved the fire wings that had been used to insulate the fairy energy, shaking his head.

Zhao Layue walked to the side of the bed and reached out her hands as quickly as the lightning, clutching Jing Jiu’s left hand firmly.

Dozens of invisible sword wills came out from her earlobes, ends of her hair, and corners of her clothes, slicing the air and filling the meditation room with an intimidating intent.

Zhao Layue intended to use her shapeless sword body to swaddle the fairy energy leaking out from the Fairy Book.

The light beamed out between Jing Jiu’s and her fingers, illuminating her face as well as her distinctive black and white eyes.

Her face grew paler and paler, until she couldn’t withstand it any longer and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. In the end, Zhao Layue had no choice but to go.

“I don’t think I should even try it,” said Liu Shisui.

He had learned the sword works of both Green Mountain and the West Ocean, but the most powerful method he had by now was the magic method of the Bloody Demon Church. Employing the demonic method to deal with the fairy energy was the same as inviting death.

Zhuo Rusui offered, “We should ask my Master to come here as soon as possible.”

“The message has been sent already. I believe that the Immortal Sect Master will be able to get here by tomorrow,” said Zhao Layue.

Zhuo Rusui wondered why his Master was so slow to get here since three days had already passed; it shouldn’t take three days to get here even though his Master was famous for riding his sword at a slow pace. Then, he remembered that his Master had wielded the sword from ten thousand miles away to severely wound a powerful demonic swordsman, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, meaning his Master must have used up a great deal of his sword source and needed some time to recuperate before departure.

He could think of this reason, and so could Zhao Layue. But, what she didn’t understand was why the Master Sword Justice couldn’t come instead, even if the Immortal Sect Master needed time to recuperate.

…

…

Half a day had passed.

Jing Jiu was still unconscious; but the Fairy Book in his left hand grew increasingly brighter, and the fairy energy coming out from it became stronger and stronger.

Zhuo Rusui thought that since they had no way to control the fairy energy, it shouldn’t be wasted nonetheless; so he closed his eyes and started meditating. He was engaged in cultivating by means of the fairy energy filling the whole room.

Yet, Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui were not in the mood to cultivate at the moment. They sat on the futons in front of the bed and looked at Jing Jiu as he lay unconscious and as they were mulling over something.

The white cat sat on his haunch at Jing Jiu’s feet quietly. He hadn’t meowed the entire time.

Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui knew he was there, but they neither shot a glance at him nor paid any attention to him.

“It had been snowing in Zhaoge City when my mother was pregnant with me. I was born on the day of Layue; that is why my name is Zhao Layue.”

Looking at Jing Jiu lying unconscious, Zhao Layue continued, “He saw me in my mother’s belly during the snowfall. So I am the first disciple selected by him.”

Having heard the stories that had happened a long time ago from the Emperor and the Monk Duhai, Liu Shisui could vaguely guess the true identity of his Young Master. Hearing what Zhao Layue said and remembering that she had always said that she was the designated disciple by the Grandmaster Jing Yang, he was more certain of it now.

After a long moment of silence, Liu Shisui came back to his senses from the initial shock; then he realized that what Zhao Layue said was intended to rank herself before him.

There was no need for contending for a higher ranking, Liu Shisui thought. He had called her Big Sister in his mind many times when he witnessed her ride on the sword in the sky outside the South-Pine Pavilion and heard of the rumors about her; and he had called her Senior Master Zhao after she became the Peak Master of Shenmo…

Though he was thinking of all this, what he said was however not the same. “My name is Liu Shisui, because I happened to be ten years old when my Young Master met me.”

Zhao Layue shot back, “If he met you when you were three years old, your name would be Liu Sansui?”

Liu Shisui thought that if my Young Master saw you in your mother’s belly back in Zhaoge City during summer, would your name be Zhao Daxia?

Though he mused this way, he couldn’t say it.

Thinking of the pursuit from the vegetable garden to the Great Marsh, Liu Shisui still felt ill at ease. “When you encountered the Great Grandmaster face to face, what was your initial feeling?” he asked Zhao Layue.

Zhao Layue replied after some thought, “I was scared.”

The objects and people that could make Zhao Layue feel scared were rare in this world.

However, the Immortal Taiping was the Great Grandmaster of Green Mountain and someone in the history book; his portrait was still hung in that small building.

She was a disciple of Green Mountain. She pursued Yin San persistently with the idea that she wouldn’t stop as long as she was not dead yet. To think of the event after she calmed down, how could she not feel scared?

Looking at Jing Jiu sleeping unconsciously, Zhao Layue knew that he wanted her to feel the fear, so she could discover the true thoughts in her mind.

After she left the Fruit Formation Temple three days ago, she had figured out two things.

Jing Jiu threw her out to the outside of that Zen hall so that she could pursue the Immortal Taiping and prevent him from leaving.

She could enter the middle state of Free Travel a few years ago, but Jing Jiu didn’t allow her to do so; it was because he wanted her to find her own path.

Everybody is different from others; so each person should choose a different path.

Even though she was good at calculating and predicting, she shouldn’t follow the same old path taken by Taiping and Jing Yang, because she would soon reach a dead end.

Jing Jiu didn’t allow her to break through the state at the time, because he wanted to give her something to think about.

This issue had no correct answer. As long as she paid no attention to Jing Jiu’s suggestion and chose to break through the state on her own, the issue was automatically resolved.

This meant that neither Jing Jiu nor the Immortal Jing Yang could influence her choice anymore.

Born during a light snowfall in Zhaoge City, Zhao Layue’s cultivation was lonely on the Sword Peak in the style of Ying Yang. It was at that moment during her chase of Yin San that she didn’t heed the intention of the Immortal Jing Yang and cut off the long hair he liked and forcefully broke through the Cultivation state. By that time, she had completely become herself.

As the true Zhao Layue, she should have chaotic and short hair, and she should improve her state bravely, no matter what.

This was the answer Jing Jiu wanted her to find on her own.

Looking at Liu Shisui, Zhao Layue wondered what path he would take in the future.

Liu Shisui didn’t know what she was thinking, and he had never thought about what path he would take either. Seeing her gaze, he asked worriedly, “If Young Master didn’t wake up, or the Fairy Book exploded, what should we do then?”

Zhao Layue thought about it seriously for a while, and said, “I would pretend that all these events over the years had never happened.”

After a moment of silence, Liu Shisui said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Back when he came to your village, why did he stay at your house?” Zhao Layue asked Liu Shisui out of the blue.

“I asked my Young Master later about it,” Liu Shisui said. “He said that when he saw me at first sight, he found I had special bones and talented qualities…”

“Very interesting,” Zhao Layue cut in.

Liu Shisui asked, “Which part is interesting?”

“I’m not sure actually,” said Zhao Layue.

It was quiet in the White Mountain meditation room.

The Emperor stood before the Buddha statue and remained silent; it was unclear what he was thinking at the moment.

Zhuo Rusui was absorbing the fairy energy leaked out between Jing Jiu’s fingers ravenously. Though he was in the condition of meditating with his eyes closed, the corners of his mouth were curled up, seemingly pleased.

Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui had an ongoing, inconsequential conversation. Their communication was not very smooth and effective. If they were somebody else, they would feel a bit embarrassed; but they took this sort of conversation as granted. It was actually the first time these two chitchatted with each other, and that was interesting enough all by itself.

…

…

Standing outside the Fruit Formation Temple, Xiao He saw the guest-receiving monk. She wanted to approach him and ask some questions, but hesitated.

She and Liu Shisui had lived in the vegetable garden for many years by now, and they were familiar with many of the monks at the temple. It was usually rather easy for her to enter the temple; but something significant happened that day. Even the wives of high ranking officials were prevented from entering the temple to offer their incenses to the Buddha; they had to wait outside, so did Xiao He.

A young man walked past Xiao He and headed toward the front gate of the temple.

Xiao He recognized this person, feeling somewhat surprised.

The young man tied a conical hat to his back. The hat was slightly bigger than the regular ones; and his eyebrows were lighter than those of the regular men.

…

…