The Path Toward Heaven

Zhao Layue took a step forward.

A few sword lights emerged from inside her dress; the stripe on her hair broke off noiselessly, her jet black hair spreading out like ink being poured into the air.

At the same time, Gu Qing took a step sideways; the energy coming out from his body increased its magnitude at an accelerating pace.

The Sword of the Universe arose soundlessly, reaching for the white cat on Jing Jiu’s chest.

Zhao Layue and Gu Qing hadn’t looked at each other.

Such a silent cooperation existed among all the Green Mountain disciples, not to mention those on Shenmo Peak.

Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui did the same back when they killed Luo Huainan together in Guiyun City.

Nobody expected Zhao Layue and Gu Qing to strike suddenly; in other words, nobody dared to think that they would do so, especially not Gu Qing.

In their eyes, Gu Qing had a pale face and baffled expression; it was obvious that he had been shocked by what had happened to his Master.

Sensing his tremendously increased energy, the people discovered in surprise that Gu Qing was on the verge of breaking through the state!

Breaking through a state was the most important and hardest thing in Cultivation. The practitioner might fail the attempt when being disturbed. As such, the Cultivation practitioners needed to stay behind closed doors for a long time to get ready for the moment. They usually did so when they were protected by the formations and their masters or when they learned the necessary magic methods, had adequate magic pills, and harnessed enough willpower.

It was extremely rare to break through a state in public. Wasn’t Gu Qing worried about the adverse consequence? No one had thought that his main purpose of breaking through the state right now was to kill somebody by means of the increased energy of heaven and earth. They all thought that Gu Qing had gone mad because he was over-stimulated that day.

The reason the others didn’t understand why Gu Qing opted to break through the state in public was because they had no idea that it was a proud tradition of Shenmo Peak. To say nothing of Jing Jiu who was an exception to begin with, Gu Qing and Yuan Qü acted quite casually back when they broke through the Undefeated State, and Zhao Layue broke through the middle state of the Free Travel during her pursuit of the Immortal Taiping.

As everybody was drawn by Gu Qing’s action, Zhao Layue was about to wield the most powerful and risky strike of the Nine-Deaths Sword style.

The dim sword lights emerging from her dress and the sword wills amid her tousling black hair were the sign that the energy of her formed shapeless sword body had already reached the highest level.

She would wield her sword as soon as the white cat was brought to Fang Jingtian’s face by the Sword of the Universe.

…

…

A gust of wind suddenly whipped up.

It was not the Chaotic Wind, but it blew away all the energies.

The violent energy released by Gu Qing had been blown away.

The lethal intent given off by Zhao Layue had also been blown away; the sword lights of the formed shapeless sword body grew dimmer after being blown by this gust of wind, on the brink of dissipating altogether.

Countless huge waves formed in the ocean of clouds on Tianguang Peak, rolling up and down restlessly. The stripes of the clouds looked like swords, making onlookers feel terrified.

The elders and disciples of Green Mountain had fled by riding on their swords.

Many people on the cloud platforms had also fled to distant places.

The huge waves in the ocean of clouds headed toward the higher sky, turning into an image of a sword.

It was not a real sword, but a tangible sword will.

The sword will seemed to be considerably aged, but it was also like a newly born wild animal craving for brutality and blood.

The sword will could let heaven and earth respond to it and the ocean of clouds form a shape as desired…How powerful was it then?

Zhao Layue’s messy hair tousled wildly in the wind, and a few bloody lines appeared on her pale face. She stared at the skinny old man in the wheelchair, her eyes full of anger.

Gu Qing’s attempt of breaking through the state was interrupted by this powerful sword will; so he was in a worse condition. He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Looking at Zhao Layue and Gu Qing, the Immortal Tai Lu remarked appreciatively, “The two of you juniors are so weak, but you dared try and kill me…You two are indeed our Green Mountain disciples.”

The ocean of clouds calmed down, and those on the cloud platforms stopped fleeing.

Bu Qiuxiao looked at the wheelchair on the peak top with a grave expression in his eyes.

Standing behind Bu Qiuxiao, Liu Shisui put away the Guard-City Pen stealthily, as if nothing had happened earlier.

Bu Qiuxiao didn’t say anything after stealing a glance at him.

“How could such an old man have so much power?! He must have been in the upper state of the Heavenly Arrival State back then!” the sect master of the Kunlun, He Wei, muttered pale-faced. “How many figures in the Heavenly Arrival State does the Green Mountain Sect have then?”

The cloud platforms were one mile away from the top of Tianguang Peak, and He Wei spoke in a muttered voice; but the Immortal Tai Lu had heard of what he said. He turned in that direction and rolled his eyes upwards, as he said in a brutal and mockery tone, “If I weren’t in the upper state of the Heaven Arrival, that little rascal Taiping would have killed me a long time ago, and he wouldn’t have locked me up in the Sword Jail for so many years.”

The ocean of clouds had quieted down, but the huge shadow of the sword was still casting down on heaven and earth, as if to look down on all the lives.

Seeing this, the Cultivation practitioners of various sects were all stunned speechless.

They didn’t expect the Immortal Tai Lu to still have such a high Cultivation state and profound level of sword work even when he was so close to death.

He was indeed an old weirdo who had the highest generation status and was the most experienced on Green Mountain.

In the next moment, the thought crossed their minds that the Immortal Tai Lu had been imprisoned in the Sword Jail for over six hundred years after Mochen Peak was wiped out in a bloodbath even though the peak had the likes of Tai Lu who was so powerful and hideous…

In other words, how powerful would the Immortal Taiping and the Immortal Jing Yang have been back then?

…

…

The wind and snow appeared the same time as the Three-Foot Sword.

In the earlier moment, the wind and snow were blown away by the sword wind; but they gathered together and arrived in the blink of an eye.

A few moments later, the Immortal Tai Lu had some accumulated snow on his body and a few fissures on his face; but no blood came out from those fissures.

Even if he was a weird swordsman who could kill everybody in heaven and earth back then, Tai Lu was near his death at the moment; he was no match for Yuan Qijing.

“My life force has run out, and I won’t live much longer. Why are you so anxious to end my life?”

Tai Lu continued with a strange smile as he looked at Yuan Qijing, “Are you afraid that I might kill this sword devil?” No fear could be detected on his countenance.

Yuan Qijing drew back his sword, remaining silent.

The snowflakes stopped falling down.

Yet, the wind was still blowing, ruffling the white cloth ferociously.

Jing Jiu stood up from the chair.

After being locked in the Sword Jail for six hundred years, Senior Master Tai Lu had figured out some new sword tricks. A major mishap might occur if he were allowed to continue with this fuss before his death.

He looked at Zhao Layue and Gu Qing with a mild and heartfelt expression in his eyes; then he curled up the corners of his mouth, smiling.

Nobody had expected Zhao Layue and Gu Qing to attempt to kill the Immortal Tai Lu in their weak Cultivation state.

Neither had Jing Jiu.

Then, he looked at the other side of the peak top.

“I wanted to kill you right away, but Big Brother valued your talent. He thought that you would be able to think it through later, and become useful to those of later generations on Green Mountain.”

Jing Jiu went on while looking at the Immortal Tai Lu, “Since you couldn’t think it through, you should have let yourself die a long time ago. Isn’t it extremely hard to sustain your life by means of such a painful method?”

The Immortal Tai Lu narrowed his eyes. He didn’t expect Jing Jiu to know about his painful method of sustaining life.

In the next moment, the Immortal Tai Lu smelled a faint burning odor.

This was the odor of a fire burning the side of a decades-old iron pot or the odor of a flint stone scratching the ground at a high speed.

This was not a hallucination of an old and frail man; it was the natural perception of a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State.

This sensation indicated a lethal intent, or imminent death.

“Do you, a sword devil, intend to silence me by killing me?” said the Immortal Tai Lu in a mocking tone while staring at Jing Jiu.

A moment later, Jing Jiu disappeared from his vision.

In the brink of an eye, Jing Jiu arrived in front of him.

Such a fast and peculiar movement had inevitably brought up a gust of wind, tousling the rims of his cloth.

A dozen sword lights came out from the rims of his cloth, which were much brighter than those emitted by Zhao Layue earlier.

“It’s the born shapeless sword body!” some people shouted excitedly.

“No, he is indeed a sword devil!” some others yelled in terror.

…

…

There was a rumor in the Cultivation circle that Jing Jiu could move like a ghost and a fairy man; but few people had witnessed it before.

It wasn’t until this very moment that they had realized that the rumor was actually true; and some people started to believe what Fang Jingtian said.

He could move at such an unimaginably high speed and in such a peculiar manner, and he could actually travel faster than the Escape Method of Heaven and Earth of the Center Sect. How could he achieve such a feat if he weren’t a flying sword himself?

Jing Jiu came before the wheelchair.

Fang Jingtian didn’t move.

It was unclear if Fang Jingtian trusted the power of the Immortal Tai Lu’s sword will, or if it was for other reasons.

The Immortal Tai Lu stared at Jing Jiu, as he said through his spiritual awareness, “You shouldn’t have stopped; otherwise, you could have indeed attacked me unexpectedly at such a fast speed.”

Jing Jiu said, “The speed of my sword is the same no matter where I wield it.”

“But, you shouldn’t use your sword to kill me,” said the Immortal Tai Lu.

The huge sword will in the ocean of clouds had vanished.

The huge sword came to the top of Tianguang Peak after covering a long distance, forming a great many shields in front of the Immortal Tai Lu.

Those shields were the condensed sword wills.

No sword, regardless of how powerful they were, could pass through them.

Jing Jiu was fully aware of what these shields were made of.

The Sealing Ice of One Thousand Miles he employed to lock up the Immortal Taiping and the Snow Girl was the extension of this secret sword method.

“Even if you are the All in One, you are still a sword. I’m quite disappointed that you intend to kill me with your sword body.”

The Immortal Tai Lu said regretfully through his spiritual awareness, “Looks like you are not Jing Yang, since he wouldn’t have made such a stupid mistake.”

The exchange through their spiritual awareness had merely taken a brief moment in the real world.

In the eyes of most people, Jing Jiu hadn’t paused at all.

He stood up from the chair.

He left the small hut.

He arrived on the other side of the peak top.

He came before the wheelchair.

He raised his right hand.

And he bombarded the Immortal Tai Lu with fist attacks.

…

…

It was true.

He bombarded his hand, rather than slashed, hacked or wielded his hand.

No sword light emerged from his sleeves and arms.

On the contrary, his fist gave off countless black glows, which were also mixed with some golden glows.

The black glows were extremely bleak, resembling the dark night in the Underworld.

Those golden glows were considerably noble, looking like the throne in Zhaoge City.

A strange expression was revealed in Tai Lu’eyes, as he wondered why Jing Jiu thrust his fist since he was a sword.

Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!

Those seemingly indestructible shields made of the sword wills broke into pieces like ice cubes.

Jing Jiu’s fist passed through all the shields and landed on Tai Lu’s chest.

The wheelchair was shattered into powders.

A quake occurred on Tianguang Peak.

The ocean of clouds dissipated instantly.

The blue sky looked like a ceramic plate.

It was soundless on Green Mountain.

…

…

The Immortal Tai Lu looked at Jing Jiu with a peculiar expression in his eyes, as if wondering if Jing Jiu had been waiting for his departure from the Sword Jail.

Jing Jiu uttered “hmm”.

The gentle wind blew over the Immortal Tai Lu’s body, turning it into countless tiny light particles.

The light particles grew dimmer as they drifted away with the wind. Behaving like the real dust in the world, they were nowhere to be found after scattering on the cliffs and in the clouds.

Countless shocked gazes were fixed on Jing Jiu’s right hand.

They wondered how the Immortal Tai Lu could be bombarded to death by Jing Jiu’s fist.

Even though Jing Jiu was the youngest practitioner in the Broken Sea State in the history of Cultivation world, he was only in the Broken Sea State nonetheless.

Even if he was the Immortal Jing Yang who had been reborn as a sword, he was still in the Broken Sea State.

How could a person in the Broken Sea State kill a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State in such a simple and straightforward manner?

Looking at Jing Jiu’s right hand, the expression on Bu Qiuxiao’s face grew grimmer, and he had apparently become more cautious.

The Immortal Bai’s eyeballs wavered slightly, as if she was calculating something.

The Young Zen Master sighed, expressing a troubled emotion.

Even though Jing Jiu was the All in One Sword, the Immortal Tai Lu could still block his hand easily no matter how sharp and powerful his right hand was.

It was not his right fist but the object he held in his hand that was daunting.

Those Cultivation practitioners who had participated in the Dao Competition, like Bai Zao, Zhuo Rusui, Xi Yiyun, and Liu Shisui, suddenly remembered a similar scene.

Jing Jiu had obliterated Bai Qianjun with his fist by the Green Sky Mirror back then. If the Immortal Bai hadn’t intervened, Bai Qianjun would have died for sure.

Jing Jiu used his left hand at the time, and the object he held was the Fairy Book of Longevity.

What about today? He had struck a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State to death with his fist. What object did he hold in his right hand this time?