The Path Toward Heaven

It was deathly quiet in the royal palace.

The people were stunned speechless while gazing at the strange man in green clothing.

Sir Jin and Sir Niu, sensing the backfire of the Great Formation of the royal palace, eyed each other; they could detect the fear in each other’s eyes.

If this thrusting fist had punched their bodies, they would have been crushed into powder, even if they had employed all of their magic treasures.

Many Cultivation practitioners of some sects had witnessed Jing Jiu’s thrusting fist at the Grand Ceremony inaugurating the sect master on Green Mountain. Jing Jiu crushed Senior Master Tai Lu sitting in the wheelchair to death while holding the Seal of the Underworld Emperor in his hand. Yet, in comparison to the fist thrust by this strange man, Jing Jiu’s fist was insignificant.

For these Cultivation practitioners, the most fearful part was that the magic method employed by this strange man was none of the methods used by any current orthodox and deviant sects.

Looking at that strange man in green clothing, Liu Shisui, for some reason, sensed something familiar, a baffled expression showing on his face.

Bu Qiuxiao threw him a glance, saying nothing.

On the distant lotus sedan, the Young Zen Master fell silent after uttering a Buddhist mantra.

Some old Cultivation practitioners had remembered something as a terrified voice burst out in the sky, “The Bloody Demon Church!”

Hearing this, more people remembered.

One thousand years ago in Chaotian, the deviant sects were at their peak; the Bloody Demon Church had ravaged the world until they were wiped out by the combined forces of the Center Sect, the Green Mountain Sect and other orthodox sects. However, even though the Bloody Demon Church was retired from the scene, they were regarded as the only authentic and spiritual ancestor by all the deviant sects.

Was that strange man in green clothing a remaining member of the Bloody Demon Church? But the Bloody Demon Church had been wiped out a long time ago, and their remaining members had no way to learn a method as formidable and authentic as what this person used if they didn’t have a master to teach them the basics, even though there were a few secret scripts of such magic methods that remained in the world. Was this person a swordsman of the Bloody Demon Church who had survived until now? If so, he must be more than a thousand years old. But, why did he come out from the cloud boat of the Center Sect and stand by the Immortal Tan earlier?

The Bloody Demon Church was very powerful a thousand years ago, and their swordsmen were very formidable back then.

It was understandable that Lian Sanyue would be no match for this person.

Many people looked at Jing Jiu, and found he had a composed expression. He didn’t show any sadness, his face devoid of worried emotion.

Kou Qingtong pulled his right fist back and took a look at it, his eyes full of brutality and satisfaction.

All of a sudden, he found that many people had moved their gazes away from him.

He followed their line of sight and saw Jing Jiu, feeling bewildered. “Are you going to be the next one to die? You’re quite good-looking, it’s a pity that you haven’t killed too many people,” he said to Jing Jiu.

…

…

Yin San claimed that he came to Zhaoge City to watch a show. Actually, there was another person who had been watching the show the entire time, and the position he watched it from was much better than Yin San’s.

In the side hall, Ping Yongjia saw the late emperor die with his own eyes; and the Royal Concubine wail so hard that she smeared her make-up all over her face. And he also witnessed the new emperor step onto the throne, the Immortal Tan arrive from the sky, and Lian Sanyue claim that she was his Master’s woman. In a short space of one day, he had watched all kinds of shows, including a life drama, a tragedy, a court drama, a xianxia drama, and a romantic drama; in a sense, he had experienced the sadness, happiness, departure and reunion in the human world. However, the plot of the drama reached a climax as Lian Sanyue appeared on the stage and suddenly faltered…

That strange man in green clothing had struck Lian Sanyue to the underground with one thrusting fist, and it was unclear if she was dead or alive. Then the man claimed that he would kill his Master.

Ping Yongjia felt both scared and angry, yet he was fully aware that the other party could kill him simply by blowing air at him; there was nothing he could do. It was then that he heard the startled screams in the sky and the troubled discussions among the chancellors in the grand hall. He pushed open the door of the side hall after some thought and shouted toward the square.

“The Center Sect calls itself the leader of the orthodox sects, but they hid this evil member of the Bloody Demon Church. Do you people have any decency left in you? What qualifications do you have to contend with my Master?”

The slightly embellished voice of this young Green Mountain disciple echoed in the royal palace.

Yet, neither the chancellors in the grand hall nor the Cultivation practitioners of various sects in the sky paid any attention to him; and nobody denounced the Center Sect by following suit.

Ping Yongjia felt embarrassed. When he turned to the strange man in green and found he was staring at him, he was exceedingly scared.

Pah!!!

Ping Yongjia shut the window and hid himself under a quilt. Then he remembered that the late emperor had died on this very bed. Feeling more scared, he kept on saying “sorry” to the late emperor while rubbing his hands.

…

…

That person was the remaining member of the Bloody Demon Church. or even someone of a high status at the Bloody Demon Church a thousand years ago, and yet he colluded with the Center Sect. Normally, this fact would trigger wrath among the orthodox Cultivation sects.

Yet none of the sects had said anything. It was not because they were afraid of the might of the Center Sect. Even the Young Zen Master and the scholars of the One-Cottage House remained silent at the moment.

The reason was simple enough: When they had remembered who this strange man in green was, they had also remembered the event from years back

The Center Sect took in this strange man in green after obtaining the agreement of all of the orthodox sects one thousand years ago.

The Bloody Demon Church was in decline after being purged by the orthodox Cultivation sects; but “A large animal won’t become rigid right after its death,” and the headquarters of the Bloody Demon Church still had many powerful swordsmen and dreadful formations. If the orthodox sects wished to wipe out the Bloody Demon Church, they would have to suffer a great many casualties. It was at this critical moment that Bai Ren postponed her ascension and defeated the Demonic Child, who had a very high status in the Bloody Demon Church and an extremely formidable prowess. Through this Demonic Child, the orthodox sects had learned a great deal of secret information about the Bloody Demon Church and had successfully broken through the headquarters of the Bloody Demon Church. During the final and decisive battle, the Demonic Child sneak-attacked the Church Master who had an unparalleled prowess in the ways of deviant magic.

The Master of the Bloody Demon Church was injured by the sneak attack, and then died at the hands of Bai Ren and the Immortal Daoyuan.

The destruction of the Bloody Demon Church was the result of the orthodox sects throwing themselves into the bloody battles for more than one hundred years. Undoubtedly, the Demonic Child played a key role in this achievement by joining the camp of the orthodox sects, and the Demonic Child was none other than Kou Qingtong, standing in the square of the royal palace.

In accordance with the agreement between him and Bai Ren, he had been cultivating at the back valley of Cloud-Dream Mountain. The Cultivation circle knew about this, but many of them had forgotten it as time passed. The memory of him came back to these people only after Kou Qingtong reappeared and obliterated Lian Sanyue with one thrusting fist.

The Fairy Lady Bai Ren had to strike in person to defeat Kou Qingtong back then, and he had survived after sneak-attacking the Master of the Bloody Demon Church; it was easy to imagine just how powerful he was. One thousand years later, though he didn’t succeed in ascension and his spiritual soul and his body had weakened, he was bound to be one of the strongest swordsmen in Chaotian; he should be an equal of the Great Grandmaster of the Foggy Island, Nan Qü. Lian Sanyue had lost at his hands, so who could defeat him in the current Chaotian? And which member of Green Mountain could beat him?

The people turned their heads toward Jing Jiu again, hoping to know what the Green Mountain Sect would do next.

But Jing Jiu turned his head toward the Boat of Diligent Study of the One-Cottage House in the sky.

…

…

Looking at the strange man in green clothing in the square blankly, Liu Shisui felt the familiar feeling he had becoming more and more apparent.

He hadn’t met Kou Qingtong, nor had he gotten involved in the cause-and-effect relationship with this person; so the familiar feeling must come from his energy and scent…

Back when Liu Shisui swallowed the devil pill under the Muddy River, he had learned the secret methods of the Bloody Demon Church. Those methods helped him improve his Cultivation state at an unimaginably fast speed, but the practice had also brought on many hidden problems. As a result, he was forced to learn the Buddhist scripts at the vegetable garden outside the Fruit Formation Temple for several years, and came to the One-Cottage House to learn the orthodox Dao methods for many years. The negative aftermath was mostly eliminated now.

Seeing Kou Qingtong today, the demonic energy attached to his Dao Tree and meridians had suddenly become active, spreading like wildfire in a field. He clutched his chest, his face pale, and swayed twice; he had nearly fallen off the Boat of Diligent Study.

After he recognized the identity of Kou Qingtong, Bu Qiuxiao had been keeping tabs on Liu Shisui. Finding that his demonic energy had been triggered, Bu Qiuxiao raised his brows, grabbed a handful of clean wind and shoveled it into his ear.

After his meridians were washed by the clean wind, Liu Shisui felt the disgusting feeling in his chest had lessened. He thanked his Teacher and looked at the strange man in green clothing again, a hint of fear showing in his eyes.

Sensing the demonic energy from one of his colleagues nearby, Kou Qingtong turned to look at Liu Shisui. “I didn’t expect to see a disciple of my church,” he remarked in surprise.

Then he found that Liu Shisui was on the Boat of Diligent Study of the One-Cottage House. The expression in his eyes grew cold instantly, as he exclaimed in a hoarse and awful voice, “I’ve always loathed these hypocritical scholars of the One-Cottage House. Since you have learned the divine magic methods of my church, how can you join them?!”

He spoke in a louder and louder voice. His voice was kind of normal when he spoke of “hypocritical scholars”; but his voice grew louder and more furious when he asked “How can you join them”. His words turned into thunder that echoed through the royal palace.

Following the thunder was the brutal and authentic demonic energy of the Bloody Demon Church that exuded from Kou Qingtong’s body. It was not very hard for the other Cultivation practitioners to block the energy as long as they could protect their hearts with their willpower; however, Liu Shisui had a hard time resisting the invasion of the demonic energy. The demonic energy inside his body had suddenly swelled, rushing violently in his meridians.

Humph!!!

Liu Shisui spat out a few mouthfuls of blackish blood; he looked exceedingly appalling.

The expression on Bu Qiuxiao’s face turned grave. He shoveled a magic pill into Liu Shisui’s throat and bade Xi Yiyun to bring Liu Shisui to his own cabin to rest.

There was a small Crossing River Formation in the cabin which could block the soundless assault of Kou Qingtong’s demonic energy.

Jing Jiu drew back his line of sight and gazed at the distant Kou Qingtong, as if he were looking at a dead man.

He was of course no match for Kou Qingtong currently; similarly, he was no match for the Immortal Tan. However, the fact that he was not Kou Qingtong’s equal didn’t mean that he couldn’t kill him. And he was even more certain that it was not he who would kill Kou Qingtong that day.

…

…

A wailing sound suddenly came up from the underground of the royal palace; it was unclear whether it was the whistling wind above the underground river or a resentful ghost in the Fiend Prison came out, or the residual power of Kou Qingtong’s fist.

Many people noticed that the sound came up from the hole in the middle of the square.

The sound grew sharper and sharper until a water fountain shot up from the hole, heading toward the sky; it dropped down only after the fountain reached a few hundred feet in the air.

By the time the water from the underground river returned into the hole, Lian Sanyue had reappeared.

Her dress was drenched, her black hair stuck to her face; the blood on the corners of her mouth and the blood stains on her dress were not washed away by the water of the underground river. She looked terrible at the moment.

Looking at her with a baffled expression, Kou Qingtong exclaimed, “I can’t believe that you’re still alive!”