The Path Toward Heaven

In many people’s eyes, the Immortal Tan had been standing on the same spot in the square.

As he walked out from the pagoda, the people realized that he had left the spot a long time ago and that he had arrived at a spot several thousand feet behind Lian Sanyue.

In the Immortal Tan’s right hand was a small ancient bell.

It was not the Flowing Light Bell which Luo Huainan and Bai Zao had used, but the precious magic treasure of the Center Sect, the Scenic Cloud Bell.

“Drop,” Lian Sanyue shouted.

A ray of morning sunlight dropped down from the sky, heading toward the Immortal Tan’s head.

Whoosh!!!

The Scenic Cloud Bell blocked the morning sunlight with the energy of heaven and earth; the faint sound from the impact had easily destroyed a few tall ancient trees that reached into the sky.

The Immortal Tan had disappeared again. In the next moment, he walked out from a side room in the sky in the west.

This was the prowess of the Scenic Cloud Bell, and it was the famous Step of Heaven and Earth.

The Scenic Cloud Bell was made of a special material; it was said that it was a divine object attached to the Unicorn in ancient times and was as heavy as a mountain. So it was impossible to manipulate it like a flying sword or other magic treasure from a distance, and the holder of the bell had to operate it by hand. Regardless of how high a Cultivation practitioner’s state was or if they were the disgraced immortals, they would feel an excruciating pain and their souls would disperse when they heard the ringing sound of the Scenic Cloud Bell. Even if they were fortunate enough to survive the attack, they would have no strength left for further resistance.

A regular Cultivation practitioner couldn’t even lift up the Scenic Cloud Bell, to say nothing of operating it.

Only a high-level swordsman like the Immortal Tan could hold it in one hand and walked about freely.

The Immortal Tan drew near Lian Sanyue with the bell in his hand.

If she were any other practitioner, she wouldn’t be able to discern the precise position of the Immortal Tan; all she could do was break through the mirror and escape as fast as she could, and there would be nothing else she could do.

Yet Lian Sanyue didn’t take a step back. She stared at the Immortal Tan in the sky, her beaming eyes showing a stronger fighting intent.

An exceedingly powerful and brutal energy emerged from inside her dress.

The sun in the east seemed to perceive her will and shine down more rays of morning sunlight.

One ray after another of the morning sunlight shone down, as if being sifted through the dense tree branches.

No matter where the Immortal Tan came out, he would encounter a ray of morning sunlight; as such, he had no way to arrive before Lian Sanyue.

Why could Lian Sanyue predict his position ahead of time? And why could she identify the true figure among a great many illusory ones?

The swordsmen of various sects who could still see the scene in the square figured out the reason, falling silent.

It was the effect of nothing else but the Heaven-Human Connection of the Water-Moon Nunnery.

…

…

Clang!!!

An exquisite ray of morning sunlight came over from the east.

The Immortal Tan walked out from the grand hall in the sky.

The ray of light and the Immortal Tan encountered.

The morning sunlight brushed past his body, and a part of his sleeve and his frontal lapel were burned to ashes; however, this didn’t stop him from taking a critical step forward.

The Immortal Tan had finally come before Lian Sanyue.

The two of them were merely one hundred feet apart.

It was extremely rare in a battle of such high Cultivation state.

But it seemed rather natural for the Immortal Tan.

And Lian Sanyue also took it in stride.

The Immortal Tan took another step forward; and meanwhile he raised his left hand along with a few gusts of gentle wind, readying to knock the Scenic Cloud Bell on his right hand.

Unexpectedly, Lian Sanyue didn’t leave, nor did she attack with the morning sunlight. Instead, she brought her hands behind her back.

Her body leaned forward slightly, as if she were about to sprint forward.

A bright light appeared at the ends of her tousling black hair.

Soon after, a bright light also emerged from the ruffling rims of her dress.

The bright lights came out from her collar, bottom of her shoes, the corners of her mouth and innumerable other spots of her body.

Those were neither the sword wills nor the shapeless sword body; but they were tangible.

After she stayed with Jing Jiu at the Three-Thousand Nunnery and traveled the world for many years, did she become a highly achieved practitioner in sword work?

Countless bright lights combined together to form a light screen, and her body was in front of the light screen. As such, those light rays looked like the residuals of her movements.

She increased her sprint to an exceedingly high speed and rushed toward the Immortal Tan.

Crack!!!

They brushed past each other.

He used the Step of Heaven and Earth.

One such step could bring him to any corner of the world.

The cracked mirror above the square had suddenly grown dimmer, and the palace halls that seemed to have emerged from thin air suddenly turned upside down.

Bang!!!

The Scenic Cloud Bell rang out.

A violent wind whipped up; heaven and earth turned dark. The whole royal palace seemed to tremble.

Nobody, including the Young Zen Master and Bu Qiuxiao, could see what was going on.

After a long while, the light rays had finally disappeared. The royal palace returned to its original state. There were only two figures in the square standing back to back about one hundred feet apart.

Lian Sanyue brought up her left sleeve to wipe the blood off her face, but more blood came out from her nose and mouth; it seemed that she couldn’t wipe it all off.

The Immortal Tan looked at the Scenic Cloud Bell in his hand, the wrinkles on his face seemingly growing deeper. The burning marks were all over his cotton cloth; he looked rather awful.

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

Countless crisp and frequent sounds broke out; some of them stemmed from the reconstruction of the cracked mirror in the illusory space, but most of them came from the Immortal Tan’s body.

“I’ve lost,” said the Immortal Tan while turning around to face her, his expression as imperturbable as ever.

Lian Sanyue turned around and said to him, “If you had tried and knocked the bell one more time, we would have died together.”

She didn’t look like a highly achieved swordsman of the Water-Moon Nunnery with her face covered in blood, but looked very much like an obnoxious girl who had just had a fight with the neighborhood boy.

The Immortal Tan said, “I don’t want to die because I still have many things to do in my life.”

“But I don’t have anything that I want to do,” said Lian Sanyue after some thought.

“So it’s understandable that I have lost to you,” said the Immortal Tan while looking at her right hand. “And furthermore, the amount of your zhenyuan can be ranked in top three in the history of the Cultivation circle; who will be a match for you in Chaotian?”

Lian Sanyue wiped the dripping blood with her left sleeve from time to time, but she didn’t move her right hand the whole time.

The morning sunlight leaked out between her fingers; the faint golden particles were present in the white rays of light, which she and the Immortal Tan could only see.

She said, “I also have to thank Cloud-Dream Mountain for the result.”

“So I’m not displeased at all.”

Having said that, the Immortal Tan leapt up into the sky, heading toward Cloud-Dream Mountain.

It was quiet throughout the royal palace. The people didn’t make any sound for a long time, and they were all extremely stunned.

The Immortal Tan had been defeated! And he said that nobody was a match for Lian Sanyue in Chaotian. She had beaten the last swordsman of the Bloody Demon Church, Kou Qingtong, and then defeated the sect master of the Center Sect, the Immortal Tan, who was considered the most powerful swordsman in the world, without taking a break…How powerful was this woman?

And why did the Immortal Tan leave Zhaoge City?

Did he give up the competition because he thought nobody could defeat Lian Sanyue after the Center Sect lost two fights in a row?

…

…

Lian Sanyue had fought Kou Qingtong first and then the Immortal Tan. The pebbles and dust had filled the square and the morning sunlight, and the sky had dropped to the ground; as a result, nobody noticed that Jing Xin arrived in front of the grand hall by walking along the palace wall. Then he was crowded and protected by those old chancellors who were still loyal to him.

Seeing the Immortal Tan leap into the sky and leave Zhaoge City and thinking of the humiliation he had suffered at the Water-Moon Nunnery, Jing Xin didn’t feel sad or disappointed; instead, he felt relieved.

It was then that Jing Yao noticed that his older brother was nearby.

The two brothers eyed each other, both of whom were calm at the moment; but they soon became nervous because Lian Sanyue was walking toward the grand hall.

The chancellors of the imperial court and these two brothers were both getting nervous instinctively as the figure of Lian Sanyue drew nearer, and so was State Duke Lu and the others. No one could remain calm when facing her after they had witnessed her fights that day.

Lian Sanyue ignored these people as she strolled toward Jing Jiu.

She suddenly halted half way through, and grabbed some clean water in the air with her hand. After she washed her face with the water, she resumed her march forward.

Lian Sanyue walked past Jing Jiu and sat down on the stone steps.

Jing Jiu turned around and walked to the stone steps as well. He sat down by her and looked at her side profile.

The peach flower was quivering slightly on her temple. The flower with some blood stains looked even more beautiful.