The Path Toward Heaven

Xiao He was so nervous that she couldn’t utter a single word. All she could manage was to shake her head incessantly, let alone say he had no need to thank her. In Fact, she didn’t help him; she was forced to do so…

Liu Shisui took a step and stood in front of Xiao He. “Out with it,” he said to the Immortal Taiping.

The Immortal Taiping came before the desk, pulled out a chair and sat on it. “Shouldn’t you call me Grandmaster?” he asked Liu Shisui with a seeming smile.

Liu Shisui returned, “I’ve left Bai Rujing a long time ago; I have nothing to do with you.”

“What about the branch of Jing Yang?” the Immortal Taiping pressed.

Liu Shisui said, “He is my Young Master. It still has nothing to do with you.”

The Immortal Taiping said while looking at him with a faint smile, “You’re claiming to kill me when we meet again. Looks like you’ve grown up quite a bit over the years.”

“I can’t beat you.” Liu Shisui provided a simple and straightforward explanation.

Glancing at him twice, the Immortal Taiping said, “The issue of peculiar zhenqi in your body has been resolved already, and your Cultivation state is just as powerful as Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui, and you’re a strong swordsman in the Cultivation world now. Why don’t you want to give it a try?”

Many, many years ago when Liu Shisui and Xiao He lived at the vegetable garden outside the Fruit Formation Temple, he cultivated the Buddhist methods as bidden by Jing Jiu in an attempt to suppress the peculiar zhenqi in his body. It was at that time that he met the Immortal Taiping the first time and acquired a great deal of advice from him.

Yet, their relationship didn’t prevent him from pursuing the Immortal Taiping from the Fruit Formation Temple to the Great Marsh alongside Zhao Layue.

“My Young Master couldn’t even kill you in Zhaoge City; I know that I’m far from a match for you.”

Liu Shisui’s explanation was simple and explicit, and seemed to be very convincing.

“Let’s eat dinner first,” said the Immortal Taiping suddenly.

Back when they were at the vegetable garden outside the Fruit Formation Temple, he often ate a delicious dinner and drank some good wine there after having explained the scripts to Liu Shisui.

Xiao He glanced at Liu Shisui anxiously.

Liu Shisui nodded while staring at the Immortal Taiping.

Xiao He summoned her courage and came out from behind Liu Shisui. She walked to the stairs and descended by a route that was as far away from where the Immortal Taiping was seated as possible.

The Immortal Taiping said, “If you have some sweet and sour pickles, feel free to bring some more.”

Xiao He was so frightened that she had almost cried by such a simple request. Feeling weak in her knees, she managed to walk down the stairs by propping against the wall with her hand.

“Don’t you worry that she will run away when you’re embroiled with me?” asked Liu Shisui while staring into the eyes of the Immortal Taiping.

“The vixens are loyal and affectionate. You can restrain yourself from attacking me against your temperament for the sake of her safety; how can she abandon you and let you die alone?”

The Immortal Taiping said this while gazing at Liu Shisui, his eyes full of sympathy and understanding for the affectionate couple.

Liu Shisui looked at the ancient prose on the desk, saying nothing.

The Immortal Taiping said with a faint smile, “You’re the first person Jing Yang brought to his side in this life. But my intuition tells me that you are more like me.”

“My Young Master said that to me too,” said Liu Shisui.

The Immortal Taiping continued, “I’ve experienced all those things you’ve done, including purging the demons in the Muddy River, betraying the sect and joining another one, returning to Green Mountain, and so forth.”

“My Young Master said that too,” said Liu Shisui.

The Immortal Taiping asked, “Has he told you in detail what I plan to do?”

Liu Shisui raised his head and said to him, “If you intend to tell me how wicked the humans are and persuade me to agree with your ideal…Then, you shouldn’t have killed all the people in the village.”

“Don’t you think I should kill those people?” pressed the Immortal Taiping, smiling.

Liu Shisui barked while staring into his eyes, “Not all of them, especially not those innocent children.”

The Immortal Taiping said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked you if they deserved their deaths; but what I should ask you is whether their deaths have any consequences for heaven and earth.”

Liu Shisui returned while clenching his fists tightly, “You’re someone who has great wisdom; so you should know that those questions are meaningless to me.”

“Back when I suffered those mishaps, I was alone,” said the Immortal Taiping calmly. “I didn’t have a master, nor a partner or helper. Jing Yang and the others were not powerful enough yet. The reason you can talk to me in this way is because your luck is better than mine. Whenever you were in a dire situation, Jing Yang helped you wiggle out of it each time. Otherwise, do you think you could be the same person today?”

If Liu Shisui had eaten the devil pill at the bottom of the Muddy River and was locked up in the Sword Jail, and Gu Qing didn’t send the monkeys to get help…

If Jing Jiu didn’t resist the pressure from Fang Jingtian, supported by the rest of Shenmo Peak, after Liu Shisui returned to Green Mountain…

If Jing Jiu hadn’t helped him escape through the hermit peaks after he was imprisoned in the Sword Jail again…

He would be unable to go to the Fruit Formation Temple and the One-Cottage House…Then, how much more would Liu Shisui have suffered?

All of his sufferings time ten would be what the Immortal Taiping had suffered back then.

Liu Shisui said after a moment of silence, “I know that you have always wanted to turn me into someone like you.”

Many years ago, Liu Shisui betrayed Green Mountain and earned the trust of Xiwang Sun and had the opportunity to work inside the Cloud Platform, an important site for the Old Ones. All of these were directed by the Immortal Taiping.

The Immortal Taiping said, “It’s because I wish to witness one of his most favorite disciples become someone like me, to see how he will feel.”

“You attempted to kill Zhao Layue,” said Liu Shisui.

The Immortal Taiping said, “Yes, but it’s because Zhao Layue is like another Jing Yang.”

Liu Shisui asked unsurely, “Play the role of god to influence our lives in secret. Don’t you think it’s rather sickening?”

“Why don’t you go ask him?” returned the Immortal Taiping.

“My Young Master has never bidden me to do anything,” said Liu Shisui. “All he did was tell me what would happen and let me choose what to do, both in the past and now.”

The Immortal Taiping said with a faint smile, “Yet, none of you can stay clear of the influences from the two of us, both then and now.”

“No…neither of you can influence me.”

Liu Shisui went on, “My Young Master has said that I’m stronger than the two of you. Though I don’t know in which part I’m stronger, I believe him.”

No matter what he had encountered or what he had heard, the Immortal Taiping always wore a clean and amiable smile on his face. He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows when he heard of this. As he was about to say something, they heard Xiao He’s trembling voice, “Could you two talk some more after you finish dinner?”

The dishes for the supper were quite lavish, though it was not as lavish as the one when Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue went to the vegetable garden of the Fruit Formation Temple. The sweet and sour pickles filled three bowls, making one’s mouth water just by looking at them.

The Immortal Taiping used his chopsticks to cut a large slice of meat from the belly of the fish and brought it to his mouth. After devouring it contentedly, he mumbled, “Do you know how the Dace Devil was brought there?”

Liu Shisui suddenly felt alarmed with the rice bowl in his hand, saying, “I heard that it was driven there by those in the Underworld.”

The Immortal Taiping ate it with slurping noise after he scooped some soup of green vegetables and fried eggs into his bowl. “What about the book on the secret methods of the Bloody Demon Church beside the devil pill?”

Liu Shisui set down the bowl and said while staring into his eyes, “It was something Xiwang Sun used to induce the Green Mountain disciples to betray their sect.”

The Immortal Taiping picked up a piece of preserved meat and tossed it into his mouth, chewing it noisily. “The old man Nan Qü and his disciples had hidden on the Foggy Island all year long; where could they find the secret methods of the Bloody Demon Church?” pressed the Immortal Taiping. “As for the method of inducing betrayal, don’t you think it’s kind of familiar? Eh, this preserved meat is pretty good, and the pine branch in it is the best.”

Liu Shisui felt increasingly more troubled. “Were those methods all of your doings?” he asked. “So what?”

“Do you really think the devil pill and the secret method of the Bloody Demon Church are something insignificant?”

The Immortal Taiping put down the rice bowl, wiped his mouth and had a sip of the thick tea; then he continued, “You should have known that I was the Chief Monk at the Fruit Formation Temple for a while, so I know something about the Buddhist methods.”

It was evidently a modest statement to say he merely knew something about the Buddhist methods.

The Buddhist methods were mostly related to cause and effect.

The best Buddhist method of the Fruit Formation Temple was the Two-Mind Connection.

“The devil pill at the bottom of the Muddy River and the secret method of the Bloody Demon Church are the seeds I planted back then; now it’s the time for me to pick the fruit, which is you,” the Immortal Taiping said to Liu Shisui, smiling.