The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 673: The Presence of a Saint

The Immortal Taiping had prepared for this destruction of the world for the last few hundred years. He had gone to the Underworld and come back to the human world, and went to the imperial court, the rural area, the bank of the Muddy River, the Cloud Platform, and finally, returned to Green Mountain. He had prepared for every contingency.

The Old Ones that had infiltrated every part of the world were responsible for collecting information for him, to make sure that nothing would go wrong at those critical positions.

The Young Zen Master was in White Town guarding the snowland, and it was well known that the Broadsword King Cao Yuan had been injured severely during a battle with the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom and hadn’t been seen in the world for about one hundred years.

Bu Qiuxiao was sitting at the deep end of the One-Cottage House while traveling the world mentally. He couldn’t wake up since he was at the critical moment of becoming a Saint.

Like the Immortal Taiping said, it was impossible for Jing Jiu to calculate everything, but on the other hand, neither could he. It was impossible for him to predict what the others would opt to do at a critical moment and what kind of unexpected event awaited him.

The strong wind was whistling inside the One-Cottage House. The wind traveled along the river, ripping up the willow trees from their roots. Tens of thousands of lotuses in the lake broke off from the stems, flying in the air the wrecked hats, some of them floating on the surface of the lake. It was a dreadful scene.

The more terrifying part was that the wind had been dyed red, looking like steaming and bloody mist that was full of lethal energy.

The formations that had suppressed the passage leading to the Underworld were no longer functioning. The Stone Bell Mountain situated at the end of the Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor howled like a broken flute rather than a bell with ruptures visible on it. The solid rocks were ground to powder, which dashed to the dark and gloomy underground along with the wind. It was unclear how long it would take before the powder to reach the Underworld River and create more flames and smoke.

A fine and red feather was dancing wildly amid the violent wind while looking down at the scholars of the One-Cottage House repairing the formations, looking at them like a nonchalant and relentless eye.

All of a sudden, a green ray of light shone down from the heavens.

The green ray of light didn’t disintegrate when combining with the blood red Chaotic Wind, instead growing larger with the wind and turning into a green bird while extending its wings with a rustling sound.

The eyes of the Green Bird revealed an expression of fury. With a soft shriek, she darted toward the red feather and attempted to peck it.

The red feather seemed to have consciousness, fleeing with the wind and arriving above the lake five miles away moments later.

A pitiful broken lotus was rising and ebbing on the wavy surface of the lake. The Green Bird suddenly flew out from a broken lotus and reached out her beak as fast as lightning. She caught the red feather squarely in her beak before heading toward the high sky while flapping her wings forcefully, disappearing into the horizon soon afterwards.

After the red feather left, the wind in the Thousand-Mile Wind Corridor had gradually become discolored and was not as brutal as it had been earlier. Though the strength of the wind didn’t slow, its impact on the Cultivation practitioners was much less harmful now.

The scholars of the One-Cottage House made good use of this opportunity to carve scripts and amulets on the cliff walls against the strong wind in an effort to slow down the pace of the formations dismantling. However, the passage leading to the Underworld had already been opened, and the windstorm caused by the air passing through the two worlds was simply too much to seal it off by the amulets. The strong wind kept on rushing into the cracks and caves. The amulet paper slips were torn to shreds as soon as they were attached to the cliff walls. Even those scripts carved into the cliff walls were visibly being ground into oblivion.

Regardless of whether they were attaching the amulet paper slips or carving the scripts, it exhausted a great deal of their upright energy. Within a few minutes, many scholars had collapsed onto the ground; some of them had even passed out.

Yet, none of the scholars who could still stand on their feet had left the site; they were still doing their hardest to resist the force of heaven and earth. The blood stains were everywhere on the cliff walls, all of it the fresh blood they had spat out.

Xi Yiyun and a dozen masters stood at a spot where the wind was strongest, which was also the most dangerous place. Pale-faced, their energies had been drained continuously, and they were on the verge of collapsing.

It was then that the wind had suddenly subsided in the surroundings of the plain study house at the deep end of the One-Cottage House, and that disgusting wailing had also quieted.

Bu Qiuxiao opened his eyes and took a look outside through the window. After smelling the scent in the wind and seeing the cut on his finger, he realized what had happened.

He got up and glided out of the study house.

Pah!!!

He leapt forward after tapping on the surface of the lotus on the lake with the tips of his toes and traveled with the wind, soon arriving in front of the Stone Bell Mountain at the end of the Wind Corridor.

“House Master!” the young scholars of the One-Cottage House blurted out in surprise.

The dozen elderly scholars in front had an abrupt change in their countenance, their eyes full of regret and sorrow.

Seeing the familiar figure in the sky, Xi Yiyun felt exceedingly sad, murmuring “Teacher!” in his mind.

Bu Qiuxiao had been in a trance for thirty days as he traveled the world mentally and perceived the essence of heaven and earth, waiting for the moment he became the Saint.

He couldn’t sense any commotion outside his body then; but how could he wake up ahead of time?

Was it because his spiritual awareness traveling the world sensed the sudden change of heaven and earth?

He came back from traveling the world mentally…This meant he had missed the opportunity. It would take a great many years of Cultivation to have such an opportunity again; he may never have the chance to become a Saint again.

Ignoring the disciples calling him, Bu Qiuxiao reached out his right hand and aimed at the cliff wall.

He was used to writing with his right hand.

And he held the brush pen with his forefinger on the top.

The blood on the tiny cut of his forefinger made by the red feather had clogged up.

But the cut opened up again at the moment, seeping out a drop of blood.

Soon after, more and more drops of blood came out, landing on the cliff wall after connecting and forming a bloody line.

The drops of blood acted like ink, splashing onto the walls and imbuing the cracks in an attempt to prevent the Chaotic Wind from rushing into the Underworld.

It seemed that even Bu Qiuxiao was powerless against the force of heaven and earth.

Seeing the drops of blood blown away by the Chaotic Wind, Bu Qiuxiao’s face grew paler. It made Xi Yiyun feel even more pained, wondering why his Teacher did it.

His Teacher opted to come back at the expense of the chance of becoming a Saint when the world suffered such a disaster; and unfortunately, he couldn’t change anything. Was it worth it?

Bu Qiuxiao was fully aware of the situation.

He couldn’t become a Saint if he chose to wake up ahead of time.

And he couldn’t bring the world back from the brink of destruction if he didn’t become a Saint.

But with the destruction of the world looming, how could he choose not to wake up?

This was an uninteresting subject.

He kept on writing the meaningless words on the cliff walls of the Stone Bell Mountain with his own blood. Thinking of all this, the corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a wry smile.

And yet, in the next moment, something unexpected happened.

The blood stains on the cliff wall had suddenly emitted a bright glow, and the blood stains grew redder.

No matter how strong and formidable the winds coming from all parts of the world were, they couldn’t discolor the blood stains a tad.

The increasingly redder blood stains appeared solemn and awe-inspiring, devoid of any blood scent; they looked like the words on the paper written with a red brush pen.

The whole Stone Bell Mountain had gradually stabilized. The stony walls ceased falling apart, and the cracks were sealed off by the blood.

The passage leading to the Underworld grew narrower, and the strength of the wind abated.

What was going on?

The young scholars were stunned speechless.

Xi Yiyun felt bewildered.

“Hahahaha!”

Bu Qiuxiao was laughing happily like a naïve child, devoid of any bitterness now.

His laughter echoed amid the cliffs, suppressing the wailing sound of the broken flute.

Back when he joined the One-Cottage House to study, he was a naïve and happy youth. But, because of the affair relating to his Master, he had taken on the responsibility and pressure at a young age.

The pressure only grew heavier after the Scholar Yan left the One-Cottage House and he had the conversation with Jing Jiu at the old plum garden.

He could finally unburden the pressure from his shoulders now.

“This is the blood of a Saint!”

“The House Master has become a Saint!”

A few elderly scholars of the One-Cottage House yelled ecstatically.

It was true.

Bu Qiuxiao had become a Saint.

Facing the disaster of the human world, he chose to give up becoming a Saint without a second thought.

That very decision was one made of a Saint.

…

…

“The wind has kicked up.”

Standing at the door of the small temple, the Young Zen Master appeared rather anxious and kept rubbing his bare feet against the door sill incessantly.

He looked at the distance with a worried countenance. He didn’t look in the direction of the snowland but a distant place in the east.

The energy of heaven and earth was changing…and it was a dramatic change, indicating that this world would experience a significant event and would be more serious than when the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom gave birth.

Though the wind was not very strong in White Town, the Young Zen Master grew worried since the wind came from a very distant place. He released his fingers.

The result of his Two-Mind Connection was not good at all. The worst part was that those sites were too far away from White Town, so he had no way to get there in time.

How could he stop this disaster?

Pah!!!

The Young Zen Master leapt up into the sky after crushing the doorsill into pieces with his bare feet. He extended his hand slightly and aimed the Light Mirror at the deep part of the snowland.

The sunlight landed on the surface of the mirror before it was reflected toward the north. The light ray didn’t spread out after passing through the expansive snowland; but rather, it became brighter and shone on the target squarely.

Ten thousand miles away, the lonely and desolate icy peak illuminated by this ray of sunlight gave off a light blue glow.

A piece of spiritual awareness came out among the icy peak and arrived in front of the small temple of White Town instantly after passing through the snowland in anger because she was disturbed…and also because she was a bit curious.

The strong wind was howling and the snowflakes were flying in all directions. The pilgrims and the soldiers in the small town were fleeing in surprise and terror.

The behavior was caused by the fear of the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom.

“If I haven’t miscalculated, the passage leading to the Underworld is experiencing a dramatic change; the Immortal Taiping is attempting to destroy the world.”

Looking at the place ten thousand miles away with a pale face, the Young Zen Master continued, “You should have sensed it a long while ago and understood what it meant. In addition to killing all the mortals in the human world, he also intends to kill everything in the Snowy Kingdom to eliminate a potential monster invasion.”

“What does it have to do with me,” the indifferent and powerful spiritual awareness of the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom demanded.

Every few hundred years, the north of Chaotian would experience a terrifying monster invasion. The human swordsmen thought that the Snowy Kingdom intended to invade the south and occupy the territory of the humans in the beginning. Now they figured that it was because there were too many snowy monsters produced amid the ice and snow, using up too much of the cold source in the north; so the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom drove them to the south and had them killed by the humans. If this was the case, how could the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom care about the Immortal Taiping destroying the world?

Looking at the deep part of the snowland, the Young Zen Master said earnestly, “Those are nevertheless your subjects. You can choose to let them die; but how can you let them die by someone’s scheme?”

“What does that have to do with me?”

The Queen’s answer was clear and indifferent.

“Yes, you’re right. This matter has nothing to do with you. If you don’t do anything, I’ll be grateful to you.”

A deep and hoarse voice broke out on the ground.

The spiritual awareness of the Queen left and disappeared into the distance, meaning that she had acquiesced to it.

The Young Zen Master spun his head around in surprise and looked down at White Town.

The voice was still echoing in the town, like the lingering chime of a bell.

The blood red cliff quivered slightly, and the accumulated snow fell off the peak top, piling up behind the small temple.

Inside the small temple, the unimaginably heavy iron broadsword, which was longer than the roof beam, was laying on the rack quietly.

All of a sudden, the hilt of the broadsword was grabbed by a hand.

The hand was full of wounds and scars, resembling a hand of the Buddha statue that had had its painting peeled off.