The Path Toward Heaven

A long time had passed.

The Round Turtle suddenly craned his neck to look up at the night sky.

The Dead Dog also took a look.

Jing Jiu raised his eyebrows.

They had heard a faint “eh”; it seemed that the Snow Girl had encountered something.

The black thread in the sky had already broken off, and the terrifying storm in the Thunder Region had gradually dissipated after losing its target.

The world seemed to have returned to its former normality.

Yet, the faint “eh” was still echoing in their minds, sounding like distant thunder.

The rest of the crowd didn’t hear the faint “eh”; all they heard was the last laughter and words the Snow Girl uttered.

“I didn’t expect her to speak human language…” murmured Zhuo Rusui.

He was even a bit dazed by the shocking feeling even though he was a carefree swordsman, so one could imagine what it was that the Cultivation practitioners felt.

Many gazes focused on the stars in the night sky.

The people felt a strong sense of emptiness.

The Immortal Taiping was dead.

The Fairy Lady Bai Ren was dead.

The Queen of the Snowy Kingdom had ascended.

What had happened that day pounded on their Dao Hearts like countless huge ocean waves.

For those who had seen the sea, the stream looked tiny; for those who had witnessed the reality of heaven and earth, it was natural that they felt small in comparison.

But nobody could tell what impact the happenings that night would have on the Cultivation practitioners of Chaotian, at least at the moment.

“What is going on?”

The Sect Master of the Great Marsh turned to Jing Jiu and asked him in surprise after he came out from the Wind-Rain Banner.

Jing Yao, State Duke Lu and the others came out from the Picture of River and Mountain and looked at Jing Jiu.

Why was the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom, the most powerful and formidable being in Chaotian, at the Green Mountain Sect? And why did she opt to cooperate with him to fight the Fairy Lady Bai Ren?

And she had in the end ascended from the earth!

“The Snow Girl is the initial lifeform in this patch of heaven and earth,” said Jing Jiu. “According to my calculation, the purpose of her existence is to ensure the security of this heaven and earth. In a sense, she is a guardian of this world. As such, what Bai Ren said to her earlier is ludicrous.”

An elder of the Kunlun Sect yelled tersely from a cliff, “The Snowy Kingdom is the archenemy of the humans. Many human swordsmen have died at the hands of the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom over tens of thousands of years, and a great many innocent people had died during the monster invasions in the past. It’s truly absurd for the Immortal to claim she is the guardian of this world!”

“She is the guardian of this world, not a guardian of humans,” returned Jing Jiu.

What Jing Jiu intended to convey was very clear. The look on the face of the elder of the Kunlun Sect was terrible. The people in the peak remained silent.

“The spirit of this heaven and earth has no way to leave this patch of heaven and earth. Even though she had reached the Cultivation state of Contained Heaven and Earth a long time ago, she still couldn’t do it. And she, like all the lifeforms, was eager to go up…”

Jing Jiu continued, “Somehow, she came up with an idea that if she created another patch of heaven and earth to guard, she would be able to have a chance to leave the world.”

“Was it when you and Bai Zao were trapped in the snowland at the Plum Meeting?”

The Chief Nun of the Water-Moon Nunnery asked in confusion in the small green curtain sedan.

Jing Jiu replied, “You’re right. And while I’m not sure if the Queens of the Snowy Kingdom had used this method prior to her, I’m sure about her.”

The Immortal Tan remarked with a numb and earnest expression, “Since she was expelled from the snowland, does it mean the one in the snowland is even more powerful than she?”

Jing Jiu said, “She was at her weakest after giving birth. And it’s possible that she feigned her defeat to find an opportunity to leave the snowland.”

Zhao Layue shot him a glance.

Jing Jiu understood her intent and said, “I’m not going to the snowland.”

He wouldn’t take the risk going to the snowland even if the current Queen of the Snowy Kingdom was not as powerful as the Snow Girl.

It was because it was meaningless to do so.

His thought was the same as when Lian Sanyue invited him to go to the snowland.

“No matter whether she was weak or feigned her weakness, the Snow Girl was nearly killed by her daughter before she left the snowland. Then, I brought her to Green Mountain until today.”

Jing Jiu had told the part of the story he was willing to relay.

“But how did you persuade her to help you?” asked the Chief Nun of the Water-Moon Nunnery.

This was a question all the others present wanted to ask.

Why was the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom willing to help Green Mountain fight the Fairy Lady?

Though she was the highest lifeform in Chaotian, it was still a risky thing for her to undertake.

“I promised her I would create an opportunity for her to ascend.”

After a moment of pause, Jing Jiu continued, “Her state was too high, and the heavenly punishment would be too strong. She had no way to leave if she couldn’t find another method.”

Many people recalled the earlier scene; they couldn’t help but but shudder again.

It was the whirlpool of thunder and lightning occupying more than half of the sky.

It was the heavenly power bearing down on the ground.

And it was the most powerful heavenly punishment the whole of Chaotian had ever witnessed.

If the Snow Girl wanted to fight against the heavenly punishment, who could predict the outcome of her effort?

It was obviously much easier for her to go to the outside world through that passage.

It was the passage through which the Fairy Lady Bai Ren came down to the human world.

The people had figured everything out by now. They looked up at Jing Jiu atop the ocean of clouds, their eyes full of awe and respect.

It turned out that he had predicted all that had happened today ahead of time.

…

…

The starlight shone on the ocean of clouds, making it look like the snowland.

The starlight shone on the peaks, making them look like graveyards.

And the starlight shone on the patch of cloud and fog, making it look like a silk cocoon.

It was the most important day for Chaotian in the past one thousand years.

It was more important than the destruction of the Bloody Demon Church.

It was more important than the Plum Meeting.

It was more important than the Underworld Emperor being locked in the Fiend Prison.

It was more important than the Immortal Taiping staying behind death doors.

And it was more important than the Immortal Jing Yang’s ascension.

However, the Immortal Bai had been standing inside that patch of cloud and fog quietly, seldom speaking. She didn’t give any response regardless of if it was the death of the Immortal Taiping, if it was the dismantling of the Sword Formation of Green Mountain, if it was the cloud boats of the Center Sect that broke out of the clouds and surrounded the peaks of Green Mountain, or if it was the Fairy Lady Bai Ren being killed by the Snow Girl…

It seemed that all the schemes of the Center Sect had nothing to do with her.

“You’re really resolute this time. You didn’t ask Bai Ren to come back until my Big Brother died and the Sword Formation was destroyed.”

Jing Jiu said to the figure in the cloud and fog, “But it’s futile.”

“You’ve killed Taiping and destroyed the Inherited Heaven Sword to get rid of all the troubles to yourself. You used the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom to kill my ancestor and then forced her to ascend immediately. You have predicted everything so precisely, so I think that the destruction of the Sword Formation of Green Mountain and the Sword Jail are also the results you want. What are you going to do now? Destroy my Center Sect?”

The voice of the Immortal Bai drifted out from the cloud and fog; it was extremely cold and crisp, devoid of any emotion, like sadness and anger.

Strangely enough, many people had sensed a hint of mockery in her voice, as if she had contempt for Jing Jiu.

Green Mountain had suffered the turmoil caused by the Immortal Taiping first and then the near destruction in the hands of the Fairy Lady that day. Most of their strong swordsmen, including the Immortal Guangyuan and Nan Wang, sustained severe wounds, so they had no way to fight again.

But Green Mountain still had the Dead Dog, Jing Jiu, and the three elderly hermits coming out from the hermit peaks.

No matter how high the Immortal Tan and the Immortal Bai’s Cultivation states were and how many strong swordsmen of the Center Sect there were in the cloud boats, how could she show such contempt?

“I’m not a greedy person, and I have no intention of wiping Cloud-Dream Mountain off the face of this world.”

Jing Jiu went on, “The sects like the two of ours will always have backup resources like the Sword-Washing Stream, the fairy books, the hermit peaks, and the back mountains; it’s truly troublesome.”

Those elderly hermits hidden in the hermit peaks of Green Mountain and the back mountain of Cloud-Dream Mountain concentrated all of their efforts to break through the state, ascend and leave the sufferings of life and death behind; they wouldn’t pay attention to anything, no matter how important it was.

Yet, when the Green Mountain Sect or the Center Sect was on the verge of being destroyed, they had absolutely no choice but to strike.

Jing Jiu was someone who loathed trouble, which is why he had no interest in attacking Cloud-Dream Mountain and destroying the Center Sect.

“What are you going to do next?” asked the Immortal Bai in the cloud and fog.

“Keep you here,” said Jing Jiu.

No sooner had he said this than he thrashed the whip in his hand at the starry sky.

The clean stream water reflected the starlight and countless shocked faces.

Nobody expected that he would mount such a sudden attack on the Center Sect.

The Fairy Lady Bai Ren couldn’t even escape from this silvery whip after she had fled to a place hundreds of miles away, let alone that patch of cloud and fog.

Pah!!!

The silvery whip landed on the patch of cloud and fog. The whip wrapped around it several times at a fast speed, as if a rice dumpling was being bound.

The figure of the Immortal Bai was seen a bit deformed in the cloud and fog.

A few wafts of fog drifted out from the spot on which the silvery whip landed.

The Immortal Tan opened his right hand, an endless golden light emitting from it.

A small stone pagoda could be seen amid the golden light.

A surprised cry broke out in the cliff.

“It’s the Pagoda of Suppressing Devils!”

This rumored Pagoda of Supressing Devils was a precious pagoda used by the Master of the Bloody Demon Church to temper the Blood of Ten-Thousand Devils, and he had also attempted to use it as the main pagoda of the Heavenly Slaying Formation. After the Bloody Demon Church was obliterated, this magic treasure had been lost, and nobody knew its whereabouts. Unexpectedly, this magic treasure had been in the hands of the Center Sect.

Everyone was nervous to the extremes, wondering if this Pagoda of Supressing Devils or the Sword-Washing Stream left behind by the grandmasters of Green Mountain was more powerful than the other.

However, what was to happen in the next moment was expected by nobody.

Many surprised and incredulous cries went up around Tianguang Peak.

The Immortal Tan flipped his right hand; the Pagoda of Supressing Devils flew up, heading toward the patch of cloud and fog.

His target was nobody else but the Immortal Bai!