The Path Toward Heaven

It was quiet among the peaks of Green Mountain. The people were still embroiled in the shock he felt about the origin of the Broadsword King that Jing Jiu had described.

Jing Jiu didn’t give the audience enough time to dwell on the story before he started telling the second story.

He looked at the large tree at the foot of a peak and said to the man wearing the conical hat, “Come here.”

The man revealed a bitter smile on his greenish face after he took off the conical hat. He was none other than Su Ziye.

Su Ziye was walking toward Jing Jiu in the deep part of the black jade plate, drawing countless gazes, causing a barrage of commotions. This former young master of the Mysterious Dark Sect was a formidable figure of the deviant sects. Even if it was inappropriate to describe him as the sole remaining figure of the deviant sects, he could be said to be the last formidable deviant practitioner.

Many people were aware that he was still alive, and that he had a secret relationship with the Windy-Broadsword Church and the Mysterious Heaven Sect; otherwise, how could the Kunlun Sect be defeated by him and his group over and over again? And they were also aware that his behind-the-scenes backer was none other than the Green Mountain Sect.

Was Jing Jiu inclined to reveal his relationship with Su Ziye by calling him out from his hidden place?

The Immortal acted more erratically before his ascension.

“Su Qige was the sect master of the previous generation at the Mysterious Dark Sect. His mind was out of order because he had practiced the deviant magic methods for too long and he was extremely ruthless to begin with. He believed in a foolish idea and planted a strong poison in his pregnant wife, turning her into a half-dead person, and he also summoned the soul into her body by employing the ghostly banner. In so doing, he believed that the fetus in the dead woman’s belly would become a so-called demonic embryo, and that his Cultivation state would improve tremendously after he swallowed the newly born demonic embryo and let it grow into a demonic infant.”

Su Ziye walked on the black ground, his steps making no sound. He moved forward very fast even though he seemed traveling slowly. No sooner had Jing Jiu finished talking than he arrived next to him, where he stood quietly, no emotion showing on his face.

“If a newborn infant could sense his mother’s fondness, what about this demonic embryo?”

The first part of the sentence referred to Cao Yuan, the last part was of course related to Su Ziye. “The demonic embryo had the innate spiritual awareness and knew that his father would eat him as a magic pill while he was inside his mother’s corpse. How did you feel at that time?” Jing Jiu asked while staring at Su Ziye.

Su Ziye replied calmly after some thought, “Feeling a sense of despair and anger.”

Few Cultivation practitioners knew about this secret, even though many of them knew that Su Ziye had successfully plotted a scheme against his own father at a young age and gained the actual control of the Mysterious Dark Sect with the aid of the elders. Based on what Jing Jiu said in the story, Su Ziye was planted as a demonic embryo in the corpse of his mother by Su Qige and was to be swallowed later; but how did he survive? And why could he plot a scheme against his father later on?

“The demonic embryo ate some of his mother’s flesh and blood during its growth and became an infant ahead of time. Su Qige didn’t have enough time to temper the demonic infant after swallowing him. As a result, he was infected by the corpse poison, and the demonic infant came out after breaking through his body. Su Qige was paralyzed and lived many years, in a state worse than death, until he was killed by the sword in Liu Ci’s hands.”

No emotion could be detected on Su Ziye’s face, as though it were somebody else’s story.

An uproar went up among the peaks. It was not because the Cultivation practitioners learned that Su Qige failed miserably in his attempt to find the deviant path toward heaven after he had sacrificed his own wife and son for it, nor did they marvel at the fact that an infant would do his best to survive. They felt astonished because of the first part of the sentence.

The demonic embryo became an infant ahead of time because it ate his mother’s corpse and gained the ability to protect himself by employing the corpse poison.

To say nothing of the orthodox Cultivation sects, it was even hard for the deviant practitioners to accept it.

“If it’s said that his father planted the evil seed, he is the evil fruit as a result,” exclaimed Jing Jiu. “What about his mother then? Why should she bear this result?”

He didn’t tell the second story to elucidate cause and effect; he talked about the courage.

“Why is the world we live in called ‘Chaotian’?” asked Jing Jiu.

The people thought its meaning was apparent.

Chaotian of course meant “the path toward heaven”, indicating that the Cultivation practitioners sought for ascension wholeheartedly with full effort.

Jing Jiu said, “A person will face the sky if dead and live tens of thousands of years if not dead. I take a liking to this explanation.”

The people were stunned speechless, wondering how the word “Chaotian” could be explained this way.

Su Ziye forced himself to smile slightly even though he felt like crying.

He bent down his upper body slowly to bow to Jing Jiu reverentially.

…

…

“A person will face the sky if dead and live tens of thousands of years if not dead. A person will…”

Bu Qiuxiao thought the seemingly inelegant statement had a deeper meaning as he repeated it. “I think it means to live a fruitful life while heading toward death,” remarked Bu Qiuxiao.

“Putting it that way is too elegant,” said Jing Jiu.

Bu Qiuxiao still couldn’t totally agree with Jing Jiu, saying, “If the statement means that one can do anything they want to as long as they can live long enough, we can also come up with another conclusion that one can do anything they want to once they are aware that they will die someday. Furthermore, we can speculate accordingly that the existence of anybody is nothing but an illusion.”

Jing Jiu had told two stories; the origins of Cao Yuan and Su Ziye were both quite miserable. Did he intend to convey such an idea?

“Your speculation is basically correct; but you’ve missed one point. Why should we die at all?” Jing Jiu waved his hand dismissively since he knew what Bu Qiuxiao wished to say, as he continued, “Though longevity can’t be proven, I don’t know when I’ll die or whether I’ll die. Hence, I’ve known since my birth that all this is not an illusion.”

It seemed that he was to tell his own story in the end.

Many Cultivation practitioners of small sects believed that they had guessed it, showing a satisfactory expression on their faces.

Zhao Layue and the others didn’t expect Jing Jiu to tell his own story before his ascension.

…

…

“During the years before the Plum Meeting took place, the world was in chaos, and the imperial court was very weak; many people had died. The emperors had been replaced one after the other only after a few years. I was born in the chaotic royal palace during the chaotic period of time in Zhaoge City. Though it was a chaotic era, I was nonetheless in the royal palace and had never experienced a shortage of clothing and foods, and I hadn’t done anything useful either. I was discovered to have a special talent in Cultivation at a young age and was fought over by a few major Cultivation sects for many years. In the end, my grandmaster had won the competition. The Immortal Daoyuan was said to be the number one in the world; but unexpectedly, he was sneak-attacked by Nan Qü. Well…I didn’t expect myself to be sneak-attacked last time. Judging by our shared experience, I have indeed inherited his tradition.”

Though Jing Jiu said it in a straightforward manner, it sounded a little hilarious. It was the first time that the Green Mountain disciples found the Immortal Sect Master to actually be funny in some way.

The following was a story known to everybody in the world. Jing Jiu had no patience of relating it one more time even though the Cultivation practitioners among the peaks and the peaks of Green Mountain were very much willing to listen to him that day. The story would proceed as follows: he was brought back by the Immortal Daoyuan; the Immortal Taiping volunteered to teach him on behalf of the masters; after being sneak-attacked by Nan Qü, his grandmaster and master had both died one after another; the branch of Shangde Peak was suppressed; the Immortal Taiping went to the Underworld as a mole and brought back the Underworld Emperor; the peaks of Green Mountain suffered a bloodbath after a hotpot had been consumed; the Immortal Taiping was locked behind death doors after another hotpot was consumed; three hundred years later, Jing Yang failed in his ascension attempt and was reincarnated; the two brothers resumed their hostility after the Immortal Taiping escaped from the jail…

The history of Chaotian over the past few hundred years was mostly the history of struggle between these two brothers.

In their former and current lives, the two of them were each other’s most dangerous opponent and enemy, but the two of them were also the ones who understood each other the most.

Now the Immortal Taiping was dead, and Jing Jiu was still alive.

He had lived long enough to become the oldest and most boring person in this world.

“What kind of a person am I?”

Jing Jiu raised the last question for this world and himself.

What kind of a person was the Immortal Jing Yang or Jing Jiu? The whole of Chaotian didn’t have an unambiguous concept of it. They were mostly the shallow and ineffective accounts to describe him as “caring not about the affairs of the world”, “having a cold temperament”, and “having an unparalleled talent”. His temperament and image were always ambiguous, as if his face were forever covered by a layer of fog; it was even harder to see through him than the cloud and fog surrounding the Immortal Bai.

“Caring not about the affairs of the world doesn’t mean I can’t change anything; it’s only that I don’t think they’re important enough. I had predicted many things back when I was in that small village.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Shisui recalled the pond, the large tree by the pond, the bamboo chair under the tree and the youth in white lying on the chair.

He had asked Jing Jiu what he was doing back then; Jing Jiu said that he had been calculating what would happen in the next three thousand years.

A little more than one hundred years later, the whole of Chaotian had become the possession of Green Mountain, which is why he didn’t hesitate to destroy the Inherited Heaven Sword.

However, it was impossible for him to calculate everything, and that was because those people had their own minds and goals. As a result, those people had departed.

Jing Jiu actually encouraged Su Ziye when he said that he appreciated the statement “living tens of thousands of years if not dead” earlier.

It was believed that the Kunlun Sect would spare a spiritual source for Su Ziye willingly in a few years.

What else had Jing Jiu predicted? He shot Peng Lang a glance.

Peng Lang felt ill at ease when he recalled the conversation between him and Jing Jiu that night at the Three-Thousand Nunnery and the evaluation Jing Jiu had regarding his name.

“Many people think I have a cold temperament. It’s because I have this special body. In fact, this body is very practical; don’t feel sorry for me.”

Jing Jiu turned to Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui, “And I’ll get rid of this body someday.”

Hearing this, Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui felt both relieved and baffled, wondering what he would use as his body besides this one.

Ping Yongjia felt flabbergasted more than the others as he wondered why his Master downplayed the importance of the All in One Sword.