The Path Toward Heaven

Thinking a while, Jing Jiu said, “Maybe they will finally succeed; they just don’t realize that it will cause unforeseen consequences. Big Brother had succeeded, but did he expect the consequences to be what they are? Though…Shisui is stronger than Big Brother and me; he should be able to survive.”

The white cat wasn’t interested in this disciple, Shisui, but he could sense that Jing Jiu cared about this disciple, so he couldn’t help but feel surprised, glancing at him as he thought, Before you were wholly focused on Cultivation, never paying attention to the life and death of human beings or cats; how is it that you’ve undergone such change?

“I’m going out,” said Jing Jiu.

The white cat was astounded, their fur on their tail standing up as they thought, You’re actually going to go beyond the mountain?

“Out of sight; out of mind.”

Jing Jiu placed his right index finger in front of the white cat.

The white cat edged forward out of instinct, the side of his face caressing against his finger.

After a few comfortable caresses, he suddenly realized the danger, abruptly returning to the window sill, lying down in feigned death.

He couldn’t discern Jing Jiu’s current ability, so he didn’t attack, but he didn’t want to get too close to Jing Jiu, this as a way to avoid future troubles.

The White Ghost, the Green Mountain Guard, had strength on par with magic demons, an extraordinarily high state of Cultivation, and was of high seniority.

Over the years, only two individuals on the nine peaks could make him feel caution and even fear.

He was scared of Jing Jiu, but he was even more scared of Jing Jiu’s opponent.

Jing Jiu was unaffectionate, but the other person possessed too much affection.

Being unaffectionate didn’t equal cruelty.

And being affectionate wasn’t always a good thing.

“Ada, would you wish to go with me?” asked Jing Jiu.

The white cat glanced at him with contempt.

“As you know, I don’t know much about dealing with people, and have never cared about anybody,” said Jing Jiu.

Looking at him with resentment, the white cat thought, You’ve actually known what your problem was!

Jing Jiu didn’t say anything more.

The white cat understood what he meant, extending his soft paw and making a gesture in the air.

The sharp claws poked out from the toes, looking scarier than a glinting sword.

“Thank you.”

Jing Jiu petted his head.

The unhappy cat bit him once, though of course without causing harm.

…

…

The night was still pretty dark when Jing Jiu returned to Shenmo Peak.

Seeing the small wooden cabin in front of the cliffside, Jing Jiu walked over after some thought and pushed open the door to enter.

Gu Qing hadn’t slept yet, as he was reading the sword manual under the oil light; he was surprised to see Jing Jiu.

He had been here in Shenmo Peak for half a year, and yet had never seen Jing Jiu leave the peak top, let alone come to his place.

“We will leave here soon.”

Jing Jiu asked, “Are you planning to stay here or go out?”

Gu Qing was even more surprised now, wondering about the sudden departure. After a moment of silence, he asked, “How long will you be gone?”

This was an important question.

Jing Jiu knew what he was worried about, saying, “We’ll be back before the Inherited Sword Competition.”

Having thought for a while, Gu Qing said, “I’ll stay here and focus on practicing sword work, looking after the peak in the meantime.”

Jing Jiu didn’t urge him, saying, “Tell the monkeys in an emergency.”

Gu Qing didn’t quite understand what he meant, thinking that those monkeys were indeed smart, what help did they have to offer in an emergency? Or whom could the monkeys seek out?

He didn’t ask for further explanation, but remembered what Jing Jiu had just said.

…

…

In the early hours of morning, a meeting was held on Green Mountain.

Be it because of coincidence or some other reason, the meeting rules of Green Mountain had changed quite a bit since Shenmo Peak was reopened and Zhao Layue became the Peak Master.

In the past, all the peak swords gathered on Tianguang Peak, and the peak masters’ voices were heard via the swords, but now the representatives of the peaks came to the Hall of Xilai Peak to meet face to face.

As many had guessed, the peak masters thought having a meeting with third-generation disciple Zhao Layue as colleagues was kind of awkward.

This became quickly evident. Intentionally or not, Shenmo Peak was again not informed of the meeting this time.

The main agenda for today’s meeting was the incident that had happened during the demon-purge mission of Liangwang Peak in Chaonan City.

The elder Bai Rujing of Tianguang Peak couldn’t conceal his anger, requesting sternly that the swordsmen of the second generation be sent to the Muddy River to capture that big demon if he was still alive and to bring his body back if he was dead, this done in order to find out what had happened in the deep part of the Muddy River that night.

The angry bellow echoed in the big hall. Mei Li and others didn’t speak out, as they knew why Bai Rujing was so upset; Liu Shisui was still unconscious.

“The Young Brothers have already checked. There are many firing poisons inside Liu Shisui’s body, but…it’s clearly odd.”

The elder Shi Mingxun of Yunxing Peak said with a sarcastic tone, “I suspect he ate something. Wait till he wakes up so then we can ask him.”

The crowd in the hall knew what he suspected; this was in fact the conjecture of many people.

Bai Rujing had to defend his disciple, saying sternly, “The truth hasn’t come out yet, so just shut the hell up!”

Shi Mingxun sneered, saying, “I’d like to ask, then, that if the truth hasn’t come out yet, why is Jian Ruyun locked in the stone room?!”

As everybody knew, Jian Ruyun was the personal disciple of Shi Mingxun before he joined Liangwang Peak.

“Jian Ruyun of course should be punished for his failure to protect!”

“To fight devils and demons is always dangerous; do you expect him to be a nanny?”

“Shi Mingxun, you shouldn’t think you are attached to a certain peak, so you can be rude to our Tianguang Peak!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there! You are the first peak of Green Mountain; so intimidating. Do you think our Yunxing Peak is your subordinate?”

For a while, the only voices heard in the Xilai Hall were the angry roars of Bai Rujing and the sarcastic tones of Shi Mingxun.

Shaking his head, the Peak Master of Xilai was about to interrupt their quarrel, but he suddenly sensed something, frowning slightly without saying a word.

Looking out the hall, Mei Li felt a bit strange, wondering what had just happened; why was her Sword Heart restless?

Soon, the news spread from the South Pine Pavilion to the inner sect, then to the whole nine peaks.

Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu left.

They left! Had they just left?

With a slightly changed expression, Bai Rujing said, “Zhao…she is the Peak Master of Shenmo, how can she leave so casually?”

The Xilai Hall fell silent, and the swordsmen of the second generation of Green Mountain eyed each other, speechless.

It was because Zhao Layue was the Peak Master of Shenmo that she could leave without anybody’s approval.

According to the sect rules, she merely needed to inform Xilai Peak and have it recorded on her Sword Card, then she could go wherever she wanted.

This was the privilege of a peak master.

Even if she didn’t inform Xilai Peak, nobody could do anything about it.

Of course, if the Sect Master didn’t approve it, the situation would be different.

However, the Sect Master was focused on Cultivation and hadn’t shown much care for such matter for many years.

Smiling wryly, the Peak Master of Xilai said, “I will go to Tianguang Peak to inform the Sect Master later.”

Mei Li asked Lin Wuzhi, who came in to report the news, “Did they say where they were going? When will they be back?”

“They didn’t say anything,” Lin Wuzhi replied with a bitter smile.

Mei Li hoped they would be back soon.

As for the Cultivation practitioners, traveling the lands for dozens of years was normal, and many people in the hall had similar experiences; but they had already reached the State of Free Travel before they made such a decision, and moving forward on the path toward heaven became even more difficult. However, Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu were still so young; why are they so impatient?