The Path Toward Heaven

The silvery spacecraft broke through the snowball and returned to the space over the Main Planet. It didn’t take long before it had traveled through the majestic mountains and gazes of those in the praying hall and arrived in the compound of the mansion.

The silver coals in the stove cast a warm and red glow. The tea poured into the teacup from the iron kettle generated some heated mist along with a faint aroma.

Jing Jiu picked up the teacup and had a sip. He lifted up his head to look at the lawn outside the deck and the flowering trees in the distance as he was deep in thought.

Hua Xi looked at Jing Jiu with wide eyes. As she was about to ask him something, she was dragged by Jiang Yuxia out of the room.

“What kind of a person is That One?” Zong Lizi couldn’t help but ask curiously after some hesitation.

Jing Jiu pulled back his gaze and looked at the tea in his teacup. “She is someone like me,” he said after a moment of silence.

The girl wearing a bathing robe embroidered with small flowers, sporting straight black hair and sitting by the hot spring drinking spirits was a biochemical person, or in other words, a robot.

But the person hidden behind her was someone who was the same as he was.

Standing behind Jing Jiu, no expression could be detected on Ran Handong’s face. Her lips shut tightly, looking like a secretary who had no self-awareness. She was fully aware that Jing Jiu didn’t care about the attitude of That One. If he were a true god, he would in no way need the approval of somebody else. Yet, what was the purpose of his meeting That One?

“This is a world controlled by the ascendants, who are also the cocoon breakers, as you know them.”

Jing Jiu continued telling Ran Handong, “The female priests and the likes of your father in the Federation of the Milky Way don’t like the current situation; they need me.”

He had no intention of concealing l this from Zong Lizi, but she didn’t quite understand what he had just said. She opened her mouth slightly, her face full of bewilderment.

Ran Handong said in a slightly anxious tone, “Father and the others probably didn’t expect to change the situation so quickly, neither did that one. It’s you who forced them to choose sides.”

“Time is the most valuable thing in the world,” said Jing Jiu. “People shouldn’t waste time guessing and changing minds. Now that they have the idea, they should put it into action as soon as possible.”

“Do you feel pressured because the Cloudy Battleship will get here soon?” asked Ran Handong.

Jing Jiu said, “I can change course at any moment.”

Ran Handong had guessed that Jing Jiu hailed from the same place as those cocoon breakers, but she didn’t expect him to consider such a matter. “You’ve destroyed that battleship and killed so many people, and you have nearly killed Shen Yunmai…” she said. “Do you think they will accept you?”

Jing Jiu returned, “I could destroy the battleship and kill many people; and I can kill Shen Yunmai any time I want to, which makes me more valuable than all of these deeds putting together.”

…

…

Everybody was aware by now that this youth in the blue tracksuit was very valuable.

His background was rather mysterious, as if he had sprung from nowhere. He had a Cultivation state and prowess beyond the imagination of the people in this world.

He went to the building of the military headquarters and wounded Shen Yunmai, the pride of the military of the Federation, doing so under the gazes of many people and the threat of many heavy weapons.

And he went to the remains of the distant ancient civilization shrouded in the thick fog and had a conversation with That One, the content of which was unknown. After that, he came back unharmed.

Yet, it didn’t mean that no one dared to come over in an attempt to kill him.

That One hadn’t expressed her attitude publicly, the praying hall hadn’t recognized his identity yet, and billions of worshipers didn’t even know his existence.

The military of the Federation wouldn’t do anything to him because of Shen Yunmai’s promise, but the Cloudy Battleship was on its way back to the Main Planet.

What was the attitude of the Commander-in-Chief of the military toward him?

Everybody was pondering this issue. And yet, he was considering another issue at such a critical moment.

The space was as dark as ever, the same as the dim future at the end of time, even though it was illuminated by billions of stars.

According to the calculation of the Science Academy, the mass of the universe was still not adequate even after taking the dark matter and antimatter into consideration. The seemingly simple repetition of forming the universe would not occur again, and all would return to nothingness.

Hence, everything is meaningless because it is transient. Compared to eternity, billions of years are merely a brief moment.

So is human life.

This is the saddest fact of an intelligent being. The source that drove Shen Yunmai to insanity was also the ultimate issue Jing Jiu wished to solve.

Jing Jiu didn’t sit on the incline chair in the mansion of the priest clan while contemplating all this; he did these on a satellite.

It was a military satellite. All the equipment and apparatuses were encased in a semitransparent cover, the surface of which was exceedingly smooth.

If it were not weightless on the satellite, it would be hard for him to lie comfortably on it.

Jing Jiu narrowed his eyes to look at the permanent star in the distance.

That permanent star could last for 11.1 billion years; it was still not enough.

The light of the permanent star brought some warmth, which was soon replaced by the cold intent in the space, which reminded him of the snowland in Chaotian.

He began to exercise the magic method silently with his eyes closed.

The bright light beams turned into tiny and invisible golden particles after they landed on his face and body, penetrating his skin soundlessly as they went in deeper and deeper. Neither deflection nor resistance had occurred in his body. Contrary to the physical phenomenon in the lab, the tiny bits of light were absorbed by his body like flowing water.

The whole process was tranquil and wonderful.

It was like what was described by the verse of a poem:

“Nourish the plants soundlessly.”

…

…

After a long while, Jing Jiu opened his eyes. A flash of golden light occurred at the ends of his eyes.

It was like a shooting star traveling through the night sky, or coriander blooming briefly in transparent glass.

The bits of light ceased to flash like crystal crumbs. They vanished into his body, turning into the fairy energy useful for the Cultivation practitioners.

There was neither the atmosphere nor the protective shield in the space, and it was relatively closer to the permanent star here, which it was much faster to absorb the fairy energy here.

It took merely two hours before he had absorbed adequate fairy energy.

The fairy energy he had used to kill the Immortal Chi Song and destroy the battleship and fight against Shen Yunmai was totally recuperated.

The Cloudy Battleship would arrive on the Main Planet soon. He must be in perfect shape to face General Li, in terms of mental state and abundance of fairy energy.

He turned around and flew in the direction of the Main Planet.

The satellite stayed in its original place.

The shadow of the space station could be seen not far away. Many thin lines were visible in farther distance, which turned out to be the space elevators.

A great many surveillance apparatuses trained on this seemingly regular satellite; it was because Jing Jiu, a Cultivation practitioner in the Star State, had lain there for a long time. Even though the Cultivation practitioners in the Star State could stay in the space or on the planets where there was no atmosphere for a long time, none of them was willing to do so, it was because the invisible space radiations were nevertheless a threat to their bodies.

The Space Agency of the Federation Government and the battleships that were responsible for defending the whole galaxy were believed to be interested in analyzing the earlier scene.

What was he intended to do there?

The side of the Main Planet facing the permanent star was quite bright and was the daytime, but the other side was still dark and was the nighttime.

A bright glowing line appeared in the dark world all of a sudden, looking like the flash of sword light in the games or a shooting star.

This scene appeared on countless TV screens, and some of the civilian TV stations had even noticed it and started to broadcast it live.

The battleships and the officials of the Space Agency were of course aware of what this shooting star was.

As such, no alarm was set off.

Nor was any space weapon activated.

The world was as peaceful as ever.

The shooting star had landed in a place in the north. Many people generated a feeling of uneasiness.

This was an era of technological explosion, gene modification and the Cultivation of martial art, and the Cultivation practitioners were produced one after another; but they were all a part of the interplanetary civilization nonetheless.

However, that shooting star or the person represented by the sword light was obviously more outstanding than the interplanetary civilization.

…

…

The lawn was illuminated for a brief moment before it returned to its former condition. The discussions outside the courtyard ceased all of a sudden before they resumed, but the voice of the discussions was evidently much lower now.

Zong Lizi helped Jing Jiu get dressed. After straightening his collar, she turned around and poured a cup of fresh tea with proper temperature for him.

Many people in the mansion of the priest clan were shocked and enraged in the beginning when they saw the heir of the female priest of the Stargate attend Jing Jiu like a girl servant, but nobody paid any attention to it any longer. Ran Handong came before the chair and turned on the monitor, as if she hadn’t seen the scene at all. Then, she began to report to him the data on the screen.

“The worshipers in all the cities on the Main Planet have started the candle parade. No one has mentioned your name, but they should have been aware of this in secret.” After a pause, Ran Handong continued, “If That One has approved it officially, the praying hall will be able to persuade more than seventy percent of the worshipers to accept it within twenty standard days.”

She referred to the prophecy of a new god.

Jing Jiu uttered “hmm”.

“There is a name list here. Take a look.”

Many people wished to meet Jing Jiu lately. They were all important figures in the Federation of the Milky Way of course, like the heads of those significant clans, those councilors, and the generals; but they were all declined by her because she couldn’t make the decisions. As a result, she insisted on Jing Jiu taking a look of the list even though she believed he would refuse to meet any of them.

Jing Jiu took a look at the name list and was about to tell her that he had no intention to meet any of them like what he had done in the last few days when he suddenly saw some familiar names.

The reason he was familiar with those names was because he had signed those names himself rather than seen them somewhere.

…

…

Those who came to the mansion of the priest clan were the people who believed they were qualified to meet him. Those who could pass the examination of Ran Handong and were qualified to have their names presented before Jing Jiu must be the important figures, like the female priest from an important planet and the number three commander of a star fleet.

Sha Yu was merely a regular rather than significant councilor, but he was the owner of a large gaming company. Though the company had an abundance of wealth, it was not significant as far as the strategic importance was concerned. Normally, his name shouldn’t be on the list; however, Ran Handong was aware of who he was and other related information.

The large gaming company was the Twirling Rain Company.

Zong Lizi handed him a cup of tea while taking a glance at him. She found that he was not outstanding in any aspect, but how did he recognize the importance of the novel “The Path toward Heaven” and spend so much money and resources on modifying it into the current game?

If Jing Jiu were the new god as instructed in the prophecy, it would be undoubtedly the most profitable adventure investment in human history.

Sha Yu was aware of Zong Lizi’s identity, he took the teacup with both of his hands before he turned to Jing Jiu and said softly, “As requested by Mr. Donglou, we have collected some data.”

Jing Jiu was fully aware of why those data were collected, wondering if the Snow Girl was among them.