The higher that Gu Xijiu climbed, the more ferocious the beasts that she had to fight. Occasionally, there were event traps to swallow any mortals who made the climb.The Firmament Stone was anxious. The mere sight of the challenges was more than enough to put it off. The place seemed indeed unreachable. For anyone who broke in, he or she would easily be torn apart by the beasts or swallowed as a whole in the hidden traps. He or she would never get to see the top. Only Gu Xijiu could make it past the challenges on the path.
The climb took her an entire day. Finally, she made it to the top. Gu Xijiu defeated a five-colored bird that looked down upon all mortal beings. When the bird caught sight of her on the tree, it was extremely contemptuous of her. It demanded her to leave the tree or she would become its meal.
Gu Xijiu launched her attack before it finished talking. An hour later, Gu Xijiu had two scratches on her arms. As for the five-colored bird, it almost lost all of its feathers on its tail.
In the end, Gu Xijiu managed to put her sword on its throat, threatening to take its life. The five-colored bird surrendered immediately and agreed to take her to heaven. Therefore, Gu Xijiu climbed onto its back. The bird activated an unknown mechanism on the tree and a cloud pathway of vibrant colors emerged, guiding it all the way to the top.
The Firmament Stone observed the flas.h.i.+ng clouds and was worried. "Master, should we trust the bird? If we ride it up, how should we come back down? Will it help us again?"
"We will see when we get there," Gu Xijiu answered casually.
"We cannot do that. We have to think about our way back. After all, you can only stay in heaven for six months. We have to come back down when the time is up."
"Who decided that I can only stay for six months?" Gu Xijiu was irritated.
"It is the heavenly… heavenly law."
Gu Xijiu did not bother to entertain the Firmament Stone again. She was disgusted by the heavenly laws and would never obey it. For a year, she had been doing things that were against the heavenly laws to trigger anyone who was behind the plan. As a result, the voice that had been blabbering in her ears disappeared completely.
She was eager to know what it was like to be in heaven. As far as she was concerned, heaven should be a place on another planet. From what she knew, the closest planet from the earth that was suitable to support life was a few thousand light-years away.
It was not easy to go beyond a few light-years in an instance.
Gu Xijiu stared at the five-colored cloud pathway attentively. The cloud pathway was as vibrant as a rainbow. Occasionally, some vortexes would emerge along the path. The bird would dive into the vortex, drawing it quickly across, from one s.p.a.ce to another.
She had been through s.p.a.ces that were either filled with raging flames, or black auras, or even flying sand and rolling pebbles. However, it would take a while before she could get a clear look at her surroundings.
Astonished, she could not help but wonder if it was how time traveling looked like. After going through the 81st vortex, layers of buildings finally emerged amidst the clouds.
The buildings glistened in s.h.i.+ny gold. Even the air was filled with a celestial aura, carrying with it peace and prosperity. The five-colored bird swayed its wings and plunged.
…
"I see this is how heaven looks like!" The Firmament Stone whispered into her ears. "It somewhat resembles how our legends used to portray it. Except for the clouds and the celestial aura, it is not very different from earth."
Gu Xijiu did not answer it. The five-colored bird carried her all the way to a giant square. She took the time to admire the marvelous square.