The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 637: The Green Mountain Meets Again

Yin San thought Jing Jiu had woken up, the expression in his eyes changing a bit.

In the next moment, he found that this Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies lacked prowess enough to slay the fairies even though it had the shape of a sword formation.

The bone flute flew up against the wind, playing several audible tunes similar to the sword sound.

The small sword leapt up soundlessly and fought with the Lone Sword.

The bone flute headed toward the Sword of the Universe that was bearing down like a mountain as well as the First Child Sword, which was as desolate as water.

Countless actual sword sounds broke out. The sword lights flashed constantly in the old nunnery hall. The tables and the incense stoves were torn to shreds instantly, with a mark a few feet deep left on the roof beam.

Gu Qing stood up, holding the Sword of the Universe with both of his hands, summoning calmly the Inherited Heaven Sword style, with which he was most familiar, and the Six-Dragon sword style.

The First Child Sword and the Lone Sword were executing some wonderful moves; even the Thoughtless Sword that had changed into a sword rope was attacking. The most formidable of all was the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies deployed by Ping Yongjia by means of sword wills. Though the formation was not as powerful as when it had been deployed by Jing Jiu one hundred years ago, it was still full of fearsome sword wills, as if the lethal intents of heaven and earth were fully contained in it.

Even a figure like Fang Jingtian in the Heavenly Arrival State had to take the confrontation seriously when facing these swords and people of Shenmo Peak.

However, Yin San, sitting in a chair, waved the bone flute casually with his right hand. The formidable swords and the sword wills were all kept at bay from his body.

The bone flute broke through the air in an effort to control these swords. The amazing sword moves of the nine peaks of Green Mountain had been transformed into blooming plum flowers by Yin San’s casual waving of his bone flute.

No matter what these young people had employed, whether it was the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies or the formidable sword moves, none of them could deceive Yin San, and the swords could in no way touch him.

The sword moves they knew were taught by Jing Jiu.

But Jing Jiu’s sword moves were taught by Yin San.

The sword sound came out from inside of the wall, causing the plum flowers to drop on the floor.

A few sword lights met in the nunnery hall, giving off yellow and red glows resembling the colors of the plum flowers on the floor.

Yin San swept the bone flute in the air; the Lone Sword was knocked away. Then, he blew at Gu Qing.

The plum flowers on the floor had dissipated abruptly.

The Sword of the Universe was called back rapidly, but it was still too late to block the gust of the wind created by Yin San’s blowing.

Gu Qing’s right shoulder was pierced through by the wind, fresh blood gus.h.i.+ng out.

Yet, the blood didn’t fall to the floor; instead, it drifted in midair like a mist.

Gu Qing reached out his finger as fast as lightning, and drew an amulet in the air with the blood.

Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!

Dozens of noises bellowed out in the air, as if the s.p.a.ce were being torn apart.

An unimaginably great pressure was bearing down on the old plum garden from the sky.

In an instant, the nunnery hall attached to the formation started making cracking sound, as if it was on the brink of collapsing.

“If it were in any other place, I would have no chance of killing you, and I didn’t even dare think that I could kill you. But you shouldn’t have shown up in Zhaoge City,” said Gu Qing while staring into Yin San’s eyes, holding a shapeless object in his left hand. “This is an item given to me by my Master, the Great Formation of the royal palace, which is inside my hand. And yet, you still haven’t made up your mind.”

It took longer to activate a powerful formation. If Gu Qing had employed the Great Formation of the royal palace at the very beginning, Yin San would have been alarmed.

Even though the Great Formation of the royal palace had been reinforced many times over the past one hundred years, it still couldn’t trap someone who was inclined to escape desperately.

The key for the success depended on the sword rope transformed from the Thoughtless Sword.

Gu Qing had never thought of cutting off Yin San’s hand with the Thoughtless Sword.

He might not be able to do so even if he wanted to.

More importantly, cutting off was also breaking off.

He couldn’t afford to let go of Yin San.

Yet, he let Yin San make the choice.

As expected, someone like Yin San opted to kill Gu Qing before fleeing.

Such choice gave Gu Qing enough time to activate the Great Formation of the royal palace.

The shapeless heavy pressure dropped down from the sky, encasing the entire old plum garden.

The chair on which Yin San sat couldn’t bear the pressure and broke into pieces abruptly.

Yin Sa n got up and intended to say something to Gu Qing; but he didn’t say anything, save for flas.h.i.+ng a grin.

The Great Formation of the royal palace couldn’t trap him so long as he was able to cut the sword rope in half.

However, the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies was not deployed against Yin San; it was deployed to protect Gu Qing.

Under normal circ.u.mstances, Yin San would be able to cut off Gu Qing’s arm and carry him away.

It was unclear when the b.l.o.o.d.y line on the floor had turned into a tangible formation, which bound Gu Qing’s feet firmly to the floor.

Crack!!! Crack!!!

The nunnery hall couldn’t bear the pressure any longer and collapsed.

The two of them were covered in the rising smoke and dust.

Yin San’s red cloth looked pale, and his face pale as well.

Gu Qing was in worse condition. The blood was seeping out from his eyes, nose and ears. His body was giving off cracking sounds, as if the bones in his body were all breaking apart.

He had intended to die together with Yin San.

At least he wanted to cut off one hand of his opponent.

If his death could gain such a result, it would be enough as far as he was concerned.

…

…

The Cultivation sects were always surrounded by the fairy energy.

The so-called fairy energy was the fog when it showed up in an actual scene.

The Center Sect was famous for their clouds and fog. The Green Mountain Sect had many clouds and fog of their own; otherwise, Cloudy Town wouldn’t come into existence outside the mountains.

The peaks were intermittently visible among the ocean of clouds, resembling the islands on the sea.

Tianguang Peak was the highest of the peaks. It was interesting to note that the ocean of clouds was also the highest on Tianguang Peak. If Liu Ci were still alive, he would sit on the edge of the cliff, swaying his long legs on top of the clouds.

Fang Jingtian didn’t attempt to sway his legs over the edge of the cliff. It was because his legs were not as long, and also because his temperament was much more collected than Liu Ci’s.

A gentle wind ruffled the top of the ocean of clouds, tousling the two silvery eyebrows, which lessened his usual bearing of a wealthy merchant.

Fang Jingtian turned to the peak masters standing outside the hut, the expression in his eyes calm and thoughtful.

Thirty years ago, the peak master of Yunxing, Fu w.a.n.g, realized that he had no hope of breaking through the state and opted to go to the hermit peaks.

The current peak master was Jin Sidao, a Dongyi Daoist hailing from Xilai Peak.

Fang Jingtian spent one hundred years establis.h.i.+ng his authority on Green Mountain; now he had the support of three and a half peaks.

Those were Xilai Peak, Yunxing Peak, Liangw.a.n.g Peak and a half of Tianguang Peak.

But this support was not enough because Yuan Qijing was still alive, and so was Jing Jiu.

His sight fell on the other side of the peak top.

Zhao Layue was standing there. She was looking at the ocean of clouds in the north; her face looked pale because it was shone on by the clouds.

She had sustained severe wounds in the snowland, but she came back in time unexpectedly.

She was in the upper limit of the Broken Sea State, which surpa.s.sed the state Chen Youtian and Jin Sidao were in.

In accordance with the pace of such progress, she was believed to reach the Heavenly Arrival State within one hundred years…It would be an incredible achievement.

It meant that her words were more influential than other regular peak masters.

And what she would say was well known by others.

Not far Behind Zhao Layue was the conspicuous stone monument, and the Round Turtle still had his eyes shut.

Fang Jingtian waved his sleeve slightly. Everybody could sense that something was being activated though the blue sky was the same as before.

During the time Yuan Qijing was in Zhaoge City, the Great Formation of Green Mountain was temporarily controlled by Fang Jingtian.

Dozens of glows appeared and rushed over from all directions in the sky, giving off various colors and energies.

Guo Nanshan, Gu Han and the others were leaping up on their swords to receive the guests of various sects.

State Duke Lu came as the representative of the imperial court. The representative of the Fruit Formation Temple was the Master of the Script Instruction. The One-Cottage House, the Hanging-Bell Sect, the Mirror Sect, the Great Marsh, and the Heyilou Sect had all sent many elders and disciples to the occasion. In comparison to the Inaugurating Ceremony of the Sect Master of Green Mountain one hundred years, it could be considered being splendid even if it was a bit lesser as far as the overall scale was concerned.

As the small green curtain sedan landed, a large of group of people of Green Mountain approached it. Fang Jingtian arched his eyebrows slightly at the scene. The Chief Nun of the Water-Moon Nunnery had broken through the Heavenly Arrival State a few decades ago, and became a truly important figure in the Cultivation circle. And the relations.h.i.+p between the Water-Moon Nunnery and Shenmo Peak was well known. If Gu Qing had taken care of the matter, the Chief Nun would have no reason to be here.

…

…

Along with a crisp sword sound, the ocean of clouds grew restless, and the stone rubble was falling off the stone posts. The sword lights pursued each other. They met briefly and then parted as the outcome of the fight was determined. The Sword Trial on Green Mountain was underway. The Cultivation pract.i.tioners were engaged in the heated discussion as they were watching the sword performance of the Green Mountain disciples. And yet, it seemed that the elders of the nine peaks of Green Mountain were not focused at the moment.

The Sword Trial was over soon enough. Ten disciples were selected to partic.i.p.ate in this year’s Plum Meeting representing Green Mountain. It was followed by a more important event. The new peak master of Yunxing Peak, Jin Sidao, leapt upon the sword and arrived in the sky above Tianguang Peak. He told the disciples of the peaks and the representatives of various sects that he wished to recommend the peak master of Xilai, Fang Jingtian, as the new sect master after greeting them.

It was quiet atop Tianguang Peak and on the stone platforms in the cliff.

This was something decided in the Green Mountain Meeting the year before. The Green Mountain Sect hadn’t had a sect master for more than one hundred years; such a situation couldn’t be allowed to continue.

Elder He of s.h.i.+yue Peak walked to the edge of the cliff and announced, “Green Mountain doesn’t have a leader for one hundred years, and we need a new sect master for sure. I recommend Big Brother Guangyuan.”

n.o.body was surprised. It had been expected.

As a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State, the Immortal Guangyuan had no choice but to show his willingness for the position.

Inviting so many representatives from so many sects served the purpose of witnessing the event.

“Young Brother, please,” Fang Jingtian said to the Immortal Guangyuan.

No sooner had he finished speaking than he disappeared from the edge of the cliff. The ocean of clouds quivered slightly as a few sword wills formed in the sky, creating a scene resembling a plum branch.

The Immortal Guangyuan leapt up on his sword, his cloth billowing slightly. He flew to the sky slowly but steadily, and disappeared from sight a few moments later.

The waves formed on the ocean of clouds outside Tianguang Peak again, and the ocean of clouds drifted to other peaks gradually. The elders of the peaks on the peak top and the representatives and disciples on the stone platforms in the cliff could all clearly see the cloudless blue sky before them.

But Fang Jingtian and the Immortal Guangyuan were not seen in the blue sky.

It was believed that the two of them had already reached the Empty Realm.

When the two figures in the Heavenly Arrival State fought against each other, they would be able to hurl up the sand and pebbles and cause the cliffs to collapse and the ground to crack up, even though they did it atop Tianguang Peak, which was protected by the Great Formation of Green Mountain.

It was nevertheless a fight between two colleagues; so they had no intention of letting the other pract.i.tioners and the disciples of their own sect witness their magic methods.

Save for the Chief Nun of the Water-Moon Nunnery in the small green curtain sedan, n.o.body else could witness the fight between the two powerful swordsmen; but the observers still kept craning their necks to look up at the blue sky.

All of a sudden, the flashes of lightning appeared in the distant sky, and then more bolts of lightning kept striking down. It seemed as if the lightning had never ceased.

Yet, no thunder could be heard.

It turned out that the flashes of lightning were not real.

They were the sword lights.

…

…