The Path Toward Heaven

Many people couldn’t understand why Jing Jiu brought Hua Xi rather than Ran Handong with him since he decided to cooperate with the military.

Jing Jiu didn’t respond to General Li’s inquiry because he had no intention of explaining his decision. Explaining meant he had to lie through his teeth; he was too lazy to tell a fib.

Well, the fact was that he was very good at telling fibs, but his deception would be detected by the likes of General Li if he said too much.

It had proven that what he did was correct; General Li thought of another possibility, “The Hua family is different from other clans. They keep a low profile and don’t meddle in the world’s affairs so much, and very few people know their close relationship with the female priest.”

Jing Jiu uttered “hmm” dishonestly.

General Li put the book back on the bookshelf before saying, “I heard that you’re quite interested in that painting of sunflowers.”

It was impossible to conceal from him regarding what had happened on the Stargate Base, even though it was a private conversation between Jing Jiu and the female priest of the Stargate.

Jing Jiu utter “hmm”.

“That painting is neither in the Art Gallery nor in the north; it’s in the Hua family.”

General Li added, “Did you merely want to see the painting by bringing the child of the Hua family with you?”

It was evident that he didn’t believe the reason Jing Jiu brought Hua Xi with him was so simple and ludicrous.

General Li believed that Jing Jiu still didn’t trust him completely and that he wanted to maintain a connection with the female priest.

Jing Jiu didn’t give a response, instead touching upon a different topic, “The dark matter is not the known or unknown particles.”

The book General Li had read was “The Seven Ways to Dissolve the Neutron Particles of Slow Speed.”

General Li sighed, “There is a pessimistic concept permeating the scientific circle right now, which is that how the dark matter or dark energy exists is beyond the imagination of human beings.”

“Hence, the humans need to evolve,” remarked Jing Jiu.

General Li said while staring at him, “We’re the evolved human beings.”

“Not evolved enough,” said Jing Jiu.

General Li said, “I hope that you’ll have such confidence after you go to that planet.”

“Do I have to go there?” pressed Jing Jiu.

General Li said, “If you want this civilization to do something for you, you must do something for it.”

Jing Jiu said after a pause, “I’ll go to the Hua family first.”

“The fleet will wait for you,” said General Li.

…

…

It was a declaration when General Li sent the vehicle fleet to the mansion of the priest clan to bring Jing Jiu to the building of the military headquarters.

He did this to announce to the whole of the Federation of the Milky Way that the matter had been settled.

The Federation of the Milky Way would carry on according to the set rules from that day on; the priest clan would do what they were supposed to do, and the government would do what they were expected to do, ignoring all the other matters.

Now that the declaration was made, there was nothing else to be done.

Jing Jiu led Hua Xi leaving the office and making their way to the front hall of the military headquarters by the elevator, afterwards heading to the outside of the building.

Countless gazes were fixed on Jing Jiu the entire time.

The gazes contained caution, hostility, and awe.

A few days ago, he had almost incapacitated Shen Yunmai here.

By the time the two of them came out from the building of the military headquarters, the combat mechas, looking like a flock of birds in the sky, had already dispersed. The few battleships by the edge of the atmosphere that exerted a high pressure had left. The streets were thronged with pedestrians.

Hua Xi, with the black backpack on her back, caught up to Jing Jiu and asked, “Where are we going?”

“To the Hua family,” replied Jing Jiu.

Hua Xi returned with wide-opened eyes, “I haven’t even been there before; how can I take you there?”

The relationship of distant kin was actually very distant in the interplanetary era; it was as distant as several hundred light years. Hua Xi grew up on the Stargate Base, and it was normal that she hadn’t had any contact with the Hua family on the Main Planet.

“Don’t you feel curious?” pressed Jing Jiu.

Hua Xi returned with a naïve expression on her face, “Don’t they all have two eyes and a nose?”

…

…

There was a lake in the mountains, very much like the lake in the north.

There was neither a city of ancient times nor a girl wearing a bathing robe but a fortress on the other side of the lake. The fortress was made from stones. It was not the remnants of the distant ancient civilization but a copy. The walls of it were covered with green vines, giving off a dark and gloomy feeling; it was unclear if it was because few people came here to worship it.

As Jing Jiu and Hua Xi came before the fortress, the gate opened automatically. An old caretaker wearing black suits bowed to them while saying, “Welcome.”

The old caretaker in black suits had a head full of grey hair, displaying an elegant air, and his movements were well trained and precise.

Hua Xi looked at the old caretaker in curiosity while gripping the straps of the backpack with her hands.

The old caretaker said with a small smile, “It’s true that I’m a biochemical man.”

“Sorry,” said Hua Xi apologetically while sticking her tongue out a little.

The old caretaker raised his right hand and said with a small smile, “For certain reasons, it’s inconvenient for the master to come out to meet you two. Please feel at home, our honored guests.”

The Hua family was one of the great clans with a great deal of resources, so it was obvious that they were aware of the identity of Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu had chosen the military and didn’t wait for the news from the praying hall. The Hua family had a close relationship with that one, and it was natural that it was inconvenient for their master to meet Jing Jiu. However, it was evident that the Hua family didn’t wish to offend the military and Jing Jiu; so they didn’t turn down his visit.

This fortress was a copied building, but the artifacts in it were all authentic, and they were not modern paintings. The vast majority of them were…the oil paintings of the distant ancient civilization.

It didn’t take Jing Jiu long to find the painting.

A dozen sunflowers in the painting filled up the canvas without any empty space. The sensation an onlooker had of the painting was that a lamplight placed on the other side of the painting wouldn’t be able to penetrate it.

More importantly, these sunflowers in the painting were evidently dehydrated; their leaves were evidently frayed.

Jing Jiu had seen the counterfeit of this painting in the Art Gallery in Shou’er City.

That counterfeit enjoyed a high status in art history of the Federation of the Milky Way, but this was the authentic one.

When Jing Jiu saw the counterfeit, he thought that these sunflowers should have been bound by something; otherwise, they would have toppled in all directions.

He had finally found the answer when he saw the authentic painting that day.

The object binding the sunflowers was a cloth ribbon, the edges of which were embroidered with a colorful rim stained by blood.

It was a painting of blooming sunflowers, the feeble stems, and the ribbon with blood-stained rim…It was a painting displaying a hint of femininity and bloodiness, creating a sense of peculiar beauty.

…

…

The space elevator rose up swiftly though it seemed to move at a slow speed.

The ground was gradually left far behind. A clear arc appeared on the distant horizon.

It was foggy after passing through the atmosphere.

Jing Jiu and Hua Xi walked out of the elevator and arrived in the space station. They entered the battleship through a straight passage.

Ding!!!

The identities of them were confirmed. Hundreds of officers stood up from their seats, looked in their direction, and then saluted Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu noticed a few familiar faces and then found out that this battleship turned out to be the Scorching-Sun Battleship.

The captain of the Scorching-Sun Battleship came before him and said with complicated emotion, “The investigation has been over a while ago. The officers and soldiers gathered two days ago, and nobody has been left behind.”

The captain’s face was pale, he looked thinner than before. It was evident that he had sustained a great deal of hardship during the investigation.

“What’s your name?” asked Jing Jiu.

The captain stood straight and gave a military salute, as he said earnestly, “The Captain of the Scorching-Sun Battleship of the second level, Jiang Zixin. Please offer your guidance, Advisor.”

The Scorching-Sun Battleship was a part of the interplanetary patrol fleet. Jiang Zixin hailed from a military school and had no background of any faction.

The incident in the building of the military headquarters had spread a while ago. He and the officers and soldiers on the Scorching-Sun Battleship were aware that they would stay in a military jail for the rest of their lives or even die unbeknownst to anyone if Jing Jiu didn’t help out in the matter.

As such, they all showed tremendous gratitude and awe towards Jing Jiu.h

Someone who could defeat Shen Yunmai deserved the respect from the entire universe.

“Advisor?” inquired Jing Jiu.

Jiang Zixin realized that Jing Jiu didn’t know about the matter yet. “You’re the chief advisor of the military headquarters and have the highest right of authority,” he said.

It was the trust General Li had of him, be it the Scorching-Sun Battleship or the military right of authority.

However, it was also a duty, or in other words, karma.

It was just like the words, Green Mountain.

After a pause, Jing Jiu asked, “What about Shen Yunmai?”

Jiang Zixin replied, “He has been demoted, and is the general commander of the Central Star Fleet.”

Then, he noticed the girl behind Jing Jiu and waved his hand at her.

Hua Xi looked a bit labored while heaving the black backpack on her back.

A secretarial officer approached her in an attempt to take the backpack, but the offer was declined by her.

…

…

The Scorching-Sun Battleship left the space station and joined the other battleships to form a fleet formation, heading toward the deep part of the dark space.

The destination of the fleet was the Jiali Interplanetary Region; the task was to take the chief advisor of the military, Jing Jiu, to the area to observe the Sea of Dark Matter.

Standing before the window and looking at the stars in the dark space, Jing Jiu remained silent.

He had often stood before the window looking at the space when he traveled to the Main Planet from the Stargate Base.

He was at the moment on the same Scorching-Sun Battleship, in the same room, and before the same floor-to-ceiling window. The space outside the window seemed to be exactly the same, and countless stars seemed to be embroidered on a black screen. However, something had changed. These stars were not the same ones he had seen; and what would the Sea of Dark Matter look like?

In addition, there were some other changes as well.

Hua Xi came next to him and looked at the starry space outside the window while asking, “Since you are inclined to join General Li, why did you oppose him in the beginning? Did you intend to prove your ability? How can General Li dare to use you? Sometimes, I have a hard time understanding how you people…the adults think. You people were the enemies a moment earlier, and become the colleagues now. This is no different from playing house.”

Jing Jiu ignored her.

Hua Xi continued after shooting him a glance, “Even if you have other ideas, you don’t have to go there.”

“I just want to take a look,” said Jing Jiu.

Lian Sanyue had told him that one should take a look at the sun since they came to the human world.

He had told Zhao Layue that the purpose of Cultivation was the longevity, but the goal of longevity was not the enjoyment of life, but to see more scenery.

Since he came to this world, Jing Jiu often watched the stars and the battleships and got online, and it was because all of these activities helped him see new scenery.

The Sea of Dark Matter was also a sort of scenery.

Those different planets were scenery as well.

For instance, the planet up ahead was small in size, and its surface was covered with circular mountains.

Looking at a circular mountain, Jing Jiu asked, “Can you kill people?”

Hua Xi opened her eyes wide, not knowing what he meant.

Jing Jiu added, “I mean, can you kill somebody by yourself?”

“It’s against the law,” said Hua Xi with a naïve expression on her face.

Jing Jiu said, “I don’t think clones are stipulated in the law.”

Hua Xi looked quite innocent with her eyes opening wide.