The Path Toward Heaven

When the Scorching-Sun Battleship disappeared in the space, the circular mountain on the planet had already rotated to the other side with its back facing the permanent star.

The natural light couldn’t reach the bottom of the circular mountain. The low temperature grew even unimaginably colder at the moment.

The old man with a dark and gloomy expression on his face opened his eyes slowly and looked up at the space above, deep disbelief and shock showing in his gray eyes.

He had experienced a powerful and sharp spiritual awareness earlier, which contained a strong warning.

He couldn’t figure out why the other party demonstrated such a powerful sword will even though he had ascended not long ago and why he came up with the idea that he was not a match for this person.

…

…

That planet was, in fact, very far from the Scorching-Sun Battleship. The mapping system on the battleship couldn’t even capture a clear picture of the planet.

Jing Jiu could see the circular mountain clearly because of another factor.

His line of sight didn’t linger long on the circular mountain, and it was because he had a more urgent matter to take care of at the moment, like obtaining an answer from Hua Xi.

Hua Xi felt a bit ill at ease when being stared at by Jing Jiu. “Do you like to have some tea?” she asked.

Jing Jiu returned, “The iron kettle is not here.”

Hua Xi said while pouting her lips, “You have no idea how much the girls love you.”

Interestingly enough, Zong Lizi and Ran Handong had put the iron kettle in the backpack when they prepared the luggage, which is why the little girl had such a hard time carrying the backpack.

The iron kettle was placed on the EM plate and filled up with the water. All they needed to do was to wait for the water to boil. A few green tea leaves lay quietly on the ceramic plate.

Jing Jiu looked at her quietly.

Hua Xi was a young mistress of a famous clan on the Stargate Base, a distant relative of the Hua Clan on the Main Planet, and also a young girl with extraordinary talent. She was rather outstanding even in the context of the entire human society. She was liked by many audiences in front of the TV sets during the selection of female priest of the Stargate because she was naïve and adorable, showing an air of simplicity. If Jing Jiu intended to go to a playground for a leisurely outing, it would be a good choice to bring this little girl for making bed among other chores; but Jing Jiu was on his way to observing the Sea of Dark Matter this time, and there would be many dangers on the way. Yet, why did he bring her with him?

The water in the iron kettle started to make some plopping sound, but on the other hand, the room grew even quieter.

“How did you know someone was there?” asked Hua Xi in a low voice.

Jing Jiu replied, “That person has a very high Cultivation state and a natural intent of harming others. And his lethal intent is perceived by me.”

Feeling a bit puzzled, Hua Xi asked, “I read such things like lethal intent in the novels; but is it real? Is it a sort of information wave or flow of microparticles?”

Jing Jiu said, “I’m more inclined to guess it’s the observation effect.”

Hua Xi remarked while pouting her mouth, “It’s basically irrational to explain the events in the general world using quantum physics.”s

“There is no explanation then,” returned Jing Jiu.

Hua Xi lifted up her head and said while staring at his eyes, “Now that you know he is there, and that he has a lethal intent, why didn’t you try to counterattack?”

Jing Jiu was an exceedingly zealous person even though he seemed to be calm and composed; the point was proven by how he dealt with that battleship and the Immortal Chi Song and Shen Yunmai in the building of the military headquarters.

He would, for the sake of safety, counterattack as soon as possible once he sensed the danger lurking, no matter who the opponent was or what the situation was at the time.

“As you said, killing people is against the law,” returned Jing Jiu.

The chill and “strong” lethal intent revealed the identity of the swordsman at the bottom of the circular mountain.

That stone man from the Chen House Mountain had ascended more than nine thousand years ago.

That person had a very high Cultivation state and a natural intent of harming others. His magic method was rather special and became even more powerful in the extremely cold space.

The head of that person was made of stone. Though he was somewhat slow, nobody could actually threaten him.

Jing Jiu sensed his lethal intent and warned the other party because he didn’t want any trouble, nor did he want the Scorching-Sun Battleship to have any mishap.

Of course, he didn’t mind killing this person if Hua Xi was willing to help out.

Hua Xi pouted her mouth, feeling it rather naïve for him to say that.

It was then that the water in the iron kettle started boiling. Hua Xi stood up and tossed a few tea leaves into it.

The steam came out from the kettle.

The leaves were rising and ebbing on the water. The eaves and a stone statue were exposed whenever the fog was dispersed by the wind; also visible was a short branch manicured nicely.

Kneeling on a futon across from the hot spring, Ran Donglou said sharply, “General Li must be Jing Jiu’s grandmaster, so we shouldn’t pin a high hope on him.”

The gentle wind passing through the mountain forest blew away most of the fog, tousling the bathing robe with embroidered small flowers slightly and the even bangs of her black hair.

The girl priest brought the ceramic cup to her lips with two fingers and emptied the spirit in the cup slowly. “He is a cocoon breaker after all,” said she after uttering a content sigh.

Ran Donglou said with lowered head, “The cocoon breakers are indeed powerful; but if you…ignored the rules, we could still have an opportunity to kill them all.”

The girl set down the ceramic wine cup and looked at the fog above the hot spring. “The rules are not set by me; how can I ignore them?” returned she sharply, her eyes a bit vacant.

Ran Donglou lowered his head even more as he said in a lower voice, “God…died many years ago.”

The expression in the eyes of the girl grew more intensive and much colder, as she said, “The rules were not set by Him either. It makes no difference even though He is dead. Take your leave now.”

Ran Donglou didn’t dare to linger any longer. He got up from the futon and retreated from the courtyard with his back hunched.

The wind ceased blowing, and the warm fog above the hot spring grew thicker, flowing in all directions like milk.

Looking at the sky, the girl commented indignantly while pouting her mouth, “It’s really boring to figure out the result so soon.”

…

…

In the ensuing days, Jing Jiu had been lying on the chair watching the sceneries of the space outside the window, saying nothing; nor did he sleep.

He had not mentioned to Hua Xi about killing people and cloning humans again, which were against the law.

One day, the ring on his finger emitted a faint glow.

His awareness entered the interplanetary network. After arriving in the deep part of the hidden network, he sat in that room in the magic wheel.

Waiting for him in a chair, Ran Handong said after transferring a few pieces of data to him, “The thirty-seven targets surveilled haven’t taken any action. That person in the space station of the Science Academy left last night; his destination is probably the same as yours. The other person is in your fleet.”

Jing Jiu came out of the interplanetary network after he copied the data.

The ascendant who had left the space station of the Science Academy should be Zeng Ju, the seventh housemaster of the One-Cottage House.

His line of sight fixed on a distant corner of the universe outside the window.

The battleship looked like a thin stick against the vast universe.

It was unclear who the hidden ascendant was on the battleship, but he shouldn’t be someone from the Center Sect.

According to the action style of the founding grandmaster and General Li, the ascendants from Cloud-Dream Mountain had perhaps been killed off a long time ago.

The stone man from the Chen House Mountain was intimidated by Jing Jiu and didn’t pursue the battleship.

By the time he arrived at the Sea of Dark Matter, Jing Jiu had to face that ascendant, Zeng Ju, Shen Yunmai and General Li all at the same time.

All of a sudden, the thin stick in the distance was ablaze.

In the next moment, the stars in the dark space grew dimmer.

Tens of thousands of burning flying swords were traversing on the distant sky, and they were battleships.

They were the largest and most powerful Central Star Fleet.

Jing Jiu had witnessed the magnificent scene when he ascended the first time many years ago.

He had finally seen it again that day.

He stood up, came before the window and looked at those battleships quietly, his expression grim.

It was not fear but respect shown on his face.

The human society, after the decline of the distant ancient civilization, had taken two totally different paths in accordance with the arrangement of that god.

If it could be said that Jing Jiu represented the height of the path in Chaotian, this magnificent fleet represented the height of the interplanetary civilization.

The fleet of tens of thousands of battleships could easily destroy the allies of dozens of solar systems and was matchless in this patch of the universe.

The human civilization had already reached the space from the ground.

There was no need to worry about what those important figures and officials in the Federation of the Milky Way desired for when one had control of these battleships.

Hence, General Li was the true leader of the Federation of the Milky Way.

The rulers of this civilization were the ascendants.

“Do you think it’s rather magnificent?” asked Hua Xi as she came next to Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu uttered “hmm”.

“You haven’t seen it before, right?” asked Hua Xi with a faint smile.

Jing Jiu replied, “Yes, I have.”

Hua Xi felt a bit surprised.

Jing Jiu said, “You should have read that novel, and you should be able to understand what I meant.”

Looking at Jing Jiu with wide-opened eyes, Hua Xi inquired in bewilderment, “I really fail to understand what is on your mind. Did you come here just to see more sceneries?”

“I thought that those sword lights could easily destroy a civilization back when I saw those burning flying swords of tens of thousands, but I’ve realized it’s not true.”

Jing Jiu went on after a pause, “We cultivated for a great many years to ascend, but I’ve found it’s not true either.”

Hua Xi prodded, “Do you have a sense of delusion?”

Jing Jiu said, “It’s true, but it’s also quite interesting.”

“Do you like this world?” pressed Hua Xi.

Jing Jiu said, “This world is truly very large, with countless stars, as if it had endless fairy energy; but…I still don’t like it.”

Hua Xi remarked after some thought, “Is it because you don’t have the people you like here? So you still miss that world.”

“No,” said Jing Jiu. “It’s because this world has an end according to the calculation of modern physics.”

The universe will perish.

And everything will have an end.

So is the existence.

A similar exchange had happened before, which occurred by that hot spring.

Shen Yunmai cried painfully by that hot spring for the very reason when he was young.

An ear-splitting siren broke out on the Scorching-Sun Battleship.

Hua Xi looked at the outside of the window.

Jing Jiu was nowhere to be found.

It didn’t take long for the siren to cease, which was replaced by the music of zither.

The sound of zither, which was quaint and sounded like the plopping flowing water, was rarely heard in the human society in the interplanetary era.

The officers and soldiers on the battleship came before the windows and looked in the direction of the zither music.

An ancient zither was floating in the dark space.

Sitting behind the zither with legs crossed, Shen Yunmai was plucking the strings of the zither lightly, his white cloth reflecting the starlight in the distance, looking like a fairy man.

There was no air in the space; but how was the zither music heard?

The starlight was stirred as Jing Jiu arrived before the zither.

Wearing a set of blue tracksuits with a hoodie, he looked like a regular youth; but his appearance suppressed every bit of brilliance of his opponent.