The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 598: The Ordinary Lian Sanyue

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The voice from the small green-curtain sedan sounded like a young person.

The young disciples of various sects thought the voice sounded familiar, but they couldn’t put their finger on who she was.

As for those swordsmen of higher generation, they didn’t have any impression of the voice; they thought the person must someone insignificant at the Water-Moon Nunnery.

For some reason, the Immortal Tan’s eyes grew grave when he looked at the small green curtain sedan.

A red cloth froze in a courtyard outside the royal palace, as Yin San halted his steps and looked in the direction of the royal palace; the expression in his eyes changed slightly.

Back when he was pursued by the cloud boat of the Center Sect, Yin San displayed a carefree countenance, and he didn’t care that much that Yue Qianmen and dozens of swordsmen of the Center Sect were following him closely behind.

However, he displayed a cautious expression in his eyes, and even a hint of abandoning the whole effort.

Landing on his shoulder, the Green Bird asked bafflingly, “What happened?”

Yin San remarked sentimentally, “I didn’t expect that crazy person to still be alive, and worse of all, she is here.”

The eunuchs at the foot of the palace wall were petrified, wondering why a voice came out from it since this sedan was supposed to be empty; was she some kind of a ghost?

They fell onto the ground after their knees gave out and then crawled away on their fours as quickly as they could.

The green curtain was pulled up, and a young woman walked out from the sedan.

She had an ordinary hairstyle and clothing, and her appearance was just as ordinary, devoid of any outstanding trait. However, her presence drew a barrage of surprised gasps.

“Guo Dong!”

Some young disciples of some sects had seen Guo Dong of the Water-Moon Nunnery before, and they knew she had an amazing talent in Cultivation, with aspiration to match .

But nobody really knew what she actually aspired to do.

Many years ago, Pei Baifa had a duel with the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean, and Pei Baifa died in the process. The Godly Swordsman of West Ocean pretended to sink to the bottom of the ocean after being dealt a severe wound. A disciple of the Water-Moon Nunnery attempted to assassinate him, but the assassin was attacked instead. Later, many people guessed that the person should be Guo Dong, and thought that she was killed; but unexpectedly, she was still alive.

Well, even though she was still alive, why did she walk out from the small green curtain sedan? Why did she ask that question? And why did she come to Zhaoge City?

No matter how talented she was in Cultivation, she was nonetheless a disciple of later generation and in a very low Cultivation state; why did she dare get involved in this scuffle?

Seeing her walk to the square, more and more shocked emotions built up in the eyes of the onlookers.

Guo Dong came to the middle of the square and said to the Immortal Tan expressionlessly, “I intended to sneak-attack you or that old woman of yours...”

Before she could finish, an uproar had already broken out. The listeners all knew that she was talking about the Immortal Bai; but who dared call the Immortal Bai “old woman” in this world? As for “sneak attack”, who dared sneak-attack the Immortal Tan in this world? The most shocking fact was that the Immortal Tan felt neither angry nor laughed out after hearing what she said; he looked as composed as ever.

The patch of cloud and fog above the distant Yintian Gate had no response either.

Guo Dong continued, “...But I decided to let you live since you’re a decent guy. Instead, I want to have a fight with you.”

The Immortal Tan still didn’t get upset. All he did was looking at her quietly, as if he was looking at the most important figure in Chaotian.

Everybody was flabbergasted, and some of them were even on the brink of going crazy. Did she say that she had let the Immortal Tan live? This was truly preposterous!

The energy coming out from Guo Dong was extremely ordinary and hadn’t increased a tad since she walked out from the small green curtain sedan; but as soon as she finished talking, a sudden change occurred.

A ray of morning sunlight came from the east and shone on her body and ordinary face.

Boom!!!

A gust of violent wind whipped up in the square, hurling up the dusts and dried leaf crumbs in the cracks between the green stone slabs, which began to rotate at a high speed around her. The encircling dusts and leaves looked like countless worm silks on the verge of becoming a large cocoon; she was trapped in the middle.

Some people thought that the Immortal Tan didn’t bother coping with this insane disciple of then later generation, instead using magic to trap her inside the cocoon.

Yet, in the next moment, the large cocoon made of dust and leaf crumbs hurled by the wind broke open all of a sudden, turning into countless green lights and spreading to heaven and earth.

Though Guo Dong still stood in the same spot, the energy exuded from her body had become exceedingly powerful now, which was even a bit stronger than that of the Immortal Tan.

It was quiet in heaven and earth; everybody was stunned speechless.

The world looks different in the eyes of different people. She looked different in the eyes of different onlookers.

Her face was still ordinary looking; but it could look like the lonely peak in the northernmost part of the world, or the bottomless abyss, or the bright sun, or even heaven and earth themselves.

Who was this ordinary looking woman?

The Immortal Tan looked at her quietly, a changed expression showing in his calm eyes like the passing of innumerable shooting stars, which reflected his thoughts.

The glows of those shooting stars had finally gathered together and grown extremely bright, indicating a sense of surprise, interest and satisfaction.

“Lian Sanyue?”

...

...

Six hundred years ago, the monsters of the Snowy Kingdom invaded the south, and the royal family experienced an internal conflict. The imperial court was on the verge of total destruction, and the human race was on the brink of annihilation.

The Cultivation sects were busy resisting the invasion of the Snowy Kingdom, and had no spare manpower dealing with the problems in the mortal world. A great number of bandits emerged in the north, and they pillaged everywhere and killed someone who dared stop them; and they treated the populace like sheep.

It was a period when the populace suffered the most.

It was then that a talented disciple of the Water-Moon Nunnery left the East Ocean and went to the north.

She burned down seventeen headquarters of the bandits and killed forty thousand bandits, including the family members and children of those bandits. She had changed the turbulent situation all by herself.

Nobody had fulfilled the principle of “killing to stop killing” better than she did.

The weapons are the lethal means; the saints use them unwillingly.

She was the most vicious person of the era, but she was the true saint.

Because of her effort to vanquish the turbulence, the Cultivation sects could concentrate on dealing with the monster invasion of the Snowy Kingdom, making it possible to have the Plum Meeting later.

The Plum Meeting was mainly responsible for the peace in the last six hundred years in Chaotian; and the two Jing emperors had also contributed to it. But no one forgot who was responsible for the onset of the long-lasting peace.

That talented disciple of the Water-Moon Nunnery was none other than Lian Sanyue.

...

...

In Chaotian, Lian Sanyue was undoubtedly one of the most powerful swordsmen; and she was considered having the most potential to succeed in ascension after the Immortal Jing Yang.

Over the years after the Plum Meeting, she would occasionally show up in the world; but her presence would always cause a bloodbath.

Later for some reason, she had lost interest in mortal affairs. She began to stay behind closed doors after returning to the Water-Moon Nunnery in an attempt to finish her march on the path toward heaven.

There were many rumors about her over the years. Some people said that she had died a long time ago because her energy ran out; and some said that she had tried to ascend after the ascension of the Immortal Jing Yang, but died due to the heavenly punishment.

Unexpectedly, this legendary figure was still alive and had become an ordinary disciple of the Water-Moon Nunnery when she reappeared in public.

As the people looked at that young woman in the square again, what they saw was not an ordinary lone peak, abyss or sun...but a bloody sea.

Unlike the Immortal Jing Yang, who was a highly achieved swordsman uninterested in mortal affairs or the Immortal Liu Ci and the Immortal Tan who were the highly achieved swordsmen of early generation and were very kind and pleasant, she gave the others a different impression.

In the history of the Cultivation circle, Lian Sanyue’s Cultivation state and fighting ability could be ranked in the top five, and as far as the number of people killed was concerned, she should be ranked even higher.

If the people who were killed during the turmoil incited by the Immortal Taiping and Emperor Xiao were discounted, it was impossible to find another person in Chaotian who had killed more people than she.

An elder of a deviant sect said crossly before his sect was destroyed that she had killed more people than the Master of the Bloody Demon Church.

Looking at the ordinary young woman, many people generated a dread instinctively along with dry lips; those who had a history of evildoings felt weak in their legs.

...

...

Looking at the young woman in the square quietly, Jing Jiu didn’t see any trace of blood; all he saw was the scenery outside the round window.

Guo Dong was none other than Lian Sanyue.

She didn’t succeed in her ascension attempt, but she didn’t encounter the heavenly punishment either. At the critical moment, she opted to employ the magic method of transforming the silk worm into a butterfly and to be reborn in the world for another cycle of Cultivation.

Yet, this reborn cycle of Cultivation was not the same as the life cycle of the Zen sects; it was more like a transformation of self.

Her appearance had changed, and so did her energy and name.

But she was still the same person.

The path she had chosen was one of the three paths Jing Jiu mentioned to the Young Zen Master back at the Fruit Formation Temple.

In fact, it was the path he told the Young Zen Master back when he and the Young Zen Master discussed about the Dao on Shenmo Peak.

He of course knew about this path, because it was her path.

Unfortunately, his and her paths were different, so they couldn’t travel to the end together.

The two of them had traveled together in their former lives; but their relationship broke off after one argument.

And they had stayed together much longer in this life. She pretended not to know him, and he pretended not to know her; it was better this way.

It was then that the cold voice of the Immortal Bai rang out, “This is a matter between the Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect; what are you doing by standing here?”

Lian Sanyue snapped with her hands folded behind her back, “This is a matter concerning the whole world, so anybody in the world can and should get involved. Most of all, I want to meddle; what are you going to do about it?”

What she said was a bit rude, but the reason was simple enough: Whoever had more power would have the say in the matter.

Even though her fists looked small and adorable behind her back, they could punch a hole in the sky if she chose to strike.

The Immortal Bai said, “You’re not a member of Green Mountain though.”

“But I’m his woman,” said Lian Sanyue with a faint smile.

Her ordinary face suddenly looked attractive and exceedingly appealing because of this smile.

It looked like the lonely peak under the sunlight and a flower blooming on the cliff wall of the Abyss.