The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 527: Taking Care of the Sect Affairs behind Scenes

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

Jing Jiu was rather happy, probably because he had possessed the sheath of the Inherited Heaven Sword; so he had made a rarely heard joke.

Normally, what he said wouldn’t count as an interesting joke, but the standard of jokes for him should be considerably lower than others.

Ada wondered if Jing Jiu had thought he was some kind of dowager empress taking care of the state affairs behind the scenes, so he said something he thought it was funny and expected others to laugh at his gag.

Gu Qing somehow laughed out at it.

Ada thought it was preposterous, wondering why Gu Qing was willing to cooperate with his Master on such a ridiculous gag.

All of a sudden, Ada realized that Jing Jiu was to use Gu Qing like what he had done with the Grand Scholar Zhang.

Jing Jiu didn’t tell others about what had happened in the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror, but other participants of the Dao Competition didn’t keep the secrets for him.

Everybody had learned that the emperor of Chu State was extremely lazy and that it was exceedingly difficult for the Grand Scholar Zhang to take care of the state affairs.

Gu Qing had also remembered the Grand Scholar Zhang; the smile on his face faded instantly. With grim emotion, Gu Qing dragged his feet he felt growing heavier out of the manor cave.

Coming out of the manor cave, Gu Qing went to the Daoist hall to pick up the iron teapot and some tea, then headed for the small wooden hut in the cliff.

The elders of the peaks were waiting to be received by Jing Jiu anxiously. They got up hastily and questioned Gu Qing as they saw him come back.

Gu Qing smiled faintly, and asked the senior masters to sit down. He said while boiling the tea, “My Master has already learned what the senior masters requested. He needs to think them over, and will inform you after he makes a decision.”

The elders of the peaks wondered if the matters could be settled this way; and they thought it was better for the matters to be handled this way.

It was because they felt it uncomfortable to bow to a younger sect master, so it was better not to meet him in person.

Now that the matters were handled this way, the elders thought it was unnecessary to stay around and drink tea. They set down the jade boards for reporting the affairs and left Shenmo Peak.

“Young Senior Master really doesn’t want to see them?” Yuan Qü asked incredulously.

Looking at the seven tea cups on the table, Gu Qing sighed deeply and meaningfully.

If they didn’t intend to drink the tea, why did they ask me to boil it?

If they didn’t intend to relieve themselves, why did they sit on the toilets?

“My Master wants me to take care of these matters on my own,” Gu Qing returned.

Yuan Qü was surprised to hear this. But he still couldn’t understand it, as he asked, “Why did you ask them to wait then? You could just make the decision about their requests, to agree or disagree.”

Gu Qing said, “Only the sect master can make such decisions. I shouldn’t do it. At least they can’t find out that it’s me who is doing it.”

After some thought, Ping Yongjia nodded as he said, “That’s right. This is tantamount to getting involved in the state affairs by the eunuchs. So you have to do it in secret.”

Gu Qing glared at him and demanded, “Do you think our Master is a slow emperor or a puppet emperor?”

“Big Brother, you can’t say so...” Ping Yongjia faltered with a red face.

Gu Qing ignored Ping Yongjia. He picked up those jade boards and instilled the sword source into them.

The faint sword wills came out, and then turned into light glow and words in the end.

Seven elders came to report their affairs, and there were more than twenty issues in total.

With a cup of black tea in his hand, Gu Qing stood amid the words formed by those glows, reading them carefully.

Ping Yongjia admired what Gu Qing was doing, wondering if Gu Qing felt the sensation of power over others.

Yet, Yuan Qü didn’t feel anything. He signaled with his eyes for Ping Yongjia to leave with him.

As they were about to step over the threshold of the small wooden hut, Gu Qing suddenly called after them, “Come here; help me read them.”

Ping Yongjia complied cheerfully, and went back. Yet, Yuan Qü sighed.

After having read only a few lines, Ping Yongjia’s face grew grim, asking, “Big Brother, did our Master really ask you to make the decisions?”

Gu Qing uttered “hmm”, and then said, “What do you think about assigning this magnolia of seven stars? It was raised by Elder He personally. Normally, it should be kept on Shiyue Peak and made into a magic pill, but it would help a Cultivation practitioner break through the Free Travel State if it entered the meridian after being consumed.”

Something that could help the Cultivation practitioners break through the Free Travel State, no matter whether it was a magic pill or a spiritual material, it would be able to sell for a high price in any auction house in the world. If it were left in the Cultivation circle, the competition for it would get violent enough to have one small sect destroyed.

Ping Yongjia didn’t dare voice his opinion now. He said in a trembling voice, “The responsibility is too great; I can’t take it...”

Gu Qing glance at him, and asked, “What do you think about this matter then?”

Ping Yongjia came before that jade board, and found it was a matter regarding the reward and punishment requested by Xilai Peak. He was even less willing to voice his opinion this time. “Ah, the Master White Ghost wants me to find that sea pearl for him,” he said after rolling his eyes sideways. “I almost forgot it. Big Brother, I have to go now.”

Having said that, he ran out of the hut in a hurry before Gu Qing could say a word.

Gu Qing looked at Yuan Qü.

Yuan Qü said earnestly, “I don’t think we have the qualifications to make decisions about these matters. You should ask Young Senior Master Jing Jiu to take a look at them.”

Gu Qing shook his head. He was fully aware that his Master meant to let him take charge of these affairs, so he had no need to worry about being chastised for doing it. All he needed to do was do a good job. Of course, he would be reprimanded by his Master if he had messed the things up.

Yuan Qü glanced at Gu Qing sympathetically and said, “You just try your best then.”

“You have to stay and help me,” said Gu Qing.

“We don’t have the same Master. You shouldn’t expect me to get in trouble with you.”

Yuan Qü said it with a smile, and left.

Gu Qing sighed one more time. He drank up the black tea in the cup, picked up another cup of tea from the table and returned to those jade boards.

There were not so many affairs waiting to be settled at the Green Mountain Sect, and only a few of them required the personal decision of the Sect Master.

The affairs were nothing but the human resources of the nine peaks, the pension of the disciples, the affairs of the accessory sects, the affairs of the clans in the human world, and the allocations of various resources, the last of which was the most important.

There were not so many affairs to take care of indeed.

Looking at the six cups of tea on the table, Gu Qing thought to himself, it seemed that he had to boil tea quite often for himself from now on.

The black tea should be replaced by the green tea though.

...

...

The news that Jing Jiu became the Sect Master of Green Mountain had spread to every corner of Chaotian; it traveled faster than the Lone Sword.

It was natural that the whole world was shocked.

No matter how preposterous people thought it was, it was nonetheless a finalized fact. As such, the various sects had sent out their representatives to the Green Mountain Sect to congratulate Jing Jiu and found out when the Grand Ceremony of ushering in the sect master would take place.

This was a significant event. The Center Sect had even asked the Kunlun Sect to bring some gifts to Green Mountain, to say nothing of the other sects. The Cultivation sects in the south like the Great Marsh had sent in some precious presents as soon as they heard the news. The gifts given by the Hanging-Bell Sect and the Water-Moon Nunnery were especially valuable. The only exception was the Fruit Formation Temple; they didn’t send any representative or gift. It was probable that the Young Zen Master was still upset, or it was because of some other reasons.

The gifts were received by Xilai Peak; and later a detailed list of the gifts was sent to Shenmo Peak.

Gu Qing knew that Jing Jiu was not interested in this sort of thing. He skimmed the list of the gifts, and selected a few items he thought the Master White Ghost and Cold Cicada might like, also selecting a few precious items and sent them to Tianguang Peak and Shangde Peak, the rest were kept in the storehouse on Xilai Peak.

Gu Qing fixed his sight on the items sent by the One-Cottage House in the list, one of which was especially odd.

Xilai Peak thought the same way; so they had made a note beside the item. They had actually brought the item to the foot of Shenmo Peak ahead of time.

Gu Qing didn’t dare delay the delivery of the item. He asked the disciples of Xilai Peak to bring the item to him. Soon after, he brought the item to the peak top himself.

...

...

The group stood around the gift sent by the One-Cottage House by the cliff’s edge.

Jing Jiu came before the new bamboo chair, and ran his fingers over the bamboo sticks, as if he could sense Liu Shisui’s delight when making this chair.

He lay on the bamboo chair, and felt it out.

Zhao Layue sat on the end of the chair, which was her usual sitting spot, asking, “What do you think?”

“It’s okay, but not as good as the one I made,” replied Jing Jiu.

Ping Yongjia hadn’t seen that rumored big brother since he came to Shenmo Peak quite late, feeling curious.

He asked Yuan Qü, “Can I sit on it for a while later?”

Yuan Qü exclaimed after shooting him a glance, “Do you have a death wish?”

...

...

It was a bright spring day in the human world. It was sunny and bright in all four seasons on Green Mountain, so was Shenmo Peak.

Occasional neighing of a horse and the screams of the monkeys could be heard among the greenish mountains and fields.

The spring time elapses fast; it’s because the good time and busy time are basically the same nature.

It took merely a few days for Gu Qing to settle all the affairs accumulated over the past three years at the Green Mountain Sect. He was not sure about how the peak evaluated his decisions. Nevertheless, no complaints and negative responses had ensued yet.

As he thought that he would be able to stay behind closed doors for his own Cultivation for a while, someone came and asked to see the Sect Master.

The visitor was Chi Yan of Shangde Peak this time.

Looking at those white jade boards, Gu Qing’s face grew a bit ashen. “Senior Master, I’m afraid this isn’t compliant with the sect rules,” he offered.

Chi Yan had no idea why the Sword Justice wanted to hand these matters to Shenmo Peak either. He comforted Gu Qing by saying, “This is something for the Sect Master to worry about.”

What Chi Yan meant was obvious; it had nothing to do with him and Gu Qing, regardless of what problem Yuan Qijing and Jing Jiu had between themselves.

Gu Qing didn’t say anything with a bitter smile, as he thought it would be better if it was the case.

After Chi Yan left, Gu Qing picked up a cup of green tea, and started reading those jade boards sent by Shangde Peak.

As he began to drink the fourth cup of tea, he finally discovered the issue, and knew that he had no choice but to bother his Master.

There were some matters that he couldn’t and was unqualified to solve, like the matters regarding life and death.

He came to the peak top with the board in his hand. After he entered the manor cave, he summoned the sword source and projected the content of the jade board onto the wall.

After a glimpse of the content, Jing Jiu uttered a questioning “hmm” that indicated what was so difficult about this matter.

Gu Qing said, “Jian Ruoyun still wants to commit suicide in the Sword Jail. And those disciples...the ones who opposed you, are still not convinced that you deserve you post. They can’t persuade anyone, and have actually become more agitated; they might do something drastic.”

Those young disciples thought it was a humiliating fact that Jing Jiu became the sect master of Green Mountain.

Since they couldn’t change the fact, they tried their hardest to shout irately, and claimed that they would like to see the grandmasters of various generations of Green Mountain to seek justice.

“Yuan Qijing had said that Jian Ruoyun must spend a period of time in the Sword Jail, so he won’t die.”

Jing Jiu went on, “As for those disciples who are still making trouble, expel them from Green Mountain. And they are not allowed to travel around as the Green Mountain disciples, nor can they use the title of the expelled disciples of Green Mountain. Kill them if they don’t comply.”

Gu Qing thought that those young disciples were looking forward to being punished with death; using death as a threat, then, wouldn’t suffice. On the other hand, if those bloody scenes occurred, it would be hard to explain to the grandmasters of previous generations, more importantly, it would be a scandal when other sects learned about it.

“It’ll be fine as long as they don’t die on Green Mountain,” said Jing Jiu.

What Jing Jiu meant was that he wouldn’t even bother lifting his eyelids if those young disciples died after being expelled from Green Mountain.

He wouldn’t care about Green Mountain being humiliated, since it was different from not paying after taking the conical hats.

Gu Qing felt helpless; he left the manor cave and descended the mountain again. As the monkeys at the foot of the cliff cried suddenly, Gu Qing came back soon after and told Jing Jiu, “Big Brother Guo Nanshan said he must see you. As for what it was for, I don’t know.”

Jing Jiu thought it was indeed troublesome to be a sect master. He motioned for Gu Qing to bring him in.

After Guo Nanshan arrived in the manor cave, he bowed earnestly and started reporting to Jing Jiu.

He heard the news from Yizhou that the Master of the Mysterious Dark Church, who also called himself the King Ming, appeared again; it seemed that he was gathering his former colleagues and disciples in secret.

Liangwang Peak was prepared to send some disciples over to check it out; and they were commanded to wipe out the remaining members of the Mysterious Dark Sect if they had the opportunity.

In the past, Guo Nanshan didn’t have to obtain the permission for such sort of action; he could just head there with the disciples of Liangwang Peak. However, Jing Jiu reminded him before leaving Tianguang Peak last time that they must acquire his permission before the disciples of Liangwang Peak were to carry out any action. This was the order of the Sect Master; they had no choice but to comply.

Guo Nanshan thought that the Sect Master might not allow the disciples of Liangwang Peak to go there before he came to Shenmo Peak. But unexpectedly, the Sect Master insisted that this news was false in the first place.

“He is not Wang Xiaoming, but Su Ziye,” said Jing Jiu.

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