The Path Toward Heaven

Chapter 624: Returning the Bright Orb

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

The two of them were tired after having walked for so long that night. After her drunkenness was gone, they entered the palace hall together and got on the bed.

She claimed that she felt tired and asked him to massage her shoulders. He agreed to do it for her.

It was rather quiet in the palace hall, save for their heavy breathing.

“Have you made up your mind?” she asked suddenly.

He remained silent.

She continued while looking at him quietly, “If you keep acting this way, I’ll eat you up.”

He released her hands and came to a chair a hundred feet away and sat on it, then drank a cup of cold tea.

Nothing else had happened between them.

Yet, something had finally occurred.

The two of them held hands again not long after.

He massaged her shoulders once in a while, and she rubbed his head occasionally.

About ten years later, Gu Qing went back to his family when his mother died.

When he came back to Zhaoge City, the royal hall felt like his own family, which made him feel relaxed.

As a result, he decided to drink some alcohol.

The alcohol inside the stomach of a homesick person would make one miss their loved ones even more.

She was accompanying him quietly by his side.

The more he drank, the more tears came down from his eyes.

All of a sudden, he felt something brushing past his face and wiping off his tears. It felt like a gust of warm and comfortable spring breeze, as if it could rid of any pain in the world.

It was her tail, which was very furry and fuzzy.

“Was it fun?”

She looked at him nervously. Though she tried her best to stay calm, her voice sounded nonetheless tremulous and awkward, “I’ll let you play with my tail, okay? Please don’t feel sad anymore.”

Gu Qing couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into laughter.

She looked at him in embarrassment, with a flush on her face.

But he suddenly thought it was a pretty good situation.

...

...

She and Gu Qing had stayed together for sixty years already.

Yet, it was hard for them to get over it.

“I had thought that I should learn from my Master and tread on the path toward heaven alone; but I realized that my path was different from his when I met you, and that I needed a partner on the path.”

Gu Qing went on while staring into the eyes of the Royal Dowager Hu, “Now that we’re unable to walk to the end together, then... we have no way to walk to the end together.”

“It’s been one hundred years,” the Royal Dowager Hu said emotionlessly while staring at his eyes. “Even though I’m a member of the vixen race, how many hundred years will I have to live? How can you pretend that I’m someone you don’t care about?”

Gu Qing said, “I told you sixty years ago that I was willing to give up being Governor of the State and the Sect Master of Green Mountain and take you to Penglai Island if you agreed to walk the path with me, and that if there was still a problem, we could go to the Alien Land together...But you claimed that you couldn’t leave the Emperor behind and asked me to wait some more years. As a result, I waited another thirty years for you, but you still couldn’t leave him when I asked you the last time.”

“I know I’m in your debt regarding this matter,” the Royal Dowager Hu said, “but I’ve also promised you that I could leave with you any time you wanted to.”

“I was unwilling at the time; but I’ve accepted it since you said so,” returned Gu Qing. He continued after a pause, “Does what you said still count?”

The Royal Dowager Hu replied expressionlessly, “I’m just a bit jealous of her.”

“It has nothing to do with her,” said Gu Qing.

“But you have promised me that you would take care of me for the rest of my life,” said the Royal Dowager Hu after taking a deep breath.

“I will,” said Gu Qing calmly, “until the day I die.”

The Royal Dowager Hu said in a trembling voice, “You’re right that I can’t keep my mind off Little Yao, and you need to live your own life someday; but...I just feel a bit sad about all this.”

No expression could be detected on her face the entire time, but anyone could tell that she was very sad. It was because the expression in her eyes was too calm; it was so calm that her eyes were utterly devoid of any color.

Gu Qing walked up to her and held up her hands. He said while looking at her eyes, “I don’t want to lose you either. I feel extremely sad whenever I think of it.”

The color had gradually returned to the eyes of the Royal Dowager Hu as she said, “But I will feel jealous. In fact, I’ll be so jealous that I could go crazy...that will be dangerous because something bad might happen.”

Gu Qing didn’t give a response.

The Royal Dowager Hu said in a trembling voice, “Fine, I’ll try my best to get used to it.”

Gu Qing caressed her face sympathetically and apologetically, but he was more determined in his mind.

...

...

According to the rules, the royal dowagers couldn’t remarry anybody, no matter whether that person was the Governor of the State or the Sect Master of Green Mountain.

As such, Gu Qing and she were always discreet about their relationship.

Fortunately, the Great Formation of the royal palace was under the control of Gu Qing, so no one could steal a glimpse of goings-on inside the royal palace; so he had no need to worry that this affair would be discovered by the others.

What he didn’t expect was that somebody had placed a magic treasure in the royal palace.

The magic treasure had a very high state, though it had no lethal power and didn’t leak out any energy. It had been hidden on the Cloud Platform for many years, and it could naturally be hidden inside the royal palace undetected.

One night, an old and hunched eunuch came to the laundry department of the royal palace, and arrived in a cluster of courtyards through the back door of the department.

Before long, he entered a remote courtyard under the protection of the dark night.

The formation of the courtyard was dismantled soundlessly when he arrived, and he was led into the living room located in the deepest part of the courtyard.

An old and one-armed man with gray hairs on his temples, sitting in a chair, looked at the eunuch quietly.

The old eunuch didn’t dare hesitate and hit his own stomach forcefully with his palm; as a result, he threw up a round, gleaming orb.

This bright orb was the precious Retrieved Heavenly Orb of the Center Sect.

The one-armed old man was Yue Qianmen, an elder of the Center Sect who had lost one of his arms during the Battle of Zhaoge City one hundred years ago.

Yue Qianmen took over the Retrieved Heavenly Orb and asked expressionlessly, “Is everything recorded in it?”

“Whatever has happened in the last half a year is all recorded in it,” the old eunuch replied.

Yue Qianmen let loose a faint smile.

The Retrieved Heavenly Orb was very important to the Center Sect, but what was recorded in it was even more important to them.

If the content in the orb was something predicted by the Immortal, Green Mountain would be disgraced easily as a result, and the relationship between Green Mountain and the imperial court would go sour.

However, the Center Sect would try and persuade Gu Qing to do something for them based on the content in the Retrieved Heavenly Orb before the dung hit the fan.

As Yue Qianmen was thinking of all this, he suddenly heard a faint but amazing sound of flute in the dark sky.

Recalling the sound of flute in the royal palace one hundred years ago, the look on Yue Qianmen’s face changed abruptly. He employed all of his Dao Source without hesitation, and disappeared from the original spot.

The Escape Method of Heaven and Earth of the Center Sect was unparalleled in the world. As long as he could leave the courtyard and flee under the protection of the dark night, not even the owner of the flute could find him.

Yet, the dark night he fled into was not a real one, but two black screens.

They were the two wings of the Dark Phoenix.

Yue Qianmen was forced to show his true person by the Dark Phoenix. Before he could do anything to protect himself, his head was pierced through by the invisible small sword that had arrived with the sound of the flute.

He was indeed a strong swordsman in the Lianxu State; and he didn’t die right away after suffering such a brutal injury.

It was then that the sky over the courtyard suddenly opened a crack, which swallowed Yue Qianmen completely!

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect landed on the ground from the night sky, his mouth closed tightly.

A barrage of thudding sounds could be heard inside his stomach, as if countless magic pills were exploding in a tripod all at once.

It was Yue Qianmen who was blowing up. Even someone like the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect had an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach at the moment; his face was pale, his eyes blood red. He employed as much demonic energy as possible to suppress it.

Looking at a piece of hair that was drifting down along with the wind, a sorrowful expression showed in his eyes. After sighing a few times, he spat out the Retrieved Heavenly Orb unwillingly.

Seeing this scene, the Dark Phoenix commented in a mocking tone, “I have no idea how much saliva you have tasted so far.”

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect didn’t pay any attention to him and returned the Retrieved Heavenly Orb to Yin San.

Yin San took the orb with his hand inside the sleeve, and blew at it in disdain.

The Retrieved Heavenly Orb shot out countless light rays and projected many pictures on the wall along with audible sounds.

After hearing the conversation between Gu Qing and the Royal Dowager Hu, Yin San remarked sentimentally, “True affection is truly moving.”

“He hasn’t made Green Mountain lose face,” commented the Dark Phoenix.

In his eyes, no matter whether Gu Qing would become the sect master of Green Mountain in the future, he must find someone who matched his status even though he was having an illicit affair with a woman. He thought a royal dowager was a rather suitable match.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect couldn’t help but comment, “I always think that Green Mountain is the deviant sect in comparison to my conduct.”

“But we don’t eat people,” the Dark Phoenix defended earnestly.

The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect found that the old eunuch was still alive, and struck him into meat powders with his palm. “The meat of such a person doesn’t taste good.”

Yin San remarked with a faint smile as he walked to the outside of the courtyard, “You have to eat someone as interesting as Gu Qing carefully and slowly.”

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