Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jing Jiu’s sympathy seemed a bit odd; he didn’t appear to feel sympathetic toward the Green Bird. It seemed that he felt sentimental toward the people of the world.
He felt sorry for the people of the world when he said “it’s too late.”
The Green Bird trotted to the edge of the board and looked at the outside of the cliff. Her eyes revealed a complicated emotion when she thought of the Immortal Taiping, who had just passed away, and the tens of thousands of years she spent on Cloud-Dream Mountain.
She knew clearly that Jing Jiu wouldn’t ask her to seek the Immortal Bai, because it would be too dangerous for her.
Even the Pagoda of Suppressing Devils owned by the Immortal Tan had been counterattacked by the Bai family with another formation; who could tell what sort of a trap the Center Sect had laid in the Green Sky Mirror.
Then, who should go and stop the Immortal Bai? Was it, as Jing Jiu said, too late to do so?!
Outside the cliff was the ocean of clouds that became whiter under the bright starlight. There was a large gap on the edge of the ocean of clouds, which used to be the site for Shangde Peak.
It was a patch of black ground now. The cliff rocks were extremely dense and the surface of the ground was very smooth, looking like a gigantic black jade plate.
Countless strands of cold intent emerged from the black jade plate, turning the water steam into small snowflakes falling down in the air. As such, there was no cloud over the black ground.
The Queen of the Snowy Kingdom didn’t swallow all of the cold source at the bottom of Shangde Peak; so a part of it still remained.
As the small snowflakes were falling down, the Dead Dog crouched in the middle of the huge black jade plate quietly. He looked like a black stone statue that was a part of the ground, giving off a sacred bearing as well as a solemn sensation of beauty.
Since no disciple of Green Mountain dared to gaze at this principal guard who looked like a divine demon, it was more noticeable when the Green Bird landed on the Go board.
The Dead Dog turned his head toward Shenmo Peak; he expressed his intent through his deep and imperturbable expression in his eyes.
“You have to guard the Sword Jail; you can’t go out,” said Jing Jiu.
The Dead Dog didn’t feel dejected after his request was turned down by Jing Jiu, though a perplexed expression showed in his eyes.
Ada scratched Jing Jiu with his paw to remind him that he had just made a wrong statement; in fact, Ada thought in his mind that Jing Jiu was an idiot and didn’t know what he was talking about.
Shangde Peak was gone, and so was the Sword Jail; what would the Dead Dog guard?
“You have to guard Green Mountain,” Jing Jiu corrected himself and continued, “And it’s really too late.”
What on earth was too late? Zhao Layue and Liu Shisui didn’t think too much of it; Que Niang was still thinking about the last game; Zhuo Rusui and Yuan Qü found it was rather odd when they thought about it. Even though the Immortal Bai was not dead, why should they feel so scared? The Center Sect would have a turmoil after this event, but that was their problem; why would it have anything to do with the Green Mountain Sect? Would the Immortal Bai dare to come to Green Mountain and attack them? Was she more formidable than the Grandmaster Taiping and the Fairy Lady Bai Ren?
Jing Jiu didn’t pay attention to the puzzles his disciples had; he closed his eyes while lying on the bamboo chair to rest.
A bright and colorful sword fire came out from the broken part of his earlobe, looking like a ruby earring glittering under the starlight.
The sword fire was ablaze for a long time before it extinguished. The tiny wound had finally stopped bleeding. It was then that the morning sunlight arrived and shone on the devastated peaks of Green Mountain.
Jing Jiu opened his eyes; he didn’t look as tired as he did the night before.
Zhao Layue asked while staring at his eyes, “Are you really okay?”
“I’m not going to die for sure.”
Jing Jiu reached out his hand and rubbed her head before he leapt up into the air and left the top of Shenmo Peak.
The clouds and fog suddenly dispersed, and the Sword Peak revealed a patch of its true appearance. The collapsed cliffs looked like countless twisted and buckled paths; they looked like leaning against each other for comfort even though they were in a horrendous condition.
Jing Jiu landed on a high spot in front of a cliff wall; he saw countless flying swords and the young man inside the swords.
Ping Yongjia was standing in the middle of the flying swords filling the sky pale-faced. When he saw Jing Jiu, he yelled gleefully, “Master! Master! You’ve come finally.”
Jing Jiu waved his hand a few times; the flying swords in the sky returned to their respective stone cracks and rock heaps along with frequent sounds of air breaking, to continue receiving the nurture from the energy of heaven and earth.
Ping Yongjia ran to Jing Jiu and said with a hint of terror, “These swords had gone mad yesterday. They went up to the sky by following a white monster. They came back and trapped me inside them after they killed that fairy lady. I don’t know what they intend to do.”
Jing Jiu looked at him quietly for a long time. “I ordered them to do so,” he said suddenly.
Ping Yongjia was taken aback by this; but he didn’t ask his Master why he did it. All he did was utter an “Oh” obediently.
Jing Jiu suddenly reached out his hand to rub his head, saying, “Do you know why I asked you to be the peak master of the Sword Peak?”
Ping Yongjia was enjoying the rubbing palm on his head at the moment, feeling extremely thrilled. Being rubbed on head was the special treatment only Senior Master Zhao and Big Brother Liu could receive. “Isn’t it because this disciple of yours has a special talent and has cultivated the shapeless sword body?” he answered reflexively.
Jing Jiu pressed while looking at him with a seeming smile, “When did you cultivate it?”
Ping Yongjia didn’t know what to say, as it occurred to him that he had been sleeping on the Sword Peak over the years, which couldn’t be counted as cultivating. “But it’s obviously not because I’m shameless since I’m not like Big Brother Zhuo,” said he somewhat embarrassingly.
Jing Jiu didn’t explain the reason, but said, “I have something I want you to do; but I need to ask for your consent first.”
“He has always requested us to do things; when did he ask anybody so politely?” Ping Yongjia thought in his mind.
Yet, Ping Yongjia sensed the seriousness in his countenance. He couldn’t help but feel considerably anxious, wondering what his Master wanted him to do.
…
…
The Immortal Bai entered the Underworld on the back of the Fire Carp.
Thinking of what she intended to do, the Fire Carp trembled, from his whole body down to his spiritual soul; it was not because he was excited, but because he was scared at the thought.
He had lived in the fire source at the bottom of the Gathered-Soul Valley for tens of thousands of years and hadn’t seen many human beings; as such, he shouldn’t feel sympathy for them. However, he still felt heart-wrenched when he thought that someone like the eldest son of the Grand Scholar Zhang might die. So he summoned enough courage to dissuade the Immortal Bai, “Immortal, doing so is a violation of the rules of nature, and it might be a hindrance for the path toward heaven. Our Center Sect is founded by a famous family and is the leader of the orthodox Cultivation sects. How can we do such a thing?”
The Fire Carp’s lips opened and closed in the water of the Underworld River, spitting out many bubbles on which the soul fires emitted eerie glows.
“I went to Zhaoge City with my mother more than seven hundred years ago. It was the first time that I left the mountains. And I saw the Underworld Emperor being brought to the Fiend Prison and imprisoned there.”
The Immortal Bai went on with a faint smile, “A foolish fish like you hasn’t witnessed the sinister actions of the orthodox Cultivation sects.”
It was exceedingly chaotic in Chaotian at the time, and so were the Cultivation world and the Green Mountain Sect.
The Immortal Taiping was the peak master of Shangde at the Green Mountain Sect in name only; in fact, he was considerably marginalized. If he hadn’t brought the new Underworld Emperor to the ground of the human world and done something extremely important for the human race, he would have been killed by those old weirdos on Mochen Peak for any reason.
It was believed that the Immortal Taiping was not happy about his achievement; it was because the Underworld Emperor was locked in the Fiend Prison and he became someone who had betrayed his friend.
As such, he went to that restaurant and drank wine.
Liu Ci came over from Green Mountain and poured wine for him while standing by his side.
She and her mother were looking at the scene in the restaurant while standing atop the Nantian Gate, thinking the pair of master and disciple was really pitiful.
The Immortal Taiping must have changed his ideas at that moment.
But what about herself?
When did she make up her own mind?
The Immortal Bai thought of these events in the long past while looking at a trace of blue glow in the distance, asking, “Do you wish to help me finish the Go game?”
The Underworld Master landed on the white stony beach on the opposite side, his body giving off a glow of lingering soul fires. It seemed that his energy had been drained a great deal after traveling a thousand miles in a hurry.
“I don’t understand why you want to do this,” said the Underworld Master while looking at the Immortal Bai with a baffled expression.
The Immortal Bai said, “It’s because this is an interesting thing to do.”
The whole of Chaotian thought that she was uninteresting; they didn’t know that it was because she had never revealed her true intention.
“My Teacher didn’t succeed in this endeavor. How can you do it?” pressed the Underworld Master.
“It seems that Jing Yang has won the game between Taiping and him,” said the Immortal Bai. “But I put down some more Go pieces now to change the end game to a game still in the middle stage. Jing Yang doesn’t even have any Go pieces left; how can he beat me in this new game?”
