The Path Toward Heaven

The universe is not infinite, but it is nearly infinite for those intelligent beings living in it.

Now that the universe is a boundless world, it, of course, has a great many different scenes: some planets are barren and some are bountiful; some planets are desolate and some have lands that are as beautiful as they would be in dreams, where the scenes most pleasing to the human eye manifest everywhere.

Planet Tianpu was such a planet. After it had been influenced by the distant ancient civilization for a great many years, the ecosystem of the entire planet could be called almost perfect. The planet, after the eradication of the distant ancient civilization, had continued for tens of thousands of years without a single disaster. There was a saying in the Federation of the Milky Way, that one did not need to go to the Main Planet to wait and see the remnants of the distant ancient civilization, all they needed to do was take a trip to Planet Tianpu.

For this very reason, this planet had been strictly protected by the Federation of the Milky Way. The mining and heavy industries were prohibited on the planet, save for the agriculture of the ancient kind and tourism. Seen on this planet were only those resorts and universities founded by the private financial groups.

Endless green fields, covering the land like a carpet, were separated into countless smaller sections by the paths for the farming machines. And the fields had different colors depending on the types of crops and the seasons.

The Northwest University, which was the best on Planet Tianpu and famous in the Federation of the Milky Way, was situated in the endless fields.

Some buildings looked like the old-style castles and were rather striking, just like the forehead of Professor Gou.

Professor Gou was an ordinary teacher. His only outstanding feature was his protruding forehead; it must possess a great deal of fortune or wisdom.

However, as a member of the Nuclear Research Institute of Northwest University, he had a high right of authority; it was believed that his head must possess a great deal of wisdom.

…

…

The Immortal Tan had come to this world more than one hundred days ago.

In comparison to the legendary experiences of Jian Xilai and Cao Yuan, his story was a bit dreary; in other words, he had been extremely lucky.

After he left Chaotian, he had neither encountered any of those monsters of the Sea of Dark Matter nor the fleet of the Federation of the Milky Way. He had landed on this beautiful planet straightforwardly.

Like all the other ascendants, he started learning right away.

What he had done differently from the others was that he didn’t do anything after he had learned all the basic knowledge. As a first act, he used the Three-Heaven Prediction to find a new name for himself.

The name was Gou Buchu, meaning “not going out soon.”

Later, he used the most basic computer trick to have changed the database of the extracurricular class of Northwest University without connecting to the internet. After that, he had become a teacher for the extracurricular classes first and then a faculty member of the Northwest University by some low-key methods.

He played the role of a regular scholar who didn’t know anything about the Cultivation at the Northwest University. He spent all of his days in his apartment, or at the Research Institute and the library. He was very careful when he was online; he would never browse those sensitive sites and issues, unlike Jian Xilai who was stupid enough to show off his computing skill hastily and Cao Yuan who was anxious to save the world.

It was the very reason why Jing Jiu had a high opinion of him. If he did not need to get into the Nuclear Research Institute of the Northwest University, he would have hidden in a farmhouse among a great many others for sixty years; as such, nobody would be able to find him.

In the eyes of the university students, Professor Gou was boring.

His lectures were uninteresting, and his knowledge was not impressive though it was enough to be qualified as a professor.

And he didn’t have any hobbies.

What they didn’t know was that Professor Gou would watch the news on TV and browse the internet after he came back to his apartment every day.

Watching the news on TV was the best way to learn about this world, and browsing the internet was the best way to learn about the people in this world.

The news of the Federation of the Milky Way was often about the wars with the Sea of Dark Matter and the perilous events on the colonized planets, which made the Immortal Tan cherish the peace on the Planet Tianpu even more.

The internet was filled with the crazed human Chauvinism, unrealistic illusions of martial cultivation, something that worried him.

His mood was worsened after he had read an online novel one day.

“What does the Immortal Jing Yang intend to achieve?”

Looking at the words on the monitor, the Immortal Tan sighed, “It’s not a big deal that you have regarded our Cloud-Dream Mountain as the antagonists; but don’t you fear that the previous ascendants will find you?”

Yet, he understood why Jing Jiu wrote and dared write the novel “The Path toward Heaven”.

The Green Mountain Sect had had six ascendants among the twenty of them since the ancient times in Chaotian. If he could connect with the grandmasters of his sect, Jing Jiu would have nothing to fear.

The foundation of the Center Sect was quite weak in comparison. He didn’t dare take the risk for a long time because the Bai family had the total control of his sect in the past few thousand years.

Cao Yuan expected to meet some highly achieved monks of the previous generations of the Fruit Formation Temple, but Jian Xilai had no such connection.

Thinking of all this, the Immortal Tan rubbed his forehead and felt satisfied with his decision. Then, he looked at the TV screen again.

The reimbursement received by a professor was much better than a miner. He placed seventeen TV sets in his room, the scattered screens looking like the patches on the panhandlers’ clothing.

The news scenes appeared on the TV sets one after the other.

There was a strong quake on a mining planet called Planet Lindeng. The government and the mining department took proper measures quickly enough that only one person had died.

The No. 3 Forward Base seemed to have been invaded by the Sea of Dark Matter. A battleship fleet had employed the nuclear bombs to seal off the passage, but a great many residents had died or been injured.

The Immortal Tan found something was out of place. He remained for a long time after he recounted the days.

No matter who had a mishap, he had to stay out of it for the time being.

He would be able to traverse the Milky Way freely after he solved the problem of breaking down the nuclear engine, which would provide him with endless fairy energy.

It wasn’t until then that he wouldn’t be safe enough to leave.

As he was about to turn off the TV sets and get back to his usual research work, he suddenly heard a famous name in the news on one of the TV sets.

“The successor of the priest of the Stargate, Miss Zong Lizi, has arrived on the Main Planet by riding on the Scorching-Sun Battleship. She is welcomed warmly by the government officials of the Main Planet and the College of Priests…”

Many of the news on TV was broadcast live, so was the news that day.

The Main Planet was far away from Planet Tianpu, but the signals through the passage of the micro-warped channel could reach Tianpu in a short time.

Looking at the crowd on the TV set, the Immortal Tan thought to himself that he had better not see that person.

The young girl, Zong Lizi, had drawn his attention since she participated in the selection of female priests on the Stargate Base.

The harbor was thronged by the spectators. Dozens of drones hovered in the air, sending the picture of the battleship to various places in the galaxy.

The girl with red hair walked out of the ship, followed by a youth wearing blue tracksuits with a hoodie.

The Immortal Tan murmured, “How could he show up at such a moment? Even though he couldn’t avoid appearing in public, he should have worn clothing with black, gray or white color; the color of blue is too eye-catching!”

What ensued was even more unexpected.

The youth in the blue tracksuits pulled back the hoodie and revealed his face.

It was believed that nobody in the Federation of the Milky Way would forget this face from that day on.

The Immortal Tan remained silent for a long time while staring at the TV screen, and then sighed, “Immortal Jing Yang…what do you think you’re doing?”