Chapter 2319: Right and Wrong
Deep within the planet's core, a terrifying pulling force acted upon Zhang Ruochen, wrapping around him like thousands of silk ropes. His descent accelerated rapidly, completely beyond his control.
His vision vanished. He could see nothing.
He could hear nothing either.
Zhang Ruochen could only feel an intense sensation of weightlessness, like a mortal falling off a cliff in the pitch-black night.
"Sizzle!"
The Purifying Divine Flame within him surged out from his palm, emitting a dazzling white divine radiance that illuminated a patch of the darkness.
As he fell, Zhang Ruochen looked around. The scene before his eyes was not some dark underground cavern at all, but a vast, hazy expanse filled with brilliant colors, yet boundless and infinite.
"Has space been stretched and deformed, becoming infinitely vast? Or has my body been compressed by space, becoming infinitely small?"
Zhang Ruochen sensed that the laws of heaven and earth around him—especially the Space Rules—had become completely different from the outside world.
The body of Great Senluo Emperor was pierced through by the Ghost Head Whip, yet he was not dead.
The ghost patterns on the whip emitted a faint, eerie glow, slowly devouring his soul thread by thread, sending him into an unconscious state.
Further above, Bore's graceful figure, wrapped in the Nether River, caught up with Zhang Ruochen. Her form blended seamlessly with the surrounding environment, serene and aesthetically pleasing.
...
Behind the statue of Fortune and Blessing God Venerable, the Gate of Destiny had turned pitch black, no longer able to display any images.
"The interior of the Dark Star is filled with three kinds of rules: Darkness, Time, and Space. All three forces have evolved to an extreme degree, making it difficult even for fate to calculate what happens inside."
The statue spoke these words.
What it meant by "difficult to calculate" was not that it was impossible.
The Destiny Temple was an extremely long distance from the Heaven Hunting Battlefield, making it inherently difficult for gods to investigate. Coupled with the influence of the Dark Star's power, the fact that Fortune and Blessing God Venerable could manifest the surface images of the Dark Star was already quite remarkable.
If the distance were closer, it would be a different matter.
This was the influence of space on the power of fate!
The farther the distance, the harder it was for the power of fate to reach.
"God Venerable, the structure of the Dark Star is solid. How could a cavern leading to the planet's core appear? Such a cavern couldn't have formed naturally, could it?" Xue Hou's divine shadow appeared in the temple, asking this question.
Fortune and Blessing God Venerable said, "For cultivators below the divine realm, although the Dark Star is dangerous, it is a precious place for arduous training. It can temper oneself, break through bottlenecks, and achieve major breakthroughs."
"However, the power of the Dark Star contains too many uncertain factors. Even if one prepares thoroughly and brings a large amount of resources into the star's interior, the vast majority end up perishing, their Dao extinguished."
"The Heaven Hunting Battle is not just a game of hunting Heavenly Slaves, nor is it merely a conflict among the ten clans. The battlefield is prepared with countless opportunities, provided for the most outstanding talents of the Hell Realm, hoping they can use this to grow rapidly."
"The home clan star has great opportunities, and the Dark Star also holds infinite possibilities."
"Of course, opportunity and danger coexist. Whether one lives or dies, whether a dragon is trapped in a shallow pool or a phoenix soars to the nine heavens, depends on their respective fates."
"Those with a hard fate may live. Conversely, they die."
"Those with strong fortune may break through barriers and go against the current. Conversely, they face peril."
"Besides fate, a cultivator's own will and choices can sometimes be even more important."
"Three thousand years ago, there was a Great Saint of the Stone Clan named Blue Marrow True Lord. To survive a calamity with a one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival and break through the gate of the Supreme Realm, he came to the third Dark Star. He spent two hundred years digging a path to the star's interior—the dark cavern you see now."
"Unfortunately, three thousand years have passed, and he has never emerged from the Dark Star's interior."
A Great Saint of the Ten-Thousand Deaths, One Life Realm entered the Dark Star's interior and couldn't come out. Zhang Ruochen, who had just entered the Hundred Shackles Realm, would be in even greater danger!
What kept Xue Hou from utter despair was that Zhang Ruochen was a Heir of Time and Space, which might give him a glimmer of hope.
Ghost Lord's laughter echoed in the Destiny Temple: "I must say, Xue Jue, your grandson is indeed formidable. Although his Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent is incomplete, he was able to severely wound Wujiang, forging a unique path of his own. If he doesn't die, his future achievements will be limitless. A pity, a pity, a pity."
The gods present could naturally tell that Ghost Lord was gloating.
Blood Absolute War God did not waste words with Ghost Lord and remained silent.
During the Heaven Hunting Battle, it was indeed impossible to enter the third Dark Star to rescue someone.
However, the Heaven Hunting Battle would only last a hundred days. Once it was all over, he could go and bring Zhang Ruochen back.
What he feared most was that the flow of time inside the Dark Star was too fast, and Zhang Ruochen would die of old age before the Heaven Hunting Battle ended.
Tianyin and Luo Yan stood in the divine realm world, lost in thought for a long time.
After a while, Luo Yan said, "Zhang Ruochen is indeed a rare and outstanding figure of this eon. In this battle against Wujiang, he displayed not only a powerful and unique second-rank Sacred Intent but also his extraordinary will. With such a will, even if his path to godhood is rough, he should be able to overcome it."
"If he can emerge alive from the Dark Star's interior, Wujiang will no longer be his match."
Tianyin seemed full of confidence in Zhang Ruochen, holding him in high regard. There was no rejection or hostility in her tone, only anticipation and vision.
...
Inside the Dark Star.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore grew closer and closer, their gazes locked.
Their eyes held no emotion, no hostility, yet they were exceptionally complex, filled with things that even gods would find difficult to decipher.
"Why did you come down too?" Zhang Ruochen transmitted his voice to her using his spiritual power.
Bore said, "The interior of the Dark Star is even more mysterious than inside a divine corpse. Even a god venerable cannot detect what happens here. I came in to tell you that your condition is very bad."
"You don't need to tell me. I know my own condition very well." Zhang Ruochen said.
Bore said, "Your Ancestor bloodline has awakened. The innate consciousness from the Undying Blood Clan will grow stronger."
"For example, the urge to drink blood."
"You don't want to drink blood, and you are using your own will to resist the consciousness of the Ancestor bloodline. This is very dangerous. You could either lose yourself or suffer a mental breakdown. I can help you."
Zhang Ruochen stared at her for a long time, then said, "I have already experienced too many ups and downs, too many changes in people and circumstances. My will is not so fragile. This is not a place you should be. You should go back up."
A flicker of confusion and bitterness passed through Bore's eyes. She sighed, "I've already come down. Do you think it's that easy to go back up?"
Zhang Ruochen said no more. He closed his eyes, mobilized his spiritual power to suppress the bloodlust within him, treating it as a test of his own will.
If he could not resist the consciousness of the Ancestor bloodline and chose to submit, then he would never be able to surpass the Ancestor.
No one knew how much time had passed. The pulling force on them gradually disappeared. Zhang Ruochen, Bore, and Great Senluo Emperor stopped falling and floated in the void.
"How can this be? The pulling force is gone?" Zhang Ruochen felt a trace of doubt.
Bore said, "We must have arrived at the center of the Dark Star. Cherish this moment of peace. I believe danger will come soon."
"It is indeed very peaceful. It seems this world is the only place of true peace." Zhang Ruochen felt no fear, no unease, but rather enjoyed the feeling.
The bloodlust slowly faded.
Bore looked at him and said, "This is an escapist mindset. You should understand that as long as there are people, there will be conflict. What we need to do is face it, fight it, not pursue temporary peace."
Zhang Ruochen did not want to argue with her and chose to remain silent.
The two had once come together, both experiencing moments of heart-fluttering, but their ideals were different, and they eventually parted ways. Regarding her, Zhang Ruochen had thought a lot after calming his mind later on.
Perhaps there was no absolute right or wrong between them.
It was just a difference in choices.
They were too weak back then. They could only choose, without the ability to create their own outcomes.
The choices given to them were also few: either go left or go right. Going left meant death; going right also meant death. It was just a different way of dying.
"To defeat Wujiang, or even Lanying and Que, you must find the Dark Time-Space Substance. Since we have arrived at the center of the Dark Star, we should be close to the Dark Time-Space Substance." Bore said.
Zhang Ruochen set aside all his thoughts, released his spiritual power and Space Domain, and probed the surroundings.
"Oh? That is..."
Zhang Ruochen showed a strange expression, looking in one direction.
Here, his spiritual power was severely suppressed.
However, Zhang Ruochen's perception of space had become extremely sharp. In this vast, boundless world, he discovered a peculiar substance.
He threw Great Senluo Emperor into the Purple Gold Gourd, then activated his ten wings and flew over.
Here, there seemed to be no concept of time or space. Zhang Ruochen didn't know how long he flew or how far, until he finally arrived near a piece of treasure-blue stone over ten meters tall.
The stone's surface was smooth, crystal clear, and exuded an ancient aura.
Inside the stone, however, were wisps of flocculent substances.
Some of those substances looked like human hair, some like arms, some like eyeballs... all twisted and deformed, looking extremely terrifying.
Bore flew nearby, saw the enormous treasure-blue stone, and her expression grew increasingly grim.
"This shouldn't be the Dark Time-Space Substance, should it?"
Zhang Ruochen walked up to the treasure-blue stone and pressed one palm against it. Instantly, an icy, bone-piercing aura came through. His hand stuck to the stone and could not be separated.
Zhang Ruochen quickly mobilized the Space Rules, sending them out from his palm as a spatial shockwave, and finally separated from the stone.
Bore said, "It is not the Dark Time-Space Substance. It is a Blue Marrow Star."
"Blue Marrow Star?"
Zhang Ruochen knew that Blue Marrow was a material used to refine Monarch Sacred Artifacts, quite rare.
But it was just a refining material. How could it have such a powerful force that could suck him in?
And it was only this big. How could it be called a Blue Marrow Star?
Bore said, "It is indeed a Blue Marrow Star. Its original body was over ten thousand miles long, and it even developed intelligence, embarking on the path of cultivation and reaching the Great Saint Ten-Thousand Deaths, One Life Realm. In the Stone Clan, it was titled Blue Marrow True Lord. However, three thousand years ago, Blue Marrow True Lord went missing and disappeared from the Hell Realm. I never expected him to die here."
"But this stone emits an extremely ancient aura, far more than three eons. How could it be Blue Marrow True Lord from three thousand years ago? Unless..."
Zhang Ruochen thought of a possibility, and his expression changed repeatedly.
Three thousand years in the outside world might have been three hundred thousand years, three million years here...
What was the ratio of time flow?
Zhang Ruochen immediately released his Time Sacred Aspect, mobilized the Time Rules, and carefully calculated.
"No, no. Why is the time flow I calculated like this?" Zhang Ruochen found it unbelievable.
He discovered that the time flow here was extremely slow. Even if a thousand years passed here, only about a year would pass in the outside world.
If that were the case, the interior of the Dark Star would be an excellent place for cultivation. As long as one brought enough Divine Stones, pills, and visualization diagrams, one could rapidly improve their cultivation here, even more effective than using the Sundial.
But this was completely unreasonable.
If it were really that simple, the gods of the Hell Realm would have long utilized the Dark Star to train their younger generations.
"Space must be a huge problem. If it really is Blue Marrow True Lord, with his original body over ten thousand miles long, now reduced to over ten meters tall, then he must have suffered severe spatial compression. Even his Ten-Thousand Deaths, One Life Realm cultivation couldn't withstand it, and he was eventually crushed into a stone."
To verify his conjecture, Zhang Ruochen struck out with the Ghost Head Whip, wrapping it around the treasure-blue stone seven times.
"Rise!"
Zhang Ruochen mobilized all his strength but could not budge the treasure-blue stone. He calculated in his mind that its weight was over a thousand times heavier than an ordinary planet.
It was very likely that it had once truly been a Blue Marrow planet.
Bore said, "This place is very dangerous. We must leave immediately. If we also suffer spatial compression, we might turn into a speck of dust. A Ten-Thousand Deaths, One Life Realm Great Saint couldn't withstand it, and neither can we."
"Too late."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was fixed below.
There, dense Space Rules had turned into a tidal storm, surging upward from below.
The originally formless and colorless Space Rules had manifested in seven colors here.
"Into the gourd."
Zhang Ruochen was the first to fly into the Purple Gold Gourd, and Bore followed closely behind, rushing in.
The seven-colored Space Rule tidal storm swept the Purple Gold Gourd in. In an instant, the gourd, originally a foot tall, was rapidly compressed by space.
The size of a fist, the size of a mung bean...
Finally, it turned into a speck of purple-gold dust, glittering.
Entering the gourd, Zhang Ruochen landed on the Destruction Golden Sun and mobilized all his Saint Qi to activate the Supreme Inscription Rune.
He looked up and saw that the gourd's inner space, originally the size of a planet, was being continuously compressed. The sky grew lower and lower, the world smaller and smaller.
"What do you need me to do?" Bore asked.
"Don't do anything. This has nothing to do with you."
Just as he finished speaking, Zhang Ruochen suddenly thought of something and pointed at the purple, cold stone orbiting the Destruction Golden Sun. "Go and activate the power of the Cosmic Cold Stone."
Bore flew onto the Cosmic Cold Stone, sat down cross-legged, and the Nether River that had been surrounding her body plunged downward, enveloping the purple giant stone.
The inner space of the gourd continued to shrink.
Even the Destruction Golden Sun and the Cosmic Cold Stone were compressed, shrinking more than tenfold.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Bore felt immense pressure, their lives threatened. They might very well follow in Blue Marrow True Lord's footsteps.
"Whoosh!"
As the Supreme Inscription Rune and streaks of golden and purple light shot up into the sky, propping up the inner space world, they gradually withstood the spatial compression from all directions.
The inner space of the Purple Gold Gourd stabilized at a diameter of about fifty meters.
Extremely cramped.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore both breathed a sigh of relief and involuntarily glanced at each other. When their eyes met, time seemed to freeze.
Zhang Ruochen was the first to look away, his expression indifferent. "Space power is not the most terrifying. With the Purple Gold Gourd, we can withstand it. But once the power of Time and Darkness erupts, it might very well devour us."
After saying this, the cramped gourd space fell silent.
After a while, Zhang Ruochen spoke again, "There is one question I have always wanted to ask you."
"You want to ask me what I saw in the Lake of Destiny? You wanted to ask that last time at Hanhai Manor, didn't you?"
Bore's gaze was hazy and dim. Finally, she closed her eyes and smiled bitterly. "You should know that for someone like me, who has come to the Hell Realm, even memories are a weakness. Many memories have been erased by myself. The reason I remember you is that I cannot erase you."
"Perhaps you asked the wrong person."
"You are no longer the Ninth Prince of Yunwu Commandery, and I am no longer the Princess of Qianshui Commandery. In truth, what Yanchen Princess truly liked was the Ninth Prince, not the Crown Prince of the Sacred Bright Empire, nor the Divine Son of the Blood Absolute Family. The Crown Prince of the Sacred Bright Empire only brought her pain. It was he who personally sent her to Chi Yao's side. It was he who forcibly transferred their grudges onto her. Perhaps he did not mean to, nor did he want to hurt her, but that does not change the final outcome."
"The people of yesterday are gone; the waters of today are still cold."
"Let the past be past. You don't want to remember, and I don't want to recall. You were not wrong, and I don't think I did anything wrong either. There is only willingness and unwillingness, choice and non-choice. Right and wrong have long ceased to matter!"