Chapter 2359: Direction
Zhang Ruochen raised his hand but ultimately did not strike down. Shaking his head, he said, "If hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha. You may have misunderstood his intention."
"What is meant by 'hell not empty' is not to annihilate everything in the Hell Realm, but to redeem all evil in the world."
On the last page of the *Space-Time Secret Scripture*, those eight words were written: "If hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha."
Zhang Ruochen had read countless books, including records about these eight words spoken by Xumi Saint Monk. It was many eons ago, after Xumi Saint Monk heard the Sixth Patriarch preach the Dao, that he made this great vow.
At that time, the Hell Realm was not yet called the Hell Realm. The Ten Clans of Hell had extensive exchanges with various major worlds, and there was not the life-and-death opposition that exists now.
"What? Do you also want to make the same vow as Xumi Saint Monk? Don't push yourself into becoming a monk!" Luo Sha said, somewhat nervous and worried.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I have selfish desires. I am not that selfless and great."
"Having selfish desires is good, better than having none. People without selfish desires are too unreal, not like humans," Luo Sha said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What is your vision?"
"I... I have thought about it. Actually, my heart is not that big. In the future, becoming the empress of the Tianluo Divine Kingdom, or the clan leader of the Rakshasa Clan, would be enough," Luo Sha said quite seriously.
Zhang Ruochen really wanted to grab her and spank her on the ground.
Just because she was beautiful, did she think she wouldn't get beaten?
Luo Sha said, "What kind of look is that? This princess truly believes that, with my talent, becoming the empress of the Tianluo Divine Kingdom is only a matter of time. If Father doesn't pass the throne to me, would he give it to my imperial brother? After all, my imperial brother is still far behind me."
"Do you dare say that to his face?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"Why wouldn't I dare? Even he himself thinks so."
Luo Sha snorted lightly and continued, "Do you know why I believe in fate yet refuse to join the Destiny Temple and become a core disciple? Why I even disdain the position of Fate Goddess?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "You've already said this before. Becoming the Fate Goddess would require severing emotions and desires for a thousand years..."
"That was all a lie. Severing emotions and desires for a thousand years is not that long for a Great Saint. For a proud daughter of heaven like this princess, who is destined to become a god, it's just a snap of the fingers," Luo Sha said.
Zhang Ruochen was speechless. After a long silence, he said, "Then how much of what you said before was true, and how much was false?"
"Why do you care so much about whether what this princess says is true or false?"
A sly glint flashed in Luo Sha's eyes, and she teased, "Are you wondering if the 'person of destiny' is real or fake? Don't speak yet... Since you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. Any word I say could be a lie, but that Zhang Ruochen is indeed this princess's person of destiny—that sentence is not false at all."
"Heh heh."
Zhang Ruochen had never had any good feelings toward the Rakshasa Clan and had always been hostile. The first time he set foot on the Merit Battlefield, he saw the Rakshasa Clan roasting human flesh to eat, leaving a deep impression of disgust.
But toward Luo Sha, he could never truly hate her.
Perhaps it was because she was too beautiful; or because she didn't eat humanoid creatures' flesh; or because the two of them had once dual-cultivated their spiritual power; or perhaps because Luo Sha had never done anything to harm him.
It was precisely because Zhang Ruochen had some fondness for Luo Sha that he was willing to speak his mind to her like a friend.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen sitting there like a withered stone, unwilling to acknowledge her, Luo Sha restrained some of her arrogance and said, "Actually, the biggest reason is that even if I became the Fate Goddess for a thousand years, it wouldn't help me much in becoming the empress of the Tianluo Divine Kingdom in the future. So why should I waste a thousand years working for the Destiny Temple?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Becoming the Fate Goddess could secure more benefits for the Rakshasa Clan and the Tianluo Divine Kingdom. Has your father never explained the stakes to you? Has he never pressured you?"
"Well..."
Luo Sha's eyes rolled slyly, and she laughed, "This princess understands now. So your confusion lies here."
"What do you understand?" Zhang Ruochen asked calmly, meeting her gaze.
Luo Sha said, "You're torn between doing what you want to do and what others force you to do. You want to be yourself, but you don't even know what you truly want."
"When you killed Manjian Dacheng, you were in great pain, weren't you?"
"To survive in the Hell Realm, you have to do countless things you don't want to do, and that hurts inside, doesn't it?"
"You don't like killing, yet you go further and further down the path of slaughter. Going against your own heart like this—aren't you afraid of breeding inner demons?"
"Zhang Ruochen, do you feel that because of responsibility, emotions, survival, protection, and other external reasons, you've never acted according to your true heart, and you've become someone you don't even recognize?"
"What you lack in your heart is a persistence—a persistence worth holding onto."
Luo Sha's eyes were piercing, as if she could see through Zhang Ruochen, forcing him into a corner with no escape, compelling him to face his own heart.
Every cultivator's path of cultivation requires constant reflection. Correcting oneself in mistakes, seeing oneself clearly in confusion, and guiding oneself through hardship.
Luo Sha said, "Regarding the Fate Goddess matter, my father pressured me, and my mother lectured me on countless responsibilities and principles, but I still didn't take the path they arranged. Because I have things I want to do, and I always know what I want. Becoming the Fate Goddess would only bind me for a thousand years."
"Some cultivators can stand on their own once they reach the Half-Saint realm."
"Some cultivators, even after reaching the Great Saint realm, still don't know what they want in the future."
"Do you think my imperial brother is passable? The divine prince of the Tianluo Divine Kingdom, a top-tier prodigy for a thousand years. But in my eyes, he's a failure. A failure dragged down by the identity of divine prince."
"He could have broken through to the Thousand Questions Realm seventy years ago and then continued to advance. But for the Heaven Hunting Battle, for the Tianluo Divine Kingdom, he suppressed his cultivation until now."
"Was he wrong to do that? No."
"It's because of people like him, who keep giving, that the Tianluo Divine Kingdom has always stood at the top of the seven divine kingdoms. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a failure. He will be bound by his identity for life, and in the future, there will be even more things binding him."
"You, Zhang Ruochen, are the same. You didn't want to participate in the Heaven Hunting Battle, but you came anyway. You could have chosen not to."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Did I have a choice?"
"Of course you had a choice, but you just didn't make it. If you, Zhang Ruochen, were a heartless, ruthless person, who could sway your will? Unfortunately, you're not that kind of person. That's the root of your pain and confusion now. The coldness on your face is all an act. The more you show yourself as unscrupulous and ruthless, the more you struggle and suffer inside."
Luo Sha sighed, "Just like this princess, who fell in love with a man who doesn't love me, and I've become more indecisive. Would you say this is a doomed fate between us?"
After a long silence.
"I understand!"
Zhang Ruochen's face, which had been as rigid as iron, suddenly relaxed.
Luo Sha said, "Good that you understand. This princess has been dragged down by you."
Just now, Zhang Ruochen had been thinking, and now he had a direction.
There was a direction, but no answer.
Because that answer was too difficult; he still hadn't clearly found it. Or rather, he didn't dare to set the answer lightly.
Bore had said that he had always been walking the path others wanted him to take.
Yes.
Zhang Ruochen had indeed been confused before. From the moment he became the Ninth Prince of Yunwu Commandery, his heart was lost. At that time, hatred was his everything.
But hatred is not a person's future.
The future Zhang Ruochen wanted was not necessarily to become a god or the ruler of heaven and earth. He wanted a peaceful and tranquil world, without killing, without people eating people, without malice... where the friends and family around him could stay away from all bad things, live happily for a lifetime, and generations could continue one after another.
But these were precisely the hardest things.
His extraordinary birth destined that the life he imagined was a luxury.
Wanting peace and tranquility was countless times harder than cultivating to become a god.
Perhaps...
This chaotic and cruel universe needed a new order!
Yes.
A brand-new order.
To establish that new order, he would keep cultivating and growing stronger.
This was a direction, and it was also what Zhang Ruochen had always deeply desired deep inside.
Having realized this, the pain and struggle in Zhang Ruochen's heart lessened by more than half, replaced by a lightness and joy as if escaping a quagmire. Even though this path was as difficult as reaching the sky.
It was very possible that he would spend his entire life and never reach the end.
But he was willing to persist and keep walking until the day the new order arrived.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, immersing himself in the grand vision he had sketched, perfecting the world picture under the new order in his mind, trying to present the answer.
"Whoosh—"
Gradually, Zhang Ruochen's body emitted an increasingly bright white light, like a sacred lamp being lit.
Luo Sha let out a soft exclamation, carefully observing Zhang Ruochen. At this moment, he was extremely sacred, with a flawless solemnity and an inviolable majesty.
This scene was like when Zhang Ruochen, holding the Emperor Divine Ruler, had charged alone into the myriad armies of the Hell Realm, leaving a deep imprint in her heart.
"Bang bang."
The twelve shackles in his heart snapped automatically in an instant.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen had now broken fifty shackles.
After a while, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes, raised his hand, and looked at it.
Then he stood up and looked at his body.
A warm and kind smile appeared on his face. "Thank you, Princess. Today's words will benefit Ruochen for a lifetime."
Luo Sha didn't feel she had helped Zhang Ruochen much, but having grown used to his cold demeanor, his sudden warmth and humility made her heart feel as sweet as honey. She was about to say something modest.
Zhang Ruochen changed his tone and added, "However, what you said also has many biases, which I cannot agree with. For example, your evaluation of the divine prince is inappropriate. If not for his and your father's efforts and sacrifices, you wouldn't have the capital to be willful. Another example: you want to be empress, yet you're unwilling to give and sacrifice for the Tianluo Divine Kingdom. Why would the people of the Tianluo Divine Kingdom accept you?"
"Get lost!" Luo Sha said.
Zhang Ruochen didn't continue. He smiled and walked out of the seven-cornered palace.
The moment he stepped out of the palace, his smile faded, and he became stern again.
Looking up at the pitch-black, boundless void, Zhang Ruochen murmured, "Only by becoming strong can the vision become reality. And the reality I face now is the harshest."
Bore's figure involuntarily appeared in Zhang Ruochen's mind.
She was always like that, saying things that were hard to hear, never willing to communicate properly. But she had pointed out the biggest flaw in Zhang Ruochen.
Today, Zhang Ruochen's sudden clarity of mind was half due to her awakening.
Otherwise, the twelve heart shackles might not have been broken for who knows how long.
"My answer will be told to you one day. What about your answer? What is your vision? Why did you come to the Hell Realm?" Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself.
...
In just three days, the cultivators of the Upper Three Clans had broken through the numerous layers of defenses set by the Heavenly Slaves, crossing millions of miles to reach the sky above the Seventh Dark Star.
Over these three days, the Heavenly Slaves they killed were almost all Saint King-level minor figures.
However, due to the formations, rune patterns, and sacred art traps set up in advance by the Heavenly Slaves, the Upper Three Clans suffered considerable losses.
Two Great Saints had fallen, and over a hundred Great Saints were injured.
The Great Saint Heavenly Slaves gathered on the Seventh Dark Star numbered over seven hundred, accounting for one-third of the entire Heaven Hunting Battlefield—a formidable force not to be underestimated.
If the Upper Three Clans adopted a strong assault, they would surely suffer heavy losses.
...
In the seven-cornered palace.
Zhang Ruochen and Luo Sha received the news immediately.
Luo Sha crushed the message light talisman and laughed, "This is getting interesting! Over seven hundred Great Saints all gathered together must have given the Upper Three Clans cultivators quite a scare."
"Without the Death Altar, this battle won't be easy for the Upper Three Clans," Zhang Ruochen said.
Luo Sha said, "The Upper Three Clans' initial expectation was probably that the Heavenly Slaves were scattered across this millions-of-miles dark space, allowing them to be picked off one by one. Now that all the Great Saint Heavenly Slaves are gathered together, they can't make a move."
On the dark star, spiritual power and cultivation are severely suppressed, which is actually an advantage for the Heavenly Slaves.
One side is determined to die, wanting to take a few down with them.
The other side cherishes their lives, only intending to hunt.
Once battle begins, even if the Upper Three Clans have an absolute advantage, they would surely suffer countless deaths trying to wipe out the Heavenly Slaves on the Seventh Dark Star. So, the Upper Three Clans dare not fight.
Luo Sha said, "If the Death Altar were still there, the Upper Three Clans could launch a strong assault. Zhang Ruochen, the cultivators of the Upper Three Clans must all hate you to death now."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head with a light laugh.
Without the Death Altar, the drama of Chi Di and Bore couldn't continue.
What decisions would Chi Di and Bore make next?
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Did the message you received only contain information about the Great Saint Heavenly Slaves on the dark star? What about the Saint King, Saint, and Half-Saint Heavenly Slaves?"
"Cultivators below the Great Saint realm, once they set foot on the Seventh Dark Star, would be suppressed like ordinary people. In battle, they'd be cannon fodder," Luo Sha said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "But the number of Heavenly Slaves below the Great Saint realm is massive—in the millions, tens of millions. A single Saint King might be cannon fodder, but what about ten thousand Saint Kings united? A single Saint might not exert much power, but what about a hundred thousand?"
Luo Sha nodded and said, "You're right. The Heavenly Slaves below the Great Saint realm are the biggest variable in this battle. But so far, the Rakshasa Clan hasn't yet detected where they are hiding."
"Chi Di is no ordinary man; he's a Great Saint of the Ten-Thousand Deaths One Life realm. Since he can hide millions of Heavenly Slaves, he must have his purpose. We must be on guard," Zhang Ruochen said.
Heavenly Slaves can die freely, but every Great Saint of the Rakshasa Clan and Undying Blood Clan is precious, the future foundation of their clans.
Luo Sha and Zhang Ruochen naturally had to be cautious.
Luo Sha said thoughtfully, "Then let the Upper Three Clans help us draw out Chi Di's trump card first, and then we'll make our move. Zhang Ruochen, how about you accompany this princess to find someone?"
"Who?"
"The most powerful necromancer on the Heaven Hunting Battlefield, Yan Guang of the Death Clan."
"Why find him?"
"To borrow an army from him."