Chapter 2532: Outside Ghost Wood Studio
Within the sacred land of the Earth Demon Clan, there was a scenic path, said to have been carved out by a deity. It wound up the mountain, with stone steps stretching along the way. On the steep cliffs, purple-red exotic flowers bloomed, and humanoid demon butterflies danced above them.
Bore and Zhang Ruochen walked side by side, the mountain path silent and still.
Bore said, "During the seven days you spent recovering from your injuries, the Destiny Temple and the Yama Clan took the lead, ordering the city's hundred clans to purge the cultivators from the Heavenly Court side. Countless have died. Those corpses are nailed to the city walls, and some Great Saints still haven't fully died, still struggling against the walls."
Zhang Ruochen said, "The emergence of the Origin Divine Temple is a monumental event. Naturally, the Destiny Temple and the Yama Clan don't want the Heavenly Court to get involved."
"And that Flower Fairy?" Bore asked.
Zhang Ruochen stopped at the edge of a steep cliff, gazing at the clouds and mist among the mountains, his expression calm and unruffled. "What do you mean?"
Bore said, "Not long ago, news came that the Flower Fairy didn't hide or flee. Instead, she took the initiative to attack the Hell Realm experts stationed in the Aoyun Asteroid Belt."
"Alone, she killed four Supreme Realm Great Saints in a row, then successfully escaped."
Zhang Ruochen was silent for a moment, then said indifferently, "The Aoyun Asteroid Belt gathered so many experts, with Xingluo and Yuan Qianmo overseeing it, and they still couldn't keep her?"
"It's said that when she retreated, she sustained considerable injuries and didn't enter a space wormhole," Bore said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "That's quite impressive."
"In fact, her appearance cleared you of suspicion," Bore said.
"Oh?"
"Many cultivators suspected that she was hiding on you and had already escaped the Aoyun Asteroid Belt to come to the Hundred Clans Royal City. Now, that suspicion no longer exists."
Zhang Ruochen said nothing, stepping on the stone stairs and continuing upward.
Soon, they reached the top of the sacred mountain.
Standing under the bright sunlight, Zhang Ruochen looked at the distant city and the nearby beautiful scenery, his mind gradually opening up. He wondered what mindset the deity who once stood here had.
"Swoosh!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword naturally flew out, hovering in front of Zhang Ruochen.
With a thought, his Sword Soul rushed out of his body, grabbed the hilt, and began to dance around his true form, executing one exquisite sword technique after another.
There were the most basic "Heavenly Heart Sword Technique," "Time Sword Art," techniques from the "Wordless Sword Manual," self-created sword techniques, and insights into the Sword Dao gleaned from the five volumes, including "Biluo Random Notes."
Bore stood in the distance, watching both Zhang Ruochen's motionless true form and the Sword Soul dancing gracefully and freely. A complex emotion involuntarily appeared in her eyes—sorrow, admiration, appreciation, loss...
All the doubts in her heart vanished.
How could anyone possibly take him over?
She longed for Zhang Ruochen to be dancing the sword for her.
But she knew that Zhang Ruochen was only comprehending the sword, always immersed in his own world. Even when he had been talking with her earlier, he was probably more focused on internally pondering the Sword Dao.
Never before had she wanted to give up her persistence as much as she did at this moment. What was the Divine Maiden, what was Bore, what was the future, compared to the beauty of this instant?
Even if the scene she saw in the Pool of Fate happened, at least now it wouldn't be so painful—two people standing right in front of each other, yet unable to say a single word.
Death didn't seem so terrifying.
The future might not necessarily be death either.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, the scene she had seen when she first became a Realm Son and Chi Yao took her to the Pool of Fate reappeared in her mind:
Zhang Ruochen, in the boundless universe, was just like now, holding the Abyssal Ancient Sword, gazing into the deep, dark void. An infinitely huge hand flew out of the darkness, instantly destroying world after world, stars burning like grains of sand, billions of beings wailing as they turned to ashes.
Zhang Ruochen swung his sword, but it only blocked the giant hand for a moment. The Abyssal Ancient Sword shattered into pieces, and he too turned to dust.
Some memories, no matter how hard you try to cut them away, you can't; no matter how hard you try to forget, you can't.
She had told Zhang Ruochen that she had cut away her past memories, but it was all a lie. If she really wanted to cut away memories, she would have cut away everything from her past life. How could she still remember him?
She couldn't bear to cut away those memories.
Bore gently pressed her hand to her heart, her body trembling slightly. She closed her eyes. "No, since I've already chosen this path, I can't regret it. All the beings in this world can die, but he must live. He must live well."
Zhang Ruochen finished his sword dance, and the Sword Soul flew back into his body. He sighed softly, "It's really not that easy to cultivate a Heavenly Sword Soul. I still need to keep accumulating."
Just now, he had felt a spark of insight and tried to break through to the Heavenly Sword Soul.
Unfortunately, he failed.
He turned around, but Bore had already left. At the top of the sacred mountain, only he remained.
Half an hour later, the cultivators of the Earth Demon Clan saw lightning and thunder appear at the top of the sacred mountain, accompanied by fierce winds. The sky turned dark and gloomy.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword had passed its fourth King Tribulation and advanced to a Four-Yuan Monarch Sacred Artifact.
Zhang Ruochen returned to the courtyard, successively receiving visits from Xuan Zehai, Yan Huangtu, and others. Then he locked himself alone in his room.
In the room, he took out the Seven-Star Divine Palace and, using the Space Teleportation Array he had already set up inside, left the Earth Demon Clan's sacred land.
It was very difficult to enter the Earth Demon Clan's sacred land through a space teleportation array, but leaving was relatively easy.
Zhang Ruochen changed his appearance and, following the address given by the Grand Minister of Works, went to the secret stronghold of the Thousand Stamen Realm.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen had a tall, straight figure, silver hair, a pair of dragon horns on his head, and a mask on his face. He exuded a decaying, dark aura of death.
Other cultivators who saw him would only think he was a cultivator from the Corpse Clan.
But this appearance was exactly the same as when he and Ji Fanxin had entered the Yin-Yang Hall in the Truth Heaven Domain to rescue her senior sister.
"Ghost Wood Studio."
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the plaque above, which bore three ghostly, eerie characters.
This was a huge manor. Behind the gray-green walls, black ghostly qi permeated the air. Even with Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power reaching the sixty-eighth rank, it was difficult to sense what was inside.
"I wonder if the encirclement of Heavenly Court cultivators by the Fate Divine Domain, the Yama Clan, and the Hundred Clans Royal City has reached this place."
Zhang Ruochen wasn't worried about his own safety, but about whether bringing Ji Fanxin to the Hundred Clans Royal City would harm her.
Without thinking further, he was about to step forward and knock on the door when a rumbling sound came from the street on the right.
The sound of sacred beasts running and armor clashing mixed together.
Soon, a military unit of several hundred Saint-level cultivators appeared before Zhang Ruochen.
The Saint-level military unit lined up, surrounding Ghost Wood Studio.
Two snow-white giant beasts emerged from the unit, their momentum fierce—they were actually two Great Saint-level sacred beasts.
On the backs of the giant beasts sat two Great Saints in armor: Princess Xuelai of the Immortal Source Clan and Ailian Jun of the Yaksha Clan.
Ailian Jun's gaze fell on Zhang Ruochen. Seeing him standing outside Ghost Wood Studio, about to enter, he immediately gave an order: "Take him down."
A squad of Saint-level soldiers rushed out, surrounding Zhang Ruochen.
Without needing to guess, the secret stronghold of the Thousand Stamen Realm had definitely been exposed, which was why the joint law enforcement team of the Hundred Clans Royal City had surrounded the place.
The cultivators in front of him were, of course, not a threat.
But with three deities sitting in the city, along with clan emperors and other top-tier experts, once Ji Fanxin was caught, saving her would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Zhang Ruochen's mind raced, thinking of a countermeasure.
"Clank, clank."
Two Saint-level enforcers from the law enforcement team, their eyes sharp, took out sacred chains and walked toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly, then stomped his foot on the ground. A surge of powerful death qi rushed out, sending the two Saint-level enforcers flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
"You cultivators of the Hundred Clans Royal City are quite arrogant. Do you really think you can arrest anyone? Aren't you afraid of offending someone you shouldn't?" Zhang Ruochen sneered.
"How dare you obstruct the law enforcement team! That's a capital offense!"
All the Saint-level cultivators of the law enforcement team summoned their sacred artifact weapons, their killing intent surging like a rainbow.
Ailian Jun's gaze fell on the two Saints who had been sent flying. Finding them completely unharmed, he quickly said, "Wait! Everyone, put away your weapons."
He and Princess Xuelai leaped down from the backs of the giant beasts and walked up to Zhang Ruochen.
Ailian Jun introduced himself first: "I am Han Ailian, a disciple under the Jade Spirit Divine of the Yaksha Clan. May I ask how to address you, sir? Are you from the Corpse Clan?"
Zhang Ruochen acted mysterious and aloof. "First, tell me why you want to arrest me. Have I committed any crime or disrupted the order of your Hundred Clans Royal City?"
Princess Xuelai had just used her spiritual power to probe him and found that she couldn't see through him at all. Shocked, she dared not act too presumptuously.
She said cautiously, "Sir, you may not know this, but we have discovered that the owner of this Ghost Wood Studio is likely a cultivator of the Heavenly Court. We are here under orders to surround and purge it. Seeing you standing outside, about to enter, naturally raised our suspicions."
Ailian Jun nodded. "That's right! If you can prove your innocence or state your name and origin, we will immediately apologize to you."
There was no other way. Since the other party's cultivation was unfathomable, they had to be cautious.
"Alright, I understand."
Zhang Ruochen reached into his sleeve, as if to take something out.
Inside his sleeve was another world.
Zhang Ruochen took out an iron token and handed it to Ailian Jun.
Ailian Jun took the iron token and looked at it. His expression changed dramatically, and he immediately clasped his hands in salute, bowing his head. "So it's an envoy of the Destiny Temple! Greetings, Envoy!"
"Greetings, Envoy!"
All the Saint-level soldiers, including Princess Xuelai, quickly bowed in salute.
They were all cultivators from minor clans and couldn't afford to offend the Destiny Temple.
The iron token bore the imprint of a Destiny Heavenly Command, exuding the aura of fate.
Zhang Ruochen took back the iron token. "I am a secret envoy of the Divine Maiden. I came here because I also discovered something and wanted to investigate. Since you're here, let's go in together."
...
At the start of the new year, I told myself I absolutely wouldn't miss a chapter, but yesterday there was no way around it. I won't go into the specific reasons—just a fist-clasped apology.
Also, regarding the donation event, although some unpleasant things happened along the way, the result was good. I am very grateful to the more than six thousand readers who trusted me. I can't guarantee how many extra chapters I'll add to repay this kindness and trust, but I'll do my best!
Let me add one more thing: I absolutely do not regret doing this event. Even years from now, I will still find it very meaningful. Thank you all very much.
Enough said. There's another chapter tonight.