Chapter 2601: The Second Boarder
The river before him was vast beyond measure, its currents surging downward in a relentless torrent.
Looking ahead, he could not see its origin.
Looking behind, he could not see where it flowed.
Zhang Ruochen understood that the River of Time was not a true river, but existed in the ethereal realm, within every great world and every corner of the universe.
The reason he could now see such a river was most likely due to the Time Esoterica.
Zhang Ruochen could sense that a vast amount of Time Esoterica and Space Esoterica enveloped the entire ancient temple. It was because of their presence that he could travel upstream against the River of Time without fear of being crushed by space or worn away by time.
Space Esoterica was the boat; Time Esoterica was the oar.
Xumi Saint Monk and this ancient temple served to strengthen the stability of the "boat." After all, this "boat" was not under Zhang Ruochen's control at the moment.
If, in the future, Zhang Ruochen could reach the height of Xumi Saint Monk and master all the Time Esoterica and Space Esoterica here, he might be able to walk on the River of Time and freely travel to the past and future.
"That is an impossible feat."
Xumi Saint Monk's voice came again from the main hall, saying, "The higher one's cultivation, the greater the karma. Attempting to cross time to reach the past or future invites stronger backlash. Trying to interfere with the past or future may even cost one's life at a tremendous price."
Zhang Ruochen returned to the main hall. Xumi Saint Monk's corpse still sat there cross-legged, radiant with golden light yet exuding a deathly stillness.
The golden light within the corpse burst forth from countless specks of brilliance.
Each speck of golden light was a Sarira.
Any deity who came here would undoubtedly go mad with greed, for they knew that the Sarira within Xumi Saint Monk's body were comparable to Buddha Relics, possessing infinite wonders and ranking as supreme divine treasures.
Yet Zhang Ruochen had no intention of digging out the Sarira. That would be an act of disrespect toward Xumi Saint Monk.
If Xumi Saint Monk had intended to pass the Sarira to him, they would have flown into his body of their own accord. Why would he need to commit such an unfilial act? Since the Saint Monk had not arranged it so, there must be a reason.
"Traveling to the beginning of time—how long will it take?"
As this question surfaced in his mind, Zhang Ruochen couldn't help but smile.
Sailing on the River of Time while pondering the length of time—wasn't that like creating two separate times in the universe? One was the time of heaven and earth, and the other was the time carved out by the Time Esoterica.
He stopped dwelling on these headache-inducing thoughts. The ancient temple was filled with Time Esoterica and Space Esoterica, making it the perfect opportunity to condense the Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent.
Zhang Ruochen had currently cultivated a total of eight types of Sacred Intent:
Fist Path Sacred Intent, Palm Path Sacred Intent, Sword Dao Sacred Intent, and the Five Elements Sacred Intent.
If he were to simultaneously condense the Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent, the total number of Sacred Intents would reach ten.
This was yet another challenge to the impossible!
Because, according to legend, a Great Saint could cultivate at most nine types of Sacred Intent.
"Let me first condense the ninth type—Space Sacred Intent."
During his recent training with Yunshen Daozhu, Zhang Ruochen's mastery of space had advanced significantly. With ninety-nine ten-thousandths of the Space Esoterica, condensing a high-grade Space Sacred Intent was an effortless task for him.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was about to begin condensing, he was shocked to hear light footsteps from outside the ancient temple.
What was going on?
He was certain that after entering the stone temple, Yunshen Daozhu and Gong Nanfeng had vanished.
Because the two were no longer in the same time-space.
Zhang Ruochen's heart pounded, and a chill ran down his spine. He immediately rushed into the main hall and hid behind the statue of the figure riding a white elephant. With the Buddha light of Xumi Saint Monk shining and the unique space within the Xumi Temple, even if the visitor had extremely high cultivation, it would be difficult to detect him.
Footsteps approached the main hall.
They grew clearer and clearer.
Moments later, Zhang Ruochen sensed the person enter the hall, followed by the faint sound of kneeling and kowtowing.
Zhang Ruochen breathed a slight sigh of relief. Someone who would kneel and bow to Xumi Saint Monk was unlikely to be a malevolent entity or an incomprehensibly terrifying demon.
He cautiously poked his head out to look into the hall, and then froze completely.
Kneeling in the hall was a woman with a figure of perfect proportions. Divine light flowed around her, her skin was as white as jade, and she resembled a celestial maiden descending to the mortal world.
It was Qiangu Nüdi, Hua Ying Qingchan.
Zhang Ruochen fully relaxed and was about to step out, but then something struck him, and he quickly pulled his head back, cold sweat trickling down his back.
"No, I understand now!"
"The Nüdi I am seeing now must be her when she first came to the Xumi Temple. This happened in the past, most likely during some period eight hundred years ago."
"At that time, she didn't know me, nor did she know my father. She had never heard of Zhang Ruochen or the Ming Emperor."
"If she saw me appear in the Xumi Temple, she would kill me on the spot because of the Undying Blood Clan bloodline within me."
A deity of the Kunlun Realm, who shared a blood feud with the Hell Realm, suddenly encountering a Great Saint with the bloodline of the Hell Realm in such a sacred place—the place where Xumi Saint Monk had passed into nirvana—would probably strike with a single sword without giving Zhang Ruochen any chance to explain.
Even if he tried to explain, making her believe him would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
If she performed a Soul Search, it would severely damage Zhang Ruochen's spirit and Sacred Soul.
Although Zhang Ruochen had a few items on him that could prove his identity, he still didn't dare take the risk. The Nüdi was not like Yunshen Daozhu; her sword had slain countless cultivators from the Hell Realm.
Zhang Ruochen became even more careful in concealing his aura.
At the same time, he pondered in his heart: Xumi Saint Monk should have sent him back to the past specifically. Why could the Nüdi board this "ship"?
Could it be that the Nüdi also had a purpose in returning to the past?
As far as Zhang Ruochen knew, among the cultivators who had found this ancient temple, besides the Nüdi, there was also the Ice Fire Phoenix from the Ancestral Spirit Realm. However, that Ice Fire Phoenix had not appeared in the temple.
This indicated that this was not a reversal of time, but rather the creation of a new timeline.
Zhang Ruochen had boarded the "ship" at the starting point, while the Nüdi had been picked up midway.
As for cultivators like the Ice Fire Phoenix who might have come to the Xumi Temple, they remained in the real time-space and had not entered this timeline leading to the past.
"Is the Nüdi going to the past? Could she be specifically going back to teach her younger self the path of cultivation?"
Zhang Ruochen had once heard the Nüdi say this. She claimed that her future self often returned to the past to impart deeper Dao to her. She also asserted that she possessed thirty percent of the Time Esoterica and a divine artifact to counter time.
But the intensity of the Time Esoterica in the temple did not seem to have changed.
Where did she obtain this thirty percent Time Esoterica?
The temple also didn't appear to contain any divine artifacts.
After an unknown amount of time, the Nüdi finally stood up and walked out of the main hall. Soon after, a soft exclamation of surprise came from outside—she had clearly discovered the River of Time.
She muttered to herself, "The Xumi Temple is sailing on the River of Time, and moving upstream. Doesn't that mean it's returning to the past? I understand now. So this is how it is. So this is how I met my future self."
It seemed she had figured something out, and a pleasant, light laugh echoed from outside.
"Holy Monk, oh Holy Monk, why are you taking me back to the past?"
As the sound of footsteps faded away, Zhang Ruochen cautiously emerged from behind the statue. To be safe, he planned to summon Da Sikong and Er Sikong from the Qiankun Realm.
If the Nüdi discovered him, the two of them might be able to prove his identity.
But to his astonishment, he found that the Qiankun Realm was no longer in his Qi Sea.
"It seems the Qiankun Realm was left behind in the original time-space. It cannot travel to the past."
After thinking it over, Zhang Ruochen found it quite normal. Even when Xumi Saint Monk was alive, he couldn't have brought an entire great world back to the past, let alone now that he had passed into nirvana.
Zhang Ruochen checked further and discovered that all items related to space and time, including battle weapons with internal spaces, had completely vanished.
Fortunately, the Quasi-Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pill was still there.
Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pills helped condense Sacred Intent.
Quasi-Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pills helped fuse Sacred Intent.
For Zhang Ruochen to strive for a First-rank Sacred Intent, the Quasi-Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pill was an indispensable key.
"This is troublesome. I must be careful around the Nüdi and never let her discover me."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fell on the stone wall of the main hall, where a painting titled "Sixth Patriarch Explains Zen" hung. Every line in the painting had been personally drawn by Xumi Saint Monk, aligning with the spatial veins, making it a space-related painting treasure.
He tore down the painting and wrapped it around himself. Then, he cautiously stepped out of the main hall, intending to see where the Nüdi had gone and what she was doing.
Curiosity burned in his heart.
Moreover, he planned to thoroughly search the Xumi Temple to see if the Ice Fire Phoenix had truly hidden the God-Hunting Divine Star Soul here.
If he could find it, it would greatly aid his breakthrough to the sixty-ninth level of Spiritual Power.