Chapter 2604: Cause and Effect
The blue-skinned old man appeared quite composed, saying, “Xumi is severely injured. Even if he breaks through, there is no need to fear him.”
As the vision of “Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage” manifested, the gods of the Hell Realm were forced to launch a full-scale assault, jointly offering up one divine artifact after another, determined to kill Xumi Saint Monk in the instant after his breakthrough.
Only three gods of the Hell Realm pursued the Time Source Pearl.
One of them was none other than the Lord of the Earth Fiend Ghost City, the Ghost Lord.
The other two exuded divine power fluctuations no weaker than the Ghost Lord. One was shrouded in dense blood clouds, his body spanning a hundred thousand miles, with twelve pairs of blood wings on his back.
The blood wings resembled twenty-four blood-red continents, unfurled across the cosmic void.
The other came from the Stone Clan, resembling a stone ox, but with a sharp tail longer than its body, treading on four clusters of white fire clouds beneath its feet.
Earlier, each had been stationed on a star, assisting the blue-skinned old man in suppressing Xumi Saint Monk’s spatial power, preventing the gods of the Hell Realm from being dragged into the abyss of the Void World by Xumi Saint Monk.
Now, these three divine realm titans had developed a keen interest in the Time Source Pearl, seeking to seize it.
As the Time Source Pearl flew toward the location of Xumi Temple, it brought with it a vast amount of Time Esoterica.
Suddenly, the River of Time, which had vanished, reappeared in Zhang Ruochen’s vision.
“Rustle, rustle.”
Time flowed, like the sound of water.
Xumi Temple trembled slightly, as if it were about to set off again, leaving this time node and heading into a more ancient past.
All of this was influenced by the Time Source Pearl and the Time Esoterica within it.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart jolted violently. In a flash of realization, he understood everything. His gaze fixed on the Female Emperor, and he shouted, “Go seize the Time Source Pearl immediately! Saint Monk’s Time Esoterica must not fall into the hands of these three Hell Realm gods!”
The Qiangu Nüdi was startled by the sudden voice. Her eyes turned toward Zhang Ruochen, who had emerged from concealment.
Her gaze first showed surprise, then gradually calmed, and finally, she looked at Zhang Ruochen with deep reverence. It was as if she were about to kneel and bow to him.
Without a word, the Qiangu Nüdi took control of Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse and charged out of Xumi Temple.
“The Female Emperor truly lives up to her name. Her state of mind is beyond that of ordinary cultivators. My sudden appearance only startled her for a moment before she quickly regained her composure. No, what was that look in her eyes at the end?”
Zhang Ruochen felt that the Female Emperor’s final glance at him was filled with awe.
A peerless god, in awe of a Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint?
Zhang Ruochen’s attention was entirely captured by the Time Source Pearl and the three Hell Realm divine titans hurtling toward it. His mind was on high alert, and he failed to notice that the Buddhist light radiating from the “Sixth Patriarch’s Meditation Diagram” had completely enveloped him.
Those Buddhist lights coalesced into the form of the Sixth Patriarch.
In the Qiangu Nüdi’s vision, she could not see Zhang Ruochen at all. All she saw was the golden, radiant Sixth Patriarch standing before her. Naturally, she believed it was the Sixth Patriarch manifesting, instructing her on what to do.
In Xumi Temple, with the vision of Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage unfolding, time and space were distorted. Encountering the manifested Sixth Patriarch did not seem impossible.
The Sixth Patriarch was a Buddha.
Even if a Buddha had fallen, their influence on later generations remained extraordinary.
Zhang Ruochen had urged the Female Emperor to seize the Time Source Pearl because he knew the future outcome.
The Female Emperor’s three-tenths share of Time Esoterica and the divine artifact she used to counter time were most likely obtained here.
This journey into the past was a “ship” Zhang Ruochen had boarded to cultivate the First-rank Sacred Intent.
The Female Emperor had boarded the “ship” to come to this time node and seize Time Esoterica.
Everything was Saint Monk’s arrangement!
Saint Monk did not want the three-tenths of Time Esoterica to fall into the hands of the Hell Realm gods, so he had brought the Female Emperor from the future. She was a passenger who boarded midway and would disembark midway.
As for Zhang Ruochen, he was too weak to contend for Time Esoterica.
Zhang Ruochen could almost feel the despair in Xumi Saint Monk’s heart. If, in this time and space, there had been any god worthy of entrusting with Time Esoterica, why would Saint Monk have had to bring the Female Emperor from the distant future?
This showed that, in this time and space, Saint Monk no longer trusted any cultivator. The only ones he could trust lacked the ability to wield Time Esoterica.
The fact that he alone stood before the Kunlun Realm, besieged by a horde of Hell Realm gods, was the best proof.
The River of Time beneath Xumi Temple remained highly unstable, the temple swaying left and right, unable to move forward.
Although Zhang Ruochen already knew the future outcome, he still worried deeply for Xumi Saint Monk. However, as the River of Time manifested, he could no longer see the battlefield outside.
All he could see was a river and the ancient temple beneath him.
“Whoosh!”
Time and space trembled violently.
The Time Source Pearl shattered through time and space, flying onto the River of Time.
A dark, piercing divine voice came from behind the Time Source Pearl: “Not good! The Time Source Pearl is about to fall into the River of Time! Who will lend me a hand to enter the River of Time?”
The speaker was the Ghost Lord.
The Stone Ox and the Undying Blood Clan god with twelve pairs of blood wings on its back ignored the Ghost Lord, continuing their charge, intent on pursuing into the River of Time.
The Ghost Lord urged urgently, “There’s no time! Any later, and the Time Source Pearl will surely fall into the River of Time, vanishing from our time and space. Whoever helps me seize it, I’ll split the Esoterica half and half!”
“Fine, I’ll help you.”
The Stone Ox activated a divine ability, its divine power surging. It slammed headlong into the Ghost Lord.
The Ghost Lord, stepping on pitch-black ghost clouds, successfully chased into the River of Time.
At the same time, the Undying Blood Clan god shrank its divine body to the size of a normal human, ancestral patterns emerging on its twelve pairs of blood wings. It too pursued into the River of Time.
…
Standing in Xumi Temple, Zhang Ruochen could not see the battlefield outside. But in the instant the Time Source Pearl broke through time and space, he heard Xumi Saint Monk’s final chant: “I am willing to scatter this divine power, only to win a future.”
“If Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha.”
“If Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha…”
…
Zhang Ruochen could not see the tragic scene of Xumi Saint Monk dispersing his divine power to protect the Kunlun Realm, but he could hear the solemnity in those words. Unknowingly, tears streamed down his face.
Just as the voice of “If Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha” rang out, Xumi Temple seemed to receive some kind of blessing. It stabilized completely and slowly began to move, sailing into the past.
“Saint Monk scattered his divine power not only to protect Kunlun but also to clear the path for me to travel into the past.”
“I understand!”
“I understand!”
“Ten thousand years later, the fallen Xumi Saint Monk has no power to take me back to the past. The power that brings me back comes from the Xumi Saint Monk of this very moment.”
“Only a Buddha’s martyrdom, unleashing divine power, could bring me from the future to this place. And from here, send me to the ancient, the primeval, the primordial… to the very origin of time.”
Zhang Ruochen alternated between crying and laughing.
In that moment, he understood why Yunshen Daozhu had said, “Xumi Saint Monk has placed all his hopes on you.” He also understood the meaning of Saint Monk’s words at his martyrdom: “I am willing to scatter this divine power, only to win a future.”
“Saint Monk, Saint Monk, your expectations of me are too high. You are a Buddha. How can a Buddha place his hopes on a Great Saint?” Zhang Ruochen sobbed uncontrollably.
Xumi Temple sailed slowly forward.
“Boom!”
A deafening battle sound erupted on the River of Time, jolting the grieving Zhang Ruochen awake.
The Female Emperor, controlling Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse, had successfully seized the Time Source Pearl but was intercepted by the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god.
“Xumi, haven’t you scattered your divine power and already martyred yourself? Haha, so this bald donkey isn’t honest after all, secretly hiding in the River of Time.”
Feeling the weak divine power on Xumi Saint Monk’s body, the Ghost Lord felt no fear, instead driven by greed.
The Undying Blood Clan god said, “This old bald donkey Xumi must be trying to shed his skin, heal his wounds, and stage a comeback. Since we’ve encountered him, we can’t let him succeed. Cast him into the River of Time and let him fend for himself.”
The Ghost Lord shook his head with a laugh, “Rather than casting him away, why not devour him? I’ll take his Buddhist soul, and you can have his Buddhist blood. How about that?”
“Then let’s fight!”
The Undying Blood Clan god raised a war sword and attacked Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse first.
The River of Time had a unique spatial structure. Even the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god’s perception was reduced to an extremely low level. They failed to realize that the Xumi Saint Monk before them was just a corpse.
Moreover, they could not see Xumi Temple.
The Female Emperor, still too young at this point, struggled to control Xumi Saint Monk’s remains. Even so, she was forced back toward Xumi Temple by the two divine titans.
“Boom!”
The Ghost Lord struck out with a palm, his palm covered in dense Abandoned Heaven Ghost Patterns. Thousands of ghostly figures emerged, crashing heavily onto Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse.
Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse and the Qiangu Nüdi were both sent flying.
The tiny Qiangu Nüdi fell into the River of Time, swept away by the rolling waters, disappearing from the surface.
The flying corpse of Xumi Saint Monk vanished before hitting the water, leaving the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god astonished.
The Undying Blood Clan god’s gaze turned serious, fixed on the area of Xumi Temple. He pointed and said, “I can sense fluctuations of Space Esoterica in that region. Should we pursue?”
The Ghost Lord’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, hesitant.
The River of Time was dangerous enough, and now a mysterious secret domain had appeared above it. Even divine titans like them dared not venture in recklessly.
That secret domain was, of course, Xumi Temple.
Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse fell onto the barren ground outside Xumi Temple, creating a deep crater.
Zhang Ruochen rushed out of the temple, staring at the corpse in the pit, then looked toward the River of Time, searching for the Qiangu Nüdi. But she had already vanished, swept back to the future by the River of Time.
“The Female Emperor seized three-tenths of Time Esoterica and has the Time Source Pearl. She should be able to withstand the River of Time’s power.” As this thought crossed Zhang Ruochen’s mind, he silently cursed himself for his foolishness.
Of course, the Female Emperor had withstood the River of Time’s power. She was alive and well in the future, far stronger than she was now.
Xumi Temple had begun sailing toward a more ancient past, but its speed was too slow.
Standing beside Xumi Saint Monk’s corpse, Zhang Ruochen nervously watched the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god, fearing they might risk entering Xumi Temple.
But soon, Zhang Ruochen noticed that the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god’s expressions changed drastically, as if they had seen something terrifying.
“Pay… paying respects to the Sixth Patriarch! So you, venerable one, are still alive.”
“Forget paying respects, run!”
The Ghost Lord was terrified, immediately leaving the River of Time and fleeing back to his original time and space.
Encountering the Sixth Patriarch on the River of Time left the two Hell Realm gods shaken, nearly scared out of their wits. They planned to return and report this shocking secret to the divine venerables of the Destiny Temple and the Darkness Temple.
The Sixth Patriarch was not dead.
The Heavenly Court had left such a terrifying trump card. What were they planning?
The more the Ghost Lord and the Undying Blood Clan god thought about it, the more frightened they became. They intended to suggest a temporary truce to the divine venerables.
Until it was confirmed whether the Sixth Patriarch had truly fallen, this divine war should not continue. They must not fall into the Heavenly Court’s trap.
Zhang Ruochen was stunned. He looked down and saw that his body was radiating Buddhist light, a golden Buddha shadow forming around him.
The Ghost Lord, at least the lord of the third-ranked ghost city, the Earth Fiend Ghost City, was far too cowardly.
Just a golden Buddha shadow, and he was scared like this?
…
In the end, they left that time ten thousand years ago. Xumi Temple sailed toward an even more ancient era.
(These few chapters could have been written in ten or twenty chapters, but I thought it was not the right time for a divine war, so I glossed over it. The main purpose was to fill in the plot holes from earlier chapters—at least three or more holes.
These holes might have been forgotten by most readers, but as the author, I had to address them.
Now that the holes are filled, the story will move forward quickly!
If readers have forgotten the earlier plot holes, they might find this confusing, but it’s fine to ignore it. It won’t affect the reading going forward.)