Chapter 2606: Crossing Through the Ages, a Life-or-Death Gamble
The River of Time flows eternally.
Traveling forward, heading toward the distant past, Zhang Ruochen passed through the Middle Ages, witnessing the tragic scene where the Kunlun Realm was shattered and only Xumi Saint Monk stood alone to guard it.
He also saw the breathtaking brilliance of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable in the Ancient Era.
Crossing through the Ancient Era, he witnessed the rise and prosperity of the Confucian Path, the Taiji Path, the Buddhist Path, the Demon Path, and all the myriad paths of the heavens—one by one, the legendary figures of the past, some holding feather fans and wearing silk caps, others delivering salvation to all beings, and still others journeying to the ends of the earth to spread their teachings.
The legendary Qi Refiners faded into obscurity in the Dark Ancient Era.
Yet, passing through the Mysterious Ancient, Divine Ancient… Dark Ancient, through countless eons, he arrived at the Remote Ancient Era.
In the Remote Ancient Era, Zhang Ruochen spotted figures of Qi Refiners and Witch Path cultivators several times. To be precise, it was their Nascent Souls and Witch Souls, immensely powerful, that pierced through time and space, breaking into the River of Time, allowing him to see them.
There was no interaction.
No one attacked him—perhaps they hadn’t noticed him, or perhaps they simply regarded him as part of the celestial mechanism.
Starting from the Middle Ages and moving forward, Zhang Ruochen constantly encountered various interceptions and attacks.
Some, he could recognize as belonging to later eras’ powers, such as the Time Divine Temple and the Fate Divine Temple. But most of the attackers, he had no idea which later faction they came from.
As for those who cleared the path for him, he only recognized a very few of the strongest, such as the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, the Heavenly Demon, the Confucian Ancestor, the Buddha Ancestor, the Sword Ancestor…
The vast majority, he did not recognize at all.
After arriving in the Remote Ancient Era, Zhang Ruochen was no longer attacked.
This was because a great calamity had erupted at the end of the Remote Ancient Era, severing nearly all traditions. Even though the Qi Refiners and Witch Path cultivators were immensely powerful, after the Remote Ancient Era gave way to the Dark Ancient Era, the rules of heaven and earth changed, and they declined.
The three paths of the Kunlun Realm emerged in the late Dark Ancient Era, defeating the declining Ancient Witch and Qi Refiner traditions.
Passing through the Upper, Middle, and Lower periods of the Remote Ancient Era, Zhang Ruochen no longer saw any human cultivators on the River of Time.
After the Remote Ancient Era came the Desolate Ancient Era.
Legends say the Desolate Ancient Era was a time of utter chaos, with myriad clans standing side by side. Humanity was born in this era, but back then, humans lived by eating raw meat and drinking blood, drilling wood for fire, surviving only in the cracks between the myriad clans.
Of course, the Desolate Ancient Era also gave birth to supreme human experts who could contend with the strongest of the myriad clans.
For example, the “Human Ancestor.”
Whether the Human Ancestor truly existed could no longer be verified, but at least various legends about him still circulated in later ages. Some even claimed he was the first cultivator to simultaneously master time and space.
Crossing through the various periods of the Desolate Ancient Era, Zhang Ruochen arrived at the Primordial Ancient Era.
Finally, Zhang Ruochen’s vision was no longer limited to just the River of Time.
The River of Time gradually grew blurry, and on its surface, five-colored and ten-hued chaotic qi appeared. The forces of time and space became quite disordered.
“Rumble.”
Xumi Temple trembled incessantly, and the cracks on the ground grew wider and wider.
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the sky and saw clusters of bright nebulae flying rapidly downstream along the River of Time. To be precise, it was an illusion caused by Xumi Temple’s continuous forward movement.
“Legend has it that in the Primordial Ancient Era, the entire universe was a single chaos. The Primordial Beings born in this era were incredibly powerful, born from heaven and earth, able to directly inhale and exhale chaotic qi, and focused on cultivating their physical bodies.”
“Unfortunately, at the end of the Primordial Ancient Era, stars began to form in the universe, and the rules of heaven and earth changed once again. Those powerful Primordial Beings could not reproduce and nearly all died out.”
As he continued forward, Zhang Ruochen could no longer see stars or nebulae.
The River of Time became even more ethereal, and from time to time, Primordial Beings flew overhead, their bodies so vast and boundless that they were even more awe-inspiring than the phoenix Zhang Ruochen had seen at the end of the Middle Ages.
After who knew how many years, Zhang Ruochen finally crossed through the Primordial Ancient Era and arrived at the Primal Beginning Era.
The Primal Beginning Era was precisely the place where space and time first came into being.
At this time, there was no universe, no living beings, and even chaotic qi had only just emerged. The space was filled with all kinds of particles and rules.
Space was highly compressed, and the temperature reached levels that even gods could not withstand.
“Boom.”
Under the compression of space and the refining of high temperatures, Xumi Temple shook even more violently. Even the vast amounts of Space Essence and Time Esoterica seemed unable to withstand it.
The River of Time below still existed, but it had become as faint as a shadow.
Following the River of Time, Zhang Ruochen finally saw its end.
There, it was pitch black, like a black hole, with no light. But countless particles and rules gushed forth from within.
Without the protection of Time Esoterica and Space Essence, even a god would die instantly upon arriving here.
Zhang Ruochen struggled to calm his excited and shaken heart, because he could see that Xumi Temple wouldn’t last much longer. He hadn’t come here just to witness the birth of space and time, but to fuse a First-rank Sacred Intent.
Xumi Saint Monk had sent him here at the cost of his own martyrdom—how could he betray the saint monk’s expectations?
But the saint monk had never told him what the connection was between coming here and fusing a First-rank Sacred Intent. Zhang Ruochen’s heart was filled with urgency, yet he had no clue.
In terms of understanding the Sacred Path and the principles of time and space, Zhang Ruochen was at least a hundred thousand times inferior to Xumi Saint Monk.
The saint monk might have comprehended the key to condensing a First-rank Sacred Intent, but Zhang Ruochen was merely a Great Saint who had cultivated for less than a thousand years—how could he possibly grasp such a universal truth?
Zhang Ruochen rushed into the main hall, first clasped his hands together and bowed to Xumi Saint Monk’s remains, then asked, “Saint Monk, at the moment of your death, you had already stepped into the realm of the Buddha Ancestor. You must have glimpsed some celestial mechanism at that moment, knowing the method to condense a First-rank Sacred Intent, which is why you chose me a hundred thousand years later. Now that we’ve reached our destination, shouldn’t you tell me the method of condensation?”
The hall was deathly silent.
Only the sound of walls crumbling could be heard.
“Saint Monk, don’t joke around. Just say one word, even a single hint would do. Saint Monk, Saint Monk… Master…”
“Master, it’s not that I didn’t want to call you Master before, but you never formally accepted me as your disciple. And I’ve never called you that before—suddenly, I really can’t change my ways.”
Zhang Ruochen knelt before Xumi Saint Monk’s remains, grabbed his shoulders, and gently shook him, pleading earnestly, “Master, we don’t have much time left. Pull yourself together! You are a Buddha Ancestor—can’t you see me through to the end? I don’t believe that you, an elder, could send me here from the future but don’t even have the strength to say a single word.”
Still, there was only silence.
“Master, do you really want me to figure it out on my own? The pressure is too great!”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Xumi Saint Monk, whose eyes were closed and head bowed, knowing that the elder had long since passed away. He sighed in dejection, released his hands, and said, “I’m asking for too much. I’m sorry, Master, for disturbing you.”
He bowed once more, then walked out of the hall.
Ahead, the space was compressed even more fiercely, with particles densely packed. Xumi Temple swayed incessantly and had come to a halt.
The ground was covered with cracks.
The walls of the ancient temple kept collapsing.
Zhang Ruochen collected the Rainbow Transformation Vine, which had grown from the Star Soul of the God Hunter, and wrapped it into the “Sixth Patriarch’s Meditation Scroll” to prevent it from being destroyed along with Xumi Temple.
“If Master knew the method to condense a First-rank Sacred Intent, he would have told me in some way. Since he didn’t, it means he, too, didn’t know the method.”
“He probably only guessed that there might be an opportunity to condense a First-rank Sacred Intent at the place where time and space first came into being.”
“In the end, it all depends on me.”
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, calming his chaotic mind.
On the River of Time, he had cultivated for who knew how many years. His Spiritual Power had already broken through to the sixty-ninth rank, and his Sacred Soul was far stronger than before. Even his Sacred Dao rules had exceeded two hundred billion, reaching a height that no other Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint had ever achieved.
With the help of Time Esoterica and Space Essence, his mastery of time and space had advanced by several levels.
Condensing a tenth Sacred Intent was nearly impossible for other cultivators.
But at this moment, Zhang Ruochen had full confidence in condensing the Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent, reaching the level of ten.
However, the key now was not about condensing the tenth Sacred Intent, but about what kind of Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent to cultivate, so that they could better fuse with the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent, achieving the most perfect state.
“Time and space, yin and yang, five elements.”
“Time and space, yin and yang, five elements.”
…
Zhang Ruochen kept chanting this, and the memories in his mind began to replay from this point.
From the birth of time and space, when various particles and heavenly rules burst forth, then gave rise to chaotic qi, entering the Primordial Ancient Era.
From chaotic qi, Primordial Beings were born.
Then came the Desolate Ancient Era, Remote Ancient Era, Dark Ancient Era… Divine Ancient, Mysterious Ancient, Upper Ancient, Middle Ancient—one era after another flashed through his mind.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes.
All the images in his mind were pulled back in an instant, converging into a single point.
Zhang Ruochen gazed into the distance at that black hole, which ceaselessly spewed particles and rules, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: “That is the birthplace of time and space, yin and yang, and the five elements, containing everything. Though it is not like the sea embracing all rivers or encompassing all phenomena, all rivers and phenomena are derived from it.”
“Boom.”
Whether it sensed Zhang Ruochen’s inner will, Xumi Temple continued forward, charging toward that singularity where space first came into being.
What drove Xumi Temple was the Time Esoterica and Space Essence.
Both the Time Esoterica and Space Essence began to burn.
Zhang Ruochen entered the hall, transformed into a small figure, and sat cross-legged in the palm of Xumi Saint Monk’s hand.
He had already conceived a method to fuse the nine Sacred Intents of yin-yang, five elements, time, and space, but he didn’t know if it would work. He could only gamble once.
And he only had one chance to gamble.
The Time Esoterica and Space Essence were already burning. Once they burned out, he would surely die.
Now, the first step Zhang Ruochen needed to take was to fuse the Five Elements Fire Path Sacred Intent into the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent before the two Esotericas burned out completely.
Only in this way, even if his physical body, Sacred Soul, and Spiritual Power were shattered into particles, the Yin-Yang Five Elements could still keep these particles condensed without dispersing.
Of course, the prerequisite was that his will and spirit were strong enough—even if shattered into particles, he could still maintain the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent.
Only by achieving this first step could he possibly seize a chance in the second step to integrate the Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent, reaching an absolutely perfect state.
As for what kind of Time Sacred Intent and Space Sacred Intent to condense, Zhang Ruochen still had no clue.
The chances of success and survival were less than one in ten million.
He could only gamble.
…
There will be another chapter tonight. Whether the First-rank Sacred Intent can be successfully condensed will be revealed immediately. Where are the monthly votes?
Leave Request!
I wrote tonight’s chapter, about half a chapter, but my condition was very poor. The writing wasn’t clear enough, a bit messy, and my mind is now a bit foggy.
I plan to rewrite it tomorrow morning.
So, readers waiting for updates, rest early. Tonight, Little Fish also plans not to stay up late, to rest and recover my mental state.