Chapter 2631: Tai Shang Emerges from Seclusion
The eight Nine Heavens Mysterious Maidens did not follow Stone Emperor to reclaim the Sacred Domain. On their way back to the Domain Mansion, they happened to see Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu, clad in a red martial robe, embracing each other in the distance.
The scene was quite beautiful.
Wan Canglan’s gaze was icy cold. She lightly stomped her foot and said, “See? No matter how high his cultivation, he’s still just a scumbag. Qing Mo, go fetch Danqing. She needs to see his true face and stay away from him from now on.”
Qing Mo quickly nodded and ran off.
The other Mysterious Maidens also showed cold expressions, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was going too far. Relying on his powerful cultivation, he was wantonly toying with the feelings of two proud daughters of the Kunlun Realm. This was truly intolerable. Moreover, one of them was their sister.
Even Xue Wuye, notorious for his romantic escapades, would face their condemnation if he dared to do such a thing.
Before long, Qing Mo pulled Nalan Danqing by her jade hand and arrived here.
“Qing Mo, what exactly happened?” Nalan Danqing asked.
Qing Mo pointed at Zhang Ruochen. Then, a look of surprise appeared on her small face as she looked around. Aside from Zhang Ruochen alone, where was Ling Feiyu?
Zhang Ruochen walked toward them.
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maidens, with their varied figures—some plump, some slender—were ethereal and graceful, their auras unparalleled, like nine fairies standing on the wilderness.
Wan Canglan, tall and fiery in figure, strode forward. Her long hair blazed like flames. She drew her sword and pointed it at Zhang Ruochen, saying, “Shouldn’t you give us an explanation?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled. “What explanation?”
“Where is Ling Feiyu?” Wan Canglan demanded.
“Sect Leader Ling returned to the Domain Mansion first.”
“What were you two doing just now?”
Zhang Ruochen paused for a moment, then said, “Ling Sect Leader and I reunited after a long separation. We were both emotional and shared many words. She was recently wounded under the blade of Cang Hai Yi Shu, and with many Great Saints of the Kunlun Realm falling or losing their cultivation because of her, she’s under immense pressure. So, I comforted her…”
“Was that ‘sharing words’? Was that ‘comforting’? I think you’re using the same tricks you used on Danqing to deceive Ling Feiyu. You want to toy with their feelings, don’t you?” Wan Canglan bared a set of snow-white teeth, her gaze piercing.
“How could I deceive women as shrewd and intelligent as them?”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Nalan Danqing and said, “The Talented Woman and I are the best of confidants. As for feelings…”
Zhang Ruochen himself wasn’t sure if there was romantic affection between him and Nalan Danqing, but being with her was indeed a light and joyful thing. Yet, if they were to take a step further, that lightness might turn into weight.
Nalan Danqing walked over to Zhang Ruochen’s side and smiled at the eight Mysterious Maidens, saying, “You’ve all misunderstood. He and I are just close friends.”
“Is that so?”
Since even the person involved didn’t take it to heart and was speaking up for Zhang Ruochen, Wan Canglan felt she was meddling. She sheathed her sword, a hint of confusion in her eyes, and said, “He’s a close friend to you, yet intimate with Ling Feiyu. What kind of person is he?”
Zhang Ruochen and Nalan Danqing exchanged a glance and said in unison, “An old acquaintance from the martial world.”
Wan Canglan naturally didn’t get the answer she wanted.
Zhang Ruochen and Nalan Danqing walked side by side back to the Domain Mansion, chatting about many things along the way, but they didn’t bring up the topic of their relationship again.
In the afternoon, more Great Saints arrived at the Golden Tree Sacred Domain from the Kunlun Realm.
Among them were Grand Minister of Works, Second Minister of Works, Yan Liren, and Heavenly Corpse Emperor, who had come with Sui Han, as well as Kong Lanyou and Great Saints from the Ming Sect.
The morale of the saintly cultivators from the Kunlun Realm was high, and their confidence had greatly increased.
That evening, in the Domain Mansion, Qing Mo personally cooked and held a celebratory sacred feast. All the Great Saints of the Kunlun Realm gathered, with Sword Emperor and Stone Emperor becoming the absolute stars of the banquet.
Zhang Ruochen stood alone on the city wall of the Sacred City, listening to the laughter and joy from the Domain Mansion, but his gaze was fixed on the night sky filled with purple clouds, lost in thought.
Ling Feiyu transformed into a red shadow, flying down from the sky and landing beside him.
The two stood quietly, gazing at the night.
After a long while, Ling Feiyu asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Thinking about the past, and also about the future,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Ling Feiyu said, “You came to the Heavenly Court at great risk, just to reminisce about the past and ponder the future? Is reality really that hard to face?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled and shook his head.
Suddenly, his expression turned serious. “Come with me to the Hell Realm, will you?”
This was something Zhang Ruochen would never have said before. Back then, he didn’t even have the power to protect himself. But now, he was confident he could firmly establish himself in the Hell Realm, even command the winds and rains.
“No.”
Ling Feiyu’s answer was direct and decisive.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Why? Is it because what we experienced in the ‘Seven Lives Seven Deaths Diagram’ was just an illusion, making even our feelings unreal? Or has a thousand years made you indifferent, no longer holding it close to your heart?”
Ling Feiyu said, “What we’ve been through is far more than just seven lifetimes in that diagram. In this life, I doubt any other man could enter my heart.”
Ling Feiyu also said something she would never have said before.
“You are a feeling, a beautiful memory of the past, a bond of seven lifetimes, a lover of one life. But there are other things in my heart—my sword path, my father, the followers of the Moon Worship Demon Sect, the familiar starry sky above, and the familiar earth beneath. Moreover, the ideals of the Hell Realm don’t align with mine.”
Zhang Ruochen understood that Ling Feiyu was a woman unwilling to live an ordinary life. If she went to the Hell Realm, she would have to live under his protection, and that wasn’t the way she wanted to survive.
Ling Feiyu said, “Let me ask you one question: Am I the most important woman in your heart? If you answer yes, I will abandon everything I have now—even if the Hell Realm’s ideals clash with mine, even if I never see the familiar sky and earth again—and go with you to the Hell Realm. Can you answer that question?”
Her eyes held a hint of anticipation.
Zhang Ruochen pressed his hand on the stone wall and was silent for a long time. Finally, he shook his head, unable to speak words of deception.
Though Ling Feiyu knew she had asked a question to which she already knew the answer, she still showed a look of dejection.
A moment later, she leaped onto the stone wall, her long black hair flying in the wind. With a heroic smile, she said, “Your cultivation seems formidable now. Care to let me test it a bit?”
“Alright!”
Ling Feiyu in red, Zhang Ruochen in white, each holding a sword, flew out of the Sacred City one after the other.
On the open wilderness, they danced with their swords freely.
Under the moonlight, their figures crossed, and sacred qi intertwined.
…
The next morning.
Zhang Ruochen woke up in a sea of purple and blue flowers. He looked at Ling Feiyu sleeping beside him and kissed her fair, creamy cheek.
Then, he picked up the scattered robes from the ground and draped them over Ling Feiyu, covering her snow-white and proud body.
Ling Feiyu kept her eyes closed, murmuring as if in a dream, “Are you leaving?”
“Not yet. At least not until after the Red Dust Gathering,” he whispered softly by her delicate ear.
“If we have a child, what should we name it?” she asked.
“It shouldn’t be that easy, right?”
“What if?”
“Then let’s call him Red Dust.”
“The Sword Emperor’s name?”
“Why can’t our child be the second Sword Emperor?”
It wasn’t until Zhang Ruochen left that Ling Feiyu opened her eyes. She stared at the sky for a long time, then touched her flat belly, a smile spreading across her face.
…
Zhang Ruochen met with Yunshen Daozhu, and it was his true form.
“Has Grandmaster’s injuries fully healed?”
Zhang Ruochen asked in confusion, curious why his grandmaster had chosen this time to descend to the Heavenly Court in person.
Yunshen Daozhu smiled. “For a spiritual power deity, there is no such thing as physical injuries. In truth, your grandmaster’s physical body was already refined away in the Destiny Temple long ago. This current body is reconstructed from the particles of my former flesh.”
“Isn’t the physical body a kind of shackle for a spiritual power deity?”
Zhang Ruochen had fully absorbed the knowledge contained in the Divine Wood Heart and had some understanding of the divine realm.
Yunshen Daozhu said, “When spiritual power reaches a certain height, one can certainly abandon the physical body. But without it, one gradually loses humanity, loses all senses—no touch, no smell, no pain, no sorrow… If one loses the seven emotions and six desires, is one still human?”
Zhang Ruochen nodded. “Grandmaster’s injuries are mainly in the soul and spirit?”
Yunshen Daozhu nodded, then shook his head. “When your spiritual power reaches a certain level, you’ll understand naturally. Originally, my seclusion was planned to last about thirty thousand years, but now I’ve had to emerge ahead of schedule.”
“Why?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yunshen Daozhu’s gaze grew deep. “A major event is happening in the universe.”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart trembled. For a Tai Shang to call something a major event, how vast must it be?
“What exactly happened?” Zhang Ruochen said.
“I’ve already sensed some signs. It should erupt soon, and when it does, no one can remain untouched. You’ll find out then.”
As if feeling Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation was too low, Yunshen Daozhu didn’t want to reveal too much. “Are you going to attend the Red Dust Gathering?”
“I should go and take a look,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Go boldly and without fear. With your grandmaster here in the Heavenly Court, no deity will see through your identity. Since you’re at the Thousand Questions Realm, the most important thing is to have an unobstructed mind. Don’t act with too many restraints.”
“With your grandmaster’s words, I have no more worries.”
Zhang Ruochen suddenly thought of something and asked, “Where did the Empress go?”
“Hai Shi Xing Wu! A deity of the Kunlun Realm is trapped there, and someone must go to rescue him. This journey is also a trial for her,” Yunshen Daozhu said.
Even a divine realm powerhouse like the Empress considered it a trial—could Hai Shi Xing Wu hold some terrifying danger?