Chapter 2648: Life’s Joys and Sweet Dreams
“Where exactly did you go for this thousand years? Do you know that everyone under heaven thought you died in the Origin Divine Temple?”
Luo Ji was gentle as jade, her voice soft as she recounted in detail what had happened after Zhang Ruochen’s disappearance.
At that time, rumors ran rampant. Some claimed that Wu Ma Jiuxing of the Qiankun Yiqi Hall had killed him, and not long after, all secret outposts of the Qiankun Yiqi Hall within the Undying Blood Clan were destroyed by Xue Hou, forcing the hall to nearly withdraw entirely from the Hell Realm.
Others said that Xiu Chen Heavenly God had seized Zhang Ruochen’s body, spreading the tale with plausible reasoning. This was because, a thousand years ago, Xiu Chen Heavenly God had appeared at the Origin Divine Temple and had a deep grudge against Zhang Ruochen. Most importantly, after the Origin Divine Temple emerged, Xiu Chen Heavenly God also vanished, hiding in an unknown location.
Soon after, three true gods of the Blood Absolute Family appeared at the Green Deer Divine Temple, sparking a divine war. In the end, it was said that the Destiny Temple mediated, temporarily halting the conflict, as even the Green Deer Divine Temple did not know where Xiu Chen Heavenly God had gone.
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen smiled inwardly, guessing that Xiu Chen Heavenly God likely thought Bing Huang had truly left Ice King Star and wanted to kill him, so he went into hiding.
Because of Zhang Ruochen’s disappearance, the three true gods of the Blood Absolute Family fought on all sides, spilling rivers of blood. They even stormed the Fate Divine Mountain to interrogate the Judgment Hall. They also launched divine wars against the gods of the Blade God Realm, causing false gods to fall.
Xue Jue War God broke into the Goddess Twelve Pavilions, demanding Bai Qinger’s whereabouts, suspecting that Zhang Ruochen might have died at her hands. Then, he turned to the Stone Clan, cursing Huang Tian for three full days before the two fought a decisive battle in the starry sky, shattering countless stars. It was said that Underworld King arrived and told Xue Jue War God something, ending the battle.
Zhang Ruochen listened quietly, sighing with emotion. He could understand the pain his mother felt at that time and the fury in his grandfather’s heart. At the same time, he realized that Luo Ji knew all this so clearly because she cared deeply about his news, deliberately inquiring and paying attention.
Then, Zhang Ruochen told her about his experiences over the past thousand years.
Of course, he did not tell her that he had entered the River of Time and gone to the Primordial Beginning. That was too unbelievable. Not only would she find it hard to believe, but even if he told gods, they might not accept it.
He only said that he had gone to the place where Xumi Saint Monk had passed into nirvana, cultivating his Sacred Will, and emerged a thousand years later.
“So you spent this thousand years at the Seventh Patriarch’s place of nirvana. No wonder even the gods couldn’t deduce your life or death or your location.” Luo Ji’s face showed a look of sudden understanding.
“In an instant, a thousand years were lost, and the world had changed beyond recognition.” Zhang Ruochen sighed softly and asked, “What about you? How have you been this thousand years?”
“An instant, a thousand years,” Luo Ji said.
Zhang Ruochen said, “You also experienced an instant of a thousand years?”
Luo Ji said, “After the Kunlun Realm Merit Battlefield ended, I returned to Heavenly Beginning Civilization and brought the Nine-Bend Heavenly Star back with me. Do you still remember the divine gate above the Nine-Bend Heavenly Star?”
Of course, Zhang Ruochen remembered.
The Nine-Bend Heavenly Star was the place where the god of Heavenly Beginning Civilization, Luo Shen, had fallen. Inside the divine gate above it were the divine treasures left by Luo Shen. Back then, Zhang Ruochen and Li Miaohan had both entered the divine gate and gained some benefits.
“After returning to Heavenly Beginning Civilization, I spent most of my time cultivating inside the divine gate, emerging only once every hundred years. It’s not much different from an instant of a thousand years,” Luo Ji said.
Cultivators could be complex or simple. Some who had lived for tens of thousands of years might have experienced less worldly affairs than an ordinary mortal. They spent most of their time in cultivation.
Of course, many cultivators spent years training in the mundane world, scheming, fighting to the death, and plotting for resources and opportunities.
Some cultivators needed to temper their hearts through worldly experiences because they lacked enough worldly and emotional experiences, having too thin a life resume without seeing the myriad forms of human existence.
“Why did you come to the Heavenly Court?” Luo Ji suddenly asked.
“Because I wanted to see you.”
Zhang Ruochen knew this was the answer she most wanted to hear in her heart, but he ultimately could not say it. “I came to perfect my state of mind, and now it is complete. Actually, after seeing you, I should leave. But before I leave, I still want to kill a few people. Luo Ji, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you suddenly apologizing?”
Luo Ji gazed at him, her eyes like a still lake.
Zhang Ruochen said bitterly, “I know your situation is difficult, and I want to help you, but there is so little I can do. I know the feelings in your heart, and I want to give you a beautiful future, but I must return to the Hell Realm, and we might meet on the battlefield in the future.”
He continued, “I know a man should not be too affectionate, let alone leave feelings everywhere. But in the end, I have become the kind of person I once despised. Sometimes, I don’t know how to refuse, or how to act without hurting your hearts.”
“When facing enemies, I can decisively swing my sword and cut them down. But when facing your eyes full of affection, I cannot decisively swing my sword to sever the threads of love. Every scene from the past is etched in my mind. Laughter, joy, bitterness, sorrow, parting, and reunion—all are imprinted in my heart, and I cannot cut them away.”
Luo Ji said, “So, you came to see me this time to sever the threads between us? To have no more relationship from now on, to become two strangers, or enemies on the battlefield?”
Before Zhang Ruochen could defend himself, she continued, “Actually, that makes sense. Our fate began by accident, how could it compare to that red-faced confidante of yours who has already become a god? Or to your childhood sweetheart in the Kunlun Realm? And even less to the one you are betrothed to in the Hell Realm, the proper wife. Your sword of love, if it does not cut me… who else would it cut?”
Zhang Ruochen had never imagined Luo Ji’s words could be so sharp, each sentence piercing his heart, pressing relentlessly, almost defining him as a despicable man of “fickle affection and abandonment.”
Luo Ji’s eyes were bright, misted with tears, her voice no longer as clear and pleasant as before, carrying a hint of sorrow: “Zhang Ruochen, I am not as fragile as you think. Didn’t I live well enough this thousand years without you appearing? Go ahead. I’ll pretend you never came, that you died a thousand years ago. Meeting is worse than not meeting—perhaps that’s what we are… What are you doing…”
Zhang Ruochen opened his arms and embraced her soft, warm body from behind, holding her tightly. He felt her tremble slightly but she did not struggle.
He breathed in the fragrance of her hair and whispered softly in her ear, “Don’t say angry words anymore, and don’t overthink. Even if the whole world abandons you, I will never abandon you. Trust me!”
Zhang Ruochen understood that there were voices in the Heavenly Court calling for abandoning Heavenly Beginning Civilization. Hong Chen Great Saint and the cultivators of Heavenly Beginning Civilization were being isolated.
Although Luo Ji appeared strong on the surface, she was ultimately just a woman, bearing too much pressure, her state of mind on the verge of collapse, making her very sensitive. When she heard Zhang Ruochen talk about “meeting on the battlefield” and “severing the threads of love,” she naturally overthought, her state of mind likely collapsing, which was why she was so distraught, thinking the whole world had abandoned her and Heavenly Beginning Civilization.
That night, Zhang Ruochen stayed in the Heavenly Beginning Civilization’s guest courtyard.
The next morning, when he got up, Luo Ji was still sleeping quietly on the bed, her eyes gently closed, her eyelashes long and curved, her skin as delicate as jade fat, breathtakingly beautiful, like a fairy descending to the mortal world.
After washing off the fragrance, Zhang Ruochen changed into a clean Confucian robe, transformed into Shu Qianchi’s appearance, and walked on the streets of Huashen Island.
When he left, Luo Ji had already woken up. She combed Zhang Ruochen’s hair and adjusted his Confucian headscarf, as gentle as a devoted wife seeing her husband off. But whose wife could be as beautiful as her? As ethereal and jade-boned? As wise and kind-hearted?
Who could marry a fairy as a wife?
Walking on the street, Zhang Ruochen unconsciously smiled, feeling that the hardships he had endured were nothing. With a wife like this, what more could a man ask for?
But thinking of the impending war between the Hell Realm and the Heavenly Court, with Heavenly Beginning Civilization bearing the brunt, and that he had to return to the Hell Realm, marrying Luo Ji was no easy task.
Moreover, besides Luo Ji, there were Luo Sha, Ling Feiyu, Mu Lingxi, Bai Qinger, Ji Fanxin, Kong Lanyou… What should he do with them? There were threads of love he could not sever and responsibilities he had to bear.
The more he thought, the less Zhang Ruochen could smile. The sweetness in his heart was shattered by reality.
Brief beauty seemed hard to make eternal.
If his father had not fallen into the Destiny Temple, if the Hell Realm and the Heavenly Court were not going to war, and he could be a carefree emperor of the Kunlun Realm or a divine son of the Hell Realm, could he handle the relationships with these women?
Thinking of how each of them was extremely shrewd and capable, Zhang Ruochen shook his head inwardly.
“Sweet dreams are good, but reality is cruel. Zhang Ruochen, wake up. Deal with Shang Zihong first,” Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
In fact, after breaking through to the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm, Zhang Ruochen should have left the Heavenly Court. The reason he came to the Hongchen Assembly was to kill Shang Zihong.
This man’s existence was a huge threat to the mortal world of the Kunlun Realm.
Moreover, once Zhang Ruochen returned to the Hell Realm, Shang Zihong, knowing he was still alive, would surely retaliate fiercely against those connected to him. Without killing Shang Zihong, how could Zhang Ruochen leave with peace of mind?
What made Zhang Ruochen even more unacceptable was that he dared to pursue Luo Ji. What was he trying to do? Retaliate?
On the Hongchen Islands, with the Hongchen Jueshi Lou’s master holding a large amount of Truth Esoterica, and possibly gods from various worlds present, killing Shang Zihong required careful planning.
As he pondered, Zhang Ruochen arrived at the resting place of the Painting Realm cultivators.
After reporting the name “Shu Qianchi,” a Painting Realm cultivator showed a look of reverence, quickly bowed, and said, “Mr. Shu, something terrible has happened. Chunqiu Great Saint and Young Hall Master Xiang have gone to the Qingli Pavilion, the resting place of the Book Realm cultivators.”
“What happened?” Zhang Ruochen had a bad feeling.
The Painting Realm cultivator said with grief and anger, “Mr. Shu, do you not know yet? Last night, Yong Shu Saint was brutally killed at the Qingli Pavilion, with peach blossoms scattered all over the room. It is said to be the revenge of the Tian Sha Organization. The entire Hongchen Islands are shaken, and cultivators from all worlds are shocked.”
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