Chapter 2741: Zhang Ruochen Played It Wrong
Zhang Ruochen's words nearly made Yan Zhexian explode on the spot from anger—all her good intentions had been thrown to the dogs.
However, compared to a thousand years ago, Yan Zhexian had gained considerably more experience.
Thus, she quickly realized something was off.
She narrowed her eyes, a puzzled expression on her face. "Something's not right! Any cultivator facing your current predicament would inevitably feel despair and helplessness. Why do you, Zhang Ruochen, still have the mood for a secret rendezvous with a confidante? And it seems you're deliberately trying to shake me off."
"You must be hiding some secret!"
Zhang Ruochen hadn't expected Yan Zhexian to become so troublesome now.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen didn't deny it, Yan Zhexian revealed a delighted expression and said smugly, "You definitely have a problem. Come on, confess—what exactly are you hiding? Don't worry, I'm just purely curious. I won't leak it."
"Confess? Why should I confess to you?"
"What relationship do we have? You're just the mother of my daughter."
Zhang Ruochen said no more. He stepped forward with the Divine Spirit Step, and spatial veins manifested around him. In an instant, he was 129,600 miles away.
A second step.
A third step.
A fourth step...
He traversed the starry sky, his form flickering in and out of existence, as if the world's space was folding beneath his feet.
The more Zhang Ruochen concealed things, the more intrigued Yan Zhexian became.
"Fine, Zhang Ruochen. Since you won't accept my kindness, then you must have something more important to do than breaking through to godhood. What could be so important as to reach this level?"
Whether it was curiosity driving her or not, Yan Zhexian once again pursued Zhang Ruochen, thinking to herself, "Since you, Zhang Ruochen, don't want me following, I'll follow anyway. What can you do about it?"
A Talisman Dao Heavenly Master possessed numerous and wondrous methods.
A Spiritual Power deity could reach thousands of miles with a single thought.
Along the way, Zhang Ruochen used various techniques, but he couldn't shake off Yan Zhexian.
The Miss Yan who had once been easy to deal with now possessed incredibly sophisticated methods that couldn't be underestimated.
A deity!
Anyone with even a trace of the word "god" attached to them was, for Saint Realm cultivators, someone who could pierce the heavens and earth.
Every time Yan Zhexian saw through Zhang Ruochen's tricks and found him, she would laugh with unrestrained joy, as smug as a hen that had won a battle.
Fighting against heaven—endless joy.
Fighting against earth—endless joy.
Fighting against Zhang Ruochen—and winning—endless joy.
Zhang Ruochen had once asked her to go to the Starry Sky Battlefield to find Ying'er, but Yan Zhexian had said, "Ying'er has grown up under the protection of the Yama Clan's gods. She needs to be tempered on the battlefield. With Chi Kongle watching over her, I'm very reassured."
Listen to that—was that something a person would say?
Was that something a mother would say?
Unable to shake off Yan Zhexian, Zhang Ruochen naturally couldn't go to the Abyss of Darkness. So, he first headed to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
Crossing the starry sky, passing through space wormholes...
After spending a considerable amount of time, Zhang Ruochen finally arrived at the void space outside Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
He didn't charge in directly, after all, this was the Rakshasa Clan's number one forbidden ground, guarded by Chi Xingtian, the realm-protecting demon general. Chi Xingtian was only conscious for very brief periods; if he were to be split in half by an axe, wouldn't that be a terribly unjust death?
Zhang Ruochen sent a visiting card to a patrolling cultivator from Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, then waited quietly.
...
About ten thousand miles away from Zhang Ruochen.
Chi Yao wore a loose Confucian robe, with a green jade divine pendant at her waist. Her hair was tied up with a square cloth, her features soft and ethereal, yet her temperament was extremely cold. She stood within a corner of a formation pattern, which flowed around her, condensing into the form of a nine-petal lotus.
This was a corner of a divine formation, given to her by Yunshen Daozhu.
With this corner of formation patterns, she could conceal herself in the Hell Realm, even evading calculations from the Destiny Temple. Of course, she couldn't go charging into Fate Divine Mountain, or that would be seeking death.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's figure, Chi Yao's eyes, which had held no ripples, revealed a look of surprise.
"Why is he here?" she wondered.
Beside Chi Yao stood a black-robed man wearing a dark hood, his aura cold and fierce, with surging divine power emanating from him.
The black-robed man stood in the void with an overbearing posture and snorted coldly, "Zhang Ruochen coming to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm must be related to a woman."
"That shouldn't be the case! Zhang Ruochen's purpose in coming to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm is probably the same as ours."
In Chi Yao's heart, Zhang Ruochen was always that spirited young man, focused on martial cultivation, deeply principled, yet handsome and gentle like jade, carrying all her beautiful memories.
Although she had seen some unpleasant scenes in the Origin Divine Temple.
She believed it must have been those two female demons deliberately seducing Zhang Ruochen.
Or perhaps Zhang Ruochen had reasons beyond his control.
Just then, in Chi Yao's field of vision, a streak of light cut through the darkness, approaching from afar until it reached Zhang Ruochen's side.
The light scattered.
A graceful and elegant woman materialized.
The black-robed man curled his lips and snorted, "That woman is the Yama Clan's eldest daughter, Yan Zhexian. Wherever Zhang Ruochen goes, there's always a fragrant beauty nearby."
How could Chi Yao not have heard of Yan Zhexian's name?
"This Miss Yan is indeed a stunning beauty. Zhang Ruochen has good taste," Chi Yao said calmly.
...
Yan Zhexian looked at the magnificent, blood-red human-shaped world before her and said, "Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm! So, the confidante you mentioned is actually Gushe Jing. Gushe Jing and Princess Luo Sha are as close as sisters. You've come for a secret rendezvous with her—I really don't know how to describe this."
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head. "My coming here has nothing to do with Gushe Jing. It's for something else..."
Before he could finish, a crimson divine cloud, like a blooming flower, spread out from Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm into the cosmic void.
A powerful divine might descended upon him.
Gushe Jing stood atop the divine cloud, her hair a thousand zhang long, her divine body towering thousands of zhang high. She looked down at Zhang Ruochen, who seemed no bigger than an ant, and said, "How dare you, Zhang Ruochen! You're merely a Saint Realm cultivator, yet you don't kneel and pay respects when you see me?"
Zhang Ruochen had already guessed it would be her. He cupped his hands and smiled, "Congratulations, Gushe Great God, on successfully breaking through and attaining the honored position of the divine realm."
"Great God?"
Gushe Jing snorted, her massive divine body shrinking to normal human size. "Last time, you escaped too quickly, and I couldn't catch you. Today, you've come to me willingly. Do you know what awaits you?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "I want to see the Heavenly Mother."
"The Heavenly Mother isn't someone you can see just because you want to! Let's settle our accounts first," Gushe Jing said.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Yan Zhexian standing nearby and said, "I'm afraid that account won't be easy to settle, will it? Are you sure you want to settle it in front of Heavenly Master Zhexian?"
Gushe Jing fell into thought, then extended two slender jade fingers, drawing a strand of divine qi that coiled around Zhang Ruochen, pulling him into the distant depths of space.
Yan Zhexian was quite confused, unable to understand what relationship Zhang Ruochen and Gushe Jing had.
Chi Yao, standing within the formation, was equally bewildered.
"See? I, the Emperor, was right. Zhang Ruochen came to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm for a woman!"
"The title of the Romantic Sword God isn't earned for nothing, is it?"
The black-robed man continued, "That female deity, whose beauty is no less than Yan Zhexian's, is named Gushe Jing. She has a deep connection with Zhang Ruochen. On Ice King Star, Zhang Ruochen once channeled his soul power to help her heal. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't."
Chi Yao naturally knew of Gushe Jing.
In the Origin Divine Temple, when she had transformed into Zhang Ruochen, she had even slapped her.
The black-robed man poured fuel on the fire, "Zhang Ruochen is truly impressive, genuinely charismatic. With mere Saint Realm cultivation, he can move among several stunningly talented female deities. In this world today, you won't find a second one!"
Chi Yao closed her eyes and began reciting the Heart Sutra.
...
Zhang Ruochen said, "Congratulations, Gushe Great God, on surviving the divine tribulation."
"Didn't you already congratulate me?" Gushe Jing replied coldly.
Zhang Ruochen's repeated congratulations were, of course, meant to remind Gushe Jing that he had contributed to her surviving the divine tribulation and deserved some credit.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'm truly envious! From now on, Gushe Great God can live for at least one eon—129,600 years. But I probably won't have the chance to reach the divine realm. At most, I'll live for twenty or thirty thousand years before the Five Decays of Heaven and Man set in, and I'll perish."
"Do you think that by playing the pitiful card here, I'll let you off?"
Gushe Jing said, "Zhang Ruochen, I know about the curse, and I thank you for lending me the 'Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription' to study. It did help me some in crossing the divine tribulation. But one thing is one thing—the debt that needs to be collected must be collected."
"How about this? If you can withstand one palm strike from me and survive, our grievances and grudges will be wiped clean."
Without waiting for Zhang Ruochen to agree, Gushe Jing had already formed a hand seal.
The crimson demonic qi from all directions turned into streams of smoke-like mist, converging toward her palm.
This palm strike was Gushe Jing's revenge for that slap in the Origin Divine Temple.
No matter who had delivered that slap, it was definitely connected to Zhang Ruochen.
Returning it to Zhang Ruochen was only natural and justified.
Gushe Jing was a true god, and a representative figure of the eon level who had broken through.
She was far more powerful than an ordinary false god or a Spiritual Power deity like Yan Zhexian.
Zhang Ruochen felt space contracting, the sky collapsing, and the earth sinking. In his vision, Gushe Jing's palm became infinitely vast, radiating a scorching heat stronger than a star.
"Ten Thousand Ages Return to One, the Universe is Boundless."
He released his Dao Domain, tearing apart Gushe Jing's divine might suppression.
Countless trillions of Sacred Dao Rules surged out from within Zhang Ruochen, spinning and flying before him, forming a chaotic vortex that collided with the hand seal she struck.
The chaotic vortex could instantly shred a planet ten thousand miles in diameter, but it only held for a moment before being shattered by the palm imprint.
Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had now reached the peak below the divine realm. How could he stop here?
"Sword Dao Rules, heed my command!"
"Break!"
Zhang Ruochen thrust both hands forward. The Abyssal Ancient Sword hovered before his palms, the tip pointing forward as it spun rapidly.
Countless Sword Dao Rules from heaven and earth surged endlessly, merging with Zhang Ruochen and the Abyssal Ancient Sword, colliding with the brilliantly divine palm imprint.
"Boom!"
The impact echoed like rolling thunder, spreading hundreds of thousands of miles away.
Many creatures in Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm heard the sound coming from the starry sky.
...
In the distance, the black-robed man exclaimed, "Damn, Zhang Ruochen played it wrong! Serves him right. Having one in hand while looking for another—how could it not go wrong? Don't you think?"
Chi Yao stopped reciting the sutra and opened her eyes.