Chapter 2779: Ling Yanzi
The golden stream meandered for ten thousand miles, the sound of water surging, Buddha aura hazy.
Bore flew down, her gaze fixed on Hai Shui.
Hai Shui's face was filled with awkwardness, tinged with a hint of shyness. She quickly withdrew her hand from Zhang Ruochen's palm, turned sideways, and dared not meet Bore's gaze, like a young woman caught in an affair by the matriarch.
For someone as composed and calm as her, who wouldn't even flinch if Blood Butcher threw her into a pot, to show such an expression was truly rare.
Zhang Ruochen could understand, after all, she was a Buddhist. Their earlier actions, though for healing, were ultimately too intimate. Suddenly being seen by a third party naturally brought a sense of shame, like being caught in bed.
Zhang Ruochen was straightforward. Seeing Bore, he smiled and asked, "Finally found you. Where are Gu Shejing and Xiao Hei?"
"After arriving at the Ancient Desolate Ruins City, we were attacked and had to temporarily hide inside this ancient Buddha's body. Once inside, we all scattered to escape. Meeting you here is purely coincidental. Or perhaps, it's because of that faint connection between us."
Bore said, "Who is she?"
"Who attacked you?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
Zhang Ruochen spoke first, "This young master, named Hai Shui, is a disciple of Ancient Buddha Yuanyi of the Western Buddha Realm."
"Disciple of Ancient Buddha Yuanyi."
Bore nodded, murmuring to herself.
The next moment, without any warning, she struck like lightning, the Fate Determination Staff slashing straight down at Hai Shui, dense fate rules surfacing on the staff.
How could Zhang Ruochen have expected Bore to attack?
But his reaction speed was astonishingly fast. In an instant, countless time imprint light points appeared around the three of them, slowing the flow of time to nearly a standstill.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Hai Shui's wrist, dodging Bore's strike.
"What are you doing?" Zhang Ruochen demanded.
Hai Shui hid behind Zhang Ruochen, her eyes fearless, staring at Bore.
Bore met her gaze, her tone cold, "As far as I know, Ancient Buddha Yuanyi has no disciple named Hai Shui. Who are you really?"
Chi Yao had cultivated in the Western Buddha Realm for a thousand years, so she naturally had a deep understanding of it.
Hai Shui said, "Though the Divine Maiden is the secular leader of the Hell Realm, she may not know everything about the Western Buddha Realm, right? I am my master's secret disciple, a hermit cultivator. It's normal for the Divine Maiden not to have heard of me."
Bore turned to Zhang Ruochen, "Look at her. A disciple of the Western Buddha Realm shows no fear toward me, a true god of the Hell Realm. Don't you find that strange?"
"Buddhist cultivators sever the seven emotions and six desires, cultivating emptiness in all four aspects. Having a fearless heart is normal," Zhang Ruochen said.
Bore looked at Zhang Ruochen with an incredulous expression, then said, "No one can completely sever fear. Those who appear fearless merely suppress their fear with strong will."
"You say she is empty in all four aspects, but from your earlier behavior, she doesn't seem to have severed the seven emotions and six desires."
"Zhang Ruochen, have you been so bewitched by her beauty that you've lost all judgment? Be careful, or you'll die without a burial place."
Zhang Ruochen showed displeasure, "Do you think so little of me?"
Bore clearly saw a hint of a smile in Hai Shui's eyes, but when she looked closely, her gaze was clear as water, without any ripple, sincere and calm.
Bore knew that continuing to argue with Zhang Ruochen would only make Hai Shui mock them more.
Bore calmed down, "You trust her that much?"
"She fought alongside me, even using a self-sacrifice technique," Zhang Ruochen said.
"She really used a self-sacrifice technique?"
"Absolutely true."
Bore couldn't help but look at Hai Shui again, deeply impressed by her ability to fake it to such an extent, "But a Buddhist cultivator from the Western Buddha Realm appearing in the Abyss of Darkness is already suspicious and abnormal."
"I have already explained this very clearly to Senior Brother Ruochen," Hai Shui said.
Bore said, "Senior Brother Ruochen? When did she become your junior sister?"
"That's not important. What matters is that Hai Shui gave me the Arhat White Pearl, and in the Abyss of Darkness, I must ensure her safety," Zhang Ruochen said.
Bore was slightly surprised, her gaze falling on the white pearl around Zhang Ruochen's neck. She reached out and grabbed it.
"It really is the legendary Buddhist supreme treasure, the Arhat White Pearl."
Bore looked at Hai Shui again, "Impressive. To casually give away such a treasure, what is your real goal?"
Hai Shui said, "The Divine Maiden is also impressive. Any Hell Realm cultivator touching the Arhat White Pearl would be injured by its backlash. Yet it didn't harm you at all. Are you truly a cultivator of the Hell Realm?"
Bore said, "I also cultivate Buddhism, so the Arhat White Pearl naturally won't harm me."
"Your state of mind is too extreme. You've only cultivated the Buddhist path, not the Buddhist heart," Hai Shui said.
Bore said, "Just because you're a disciple of the Western Buddha Realm, killing you is only natural. Even Zhang Ruochen can't save you."
Hai Shui said to Zhang Ruochen, "Senior Brother, Bore is a deity of the Destiny Temple. Why did you tell her about the Arhat White Pearl? What if she tries to seize it? My death is trivial, but for a Buddhist supreme treasure to fall into the Destiny Temple's hands would be a disgrace to the Buddhist path."
The two women exchanged words, each sharp and confrontational.
Hai Shui seemed calm, but every word she spoke was like softness overcoming hardness, gradually provoking Bore.
Zhang Ruochen shielded Hai Shui behind him, "Divine Maiden, I promised her I would protect her completely. If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me first."
Hearing this, Bore's heart stirred.
More precisely, it was Chi Yao.
Chi Yao knew that Zhang Ruochen was aware of Bore's identity. If Hai Shui truly was a disciple of the Western Buddha Realm, how could Bore kill her?
Why would Zhang Ruochen say such a thing?
Clearly, Zhang Ruochen wasn't entirely without suspicion about Hai Shui's identity.
In an instant, Chi Yao understood the reason.
If even Zhang Ruochen, with all his methods, couldn't see through Hai Shui's identity, then only two possibilities existed.
First, everything Hai Shui said was true.
Second, Hai Shui's cultivation was unfathomably deep.
If it was the first case, everything was manageable.
If it was the second, any smart person would never expose Hai Shui's identity. Exposing it would be no different from seeking death.
Exactly.
In either case, Zhang Ruochen now had to unconditionally and absolutely trust Hai Shui.
He couldn't show any doubt.
Even if he had doubts, he had to voice them and let Hai Shui clarify herself.
In reality, not only could Zhang Ruochen not see through Hai Shui, but even the combined insight of Chi Yao and Bore couldn't find a flaw in her.
Fully calmed down, Chi Yao could only hope that everything Hai Shui said was true. If her cultivation was indeed extremely high, then the only option now was to lower her guard, stabilize her, and see what her real goal was.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore stared at each other for a long time.
Countless thoughts flashed through Bore's mind, and she understood everything Zhang Ruochen was trying to convey. Finally, her expression softened slightly, "I hope you're right. But in the Abyss of Darkness, bringing along a half-god peak cultivator like her is nothing but a burden."
Zhang Ruochen asked, "You said earlier that someone attacked you? What exactly happened?"
"It was Wujiang and the deities of the Darkness Temple," Bore said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You couldn't handle them?"
"I don't know what happened, but Wujiang's cultivation has greatly improved, far stronger than before, and the Darkness Temple also sent divine-level experts."
Bore added, "Of course, even so, we didn't need to fear or flee. What was truly terrifying was that a ghost-type strange beast appeared in the Ancient Desolate Ruins City."
"How could a strange beast enter the Ancient Desolate Ruins City?"
"The power of the Ancient Desolate Ruins might not be able to block ghost-type strange beasts. Or perhaps it's not a strange beast at all, but a divine soul that has become strange."
Zhang Ruochen said, "A divine soul becoming strange?"
Bore nodded, "In the Ancient Desolate Ruins City, there are countless divine corpses, most of which were extremely powerful in life. Though they are dead, their divine souls may not be completely extinguished."
"These divine souls, or residual souls, are eroded by dark power, lose consciousness, and become strange, no different from ghost-type strange beasts."
Zhang Ruochen said, "If that's the case, then the deities of the Darkness Temple must have been attacked too."
"Exactly, so they all fled into this ancient Buddha's golden body."
"And that ghost-type strange beast? Did it enter the golden body?"
"I don't know," Bore shook her head.
Zhang Ruochen thought of something, "Earlier, we encountered a deity from the Death Clan."
Bore said, "On the way to the Ancient Desolate Ruins City, I sensed it. Not just the Death Clan, but the Ghost Clan, Corpse Clan, Bone Clan, Underworld Clan... all the major forces of the Hell Realm, perhaps drawn by the treasures on you, have followed in. The Ancient Desolate Ruins City is quite lively now."
"We still need to leave here as soon as possible and head to Great Nether Mountain to find Yinsuetian," Zhang Ruochen said.
Hai Shui, who had been silent, spoke up, "Senior Brother Ruochen, there's something I forgot to tell you."
"What is it?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Hai Shui said, "Do you know Ling Yanzi?"
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled and shook his head.
"Ling Yanzi was the only wife of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, an ancestor of your Zhang Clan. But no one knows where she came from, her birth, or her cultivation level. She suddenly appeared in the world and then suddenly disappeared," Hai Shui said.
"Ling Yanzi! Ling Yanzi..."
Zhang Ruochen muttered the name, carefully recalling the clan genealogy, but truly had never heard of it.
Bore thought of something, "The Swallow Pendant?"
Mentioning the Swallow Pendant, a light flashed in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
The Swallow Pendant was a heirloom of the Zhang Clan. At sixteen, Zhang Ruochen gave it to Chi Yao as a token of love. Chi Yao's token to him was the Creation Life Sword, Chenyuan.
"Giving you the Swallow Pendant, never to part till white hair.
Giving you the Creation Sword, bound in life and death forever."
Later, Chi Yao gave the pair of Swallow Pendants to Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle respectively.
Back then, when Xiuchen Heavenly God tried to possess Chi Kongle, it was largely the power of the Swallow Pendant that protected her and caused the failure. In fact, the Swallow Pendant's power completely suppressed Xiuchen Heavenly God's abilities, allowing Xuejue War God to defeat him in one move.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Why did you suddenly mention Ling Yanzi?"
Hai Shui said, "Because the supreme Buddhist treasure, the Mani Pearl, was given by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable to Ling Yanzi. Rather than saying Yinsuetian entered the Abyss of Darkness to find the Mani Pearl, it's more accurate to say she came to find Ling Yanzi. To find Yinsuetian, you must first find Ling Yanzi."
"Ling Yanzi is in the Abyss of Darkness?" Zhang Ruochen was extremely surprised.