Chapter 2814: The Immortal
Zhang Ruochen's entire body flowed with rules, every patch of skin seeming to contain tens of thousands of twinkling stars. Dense points of light filled his interior, like a universe encompassing all phenomena, boundless and infinite.
Though he had not yet become a god, the aura emanating from him was no weaker than that of a true god.
"Absolute physical body dao transformation!"
Xiao Hei exclaimed, rushing over and punching Zhang Ruochen again and again.
Wherever his fists landed, layers of rules emerged to block the force, sometimes rigid, sometimes soft, ever-changing and unpredictable.
On Tianmu's fingertip, a three-foot light sword condensed. She swung it, slashing toward Zhang Ruochen.
"Don't!"
Chi Yao, Yan Wushen, and Guye Jing were all greatly alarmed.
Xiao Hei dodged away like lightning.
The light sword sliced down from Zhang Ruochen's neck, but his body split apart first, neatly dividing into two halves. After the light sword passed through the gap, the two halves recombined.
"Shua!"
The light sword accelerated, cutting Zhang Ruochen's body into more than a dozen pieces.
These more than a dozen remnants, however, coalesced into more than a dozen Zhang Ruochens, each one a complete body of flesh and blood.
In the next instant, the more than a dozen Zhang Ruochens merged back into one.
Tianmu retracted the light sword, nodding slightly. "Not bad! Heart and body united, physical body perfected, absolute dao transformation."
"With a single thought, the body unites. With a single thought, countless avatars appear." Yan Wushen sighed, a trace of desolation in his voice.
But that trace of desolation was quickly swept away. His spirit and energy sharpened once more, his eyes filled with boundless fighting spirit.
Only by never admitting defeat could the flame of the heart remain unextinguished.
Tianmu said, "You may leave now. Get out of the Abyss of Darkness. Don't think about going to Great Dark Mountain. This is no place for you. If it weren't for the coincidence of my awakening, with your cultivation levels, you would never have reached this place."
Yan Wushen pondered inwardly. Every time the strange beasts rioted, it should be when Tianmu awakened. Her aura frightened them into unrest, causing them to flee en masse out of the Abyss of Darkness.
Thus, the time of the strange beast riots was actually the safest time to enter the Abyss of Darkness.
Zhang Ruochen bowed deeply. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Tianmu. This junior will surely remember it. But, Ruochen still has one matter on which he wishes to seek your advice."
"Speak."
Zhang Ruochen said, "This junior has been to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm. Dimu took me to the End of the Sky. There stands a stone tablet inscribed with the words, 'A lifetime trapped by emotional burdens...'"
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen found that the words coming out of his mouth had no sound, as if he had become mute.
He stopped speaking and looked at Tianmu.
Tianmu's gaze was unprecedentedly dazed, filled with complex emotions. For the first time, she seemed like a living person, not a beautiful divine statue or a goddess painting without a soul.
"Hua!"
Zhang Ruochen saw Chi Yao, Xiao Hei, Yan Wushen, and Guye Jing rapidly shrink, then grow smaller.
They became the size of dust motes, as if vanishing before his eyes.
The ability to compress a group of gods into dust-sized ants was truly astonishing.
The world seemed to be left with only the two of them.
"A lifetime trapped by emotional burdens, severing the mortal world and severing the heart."
Tianmu recited this line, her mind seemingly filled with countless thoughts. "What do you wish to ask?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Dimu said that you and the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable once shared a connection. Since you knew him, do you know what truly happened back then between the Great Venerable, Ling Yanzi, and Yinxue Tian?"
Only someone from the same era as the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable could possibly know the truth.
But how many figures from that era were still alive?
And among those still alive, how many had actually known the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, Ling Yanzi, and Yinxue Tian?
Tianmu pondered for a long time. "That year, I was only fourteen. I had no idea that the man I met in Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm would become the supreme powerhouse of heaven and earth. At that time, he didn't have the bearing of a Heavenly Venerable either. He was more like a white-robed swordsman traveling the universe."
"He was a human who had intruded into Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm. Naturally, I had to kill him. But back then, I had never killed anyone before. Every time I felt I could strike him down, I couldn't bring myself to do it. You should understand—when you kill for the first time, you're actually more afraid than the one being killed. It takes great courage to thrust the sword forward."
Who would have thought that a being like Tianmu was once so timid and weak in her youth?
But who wasn't like that in their youth?
Zhang Ruochen's mind drifted to Chi Yao back then.
She too had never killed anyone before. She was only a teenager. How much courage and willpower must it have taken for her to thrust that sword?
Tianmu continued, "I chased him for half a month, from Wulin Plain to the End of the Sky. He asked me if I was tired. Of course I was—so tired I could barely lift my sword."
"He asked me why I didn't kill him. I told him I hadn't decided how to kill him yet—whether to eat him raw or roast him. Of course, I was just trying to scare him."
...
Tianmu seemed to return to that day ten eons ago, remembering everything clearly, like a storyteller pouring out her heart.
Zhang Ruochen listened silently, inwardly sighing. Indeed, no matter how old a man gets or how high his cultivation, deep down he remains a youth.
If not for a youthful heart, why would the Great Venerable have let a fourteen-year-old Tianmu chase him for half a month? Clearly, he was just playing with her.
Tianmu said, "At the End of the Sky, he taught me for three days and even helped refine my physical constitution. The knowledge I gained, the benefits I received, and the foundation I built during those three days served me for a lifetime."
"A thousand years later, when I stepped into the divine realm, I finally learned his identity. I went to pay my respects to him and even walked the world as his disciple... but unfortunately, not long after, he disappeared."
"Many rumors spread at the time. Some said his lifespan had ended and he had passed away in the ancestral land of the Kunlun Realm."
"Some said he had gone to Great Dark Mountain in the Abyss of Darkness and never returned."
"Some said he had failed to survive the Eon Calamity and had perished, body and soul."
"Others said he had been murdered by a powerful enemy and died in the Void Space."
"In any case, he never appeared again. I traveled across the universe, but I could never find any trace of him. I searched for several eons... and finally, I gave up. The Bright King was no more in this world. Everything felt like a dream."
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled. "Why would anyone think the Great Venerable was murdered by a powerful enemy? In that era, was there anyone worthy of being called his enemy?"
"Actually, that's the theory I find most plausible," Tianmu said.
Zhang Ruochen was startled. "Why?"
"Do you know why he went to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm back then?" Tianmu asked.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head.
Tianmu said, "He was searching for the Immortal."
Zhang Ruochen's heart shook with shock and astonishment. "The Immortal?"
It must be understood that all living beings in heaven and earth, whether from various races or the undead, had a limit to their lifespans. Some races might live longer, but not by much.
Generally speaking, a human god living for ten eons was already extremely rare, requiring the highest level of cultivation.
The Undying Blood Clan, due to their powerful blood energy, ranked among the top in lifespan and vitality among all races. But even for top-tier divine realm experts, their lifespans at the same level wouldn't exceed those of human gods by much. At most, one more eon.
Immortality was something countless gods had once pursued, but no one had ever truly achieved it. Eventually, it was deemed an illusory goal, and fewer and fewer pursued it.
Tianmu said, "Some things in this world can live for a very long time, such as plant-type beings. Especially the world's spiritual roots or divine medicines, which can exist for dozens or even hundreds of eons."
"But the prerequisite is that these plant-type beings must remain aloof from worldly affairs and not cultivate. Once they cultivate and participate in killing, becoming ferocious plants, they often can't even survive the divine tribulation."
"It's like a stone. Without intelligence, without cultivation, without worldly involvement, that stone can exist for a hundred million years, a billion years."
"But once a stone becomes a Stone Clan cultivator, begins to cultivate, and participates in worldly struggles and killing, its lifespan is no longer much longer than a human's."
"Because cultivation itself is an act of defying heaven, and killing is even more harmful to heavenly harmony. Naturally, the Heavenly Dao seeks to destroy them."
Zhang Ruochen said, "If one doesn't cultivate and doesn't defy heaven, even living for a thousand eons is just being a tree waiting to be cut down. What meaning is there in that?"
Zhang Ruochen somewhat understood why the Wutong Tree couldn't become the world's spiritual root of the Kunlun Realm—its killing intent was too heavy.
The Sky-Connecting Divine Tree also had combat power, but it wasn't cultivated by the tree itself. It was power bestowed by the great world, the power of the world itself.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "The Immortal the Great Venerable was searching for—surely it wasn't this kind of plant-type being? Why did he believe such an entity existed?"
Tianmu shook her head. "His cultivation back then far surpassed mine now. He must have sensed something, which is why he began investigating. Perhaps..."
"Perhaps what?" Zhang Ruochen pressed.
Tianmu said, "Perhaps it was precisely because the Great Venerable was investigating the Immortal that he brought disaster upon himself."
"Because not long after he left Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, both Ling Yanzi and Yinxue Tian were afflicted with the Withering Death Art. With his cultivation at the time, he couldn't even cure the Withering Death Art and had to borrow the Mani Pearl. So who was the one who cast the Withering Death Art? How high must their cultivation have been?"
"Could the hidden enemy have used the Withering Death Art deliberately to drain the Great Venerable's power? And their true purpose was to kill him? So later, when the Great Venerable disappeared, it was because he had been murdered?"
With Tianmu's cultivation and experience, such a speculation was not baseless. She must have uncovered something herself.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Did the Great Venerable suspect that the Immortal was hiding in Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm?"
Tianmu shook her head. "The Great Venerable suspected that the Immortal might be some great figure from history. So he went to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm to investigate whether the Demon Ancestor was truly dead. In fact, he visited many places, eliminating possibilities one by one."
"You must understand that to achieve immortality, one must evade the Heavenly Dao. If such an Immortal truly exists, that person must be hiding extremely deeply, beyond even the Heavenly Dao's reach. For the Great Venerable to find them, he could only use the method of elimination."