# Chapter 2837: Returning to One Thousand Eight Hundred Years Ago?
Two figures stepped forward using the Divine Spirit Step, traversing space across the star domain.
"This time, I, the Emperor, must still thank you. Fortunately, you returned to the Ancient Desolate Ruins City to seek an audience with the Heavenly Mother and requested a divine decree. With this scroll of divine decree, that one at the Southern Region Life-Death Ruins will be somewhat cautious and should not make another move against Zhang Ruochen."
Seeing that Gushe Jing ignored him, Xiao Hei continued, "But I, the Emperor, am very puzzled. Since the Heavenly Mother issued a divine decree, why didn't she appear in person and rush to the Southern Region? Wouldn't the deterrent effect be greater? Moreover, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation has been crippled (fei diao), his life or death unknown. The Heavenly Mother only bestowed the identity of a Divine Envoy. Why didn't she go to save him and help him restore his cultivation?"
Gushe Jing stopped walking, glaring coldly at him. "You also know Zhang Ruochen's life or death is unknown? If so, why are you following me? Shouldn't you be rushing to find him?"
Xiao Hei's eyes rolled slyly. "I only have a very subtle connection with him. You absorbed his soul power and can't even sense his location. How could I, the Emperor, possibly sense it? Not knowing where he is, how can I go find him?"
"The Heavenly Mother cannot leave the Ancient Desolate Ruins City. I've only told you this secret. If outsiders learn of it, it will definitely be because you leaked it." Gushe Jing continued, "Don't follow me. We're not familiar."
Xiao Hei continued chasing after her, trying to get close, laughing. "We can't sense Zhang Ruochen's location, but Zangjin Baihu can. So I, the Emperor, am not worried about his safety."
After following through another stretch of star domain, Gushe Jing finally couldn't take it anymore. She stopped again, staring at him. "I, this God, need to return to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm to report some matters. How about we part ways here?"
"What a coincidence. I, the Emperor, also need to go to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm."
"Why are you going to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm?"
"Why do you care about that?"
Gushe Jing rolled her eyes. "I am the Heavenly Pavilion Eye of Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm. Whether you can enter Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm is up to me."
"Fine, Heavenly Pavilion Eye. I, the Emperor, am going to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm to visit Mu Lingxi. That girl, if she learns that Zhang Ruochen has encountered misfortune, she might do something foolish. I, the Emperor, need to go calm her emotions."
Seeing Gushe Jing's skeptical eyes, Xiao Hei quickly added another sentence. "To be honest, Mu Lingxi is my goddaughter. If you don't believe me, you can ask Zhang Ruochen."
Xiao Hei had already obtained the Xingtian Cauldron from Wuqing Zong and had split paths with Chi Yao. One went to find Zhang Ruochen, the other to Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm to save Chi Xingtian.
Gushe Jing sneered. "Mu Lingxi is your goddaughter? And Zhang Ruochen?"
"With my status, I am the son of a God Venerable. My age is over one hundred thousand years. My experience—can you compare? When Zhang Ruochen was still young, he really had to call me godfather. It's just that later, when his cultivation grew strong and his wings hardened, he became disrespectful and somewhat rebellious." Xiao Hei spoke seriously, with a hint of melancholy and sigh.
Gushe Jing snorted, transforming into a red divine light and breaking through the air.
"Don't go! Wait for me, the Emperor!"
Xiao Hei chased closely after her.
...
The universe was filled with stars, the space infinitely vast.
Some great sage among the gods had once calculated the number of stars in the Yellow Spring Star River of Hell Realm, arriving at an approximate number—close to one trillion.
One star could form a small galaxy. (In the solar system, the estimated number of asteroids exceeds one million, with small celestial bodies numbering in the hundreds of millions.)
This meant that in the Yellow Spring Star River, there were fully one trillion small galaxies.
Not to mention one trillion small galaxies, even one ten-thousandth of the Yellow Spring Star River's star domain was so vast that even a God Venerable could not directly cross it. One had to take star paths, wormholes, and interstellar space teleportation arrays.
If a God Venerable's divine thought locked onto a person, finding that person would naturally not be difficult.
But if that person escaped the God Venerable's lock, in such a vast star domain space, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, extremely hard to find.
In a ruined sacred hall, the Exquisite Zen Maiden, wearing the Flame God Armor, placed a headless body on a stone platform covered in dust and cobwebs.
Along the way, too many gods had pursued them. She didn't have time to help Zhang Ruochen refine the powerful death force that had invaded his body.
But fortunately, Zhang Ruochen's life force was strong, and the flame of his life had not been extinguished.
This place had once been a saint's cultivation ground many years ago, but it had fallen into severe disrepair, now just a relic.
"Shua! Shua! Shua..."
The Exquisite Zen Maiden shot out thirty-two formation flags, which transformed into thirty-two yellow lights flying outward, evolving numerous inscriptions. Within this relic, she set up a formation before returning to the ruined hall.
Her clear, beautiful eyes looked at the body lying on the stone platform, wrapped in thick death qi. "You, Zhang Ruochen, are truly remarkable, drawing even someone like Qing Zu to personally take action. This is treatment befitting a God Venerable, treating you as a future All Heavens. But, eroded by such terrifying death qi, why hasn't your life flame been extinguished?"
When Qing Zu struck, even just a wisp of death qi entering the body was extremely difficult for old-generation gods to dissolve.
Zhang Ruochen was merely a new god. That he could still be alive was truly a miracle.
The Exquisite Zen Maiden noticed a white light flickering on Zhang Ruochen's chest.
"It seems the Buddhist treasure, the Great Arhat White Pearl, blocked the death qi, and with the Buddha Emperor Relic protecting your body, you survived. Everything is cause and effect. If you hadn't given me the Mani Pearl, how could I have given you the Great Arhat White Pearl? If you hadn't given me the Flame God Armor, giving me a way to hide my identity, I wouldn't have been able to come forward and save you. Plant the cause, reap the effect. The entanglements of gratitude and resentment were already destined when we made the choice to resolve our enmity."
The Exquisite Zen Maiden's snow-white, delicate hands hovered above Zhang Ruochen's body, drawing on the power of the Arhat White Pearl.
"Hua!"
The Arhat White Pearl's light surged greatly, strand by strand, purifying the death qi enveloping Zhang Ruochen.
Only a god of the Exquisite Zen Maiden's level, combined with a Buddhist treasure of the Arhat White Pearl's level, could purify such powerful death qi.
Who knew how much time passed.
The death qi dissipated. The Exquisite Zen Maiden had consumed a great deal of divine qi within her body. On her smooth as congealed fat (ning zhi) jade-white face, sweat and a rosy flush appeared.
With the suppression of the death qi gone, Zhang Ruochen's head, which had been shattered, slowly regrew. But his eyes were tightly closed, and he did not awaken.
His face was pale, filled with sickness.
The Exquisite Zen Maiden's soft, tender hand touched Zhang Ruochen's chest. It was full, his heart beating, his divine heart unbroken, containing powerful spiritual power fluctuations.
Why hadn't he awakened?
"Eh!"
The Exquisite Zen Maiden sensed something. She removed Zhang Ruochen's robe, revealing the "Sixth Patriarch's Meditation Diagram" wrapped around his body.
She slowly pulled out the "Sixth Patriarch's Meditation Diagram," laid it flat on the ground, and examined it carefully.
Gradually, a hint of shame and annoyance appeared on her smooth as congealed fat (ning zhi) jade-white face. "So this is the Sixth Patriarch. How infuriating. Even I was deceived by you."
Thinking back to when, in the broken divine sea of Yunqing Ancient Buddha, she had been so frightened by the Sixth Patriarch's might that she knelt on the ground, she felt very uncomfortable. She was sure Zhang Ruochen must have been laughing at her then.
Unable to help herself, she clenched her fists.
"No! A Buddhist cultivator should keep their mind as still as water. Why are my emotional fluctuations growing larger and larger now? I'm nowhere near as calm as before?" The Exquisite Zen Maiden realized this was not a good thing. Her state of mind had developed a problem.
She calmed her emotions, settled her mind, rolled up the "Sixth Patriarch's Meditation Diagram," and placed it beside Zhang Ruochen.
Outside.
"This is the place! Zhang Ruochen's aura is inside, but it's covered by a sophisticated formation. Breaking in won't be easy."
"I'll break the formation."
The Exquisite Zen Maiden looked out toward the saint's relic, seeing the figures of Zangjin Baihu and Chi Yao.
She glanced back at Zhang Ruochen and sighed. "Forget it. I can only help you this far. I hope you won't be knocked down by this blow. Cultivate your spiritual power. You can still dominate the world in the future."
Chi Yao took out her divine sword, about to forcefully break the formation.
But suddenly, the dense formation inscriptions disappeared. The gray, hazy space before her gradually became clear. The ruined walls, broken pillars, and ancient halls of the relic emerged one by one.
A streak of flame divine light flashed across the sky.
By the time Chi Yao and Zangjin Baihu entered this relic, the Exquisite Zen Maiden had already left this star domain, speeding far away.
...
Zhang Ruochen appeared in a resplendent palace. Here, red walls and glazed tiles were decorated with colored glaze (liu li) lampstands, bronze lions and iron horses, jade butterflies, and silver flowers.
Very familiar...
Right!
It was the imperial palace hall of the Holy Bright Central Empire.
"Why am I here?"
Just as Zhang Ruochen was puzzled, he heard a familiar yet unfamiliar voice, filled with bitterness: "Holy Monk, is there really no other way?"
Zhang Ruochen followed the sound and saw a tall, imposing figure with a refined face, appearing to be around fifty years old.
It was Qing Di, Chi Yao's father.
Zhang Ruochen woke up as if from a dream, looking around. He realized that in the hall were not only Qing Di and Ming Di, but also a young Chi Yao standing beside him, only about ten years old, wearing tight white martial clothes.
At the center of the hall stood a sacred figure radiating Buddhist light, looking exactly like Xumi Saint Monk.
"How can this be? I was clearly crossing the Divine Tribulation—no, I had already crossed the Divine Tribulation and was constructing the Tenth Heaven, when I was struck by an incredibly powerful attack... How did I suddenly end up here?"
Zhang Ruochen was shocked inside. "Could it be that I've been reborn one thousand eight hundred years ago, back to when I was sixteen?"
Soon, Zhang Ruochen realized his thinking was wrong.
Because although he was standing in the hall, he had no control over his body. He could only passively watch and listen.
Xumi Saint Monk said, "If there were another way, why would I, this humble monk, place my hopes on two children of just over ten years old? This is not just the calamity of the Kunlun Realm, but the calamity of the entire world. Only by cultivating the 'Wisdom King Sutra' perfected by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable can we have a glimmer of hope. Of course, I won't force them. The choice will be left to them."
Qing Di and Ming Di's gazes turned toward Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao.
"A Yao and I have already discussed it. We are willing to cultivate the 'Wisdom King Sutra.' Although we don't know how powerful the enemy is, no matter how difficult the future will be, we will definitely face it together. Not for anything else, but to fight for a glimmer of hope, to fight for a future." Zhang Ruochen's appearance was very young, with a hint of childishness, but his words were firm and resolute.
And Zhang Ruochen's consciousness, like a bystander, could only watch his sixteen-year-old self say these words.
"Don't rush to decide. You must first know what cultivating the complete 'Wisdom King Sutra' means. It means that in the future, you won't be able to walk hand in hand, but will inevitably be separated."
Then, Xumi Saint Monk explained the cruelty of cultivating the "Wisdom King Sutra."