# Chapter 2845: Zhang Ruochen, It's Time for You to Come Out!
The two big white geese seemed to understand the drunkard's words.
They spread their snow-white wings, one on the left and one on the right, charged forward, and clamped down on the drunkard's thigh and fingers respectively, causing him to howl in pain as he immediately fled toward the main hall.
The two big white geese returned victorious, looking haughty as they swaggered over to Zhang Ruochen and continued eating.
After feeding the two big white geese, Zhang Ruochen went to feed the old yellow ox.
Only then did Zhang Ruochen return to the main hall, only to find the drunkard hadn't left.
"So fierce! Are these even geese? They're more terrifying than the legendary phoenix!"
The drunkard had disheveled hair, sometimes rubbing his fingers, sometimes massaging his thigh.
After seven years of acquaintance, Zhang Ruochen had grown quite familiar with the drunkard. He moved a jar of wine over and sat down, saying, "Why did you provoke them? Those two geese have become spirits. Even I don't dare say I want to eat their meat."
The drunkard asked curiously, "Old Zhang, I've never asked you—how old are you exactly? The oldest elder in town says that when he was young, you already looked half-dead."
Zhang Ruochen was actually quite puzzled himself. Why did the faint flame of life never extinguish?
It had stubbornly persisted for so many years.
Sometimes, he wondered if the Buddha Emperor Relic and the White Cang Blood Soil were sustaining his life.
"About to die, just about to die. Won't live much longer, no."
Zhang Ruochen filled two bowls of wine and pushed one over to the drunkard.
The drunkard rolled up his sleeves, picked up the clay bowl, savored the aroma of the wine with delight, and gulped it all down.
Instantly, his hand no longer hurt, and his leg no longer ached.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Don't even mention you—even the old yellow ox has suffered quite a bit under their beaks. People often say, 'strong as an ox.' Tell me, why can't a sturdy yellow ox defeat two geese?"
"Because one is fierce, and the other is honest. The honest one naturally gets bullied," the drunkard said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If this ox is so honest, then why did it trample the butcher to death?"
"The butcher wanted to kill it, so of course it had to fight for its life," the drunkard said matter-of-factly.
Zhang Ruochen said, "When fighting for its life, it could trample the butcher to death. When being bullied, it just kept getting bullied. Tell me, among the geese, the yellow ox, and the butcher, who is the strongest?"
The drunkard was stunned!
"The... geese are the strongest?"
"Would it be difficult for the butcher to kill them?"
"Is the ox the strongest? No... no... the butcher is the strongest... that's not right either... let me think..."
The drunkard completely lost interest in drinking, fully immersed in thought.
Finally, driven to the point of madness, he grabbed his hair and roared, "What kind of broken question is this? I'm not drinking anymore! Not drinking!"
The drunkard slapped his butt and left, not forgetting to glance at the two big white geese and the old yellow ox in the backyard, his expression indignant.
Only Zhang Ruochen remained, drinking alone.
Actually, what Zhang Ruochen couldn't understand most was that he had pretended to sleep in bed for over half a year, and no one could wake him. Yet a battle between geese and an ox had roused him.
Why was that?
What had awakened the one who was pretending to sleep?
The geese could never be a match for the ox—far inferior in strength, their attacks not lethal—yet they had won!
The ox appeared strong but was powerless to counterattack.
He had kept the yellow ox and the two big white geese all along, trying to understand the reason. What exactly had awakened him?
When the butcher was trampled to death by the ox, Zhang Ruochen became even more confused.
It showed this was not an ox that would be slaughtered without resistance; it knew how to fight back too.
After finishing the wine, Zhang Ruochen brought out a wooden clapper, sat under the large locust tree, and began to strike it. The sound rose and fell rhythmically, sometimes clear, sometimes deep.
In the days that followed, the drunkard came to the inn every day to argue with Zhang Ruochen about who was stronger—the geese, the yellow ox, or the butcher.
But there was never a conclusion.
One snowy winter, especially cold, with snow three feet deep.
The drunkard arrived at the inn and said, "I've finally thought of a way to definitely determine their strength and weakness."
"Oh?"
Zhang Ruochen was striking the clapper and responded casually.
The drunkard said, "I'll raise the geese, and you raise the ox. The butcher was trampled to death by the ox. As long as the geese I raise defeat the ox you raise in a fair fight, it proves the geese are the strongest, the ox second, and the butcher is trash."
Zhang Ruochen stopped and said, "I knew it. You've been eyeing my two big white geese all along, trying to get them for nothing?"
"I'll buy them."
"Not for sale."
"Stingy! Just two geese, and you treat them like treasures. Who wants them anyway? Farewell!"
The drunkard left indignantly.
The next day, the inn was burglarized!
The two big white geese were stolen.
Zhang Ruochen searched the entire town but couldn't find the geese.
Also missing was the drunkard.
Finally, on the large locust tree, he saw a line of characters left by the drunkard: "You won't find the answer here."
"To move so silently, it seems I really misjudged this time. This drunkard is no ordinary person!"
Zhang Ruochen smiled helplessly, realizing he would soon have to bid farewell to this peaceful life.
But he didn't think about leaving or hiding away in seclusion somewhere else.
Since the drunkard had set his sights on him, hiding to the ends of the earth would be useless.
This planet was a sixth-level major planet. Not large compared to seventh-level or higher main planets, but much larger than other life-bearing planets.
Generally, only main planets had gods dwelling on them.
At this moment.
The drunkard stood in the void outside this planet, stopped, and looked back, as if talking to himself: "Hiding here is such a waste! Without you, this era loses so much fun! You want stillness, but I won't let you be still. Zhang Ruochen, it's time for you to come out!"
He waved his wide sleeves, stepped on the void, and strode away, chanting: "South of heaven, nowhere to return; in the mortal world, carefree roaming. If people come to bully me, the ground stains red three feet deep. If heaven comes to bully me, I curse the thieving sky. If I bully myself, who cares to interfere?"
"Honk! Honk!"
Behind him followed two swaggering big white geese.
Swaying and staggering, the one man and two geese moved in surprisingly synchronized steps.
...
The universe is eternal, the stars have always been in motion, never stopping because of anyone's withdrawal.
Without Zhang Ruochen, heaven and earth remained as they had always been.
Although the war between the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm had only erupted for a few decades, it was not as peaceful as the gods had predicted. On the contrary, it was extremely fierce, with multiple ancient civilizations destroyed in just a few decades, divine battles erupting frequently, and no one knew how many gods had fallen.
The iron curtain defense line established by the Heavenly Court, relying on the Giant Spirit Civilization, Blazing Sun Civilization, and Hidden Ruins Civilization, had been battered and riddled with holes, the situation precarious. The number of cultivators who had died in battle was incalculable.
Once war erupted, it was like releasing a demon, no longer under anyone's control.
Forty years ago, Corpse Clan gods infiltrated the Northern Universe, slaughtered an entire realm, and refined billions of corpses.
The Northern Universe war erupted!
Thirty years ago, news spread that Empress Chi Yao had devoured all of Zhang Ruochen's cultivation and cultivated the "Thirty-Three Heavens." Subsequently, armies of the Rakshasa Clan and Undying Blood Clan broke into the starry sky where the Kunlun Realm was located, slaughtering wildly, and the flames of war spread to local star regions of the Western Universe.
Twenty years ago, the Heavenly Palace held the Enfeoffment Heaven Grand Ceremony, establishing the Twenty Heavens, with Hao Tian as the new Heavenly Venerable.
After thirty thousand years, the Twenty Heavens appeared in the world once more. The divine shadows of the heavens floated above the Heavenly Court, like twenty starry giants, the strongest of this era.
The Hell Realm refused to be outdone and also convened an Enfeoffment Heaven Grand Ceremony, evaluating the Twenty Heavens, with Fengdu Dadi as the Hell Realm's Heavenly Venerable.
Ten years ago, Wuqing Zong returned from Lihentian and stepped into the realm of God Venerable.
Four years ago, Chi Xingtian escaped from Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
Last month, Bai Qinger rode an ancient white jade ship, returning from the border universe, and went back to the Goddess Twelve Pavilions.
The times were always changing, and everyone was the protagonist of this era.
At this moment.
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the sky, only to see it burning. A ball of fire descended from the heavens, crashing down about five hundred miles from the small town.
He saw it very clearly. What fell was a cultivator.
Moreover, his cultivation was not weak—he was a Great Saint.
Before long, Zhang Ruochen saw this Great Saint appear in his field of vision, severely wounded, his aura weak, flying down from midair and appearing at the entrance of the town.