Chapter 2865: Master Teacher
At the Weiming Manor within the Divine Maiden Garment City.
Zhang Ruochen stood by the lakeside, misty waves flowing around him, breathing in the soul-soothing fragrance of flowers. This was the very estate where he had met Desolate Heaven.
Yu Yao, like a fairy from a painting, stood by the lake and said, "Shang Hong was born in this era. He is one of the most powerful gods to emerge in this eon, a representative of the age, having cultivated for nearly a hundred thousand years. You are still far from matching him."
"Thank you, senior, for your assistance," Zhang Ruochen said.
This was a peculiar scene—an old man with white hair addressing a stunningly beautiful young woman as "senior."
Zhang Ruochen used the word "assistance" rather than "rescue."
Clearly, he was thanking Yu Yao for using her formation to trap Wuma Jiuxing, preventing his escape, which gave Zhang Ruochen the chance to kill him.
Yu Yao said, "By killing Wuma Jiuxing, you have forged a deep enmity with the Blade God Realm. Once you leave Xinghuantian, you will likely face a death sentence. You can claim to be my disciple, and at the very least, the Blade Venerable will not act against you personally."
Zhang Ruochen believed Yu Yao's spiritual power was formidable, but he did not think her name alone would make the Blade Venerable hesitate.
The Blade Venerable was not only the supreme master of the blade path but also the ruler of the Blade God Realm.
Yet, since she dared to say this, there must be a reason.
"Why are you helping me?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"Because..."
Yu Yao's gaze drifted toward the ancient pavilion where Desolate Heaven had once sat drinking, but she did not finish her sentence. Instead, she turned and drifted away, leaving the Jade Fate Pavilion.
"He said, if you want the Heavenly Venerable Gauze, think it over carefully, then go find him at Mount Mi Heavenly Venerable Lake," Yu Yao's clear and melodious voice reached Zhang Ruochen's ears.
Zhang Ruochen knew who "he" referred to. His entire body trembled, and then he smiled bitterly, muttering to himself, "As expected of Desolate Heaven. Truly a formidable figure. I had never met him before, yet after just one meeting, he saw through my identity."
Such an ability—A Le did not have it, Yu Chenjing did not have it, Bai Qinger did not have it, and Yu Yao did not have it.
Among them, some were his sworn brothers, some were exceptionally intelligent, and some possessed unfathomable spiritual power, yet none matched Desolate Heaven.
If Desolate Heaven had not seen through his identity, why would he intentionally offer the Heavenly Venerable Gauze to him?
A thousand years ago, when Zhang Ruochen went missing, Xue Jue War God suspected Bai Qinger was involved. He not only stormed the First Divine Maiden City but also went to curse out Desolate Heaven. Given Xue Jue War God's reckless nature, how could Desolate Heaven not know about Zhang Ruochen's relationship with Bai Qinger?
How did Xue Jue War God know?
Because the Underworld King knew.
Zhang Ruochen stayed at the Jade Fate Pavilion, paying no heed to the uproar caused by the fall of Demon Eye and Wuma Jiuxing. The chaos of the outside world seemed irrelevant to him.
When his spiritual power broke through to the seventy-fourth rank, Zhang Ruochen clearly sensed that the life flame within him had grown a bit stronger, with signs of an increase in lifespan.
But soon, his lifespan rapidly drained away again, and the life flame dwindled to just a single thread.
Zhang Ruochen distinctly felt that his lifespan and life essence were flowing into his Xuan Embryo, as if being absorbed by something, vanishing without a trace.
It was precisely because of this highly abnormal occurrence that Zhang Ruochen chose to go into seclusion, intending to study the Xuan Embryo in detail.
Perhaps the Xuan Embryo held the key to restoring his lifespan and turning from death back to life.
"How can there be nothing?"
Zhang Ruochen tried various methods. First, he probed with his spiritual power, then he summoned the sacred and divine energy from heaven and earth, channeling it into the Xuan Embryo.
But as soon as the spiritual power, sacred energy, and divine energy entered the Xuan Embryo, they disappeared instantly.
It was eerie to the extreme.
Zhang Ruochen even considered cutting open his abdomen with a sword to dig out the Xuan Embryo. However, he suppressed this impulsive thought.
Zhang Ruochen knew that Yu Yao, despite her youthful appearance, was likely hundreds of thousands of years old and must be a highly knowledgeable and powerful being. So, he sought her advice.
"Xuan Embryo?"
Yu Yao gave Zhang Ruochen a meaningful glance before saying, "The Xuan Embryo is also known as the Xuan Gate. Every living being has a Xuan Embryo within them, but not everyone can open it."
"In ancient times, Qi cultivators roamed the universe, suppressing even the once-dominant Wu path. These Qi cultivators cultivated the Xuan Embryo."
"In their view, the Xuan Embryo was part of the Heavenly Dao, a bridge between living beings and heaven and earth, the source of all life."
"But at the end of the ancient era, a great calamity erupted, and the rules of heaven and earth changed. Cultivators who could still open their Xuan Embryo became exceedingly rare. Thus, the path of Qi cultivation declined."
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Can the Xuan Embryo devour a cultivator's life force? Can it devour sacred energy, divine energy, and spiritual power?"
"In the eyes of Qi cultivators, the Xuan Embryo is a place that nurtures life force and stores sacred and divine energy. What do you mean by 'devour'?" Yu Yao said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I mean, it disappears inexplicably."
"Is this the problem you are facing?" Yu Yao asked.
Zhang Ruochen knew he could not hide this from her, but he still said, "Not me, but a close friend of mine."
"Oh?"
Yu Yao extended her delicate right hand, her five snow-white fingers slowly pressing toward Zhang Ruochen's navel.
Her spiritual power transformed into strands of light mist, surging into the Xuan Embryo.
But in an instant, Yu Yao withdrew her spiritual power.
A flicker of unusual color appeared in her always-calm eyes. "Your Xuan Embryo... it is indeed problematic. Even my spiritual power vanished instantly, impossible to probe."
"I can only sense that the Xuan Embryo is empty and hollow, with nothing inside," Zhang Ruochen said.
"It cannot truly be empty. You must be unable to sense what is there."
Yu Yao pressed her two fingers together, condensing a bright beam of light at her fingertips with her powerful spiritual power, and pointed it at him from a distance again.
Under the influence of her spiritual power, the plants in the Jade Fate Pavilion grew wildly.
Sacred flowers bloomed and withered, withered and bloomed, in endless cycles. Countless petals fell to the ground, then flew up again, drifting through the estate.
Zhang Ruochen's white hair flew wildly, and a sharp pain shot through his abdomen, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
"Splash!"
After an unknown amount of time, Yu Yao withdrew her spiritual power once more. Beads of fine sweat appeared on her forehead, and her eyes were filled with disbelief. "How strange! Just now, the spiritual power I sent into your Xuan Embryo would have been enough to overwhelm a god at the seventy-fourth rank of spiritual power. Yet, it was like a bottomless pit, absorbing it all. How is this possible?"
At first, Zhang Ruochen had held some hope that the Xuan Embryo might be the key to rekindling his life force and martial arts cultivation. But if even a powerhouse like Yu Yao could not figure it out, it seemed the heavens had played him once again.
Zhang Ruochen calmed his mind and said, "Regardless, thank you, Master Teacher."
"Master Teacher?"
Yu Yao shook her head noncommittally and walked away with a mind full of doubts. Clearly, the secret of Zhang Ruochen's body had piqued her interest, and she intended to consult ancient texts to study it further.
Zhang Ruochen had called her "Master Teacher" not because he wanted to become her disciple, but because he felt he owed her a debt of gratitude. A simple "thank you" seemed too shallow.
Returning to his room, Zhang Ruochen stopped probing the Xuan Embryo and took out the stone cauldron.
On the cauldron, the marks of the Sixth Patriarch's Sanskrit script and the Udumbara flower had faded considerably. Perhaps it was because their power had been consumed during the refining and killing of Wuma Jiuxing.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his spiritual power, drawing strands of divine energy from heaven and earth, transforming it into flames to refine the stone cauldron.
After a while, a large patch of black text appeared at the bottom of the cauldron.
The black text had also faded significantly.
Previously, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power had not been strong enough to decipher this celestial script left by Yinxue Heaven. Now that his spiritual power had greatly increased, he decided to try again.
As his spiritual power spread toward the black text.
The entire world seemed to transform into a dark forest. Each character was a towering divine mountain, containing infinite vastness, yet shrouded in thick black mist, making it impossible to see their true form.
After three hours, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power was nearly exhausted, and he had only managed to decipher three characters.
"Underworld Soldiers Scroll!"
"It is actually the 'Underworld Soldiers Scroll' from the eight volumes of the Underworld Scripture. The Wondrous Zen Nun searched for it in vain, yet Yinxue Heaven simply left it in the most conspicuous place in her dojo. It was probably meant specifically for her."
Zhang Ruochen felt as if his entire body had been drained, gasping for breath, exhausted to the point of collapse, but he was laughing so hard tears nearly came to his eyes.
Truly, fate played cruel tricks.
If the Wondrous Zen Nun knew that she had handed such a precious treasure over to Zhang Ruochen, what expression would she have?
With the "Underworld Soldiers Scroll" in hand, she could control the divine army left behind by Yinxue Heaven.
"I must decipher the entire 'Underworld Soldiers Scroll' first. If it disappears along with the Udumbara flower mark, that would be a great pity."
Zhang Ruochen struggled to rise with his aged and frail body, sat cross-legged, and began to recuperate his spiritual power, striving to recover as quickly as possible.
Late at night.
The melodious sound of chime bells reached Zhang Ruochen's ears.
The chime bells were full of ancient charm, sometimes long, sometimes short.
Zhang Ruochen opened his aged eyes, a gleam of unusual brilliance appearing in them. He got off the bed, opened the window, and the chime bells became clearer.
Looking through the window.
By the lakeside, in the ancient pavilion, a woman in white, like a painting, was striking three rows of bronze chime bells.
She was like a ghost in the night, a spirit of melody, producing a wonderfully beautiful tune that made one involuntarily intoxicated. Her black hair hung down to her waist, adorned with a phoenix hairpin. Her neck was slender, her jade waist like a willow. Even just her back view evoked countless beautiful fantasies.
In the purple bamboo grove, the old yellow ox, which had been fast asleep, heard the music. As if having a sweet dream, it hugged its own back hoof and began to lick it.
Zhang Ruochen pushed open the door and walked to the outside of the ancient pavilion, quietly watching her.
A gentle breeze came, and the piece ended.
Bai Qinger placed the bronze chime mallets on the rack, clasped her delicate little hands behind her back, and looked at the moonlit misty waves on the lake. "Do you know that the Jade Fate Pavilion is a very special place? Ordinary cultivators are not qualified to enter here. Even more so, living in the Jade Fate Pavilion is almost taboo."