Chapter: 3123 - Five Realms Heaven
Fate Divine Mountain was nothing like ordinary mountains. It covered a vast expanse of land, with the Three Departments and Twelve Divine Palaces scattered across different regions, each spanning a thousand miles.
The Past Divine Palace and Future Divine Palace were quite special, mysterious and unfathomable. Even within Fate Divine Mountain, only gods knew their approximate locations.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Senior Void Heaven once said that for those who cultivate the Way of Nothingness, the Sword Dao is a weakness. But why, then, did he specifically teach you the Sword Dao?"
"My master said that only when one reaches his current height does the Sword Dao become a weakness of the Way of Nothingness. As for me, even if I give my all and never slacken, the possibility of reaching his level is extremely slim," Que said, his expression stern, but a trace of unyielding will shone in his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Senior Void Heaven probably said that to spur you on. With your talent, if you cannot ascend to the ranks of the All Heavens, then what chance do other cultivators have?"
Zhang Ruochen deeply admired Que's talent and mental fortitude.
In this Eon, if not for him and Yan Wushen, Que would most likely have become the number one.
During the Saint realm, although Bai Qinger and Yin Yuanchen also possessed the strength of Eon-level geniuses, in terms of cultivation mentality, they were both slightly weaker than Que.
Bai Qinger had recklessly pushed herself to become an Eon-level genius just to challenge Huang Tian.
Yin Yuanchen's mentality was even more extreme, perhaps even more so than Bai Qinger's.
Que said, "After I cultivated a perfect Second-Rank Sacred Intent and cultivated forty trillion Sacred Dao Rules in the Supreme Realm, I went to ask my master. But my master said that such achievements in the Saint realm only increased my slim chance of becoming one of the All Heavens in the future to three-tenths. The other seven-tenths will be determined by my cultivation over the next million years."
"Diligence, willpower, comprehension, potential, opportunity, luck, setbacks, life and death, wisdom, calamities, compromise... all of these will repeatedly and increasingly test me over the next million years."
"Some will slack off, lost in pleasure. Some will exhaust their potential and gradually become mediocre. Some will not survive life-and-death tribulations, some will fail to seize opportunities, and some will not withstand setbacks."
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment, then said, "Actually, I think that being able to seize a three-tenths chance of becoming a future All Heaven during the Saint realm, with only a thousand years of cultivation, is already quite remarkable. For many gods, their future achievements are determined in the Saint realm, and that is truly despairing."
"They are merely mediocre. How can the mediocre feel despair? The mediocre are satisfied, and then become even more mediocre," Que said with a disdainful look. "A true strong one needs a heart of great desire, never satisfied. Therefore, the strong are all in pain, never knowing what satisfaction tastes like, forever on the path of pursuing great desire and great satisfaction, and can overcome pain time and time again, never compromising."
"Well said! The strong all have hearts of great desire!"
A sword cry rang out, and a beam of sword light flew out from Zhang Ruochen's body, hovering before Que.
"This is the Desire Sword from the Sword Ancestor's Soul Sword. Are you interested?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Que's eyes deepened. "Brother Ruochen intends to gift it to me?"
"Does Brother Que not wish to cultivate a Sword Soul and elevate his Sword Dao to the next level?" Zhang Ruochen said.
A flicker of hesitation passed through Que's eyes. He sighed, "I once told my master that you rely too much on the Sword Ancestor's Soul Sword and too much on external forces, that you have strayed from the right path. I never expected you to so readily give away a supreme treasure that all sword cultivators would fight over to someone you barely know. This shows that you are not truly dependent on external forces; you still possess a strong inner heart, able to take and also able to let go."
If one were truly dependent, they would never bear to lose it.
Even less would they willingly give it away.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Brother Que refuses to accept it. Are you afraid of becoming dependent on the Desire Sword?"
Que smiled disdainfully. "If a mere Desire Sword could break my firm Dao Heart, then what am I even pursuing the path of the All Heavens for? Since Brother Ruochen intends to help me cultivate my own Sword Soul, I will accept it! I will repay this favor in the future."
Que knew very well that Zhang Ruochen's gift of the Desire Sword was for the sake of his father, Zhang Ling.
This was an unspoken understanding.
Arriving at the Real World, they were now in the territory of the Real Divine Palace.
Further ahead was the Void-Real Realm.
The autumn colors were deep, the ground covered in withered grass.
Zhang Ruochen gazed into the distance at the majestic divine palace built on the vast plain. It was constructed from giant stones, looking desolate, unlike other divine palaces that were prosperous and bustling with cultivators.
Que saw the doubt in his eyes and said, "The Twelve Divine Palaces of the Destiny Temple represent the twelve forms of fate. But not every form can evolve into a powerful cultivation method. It requires a peerless genius to create a method to bring glory to that divine palace."
"Currently, among the twelve divine palaces, the ones that are truly prosperous and have many cultivators are only the Death Divine Palace, the Terror Divine Palace, the Calamity Divine Palace, the Fortune Divine Palace, the Wrath Divine Palace, the Life Divine Palace, the Auspicious Divine Palace, and the Void Divine Palace."
"Strictly speaking, the Life Divine Palace and the Auspicious Divine Palace have also declined since the fall of the Life God Venerable and the Auspicious God Venerable back then. The current Life God Venerable comes from the Death Divine Palace. The current Auspicious God Venerable comes from the Terror Divine Palace."
"Can such a Life God Venerable truly teach the Way of Life? Can such an Auspicious God Venerable truly teach the Method of Auspiciousness? Life and death are hard to distinguish; fortune and misfortune are hard to predict."
"Because the Life Divine Palace and the Auspicious Divine Palace still have many cultivators, they can maintain a certain influence."
"In fact, before my master rose to prominence, the Void Divine Palace was just like the current Real Divine Palace, existing only in name."
Much of what Que said was actually taboo.
But who could blame him for being Void Heaven's disciple?
He was not like Xue Tu, who had switched allegiances halfway and become a disciple of Feng Tian. Anyone could see that Void Heaven was grooming him as the future master of the Void Divine Palace.
Arriving at the Void-Real Realm, behind them was an endless plain, and before them was a chaotic expanse.
Deep within the chaos was emptiness and nothingness.
"Further ahead is the Great Calamity Palace! But we are not going there."
Que suddenly stomped his foot, and the ground beneath him split open.
He and Zhang Ruochen sank straight down into the depths of the earth, falling into endless chaos.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Ruochen's body steadied, and he found himself on a floating island. Before his eyes was a rolling, mighty river, floating in the void, flowing through the chaos, with no end in sight ahead and no source behind.
Half of the floating island was within the river, and half was between the real and the void.
"This is the Five Realms Heaven! The Real, the Void, the Past, the Present, and the Future all coexist here," Que said.
Zhang Ruochen extended a hand, and immediately, a large number of Time Rules appeared before his palm, like dense threads, flowing past his palm and into the River of Time.
Yes.
The river before him was the River of Time.
Zhang Ruochen said, "What does Senior Void Heaven want me to do?"
"My master means that your cultivation is still too weak. You need to become strong enough before you can leave Fate Divine Mountain."
Que pointed to a crystalline, jade-like palace on the right side of the floating island and said, "That is the Future Divine Palace. If you can defeat the person inside, you can leave Fate Divine Mountain."
Zhang Ruochen was skeptical but walked out of the chaos toward the area of the floating island that lay within the River of Time.
There were two palaces on the floating island.
One on the left was the Past Divine Palace.
One on the right was the Future Divine Palace.
The two palaces were nearly identical, neither very large, only thirteen zhang long and three zhang high, incomparable to other divine palaces or temples.
But what surprised Zhang Ruochen was that these two palaces were built entirely from Time-Space Crystals.
A single Time-Space Crystal was already a rare treasure. Using tens of thousands of them to build a palace—only the Destiny Temple could afford such extravagance.
Between the Past Divine Palace and the Future Divine Palace, two Time Divine Arrays were arranged, continuously absorbing Time Rules from the River of Time.
It seemed that gods were cultivating within the arrays, but the edges of the arrays were layered with profound Space Arrays, making it impossible to see what was happening inside the array world.
Zhang Ruochen arrived outside the Future Divine Palace, cupped his hands, and said, "I, Zhang Ruochen, by the order of Void Heaven, have come to challenge the senior."
From a distance, Que said, "My master means that you can only use your own strength to defeat this person. You may use divine artifacts and esoterica, but you cannot borrow the power of others."
"Hua!"
The Time Rules on the floating island became active, condensing into dense points of light that converged toward the Future Divine Palace.
Even the River of Time beside it began to surge violently.
The countless points of time light formed a river that surged wildly toward Zhang Ruochen.
They attacked without warning!
Zhang Ruochen's expression changed drastically. If he were struck by this River of Time, he would suffer a massive loss of lifespan. He immediately summoned the Abyssal Ancient Sword and executed the sixth layer of the Time Sword Art, thrusting forward.
It was the Winter Sword of the Four Seasons Sword Art!
The entire floating island seemed to instantly turn into a frozen, snowy wasteland, as if trying to freeze time itself.
"Roar!"
A dragon's roar rang out.
The River of Time transformed into a Time Divine Dragon, breaking through the Winter Sword and crashing into Zhang Ruochen.
Even though Zhang Ruochen managed to form a Taiji circle at the last moment, his body was still sent flying. His internal organs were shattered, and he lost nearly a thousand years of lifespan, crashing heavily to the ground.
"The river turned into a dragon. Such mastery of time!"
Zhang Ruochen's throat was filled with the metallic taste of blood, but he forcibly suppressed the divine blood from spilling out. He slowly stood up, looking at the Future Divine Palace. There was no frustration or discouragement in his eyes, only a burning battle intent.
Que said, "If you had used the Divine Sword, even if you couldn't break the Time Divine Dragon, you wouldn't have been injured so badly."
Zhang Ruochen had not used the Divine Sword, not out of underestimation, but because he wanted to defeat the person in the Future Divine Palace with his own strength. This was to tell Void Heaven that even without the Divine Sword, Zhang Ruochen was still unmatched under heaven.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen take out the Sundial and begin to heal his injuries, Que knew that Zhang Ruochen would not leave the Five Realms Heaven anytime soon, so he left first.
Xiu Chen's voice came from the Sundial: "The Destiny Temple built the Past Divine Palace and the Future Divine Palace to counter the Time Divine Temple of the Heavenly Court. But time is not so easy to cultivate. It's easy to build a palace, but hard to find talent."
"Feng Caiyi once invited me to be the master of both palaces, but I refused. I thought these two palaces were just for show, but I didn't expect them to actually cultivate a formidable expert in the Way of Time."
"Zhang Ruochen, your mastery of the Way of Time is far behind that person. Unless you can cultivate the seventh layer of the Time Sword Art, the Fleeting Year Sword Art, you won't be able to break the Time Divine Dragon."
"Of course, the fundamental reason is that your cultivation is too weak. If you could reach the Taibai Realm, breaking this Time Divine Dragon would not be difficult."
(End of Chapter)