Chapter 3131: Seven Thousand Years Later
“So a God Venerable has already fallen!”
Hai Shang Youruo’s eyes showed neither joy nor sorrow as she asked, “Feima Wang? I recall that among the seventy-two pillar demon gods of the chaotic ancient times, there was one called Feima Wang.”
“That’s right, it’s her. Speaking of which, this Feima Wang has some connection to the Destiny Temple, and even to me…”
Zhang Ruochen felt some sympathy for Hai Shang Youruo, so he began recounting the various major events happening outside, or interesting anecdotes, starting from Feima Wang and moving to the conflicts in the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
From the Heavenly Court army’s attack on Xinghuantian, he spoke of the Origin Divine Temple’s emergence.
From the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm each appointing their Twenty Heavens, he spoke of what he had seen and heard in the Abyss of Darkness.
Hai Shang Youruo sat back down on the steps, listening with rapt attention, her eyes dreamy, like a little girl hearing a story.
Suddenly, she said, “Zhang Ruochen, I feel like you’re telling me about your own glorious achievements, and you’ve exaggerated them quite a bit.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Where’s the exaggeration?”
“You said you severely wounded Mingjian Shen multiple times.”
“That’s a fact!”
“You said you single-handedly defeated the entire Heavenly Court army.”
“That one might be a little exaggerated!”
“You said you once traveled along the River of Time to the ancient past? But the River of Time has undergone a great upheaval, and now no one can go to the past anymore. No matter how strong their cultivation, it’s impossible.”
“Is that so? Maybe I meant I went to the ancient past in a dream.” Zhang Ruochen said.
“I thought you were a down-to-earth, hardworking cultivator, but I didn’t expect you to be so childish. Your temperament is far from steady.”
Hai Shang Youruo picked up her purple bamboo, stood up, and walked toward the gate of the Future Divine Palace, saying, “Don’t follow me.”
“If the heart is too steady, how much joy would be lost?”
Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself, then asked, “You are a descendant of the Life God Venerable. Have you cultivated the Way of Life and the Way of Fate?”
“Your cultivation is too weak; I can’t be bothered to tell you.”
Hai Shang Youruo closed the palace gate, forming a time barrier.
“You’ve been stuck at the peak of the Taibai Realm for sixty thousand years, and you still have the nerve to call me weak? Wait until I successfully cultivate Shaoyang, then you’ll know who the real weakling is!”
Zhang Ruochen picked up the Abyssal Ancient Sword and walked toward the sundial.
Over these thousands of years, the Abyssal Ancient Sword had refined several of Zhang Ruochen’s Monarch Sacred Artifacts and had now reached the level of a Chaos-level Monarch Sacred Artifact.
“I need to hurry up and try to condense Shaoyang before the Thousand Star Conjunction Day.”
Based on the thoughts of Daoist sages, Zhang Ruochen called the next transformation of the Taiji Yin-Yang Two Forms the Four Symbols.
The so-called Four Symbols are Shaoyang, Shaoyin, Taiyang, and Taiyin.
Currently, the number of Rule Divine Marks in Zhang Ruochen’s body was more than twenty times that of a mid-stage Taiyi Realm cultivator. Plus, his foundation in the Butian Realm meant his number of Rule Divine Marks far exceeded that of other gods.
It could be said that, purely in terms of the number of Rule Divine Marks, few Taiyi Realm gods could surpass Zhang Ruochen.
The next step was naturally to seek the transformation of the Four Symbols.
Zhang Ruochen had already tried to transform Yin and Yang into the Four Symbols all at once, but it was simply impossible. Even if it could be done, it would take millions or even hundreds of millions of years.
From the birth of Yin and Yang Qi in the universe to the evolution of the Four Symbols, it took far more than a hundred million years.
Zhang Ruochen couldn’t live that long.
So, he had to push it artificially, first cultivating one symbol as a breakthrough point.
Over the years, after many failures, Zhang Ruochen had gained experience and felt that cultivating “Shaoyang” had the greatest chance of success. Once Shaoyang was cultivated, his combat power would greatly increase, and his cultivation would not be weaker than a Taibai Realm Great God.
Shaoyang means cultivating a small amount of Yang Qi within the Yin Qi of the Yin-Yang Two Forms.
This was no easy task, because the Yin and Yang Qi in Zhang Ruochen’s body were currently completely separate. Although they rotated cyclically, they also repelled each other and never merged.
Cultivating a trace of Yang Qi within Yin Qi was as difficult as preserving a flame in water, while also ensuring the flame didn’t go out and establishing a connection with the water so that the water helped the flame burn.
The method Zhang Ruochen came up with was to separate the Yang-attribute Sword Dao and Truth Dao, having the Rule Divine Marks of these two paths each carry a trace of Chaotic Yang Qi into the Yin Qi of the Two Forms to evolve Shaoyang.
The reason he chose the Sword Dao and Truth Dao was that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Time Sword Art, which tightly bound these two completely opposite attributes together.
In this way, the Yin-attribute Way of Time could nourish the Sword Dao.
Zhang Ruochen also possessed a large amount of Truth Esoterica and had the Heart of Truth, allowing him to use his absolute control over the Truth Dao to stabilize Shaoyang.
Over the next three thousand years, Zhang Ruochen both continuously failed in condensing Shaoyang and continued to cultivate Rule Divine Marks.
“Condense!”
Zhang Ruochen began his 138,501st attempt. A Taiji circle with a diameter of thirty-six zhang appeared, with Yin and Yang Qi flowing, showing black and white colors, like water droplets with large heads and thin tails.
In the white Yang Qi, the Sword Dao rules and Truth rules each carried a trace of Yang Qi, intertwining and surging into the black Yin Qi.
In the distance, Gong Nanfeng held his breath, nervous as if he were the one breaking through a realm.
Hai Shang Youruo, on the other hand, was long accustomed to it. However, she was quite curious, because without reaching the Taibai Realm, Zhang Ruochen wasn’t qualified to be her whetstone. At this stage, she was more like his whetstone.
This was the first time Gong Nanfeng had seen the phenomenon of Zhang Ruochen breaking through a realm. He said, “How strange. His breakthrough to the Taibai Realm is completely different from other Taiyi Great Gods. It’s somewhat like Daoist cultivation methods, and also somewhat like ancient Qi refiners, but there’s something odd about it.”
“Aren’t you the artifact spirit of the Celestial Pivot Needle? Don’t you know he’s cultivating the *Thirty-Three Heavens*? Back then, the Great Venerable combined the strengths of Buddhism and Daoism to create this divine skill that surpasses the universe.” Hai Shang Youruo said.
Gong Nanfeng said, “Cultivating the *Thirty-Three Heavens* would condense a Celestial Realm to replace the Star Soul Divine Throne. Where is the Celestial Realm?”
“His Celestial Realm was shattered by Qingtian. Clearly, he broke through the ruins and took another path. Having a Celestial Realm would actually be inferior. Without a Celestial Realm, there are no constraints at all.” Hai Shang Youruo said.
“Boom!”
A loud noise came from the direction of the sundial.
Yin and Yang collapsed, and space became chaotic.
Hai Shang Youruo was prepared. She formed hand seals, and a Gate of Destiny appeared on the ground, enveloping Zhang Ruochen to suppress the destructive force from spreading outward.
After a while, Zhang Ruochen, with disheveled hair, walked out of the chaotic rules, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He coughed and said, “Why are you here?”
Gong Nanfeng had long stopped cultivating under the sundial and had only come to the Five Realms Heaven today. He was stunned for a moment and asked, “Are you alright?”
“It’s nothing. I just failed to break through and suffered a little injury.” Zhang Ruochen said nonchalantly.
Gong Nanfeng said, “You’re spitting blood!”
“I’ve already absorbed the blood Qi back into my body.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Gong Nanfeng said, “In two days, it will be the Thousand Star Conjunction Day. You need to leave the Five Realms Heaven.”
“So fast? Has it been nineteen years already?” Zhang Ruochen was very surprised.
Gong Nanfeng said, “Truly, cultivation knows no time. Don’t you know that seven thousand years have passed in the Five Realms Heaven? Let’s go. Because of your wedding with Wu Yue, many gods from the Hell Realm have come in person to the Fate Divine Domain. It’s quite lively now.”
“You’re marrying Wu Yue?” Hai Shang Youruo learned this news for the first time, her eyes filled with indescribable surprise.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Do you know Wu Yue?”
“I’ve met her once.”
Hai Shang Youruo’s eyes turned sympathetic as she walked toward the Future Divine Palace. She simply couldn’t understand how two completely different people could become husband and wife. What an interesting thing!
Leaving the Five Realms Heaven, Zhang Ruochen originally planned to visit Void Heaven, but was told that Void Heaven had gone to the Starry Sky Battlefield and was fighting fiercely with the Heavenly Court’s All Heavens.
“Master sent a message earlier. He may not be able to return in person to preside over your wedding with Hall Master Wu Yue. If he can’t make it, Fulu God Venerable will preside over the ceremony in his place.” Que said.
That Void Heaven would go to the Starry Sky Battlefield and fight so fiercely with the Heavenly Court’s All Heavens was completely unexpected to Zhang Ruochen.
Had he become a pro-war faction in the Hell Realm?
Zhang Ruochen was genuinely worried about the situation on the Starry Sky Battlefield. He wondered if the Heavenly Beginning Civilization had been relocated to the Sword Realm.
In recent years, he had been so absorbed in cultivation that he had completely lost touch with the outside world.
It wasn’t that Zhang Ruochen didn’t care about the Heavenly Beginning Civilization, but because this matter was being planned by Grandmaster, Dragon Lord, and Yuqing Patriarch, there was no need for a junior like him to get involved.
In the Destiny Temple, asking too many questions about this matter would easily reveal the secret to the gods of the Hell Realm.
Leaving the Destiny Temple, Zhang Ruochen went to Nutian’s Divine Palace, but happened to run into Xue Jue War God walking out.
“Grandfather!”
Zhang Ruochen smiled and quickly approached.
Xue Jue War God was still imposing, with a tiger-like physique, bright armor, and eyes like lightning. He stared at Zhang Ruochen for a long time, then, without warning, threw a punch.
Before the fist force arrived, Zhang Ruochen found himself pulled into Xue Jue War God’s Divine Realm World.
No matter how he used the power of time or space, no matter how quickly he retreated, the fist force still rushed toward him at an incredible speed.
“Whoosh!”
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands together, his entire body turning golden, like a Buddha descending to the world. He struck out with a palm.
His palm transformed into a dragon claw.
“Boom!”
The overwhelming fist force sent Zhang Ruochen flying hundreds of miles away.
The Divine Realm World disappeared, and space contracted. Zhang Ruochen stood outside Nutian’s Divine Palace, his arm aching so much he couldn’t lift it, his bones feeling like they were broken.
Xue Jue War God laughed heartily, “Not bad! Your cultivation has undergone earth-shattering changes again, equivalent to the results of other gods cultivating for tens of thousands of years. You can already spar with your grandfather!”
Zhang Ruochen knew well the gap between himself and Xue Jue War God. He said, “To spar with Grandfather, I’m still far off. But I will catch up, and it won’t be too long.”
“Haha, good. I’ll wait for the day when I can fight you for three thousand rounds without holding back.” Then, Xue Jue War God’s eyes turned strange, and he said, “You’ve taken quite a few losses at Hai Shang Youruo’s hands, haven’t you?”