# Chapter 3193: Sword Bone
As if her soul had left her body, Zhang Ruochen seemed to grow another pair of eyes, passing through the stone door. Before him was blinding white light, shrouded in mist.
After drifting in the mist for an unknown time, a tall, crimson divine tree appeared before him.
The trunk was covered in scales, with dragon-like roots hanging down. The leaves were like rubies, crystal clear, emitting dense divine qi.
It was as if divine stones had grown on the tree!
Beneath the tree sat a skeleton, clad in silver-white divine robes, sitting cross-legged. The index and middle fingers of its right hand formed a sword finger, while its left hand held a branch, drawing small sword-dancing figures on the ground.
It looked very much like it was deducing a sword technique.
Though countless years had passed since its death, its imposing aura remained undiminished, its divine charm reaching the heavens. Even with Zhang Ruochen's current powerful divine soul and state of mind, he felt a desire to bow in worship.
All flesh had decayed, yet the branch in its hand had not rotted.
The skeleton was covered in dense white net-like light patterns, identical in origin to the patterns on the stone doors of each floor of the Sword Pavilion, but incomparably denser.
Just as Zhang Ruochen wanted to approach and examine the small figures drawn on the ground, the skeleton suddenly seemed to come alive, and ten thousand swords shot forth from its body.
"Shua shua!"
That wisp of Zhang Ruochen's sword soul was annihilated on the eighteenth floor of the tower.
Standing beneath the stone door of the seventeenth floor, Zhang Ruochen immediately put away his Rule Divine Sword, a look of intense and wary caution in his eyes.
The violent turmoil in his heart gradually calmed.
He bowed deeply toward the stone door.
There was no need to guess. Who else could possess such powerful sword might even after death for so many years, if not the Sword Ancestor?
Even at the moment of death, the Sword Ancestor was still deducing the sword path, wanting to pass down supreme sword techniques to later generations. The destruction of the Sword Realm back then must have created a strong obsession in him.
Unable to resist destruction himself, he hoped that future generations would learn peerless sword techniques, surpass their predecessors, and not repeat the fate of the Sword Realm.
His desire to transmit the Dao outweighed everything else.
And the sword technique that could make the Sword Ancestor deduce it even at the moment of death—how powerful must it be?
It must surely transcend what was recorded in the "Wordless Sword Manual."
Zhang Ruochen very much wanted to enter the stone door, eager to see how transcendent that sword technique was, but he knew that using a sword soul to infiltrate again would only end the same way.
Only by mastering Sword Eighteen could he enter.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the fruits growing from the stone door, picked them all, carefully stored them away, then returned to the fourteenth floor to reunite with Granny Haitang and Chi Yao.
"Are the upper floors also barren?" Chi Yao was very curious and also quite envious of Zhang Ruochen's current sword path achievements.
Zhang Ruochen did not hide the truth from them. "The topmost eighteenth floor has life, and it contains the sword bone left by the Sword Ancestor. It is his place of nirvana."
"You entered the eighteenth floor?" Granny Haitang showed a surprised expression.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Only a wisp of sword soul entered. As soon as it approached the sword bone, the sword soul was destroyed by the powerful sword intent released by the bone."
Chi Yao showed a contemplative expression. "Chen Ge, if you master Sword Eighteen, you will surely be able to enter and obtain the sword bone. By then, you will be invincible beneath the Infinite Realm."
Any god's bones contain countless rules. Even if the bones are ground to dust, they can instantly reform.
The Sword Ancestor was definitely an Ancestor-level existence, far surpassing the current Heavenly Lords. His bones contain sword intent, sword path rules, sword path will... If one could comprehend them, one might glimpse the mysteries of a Sword Path Ancestor.
This would be fatally tempting to sword cultivators who have reached the extreme of the divine realm, like Void Heaven.
In the Hell Realm, many legendary figures are called "Ancestors" by their descendants and later generations. For example, in the Undying Blood Clan, many ancient clans claim their ancestors were Ancestors and their inheritance is Ancestor inheritance.
In reality, the only one in the Undying Blood Clan who can be confirmed as an Ancestor is Yin.
Even the founders of the ten major tribes may not have all reached the Ancestor level.
The Ancestor realm is completely beyond the Infinite Realm, a level that may not appear even once in millions of years in the universe.
In the history of the Kunlun Realm spanning over ten thousand eons, only a few like the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, the Heavenly Demon, and the Space-Time Human Ancestor have been universally recognized as Ancestors. The Sword Ancestor, in fact, was not a native cultivator of the Kunlun Realm.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Senior Sword Ancestor has already passed away for many years. Why disturb his peace? To stand firm in heaven and earth, one should rely more on one's own cultivation."
"You should know that the Sword Ancestor's greatest wish is for later generations to produce an unparalleled sword cultivator, to let the sword path flourish. Chen Ge, you are the one chosen by the Sword Ancestor's sword soul. Taking the sword bone is not disturbing his cultivation; it is helping him fulfill his last wish," Chi Yao said.
Zhang Ruochen was not an inflexible person. If he could use the sword bone to do things beneficial to the world, he believed the Sword Ancestor would not blame him.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It's useless to talk about this now. Mastering Sword Eighteen is no easy feat. It cannot be achieved overnight."
Granny Haitang nodded. "Even in the Middle Ages, when gods stood like forests, in the entire Kunlun Realm faction, not a single god beneath the Infinite Realm had mastered Sword Eighteen to great completion. That includes the Three Pure Ones of that time."
In Zhang Ruochen's estimation, at the Great God level, the difficulty of mastering Sword Eighteen definitely exceeds cultivating a great completion Infinite divine ability.
And in the current world, very few gods can cultivate a great completion Infinite divine ability. Only those ancient gods who have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, as recorded in the "Great God Treatise," can do so.
Even someone with the talent of Xue Jue War God, after over a hundred thousand years of cultivation, has not yet mastered a great completion Infinite divine ability. Compared to those ancient gods, his foundation is somewhat lacking. He relies on his two First-rank Divine Paths and his mastery of the Esoterica as a main god to overcome the odds, defeating Tai Xu initial stage opponents with Tai Chu initial stage.
If he truly mastered a great completion palm path Infinite divine ability and combined it with palm path Esoterica, Xue Jue War God's combat power would be unimaginably powerful.
Of course, although he knew Sword Eighteen was difficult to master, Zhang Ruochen was very confident in himself. If he went all out, with his sword path talent and the mystery of the Wuji Divine Dao, he should be able to reach the hall within ten thousand years at most.
But what was most urgent for him now was still condensing the Lesser Yin.
Cultivating Sword Eighteen was about cultivating technique.
Cultivating the Lesser Yin was about improving cultivation.
As long as his cultivation improved, he wouldn't need to overcome the odds at all. He could directly crush his opponents with his cultivation. Just like now, he could completely crush Great Gods at the Tai Bai stage.
With his current cultivation equivalent to the initial Tai Bai stage, facing Tai Xu stage Great Gods, even initial Tai Xu stage, he would be stretched thin, only able to protect himself and not be afraid.
Zhang Ruochen stayed in the Ziwei Palace and the Sword Pavilion for nearly a month, spending most of his time healing.
During this period, Zhang Ruochen taught Zhang Hongchen sword path and truth path, also passing down the One-Word Sword Dao to her, placing great hopes on her. He also often guided Zhang Yuyan's spiritual power cultivation, doting on this youngest daughter.
As for Chi Kongle and Chi Kunlun, their cultivations had both reached the top tier of the Infinite Realm, so they didn't need Zhang Ruochen's guidance.
However, Zhang Ruochen spent considerable time using the Wuji Divine Dao to help them comprehend sacred dao rules, helping them make further progress.
Chi Kunlun was a Space Controller, Chi Kongle was a Time Controller. They had been nurtured by divine qi since the fetal stage, so their talents were naturally extraordinary.
Chi Yao was extremely strict, so Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle had solid foundations in their youth.
Later, Chi Kunlun was trained by Yan Wushen.
Yan Wushen was rigorous and strict in cultivation. Although Chi Kunlun suffered a lot, every step he took was extremely stable. Whether in the Saint King Realm or the Great Saint Realm, he pushed his potential to the limit.
Chi Kongle's opportunities were extraordinary. Not only did she obtain part of Xiu Chen Heavenly God's divine soul, but the Swallow Token left by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable also merged into her body during the possession.
Later, with the guidance of Xue Hou and Xue Jue War God, her foundation was naturally solid.
Seeing such excellent cultivation material, how could Xue Jue War God not go all out to push her to the peak?
It could be said that Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle had advantages from the womb that other children didn't have. The people who later taught them were also the most top-tier talents of the current era.
Before Zhang Ruochen used the Wuji Divine Dao to help them, they had already cultivated over thirty trillion sacred dao rules on their own.
Of course, they also used the time-space treasure, the Reincarnation Seal, to accumulate quickly. Cultivating for three thousand years inside the Reincarnation Seal, only a hundred years passed outside.
Unfortunately, Chi Kongle's Second-rank Sacred Intent was not perfect, probably related to her extreme personality. Xiu Chen's possession experience had perfected her but also restricted her.
Chi Kunlun's Second-rank Sacred Intent was also not perfect.
To become an Eon Representative, one needs sufficiently high talent, enough cultivation resources, guidance from a famous teacher, and great opportunities.
But to reach the level of an Eon Genius requires more than just these, with the difficulty increasing tenfold.
That's why an eon can produce hundreds of Eon Representatives, but usually only one or two Eon Geniuses.
Zhang Ruochen went to the Sikong Meditation Courtyard built in the First Central Imperial City and spent an afternoon discussing Zen with Master Yintuo.
Before leaving, he took out Yan Liren's divine material clay body and gave it to Master Yintuo, hoping he could find a family for Yan Liren to reincarnate.
Master Yintuo was naturally overjoyed. This clay body contained a Buddha Emperor Relic. Once reincarnated, it would inevitably be a born Buddhist genius, with limitless future achievements.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was considering whether to go to the Nether Prison, a heavy news came from the starry sky.
The Hell Realm army officially launched war against the Hundred Clans Royal City. Except for the core area covered by the Star Prison Cage Formation, the entire Hundred Clans Royal City starry sky saw all life planets completely fall within just nine days. All space wormholes and space teleportation arrays were captured.
At the same time, large numbers of Hell Realm troops gathered toward Xinghuantian and Haishi Xingwu.
In an instant, the star domains on the edge of the Hell Realm were surging with wind and clouds, war flames spreading everywhere, becoming another storm center after the Starry Sky Battlefield.
Everything was within Zhang Ruochen's expectations.
Previously, with Zhang Ruochen's deterrence, the Hell Realm army dared not act rashly. But after the Calamity of Quantities incident, Zhang Ruochen disappeared, and internal consensus must have been reached within the Hell Realm, thus triggering the war.
The situation was deteriorating!
The only thing that surprised Zhang Ruochen was that it all came too fast, too fierce.
He could delay no longer. A sense of urgency arose in Zhang Ruochen's heart, and he decided to immediately head to the Ancestral Land's Heavenly Venerable Tomb.
Only with absolutely powerful cultivation could he stabilize the storm like a stabilizing pillar.
The Sword Ancestor, an Ancestor from ancient times, left behind countless treasures benefiting later generations for billions of years. As the Ancestor closest to this era, the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable could not have only left behind one Source, one Cauldron, and two Tokens.
In terms of competing in ancestral heritage and foundation, the Zhang family should not be weaker than any major force of the current era.
...
This chapter mentioned Ancestors. I believe many readers will be curious whether the Blood Absolute Ancestor is a true Ancestor-level.
After all, back at the Undying Blood Spring, when Zhang Ruochen's bloodline wills of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable and the Blood Absolute Ancestor simultaneously manifested, they were evenly matched. But at that time, they were inside the Undying Blood Spring, beneath the Blood Absolute Ancestor's divine corpse. So I believe the Blood Absolute Ancestor cannot be considered a true Ancestor-level, but rather a Half-Ancestor level.
Of course, these realm divisions will be detailed later.
Also, tomorrow (April 23rd) from 5 to 6 PM, I will do a charity live stream on Weishi, mainly writing a side story based on a prompt—a certain character from the book coming to the city where I am.
The general idea I have is: Because of the Blood Yao incident, Blood Butcher flees to Sichuan, traverses from Sanxingdui, obtains the golden scepter, bronze divine tree, subdues the ancient divine beast mount panda, and encounters some interesting things with a certain web novel author.
It's very possible that the golden scepter, bronze divine tree, and panda mount will also be written into the main text later.
Anyway, interested readers can come watch tomorrow, 5 to 6 PM, starting and ending on time. Just go to the "Video Account" below the WeChat Moments and search for "Yuewen Group"! Anyway, it's Weishi!
Don't blame me for not focusing on my work and not writing. Sigh, this time it's a charity live stream!