Chapter 3195: Visitor from Great Dark Mountain
According to legend, the mount of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable was a golden lion divine beast. It possessed the ability to roam the cosmos, the strength to prey on divine dragons, and a roar that could shake ten directions of star domains.
Even someone as powerful as the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable had already perished. How could a divine beast survive to this era?
Yet, beneath the Heavenly Venerable's tomb, such a massive golden creature lay crouched, its form resembling a lion, seemingly in deep slumber, its flesh undecayed for a million years.
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head. "No life fluctuations. It has been dead for many years."
Approaching the golden lion, Zhang Ruochen's body was like a speck of dust against a golden mountain. On its neck, he discovered a hollow golden sphere hanging.
Inside the golden sphere was sealed a purple gem the size of a mountain, crystal clear and translucent, emitting a deep, subdued radiance.
"It's a Dull Void Stone! I didn't expect another Dull Void Stone to exist in the world."
Chi Yao's expression turned serious as she pulled Zhang Ruochen back with her.
Legend had it that wherever a Dull Void Stone existed, the spatial gravity was terrifying, capable of instantly compressing a star millions of miles in diameter into the thickness of a sheet of paper.
The spatial gravity could reach over ten billion times the level survivable by living beings.
The Dull Void Stone on the golden lion's neck had clearly been refined, inscribed with runic patterns, turned into an artifact, and sealed within the hollow golden sphere, so its power did not leak out.
Zhang Ruochen naturally knew of the Dull Void Stone's reputation, and he was even more aware that the Dao Soul Platform, one of the ten great divine artifacts of the Kunlun Realm, was said to be forged from a Dull Void Stone.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed something and turned his head to look toward the tomb forest, his eyes filled with doubt.
Among the layered hills of tombs, dense ghostly qi surged from the top of one, forming a black ghost cloud.
The ghost cloud flew toward the Heavenly Venerable's tomb with a piercing howl.
"Roar!"
Zangjin Baihu appeared, the "burial" character mark on its brow flashing as it roared at the ghost cloud.
It said, "Zhang Ruochen, has your ancestor risen from the dead?"
Truth radiance appeared in the eyes of Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao. Within the yin qi ghost cloud, they saw a heroic man clad in armor, his long hair loose, his divine might intimidating, carrying an ancient aura.
The divine patterns flowing on his skin were extraordinary, not something a great god could possess, revealing that he had possessed a terrifying cultivation at the Infinite Realm in life.
Chi Yao's brows furrowed slightly. "Impossible. The Zhang family ancestral land is shrouded in nine-colored divine light, suppressed by the Great Venerable's ancestral might, like a sacred immortal realm. How could something like a corpse mutation happen?"
"Since it's not a corpse mutation, it must be man-made."
Zhang Ruochen discerned some clues, a cold light flashing in his eyes. The Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram manifested and moved toward the approaching ghost cloud.
Truly reckless, daring to trespass into the Zhang family ancestral land.
Suddenly, the outermost one-eyed stone man, over four thousand zhang tall, holding a mountain-splitting axe, came to life.
The stone skin of the mountain-splitting axe cracked, falling to the ground, erupting with blinding green light.
The one-eyed stone man's arms, joints, and neck emitted cracking sounds as he swung the bronze mountain-splitting axe, slashing straight at the incoming ghost cloud.
The heroic man in the ghost cloud had black strange patterns appearing on his face. He let out a long roar and punched out.
On his fist surged rings of light waves, possessing earth-shaking power, releasing strands of divine power that only Infinite Realm gods possessed.
Of course, the divine power was very weak, far from comparable to that of living god kings or god venerables.
"Boom!"
The bronze mountain-splitting axe and the fist imprint collided, forming a powerful energy wave that cleared a large area of the nine-colored divine light.
"Rumble!"
...
Watching the fierce battle between the stone man and the yin corpse in the distance, Zangjin Baihu's scalp tingled. It stared wide-eyed at Zhang Ruochen. "In your Zhang family's cemetery, two such terrifying beings just pop out casually. Your foundation is so deep, no weaker than the nine great clans of the current universe. As the young master of the Zhang family, even the current head of the family, how did you end up so miserable?"
Zhang Ruochen shot it a glare. Setting aside whether the awakening of the stone man and the yin corpse was natural, just reaching the depths of this ancestral land with his previous cultivation was impossible.
That old bastard Jie Zunzhe could come and go freely, but he clearly couldn't command the twelve stone men.
The twelve stone men were tomb guardians, not attackers.
"Crack!"
The second stone man moved. The stone skin of its stone pillar cracked, revealing a bronze pillar as thick as a mountain peak.
The bronze pillar struck out, shattering the ghost cloud and landing on the yin corpse.
A dull sound came from within the yin corpse. A large amount of ghostly qi escaped from its back, condensing into a skull head.
The heroic man's corpse fell from midair, becoming motionless, though divine light still flickered within its body.
Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao exchanged glances, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.
Because the ghostly qi emitted by the skull head was completely different from the ghostly qi of the Ghost Clan in the Hell Realm, instead resembling the aura of ghost-type strange beasts from the Abyss of Darkness.
How could a ghost-type strange beast escape the Abyss of Darkness and come to the Kunlun Realm? And break into the Zhang family ancestral land?
That skull head was beaten into fleeing by the two stone men, charging toward Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao.
Zangjin Baihu and Chi Yao instantly merged. She drew the Blood-Dripping Sword, swung it in a horizontal slash, forming a blood-red waterfall of light.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen executed the One-Word Sword Dao, slashing vertically downward.
The horizontal and vertical two swords formed a cross imprint, their power strongly superimposed, doubling in might.
The skull head's cultivation was terrifyingly high, far surpassing ordinary Taixu peak great gods. It spat out a black beam of light from its mouth, clashing with the cross sword imprint.
"Boom!"
The cross sword imprint exploded, scattering into tens of thousands of chaotic sword qi.
The skull head transformed into human form, landing on the ground, kneeling on one knee. "Young Lord, please stop those two tomb-guarding stone men. This old servant comes from the Great Dark Mountain, following my master's orders to find the descendants of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable."
"Cang Mang? No, you are not Cang Mang." Zhang Ruochen said.
The ghost-type strange beast that had transformed into human form looked very similar to Cang Mang, whom Zhang Ruochen had encountered in the Abyss of Darkness, but there was a slight difference in aura.
The stone man holding the bronze mountain-splitting axe struck down with his axe.
Countless light traces flowed on the axe blade.
Zhang Ruochen had too many doubts in his heart and didn't want this ghost-type strange beast to be killed just like that, but he didn't know how to stop the stone man, so he could only take a risk.
With a movement, Zhang Ruochen appeared beneath the bronze mountain-splitting axe.
With his current cultivation and vitality, he believed that even if he were split in two by the axe, he wouldn't die.
The bronze mountain-splitting axe stopped just three feet above Zhang Ruochen's head. The light radiating from the axe blade cut off a few strands of his hair.
Both stone men halted, as if petrified again, losing all power fluctuations.
Zhang Ruochen let out a long sigh of relief. This gamble had been a bit reckless. But he was too curious about the secrets of the Great Dark Mountain. Why did two powerful ghost-type strange beasts both call him Young Lord?
Who was the master of these two ghost-type strange beasts?
The ghost-type strange beast in the form of an old man said, "Thank you, Young Lord, for saving my life. Has Young Lord seen my elder brother, Cang Mang?"
"Cang Mang is your elder brother?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
The old man said, "This old servant is Cang Jue."
"Speak while standing." Zhang Ruochen said.
In the Abyss of Darkness, it was Cang Mang who brought the Mani Pearl out of the Great Dark Mountain and gave it to Zhang Ruochen, then sent him out of the Abyss of Darkness.
Cang Jue cautiously stood up, glanced at the bronze mountain-splitting axe still hanging above, and dared not step out of Zhang Ruochen's Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
Zhang Ruochen approached the heroic Infinite corpse, sensed that the blood within it belonged to a Zhang family ancestor, and his eyes gradually turned cold. "Speak. How did you break into the Zhang family ancestral land? Why did you sneak in? What is your true purpose?"
Cang Jue knelt on one knee again, took out a scroll, and said, "Young Lord will understand after reading this."
Chi Yao felt this was abnormal. Cang Jue had clearly sneaked into the Zhang family ancestral land, even hiding inside the corpse of a Zhang family ancestor. His actions were in no way like someone seeking the descendants of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable.
The descendants of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable were numerous. Not to mention Chi Kunlun and the others in the Central Imperial City, there were quite a few Zhang family members within the Bright Sect. If he wanted to find a strong member of the Zhang family, who in the world didn't know that Zhang Ruochen was the most outstanding descendant of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable? Why come to the ancestral land specifically?
The "burial" character light mark on Chi Yao's brow flickered. She held the Blood-Dripping Sword, always on guard against Cang Jue.
Zhang Ruochen naturally knew something was wrong, but with the twelve stone men present, no matter how high Cang Jue's cultivation was, he probably wouldn't dare act rashly.
Taking the scroll from Cang Mang's hand, he slowly unrolled it.
The painting depicted a stunningly beautiful woman, dressed in goose-yellow palace attire, elegant and ethereal, her figure slender like a crescent moon.
The painting skill was extraordinary, lifelike, as if she could step out of the painting.
In the lower left corner of the scroll was a signature of the character "Zhang."
The strokes and rhythm of this "Zhang" character were identical to the signature on the "Swallows Flying in Pairs" painting, clearly from the same hand.
The Immovable Bright King Great Venerable!
"Who is the person in the painting?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Cang Jue said, "It is my master!"
"Ling Yanzi?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Cang Jue nodded.
Zhang Ruochen didn't believe it at all. His eyes turned cold. "Impossible! Ling Yanzi was a contemporary of the Great Venerable. How could she still be alive in this world? Speak. What is your true purpose for sneaking into the Zhang family ancestral land? If you don't tell the truth, I only need to withdraw the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram, and the tomb-guarding stone men will slay you."
Cang Jue knelt with both legs, his head touching the ground. "This old servant truly came on my master's orders to take the descendants of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable to the Great Dark Mountain."
"The reason I could enter the Zhang family ancestral land is because I carried the portrait that the Great Venerable personally painted for my master. Entering the ancestral land was on my master's orders, to come and pay respects to the Great Venerable."
"The reason I hid in the tomb and entered the divine corpse of a Zhang family ancestor was, first, because a terrifyingly powerful old Daoist had come earlier, forcing me to hide. Second, I wanted to use this method to bypass the twelve tomb-guarding stone men and reach the Great Venerable's tomb. Disturbing the peace of a Zhang family ancestor and destroying his tomb fills this old servant with deep guilt and remorse. When I return to the Great Dark Mountain, I will surely be punished by my master."