Chapter 3285: Entering Lihentian
As the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram began to operate, Xiu Chen Heavenly God felt immense pressure, as if trapped within a heavenly and earthly millstone. The forces pressing from all directions—above, below, and every side—were overwhelmingly powerful, threatening to crush her divine soul.
"Could Zhang Ruochen be scheming against me? Is he trying to grind down my divine soul and use my power to advance his own path?" Xiu Chen Heavenly God was greatly alarmed.
"Don't get distracted. What nonsense are you thinking? If I wanted to refine and kill you, why would I resort to such lowly means? Aren't you claiming to be number one in the Way of Time? Use the power of time to alleviate the crushing force of heaven and earth. You must hold on first."
"Remember, you are now positioned at the Great Yin, the ultimate extreme of yin between heaven and earth. While supporting the power of heaven and earth, you must imagine yourself as a woman. You cannot mobilize any yang-attributed power—you cannot even entertain such a thought."
"Change your intent, and everything changes!"
Zhang Ruochen wasted no more time. He activated the Dark Esoterica and Time Esoterica, and as the Dark Lord and Time Lord, he mobilized the Dark Rules and Time Rules of heaven and earth.
"Boom!"
The Great Heart Ape Ancestor Realm erupted into chaos. Time became disordered, the sky alternating between bright and dark, affecting millions of miles of territory.
Then it spread into the cosmos, stirring the Heavenly Rules of this starry domain, causing them to surge uncontrollably toward the Great Heart Ape Ancestor Realm and the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
The range of influence reached billions of miles, extending outward to hundreds of billions of miles.
Cang Jue, Chi Xuan Ghost Lord, Chi Hun Monarch, and Yuan Tian Monarch retreated again and again, all the way to the seaside.
During their retreat, Yuan Tian Monarch continuously collected the living beings of the continent into his Divine Realm World.
Seeing Chi Hun Monarch glance at him, he quickly said, "Does this matter still require the Realm Lord's instruction? As a follower, the foremost important thing is to understand the Lord's thoughts."
Chi Xuan Ghost Lord's eyes were filled with shock. "Being both the Dark Lord and the Time Lord, combined with the Realm Lord's powerful First-Rank Divine Path—what does Yu Mang Lord matter even if he comes?"
Chi Hun Monarch said, "It's not that simple, is it? I sense that not only the Dark Rules and Time Rules have been mobilized, but all the rules of heaven and earth are converging toward the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram. With such a Divine Path, who can stand against it?"
Chi Xuan Ghost Lord nodded repeatedly. "This Lord knew that Wu Yue Hall Master, the most intelligent woman under heaven, would never marry a junior without reason. Admirable! Lord Cang Jue, has the Realm Lord broken through to another realm?"
Cang Jue said, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Go guard the outer realm. If any strong ones from the Hell Realm arrive, report in advance."
Chi Xuan Ghost Lord did not want to leave; he very much wanted to stay and observe the First-Rank Divine Path. But he could not defy Cang Jue's will. After all, this old ghost was Zhang Ruochen's strongest subordinate, with terrifying strength.
"How exactly do you intend to condense the Great Yin? This God feels it's utterly unrealistic... The power of heaven and earth is too strong, it can... can crush everything..."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God pushed the Way of Time to its extreme, manifesting a Time Divine Sea beneath her feet. But she could not hold on. The Heavenly Rules and the power of heaven and earth grew stronger, squeezing her divine soul until it was about to explode.
"Hold on a little longer."
Zhang Ruochen was also in great pain. Not only was his body burning, but his divine soul felt as if it were being ignited by extreme yang energy.
Yet, under such extreme conditions, he still had to control the Heavenly Rules and the power of heaven and earth, while also wielding the power of darkness and time.
Zhang Ruochen continuously formed hand seals with his ten fingers. Tens of thousands of Heavenly Rules swept over him like a storm or giant waves. His spiritual will remained focused on Xiu Chen Heavenly God and the direction of the divine temple, enveloping them with the power of the Great Yin.
The function of Xiu Chen Heavenly God and the divine temple was first to stabilize the Great Yin.
"I can't hold on!"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's divine soul began to crack.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed several Divine Pills. "Almost there. Hold on for three more hours."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God felt utterly despairing. Forget three hours—she could not even last half an hour. Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, kept swallowing Divine Pills, while she had nothing.
Just as Xiu Chen Heavenly God was about to give up, Zhang Ruochen's voice entered her ears: "Try absorbing the power of heaven and earth. Remember to maintain the balance of the Great Yin within the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God formed seven hand seals in quick succession. Time power coalesced into a halo behind her, and a light pattern emerged between her eyebrows, continuously absorbing the power of heaven and earth into her body to nourish her divine soul.
The moment Xiu Chen Heavenly God began absorbing the power of heaven and earth, the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram's rotation speed increased dramatically, forming a storm vortex ten thousand miles in diameter.
The space-time around the vortex was shattered into pieces.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen noticed that the power of heaven and earth flowing into the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram had become strange, containing a mysterious force that could externally nourish the body and internally strengthen the divine soul.
"This is..."
Zhang Ruochen looked up at his surroundings. The world outside the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram had turned colorful, primarily red, accompanied by purple, green, blue, pink, and various other colored cloud clusters.
It was incredibly magnificent and dreamlike.
Zhang Ruochen thought it was an illusion, but after carefully observing with the Eye of Truth, he realized this was a real space-time.
It was neither in the Real World nor the Void World.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God showed a strange expression. "What's going on? How did we end up in Lihentian? Did your First-Rank Divine Path pierce through the Real World and Lihentian?"
In the distance, beams of light flew toward them, each riding on cloud clusters.
Zhang Ruochen was shocked to find familiar figures on the clouds—deities who had already fallen.
"Shi De Divine King" of the Thunder Clan, "Si Da Ren" of Tiannan, "Zhao Wu" and "Mo Fei" of Fengdu Ghost City... The deaths of these deities were all related to Zhang Ruochen.
"No way. Deities who have completely perished are actually still alive?"
Zhang Ruochen sensed the killing intent emanating from them, growing stronger and stronger.
They summoned strange powers from Lihentian and launched attacks against the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
"Boom!"
The Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram shook.
The Lesser Yin and Lesser Yang remained stable, but Xiu Chen Heavenly God at the Great Yin position and Zhang Ruochen at the Great Yang position both spat blood.
It was not that the external attacks were too strong, but that the internal balance was broken, and the power of heaven and earth struck them directly.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "Stop fantasizing. Every deity has a divine soul that enters Lihentian. Even if their true bodies are utterly destroyed in the Real World, their divine souls in Lihentian can endure forever. Who told you to kill so many deities? You deserve this calamity."
"However, we are now absorbing the power of Lihentian—this is a tremendous opportunity. Hold on! You must hold on!"
This time, it was Xiu Chen Heavenly God who urged, because she deeply understood how extraordinary it was to directly absorb the power of Lihentian. It would make those Supreme Realm Great Saints who were desperately seeking to break through to the Infinite Realm die of envy.
The Wuji Divine Path truly deserved to be called the number one under heaven.
"Don't just focus on absorbing the power of heaven and earth. Continue to fully operate the Way of Time. The Great Yin must not collapse," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "Time and space in Lihentian are very strange. Here, time is severely suppressed, completely different from how you understand it in the Real World."
"What do you mean..."
Before he could finish asking, suddenly, a force that made Zhang Ruochen's hair stand on end came from the depths of Lihentian.
Looking over, he saw a dark shadow rising within the red clouds, emitting a terrifyingly powerful aura. It condensed into a giant handprint and struck toward the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
And at that moment, the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram collapsed first.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen's body and spiritual consciousness felt as if they had been struck hard. He stumbled back three steps, fell to one knee, and blood continuously dripped from his mouth.
Seeing the familiar ground and looking around at the sky, Zhang Ruochen breathed a sigh of relief. He had returned to the Great Heart Ape Ancestor Realm.
The aura from earlier was too powerful, even stronger than the power of heaven and earth mobilized by the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was not much better off than Zhang Ruochen. She fell from the divine temple, landing in a disheveled mess.
Getting up, she immediately demanded, "Zhang Ruochen, how many people have you offended, and how many secrets are you hiding? That aura just now was definitely the remnant soul of an ancient Heavenly Venerable."
"How would I know what's going on? What happened to you just now? I told you to keep telling yourself in your heart that you are a woman and maintain the extreme yin state. How could you forget? It was because of you that the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram collapsed, causing all my efforts to fail," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was furious. "How dangerous was the situation at that time? If this God hadn't reacted quickly, we would have died in Lihentian."
"And now? We've been counterattacked by the power of heaven and earth, and we're badly injured, aren't we?" Zhang Ruochen thought for a moment and added, "Even if we had to retreat, I should have been the one to do it. The backlash from the power of heaven and earth would have been much lighter."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "It's good enough that we kept our lives! But tell me, during your Martial Arts Four Realms, did you receive any Divine Marks?"
"I gave away all my marks," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was stunned for a moment, then said, "No wonder everyone who entered Lihentian wanted to kill you. But something's off. How could Zhao Wu, Mo Fei, and those with remnant souls sense you the moment you entered Lihentian?"
"Moreover, the remnant souls of ancient Heavenly Venerables are usually hidden deep and do not appear. Because once they appear, they can easily be suppressed and killed by the current Heavenly Venerables. It seems Lihentian has become abnormal. There may have been a major upheaval."
Zhang Ruochen's expression was heavy. "What kind of place is Lihentian exactly?"
"When you charge into the Infinite Realm and go to Lihentian, you will naturally understand what kind of place it is. But based on this experience, this God suspects that if you want to condense the Great Yin, you will have to go to Lihentian to succeed."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's mood suddenly improved. "Although we were injured by the backlash of the power of heaven and earth, by absorbing the power of Lihentian, this God's divine soul strength has reached thirty percent of the Infinite Realm. Zhang Ruochen, your cultivation should have improved quite a bit, right?"
Zhang Ruochen clenched his right hand into a fist, exerting force with his five fingers, causing space to tremble.
Although he had not condensed the Great Yin, his cultivation had increased significantly. His physical strength alone had doubled, now rivaling those ranked in the top thirty of the "Great God Theory" comprehensive list.
(Chapter End)