Chapter 3388: Heavenly Demon Overlord Spear
In recent decades, the Starry Sky Defense Line had entered a period of calm.
In the mortal world of the Witch God Civilization, songs and dances flourished, the streets were bustling and lively. Youths in fine clothes rode spirited horses, chivalrous warriors drank and laughed, and wealthy merchants sailed on distant journeys. Brothels where lamps never dimmed, theaters where tunes never cooled—endless tales of human joy and sorrow unfolded.
The setting sun hung at the edge of the sky, the evening clouds blazing red and gold like flames.
Zhang Ruochen walked swiftly along a street crowded with flowing people.
Chi Xingtian chased after him, saying, "Is there really a way to repair my foundation and help me step into the Boundless realm?"
"Repairing the foundation—there's a chance. As for stepping into the Boundless, the key lies in you, not me. I'm not that capable," Zhang Ruochen said.
Chi Xingtian could hardly contain his excitement, pressing urgently, "Explain it clearly! Are you after some benefit? Just name your price!"
Passing through the lively city district, they entered a muddy slum.
The houses were low and dilapidated, long unrepaired. The mortals living here mostly wore dark blue cloth garments, covered in patches.
Zhang Ruochen walked into an old, worn-down porridge shop and sat by the window. He tapped the greenish-brown wooden table and said, "Auntie, two bowls of white rice porridge, one steamer of beef buns, and a plate of pickled vegetables."
The shop was small, with only seven tables in total, inside and out.
The color of the window frames and the wear on the threshold all showed that this porridge shop had been around for quite some time.
The stove was set up outside, the fire blazing brightly, white steam billowing among the bamboo steamers.
Only a woman in a blue floral cotton dress was busy there. She looked to be in her fifties, her face etched with the marks of time. She was calm and skilled, moving neither too fast nor too slow, but her hands were not slow either.
Chi Xingtian chased into the shop and sat across from Zhang Ruochen. "Just say it! If there's a way to restore my foundation, name any condition. You saw it too—Long Ba is way too arrogant, too full of herself. If I can't step into the Boundless, she'll ride me for the rest of my life! That's absolutely unacceptable!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two bowls of porridge were set down heavily on the table.
The woman said coldly, "If you want to talk nonsense, go somewhere else. Don't come here. The people drinking porridge aren't just you!"
With that, she walked out, wiping her hands on her apron before adding fuel to the stove.
Chi Xingtian was stunned, watching her leave. "Do you know who I am? Having me grace your porridge shop is the luck of three lifetimes!"
The woman ignored him, as if she hadn't heard.
All the customers drinking porridge in the shop stared at Chi Xingtian with strange looks.
Zhang Ruochen smiled without a word, picked up a bowl of rice porridge, and took a spoonful to taste.
"What are you looking at? Never seen a true god descend to the mortal realm?"
Chi Xingtian glared at the onlookers, drawing a burst of laughter.
"Drop your godly airs. Try it—this porridge is excellent!" Zhang Ruochen said.
"What porridge? If you want dragon liver and phoenix gall, or hundred-flower divine brew, I can get that for you too!"
This time, Chi Xingtian released his domain, sealing off the sound.
"Try it!"
Zhang Ruochen pointed his spoon at the other bowl of porridge.
"It's just a bowl of porridge!"
Suppressing his impatience, Chi Xingtian picked up the bowl and took a sip. Gradually, his expression shifted, and he looked into the bowl.
Then, he picked up a spoon and began to savor it slowly.
"How strange. Is it because I haven't tasted mortal food in so many years? A bowl of the most ordinary porridge actually has a unique flavor," Chi Xingtian said.
Porridge—no matter how good—could never compare to dragon liver, phoenix gall, or celestial nectar.
But for a great god to praise it, it was indeed remarkable.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Maybe it's because the person who made the porridge put her heart into it, doing this one ordinary thing day after day for decades, turning the mundane into something extraordinary. Or maybe it's because you haven't tasted it in hundreds of thousands of years, so it feels special."
Chi Xingtian's bowl was already empty. Mimicking Zhang Ruochen, he called out, "Auntie, ten more bowls!"
The woman brought over steaming buns and pickled vegetables.
Chi Xingtian, unafraid of burning his mouth, tossed three buns into his mouth at once, his cheeks bulging as he mumbled, "The buns are good too! Ten more steamers!"
Zhang Ruochen smiled at the woman, but she remained expressionless, walking over to another table.
At that table sat a middle-aged man, quite refined, every strand of hair neatly in place, every button carefully fastened. His attire clashed with the surroundings.
The man and the woman were speaking in low voices.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't one to eavesdrop. He said seriously to Chi Xingtian, "Your cultivation has reached the pinnacle below the Boundless realm. To help you repair your foundation, I'll have to expend a great deal of effort, and it might even invite heavenly punishment."
"I understand that! Changing fate against heaven's will—nature won't agree easily. Name your terms!" Chi Xingtian said.
Zhang Ruochen raised two fingers. "Two conditions. First, you are the only descendant of the Heavenly Demon. You should have some ancestral relics, right?"
"No!"
Chi Xingtian said, "I am indeed a descendant of the Heavenly Demon, but that was over ten million years ago, passed down through countless generations. Even if the Heavenly Demon left ancestral relics, they've all been lost to the river of time!"
Chi Xingtian wasn't a good liar. Though he tried to hide it, Zhang Ruochen caught the unnaturalness.
"Is that so…"
Zhang Ruochen lowered his head. "Drink your porridge."
Chi Xingtian grew anxious. "Actually, there are one or two items that have been passed down, but the ancestral power has been exhausted. To you, they're just ordinary things. You have so many treasures—would you even care about them?"
Zhang Ruochen continued drinking his porridge.
Chi Xingtian said, "You're not after the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription, are you?"
"If I wanted the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription, I wouldn't have given you some of those stone tablets back then," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Fine! For the sake of you protecting the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription back then, I'll give you something left by the Heavenly Demon."
Chi Xingtian hesitated repeatedly, gritted his teeth, and with a tremor in the space before him, he produced a pitch-black long spear and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
The spear was one zhang and two chi long, as thick as a wine cup, its surface engraved with demonic patterns, emitting a chilling cold.
It carried an ancient charm, far from ordinary.
Zhang Ruochen reached out to take it, and his arm sank.
Too heavy—beyond expectation.
Threads of black demonic qi seeped from the spear, corroding Zhang Ruochen's palm.
Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the demonic path, and his Wuji Divine Dao could govern all paths under heaven. In an instant, he suppressed the demonic qi spreading from the spear.
Examining the spear closely, Zhang Ruochen was shaken. "Is this the true body of the spear from the Heavenly Demon Overlord Spear Diagram?"
Among the thirty-six Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, each was profound, capable of forging supreme demonic techniques.
Coincidentally, the Heavenly Demon Overlord Spear Diagram had once been stored in the Blood God Sect. As its former sect leader, Zhang Ruochen had naturally studied it.
Chi Xingtian said, "The Heavenly Demon truly left nothing behind. Perhaps there were relics, but they were all destroyed or lost in the river of history. This spear, I obtained from the Heavenly Demon Mountain."
After the seventy-two pillar demon gods of the North Marsh Great Wall emerged, the demonic path rules of heaven and earth became active, and the Heavenly Demon Mountain in the Eastern Domain of the Kunlun Realm surfaced.
On the Heavenly Demon Mountain, there was a seal left by the Great Venerable.
The seal wasn't particularly strong. Over the years, Chi Xingtian had worn it down and entered the underground of the giant stone formation at the mountain's peak.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen about to mobilize his divine qi to activate it, Chi Xingtian quickly stopped him. "Don't act rashly! This spear contains ancestral power within, and its demonic nature is ferocious."
"Then how should it be used?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Chi Xingtian shook his head, puffing out his chest. "I don't know! Maybe only I can use it without being devoured by the demonic power."
"Swish!"
A flash of sword light, and a cut appeared on Chi Xingtian's arm as he held the bowl.
Zhang Ruochen collected some of his demonic blood, smeared it on the spear, and then silently recalled the Heavenly Demon Overlord Spear Diagram in his mind. The Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram manifested, his divine qi transformed into demonic qi, and he infused it into the spear.
Neither Zhang Ruochen nor Chi Xingtian noticed that not far away, the woman in the blue floral dress and the middle-aged Confucian scholar were both staring at them.
A surge of transcendent power erupted from the spear.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen had already used his Wuji Divine Dao to turn the area within eighteen zhang into an independent realm under his absolute control. Though this realm shook violently, no one outside would sense it.
Chi Xingtian's domain enveloped Zhang Ruochen, fearing that the fluctuations here would alert the gods of the Heavenly Court.
"Such formidable power! If fully activated, one thrust could probably severely wound some God Venerables who have cultivated in the Boundless realm for years," Zhang Ruochen said, stroking the spear's shaft.
This time, Chi Xingtian had truly given a great gift, being quite generous.
The spear was not a divine artifact, but because it contained ancestral power, it was far more formidable than ordinary divine artifacts in combat. He just didn't know how many strikes the ancestral power within could sustain.
Once the ancestral power was exhausted, the spear's value would plummet far below that of a divine artifact, falling into the category of sacred artifacts.
With the Ancestral Divine Travel Cloak for escape and the Heavenly Demon Overlord Spear for defense, Zhang Ruochen's confidence soared, and he felt fully empowered.
Chi Xingtian said, "So, the first condition is satisfied, right?"
"There should be more ancestral relics you obtained from the Heavenly Demon Mountain, shouldn't there?" Zhang Ruochen said.
"How many ancestral relics do you think there are? That ancestor of your Zhang family is the closest to the present era, and even he didn't leave behind many relics, did he?" Chi Xingtian said.
"Just asking casually. Don't get worked up."
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "The first condition is satisfied! As for my second condition… you must promise me: if I help you step into the Boundless, you'll still have to be the dragon clan's live-in son-in-law! As for marriage alliances—I'm never doing that again in this life!"
Chi Xingtian was about to speak.
Zhang Ruochen said confidently, "If you refuse, forget everything."
Chi Xingtian was still considering. At the other table, the middle-aged Confucian scholar whispered something to the woman in the blue floral dress. She walked over, sat down at another side of the wooden table, silent, her expression quite grave.
Zhang Ruochen put away the spear, looked at her, and said, "Sorry for the trouble. I really didn't expect you to actually be here selling porridge, and for decades at that. The porridge is excellent—it shows you've truly put your heart into experiencing the mundane world. I can see your realm has risen another level."
She had even abandoned her peerless beauty, fully immersing herself as a mortal woman, allowing herself to age. This state of mind—she would never have had it before!
"Compared to you, I'm far behind!" the woman said.
Chi Xingtian snapped back to reality, finally realizing that this woman was far from ordinary.
Zhang Ruochen had come here to drink porridge with a purpose.
Her ability to conceal her aura, fooling even a top-tier great god, surprised Chi Xingtian. Could she be a being who had attained king or venerable status?