Chapter 3491: Auspiciousness and Fulfillment
White bones covered the earth, and the air was thick with a heavy stench of decay.
There were skulls of giant beasts, as massive as mountains; scattered human limbs, densely packed like gravel; and divine bones that emitted a faint divine light, their released divine power causing the surrounding bones to float and spin.
These skeletal remains came from various eras, accumulated over countless years, their depth unknown, stretching for miles.
In life, they might have been peerless heroes worshipped by tens of thousands, enchanting beauties who captivated the mortal world, or overlords who dominated entire star systems...
All are past now, reduced to a vast expanse of white.
Death energy permeated the air, with no end in sight.
This was one of the twelve Bone Seas of the Bone Clan: the Haoshou Bone Sea!
The Xionghai Divine Venerable was born in this very Haoshou Bone Sea.
One hundred thousand years ago, to consolidate his power within the Destiny Temple and expand his interests, the Xionghai Divine Venerable seized the Haoshou Bone Sea for himself, relocating it from the Santu River basin into this ancient secret realm within the Fate Divine Mountain.
From then on, the Haoshou Bone Sea became the exclusive territory of the Xionghai Divine Venerable. All Bone Clan cultivators within the sea were governed and commanded by the Xionghai Divine Palace, no longer under the jurisdiction of the Bone Clan.
The Bone Clan had no experts at the Indestructible Infinite level, so they could do nothing against the Xionghai Divine Venerable.
Although they brought the matter to Fengdu Ghost City, hoping to invite Fengdu Dadi to mediate, Fengdu Dadi was in seclusion. In the end, it was Shentu Ghost Emperor who stepped in to resolve the dispute.
The Xionghai Divine Venerable promised that after his death, the Bone Divine Temple could reclaim the Haoshou Bone Sea from the Fate Divine Mountain and return it to the Bone Clan.
Only then did the matter subside.
...
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was aboard a pitch-black divine ship, flying over the Haoshou Bone Sea.
The sky was gray and hazy. Faintly visible in the extremely distant heavens were stars arranged in the form of a divine throne, providing light to this vast ancient secret realm.
Zhang Ruochen looked up. "Are those the Star Soul Divine Thrones of the Xionghai Divine Venerable?"
Qing Feiwei and two great gods guarding the Haoshou Bone Sea accompanied him on the ship.
Yan Ju, a subordinate of the Death God Palace and one of the top figures below the Infinite Realm within the Destiny Temple, was ranked first in the Way of Fire on the *Treatise on Great Gods*.
His body was wrapped in chains, with divine flames burning on his skin.
"Rest assured, Divine Venerable Ruochen. The divine soul thoughts belonging to the Xionghai Divine Venerable on those throne planets have been erased. Once the divine energy within the planets is depleted, they will dim and go out," Yan Ju said.
Zhang Ruochen looked down and saw countless Bone Clan cultivators within the bone sea. Among them, those with powerful cultivation had established impregnable fortresses and cities in their respective territories.
There were also a few figures from the Ghost Clan and Corpse Clan, along with traces of some strange creatures.
This was a realm ten times vaster than a great world. Even with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, he could not fully fathom its secrets and would need to travel and investigate various locations.
Qing Feiwei asked, "Does Divine Venerable Ruochen believe that the Xionghai Divine Venerable hid that secret in the Haoshou Bone Sea?"
Zhang Ruochen replied, "Feng Tian and Xu Tian must have thoroughly searched all the places where the Xionghai Divine Venerable might have hidden secrets. Since even they found nothing, the chance of me succeeding is probably less than one in ten thousand. Coming to the Haoshou Bone Sea is just to try my luck."
The Judgment Venerable had already gone to the Stone Clan and did not come along.
Yan Ju pondered for a moment, then said, "Actually, Feng Tian has a speculation."
"Oh? Do tell." Zhang Ruochen was curious.
Yan Ju said, "Divine Venerable Ruochen should know about the mysterious case that occurred in the Destiny Temple one hundred thousand years ago?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
Yan Ju continued, "The fall of the Life Divine Venerable and the Auspicious Divine Venerable was a massive blow to the Destiny Temple, nearly causing it to lose its transcendent status within the Hell Realm."
"Although many rumors claim it was the work of Xumi Saint Monk and Wen Tianjun infiltrating the Fate Divine Mountain, those of us at this level of cultivation can see through that. It was merely an excuse for the Destiny Temple to maintain its dignity, suppress the voices of the pro-peace and neutral factions, and launch an all-out war."
"In reality, Feng Tian has been investigating the cause of death of the Life and Auspicious Divine Venerables all these years, suspecting it might have been the work of internal cultivators within the Destiny Temple. Only a surprise attack could have killed two such exceptionally powerful experts within the Fate Divine Mountain."
Zhang Ruochen said, "So, after the Xionghai Divine Venerable was exposed as a Quantity Venerable, his suspicion increased greatly?"
"By himself, the Xionghai Divine Venerable could not have killed the Life and Auspicious Venerables, but he might have been a participant, or the one who let the wolf into the fold," Yan Ju said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What does all this have to do with the Xionghai Divine Venerable risking his life to return to the Fate Divine Mountain?"
Yan Ju said, "The mysterious case one hundred thousand years ago not only caused the fall of the Life and Auspicious Venerables but also resulted in the loss of the most important divine artifact of the Auspicious Divine Palace!"
"The Auspiciousness and Fulfillment?" Qing Feiwei asked.
Yan Ju said, "Exactly. It is the Auspiciousness and Fulfillment, second only to the six volumes of the *Fate Heavenly Scripture*. If there is anything that can evade the perception of Indestructible Infinite and Perfected Heavenly Circle cultivators, the Auspiciousness and Fulfillment must be one of them."
"It is known as the Staff of Fate. A single tap can invoke the power of heaven and earth's fate, determining a person's fortune or misfortune."
"It can vanish from the Three Realms, traverse the sea of stars in a single thought, and then hide without a trace."
"Using fate divination to locate it is as difficult as reaching the heavens."
"Furthermore, all the treasures of the Auspicious Divine Palace vanished one hundred thousand years ago and have never reappeared in the world. This includes the recent purge of the Xionghai Divine Palace, where we found that the resources and wealth accumulated by the Xionghai Divine Venerable over the years were pitifully few. Where did it all go?"
Zhang Ruochen chuckled. "So, Xionghai returned to the Fate Divine Mountain for the resources and wealth accumulated over a million years?"
"That possibility is very high," Yan Ju said.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head gently, then leaped off the divine ship, landing beside a corpse river below.
At Zhang Ruochen's level of cultivation, he no longer cared much about so-called resources and wealth. At least compared to his own life, no matter how much those things were, they were not worth the risk.
Unless it was something like the Earth Cauldron or the God-Defying Stele.
If it were the Auspiciousness and Fulfillment...
That might be somewhat plausible.
Standing by the turbid corpse river, Zhang Ruochen formed hand seals, and two brilliant star seas appeared in his pupils, with stars shifting their trajectories within.
"Whoosh!"
A beam of truth light, a thousand miles long, flew from his eyes.
At the same time, the realm form of "Unbounded Cosmos" burst forth from his body like an explosion.
Countless star shadows instantly filled the entire Haoshou Bone Sea, turning a billion-mile expanse into Zhang Ruochen's absolute domain.
Countless cultivators in the bone sea knelt in unison.
Such was the might of a Divine Venerable—his aura could envelop heaven and earth.
In the Heavenly Court, even the strongest experts of some ancient realms ranked among the top hundred would have to retreat upon seeing Zhang Ruochen today.
"So formidable! How many years has it been? Zhang Ruochen's meteoric rise—even legends dare not tell such tales." Yan Ju was deeply shaken. He clasped his hands together and bowed respectfully toward the man by the corpse river.
A melodious female voice sounded from the void, approaching from afar: "The truth rules of this Haoshou Bone Sea secret realm have all been mobilized. He is not only a master of time and space but can also be called a master of truth! Even the truth masters at the Qiankun Infinite Realm would surely be inferior to him."
Chan Mingya stood barefoot in the void, descending slowly like a blue flower petal. The colorful gauze at her waist and wrists fluttered in the wind, accentuating her slender, captivating waist and the alluring lines of her long, snow-white legs.
The moment her toes touched the deck of the divine ship, the cascading colorful gauze settled, erasing her seductive posture, leaving only an inviolable purity and sanctity.
Yan Ju stared at her. "You've reached the Infinite Realm?"
"I've already broken through," Chan Mingya said.
Her gaze fell on Zhang Ruochen by the corpse river. Her eyelashes were long and curved, her brows as delicate as willow leaves.
Yan Ju's heart was naturally filled with complex emotions. Once both top-tier great gods of the first sequence in the Destiny Temple, their statuses had now undergone earth-shattering changes.
"Greetings, Venerable Chan!" Yan Ju bowed.
Qing Feiwei and the other great god also bowed in reverence.
Zhang Ruochen naturally knew that a Divine Venerable-level expert had arrived at the Haoshou Bone Sea, but he did not deliberately hide. Instead, he manifested the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal, suspending it above the bone sea, and used it together with the Heart of Truth to investigate.
Several days passed.
Withdrawing all his power into his body, Zhang Ruochen directly left the Haoshou Secret Realm.
Qing Feiwei caught up. "Divine Venerable, any findings?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Let's look elsewhere. The Fate Divine Mountain has many secret realms and countless forbidden areas. We'll search one by one. No rush."
Over the next month, Zhang Ruochen traversed the three departments and twelve divine palaces of the Destiny Temple. With Feng Tian's decree, he searched almost every place except for a very few.
Those few places—such as Nutian Shenzun's Refining Ruins Realm and Xu Tian's rear palace chambers—were locations where the Xionghai Divine Venerable could never have hidden secrets.
Chan Mingya followed behind the entire time, without exchanging a single word with Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen had absolutely no interest in this newly promoted Divine Venerable of the Destiny Temple and vaguely sensed that her motives were impure. But he dismissed her as merely a pair of eyes sent by the Heavenly Mandate Venerable and Feng Tian.
If the Heavenly Mandate Venerable thought that the "Sword God of Romance" had a weakness, he was sorely mistaken.
Moreover, in the Destiny Temple, Zhang Ruochen had plenty of confidantes. In terms of beauty alone, Qing Feiwei was no less than Chan Mingya.
"In the end, I've found nothing. I'll go report to Feng Tian. I've done my best." Zhang Ruochen prepared to return to the Five Realms Heaven. Calculating the time, the Tongtian Divine Pill should be ready to form.
Qing Feiwei departed.
Zhang Ruochen glanced back at Chan Mingya, who stood ten steps behind him. "Are you still going to follow me?"
Chan Mingya's lips were crystal clear, curving into a charming arc. Just as she was about to speak, Zhang Ruochen vanished before her eyes.
She quickly gave chase, but ahead came the sound of rushing water, "Hua la la."
It was the Fate Stream!
Back then, the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet had been held by the banks of the Fate Stream.
The phenomenon of the Fate Stream flowing backward, flooding the Destiny Temple, had shocked the entire starry sky of the Hell Realm.
Zhang Ruochen stood by the blood-red stream. The Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal on his body appeared and disappeared intermittently, and within the diagram, fate rules fluctuated strangely.
"You found it?"
Chan Mingya spoke for the first time in a month.
With a "Shua," Zhang Ruochen followed the Fate Stream, heading upstream.
(End of Chapter)