Chapter 3554: Paint a Picture
Seeing Kong Yinxue remain silent, Zhang Ruochen knew that she most likely shared the same suspicion.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen asked, "Ancestor, having been trapped in the Boundless World for so many years, you should know where the Great Demon God's ancestral corpse is located, right?"
Kong Yinxue said, "The Boundless World is vast and boundless, empty of all things. Even a great world might be hidden within a single speck of dust. If not for such a unique environment, why would the Great Demon God have buried himself here back then?"
"Hiding within the Boundless! Not only have I never gone looking for it, but even if I deliberately searched, I might not find it."
She said, "Why not wait for him to reveal the answer himself?"
Zhang Ruochen gazed at the colorful star mist, sensing the increasingly powerful aura of Jiusi Yitianhuang, and worried, "What if Jiusi Yitianhuang, after mastering the Nine Lives Nine Deaths Yin-Yang Dao, then takes the Great Demon God's corpse?"
Kong Yinxue's unhurried voice came from behind, saying, "Without an ancestral divine body, and only fusing seven lives, even if he masters the Nine Lives Nine Deaths Yin-Yang Dao, he won't reach the Half-Ancestor level. I expect that with Fanu's current cultivation, he is not much weaker than him and can contend with him on equal footing. Perhaps he can even serve as a whetstone for Fanu to impact the Half-Ancestor realm!"
Zhang Ruochen suddenly understood, looking back at Kong Yinxue, who sat on a floating rock, and said, "Is this the reason, Ancestor, that you did not stop him from cultivating the Nine Lives Nine Deaths Yin-Yang Dao?"
Here, Jiusi Yitianhuang had expanded a space millions of miles in diameter, with many broken stars and rocks floating in the void.
Kong Yinxue said, "Others cultivate with difficulty, enduring over ten million years and countless calamities... Now, still filial and full of intent, willing to rescue me from the world, as long as it does not threaten White Clothes Valley, why should I, the Heavenly One, not fulfill his wish?"
Zhang Ruochen knew that Jiusi Yitianhuang was a great threat, so he urged again, "Ancestor, do you plan to make a move to seize the Great Demon God's ancestral divine body? But doing so would undoubtedly make an enemy of him. Why not strike now, before he has mastered the Nine Lives Nine Deaths Yin-Yang Dao, to eliminate the trouble once and for all?"
Kong Yinxue pressed her palms together, radiating sacred light all over, like a compassionate and merciful Bodhisattva, and said, "Amitabha! Others treat me with kindness, yet I repay them with evil. Sin, sin."
Zhang Ruochen did not think she seemed like a Buddhist cultivator, nor would she be an inflexible person. So, he clasped his hands and bowed deeply, saying, "I beg the Ancestor to make a move, slay Jiusi Yitianhuang, and eliminate future troubles for this junior, Zhang Ruochen."
"Are you begging me?" Kong Yinxue asked.
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and nodded, "Yes."
Kong Yinxue looked at the black hole within the vast star cloud, waved her hand, and said, "No, no. Yi's cultivation is not weak; how can he be killed just like that? Besides, I am about to die; I need to save my strength. I still have one great matter to attend to!"
Zhang Ruochen, seeing her speak so lightly, found it hard to accept the fact that she was about to die, and said, "Ancestor... Ancestor just said..."
"About to die!"
Kong Yinxue was very calm, saying, "Once I step out of the Boundless World, I can live at most a quarter of an hour. Otherwise, why would I still be here? Of course, staying in the Boundless World, I can live at most another month."
"Why are you looking at me like that? Everyone dies!"
"Only when our generation dies out can your generation, in a few hundred thousand years, ascend to the ranks of the Twenty Heavens and become the new generation of the strongest. It is impossible for young people to step over the old generation of Heavens to rise. However, you do have a bit of a chance!"
Before meeting Kong Yinxue, Zhang Ruochen had some resentment towards her.
The Severing Dao Curse had indeed harmed the Zhang family.
But now that he had met her, he found that she was not so heinously evil or stubbornly insane.
In the end, she had used the Severing Dao Curse to force Ling Yanzi out of the Abyss of Darkness, all to protect herself and her child from the torment of the Withering Death Art.
Ling Yanzi did not leave the Abyss of Darkness, so she stormed into it and suffered tens of thousands of years of imprisonment on Boundless Ridge.
The source of all this sorrow was actually the unknown person who had cast the Withering Death Art on her and Ling Yanzi.
Although it was only a short contact, hearing her calmly speak of her impending death, Zhang Ruochen's heart was still filled with immense grief.
In his mind, he imagined Kong Yinxue walking out of the Abyss of Darkness, returning to White Clothes Valley, reuniting with Nutian Shenzun, Yanshu Chanshi, and Jue Miao Channa—how beautiful and perfect that would be.
But the blade of time was so merciless.
The cruelty of fate was inescapable for anyone.
Did Kong Yinxue not wish to return to White Clothes Valley for one last look?
After a fierce internal struggle, Zhang Ruochen said, "The Udumbara Flower is right on Boundless Ridge. Taking it can extend your life."
Kong Yinxue shook her head, saying, "If it were back then, it could extend my life, but not now. Besides, there is no time! Don't be so sorrowful, alright? We have only known each other for a day. Are all you Zhangs so emotionally rich?"
Zhang Ruochen did not know whether to laugh or cry, and he had to admire her calmness.
This was the peace and release that came only after weathering endless storms.
Zhang Ruochen could not bring himself to smile, and said, "The Great Venerable always felt guilty towards you back then. He left behind his power, always protecting White Clothes Valley."
"I know!"
Kong Yinxue said, "Children should not meddle in adults' affairs. Don't bring up the past! Can you paint? Paint a picture for me!"
"Alright!"
Zhang Ruochen immediately took out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, spread them out in the void, and began to grind the ink.
Kong Yinxue touched her own face, then looked at her white hair, and a trace of sadness finally appeared in her eyes: "When I first met him, I was young. Although I was a bit willful and acted eccentrically, how could I be like this now, with white hair and a heavy, lifeless air? Time spares no one!"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Ancestor, your white hair is still youthful; time has left no trace on your face. You are still the most beautiful woman in the world."
Kong Yinxue smiled radiantly: "With a mouth like yours, I imagine you have no shortage of confidantes! Zhang Ruochen, do you know, you are somewhat like the Great Venerable back then."
After that, Kong Yinxue gently brushed her long sleeves, wiped the giant rock, and said no more.
Her beautiful eyes were filled with an immense sense of vicissitude, as if recalling all the experiences of her life, sinking into her own thoughts. Everything in the outside world seemed unimportant!
Zhang Ruochen was momentarily captivated, and finally, with a sigh in his heart, he picked up his brush and began to sketch on the white paper.
Behind him, the colorful star cloud spanning millions of miles began to rapidly contract, converging towards the black hole at the center.
...
An Indestructible Infinite was about to self-immolate.
Another, carrying an ancestral divine source, was about to destroy the entire Boundless Ridge.
All the cultivators on Chaos Mountain could not remain calm, wanting only to flee immediately.
This was no way to play; the stakes were too high!
Jie Zunzhe, full of momentum, said, "You Chaos Clan are a bunch of fools, used by Jiusi Yitianhuang without knowing it. Are you in cahoots with Jiusi Yitianhuang? Hmph, he has a grand scheme. Just wait and see; while we fight here to mutual destruction, he will be the one to profit in the end."
Yuan Suyin said, "What are you saying? The Chaos Clan has contact with Jiusi Yitianhuang?"
"This matter was said by Gai Mie, absolutely true."
Jie Zunzhe was not at all sure whether Jiusi Yitianhuang was in cahoots with the Chaos Clan; he was completely spouting nonsense to sow discord among the Earth Clan, Fire Clan, and Wood Clan emperors against the Chaos Clan.
Jie Zunzhe added, "Also, Jiusi Yitianhuang's first life is the Great Demon God, whom you all hate to the bone. This was also said by Gai Mie. If you don't believe me, you can go ask him now."
"Yun Huang! Ancestor! Is what Zhang Jie said true?"
"If Jiusi Yitianhuang's first life is the Great Demon God, then all us ancient clans will be irreconcilable with him."
...
Jie Zunzhe continued, "Jiusi Yitianhuang is now on Boundless Ridge. Make the Chaos Clan hand him over."
Yun Hunxuan was also shocked by what Jie Zunzhe said, but at this moment, how could he admit it?
The Mani Pearl was the top priority.
He could only take down Jie Zunzhe and Yuan Suyin first, then investigate the truth.
Yun Hunxuan laughed uproariously: "Haha! The inheritor of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable acts so despicably, truly disappointing. You are deliberately trying to sow discord among us ancient clans. Today, I, the Emperor, will kill you first!"
The beam of light condensed at Yun Hunxuan's fingertip slashed straight towards Jie Zunzhe.
Yuan Suyin knew well the gap in cultivation between Jie Zunzhe and Yun Hunxuan, so she stepped forward, intending to block the attack, but was restrained by an invisible force of time and space.
She fixed her gaze on the Chaos Ancestor and, without hesitation, intended to burn her divine fire, then unleash a world-destroying power to perish together with the Chaos Ancestor. But her will to self-immolate was suppressed.
"Shua!"
Yuan Suyin, as if grabbed by an invisible hand by the neck, was lifted to the center of that eye-like spatial crack.
The black flames on her body extinguished, and crimson blood flowed from her neck. No matter how she circulated her divine power, she could not break free.
The Earth Emperor, Wood Emperor, and Fire Emperor were all greatly alarmed.
It must be known that Yuan Suyin, in her state of divine fire dispersion, had combat power that directly approached the middle stage of Indestructible Infinite. Yet, facing the Chaos Ancestor, she had no power to resist and was captured.
What level of cultivation was this?
However, Chaos Mountain was the Chaos Ancestor's territory, with advantages in rules and terrain.
If it were elsewhere, they would still have some power to resist, at least able to hold off a few rounds, not be crushed to this extent.
"Suyin!"
Jie Zunzhe roared, charging straight towards Chaos Mountain.
"You can't even save yourself, and you still want to rescue others? Why not self-detonate your divine source? That way, at least you can die together with Yuan Suyin."
Yun Hunxuan sneered coldly, and the beam of light he slashed tore through the sea of Brahma fire, falling straight towards Jie Zunzhe.
"Hua!"
Jie Zunzhe knew that Zhang Ruochen had gone to the Boundless World, and the situation might turn around, so he did not self-detonate his divine source. Nine-colored divine light surged from the top of his head, manifesting layers of heavenly realms, clashing with the incoming beam of light.
"Bang! Bang!"
The heavenly realms continuously exploded, unable to block the divine power technique unleashed by an Indestructible Infinite.
Bloodshot veins appeared in Jie Zunzhe's eyes, murderous intent boiling. He pasted a divine talisman onto his heart and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "Twentieth Layer Heavenly Realm!"
In an instant, thunder roared behind Jie Zunzhe, and fierce winds howled.
The blood in his body boiled, and droplets of blood overflowed from his pores, then ignited.
The divine source within him trembled violently, shaking the entire Boundless Ridge, billions of miles of land.
Above his head, the twentieth layer of heavenly realm gradually condensed within the nine-colored divine light.
At the same time, Jie Zunzhe increased the speed of drawing ancestral divine qi from within the ancestral divine source by several times.
(Chapter End)