Chapter 3702: A Fuya's Speculation
"I am considered an Immortal?"
Zhang Ruochen spoke, as if questioning, as if muttering to himself.
Fog rose in the forest, drifting into the pavilion, intertwining with the white steam boiling up from the cauldron, making the surrounding environment quite hazy and illusory.
It grew even quieter!
After a moment, Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, "Although I crossed through the ages and went to the Primordial Beginning, that was because I opened up a second time and walked on the River of Time."
"Traveling through past and present, leaving traces in various histories, but in that second time, I was still me, not an immortal. I did not feel the vicissitudes of time or the erosion of spirit and memory by time; I only felt that my own life was still passing."
There is only one time in heaven and earth, flowing from ancient times to the future.
The time Zhang Ruochen spent going to the Primordial Beginning to cultivate the First-rank Divine Path was the second time opened up by Xumi Saint Monk's sacrifice.
Going against the River of Time, from present to past.
Though close at hand, A Fuya's peerless celestial beauty became ethereal in the fog, no longer so distinct. She said, "To you, there is a second time. But to us bystanders, you have crossed through the ages and are an Immortal."
"It is very possible that those powerful beings in history who sought immortality sensed you, a passerby, on the River of Time, and thus conceived the desire to pursue immortality."
"Is that so?"
Zhang Ruochen fell into deep thought.
A Fuya smiled faintly: "Crossing the River of Time and traveling through past and present is not that easy. Do you really think it was the result of a Buddha's sacrifice?"
Zhang Ruochen had reviewed and repeatedly simulated the matter of going to the Primordial Beginning, and rationally said, "Of course it's more than that!"
"Sage Monk once said, the higher the cultivation, the greater the karma, the harder it is to cross the River of Time, and the backlash can even devour one's life. My cultivation was weak, so I had a slim chance."
"Using Space Essence as a boat and Time Esoterica as an oar—that was the key to crossing the River of Time."
"Sage Monk sacrificed himself, only giving me a push. Xumi Temple and Sage Monk's remains only made the boat of Space Essence more stable."
A Fuya stroked the rim of her cup and said, "Sacrificing oneself to help a junior is extremely rare throughout history. Xumi Saint Monk deserves the title of Buddha!"
Zhang Ruochen fell into remembrance, with emotions of gratitude, hatred, and regret involuntarily surfacing.
A Fuya's eyes remained clear and bright, as if holding wisdom in her grasp. She said, "Actually, after I descended into the real world, I spent a lot of time studying history since ancient times. I focused on analyzing Xumi Saint Monk, Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, Ling Yanzi, Kong Yinxue, Leifa Heavenly Venerable, Nitian Heavenly Venerable, Hao Tian... and of course, the one I analyzed the most was you."
Zhang Ruochen knew that conversing with a figure like A Fuya was no less than a life-and-death battle.
Both sides hid many secrets, and whoever could dig out more of the other's secrets while maintaining their own mystique would have an advantage in future cooperation.
Zhang Ruochen gradually restrained his emotions, keeping himself in optimal condition, and said, "Your analysis of me—are you skeptical about my First-rank Divine Path?"
A Fuya shook her head and said, "I have absolute confidence in your First-rank Divine Path! But don't you want to know why you were able to cultivate the First-rank Divine Path? Is there a deeper karma behind it?"
Zhang Ruochen narrowed his eyes.
The First-rank Divine Path was something he had fought for with his life.
Back then, when he crashed into the singularity, the probability of cultivating the First-rank Divine Path was less than one in a trillion. Courage, wisdom, persistence, endurance—all were indispensable.
But behind it all, there was indeed the grace of Sage Monk.
And the path paved by ancient sages.
A Fuya said, "First question! Have you ever thought about why Xumi Saint Monk knew that to cultivate the First-rank Divine Path, one must go to the past?"
Zhang Ruochen furrowed his brow.
This question indeed stumped him.
He had reviewed and simulated many times, but only this question remained unanswered.
Yes!
Sage Monk had never been to the past.
How did he know that one could only cultivate the First-rank Divine Path in the past?
What karma was involved here?
A Fuya said, "Second question! From ancient times to the present, only three people have possessed the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark, controlling both time and space."
"The first is the legendary Space-Time Human Ancestor from the desolate ancient era. Billions of years later, you and Xumi Saint Monk successively obtained it. Isn't that strange?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "I can answer this question. My Space-Time Divine Martial Mark should be the same one as Sage Monk's; he achieved it for me."
"Then where did Xumi Saint Monk's Space-Time Divine Martial Mark come from?"
A Fuya immediately added, "And where did your Space-Time Divine Martial Mark go?"
Zhang Ruochen was about to tell her that his Space-Time Divine Martial Mark had been lost in the River of Time while cultivating the First-rank Divine Path, likely in the desolate ancient era.
But he suddenly woke up!
Zhang Ruochen said gravely, "You mean to say that the Space-Time Divine Martial Marks of the three of us might be the same one? The Space-Time Divine Martial Mark I lost in the River of Time was obtained by the Space-Time Human Ancestor?"
"No, that's not right!"
"If there is only one Space-Time Divine Martial Mark in the universe, how did Sage Monk obtain it? Where did the Time Divine Martial Mark originally come from?"
A Fuya said, "This answer might only be known by Immovable Bright King Great Venerable and Ling Yanzi. But we can use the information we have now to make deductions."
"Is there a possibility that the Immortal is the Space-Time Human Ancestor?"
"In ancient times, Immovable Bright King Great Venerable discovered him, fought a great battle, and knocked the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark out of him. This Space-Time Divine Martial Mark could naturally fall into Xumi Saint Monk's body."
Zhang Ruochen didn't believe A Fuya was merely guessing, and said, "When you were at your peak, did you ever sense the Space-Time Human Ancestor?"
A Fuya shook her head and said, "This is all just my speculation. After all, looking through history, if there truly is an immortal person, then that person's understanding of time must have reached an unimaginable level. The ultimate achievement in time is eternity."
"If combined with spatial mastery to evade or even manipulate the laws of heaven and earth, the probability is even greater!"
"The Space-Time Human Ancestor is definitely the most suspicious figure among all the ancestors in history."
Zhang Ruochen let out a long breath and said, "My Space-Time Divine Martial Mark was likely lost in the desolate ancient era."
A Fuya's eyes lit up, as if some of her conjectures had been confirmed.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If your guess is correct! The Space-Time Human Ancestor's Space-Time Divine Martial Mark came from me. Mine came from Sage Monk. Sage Monk's came from the Space-Time Human Ancestor. Doesn't that create a dead loop?"
A Fuya said, "Have you seen the Karma Cycle Divine Ability and the Time Cycle Divine Ability?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded and said, "I have seen artifacts of time cycles, but they can only trap cultivators of lower realms within a cyclical time, and the duration is very short, not spanning the desolate ancient era."
A Fuya said, "You can't do it because your cultivation is not high enough. You can't understand it because your vision is not broad enough."
"I can fully believe that if Immovable Bright King Great Venerable truly encountered the Space-Time Human Ancestor ten eons ago, their battle would have spanned time and space, reaching the level of time cycles and karma cycles."
"Fengdu Dadi was sent to the future!"
"To reclaim the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark, the Space-Time Human Ancestor could very well have used the great divine abilities of time cycles and karma cycles."
"The battles of ancestors are far beyond your imagination, and the order of time and space in the universe may not be able to suppress them."
"Of course, I do not think that Immovable Bright King Great Venerable could contend with an Immortal. Even if he knocked down the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark, he would have paid a heavy price. That price was likely his life!"
"I have studied Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. His lifespan should have been longer; he shouldn't have mysteriously disappeared ten eons ago."
Zhang Ruochen felt that A Fuya's speculation was too exaggerated and too illusory, completely beyond reason.
Of course, it was also possible that his cultivation realm was too low to understand the power of ancestors.
Zhang Ruochen raised doubts, saying, "Even if the Karma Cycle Divine Ability exists, shouldn't it originate from Buddhism? Did the Space-Time Human Ancestor practice Buddhism?"
A Fuya said, "Don't you think Buddhism itself has big problems? Especially Ancestor Jiaye!"
"The grudges of your Zhang family stem from a Mani Pearl. And the Mani Pearl was forged by Ancestor Jiaye, who collected the six desires of humanity and refined them with Brahma Fire."
"I suggest that if you want to find an Immortal, the Western Buddha Realm will definitely have some traces."
Clearly, A Fuya had truly studied various histories and secrets since ancient times, and had a deep understanding of the Zhang family and Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You mean to say that there might be more than one Immortal?"
A Fuya shook her head and said, "Who knows? It's possible that some ancestors in history were different identities of the same Immortal. We can't even be sure if the Immortal truly exists. Everything we've said now is based on the limited clues we have, making speculations."
"Just like, even if the Karma Cycle Divine Ability exists, the one who uses it may not necessarily be born from Buddhism."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Actually, there is a huge flaw in your speculation. This flaw is enough to invalidate all your conjectures."
"What flaw?" A Fuya said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If the Space-Time Divine Martial Marks of me, Sage Monk, and the Space-Time Human Ancestor are the same, then where did this mark originally come from? It can't have come from nothing, can it?"
A Fuya was very calm and said, "Then you have to ask yourself, how did you cultivate the First-rank Divine Path?"
Zhang Ruochen did not reveal this secret, choosing to think alone.
A Fuya's eyes hid disappointment, knowing that Zhang Ruochen's inner defenses were extremely strong, and said, "If you don't reveal this secret, how can I help you deduce?"
Zhang Ruochen suddenly thought of something, his expression turning extremely ugly, his inner shock immense, and said, "You mean to say that the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark was originally cultivated by me when I cultivated the First-rank Divine Path? But if so, how could time cycles and karma cycles exist?"
Coming from nothing—wasn't that Wuji giving birth to Taiji?
Back then, at the singularity, cultivating the First-rank Divine Path indeed absorbed time and space to balance yin-yang and the five elements.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen's path was equal to heaven and earth. It was just that his cultivation was not yet high enough, and his divine soul and spiritual power could only reach a limited range.
A Fuya said, "This depends on whether the era you went to was earlier than the Space-Time Human Ancestor. If you went to an era early enough, then you are a being earlier than the Space-Time Human Ancestor. Why can't the cycle of later generations exist?"
"Moreover, the Space-Time Human Ancestor may not have stolen the Heavenly Dao; he might have stolen your path."
"In the desolate ancient era, he used great divine abilities to steal your path, condensed the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark, and embarked on the path of immortality."
"If this deduction holds, then another of the universe's greatest mysteries that I could never solve in my time would also have an answer."
Zhang Ruochen immediately asked, "What is the greatest mystery of the universe?"
"Divine Martial Authority by Divine Grant!"
A Fuya said, "If cultivators in the world want to embark on the martial path, they must first sacrifice to heaven and earth, open the gate of the divine realm, and obtain the Divine Martial Mark. Although the Divine Martial Mark is useless to gods, it still has a subtle connection with the Qi Sea and divine source."
"As far as I know, there is no divine realm! So, when all beings sacrifice, the gate of the divine realm they open—where does it lead? And who grants the Divine Martial Mark?"
"If the Space-Time Divine Martial Mark was stolen from your path and condensed by the Space-Time Human Ancestor, then this is the first Divine Martial Mark in the world!"
"If the first Divine Martial Mark came from him, do we need to guess about the others?"
"Could the so-called divine realm be his divine realm world?"
A Fuya's insight surpassed anyone in the current era, and it was not strange for her to perceive the ultimate secrets of the universe. But she was no longer an ancestor, having lost too many memories.
There were many points in her speculation that Zhang Ruochen disagreed with.
Fortunately, she had once been an ancestor. If another cultivator had said these words, Zhang Ruochen would have thought they were mad!
A Fuya smiled faintly: "We have too little information, but countless things have happened over the ages. If we can guess two or three out of ten correctly, that's already very good! Figures like the Nether Ancestor and the Great Demon God must have big problems, but we don't even know where the problems lie."
"If we want to further verify, we need to find two people: Ling Yanzi and Hao Tian!"
"Ling Yanzi can tell you what Immovable Bright King Great Venerable encountered back then."
"Hao Tian can tell you where and whom they went to fight three hundred thousand years ago. I think what happened three hundred thousand years ago must be greatly related to the Immortal or the Quantity Organization."
(End of Chapter)