Chapter 3719: Half-Ancestor
The Six Directions Heavenly Venerable Cauldron was none other than the "Dark Cauldron" among the Nine Cauldrons, also known as the Cauldron of Darkness.
Although Zhang Ruochen had long suspected that Lady Shiji might be hiding within the Dark Cauldron, and that the Dark Cauldron might be concealed on his person, he was still shocked when both were confirmed. With his current perception, having the Dark Cauldron and Lady Shiji hidden on him without his knowledge, unable to locate them, was alarming.
If every figure at Lady Shiji's level could achieve this, it would be terrifying. Zhang Ruochen could only hope that Lady Shiji had relied on the special power of the Dark Cauldron to completely mask her aura and heavenly secrets.
Beyond the shock, Zhang Ruochen's highly tense nerves began to relax. Since Lady Shiji's methods were so brilliant, her historical reputation so formidable, and she had been forced out by him, the situation today should be controllable.
The dark power emanating from the Dark Cauldron continuously eroded the order within this realm. Darkness spread, unstoppable.
Truth Hall Master and Soul Mother stopped their confrontation, both turning their gazes toward Zhang Ruochen, then locking onto the Dark Cauldron.
Above, Xuan Yuan Second's bones reassembled, looking down at the clashing blood light and darkness below. "What's going on? How did two ruthless figures wielding Half-Ancestor power suddenly appear?"
Xuan Yuan Second had a deep understanding of Half-Ancestor power and could see that if Soul Mother fully refined the Blood Sea and Soul Realm into her physical body, given time to recover to her peak, she would likely become a Half-Ancestor. Some of the techniques she was using now were already Half-Ancestor methods.
The aura released by the Dark Cauldron was even higher than Soul Mother's, capable of eroding her order power, proving that in terms of realm alone, the two were on the same level. Of course, a Half-Ancestor-level realm did not necessarily mean Half-Ancestor-level combat power.
Soul Mother sensed the threat and shouted, "Who are you?"
"Shi Ji of the Stone Clan!"
Above the Dark Cauldron, a breathtakingly beautiful figure materialized, her body white as jade, dazzling against the surrounding darkness. Endless light rain enveloped her, more captivating than any painting.
The aura fluctuations from the Dark Cauldron surged further.
Even Truth Hall Master was shocked, then looked at Zhang Ruochen with a very unfriendly expression. This kid attracted too many troublesome figures—Wu Yue, Feng Caiyi, A Fuya—none of whom were easy to provoke. Other cultivators with any sense avoided them, but he took them all in without care. Now, he had even allied with the legendary Lady Shiji, clearly bringing her to the Heavenly Court.
How dare he...
Too bold and reckless.
Did he think he was already an Ancestor? The Immovable Bright King Great Venerable?
Lady Shiji, controlling the Dark Cauldron, flew past Truth Hall Master and directly confronted Soul Mother within the blood pillar, releasing her aura. "Was it the Nether Ancestor who awakened you? Where is he hiding? What was his purpose in awakening you?"
Soul Mother slightly raised her head, glancing at the Santu River above.
This peculiar movement naturally caught the eyes of Lady Shiji, Truth Hall Master, and Zhang Ruochen.
Truth Hall Master was even more shaken, thinking to himself, "Could the Nether Ancestor really still be alive? Is he the legendary Immortal? Was the unknown existence that the Twenty Heavens went to battle thirty thousand years ago him?"
Soul Mother laughed. "Truly worthy of being a Half-Ancestor who dominated an era. It seems you have uncovered many secrets. But with your cultivation, how dare you spy on the Nether Ancestor? Do you know how powerful he is? If he returns, with a flip of his hand, he can reduce you all to ashes. All realms and heavens will submit; who dares to disobey?"
Truth Hall Master shouted, "If the Nether Ancestor is truly invincible, why does he hide in the shadows? Why doesn't he show himself now?"
This was, of course, a probing attempt to learn more from Soul Mother.
Soul Mother was silent for a moment, then said, "The Nether Ancestor awakened me to guide him. I have sensed his faint aura in the vast void; he is calling me. If you choose to submit, when the Calamity of Quantities arrives, you will have a path to survival."
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly, seeing that Soul Mother did not have a deep understanding of the Nether Ancestor's situation.
It made sense—she had only been awakened a few thousand years ago. In the Nether Era, Soul Mother's words would have been intimidating, and no one would have dared to defy the Nether Ancestor. But in this era, the name Nether Ancestor was too distant and illusory to scare anyone present.
Truth Hall Master wanted to continue questioning to learn more.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Attack! Soul Mother's awakening must have extraordinary significance. We cannot let her recover her cultivation or escape. This era is not ready to welcome a terror like the Nether Ancestor. Kill her!"
This was not the time for misplaced compassion. Zhang Ruochen did not hesitate because she had Lian Xi's body and face; instead, his killing intent grew stronger. Whether the Nether Ancestor was alive or not, even if there was only a one percent or one-thousandth chance, it would be a catastrophic disaster for this era. No one in the present could withstand it.
Dragon Lord said, "She is stalling for time. Fight! Kill Soul Mother first, then find the Nether Ancestor, completing the campaign the Twenty Heavens failed to finish thirty thousand years ago. Blood debts must be repaid in blood. No one wants to disrupt this great era."
Dragon Lord's father, Dragon Zhong, had died thirty thousand years ago. Of the Twenty Heavens who marched out, only Hao Tian, Sixth Patriarch, and one other mysterious existence survived; all others fell, their bodies never returned. Dragon Lord still remembered his father heavily patting his shoulder before the campaign, saying nothing, his eyes filled only with determination and resolve, before tearing through the void and leaving.
He never returned.
Dragon Lord did not know what his father had gone to fight. Later, he sought out Hao Tian and Sixth Patriarch but received no answers. Now, hearing Soul Mother's words, he realized that the Twenty Heavens had likely gone to battle the Nether Ancestor. Who else in the world could have killed almost all of them?
Dragon Lord, holding the Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Pagoda in one hand and the Demon God Stone Pillar in the other, struck at one of the Santu River's tributaries.
"An ant trying to shake a tree!"
Soul Mother laughed darkly, channeling order power. The rules of heaven and earth turned into dense chains, pulling the continental plates above and the Santu River tributary into the blood pillar. The blood within the pillar surged faster into her physical body.
The Demon God Stone Pillar Dragon Lord struck could not shake the Santu River tributary; instead, a continental plate over twelve million miles long pressed him down, forcing him to sink. He spat blood, which was pulled by an invisible curse into the blood pillar, absorbed by Soul Mother.
"The Nether Ancestor is indeed not to be offended. It seems we cannot let you escape from here to guide him out."
Lady Shiji's figure dissolved into a rain of light, scattering onto the Dark Cauldron. The cauldron hovered in the void, shaking once.
"Boom!"
Like a bell tolling, the tyrannical dark energy erupted from the Dark Cauldron at its center. Space, as fragile as paper, was torn to shreds. The rules of heaven and earth, including Soul Mother's order power, all shattered. The continental plates that had been sinking all crumbled. All tributaries of the Santu River were torn apart, turning into vapor and droplets.
Zhang Ruochen had prepared various defenses, but his eardrums still burst, his head felt like it would explode, and his body was thrown backward. His divine soul and spiritual will felt as if they were being ground away.
Dragon Lord and Xuan Yuan Second fared no better; they were also thrown back, severely injured.
"How terrifying. Is this the power of a Half-Ancestor?"
Zhang Ruochen immediately manifested the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal, forming an eighteen-foot-diameter defense, struggling to control his body against the dark energy erupting from the Dark Cauldron.
...
After Blade Venerable sent a message to Hao Tian, he did not leave this star region. He and A Fuya hid a hundred billion miles away.
Blade Venerable stared in the direction of the Soul Realm. "Zhang Ruochen is still someone you can get along with. In danger, he chose to send us away rather than forcibly drag us down with him. And he's a romantic fool, willing to take such a huge risk for a woman."
A Fuya was absorbing the divine substance from Yu Dongxuan to strengthen her physical body, saying indifferently, "So what? When we chose to leave, it meant our relationship with him could only be a shallow, transactional one."
"Sigh, that's true. Shared hardship reveals true feelings. But it's easy to say, how many can actually do it?"
Blade Venerable's expression shifted, his eyes widening. "Something's happening!"
A Fuya had already sensed it, looking up at the distant Soul Realm.
"Whoosh!"
The Soul Realm shook violently, mountains collapsed, and magma erupted. The next moment, countless cracks appeared on the realm's surface, and strands of black light radiated from within.
"Boom!"
The Soul Realm shattered, void space broke, and even the boundary between the Real World and Lihentian was breached. The shattered area kept expanding, rounds of shadow moons turned to dust, and the entire starry sky darkened.
The invisible dark energy rapidly spread toward Blade Venerable and A Fuya, making them feel suffocated.
Blade Venerable immediately stood up, holding a short blade in one hand and the Death God's Blade in the other. "The Soul Realm has been destroyed like this, the entire star region collapsing... What power is this..."
"It's the aura of a Half-Ancestor. Finally, a true Half-Ancestor has emerged," A Fuya said.
...
At the center of the shattered Soul Realm, chaos reigned, with blood energy, death gray mist, and dark air intermingling.
Soul Mother's physical body had been shattered by the Dark Cauldron. The blood pillar exploded, turning into layers of red blood waves a thousand miles high, locked by the Dark Cauldron, flowing and churning around the cauldron's body, unable to escape.
Soul Mother had lost so quickly because she was far inferior to Lady Shiji. For Soul Mother to fully reach Half-Ancestor-level combat power was impossible in a short time, constrained by at least three factors.
First, her host body was too weak. Even fusing with the Blood Sea and the entire Soul Realm would take considerable time to fully integrate, thereby deceiving heaven and earth. As Soul Mother's vessel, the Soul Realm itself was a Half-Ancestor divine body. Only when the Soul Realm and the physical body merged would the first step be complete.
Second, Soul Mother's Half-Ancestor cultivation was achieved in the Nether Era. It was not compatible with the rules and energy of this era, requiring significant time to adapt fully and reach its peak.
Third, as she herself said, there were the issues of Esoterica and divine artifacts.
With these three constraints, even if she now fully refined the Blood Sea and Soul Realm into her physical body, she could not unleash Half-Ancestor-level combat power. Against a current-era Heavenly Venerable-rank, she might not even win. Moreover, she had not even completed the first step, far from reaching Heavenly Venerable-rank. How could she be a match for Lady Shiji?
...
I struggled for a day over whether to kill off Lian Xi.
According to the logic of the plot, she definitely has to die, and I was determined to do it. But seeing readers think she is too pitiful and that writing it this way would be too cruel, I hesitated again! Headache!
Should I stick with the original plan or show mercy?
(Chapter End)