Chapter 3797: Twelve Stone Men
The twelve stone men were each thousands of zhang tall, their battle auras intimidating. The various weapons in their hands—axes, pillars, swords, and more—had all shed their stone skin, revealing bronze material beneath, forming a stark contrast with the stone color of their bodies.
They had guarded the Heavenly Venerable's tomb here for over a million years. Once an outsider intruded, they would "awaken."
When Cang Jue had broken into this place back then, he had nearly been slain.
Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao teleported here, gazing at the twelve stone men standing like twelve towering stone peaks, half-kneeling on the ground like twelve war gods paying homage to an emperor about to go on campaign.
The two felt an unusual sensation in their hearts and, almost involuntarily, looked together toward the majestic Heavenly Venerable's tomb ahead.
Above the tomb, nine-colored divine light rippled, layers of celestial realms rose, and the figure of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable flickered in and out of view.
Higher up in the sky, stars twinkled, and the vast universe seemed to hang directly overhead, giving one the strange feeling of being born in another world.
"Shua!"
Jie Tian transformed into a beam of divine light, landing atop the Golden Qilin Divine Beast's head. With his hands clasped behind his back, he exuded an air of looking down upon the heavens, gazing at the starry sky above. "See that? Because of the ancestor worship, the twelve stone men have all undergone changes. If we hold an even larger-scale ancestor worship, even more miraculous things will happen. By then, won't all the cultivators under heaven be awestruck? Who would still dare to oppose us?"
The Golden Qilin Divine Beast's body was hundreds of times larger than a mountain, standing ten thousand zhang tall even when lying down.
Standing atop its corpse's head, Jie Tian looked down at Zhang Ruochen, looking extremely cocky.
Zhang Ruochen ignored Jie Venerable and walked straight to a stone man holding a bronze mountain-splitting axe. He leaped up, landing on the stone man's shoulder, and released his Heart of Truth to carefully sense it.
These twelve stone men were not of the Stone Clan, nor did they have any life fluctuations within their bodies. So where did their strange behaviors come from?
Moreover, their combat power was extremely formidable, standing at the peak of the Great God level.
If they had no soul spirits, where did their consciousness originate?
Where did their divine power come from?
Every time he came to the Heavenly Venerable's tomb, Zhang Ruochen would investigate these stone men, feeling they were definitely not simple. He always associated them with the Earth Cauldron that Kong Yinxue had left behind in the Dao Field of the Dark Abyss.
Back then, the Earth Cauldron had been wrapped in a layer of stone skin, thus cutting off heavenly secrets and sealing its aura.
But even with his current cultivation level, Zhang Ruochen's investigation of the stone men yielded no results. He could find no clues.
"Jie Tian has spent many years in the ancestral land and inherited the Ancestor Divine Source. He should know the origins of these twelve stone men, right?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Jie Tian flew down from the Golden Qilin Divine Beast's head, walking between the two rows of stone men. Looking up at their towering bodies, his eyes brimming with emotion, he nodded. "Every Primordial Ancestor must have countless followers, just like the seventy-two pillar demon gods serving the Great Demon God, or the Thunder Duke and Soul Mother serving the Nether Ancestor."
"The Great Venerable roamed the universe for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, so naturally, he had followers too. These twelve stone men were the twelve war gods under the Great Venerable's command, each with the combat power of a Heavenly Lord. In that era, the Great Venerable didn't even need to act personally—they could intimidate the entire world. Each one could trample an entire star domain."
"Though they were powerful, they called themselves household retainers, disdaining the title of Heavenly Lord, and only wished to cultivate by the Great Venerable's side."
"After the Great Venerable fell, they stood motionless beneath the Heavenly Venerable's tomb, and eventually, all turned into stone men."
Hearing him ramble on with his bragging, Zhang Ruochen shook his head repeatedly, regretting having asked him.
Chi Yao said, "If the twelve stone men are so powerful, why have I never heard any legends about them? There are no records of them in the classical texts of the various realms of the Heavenly Court either."
Jie Tian said angrily, "Have you forgotten who became Heavenly Venerable after the Great Venerable? It was Lei Fa. Though he became Heavenly Venerable, he always lived in the Great Venerable's shadow. He was unwilling to accept it. He ordered the destruction of countless records about the Great Venerable and the twelve stone men, forbade anyone from discussing them, and even worked behind the scenes to bring unprecedented calamity upon the Zhang Clan, nearly destroying the Kunlun Realm."
"Unfortunately, he has already been refined and killed. I only regret not being able to personally destroy the Thunder Clan to avenge the blood debt of a million years ago."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Yu Jingzhen is the son of Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable. He's still alive. If you want revenge, you still have a chance! But now that you've finished making up your story, can you tell the truth?"
Jie Tian said, "What truth? Even though these are things I imagined, they might not be false."
"Which record contains information about these twelve stone men? Yet they truly exist!"
Chi Yao frowned deeply. "So, everything Elder Jie just said was a made-up story?"
"As the tomb guardians of a Primordial Ancestor, they themselves should have such a legendary tale. I plan to write a more complete story about them before the next ancestor worship and spread it in advance. By then, when the gods of all realms come to observe the ceremony, they will surely hold the Zhang Clan in even greater awe."
Jie Tian began sketching it out in his mind, his blood boiling. He decided to write a separate volume of legends for each stone man.
Meanwhile, Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao had already ascended the Heavenly Venerable's tomb, entering the celestial realm constructed from Chaos Rules and Chaos Divine Qi.
During the years he had cultivated in the Time Divine Temple, Zhang Ruochen had already refined the Immovable Wisdom King Fist to the twenty-second layer, and his fist techniques had even surpassed his sword techniques.
His cultivation of the "Wordless Sword Manual" had only reached the Great Perfection of Sword Twenty-One, with Sword Twenty-Two barely at the introductory stage.
The two were naturally different. When cultivating the Immovable Wisdom King Fist, Zhang Ruochen could enter the celestial realm left by the Great Venerable above the Heavenly Venerable's tomb. In that celestial realm, the Great Venerable's figure continuously demonstrated each layer of the fist technique.
Moreover, he could absorb Ancestor Chaos Rules and Ancestor Chaos Divine Qi, which also promoted the cultivation of the Immovable Wisdom King Fist.
Thus, his fist techniques naturally advanced ahead of his sword techniques.
But in reality, Zhang Ruochen's foundation in the Sword Dao far surpassed his fist techniques, leaving more room for higher development in the future.
When Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao descended from the top of the Heavenly Venerable's tomb again, only five layers of the nine-colored celestial realm left by the Great Venerable remained.
Jie Tian had returned to standing atop the Golden Qilin Divine Beast's head, apparently feeling this posture gave him more presence. Looking down at Zhang Ruochen, he said, "Absorbed even more Ancestor Rules and Ancestor Divine Qi? With your Mysterious Embryo opened, do you have the confidence to defeat an Indestructible Infinite?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "To defeat an Indestructible Infinite, why would I need to use Ancestor Rules and Ancestor Divine Qi?"
Jie Tian squinted his eyes, wanting to test Zhang Ruochen's mettle, but felt a bit uncertain.
This kid had survived the second Eon Calamity, which meant he had spent an entire eon in closed-door cultivation under the Sundial during these ten thousand years. What level his combat power had reached was hard to say.
Jie Tian's gaze then fell on Chi Yao. Seeing the twenty layers of celestial realm above her head, he felt quite bitter.
He had to know that he had exhausted all his efforts over these years just to condense the twentieth layer of celestial realm.
As the old ancestor, Jie Tian naturally refused to admit defeat. He laughed heartily, and layers of nine-colored celestial realms rose above his head, like heavenly palaces and divine towers, releasing the might of a Primordial Ancestor.
He said, "Both of you come at me together! Let's see if you have the ability to withstand one punch from this Heavenly Lord."
With the same twenty layers of celestial realm, the combat power of Jie Venerable and Chi Yao was naturally worlds apart. The divine energy he used came from the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's Divine Source—the purest Ancestor Divine Qi and Ancestor Rules.
Relying on Ancestor Divine Qi, when Jie Venerable had cultivated only nineteen layers of celestial realm, he could already repel an Indestructible Infinite-level powerhouse with a single punch.
As for Chi Yao, she was currently only at the early stage of Great Unbound Infinite.
"Forget it," Zhang Ruochen said. "If you use that punch, who knows how many years you'll need to accumulate before you can strike again."
"Scared, are you? If you're afraid, just admit it. Come with me and send out invitations to host a real ancestor worship feast."
Jie Tian chuckled again. "Kid, to tell you the truth, after condensing the twentieth layer of celestial realm, I can mobilize the divine energy of the Ancestor Divine Source faster. I can now unleash three full-power punches."
"And after those three punches? If I manage to withstand them, won't I be at your mercy?"
Zhang Ruochen would have to be crazy to fight Jie Tian. Ancestor Divine Qi was not so easy to withstand.
Chi Yao's heart stirred, a sly glint flashing in her eyes. "Elder Jie wants to hold an ancestor worship and restore the Zhang Clan's prestige. As juniors, we naturally support this wholeheartedly."
"But I believe that if we're going to do it, it must be shocking enough. We must make the Zhang Clan the number one family in the universe once more, making all cultivators under heaven envious and reverent. Only then can we truly bring glory to our ancestors."
"Reasonable!"
Jie Tian nodded but sighed. "The number one family is still too difficult for now. The Yan Clan and the Xuanyuan Clan are still blocking the way."
Chi Yao said, "If we welcome Ancestor Ling Yanzi back, wouldn't the Yan Clan and the Xuanyuan Clan be no match for the Zhang Clan?"
"This..."
Jie Tian's eyes lit up. "If we add Zhang Fanu to the mix, wouldn't that carry even more weight?"
"That's possible! Because before she passed away, Yinxue Tian asked Chen Ge to paint a portrait of her, hoping to use the painting to represent her true form and enter the Zhang Clan's ancestral shrine. Since Yinxue Tian has entered the ancestral shrine, how could Nutian Shenzun not enter?"
Chi Yao continued, "The key now is that no one knows if Ancestor Ling Yanzi is still alive. With the Primordial Beings emerging into the world, has she also come to the Upper Realm?"
"In fact, Ancestor Ling Yanzi and Nutian Shenzun don't even need to come to the Kunlun Realm in person. As long as they publicly state their stance, they can create influence."
...
Seeing Chi Yao and Jie Tian getting more and more into their discussion, finding common ground, Zhang Ruochen knew this matter was settled.
For the sake of the family's prosperity and to recreate the boundless glory of the Great Venerable's era, Jie Tian would be willing to do anything.
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the ancestral land, only to be astonished to find that the twelve stone men had risen and were following him, as if about to leave the ancestral land.
When Zhang Ruochen stopped, they stopped too.
Jie Tian and Chi Yao were also startled, stopping their discussion to stare over.
"Zhang Ruochen, what are you doing? They are the tomb guardians! Where are you taking them?" Jie Tian roared.
Zhang Ruochen shrugged. "I'm not controlling them. They followed me on their own."
With that, Zhang Ruochen walked out of the ancestral land in a probing manner. The twelve stone men, each thousands of zhang tall, followed him out, trampling mountains along the way, leaving countless giant footprints.
Jie Tian chased after them. "It's over. Something major is definitely about to happen. The twelve stone men wouldn't follow you out of the ancestral land for no reason."