Chapter 3846: Five-Eyed Golden Insect
In the drizzling mist, the tide crashed against the scattered rocks on the sea, each sound reaching the ears clearly.
Zhang Ruochen stood across from Yan Zhexian, a faint smile on his face, warm like sunlight, clear like a mountain spring. He reached out a finger and pushed the talisman sword aside, saying, "Ying'er complained to me that you've been neglecting her all these years, becoming cold and indifferent. I didn't believe it at first. How many years has it been since we last met, and now you greet me with blades? It seems you really have changed!"
Yan Zhexian's forehead was lined with dark veins. She put away the talisman sword and said coldly, "That's right, I've changed. What business is it of yours?"
"Ying'er said your personality has grown increasingly strange because of me."
Zhang Ruochen spoke with an air of seriousness, then sighed, continuing, "You should know that I already have wives—more than one, in fact. Nothing truly happened between us back then. There's no need for you to be so deeply attached."
Yan Zhexian couldn't bear to hear any more. "Can you just shut up? You're still as self-righteous as ever. Ying'er might see you as the father she's always longed for, but I have never once thought that way."
"Because of me, your temperament changed?"
"Zhang Ruochen, are you so lost in your marriage alliances that you actually believe countless women can't live without you? So-called marriage alliances value the power behind you and your cultivation potential—it's a union of interests."
"Is that so?"
Zhang Ruochen looked surprised. "Then why did you insist on taking me to the Yama Clan back then, wanting to help me break the Severing Dao Curse?"
Yan Zhexian tugged at the fox-fur robe on her shoulders, gazing out at the boundless sea. "You can think I did it for Ying'er. But you'd better not flatter yourself. Back then, we were just using each other, each getting what we needed. At that time, weren't you also relying on my status as a legitimate daughter of the Yama Clan to survive in the cracks?"
"Your false affection toward me, I see it clearly."
"I used your name to protect Ying'er—that was also using you."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Do you truly believe that?"
Yan Zhexian's face was icy. "Didn't you come to see me in the Yama Clan just to ease your conscience? Well, I've given you a perfect reason."
The two fell silent for a moment.
A flicker of sorrow passed through Yan Zhexian's eyes. She turned her back, not letting Zhang Ruochen see, and said in a low voice, "Ying'er is actually your bloodline. Now that your cultivation is powerful, comparable to the Heavens, take good care of her... you..."
Zhang Ruochen's hand pressed down on her right shoulder, catching her off guard.
Then, he moved beside her, looking out at the distant green-gray sky just as she was. "You don't want to marry me. Do you know what that means?"
Yan Zhexian twisted her right shoulder, trying to break free from Zhang Ruochen's grip and escape his embrace.
"Don't move."
Zhang Ruochen recalled what Yan Ying'er had said and released a hint of divine might. His gaze locked onto her beautiful eyes, and he spoke in an irresistible tone, "I am now the Di Chen, and the Lord of the Sword Realm. Everyone in the world knows that Ying'er is my daughter and you are my woman. If you don't marry me, where will my face be? What kind of look is that?"
Yan Zhexian said coldly, "Are you molesting me? This is the Yama Clan, Zhang Ruochen. You'd better show me some respect. Otherwise, even if your cultivation rivals the Heavens, it might not be enough."
Zhang Ruochen released his hand. "Fine, I can't keep up the act. You don't need to either. Putting up a strong front can't hide your inner weakness. The Yama Clan's situation is very dangerous now. You need to leave with me immediately."
After Zhang Ruochen let go, Yan Zhexian felt a sense of loss deep inside.
But she quickly suppressed it and said, "So Fifth Uncle told you everything."
"You're not planning to leave?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yan Zhexian was unusually calm. "Tai Shang dotes on me the most. As long as he is here, who in the Yama Clan would dare to touch me?"
"Then why did you move from Tai Shang Qingyun Hall to Spring Rain Talisman Pavilion?"
"I wanted to. It's none of your business."
Zhang Ruochen said, "It seems you don't understand the real situation in the Yama Clan..."
Chi Kongle, who had been leaning against a tree holding a sword, couldn't watch any longer. She walked over quickly and said, "Aunt Yan, Father came to the Yama Clan to take you away. You can't resist him. Tai Shang is in seclusion and can't help you. As for the Heavenly Venerable, he prioritizes the Yama Clan's interests. He would be very happy to see you marry my father."
Yan Zhexian said, "Are you people going to take me by force?"
Zhang Ruochen decided to throw caution to the wind. "If I want to marry you, no one in the Yama Clan will stop me. Your will doesn't matter. Let's go. We still need to pick up Wu Yue."
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Yan Zhexian's wrist and pulled her into his Divine Realm World.
He plucked a strand of hair from her head and blew on it. A doppelganger of Yan Zhexian appeared in her place.
Yan Zhexian stomped her foot in anger and re-condensed her talisman sword. But thinking of the gap in their cultivation, she waved her hand and dispersed the sword.
She seemed to resign herself to fate. The expression on her face could no longer hold. "If you had come to the Yama Clan ten thousand years ago, even if I pretended not to care, there would have been some joy in my heart. I might have truly been willing to leave with you, to go anywhere in the world. But do you know how I've spent these ten thousand years? My heart has long withered. It can no longer stir even the slightest ripple."
"You're still so young, and you dare say your heart is withered?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head gently as he traveled, his resolve to take her away growing stronger. In this state, she would eventually fall into demonic possession.
Chi Kongle was also in Zhang Ruochen's Divine Realm World, comforting her, "Aunt Yan, you should have told Ying'er and me about what happened in the Yama Clan earlier. You shouldn't have hidden it from us."
"If I had told you, you might not have been able to leave the Yama Clan."
Judging by appearance alone, Yan Zhexian and Chi Kongle seemed the same age, with time leaving no trace on her.
Chi Kongle said, "My father is a man of deep emotion and true nature. I believe you know that, Aunt Yan. Marry him, and he will never let anyone hurt you. I can see that you have feelings for Father deep down. You don't reject him at all."
"Children shouldn't meddle in adults' affairs."
Yan Zhexian quickly composed herself and communicated with Zhang Ruochen through divine thought, saying, "Wu Yue's cultivation is profound, and she has the Heavenly Venerable's protection. You don't need to worry about her for now. But Fifth Uncle... I beg you to save him."
"You beg me?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Yan Zhexian said, "Yes. The usurper is cruel and violent. He is capable of anything."
"To be honest, I prefer the old you. You're too rational now, lacking a bit of charm and playfulness." Zhang Ruochen smiled, then added, "Don't worry about him. This is part of our plan. With your Fifth Uncle's cultivation, could he really fight his way into the Enlightenment Divine Hall? The gods of the Yama Clan will stop him."
Yan Zhexian frowned. "What exactly are you planning?"
"Kong Le, explain it slowly to your Aunt Yan. She's been locked up in Spring Rain Talisman Pavilion and hasn't done anything at all. That spoiled young lady temperament of hers hasn't changed one bit."
Zhang Ruochen concealed his aura, becoming invisible, and slowly landed on the ground. He stood on a cliff, watching a distant black figure move away.
That black shadow had six arms.
It was the black-robed cultivator he had encountered when entering Luo Yan Heavenly Gate.
At the time, Zhang Ruochen had hidden himself, afraid of being detected, and hadn't released his divine thought to investigate. He didn't know the figure's identity.
That black shadow had concealed its aura and was moving swiftly.
Zhang Ruochen followed silently, all the way to the territory where Tai Shang Qingyun Hall was located.
Tai Shang Qingyun Hall, also known as "Yama Divine Hall," was another pole of power in the Yama Clan, led by Yama Tai Shang.
This territory was filled with cultivation grounds established by spiritual power cultivators. There were blue planets floating a thousand zhang above the ground, divine trees hung with talismans, and spiritual power visualization diagrams carved into cliffs...
The Yama Clan's library consisted of eight seven-story towers.
Each tower was magnificent, forged from bright gold essence, with each floor resembling a hexagonal palace.
The eight divine towers were built around an eight-hundred-li-long white lake, filled with life spring water. By the lake grew three divine medicines, guarded by divine formations and overseen by spiritual power divine masters.
The six-armed black-robed cultivator passed through all the formations undetected, arriving at Fool Tower. Without alerting anyone, he walked straight inside.
Fool Tower housed the Yama Clan's various spiritual power cultivation texts, including the notes and insights of many Tiantian Wuque-level masters from history.
Zhang Ruochen arrived at Fool Tower a step later, a smile spreading across his face. He had already recognized the six-armed black-robed cultivator.
The cultivator had used the Taigu Wujian Divine Eye to break the formations.
It was none other than the Five-Eyed Golden Insect, whom Zhang Ruochen had wounded during the battle at Buzhou Mountain.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect was both the thirty-sixth of the Seventy-Two Pillar Demon Gods and, in the chaotic ancient times, the Hall Master of the Space Divine Temple. Its five eyes were all Taigu Wujian Divine Eyes, granting it profound mastery over space. Breaking formations was naturally easy for it.
On the seventh floor of Fool Tower, Wu Yue sat by a purple wooden desk near the window, intently flipping through a yellowed ancient text.
At the upper left corner of the desk sat a colored glaze lamp.
The lampshade was painted with a World Tree Starry Sky Diagram.
As the Five-Eyed Golden Insect ascended to the seventh floor, strands of demonic qi spread from beneath its feet, taking the form of ghosts and monsters, emitting piercing sounds as they surrounded Wu Yue from all directions.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect didn't want to cause too much commotion, so it acted decisively. It locked onto Wu Yue with its Taigu Wujian Divine Eye and spat out a torrent of rules from its mouth, weaving them into a net to envelop her.
"Oh?"
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect sensed something was wrong and immediately mobilized its divine power. The net of interwoven rules rapidly contracted.
Wu Yue inside the net exploded, turning into a cloud of mist.
"Illusion technique!"
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect's gaze turned cold. With its current cultivation at the initial stage of Indestructible Infinite, it had been caught off guard and fooled by her.
"That's right, an illusion technique."
Wu Yue, with one hand behind her back and the other holding a jade scroll, stepped out from behind a bookshelf. "You were too eager to capture me and too dismissive of me, so you were deceived by the illusion."
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect turned around, looking at her with an incredulous expression. "Your spiritual power and illusion technique mastery have indeed reached a respectable level. But you are still far from being my match. If you had taken the chance to escape just now, as long as you fled Fool Tower, I wouldn't have dared to pursue you or cause a major disturbance near Tai Shang Qingyun Hall. Can you tell me what gave you the confidence to stay?"
Wu Yue shed her earlier coldness and smiled radiantly, displaying her peerless celestial grace. She pointed behind him.