Chapter 3847: The Truth
Zhang Ruochen, at some unknown moment, had already appeared on the seventh floor of the Fool Tower. He sat beside a purple wooden table, picked up the lamp engraved with a World Tree star map, and said, "This is a rare spiritual power artifact. The substance burning inside... could it be the material from the divine heart of a certain Heaven-Circle Complete cultivator?"
Wu Yue said, "The lamp oil is the demon blood from the divine heart of the Seventh Pillar Shang Que! Shang Que's spiritual power had reached Heaven-Circle Complete, at the ninety-second level. He was the Illusion Art Tai Shang of the Chaos Era."
"No wonder even an Indestructible Infinite cultivator would fall for it."
Zhang Ruochen set the Colored Glaze Lamp down.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect naturally felt a surge of anger. "Are you two treating me as if I don't exist? Zhang Ruochen, I heard you defeated that Shang Tian from Paradise Realm. I was just thinking of testing you again."
Before the words faded, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's entire body erupted with blinding golden light, tearing through the black robe it wore and revealing a hard-shelled divine body that seemed forged from gold.
Its six arms were all sharp spikes, like a mantis.
With its true form revealed and divine might erupting, it did not attack Zhang Ruochen but instead targeted Wu Yue.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect knew Zhang Ruochen's prowess well. Even if it could defeat him, it would be a bitter battle, alarming the entire Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven, and perhaps even sending shockwaves across the Starry Sky Defense Line.
Moreover, this place was very close to the Tai Shang Qingyun Hall. If they disturbed Yama Tai Shang's seclusion, it would be extremely detrimental to their subsequent plans.
Wu Yue, however, was different. As a spiritual power cultivator, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect was confident it could subdue her before Zhang Ruochen could react.
Then, it would have leverage to negotiate with Zhang Ruochen!
The eye growing at the back of the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's head released spatial power, locking onto Wu Yue.
Then, its body shot backward, two golden spikes thrusting straight at Wu Yue's collarbone.
"Whoosh!"
On the seventh floor of the tower, a Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal appeared on both the floor and ceiling, spinning in opposite directions.
In an instant, spatial power erupted. Wu Yue and the Five-Eyed Golden Insect, who had been close at hand, were now separated by an ever-increasing distance.
Finally, Wu Yue vanished from the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's sight.
"Is that the Space Essence? How could Hao Tian allow you to take the essence from the Space Divine Temple?"
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect could tell that Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had not reached Indestructible Infinite, and it believed its own spatial mastery surpassed his. Yet now, it had been blocked by space and failed to capture Wu Yue. What else could Zhang Ruochen have used besides Space Essence?
The Universe Cauldron?
But Zhang Ruochen had not summoned the Universe Cauldron.
"To deal with you, why would I need Space Essence?"
Zhang Ruochen walked out from the starry sky.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen and the Five-Eyed Golden Insect were isolated from the outside world, within a vast sea of stars.
The surrounding stars flickered constantly, sometimes burning like divine furnaces, other times extinguishing, turning dark and cold.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect snorted coldly. "So this is the Four Symbols' Sun you've cultivated? A Vanishing Star Sea derived from merging the Way of Space and the Way of Light?"
"Are there only a thousand types of Dao in this star sea?"
With a thought from Zhang Ruochen, clusters of blazing divine flames appeared in the starry sky.
They grew denser and denser, eventually transforming into a divine flame domain.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect was completely unafraid of being refined by the divine flames. "Do you think this star sea can trap an Indestructible Infinite cultivator? Zhang Ruochen, we can't do anything to each other. Why not each take a step back and stop here? If we really fight, it won't benefit anyone."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Your words seem to imply something else. Why would it not benefit me? If we alarm Yama Tai Shang and the Heavenly Venerable, do you think you can still leave Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven?"
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect assumed Zhang Ruochen truly didn't know the current situation of the Yama Clan, so it smiled and said, "You came to Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven with Chi Kongle and Yan Huangtu. You should know that Xue Zhi Gu Shen was possessed, but you probably don't know who possessed him, right?"
"Let me tell you the truth. Yama Tai Shang is in seclusion. Whether this seclusion succeeds or fails concerns his life or death. So even if we fight until the sky falls and the earth splits, destroying Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven, he won't come out."
"As for the Heavenly Venerable you mentioned, he is even less capable of making a move."
Zhang Ruochen said, "The Heavenly Venerable can't make a move? That's quite arrogant of you!"
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect said proudly, "So what if he's the Heavenly Venerable? In front of that one in Lihentian, Yan Renhuan would need to reach true Heavenly Venerable level to have a fighting chance. Your wife should know very well the strength of that one in Lihentian. Didn't she tell you?"
Zhang Ruochen frowned, his gaze piercing through the star sea to look at Wu Yue.
Wu Yue immediately sent a voice transmission: "This is hard to explain in a few words! The Five-Eyed Golden Insect is deliberately provoking and stalling for time. A major upheaval must be happening in Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven."
Zhang Ruochen lost his patience for extracting the truth from the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's mouth. He shifted his position and appeared right in front of it.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect's five pupils all contracted into points, nearly freezing space to block Zhang Ruochen's attack.
"Slash!"
Zhang Ruochen held the First Chapter Divine Artifact, the Demon Ancestor Zi Wu Yue, tearing through space. The strike landed heavily on the Five-Eyed Golden Insect.
"Chi!"
Even though the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's physical defense was at its peak, the Demon Ancestor Zi Wu Yue still carved a deep gash across its chest.
Its golden shell was damaged.
Its body flew backward, smashing through stars one after another.
Zhang Ruochen pursued with exquisite footwork. "You're a cultivator from the Chaos Era, constrained by the heaven and earth rules of this era. Do you really think you're still an Indestructible Infinite level powerhouse?"
Zhang Ruochen's second strike fell.
The Demon Ancestor Zi Wu Yue spun rapidly like a divine sun and a lunar moon combined, smashing down on the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's head.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect shot a beam of light from each of its five eyes, but they couldn't block the attack.
"Boom!"
The Demon Ancestor Zi Wu Yue pierced through the light beams, struck the arms the Five-Eyed Golden Insect raised, and directly severed them.
A large amount of demon blood flowed from the broken arms.
To prevent it from reattaching its arms, Zhang Ruochen waved his sleeve, creating a spatial wave.
The two golden, spike-like arms flew toward Wu Yue, who sealed them with a divine talisman.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect was horrified. It retreated rapidly. Setting aside the terrifying power of the divine weapon in Zhang Ruochen's hand, Zhang Ruochen's own strength was not inferior to its own.
Could he cross the great realm between Great Unbound Infinite and Indestructible Infinite?
This was something only the Great Demon God and the Heavenly Demon had achieved back then.
At a disadvantage in both essence and weaponry, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect lost its will to fight Zhang Ruochen. Various rule divine patterns surged out from its body, filling the star sea.
"Void Slash!"
A ten-thousand-zhang light blade condensed in the starry sky and slashed outward.
It was not aimed at Zhang Ruochen, but at breaking the Vanishing Star Sea.
Zhang Ruochen watched the light blade in the starry sky, silently marveling at the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's formidable cultivation, and felt an even greater eagerness to break through to Indestructible Infinite as soon as possible.
But he did not use any means to stop it, allowing the light blade to shatter the entire star sea.
At the edge of the star sea, towering trees appeared, shaped like Buddhas, emitting a silvery-white radiance.
The spatial power from the ten-thousand-zhang light blade was absorbed by the Xutuojian White Silver Trees and dissipated into nothing.
Seeing the change in the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's expression, Zhang Ruochen explained, "This is the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, refined by the formation Tai Shang of Kunlun Realm. It has merged with the Ancestor Realm, the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss. It can unleash spiritual power attacks, affecting your divine soul and weakening your combat strength."
At this moment, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect could no longer maintain its calm demeanor. The man before him was full of heaven-defying trump cards, and there was simply no way to fight.
"Whoosh!"
The shadow of the Gui Chi, towering ten thousand miles high, descended from above the star sea, releasing an endless stream of Time Imprint light spots.
The Gui Chi was the formation eye of the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, representing the formation's time power.
Under the suppression of time power, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's speed was restricted, and it was no longer a match for Zhang Ruochen.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
...
Every strike Zhang Ruochen landed left a wound on the Five-Eyed Golden Insect's body, pushing it back again and again.
Without any surprises, it couldn't escape. The Five-Eyed Golden Insect was dismembered into four pieces by Zhang Ruochen and sealed one by one.
Its combat power was not only inferior to Shang Tian's demon corpse but also a notch below the Dragon Lord's.
The only thing that could threaten Zhang Ruochen was self-detonating its divine source.
But with the suppression of the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, Zhang Ruochen was confident he could use the Wuji Divine Dao to suppress its self-detonation intent.
Besides, the Five-Eyed Golden Insect wouldn't have the resolve to self-detonate its divine source. It was surely still hoping that Xue Zhi Gu Shen would come to its rescue.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect was no ordinary opponent, so Zhang Ruochen didn't have time to break its Dao and search its soul for the moment. That couldn't be done quickly.
Dealing with an Indestructible Infinite cultivator, Zhang Ruochen was very cautious. He sealed the four dismembered pieces of the Five-Eyed Golden Insect separately into the Earth Cauldron, Heaven Cauldron, Hong Cauldron, and Jade Emperor Cauldron, to prevent it from breaking the seals and reassembling its body.
"Congratulations, husband, for suppressing an Indestructible Infinite cultivator. Such ability already surpasses countless Heavenly Venerables."
Wu Yue was dressed in white like snow, her jade-like delicate face beaming with joy. There was no trace of ruthlessness or venom in her expression. Instead, she seemed even more detached from worldly affairs than the Moon God, carrying a hint of maidenly innocence.
Zhang Ruochen's face showed no emotion. "What kind of person are you, really?"
No emotion meant something truly serious had happened.
The might of Zhang Ruochen suppressing the Five-Eyed Golden Insect had not yet dissipated, and his whole body carried a bloody aura. Wu Yue dared not smile anymore. She said solemnly, "The master of the Lihentian Yan Clan should be related to the remnant soul of the Great Demon God. When the Moon God and I absorbed the remnant soul of the Ancient Moon God, he secretly made a move, leaving some traces that helped us greatly."
"I speculate that he had two plans."
"First, he regarded the Moon God and me as pawns to prevent Jiusi Yitianhuang from cultivating the perfect Nine Lives Nine Deaths Yin-Yang Dao. After all, the Ancient Moon God was Jiusi Yitianhuang's sixth life. Lacking one life's remnant soul, his Dao would be incomplete, and his cultivation could never reach the Half-Ancestor level."
"If Jiusi Yitianhuang truly reached the Half-Ancestor level, he would definitely take the Great Demon God's remnant soul to impact the Ancestor realm."
Zhang Ruochen said, "How do you know that one in Lihentian is related to the Great Demon God's remnant soul?"
"It was you, husband, who told me about the relationship between Jiusi Yitianhuang and the Great Demon God, which led me to this speculation. Otherwise, why would he do this? To verify this, I came to Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven and learned some even more hidden secrets from the Heavenly Venerable."
Wu Yue thought for a moment, a hint of grievance appearing in her eyes. "Are you doubting my intelligence and reasoning, or are you doubting me?"
"You are changeable and unpredictable. I find that I don't really understand you."
"Don't men like novelty? If my body has been seen through by you, and my heart is also seen through, then what fun is there? Even if you don't believe me, husband, you should believe in yourself. After all, I want to be the woman of an Ancestor. How could I cut off my own future path?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Let's talk business. What did you learn from the Heavenly Venerable?"