Chapter 3863: The Old Drunkard Awakens
The World Tree where the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven was located had been illuminated, situated on the Hell Realm side of the Starry Sky Battlefield, adjacent to the Shura Star Pillar Realm.
The deities of the Yama Clan all set aside their tasks and rushed back to the World Tree at the fastest speed, dispersing to the four main formation platforms and one hundred and eighty sub-platforms.
The Supreme Clan had reached a moment of life and death; only by relying on the Ancestral Formation could they protect their race.
"Has the Heavenly Venerable fallen? Can the Yama Clan still hold on?"
"Half-Ancestors have emerged one after another, Boundless ones have fallen continuously. I truly sense the arrival of the apocalypse."
Countless cultivators of the Yama Clan felt darkness before their eyes, seeing no future or hope.
The situation was dire. Those above the Boundless realm were making the worst-case preparations, initiating various plans for racial continuation. Potential experts at the Great God level successively left the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven, scattering to hide across the universe.
Yan Yu, Yan Huangtu, and Yan Zhexian all did not leave, vowing to live and die with the Yama Clan.
Zhang Ruochen's arrival immediately shook the deities of the Yama Clan.
After all, with the Heavenly Venerable fallen, the Yama Clan had no Indestructible Infinite to oversee them, and no one dared to confirm they could survive this day's tribulation.
Zhang Ruochen, whose spiritual power had reached the ninetieth rank, could help them activate the Ancestral Formation. Then, no matter how strong the enemy who came to attack, they would surely be able to hold them off.
Surrounded by many deities, Zhang Ruochen entered the Heavenly Venerable Hall.
Yan Zhexian's eyes were red-rimmed as she quickly stepped forward and said, "Has the Heavenly Venerable... has the Heavenly Venerable truly fallen?"
Zhang Ruochen looked at Yan Yu, Yan Huangtu, and the others. He was very reluctant to be the one to announce this grievous news, but in the end, he nodded and said, "The Heavenly Venerable sacrificed himself to stop the great calamity of this era. It is lamentable and worthy of praise. I deeply admire him."
"Why must you all grieve? People will eventually die. Being able to choose one's own death, to die for the righteousness in one's heart, means one does not regret coming to this world for a walk."
Sitting at the main formation platform of the Heavenly Venerable Hall was Daiyue Zhenren.
Zhang Ruochen temporarily handed the Human Ancestor Banner and the Yama Lord to him, to be suppressed by him. This also included the fifty percent of the Yama Heavenly Dao Profound Meaning within the Human Ancestor Banner.
Daiyue Zhenren immediately felt unprecedented pressure and said, "Is Imperial Dust about to leave? The Yama Lord has been suppressed within the Heaven Beyond Heaven. Bone Yama will definitely come to rescue him, even to seize the World Tree and the Heaven Beyond Heaven. We are naturally willing to fight to the death against him, but I fear we still cannot match him."
Yan Yu, Yan Huangtu, Yan Zhexian, and the other Yama Clan deities present all looked nervously at Zhang Ruochen, afraid that he would leave immediately.
But they also understood that in the current muddy waters of the Yama Clan, there were probably few people in the world who dared to wade in.
Earlier, they had sent messages for help to several powerful Heavenly Lords of the Hell Realm, but they were all too busy with their own affairs and no one could break away to come. It might also be that they were avoiding the quagmire that was the Yama Clan.
Wu Yue spoke up to relieve Zhang Ruochen, saying, "Husband is seriously injured, isn't he?"
Clearly, Wu Yue did not want Zhang Ruochen to stay in the Yama Clan. Not to mention the threat of Bone Yama, even the Yama Supreme, who had been in seclusion, made people extremely uneasy.
For the sake of breaking through in spiritual power, that one would do anything. Zhang Ruochen said, "Zhenren misunderstands. I asked you to help suppress the Yama Lord because I first need to save people. Zhexian, prepare a divine temple located in a desolate region, with no cultivators within ten thousand miles at best. Divine Ancestor Baiyun and the others were rescued by me, but their physical bodies and divine souls have been corroded by darkness and need to be cleansed immediately."
Yan Zhexian was overjoyed and immediately said, "I will move the Spring Rain Talisman Pavilion to the center of the Eastern Sea, where it can be separated from the land."
"If... if there is anything you need from me, just command it," Yan Huangtu said.
"If Bone Yama comes to attack the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven, I will not stand idly by."
Zhang Ruochen walked alone out of the Heavenly Venerable Hall.
"I will go with you."
Yan Zhexian quickly caught up, and once outside the hall, she said in a low voice, "Thank you."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Did you follow me just to say that?"
Yan Zhexian said, "The Yama Clan already owes you a great favor this time. In this most dangerous situation, your willingness to stay and help us truly moves me."
"I know that besides Bone Yama, you and Wu Yue are more worried about the Supreme. If the Supreme makes a move against you, I will surely die before you. That is why I followed."
Zhang Ruochen was slightly surprised, looking at Yan Zhexian's unwavering eyes, and laughed.
"What are you laughing at?" Yan Zhexian said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I am laughing at the saying that a daughter's heart turns outward. It is indeed true. How long have I known you? Yet you and the Supreme are direct relatives, and the Supreme has doted on you since childhood. But for me, you would choose to die. Yet you have so little trust in the Supreme. Raising a daughter is truly a losing proposition."
Yan Zhexian never expected Zhang Ruochen to joke with her at a time like this.
Seeing that Yan Zhexian's mood had not improved but instead become more gloomy, Zhang Ruochen said seriously, "I think there is no need for everyone to speculate about the Supreme with the worst malice. The Supreme probably has his own helplessness. He might not have expected things to develop to such a dire state. I have always believed in the existence of family bonds."
"Would you allow others to seize the bodies of your own children?"
Yan Zhexian's eyes were already filled with mist.
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment and said, "But you must also understand that the Supreme is not just a father; he is also the strongest of a clan, bearing the burden of the clan's survival. Sometimes, one must choose between the greater family and the smaller one. I only hope that I can be strong enough, so that I never have to make such a choice."
At the center of the Eastern Sea, the Spring Rain Talisman Pavilion floated on the surface.
The entire Eastern Sea was shrouded in darkness, devouring all light and heat.
Zhang Ruochen first treated the Old Drunkard, using the Ink Moon from the Taiyin "Jade Tree Ink Moon" to draw out the dark and strange qi from his body, strand by strand.
Time passed, unknown how long.
The Old Drunkard, bound by divine chains to the Profound Ice Platform, slowly opened a slit in his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen could feel his consciousness returning, but the Old Drunkard's state was very wrong. Although his eyes were open, he stared straight ahead, motionless.
Zhang Ruochen reached out a finger, intending to open his eyes wider.
"Get lost! My spiritual will has already overcome the darkness, and my autonomous consciousness has returned."
The Old Drunkard tried to rise but found his body bound. "You think you can lock me up with these few spiritual power chains? Huh? Your spiritual power has reached the ninetieth rank?"
The Old Drunkard exerted force several times but could not break the spiritual power chains, and he was shocked. "What era is this? How many eons have passed?"
"Just over ten thousand years."
Zhang Ruochen unlocked the divine chains on the Old Drunkard and then brought out Divine Ancestor Baiyun, locking him onto the Profound Ice Platform.
The Old Drunkard pushed open the door and went out, using his spiritual power to calculate. His head ached as if it would split, and he nearly fell to the ground.
"The dark and strange qi in your body has only been partially removed. It will take at least several more sessions to completely cleanse it."
Zhang Ruochen began to extract the dark and strange qi from Divine Ancestor Baiyun's body.
The Old Drunkard had already calculated the time; indeed, only a little over ten thousand years had passed.
He returned to the talisman pavilion, circled around Zhang Ruochen, and scrutinized him from head to toe.
"Who are you really? Using illusion techniques to deceive me, what is your purpose?" the Old Drunkard said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I know it's hard for you to accept this fact at once. Isn't it just the ninetieth rank of spiritual power? Very simple. Why would it take over a million years to cultivate?"
"Now, you can mobilize your spiritual power to suppress the dark and strange qi in your body. Go, keep an eye on the four main formation platforms of the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven. If any incident occurs, you can still help."
"After I have treated everyone, I have other important matters to discuss with you. In the ten thousand years you have been away, many earth-shattering events have occurred."
Days passed, one after another. Bone Yama did not come to attack the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Zhang Ruochen had anticipated this. After all, before Heavenly Mother went to deal with the dark and strange, she had already wounded Bone Yama.
If Heavenly Mother, Hao Tian, and Lady Shiji were unable to defeat the dark and strange, then Bone Yama would likely come.
But because Yan Renhuan had successfully self-detonated his divine source, no one knew the situation in the dark battle. Under the deterrence of three Half-Ancestors, who would dare to show their heads easily?
Divine Ancestor Baiyun, Emperor Shivarola, Void Kun War God, and Divine Ancestor Xuanwu successively regained their spiritual consciousness.
Upon discovering that it was Zhang Ruochen who had saved them, their reactions were very similar to the Old Drunkard's. Of course, there were various expressions of gratitude and promises.
Zhang Ruochen was already seriously injured. After consecutively saving five people, he immediately went into seclusion to heal his wounds, stabilize his spiritual power, and also refine the dark and strange qi within the Ink Moon.
When he emerged from seclusion again, it was half a month later.
He was forced to come out early by the Old Drunkard's interference.
"You only saved a few people. Is it really that big a deal? Why are you so weak? Have you taken a wrong path in cultivating spiritual power, making you this weak? Spiritual power cultivation requires steady steps; there are no shortcuts!" the Old Drunkard said.
Zhang Ruochen had wanted to go into seclusion for a hundred years at once. "What is so urgent that you have to make me come out now? Even if the sky falls outside, I can't handle it right now!"
The Old Drunkard said, "First, help me completely remove the dark and strange qi from my body. My spiritual power has been unable to recover, and it's too uncomfortable. I can't do anything!"
Zhang Ruochen's heart stirred, and he said, "My spiritual power cultivation took a wrong path, and I'm very weak..."
"Bullshit! I'll ask you one thing: can you do it or not?" the Old Drunkard said.
"Yes, since you, the elder, have taken the initiative to speak, how could I not do it?"
Zhang Ruochen then helped the Old Drunkard extract the dark and strange qi once more and said, "The situation in the Yama Clan, and even the Hell Realm, is very delicate. I ask you, Senior Nine Heavens, to keep an eye on things."
Before the battle between the three Half-Ancestors and the dark and strange ended, the danger would always exist.
The Old Drunkard grunted in acknowledgment and was about to leave.
Zhang Ruochen suddenly spoke up and asked, "How much do you know about the extermination of the God-Defying Clan back then?"
The Old Drunkard stopped instantly, his aged body trembling slightly. "Why ask about this all of a sudden?"
"I have someone here who might interest you." Zhang Ruochen threw Yu Jingzhen out and handed him to the Old Drunkard.