Chapter 3904: Death Thought Power
Feng Tian had indeed handed the Gate of Death to Zhang Ruochen. Although her divine soul was powerful and her techniques profound, she could only suppress the Soul-Devouring Lamp and could not severely wound it in a short time.
Most importantly, the Soul-Devouring Lamp's divine soul was inside the lamp itself, making it difficult to injure directly.
The Soul-Devouring Lamp gradually calmed down, its fear of Feng Tian completely gone. It laughed, "So it turns out you, Feng Caiyi, are nothing special. As expected, raising one's realm too quickly is not necessarily a good thing."
The Soul-Devouring Lamp believed that Feng Tian's combat power had not met expectations because her realm was unstable.
She possessed the middle stage of the Indestructible Infinite realm, yet her combat power was far from enough to crush it.
As long as it could hold out for a period of time, it could devour the divine souls of Life Ancestor and Zhang Ruochen, achieving a great leap in cultivation.
By then, why fear Feng Caiyi?
The reason the Soul-Devouring Lamp had such thoughts was that ten thousand years ago, Feng Tian was only on the same level as it, so it inevitably underestimated her.
But Life Ancestor did not think so, casting a deep glance at Feng Tian.
"I have always been one realm above you. Are you not rejoicing too early?" Feng Tian said.
With a thought from Feng Tian, four divine artifacts flew out from the space around her.
"Swish! Swish..."
The divine artifacts shot out like meteors, smashing the four scenes manifested by the four paintings into dissipating clouds of mist.
The four divine artifacts flew and shuttled above the sea of divine energy, striking at the Soul-Devouring Lamp's main body, producing a continuous roar.
"Feng Caiyi, have you gone mad? We could share the divine souls of Life Ancestor and Zhang Ruochen, and in the future, we would surely become the top existences in the universe. What benefit is there for you in destroying my plan? Once Life Ancestor takes over Zhang Ruochen's body, you will be next," the Soul-Devouring Lamp said.
How could Feng Tian not know that she might be the next target after Life Ancestor's possession?
But she could not care about that now.
The Soul-Devouring Lamp was too overreaching. If it continued devouring like this, once Life Ancestor could no longer control the repulsive force of the divine souls within his body and exploded, everyone would die here.
Then her and Zhang Ruochen's original plan would become meaningless.
Just as the four of them were fiercely clashing, something strange happened. The sea of divine energy violently churned, and countless rule divine patterns converged together, flowing rapidly like great rivers at the speed of light.
These rule divine patterns continuously gathered in five directions within the sea of divine energy, forming star-sized vortices.
The vortices further contracted, emitting increasingly blazing light.
"What is this?" the Soul-Devouring Lamp exclaimed in shock.
Feng Tian's eyes were also filled with disbelief.
Clearly, this was not happening naturally. It was being controlled by Zhang Ruochen's divine soul and spiritual will, an attempt to break through to the Indestructible Infinite realm.
But all of Zhang Ruochen's divine soul was here, and most of it had been absorbed into Life Ancestor's body.
Where did he still have the strength to impact his realm?
Gong Nanfeng seemed to understand something, looking at the already translucent Zhang Ruochen across from him with a complex expression. "So you were still hiding part of your divine soul. I underestimated you."
Zhang Ruochen's divine soul body said, "If you hadn't underestimated me, how could I have a chance to survive today? As long as I break through to the Indestructible Infinite realm, my divine soul and spirit will both improve, and your chances of successfully possessing me will become even slimmer."
Gong Nanfeng suddenly burst into laughter. "The Eon Calamity is about to descend. You cannot break through your realm before then."
"Even if I don't break through to Indestructible Infinite, you won't be able to possess me before the Eon Calamity descends. So today, everyone will die here and turn into ashes of the calamity," Zhang Ruochen said.
The two were locked in a stalemate, each forcing the other to give up.
Zhang Ruochen knew very well that even if he held out until the Eon Calamity descended, or broke through his realm before it arrived, he would still die.
Life Ancestor had been avoiding the Eon Calamity for who knows how many eons. The destructive power of this calamity might not even be withstandable by a Half-Ancestor.
The calamity clouds above had already stacked up into the starry sky.
The lightning released from the calamity clouds had struck down many stars, even tearing apart the world barriers of the Void World, Real World, and Lihentian.
The calamity clouds were already a chaotic mass, containing the consciousness of heaven and earth.
Heaven and earth were determined to kill Life Ancestor.
Only if one of them, either him or Gong Nanfeng, gave up, would there be a way to survive today.
Gong Nanfeng stared into Zhang Ruochen's divine soul body's eyes. "Actually, I have another choice! Instead of continuing to merge with your divine soul, I can directly sever it. This way, I can easily obtain your body and gain a new life. The Eon Calamity will only destroy the Celestial Pivot Needle."
Zhang Ruochen said, "If you don't merge with my divine soul, can you deceive the Eon Calamity?"
"Of course! Don't forget, I cultivate the Path of Fate, while you cultivate the Wuji Divine Dao. If Fate and Wuji cannot deceive the Eon Calamity, who can?"
Gong Nanfeng's eyes were full of anticipation. "Give up! Chen, complete me. If you keep persisting like this, I will have no choice but to sever you."
Bore said, "Don't listen to him. Don't believe him. He is just a pitiful wretch trapped in hatred and humiliation, suffering his whole life. It's not just about taking over your cultivation. He envies you, envies that you have the love of many people, countless friends who are loyal to you, the support and care of many seniors, laughter and joy, a virtuous wife and filial children. What he truly craves is to become you. Taking over your cultivation is only one of his goals. He won't really kill you."
Compared to Mu Lingxi and Feng Tian, Bore could better understand the pain and longing in Gong Nanfeng's heart.
If cultivation, power, and hatred were the only meaning of cultivation, then even reaching the Ancestor realm, life would still be painful and dull, utterly meaningless.
"Sizzle!"
Strands of Zhang Ruochen's divine soul flew out from Yuan Sheng's brow, condensing into another divine soul body.
He knew very well that he had little time left to break through his realm, so he had to seize every moment.
Fortunately, he had condensed the Minor Derivation Central Palace and attempted to break through to Indestructible Infinite nearly a thousand times, so he was already very familiar with the process.
Initially, he had tried to condense the Minor Derivation Central Palace outside his body, but he couldn't control the Yin-Yang force, and when he failed, he severely injured himself from the explosion.
Later, seeing Luo Tolo condense the central palace inside his body, placing it in his brow, hands, and feet, he tried to imitate it, but failed again, nearly dying.
His path was clearly different from Luo Tolo's.
Luo Tolo started with the path of witchcraft, then cultivated the Qi Refiner method, gradually connecting to the "Luo Shu," and finally attained the Ancestor realm.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, took heaven and earth as his teacher, merging all paths of the world, comprehending Taiji from Wuji, with Taiji evolving into Yin-Yang Liangyi, and Liangyi giving birth to Four Symbols and Five Elements, which was closer to the Daoist method.
And coincidentally, the "Luo Shu" was one of the origin divine books of Daoism. Many Daoist cultivation methods were derived from it.
As for the "He Tu," Zhang Ruochen believed it must have been created by some supreme being no less than Nuwa, complementing the "Luo Shu," interpreting all things in the universe.
The "Luo Shu" came from Nuwa's hand, but Nuwa did not cultivate this book. It was her new understanding of heaven and earth after reaching the pinnacle of cultivation, surpassing even Nuwa herself.
Just like the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, who only cultivated twenty-seven layers of heavenly realms himself, but after becoming an Ancestor, he comprehended the method of cultivating thirty-three layers of heavenly realms, leaving it to Xumi Saint Monk.
"Water one, fire two, wood three, metal four, earth five."
Zhang Ruochen cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, focusing entirely on impacting his realm.
He decided not to follow Luo Tolo's path, choosing instead to condense the Minor Derivation Central Palace in the Xuan Tai.
Using the bounded yet boundless nature of the Xuan Tai to contain the violent energy of the Minor Derivation Central Palace.
If successful, he would enter a new world.
If he failed, the Xuan Tai would shatter, and both his cultivation and life would be annihilated.
Within the Xuan Tai, five star-sized clouds of rule light grew increasingly bright, releasing energy that multiplied tenfold. Soon, they reached ten thousand times the heat and luminosity of an ordinary star.
The energy continued to increase, and Zhang Ruochen found it harder and harder to control.
...
"The sunlit road stretches ten thousand miles, not a single person returns."
"Only the Santu River, with floating corpses never ending."
"Death is everyone's fate and final destination. Life Ancestor, let me send you on your way."
Kui Liang Huang wore a wide black robe, a mask with the character "Kui" on his face, holding the Lamp of Life and Death, walking in the wind and sand, accompanied by lightning in the calamity clouds.
Ahead, there was no road.
The earth was cracked, divine mist filled the air, and he stopped.
Gong Nanfeng had long set up a restriction around the perimeter, not allowing anyone to escape, nor allowing anyone to intrude and disturb his possession.
Gong Nanfeng, inside Zhang Ruochen's Xuan Tai, looked through space, seemingly able to meet Kui Liang Huang's gaze directly. "You too want to betray me?"
Kui Liang Huang said, "I am very grateful for your guidance and cultivation over the years, but my cultivation potential has been exhausted. If I don't take your divine soul, I will be stuck here for the rest of my life. How can I be willing? Just like you, are you willing?"
Gong Nanfeng laughed in anger. "Good, very good! As the saying goes, those who plot against others are always plotted against. Today, let me see who can do anything to me!"
Kui Liang Huang activated the Lamp of Life and Death, and its light quickly thinned the restriction.
"One thought of life, one thought of death. Death Thought Power!"
Using the Lamp of Life and Death, Kui Liang Huang unleashed the Death Thought Power.
The thought power penetrated time and space, entering the Xuan Tai, landing on Gong Nanfeng.
He knew very well that he had to wear down Gong Nanfeng's spirit and consciousness before the Eon Calamity descended.
This way, not only would the Eon Calamity automatically retreat, but he could also more easily absorb Life Ancestor's divine soul.
The No-Self Lamp, which had been suppressing Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power thought body, blocked the Death Thought Power, rushed out of the Xuan Tai, and instead suppressed Kui Liang Huang.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power thought body, holding the Emperor Talisman, also killed out of the Xuan Tai. "Kui Liang Huang, this is a duel between me and Life Ancestor. You, a petty person who repays kindness with enmity, what right do you have to interfere?"
Gong Nanfeng stared blankly at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power thought body had escaped the suppression of the No-Self Lamp and could have brought the Emperor Talisman to help the divine soul body deal with the possession. But clearly, Zhang Ruochen also had his own pride.
To defeat Life Ancestor, he could borrow Feng Tian's power or Yuan Sheng's power, but people like the Soul-Devouring Lamp and Kui Liang Huang, Zhang Ruochen truly disdained to associate with.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Don't look at me like that. Kui Liang Huang wants to kill not just you, but also me. I am only protecting myself."
...
Let me inform you in advance that due to some health issues, I need to go for another check-up in the next few days, and I might need surgery, so updates will not be stable. However, it seems they were never stable anyway, haha!