Chapter 3963: The Xuan Yuan Family Arrives
This was a blue life planet, located in the outer star domain of the Mu Long Realm.
There were dozens of similar planets here, so it did not appear particularly conspicuous.
The planet had a human civilization, with canals dug, and villages, cities, and kingdoms built.
"Swoosh! Swoosh!"
Space trembled.
Zhang Ruochen and Feng Yan arrived outside the planet, looking down at the blue seas and white clouds below. They no longer held the awe they once had for such a vast planet, viewing it like a map laid out before them, their hearts utterly unmoved.
There was a sense of detachment, as if they were no longer in the same world as the bustling masses and the fireworks of mortal life.
The planet clearly had millions of species and billions of living beings, yet they seemed like ants, appearing as if they could live or die at any moment.
This made Zhang Ruochen alert, sensing danger.
Once one begins to disregard life, to ignore life, it will inevitably cause doubt in the beliefs he has always upheld. The so-called "the sea accepts all rivers, encompassing all things" would lose all meaning of existence.
Cultivating for ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years... the original intention is an extremely difficult thing to hold onto.
To hold onto it, one must walk an even more difficult and painful path.
Of course, shouting the slogan "unchanged original intention" is still very simple.
"Long in the clouds and void beyond, unaware of where the mortal world lies."
Zhang Ruochen inadvertently sighed out this line.
Feng Yan looked sideways and said, "Big Brother's state of mind is unstable. Do you intend to return to the mortal world for training?"
"As long as one is full of love for life, one should enter the world to cultivate every once in a while, never forgetting that one has flesh and blood. This lesson must be passed on to our descendants!"
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen transmitted a divine sound: "You two, show yourselves!"
A low, cold laugh came from a city on the planet below: "Di Chen, I have heard your words just now. Since Di Chen has a heart of compassion, you should understand that once you make a move, all living beings on this planet will be annihilated."
It turned out that He Rong and Jin Ling, after refining the Mu Long Realm, had no time to escape and could only hastily hide on this planet.
They believed that the most dangerous place was the safest.
If it had been any other cultivator coming, they might have had a chance to hide. After all, their remnant souls were powerful, their own cultivation had reached the level of a God Venerable, and their Five-Colored Clay Bodies could conceal life force and aura.
"Sir, you were once a Hall Master, yet you are still so ignorant. It seems you are indeed just a remnant soul!"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head slightly, and with a flicker of his form, he landed on the ground of the blue planet, grabbing He Rong, who was hidden deep beneath the city, and pulling him out.
"You..."
Amid He Rong's shocked expression, Zhang Ruochen sealed his Divine Source with spiritual power and casually threw him into the starry sky.
"Boom!"
Under Zhang Ruochen's control of space power, He Rong's body tumbled, breaking through space, and flew past Feng Yan's head outside the planet.
Feng Yan summoned the Pure Yang Divine Sword and pursued him.
At the other end of the planet, Jin Ling sensed that He Rong had been found by Zhang Ruochen and immediately prepared to trigger divine power to destroy the planet. But before she could act, Zhang Ruochen appeared before her.
"Zhang Ruo..."
Jin Ling retreated rapidly, trying to open space.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed her by the collar, lifted her up, and turned into a beam of light, breaking through the sky and flying beyond the heavens.
Poor Jin Ling, who had been carefully selected by the Seventy-Two Pin Lian, given a Five-Colored Clay Man, and cultivated into the Underworld Clan, already possessed combat power not inferior to an early-stage Great Unbound Infinite expert.
But facing a figure of Zhang Ruochen's level, just being grabbed by the collar rendered her unable to mobilize any power within her body, as if she had degenerated into a mortal.
This kind of technique had never been seen in other Indestructible Infinite cultivators, filling Jin Ling with despair.
Meanwhile, in the starry sky, the Pure Yang Divine Sword transformed into a thousand-zhang-long giant sword, its blade burning with flames, suppressing the fleeing He Rong beneath it.
Feng Yan naturally did not have such strong combat power, for two reasons.
First, when He Rong was thrown out by Zhang Ruochen, his Divine Source was already sealed, so the power he could unleash was extremely limited.
Second, although Feng Yan was not at the Infinite Realm, the sword spirit of the Pure Yang Divine Sword was extremely powerful, an ancient spiritual entity that had once followed the Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable.
It was not comparable to ancient strong ones like He Rong and Jin Ling, who had returned as remnant souls.
Zhang Ruochen wasted no words with Jin Ling, pointing a finger at her brow and directly performing a soul search.
Part of Jin Ling's memories were missing, and Zhang Ruochen could not fully restore them even using the power of the Path of Fate, likely the work of the Dark Weirdness.
Zhang Ruochen had hoped to find the hiding place of the Seventy-Two Pin Lian from her memories, but could only trace it back to an ancient Hall Master named "Lao Mo."
He Rong and Jin Ling collected blood qi and souls, which were first sent to Lao Mo.
Then Lao Mo delivered them to the Seventy-Two Pin Lian.
In Jin Ling's memories, Lao Mo was an ancient Hall Master of the Time Divine Temple, the most powerful combatant under the Seventy-Two Pin Lian. In life, he was suspected to be a Half-Ancestor.
Next, Zhang Ruochen performed a soul search on He Rong, with the same result.
"She is indeed cautious!"
Zhang Ruochen pondered whether to use illusion arts to fake the celestial mechanism here, then take He Rong and Jin Ling hostage to ambush Lao Mo first.
If he could capture Lao Mo, he would surely find the exact location of the Seventy-Two Pin Lian.
But after thinking it over, he felt this was too risky!
The Seventy-Two Pin Lian and the Dark Weirdness were each more difficult to deal with than the other. If they detected the change here in advance, they might set a trap to lure Zhang Ruochen in.
It was even possible that the Seventy-Two Pin Lian or the Dark Weirdness was already on their way.
Feng Yan clearly had the same concern and reminded him, "Big Brother, He Rong and Jin Ling exposed their whereabouts by refining the Mu Long Realm, so we suppressed them. But by capturing them, we also exposed our own celestial mechanism and traces. We must leave quickly."
Zhang Ruochen had full confidence in his spiritual power to cover up the celestial mechanism, but facing an existence like the Dark Weirdness, he dared not be too arrogant. He nodded and said, "Indeed, there is abnormal power hidden in their sea of consciousness. Signs of triggering appeared during the soul search."
Hearing this, He Rong and Jin Ling both changed color slightly.
Even they themselves did not know that their sea of consciousness had been tampered with.
"Rumble!"
Zhang Ruochen extended his right arm, forming a claw with his fingers, and used space power to forcibly open Jin Ling's Divine Realm World.
The Mu Long Realm, placed inside her Divine Realm World, slowly flew out, floated above Zhang Ruochen's head, and then began to merge into his own Divine Realm World.
The Mu Long Realm had become a blood-red dead realm. Whether it was the earth dragons and wild dragons raised there, or the cultivators of the Xuan Yuan family, all had lost their flesh and blood.
Many landscapes had changed: green mountains turned into red earth, forests into deserts.
No life fluctuations could be sensed anymore.
"Damn it!"
Feng Yan's eyes turned cold, and the Pure Yang Divine Sword in his hand trembled incessantly.
A great world, no matter how many tens of thousands of years of reproduction and development it had undergone to become vibrant, could be destroyed in an instant.
"The dark age has only just begun."
Zhang Ruochen appeared very calm.
Although he still loved life and respected every living being's right to exist, if someone used this to threaten him, even if the lives of an entire great world perished before his eyes, he would never compromise.
When that time came, if he compromised, more people would die.
"Big Brother, someone is coming! They are gods of the Xuan Yuan family!"
Feng Yan looked into the depths of the starry sky.
The gods of the Xuan Yuan family, like brilliant meteors, streaked across the dark starry sky and appeared before Zhang Ruochen and Feng Yan.
The leader was clad in golden armor, with a majestic physique, holding a Demon God Stone Pillar in his hand. The aura he emitted caused the stars in the surrounding star domain to tremble incessantly, as if they might fall.
Feng Yan's expression turned serious, and he whispered, "Who is this? I've never heard of such a formidable figure in the Xuan Yuan family. This aura... it's definitely at the All Heavens level!"
The golden-armored god of the Xuan Yuan family heard his whisper and corrected, "It's the Indestructible Infinite level."
Zhang Ruochen recognized the newcomer and said, "An old friend! Xuan Yuan Di Er, where did you get that human skin to wrap yourself in?"
Xuan Yuan Di Er was an ancestor in the history of the Xuan Yuan family, claiming to be the second-greatest of all time, second only to the family's founder, Xuan Yuan Xuan Di.
In the Soul Realm, Zhang Ruochen had dealings with him.
Of course, this Xuan Yuan Di Er was a remnant soul who had returned, seizing his own bone body, and was now walking the path of a Bone Clan cultivator.
Xuan Yuan Di Er said, "Zhang Ruochen, mind your own business. Leave the Mu Long Realm and those two, and the Xuan Yuan family will owe you a favor."
Zhang Ruochen laughed, "Are you joking? These two are no ordinary opponents. I risked my life, fought tooth and nail to suppress them, and you want to take the spoils just like that?"
Xuan Yuan Di Er said, "This is the Northern Universe. The Mu Long Realm is the mount pasture for the Xuan Yuan family's army. Matters here naturally fall under the jurisdiction of the Xuan Yuan family. They refined the Mu Long Realm, so they should be judged by the Xuan Yuan family. You have already overstepped your bounds. I am only refraining from settling accounts with you out of our past friendship. Don't be ungrateful."
Feng Yan said, "Senior Di Er seems to have overlooked a fact: if we hadn't acted, they would have escaped! Moreover, they would have continued to cause slaughter in the Northern Universe. We did you a great favor."
"Are you joking? With me here, how could they have escaped?" Xuan Yuan Di Er had no intention of being reasonable.
Since the Mu Long Realm had already been refined, he naturally coveted the blood qi and souls within it, which could rapidly strengthen his remnant soul.
If his bone body could absorb the blood qi and life force of an entire realm, it would allow him to condense a stronger physical body during the transformation into the underworld.
Xuan Yuan Di Er himself was determined to walk the path of Xuan Yuan Xuan Di, transforming into the underworld to live a second life, becoming a figure like the Nether Ancestor.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen said, "What if I want to escape? I wonder if you can stop me?"
The gods of the Xuan Yuan family looked at each other in confusion.
Xuan Yuan Di Er frowned, then said, "The monk can run, but the temple can't? If that happens, don't blame me for coming to the Kunlun Realm and the Wuding Divine Sea to find you. From ancient times to the present, the Xuan Yuan family has never suffered a loss. If you take one realm from the Northern Universe, I will surely take one back."
Zhang Ruochen seemed to be truly cornered and sighed, "You are at the Indestructible Infinite level, how can you be like this? How about I trade a secret with you?"
Xuan Yuan Di Er sneered.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It concerns Xuan Yuan Xuan Di and the Nether Ancestor."
Xuan Yuan Di Er showed a flicker of interest and said, "I wonder if this secret is worth it."
"Aren't you always trying to walk Xuan Di's path? I know the most crucial step in his transformation into the underworld!"
Then, regardless of whether Xuan Yuan Di Er would go back on his word, Zhang Ruochen directly recounted the allusion of "Self Bone Contemplation" from Jia Ye Buddha.
Xuan Yuan Di Er listened very seriously. After finishing, his eyes became extremely fervent, and he muttered to himself, "So that's it, so that's it. I guessed that Xuan Di was not a second-life Ancestor, but a third-life Ancestor. Between Xuan Di and the Nether Ancestor, there was another life, Jia Ye Buddha. Good and evil coexist, and only then can one attain the Great Dao."
Zhang Ruochen said, "It seems you have truly realized something."
Xuan Yuan Di Er nodded and said, "To walk Xuan Di's path, one must first cultivate Buddhism before transforming into the underworld. It seems I must go to the Western Buddha Realm!"
Zhang Ruochen was a bit stunned, not expecting Xuan Yuan Di Er's thoughts to be so peculiar.
Zhang Ruochen immediately had another idea, letting Xuan Yuan Di Er probe the reality of the Western Buddha Realm, and said, "To cultivate true Buddhism, one must go to the Western Buddha Realm; this is unavoidable. After you go, you can seek out a Buddhist cultivator named Jing Xiu, and say I sent you. He will surely teach you the Dharma with all his heart."
Xuan Yuan Di Er laughed disdainfully, "With my status and cultivation, going to the Western Buddha Realm to cultivate is doing them a favor. Do I need you to find me a Buddhist teacher?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "May I ask what your status is? A Bone Clan cultivator, or an ancient strong one? With this arrogance on you, I think none of those stubborn old bald donkeys in the Western Buddha Realm would be willing to be your Buddhist teacher."
Xuan Yuan Di Er always felt something was off; Zhang Ruochen was being too enthusiastic.
He said, "You're not tricking me, are you?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "With your skills, would I dare to trick you? You can go to the Western Buddha Realm to verify this. If I have said a single false word, come to the Kunlun Realm to find me. The monk can run, but the temple can't?"
A smile appeared on Xuan Yuan Di Er's face, "To be honest, I had already guessed this secret, so it can't trade for the Mu Long Realm and those two."
Feng Yan was furious, "How about adding another secret?"
He planned to tell Xuan Yuan Di Er the meeting point of He Rong, Jin Ling, and "Lao Mo," letting Xuan Yuan Di Er step on the mine.
If you're shameless, you have to pay some price.
Zhang Ruochen knew what Feng Yan wanted to do, shook his head slightly, and smiled at Xuan Yuan Di Er, "I'm off! If you can catch up to me, I'll hand them over."
"Swoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen stepped back, taking Feng Yan, He Rong, and Jin Ling with him, entering a space gate that had already been opened. In an instant, they crossed a star domain, and their aura disappeared without a trace.
...
Western Buddha Realm, Sixth Patriarch's Former Residence.
On a three-zhang-long Buddhist platform, life lamps burned, their flames flickering, casting a bright yellow glow on the window paper.
These life lamps were empowered by the power of fate, connected to the souls of ancient strong ones outside.
Suddenly, the flames of two of the life lamps trembled violently, and with two "puff" sounds, they went out.
The Seventy-Two Pin Lian, sitting cross-legged beneath the Buddhist platform, suddenly opened her eyes, calmly looking at the inscriptions on the two extinguished life lamps: "He Rong" and "Jin Ling."
"Soul searched?"
The Seventy-Two Pin Lian stood up, pushed open the door, and said, "Order it: Zhang Ruochen has made his move. Everyone will leave the Northern Universe and go to the Eastern Universe to tie him down. Wen Zhiren, take Jing Xiu to the Kunlun Realm and tell Chi Kunlun that he must complete the task before Zhang Ruochen returns."
(Chapter End)