Chapter 4027: Secret Discussion
Seeing Zhang Ruochen and Wuying enter the alternate space battlefield, Xu Tian's suspended heart secretly relaxed.
Even though he could control the entire Fate Divine Domain's formations, using them to suppress the destructive energy formed by the clash of two Heavenly Venerable-level combatants still left him uneasy, with barely thirty percent confidence.
"Wuying's strength is not weak. Sixty thousand years ago, in the Nether Prison, I, the Old Man, crossed hands with him. His mastery of the Way of Time and the Way of Space had already reached the pinnacle. Zhang Ruochen was able to shatter his defenses of Space Order and Time Order in a single strike, sending him into the alternate space battlefield. It seems his cultivation has truly stepped into the Heavenly Venerable level."
Xu Tian's mood was not good; he felt inexplicably restless.
Because, during that clash sixty thousand years ago, his and Wuying's combat power were about equal.
Admittedly, it was only a probing exchange, and he did not use the Heavenly Mechanism Brush or the *Fate Heavenly Scripture*, but Wuying also did not use the Divine Realm methods that suppress the Divine Martial Mark.
Over the past sixty thousand years, Xu Tian had comprehended the Sword Heart, the Sword Source Divine Tree, and the Sword Ancestor's Legacy, making great progress in the Sword Dao.
But he had not cultivated Sword Twenty-Five.
The path to Half-Ancestor remained long and arduous.
"Defeating a Heavenly Venerable-level opponent in one move and breaking their Order defenses is not something I can do easily either," said Nutian Shenzun.
Xu Tian said, "Is his combat power now on par with a Half-Ancestor?"
Sixty thousand years ago, although Zhang Ruochen was very strong and could contend with Half-Ancestors, he mostly relied on external forces like the Ancestral Blood Wings, the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's Celestial World, the Divine Army, and the Sword Heart. Xu Tian naturally refused to accept this, even though he himself would also borrow external forces.
But, including Heavenly Mother, Lady Shiji, Nutian Shenzun, Hao Tian, Fengdu Dadi, and other Half-Ancestors, when facing extremely difficult problems, did they not exhaust all means to seek external forces to contend?
However, there is an essential difference between the Heavenly Venerable level and the Half-Ancestor level, a gap in the realm of Dao and Dharma.
Xu Tian asked himself, even if he possessed means like the Ancestral Blood Wings and the Sword Heart, he had no confidence in truly going fifty-fifty with a Half-Ancestor. Being able to hold out and contend was the limit.
Who could cross realms, besides Zhang Ruochen, who had cultivated a First-Rank Divine Path?
And just now, Zhang Ruochen's palm strike, the "Taiqing Cloud-Pushing Hand," left Xu Tian unable to find any more reasons to convince himself that he had not completely fallen behind the heir of Xumi Saint Monk.
This palm strike was destined to shake the world.
Destined to push Zhang Ruochen into the position of the universe's top-tier powerhouse.
The Sundial stopped spinning, reverting to the physical form of Xiu Chen Heavenly God.
A strange light flickered in her eyes. During the clash with Wuying just now, she clearly felt that her control over the Sundial was not as smooth as before. This had never happened before!
She could only attribute it to Wuying's profound mastery of time.
On the time level, he had suppressed the Sundial.
Ghost Lord and Zhuo Yunzhen had long retreated to the edge of the Wujin Square.
Their hearts were shaken immensely. Before coming, who would have thought someone would dare to make a move against Envoy Wuying? And even send Envoy Wuying flying into the alternate space battlefield with a single palm strike?
The hostile gazes of the Hell Realm gods around them all fell upon them.
It seemed as if they would be torn apart at any moment.
At the mountain peak, outside the divine temple. Feng Tian's melodious voice rang out: "Since the congratulatory gift has been sent, how could I, the Hall Master, refuse to accept it?"
"Swoosh!"
The jade box in Zhuo Yunzhen's hand vanished into thin air.
Feng Tian raised her hand towards the void, catching the jade box. Without the slightest worry about danger inside, she opened it.
Seeing only a slip of paper inside, she was slightly surprised.
"Boom!"
Space shook.
A blinding sword light tore through space, simultaneously ripping open both the alternate space battlefield and the real world.
Wuying fell out from within, crashing heavily onto the ground, denting the vast Wujin Square, creating countless cracks, and sending dust flying.
Zhang Ruochen stood upright, slowly flying out from the spatial rift, his hair fluttering, the sword energy around him not yet dissipated, like a peerless Sword God transcending the will of heaven and earth.
Blood Butcher raised both hands above his head, then clasped them before his chest, shouting: "Imperial Dust is invincible, the Sword Dao is eternal. Hall Master Feng Tian, Fate is immortal."
"Imperial Dust is invincible, the Sword Dao is eternal. Hall Master Feng Tian, Fate is immortal."
...
In the Fate Divine Domain, countless cultivators knelt and prostrated at this moment, and countless gods lowered their proud heads.
Wuying had no physical body; he was a spirit body.
Enduring a strike from the Sword Heart, his spirit body was nearly dispersed. After barely managing to reform, the aura on his body was also weakened to the extreme.
"Envoy!"
Ghost Lord and Zhuo Yunzhen immediately flew into the pit, helping him up.
Wuying pushed the two away, divine light bursting forth from his body once more. "You merely borrowed the power of the Sword Ancestor's Sword Heart. I absolutely refuse to accept today's defeat. Let's go!"
"Coming and going as you please, do you think the Fate Divine Domain is some kind of place?"
The one who said this was none other than Xu Tian, standing atop the Gate of Destiny.
Xu Tian's long hair was already streaked with white, but his gaze was sharp and intimidating.
Even Blood Butcher and Que had not expected that the least calm one would be him, the elder.
Logically speaking, with Wuying returning heavily wounded, the Destiny Temple did not lose face today. Everyone was well aware that with the True Overlord, an Ancestor-level existence, present, the Destiny Temple could not really do anything to the three of them.
Letting them go at this moment was already the best outcome.
"Shua!"
Xu Tian moved like a streak of flowing light and shadow, circling around Wuying and the other two. When he returned to the top of the Gate of Destiny, he had already captured Zhuo Yunzhen in his hand.
"Forcing your way into the Fate Divine Domain, you must leave something behind, right? Her, I, this Heavenly Lord, will gladly accept!"
Xu Tian sneered, not caring at all about his image as a Heavenly Lord, nor about how the cultivators below would see him.
Wuying had made a move just now but failed to stop Xu Tian. "She is the heir of the True Overlord's third disciple!"
"So what?"
Xu Tian was well aware that he could not afford to offend the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom.
But capturing just a Zhuo Yunzhen, he did not believe that the Eternal True Overlord would make a move against the Destiny Temple because of this. If the Destiny Temple were truly pushed to the brink, it was not impossible for them to join the Nether Ancestor Faction.
There were forces in the universe that could check the Eternal True Overlord.
Wuying nodded slightly and, without another word, left the Fate Divine Domain with Ghost Lord.
Seeing the atmosphere grow silent, Blood Butcher laughed. "Haha, the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom tried to force its way into the Fate Divine Domain this time, wanting to give the Destiny Temple a show of force, but ended up losing both the lady and the army."
Zhang Ruochen and Xiu Chen Heavenly God walked past him, heading straight into the Gate of Destiny.
Bore, Hai Shang You Ruo, Que, Yan Yu, Yan Huangtu, and other Hell Realm gods followed closely behind him, surging like a tide towards the mountain peak.
Zhang Ruochen did not attend this grand ceremony. Instead, he went to Nutian Shenzun's palace for a private meeting with him.
Before long, Xu Tian swaggered into Nutian Shenzun's palace. Seeing the two sitting under the silver-leafed autumn elm tree, their expressions solemn as if discussing some major matter, he could not help but feel displeased again.
Zhang Ruochen was only discussing matters with Nutian Shenzun.
Was he looking down on him, a Heavenly Venerable-level?
Xu Tian said, "What secret discussion are you having? Can I, the Old Man, also know about it?"
"I was just about to tell you!"
Zhang Ruochen sat on the elm wood armchair, holding a cup of hot tea. He turned around and said, "I received news that the Eternal True Overlord's third disciple is Qishier Pin Lian."
Xu Tian sat down on the third armchair, smoothing the two strands of white hair on his chest, and said, "Now that's interesting! Shouldn't she be on the same side as the Dark Lord? How did she end up under the Eternal True Overlord's tutelage?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "The Dark Lord first failed in fusing his remnant body, then lost the battle at the Abyss of Darkness defense line. He has clearly been eliminated from the game. In this cosmic life-or-death game, one mistake is extremely dangerous. With consecutive mistakes and failures, no matter how deep one's foundation, it will be exhausted. Qishier Pin Lian is very smart; wouldn't she know how to choose?"
Xu Tian said, "Hasn't the Dark Lord become a lone man?"
"Whether he is still alive is unknown," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian was slightly stunned. "Impossible! Even an Ancestor cannot easily erase one of his palms; they can only seal it. To completely kill him, even if the Eternal True Overlord acted personally, it would not be achievable in a short time. Besides, would the Nether Ancestor Faction allow the Eternal True Overlord to kill him? If I were Shi Yan, I would definitely step in to save him."
"Forget it, discussing this is meaningless. Anyway, I have nothing to do with Qishier Pin Lian. If anyone should have a headache, it should be you all."
"Really nothing to do with her?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian focused for a moment. "You said she is the Eternal True Overlord's what-number disciple?"
"Third disciple," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian stood up and walked out.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It's too late to release her now! Qishier Pin Lian has only recently joined the Eternal True Overlord's tutelage and has only accepted Zhuo Yunzhen as a disciple. Yet she was captured and defiled by Senior Xu Tian. If she doesn't show some attitude, how can she establish herself in the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom in the future?"
Xu Tian said, "What do you mean by 'defiled'? It hasn't been that long; how could there be enough time?"
"Who knows?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian was already very annoyed with Zhang Ruochen, and being provoked like this, he immediately lost his temper and trembled with anger.
"Don't be angry, I was just joking."
Zhang Ruochen smiled, stood up to calm Xu Tian's emotions, and pressed him back into the chair. "I just wanted to remind you, Xu Tian, even if you release Zhuo Yunzhen now, it won't change the outside world's perception of this matter. More importantly, it will make people think you are afraid of Qishier Pin Lian."
Xu Tian calmed down. "I am only at the Heavenly Venerable level; isn't it normal to fear a Half-Ancestor? By the way, you have been comprehending the Nether River and the Dark Hand for the past ten thousand years. Have you reached the Heavenly Venerable level?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled without speaking, sitting back down.
Xu Tian said, "If you have broken through, with your First-Rank Divine Path that allows you to fight above your level, your personal combat power can match a Half-Ancestor. Things like the Ancestral Blood Wings and the Heavenly Demon Stone Knife will have minimal effect on you. Why not lend them to me, the Old Man, for a while, so I can protect myself?"
Xu Tian did not mention the Celestial World or the Sword Heart, because he knew these two trump cards were Zhang Ruochen's true killing moves, enough to intimidate all enemies below the Ancestor level.
This deterrent effect was even stronger than sixty thousand years ago!
Zhang Ruochen said, "Lend them to you? Can you even use them?"
"Who doesn't have a bit of Undying Blood Clan bloodline in them?" Xu Tian said.
Truth radiance flickered in Zhang Ruochen's pupils as he gazed at Xu Tian. "Senior Xu Tian doesn't seem like a living being."
In the past, Zhang Ruochen could not see through Xu Tian's true form at all. Now, he could finally see clearly!
Xu Tian's true form was not a flesh-and-blood living being. It resembled a Ghost Clan, yet not quite.
What Zhang Ruochen did not know was that Xu Tian was originally born from the Ghost Spirit Clan.
It was precisely because he was born from the ghost and spirit categories, with a body that could be both solid and ethereal, that he displayed extraordinary talent in the Way of Nothingness.
It was only after becoming obsessed with the Sword Dao that Xu Tian began to cultivate a solid-state physical body, embarking on his own path of the sword body.
Because cultivating the Sword Dao required extremely high physical strength, he could not continue on the path of ghost cultivation.
Even the mighty Huangquan Great Emperor, after dying for many years, had his Ancestral Ghost Body turn into a misty state. Fengdu Dadi's ghost body had also shattered during a siege.
This shows that at the same cultivation level, the physical strength of the Ghost Clan is weaker than that of other cultivators.
This is also why Xu Tian was a womanizer in his youth but had almost no direct descendants.
Xu Tian said, "I'm not afraid to let you know. The blood, divine bones, and souls of Undying Blood Clan cultivators I have refined are definitely not few. Heh."
This was not a big deal.
Just as Zhang Ruochen had also refined the blood, divine bones, divine sources, and souls of many human cultivators.
Which cultivator who had reached their level did not have a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood behind them?
Zhang Ruochen thought of something and said, "I have always had a question I wanted to ask you, Xu Tian. Back then in the Destiny Temple, when you obtained the God-Defying Stele, you seemed to have guessed where the Twenty-Four Heavens' battlefield was. Can we talk about it?"
With Zhang Ruochen's cultivation at the time, it would have been easy for Xu Tian to take the God-Defying Stele from him.
The reason he did not do so was that, through the God-Defying Stele, Xu Tian had guessed the location of the Twenty-Four Heavens' battlefield and was afraid he could not suppress his curiosity and would go investigate with the stele.
Zhang Ruochen had never asked before, also afraid that his cultivation was insufficient and he would be killed by his own curiosity.
(Chapter End)