Chapter 4067: A Painting in History
Having confirmed the existence of the Immortal and pinpointing them to figures like the Space-Time Ancestor and the Nether Ancestor, Zhang Ruochen realized that he himself was likely a pawn placed by the Immortal.
Because he had discerned that behind the Heavenly Demon, the Second Confucian Ancestor, and the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, there were shadows of the Immortal.
The Great Venerable had also discovered this back then, but it was too late. Although he stepped into the Ancestor realm, his Dao was flawed, preventing him from cultivating the Thirty-Three Heavenly Realms, and he could never defeat the Immortal.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t know if the flaw in the Great Venerable’s Dao was related to the Immortal. But it made him extremely vigilant—the Immortal would never allow him to enter the Ancestor realm with a perfect Dao, as that would make him uncontrollable.
To escape the chessboard and break free from the Immortal’s control, he had to first find the Immortal.
Time was running out for Zhang Ruochen.
Because Zhang Ruochen understood clearly that he was the ultimate weapon the Immortal had cultivated, stronger than the Heavenly Demon, the Second Confucian Ancestor, and the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. Thus, stepping into the Half-Ancestor realm would grant him the power to contend with Ancestors.
He, this blade forged by the Immortal, would then be ready for use.
At that point, the Immortal’s plan would surely begin to unfold.
Moreover, if Zhang Ruochen, after entering the Half-Ancestor realm, made the Immortal feel threatened, they might act to break his Dao, causing flaws in his cultivation early on to ensure their own safety.
In short, the period before stepping into the Half-Ancestor realm was Zhang Ruochen’s only chance to lay groundwork in advance, and it was also the key to whether he could turn the tables in the future.
As early as 110,000 years ago, when he first sensed something, Zhang Ruochen had Nalan Danqing secretly gather information about the Heavenly Demon, the Second Confucian Ancestor, and the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, including various folk legends.
To avoid alerting the Immortal, all of this was done by low-realm martial artists.
After countless generations of painstaking effort, they finally had clues.
After hearing Zhang Ruochen’s account, Can Deng Master understood and let out a long sigh: “The pressure you bear is far greater than I imagined.”
“For a pawn to escape the game and counter the player is itself a fantasy. To create a miracle and break fate, one must be cautious and step by step. Without advance planning, there is no chance of victory,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Nalan Danqing, hearing this suffocating secret, could feel Zhang Ruochen’s struggle and resistance against a hopeless future.
With a strong heart, she remained calm and said, “The Immortal chose different people in different eras. In the Ancient Chaos Era, it was the Heavenly Demon. After that, the Second Confucian Ancestor. Later, the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. Each stepped into the Ancestor realm, but each met a lamentable end.”
“After the battle with the Great Demon God, the Heavenly Demon vanished from the world.”
“Not long after the Second Confucian Ancestor broke through to Ancestor, he also suffered the Five Declines of Heaven and Man.”
“Even the mighty Immovable Bright King Great Venerable could not escape and followed the same path.”
“The cultivators of those times only thought they had truly disappeared or died of old age in unknown places, spending their final years in peace. But as the truth gradually came to light, it was revealed that behind the disappearances of Ancestors lay fierce battles unknown to the world.”
“Your speculation should be correct. Without preparation, the future will surely end like the Heavenly Demon, the Second Confucian Ancestor, and the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable.”
Zhang Ruochen did not reveal the secret that the Second Confucian Ancestor might still be alive in the world. He asked, “Danqing, you said you found a clue. What is it?”
Nalan Danqing’s eyes were bright, filled with boundless wisdom. “The Immortal has erased all traces, leaving almost no records about them. Even if there is related information, verification always shows it to be rumors. It wasn’t until a piece of information from the Book Realm caught my attention that I took notice.”
Before the Middle Ages, the Book Realm always followed the lead of the Kunlun Realm, serving as a subordinate great world to the Kunlun Realm’s Confucian path.
At the end of the Middle Ages, when the Kunlun Realm suffered an unprecedented catastrophe and Xumi Saint Monk scattered his divine power to seal the realm, the Book Realm moved to the Southern Universe to protect itself, under the shelter of the Heavenly Dragon Realm.
When it moved with the Heavenly Dragon Realm to the Wuding Divine Sea and attached itself to the Sword Realm, the Book Realm moved along with it.
Nalan Danqing said, “In the Book Realm, every cultivator is passionate about collecting scriptures and loves books as if they were their own lives. Initially, I found a record about the Heavenly Demon on a jade scroll from the Book Realm. It said that the Heavenly Demon once descended upon the Qiming Sect of the Book Realm and ordered the then-sect leader, Xu Zheyuan, to secretly search for a painting.”
“Just that one line?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Nalan Danqing nodded. “That jade scroll was Xu Zheyuan’s autobiography, hence that record. After years of investigation, I discovered that the jade scroll was unearthed about five million years ago when someone dug up Xu Zheyuan’s tomb and brought it out.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What was Xu Zheyuan’s cultivation level when he was alive?”
“Upper God level,” Nalan Danqing said.
Zhang Ruochen began to understand why this record had caught Nalan Danqing’s attention.
What kind of figure was the Heavenly Demon? Why would he casually ask a cultivator from the Book Realm to do something for him?
And that cultivator was only at the Upper God level.
Even if it was just a projection of the Heavenly Demon descending at the time, it already indicated the abnormality of the matter. Abnormality meant there must be extraordinary secrets.
Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself, “With the Heavenly Demon’s cultivation and status, countless cultivators would be willing to do his bidding. Why choose Xu Zheyuan? Or perhaps, he issued this secret order to multiple cultivators? In that era, the only ones who could make the Heavenly Demon wary, besides the Great Demon God, were the Immortal. Could it be that the Heavenly Demon also sensed the existence of the Immortal in advance?”
Nalan Danqing said, “I analyzed this matter. The reason was likely that the Heavenly Demon had saved Xu Zheyuan’s life, so he chose him. Now, knowing more secrets from you, I have a bold guess: perhaps the person the Heavenly Demon feared was in the Kunlun Realm, so he dared not let cultivators from the Kunlun Realm do this task.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly. “What kind of painting did the Heavenly Demon ask Xu Zheyuan to find?”
“The jade scroll does not record that,” Nalan Danqing said.
Zhang Ruochen said, “So the trail is lost?”
“Of course not.”
Nalan Danqing smiled with the confidence of one holding all the cards. “Cultivators in the Book Realm all have the habit of writing autobiographies. If Xu Zheyuan had found the painting, he would surely have recorded it on the jade scroll, as it would be a great achievement. Since he didn’t write it down, it means he didn’t find it.”
“I then speculated: could what he did be similar to what you asked me to do today? If he couldn’t find it, the next generation would continue, and so on, passing it down through generations, searching endlessly.”
“Following this line of thought, I sent people to search for Xu Zheyuan’s descendants throughout the Book Realm.”
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and shook his head. “Xu Zheyuan has been dead for over ten million years. With his Upper God cultivation, his descendants must number in the billions. How can you find them?”
Nalan Danqing said, “With perseverance and enough cultivators involved, you can always find something among billions of people. About two thousand years ago, I finally got some information from one of Xu Zheyuan’s descendants.”
“Did you ask in person?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Nalan Danqing said, “Of course not. It was a Fish-Dragon realm disciple from the Book Alliance who befriended him and pried out the information. That descendant of Xu Zheyuan clearly didn’t know the purpose of searching for the painting. He only said that an elder in his family was a Buddhist and was looking for a portrait of Buddha Kasyapa.”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart stirred. “What kind of portrait?”
Ordinary portraits of Buddha Kasyapa could be bought in many places. Why search for one?
Nalan Danqing said, “Only an authentic work by Su Zilian would do.”
“Su Zilian, that name sounds familiar,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Nalan Danqing said, “Su Zilian was from the White Fox Clan, living in a very ancient era. Her talent in painting was extraordinary, nearly achieving the Dao. If she had entered the Dao through painting, the Fourth Confucian Ancestor might not have been able to claim the title of Ancestor in later generations.”
“Now I remember. She was a cultivator from the same era as Lady Shiji,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Earlier, the painting of Lady Shiji that Zhang Ruochen had wrapped around himself for protection was signed by Su Zilian.
But Zhang Ruochen felt even greater doubt. “Su Zilian and Buddha Kasyapa were not from the same era. Even if she painted a Buddha image, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Danqing, could it just be a coincidence?”
Nalan Danqing said, “At first, I thought so too. But how could that descendant of Xu Zheyuan, who was only at the Fish-Dragon realm, know Su Zilian’s name? That’s too strange!”
“Since the Book Alliance was established, it has collected a vast amount of information daily. With a breakthrough, I began analyzing previously overlooked data about paintings, Su Zilian, and Buddha Kasyapa. The results were shocking.”
She took out a personally compiled book of materials from her sleeve and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
After receiving it, Zhang Ruochen began to flip through it.
The first entry in the book recorded a folk legend from the Kunlun Realm. It said that for a time, the Second Confucian Ancestor was extremely fond of Su Zilian’s paintings and sent Confucian disciples to search for them across various realms.