Chapter 4099: So That's How It Is
The dark clouds were thick, and the wind was blowing fiercely.
Yan Wushen, draped in a wide black robe, his physique robust, his facial features sharp and angular, walked up the steps with steady footsteps and entered a temple built from white bones.
The temple was square in shape, as large as a mountain, resembling a coffin, located in the southwestern region of the vast Santu River basin, belonging to a Bone Clan Great God.
At this moment, the original master of this temple knelt outside, like a bone beast frightened out of its wits.
Stepping into the temple, the space expanded, becoming a completely independent, dim world.
To the left front, Yan Wushen saw the Weak Water flowing within the spatial divine light.
To the right front was the Red Crow Tree rooted amidst the blazing clouds.
"I pay my respects to the two Half-Ancestors. Where is my esteemed master?"
Yan Wushen stood upright, merely clasping his fists as a sign of respect.
"Whoosh!"
The figure of Corpse Nightmare appeared directly in front of the temple, as old and gaunt as ever. But even though he was now only a projection of a doppelganger, the Ancestor Dao resonance emanating from him was still enough to make one's heart tremble.
"I pay my respects to my master."
Yan Wushen bowed deeply, all his arrogance receding.
"Did Chi Kunlun not return with you?" Corpse Nightmare's voice was hoarse and distant.
Yan Wushen said, "He is in seclusion cultivating within the Jade Emperor Realm and does not know the news of Zhang Ruochen's fall."
Corpse Nightmare no longer possessed the kind-hearted and cynical demeanor of the former Star Sea Angler; instead, he exuded more of an Ancestor's majesty and an unfathomable, vast chaos.
He said, "Zhang Ruochen died by my hand."
Yan Wushen's expression did not change, his gaze calm. He said, "Master must have had a reason to kill him."
Corpse Nightmare spoke slowly, "Initially, I always let him grow, even secretly helped him. The fundamental reason was to forge him into a sharp sword, a blade that could help us cut down all threats. But everything did not develop as we had planned. Instead, as his cultivation increased, he opposed us time and again, causing us heavy losses."
"The Quantity Organization was destroyed, the Life Ancestor fell, the Nine-Headed Stone Man was defeated, and the Thunder Lord died tragically. In the battle at the North Marsh Great Wall eighty thousand years ago, we suffered even more grievous casualties."
"This sword is no longer the sword we originally wanted."
Yan Wushen said, "This disciple has long said that Zhang Ruochen is absolutely not someone willing to be used, nor would he be willing to be a pawn."
"So, before he possessed Ancestor-level combat power, he had to be eliminated," Corpse Nightmare said.
Yan Wushen keenly sensed that Corpse Nightmare was hiding something from him.
Killing Zhang Ruochen could not have been for this reason alone.
Otherwise, why wait until now to kill him? Why not do it long ago?
Corpse Nightmare's previous words sounded like a warning, a means of killing the chicken to scare the monkey.
Yan Wushen said, "Before coming, this disciple went to the star domain where Zhang Ruochen fell and encountered the Dark Lord. He was condensing the Origin Cauldron!"
"When Zhang Ruochen self-destructed, the Origin Cauldron happened to be in a semi-origin particle state. It was scattered by the destructive energy and spread across that star domain," said the Mother of Weak Water.
Yan Wushen asked curiously, "Such a precious treasure, why didn't Master take it, instead giving it away?"
Corpse Nightmare said, "This itself was a transaction between me and Him!"
"Oh!"
Yan Wushen further confirmed in his heart that his guess was correct.
Corpse Nightmare really did have something he was hiding from him.
Because the Dark Lord was even involved in Zhang Ruochen's death.
Did killing Zhang Ruochen require the mobilization of two Ancestors?
Corpse Nightmare said, "Zhang Ruochen's influence on this era is immense. Countless cultivators are willing to avenge him. Between us and the Divine Realm, whoever can grasp this power of hatred has a chance to defeat their opponent. So, neither I nor the Eternal True Ruler dared to touch the Origin Cauldron. We could only let the Dark Lord have it."
Yan Wushen laughed, "The Dark Lord thinks he got a bargain, but he doesn't know that now, many cultivators in the Heavenly Court Universe, the Sword Realm, and the Hell Realm regard him as the chief culprit in Zhang Ruochen's death. For now, cultivators from all sides dare not speak out because he possesses Ancestor-level combat power. In the future, when one of Yunshen Daozhu, Heavenly Mother, Nutian Shenzun, or Fengdu Dadi breaks through to the Ancestor realm, it will be enough to give him a hard time. Master's transaction was definitely not a loss."
"Not just not a loss? Wushen may not know, but in order to obtain the Origin Cauldron, the Dark Lord even traded away the Starry Sky Cliff to the Nightmare Ancestor," said the Red Crow King.
Yan Wushen's heart stirred greatly.
The Dark Lord was by no means a fool. How could he only lose and not gain?
What the Dark Lord obtained was definitely more than just the Origin Cauldron.
Corpse Nightmare seemed to see the doubt in Yan Wushen's heart and said, "The Dark Lord's remnant body and Dark Hand have been separated for too long. To fully merge, he must borrow the power of the Origin Cauldron. Moreover, He will cooperate with us in the future to deal with the Divine Realm and reclaim the eternal divine soul that belongs to Him, which was refined by the Qishier Pin Lian."
"So that's how it is," Yan Wushen said.
Suddenly.
Corpse Nightmare said, "What did He say to you?"
Yan Wushen immediately bowed and said, "I dare not hide it from Master. He said that Zhang Ruochen's today is my tomorrow, trying to sow discord between us."
"What a Dark Lord. He is courting death," the Red Crow King's cold voice sounded.
Corpse Nightmare asked, "Wushen, what do you think?"
Yan Wushen said, "If Master wanted to kill me, why would He have painstakingly cultivated me for so many years? Our ultimate goal is to survive the great Eon Calamity of the universe's restart and enter a new era. What we need to do is help the Nether Ancestor cut down the obstacles on this path, not kill our own people."
Corpse Nightmare nodded slightly and said, "Our greatest opponent is the Divine Realm. Now, with the addition of the Dark Lord and the Hongmeng Black Dragon, we must inevitably cultivate one or two more Ancestors to have a chance of victory. After Zhang Ruochen's death, Wushen, your opportunity has truly arrived!"
Two spatial ripples appeared.
Nether City and Hong Ding flew out from the ripples.
"Nether City, your master has retrieved it for you. If you lose it again, the punishment will be ten times heavier than last time. Hong Ding is the Truth Cauldron, which can help you comprehend the Dao. You must not disappoint your master!" Corpse Nightmare's tone was stern, but his eyes showed concern.
"Your disciple will surely break through the Half-Ancestor great realm as quickly as possible."
Yan Wushen accepted the two treasures, knelt on one knee and bowed, then suddenly thought of something and said, "Zhang Ruochen's Wuji Divine Dao was exquisitely profound. Did he really fall like that?"
Corpse Nightmare said, "He succeeded by Wuji and died by Wuji. He reversed the Dao method, returning everything to nothing. There is no longer a Zhang Ruochen in this world. In fact, when he came to find me, he already harbored a death wish."
Even an Ancestor had confirmed his fall, so he must be thoroughly dead.
But Yan Wushen simply did not believe that Zhang Ruochen had gone to find Corpse Nightmare. Perhaps... he had gone to find the Nether Ancestor.
Who exactly was the Nether Ancestor?
In the current universe, perhaps only Corpse Nightmare knew.
After Yan Wushen withdrew from the temple, he returned to the Jade Emperor Realm.
With Zhang Ruochen's death, the situation became even more delicate. Before the great Eon Calamity, the ultimate decisive battle in the universe could come at any time. If he did not break through to the Half-Ancestor realm as soon as possible, he would have no chance of survival.
Even breaking through to the Half-Ancestor realm would only mean a one-in-ten chance of survival.
Only by reaching the Ancestor realm, being able to threaten the Immortal, could one hold half of their fate in their hands.
"Zhang Ruochen... what exactly did you experience? What made you take a path towards death? Could the beauty of life not hold you back?"
Yan Wushen looked back at the towering white bone temple, wanting to know what Corpse Nightmare was hiding from him.
Inside the temple.
Corpse Nightmare said, "How are your injuries?"
"Reporting to the Ancestor, they are no longer a concern."
The Mother of Weak Water and the Red Crow King said in unison.
Although the Ancestor's suppression had bought them time to retreat, the Mother of Weak Water and the Red Crow King were still injured by Zhang Ruochen's self-destruction.
Even after a hundred years of healing, they had not fully recovered.
The Mother of Weak Water said, "The Dark Lord cannot be trusted. He will definitely expose Lady Shiji's identity. With Lady Shiji in the open, she is no different from a target."
"Lady Shiji is with the Soul Mother. Unless the Divine Realm gets involved, no one can do anything to them," Corpse Nightmare said again. "Before reclaiming the eternal divine soul, the Dark Lord does not dare to offend us, so there is no need to worry. Their weakness lies in the contingency plans Zhang Ruochen left before his death."
"The Nightmare Ancestor believes that Zhang Ruochen informed someone of this matter before going to the Glass Divine Temple?" said the Mother of Weak Water.
Corpse Nightmare nodded and said, "Chi Yao and Xue Jue are the most suspicious! Red Crow King, take the Starry Sky Cliff and go to the Undying Blood Clan. Capture Xue Jue, search his soul, and find out the truth."
"I will deal with Chi Yao!" said the Mother of Weak Water.
Corpse Nightmare waved his hand and said, "Chi Yao is already being watched by someone. You will come with me to the Abyss of Darkness. That is where the real focus will be next. The threat of the Hongmeng Black Dragon must be dealt with as soon as possible."
The Mother of Weak Water and the Red Crow King were both shocked. There were still people from the Nether Ancestor Faction in the Sword Realm?
To be able to watch Chi Yao, their cultivation and status must be extremely high.
The moment Zhang Ruochen stepped into the Strange Domain, he clearly felt a spatial fluctuation, like passing through a water curtain.
The Strange Domain, which was only a black hole a zhang in diameter, was vast inside once he entered, and it was not dark at all—completely different from what he had imagined before entering.
Above his head, the starry sky was full, extremely brilliant.
He had been here before.
"So that's how it is."
"Indeed it is."
"Why is it so?"
Zhang Ruochen's facial expression changed three times in succession, from sudden realization, to relief, and then to confusion and pain.
He was merely a consciousness entity.
With a thought, his body flew out.
Before long, he indeed found that stone gate in this space. The stone gate floated in the void, without any foundation, appearing extremely strange.
Zhang Ruochen landed below the stone gate, observed it carefully, then reached out his finger to touch it, feeling its material.
He suddenly exerted force and pushed forward. It would not open.
"Rustle!"
Dense spatial inscriptions and concealment array inscriptions appeared on the stone gate, spreading out into the starry sky.
When he had come here back then, he could not see through these inscriptions, only finding them profound.
Looking at them again today, it was still the same.
Without a doubt, this must have been left by an Ancestor.
It might even have been left by the Nether Ancestor himself.
On the other side of the stone gate was an independent dark space, which could be teleported to from the Ghost Wood Studio in the Hundred Clans Royal City.
Zhang Ruochen, who had not yet become a god, had entered this unknown world from there with Ji Fanxin.
At that time, this world was filled with liquid origin energy, like an ocean, stretching all the way to the edge of the starry sky.
Ji Fanxin said that this was her birthplace. Because of her, the Primordial Illumination Lotus, the origin energy of the world had been continuously gathering towards her since the beginning of time, eventually liquefying into a sea.
Later, she borrowed the Purple Gold Gourd from Zhang Ruochen, took away the Origin Energy Sea, and her cultivation skyrocketed.
Zhang Ruochen had once asked why the Mandala Flower God, when she discovered the Primordial Illumination Lotus and took it away, did not also take the Origin Energy Sea.
Ji Fanxin's answer was that the laws of heaven and earth here were special, with many places similar to the primordial era. The Mandala Flower God was worried that she would not survive if she left this world, so she kept it as a precaution.
At the time, Zhang Ruochen did not find anything strange about it.
It was not until the identity of the Star Sea Angler was exposed that doubt arose in his heart.
Because the Mandala Flower God had asked the Star Sea Angler to seal the power of the Primordial Illumination Lotus before taking it away from this place. In other words, Corpse Nightmare had been here.
Ji Fanxin had not lied either. She said that this space was not far from the Hundred Clans Royal City.
In fact, the Hundred Clans Royal City and the Sea Stone Star Dock were indeed not far apart.
The Star Sea Angler had been guarding the Sea Stone Star Dock all along. Was he guarding the secret here?
The Hundred Clans Royal City had suffered repeated calamities and had long since moved to the Wuding Divine Sea. When Zhang Ruochen searched for the Ghost Wood Studio again, it had become a pile of ruins, with nothing left.
Zhang Ruochen digested this sudden "unexpected joy."
Yes, it was an "unexpected joy."
He had thought that after his fake death, the Immortal would slowly surface, reveal traces, and then be discovered by him hiding in the shadows.
He never expected that the most important clue was hidden in the Strange Domain.
If he had not died this time, he might never have discovered the secret here.
"Is she the Nether Ancestor or not? The Nether Ancestor should not be like this. What state is she in? Why would she be willing to bear my children? Did she seal her memories? Or perhaps... awakened some memories?"
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen found dozens of reasons for Ji Fanxin, trying to convince himself that she had nothing to do with the Nether Ancestor.
But he could not deceive his own heart!
Because he had long suspected Ji Fanxin, which was why he had used bearing children to test her.
The result of the test was too contradictory to the result he had now found.
How could the Nether Ancestor bear him a child?
Zhang Ruochen sat down in front of the stone gate, calming his myriad complex emotions. He looked down. After the Origin Energy Sea was taken away, not only was there a starry sky above his head, but there was also a starry sky below.
"No! No! This is within the Strange Domain. How could a starry sky be visible? Moreover, even if the Nether Ancestor personally arranged the spatial inscriptions, it would be no easy feat to block the continuously erupting space, time, matter, and rules within the Strange Domain. What is going on?" Zhang Ruochen floated up, heading upward to find the boundary of this space.
He thought that with the Nether Ancestor's exquisite methods, it would be very difficult to reach the boundary.
But after flying for only a few hours, Zhang Ruochen's consciousness entity was blocked by spatial inscriptions.
With Zhang Ruochen's cultivation, even if only a consciousness entity remained, his strength was still considerable. He released his mental power to attack.
"Boom!"
One spatial inscription after another, like heavenly divine chains, grew thicker and thicker, blocking his consciousness entity's mental power.
At the same time, behind the spatial inscriptions, concealment array inscriptions also appeared.