Chapter 4119: Ancestral Order Field
Zhang Ruochen said, "When you first entered the Forgotten River Secret Realm, you discovered me, Shang Tian, and Tantuo Earth Zang hunting San Ying Tian. Seeing that I was so powerful using only my physical strength, and unsure of my cultivation level, you didn't dare act rashly to save San Ying Tian. So, you withdrew from the Forgotten River Secret Realm."
"Your entry and exit were both very cautious. Even someone like Shang Tian detected no fluctuations. You thought you could fool everyone, but you didn't know that my perception surpasses that of a Half-Ancestor. I saw through you long ago."
"After leaving the Forgotten River Secret Realm, you took the outside Meng Huang E into your Divine Realm World, then shattered your own body and divine soul, pretending to be severely injured, and entered the Forgotten River Secret Realm a second time."
"If I'm not mistaken, Compassionate Navigation Venerable and the hundreds of thousands of cultivators on the Heavenly Dragon Ship are all in your Divine Realm World, just like Meng Huang E. Even telling me to be careful of Treasure Pearl Earth Zang was part of your misdirection."
"Everything was to create a crisis of paranoia, to weave a fog of confusion, to lure me to Emotion Mountain. You wanted to use Gandharva to test my cultivation level and, at the same time, kill me here."
"Clap! Clap! Clap..."
Meng Huang E clapped her hands in approval. "Impressive. As expected of the Old Man of Life and Death. So you saw through me long ago. It seems, Daoist, you've been acting quite hard along the way as well. But you're too arrogant. Your arrogance has doomed you."
"What do you mean?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Meng Huang E said, "Since you knew my intentions were ill, you should have struck decisively, instead of ending up caught between two enemies like this. Daoist, do you regret it?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't answer, instead asking, "Earlier, down the mountain, it was you who triggered the spatial order and teleported us directly into the mountain, wasn't it?"
Meng Huang E smiled but said nothing.
Zhang Ruochen said, "One of my purposes in coming to the Gray Sea was to find the Nether Envoy and seize the Saha World, the Blissful World, and the Lamp of Life and Death from her. The vast Gray Sea is hard to search."
"Now, you've led me here and found her, which indirectly helps me a great deal."
"You ask if I regret it? My answer is, a little, but only a little."
"Daoist, you have a good state of mind."
Meng Huang E praised, her smile as beautiful as an orchid.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It's not that my state of mind is good, but rather that the person before me is so dazzlingly beautiful that I unconsciously forget the danger."
"Daoist, this is a life-and-death moment. Stay sober. This is no time for romance." Tantuo Earth Zang's anxious voice came from beside the stone mill outside.
Gandharva had to divert power to deal with Zhang Ruochen, so the pressure on Tantuo Earth Zang had lessened.
He could now speak!
"How annoying, this monk. I haven't heard enough yet! Daoist, how about a few more words?" Meng Huang E said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'm very curious, what exactly happened on the Heavenly Dragon Ship? Have Fan Chen and Treasure Pearl Earth Zang fallen into your hands?"
"I arrived as soon as you reached the Forgotten River. Do you think I had time to deal with them on the Heavenly Dragon Ship?"
Meng Huang E chuckled, then said, "However, since we can't contact them, they've most likely been captured by the Eight Divisions Followers. The Forgotten River is a dead end for any outsider."
Gandharva's doppelganger said, "He's stalling for time."
"He's waiting for Shang Tian."
Meng Huang E's right hand had five slender, long fingers. As she turned her wrist, the divine artifact, the Golden Thread Dragon-Binding Rope, flew out.
Besides the main rope in her hand, nine golden threads separated from it, slithering through the hall like hair-thin golden snakes.
All nine directions around Zhang Ruochen were sealed off, and the space he could move in was shrinking.
"That's right, I was stalling for time, but not for Shang Tian. I was waiting for..."
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen suddenly struck.
The Human Head Banner flew from his hand, breaking through two golden threads, and shot straight for Meng Huang E's face.
Meng Huang E naturally knew that the Human Head Banner contained the "Withering Death Art" curse. But she wasn't Meng Family's eldest master. She was a Heavenly Venerable-level being, a disciple of the Nether Ancestor. She had delved deeply into curses herself. How could she be cursed by the gray eyes on the Human Head Banner?
However, Zhang Ruochen's physical strength was formidable. The flying Human Head Banner was definitely comparable to a punch from a Heavenly Venerable-level cultivator.
Meng Huang E didn't take it lightly. She fully mobilized the divine Qi and rules within her body. Her eyes transformed into two Nether Seas, which manifested physically in the space before her.
She was only a few zhang away from Zhang Ruochen, but in that instant, space was stretched infinitely. Two oceans of Nether Qi filled this small world.
The Nether Seas surged with turbulent waves. Layer upon layer of giant waves rushed toward the Human Head Banner and Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom!"
"Pfft!"
...
The Human Head Banner smashed through the two Nether Seas with irresistible force and struck Meng Huang E heavily on the chest.
Divine blood spurted from her mouth, and her internal organs were nearly all shattered.
When the change occurred, Meng Huang E had intended to use the power of order to form a defensive barrier.
But she failed.
Meng Huang E flew out of the inn but didn't fall. She quickly stabilized her retreat, planting her feet beside the stone mill.
Her long hair was disheveled, and her eyes held an expression of disbelief. The waves of the Nether Sea continued to surge out of the door, flying past her left and right, dyeing the sky over Emotion Mountain a dark purple-black.
Tantuo Earth Zang, slumped under the stone mill, stared at her in a daze.
Hadn't she been so sure of victory just now?
Why had she been beaten back by Saint Si Dao after just one exchange, and even coughed up such a mouthful of blood? Even his face was dotted with blood droplets.
Meng Huang E raised her hand and found that her delicate, snow-white skin was rapidly turning gray, then withered and yellow.
"I was, of course, waiting for the curse inside you to take effect."
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the inn.
"Impossible. How could the gray eyes on the Human Head Banner curse me? And you didn't even activate the gray eyes!" Meng Huang E formed hand seals, mobilizing all her power to suppress the curse.
It was the sudden eruption of the curse that had caused her power to plummet, allowing her to be injured by a single blow.
"Why do you think I'm arrogant? Why do you think that, after I discovered something was wrong with you, I didn't strike at you? In truth, I had already struck long ago, but you just didn't notice. The arrogant one is you."
Zhang Ruochen said, "All these years you've spent in the Meng family, you've been pretending, thinking you could act flawlessly. But it was all just your own self-righteousness."
Meng Huang E said, "I understand! When we first met, you pressed your palm against my back and used life Qi to heal my injuries. At that time, what you introduced into my body wasn't just life Qi, but also the power of the curse. But you only obtained the Human Head Banner not long ago. How could you have learned the Withering Death Art so quickly? The Withering Death Art curse is not something you can control!"
"Saying you're arrogant, and you still don't believe it. Just because you can't do something, why should I be unable to do it?"
Zhang Ruochen walked up to Tantuo Earth Zang, intending to free him.
"You completely disregard this old woman, don't you?"
Gandharva's voice rang out as she appeared at the entrance.
In fact, from beginning to end, Gandharva's spiritual power had been locked onto Zhang Ruochen, like countless threads entwining every part of his body.
The moment Zhang Ruochen tried to escape Emotion Mountain, he would immediately face a devastating, overwhelming attack.
The moment Zhang Ruochen moved to free Tantuo Earth Zang, Gandharva's aura peaked, forcing Zhang Ruochen to stop.
"Once we start fighting, you definitely won't be able to suppress both Tantuo Earth Zang and the Fourth Confucian Ancestor." Zhang Ruochen's tone was filled with boundless confidence, as he tried to force Gandharva back with his will.
He said, "How about letting me and Tantuo Earth Zang leave, and the Fourth Confucian Ancestor will be yours for the taking. He is the greatest threat to the Eight Divisions Followers!"
Gandharva said, "You really are just like her, far too arrogant! If this were anywhere else, this old woman really wouldn't have a way to suppress all three of you at once. But on Emotion Mountain, this is my territory. I am omnipotent."
"Everything here, including the space, is woven from my order and rules. You are inside my world. How can you leave?"
Gandharva raised her finger lightly.
A several-meter-tall green stone beside the inn floated up, then disintegrated, transforming into billions of traces of order light.
Like a patch of rosy clouds, it flew above Zhang Ruochen's head.
"This order..."
Zhang Ruochen stared at the order and rules above his head, all indistinguishable from Ancestral rules.
"An Ancestral Order Field! Has your spiritual power reached the ninety-fifth rank?"
Gandharva shook her head. "It is indeed an Ancestral Order Field, but reaching the ninety-fifth rank is not that easy! I'm still a little short! My spiritual power field can only cover Emotion Mountain. On Emotion Mountain, do you think this old woman is any different from an Ancestor?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "To us, you are no different from an Ancestor."
If she were facing a Half-Ancestor at the peak, there would certainly be a difference, after all, her spiritual power hadn't reached the ninety-fifth rank, so she wasn't an Ancestor.
Seeing the order cloud about to descend, Zhang Ruochen said, "Wait! I still have one question. Why did you kill Yuan Qiu?"
In the groove at the center of the stone mill, Yuan Qiu had already been ground to nothing.
Blood was still seeping out at the edge of the mill.
Gandharva was still patient enough to answer. "Because after he fell into the hands of the Fourth Confucian Ancestor, he defected to the Divine Realm."
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen's five fingers formed a claw, breaking the spiritual power suppressing Tantuo Earth Zang, lifting him up, and shooting like lightning toward the outside of Emotion Mountain.
The moment they rushed out, the order cloud descended.
Gandharva's eyes moved slightly, sensing something. She abandoned controlling the order and rules around Emotion Mountain, a hint of mocking smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.
Just then.
In the direction Zhang Ruochen had charged, a vast amount of gray mist rolled in, as if thousands of troops were galloping within it.
With a loud roar.
"Boom!"
Two palms clashed.
Zhang Ruochen and Tantuo Earth Zang were sent flying back.
"Thump! Thump!"
Tantuo Earth Zang fell to the ground outside the inn again, rolling like a gourd, battered and dizzy.
Zhang Ruochen's Daoist robe was badly torn. He glanced at the gray mist rolling in from the horizon, and in an instant, made a decisive choice, charging toward the inn's entrance.
Even though Gandharva's doppelganger was guarding there, and it was the most unbreakable point on the entire Emotion Mountain, Zhang Ruochen had no choice. He had to reach the inn before the person in the gray mist arrived and rescue the Fourth Confucian Ancestor.
Only by borrowing the Fourth Confucian Ancestor's power could he possibly break out of the encirclement today.
The palm strike Zhang Ruochen had exchanged with the person in the gray mist had also sent the other flying back, buying himself a brief moment to reverse life and death.
"Subdue Meng Huang E!"
As Zhang Ruochen charged toward Gandharva, he didn't forget to give this order to Tantuo Earth Zang.
Gandharva stood at the inn's entrance, calmly watching Zhang Ruochen break through the time and space orders to approach. A faint, contemptuous smile played on her lips.
Within the time and space orders, Zhang Ruochen was far too slow!
"Hua!"
Gandharva swung the wooden staff in her hand, moving more than twice as fast as Zhang Ruochen.
Just as it was about to strike Zhang Ruochen, he suddenly transformed into a state of Source Particles, completely immune to physical attacks. Like a rain of light, he passed through the staff and rushed into the inn.
Gandharva stared at the rain of Source Particle light, letting out a soft exclamation, a strange light flickering in her eyes.
The rain of Source Particle light rushed through the door, quickly recondensing into Zhang Ruochen's form as he rapidly approached the first table on the right side of the hall.
At this moment, he couldn't care less whether the terrifyingly powerful Gandharva would see through his identity. Zhang Ruochen condensed a Wuji circle in the palm of his right hand.
Only by using the Wuji circle could he possibly break the Absolute Self-Time Dominance Seal and free the Fourth Confucian Ancestor from the frozen time.
But he was given no chance to strike...
The other seven sets of tables and chairs in the hall, even the pillars, floor, and ox-horn lamps... everything transformed into order and rules, entwining around Zhang Ruochen, locking him within the Ancestral Order Field.
The entire inn hall became chaotic and ethereal, taking on a seven-colored, magnificent radiance.
Zhang Ruochen's hand was only half a chi away from the edge of the Absolute Self-Time Dominance Seal, which was one zhang in diameter.
This half chi, however, he would never be able to reach!
...
Outside the inn.
Tantuo Earth Zang failed to subdue Meng Huang E. Instead, she used the Golden Thread Dragon-Binding Rope to tie him up, and he fell to the ground again.
After all, she was a Heavenly Venerable-level being, a leader of one faction. She had already suppressed the curse within her body.
"That was close! What's going on with you all? You almost let that Daoist escape!"
Lan Shi Shen rushed out of the gray mist and landed outside the inn on the peak of Emotion Mountain.
Following behind him was Bao Yin Earth Zang.
It was he who had arrived at Emotion Mountain earlier and exchanged a palm strike with Zhang Ruochen, who was trying to escape, forcing him back.
He was the leader of the Stone Division among the Eight Divisions Followers, permanently stationed at the Life-and-Death Boundary Star in the Hell Realm.
Gandharva asked, "Where is Er Jun Tian?"
"Hao Tian has arrived! Including Er Jun Tian, the other leaders have been intercepted outside the Forgotten River. The trip to the Yama Clan went smoothly. The 'Book of Life and Death' is already in hand. The great deed is about to be accomplished."
Lan Shi Shen unfolded a corner of his Divine Realm World, releasing Fan Chen and Treasure Pearl Earth Zang, who were suppressed inside.
Meng Huang E's expression changed slightly. "Hao Tian has already reached the Forgotten River?"
"Why so nervous? Even if Hao Tian is strong, he is still only below the Ancestor level. Whether he can defeat Er Jun Tian is still unknown. If Gandharva arrives in time, the mighty Hao Tian will only spill his blood in the Forgotten River and become a sacrifice." Lan Shi Shen said.
Gandharva turned and walked into the inn. "This old woman is afraid she won't be able to go and help them for the time being."