# Chapter 4150: Forging Two Blades
In the dark and vast cosmic space.
Xuanyuan Di'er wore a large red kasaya, stepping onto a divine path formed by converging spatial veins. With each step, he could cross extremely vast distances, heading toward the Life-and-Death Boundary Star.
Having cultivated the Buddhist path, his skeletal body had already turned golden.
Death energy was restrained within, hidden and formless.
In recent years, he had grown dissatisfied with certain practices of the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom and the Xuanyuan Clan. But unfortunately, his cultivation was insufficient, and he lacked the power to change things. So, like Xuanyuan Lian, he had traveled far to the Desolate Universe, collecting fragments of the Seventy-Two Layer Tower while waiting for the Fire Domain to dissipate.
He did not believe that Hao Tian and Cihang Venerable had truly fallen.
One was a Half-Ancestor at the peak, the other was the ten-thousandth reincarnation of the Buddha Kasyapa.
Even if they had died, he would need to see their corpses. Unfortunately, the Fire Domain was treacherous, reputed to be the number one forbidden zone in the current universe. Even Half-Ancestors dared not venture deep.
For hundreds of years, whenever he thought that Primordial Ancestors like Ksitigarbha King and the Nether Ancestor had turned to ashes, what was impossible?
Hope in his heart grew increasingly faint.
"Hiding in the Desolate Universe all this time is ultimately not a solution. I only hate that my cultivation realm has never been able to break through. Otherwise, I would definitely take their place."
What Xuanyuan Di'er wanted to replace was naturally Xuanyuan Taizhen's position as Clan Head, or even the position of Heavenly Palace Master.
Xuanyuan Di'er was extremely arrogant, claiming that throughout history, he had only lost to his ancestor "Xuan Emperor." Therefore, he named himself "Di'er" (Second).
How could someone with such a proud heart accept Xuanyuan Taizhen offering Kongming Ruins to the Eternal True Ruler?
Xuanyuan Di'er secretly pondered: after returning to the Heavenly Court Universe, should he completely become a monk in the Western Buddha Realm and cultivate his nature from now on? Or should he return to the Xuanyuan Clan, split from Xuanyuan Taizhen, and draw a clear line?
Suddenly.
Above his head, a spatial fluctuation appeared.
Space rules from all directions pressed inward, twisting the space into a spiral shape, sealing his retreat and making escape impossible.
Xuanyuan Di'er's heart tightened. He looked up.
At the center of the spatial fluctuation, a yellow bronze divine tower, tens of thousands of zhang in size, slowly descended. Countless lightning divine dragons flowed across the tower's surface.
"This is..."
Xuanyuan Di'er felt an unparalleled oppressive force, as if entire great worlds were pressing down on him. He let out a fierce roar and summoned a thick staff as wide as a bowl.
Before he could swing the staff, he was already suppressed into the tower.
Inside the tower was pitch black.
Even with his divine eyes, cultivated to the Middle Stage of Indestructible Infinite, he could not see his hand in front of his face.
"Who are you, sir? How can you possess the Refining God Tower?" Xuanyuan Di'er swung his staff, but the divine power extended only a few dozen zhang before dissipating into nothingness.
The Refining God Tower was originally the Holy Clan's clan-suppressing divine artifact. After several transfers, it had ultimately fallen into Hao Tian's hands.
Hao Tian had fallen at Biluo Pass, yet the Refining God Tower appeared at this moment.
What did this mean?
He certainly did not think that Hao Tian had taken him into the tower.
From the darkness, a voice sounded: "This poor Daoist has a certain opportunity here, and I have taken a liking to you. Are you interested?"
Xuanyuan Di'er sneered: "You should first reveal your true form, then we can talk."
"Hua—"
A lamp originally floating in midair emitted a soft radiance.
In the dim lamplight, a tall and upright figure stood a few zhang away from Xuanyuan Di'er. The other party wore a green Daoist robe, with piercing eyes and a powerful aura of a strong expert.
"It's you? The Daoist who traveled with that monk Fanchen... what was your name... Shengsi?"
Xuanyuan Di'er was very surprised. He knew that Shengsi Daoist had gone to Biluo Pass.
Primordial Ancestors and multiple Half-Ancestors had fallen there. How did this old ox-nose survive?
He didn't come out of the Fire Domain, did he?
Zhang Ruochen said: "This poor Daoist is the returning remnant soul of a Primordial Ancestor, named by the two characters 'Life and Death.' From now on, you may address me as Life-and-Death Heavenly Venerable."
Xuanyuan Di'er's eyes showed doubt: "You are actually at the Heavenly Venerable level?"
"The word 'Heavenly Venerable' does not necessarily represent a realm. It can also represent the common master of heaven and earth, the one revered by all heavens. Before his death, Hao Tian passed the position of Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court Universe to this poor Daoist." Zhang Ruochen stood with his hands behind his back, speaking indifferently.
As if talking about a trivial matter.
Xuanyuan Di'er was not intimidated by Zhang Ruochen's earlier display of power. He laughed: "You say whatever you want? I could also say that Hao Tian passed the position of Heavenly Venerable to me."
Zhang Ruochen couldn't be bothered to explain further. His expression turned serious: "This seat needs a blade—a blade to deal with the Divine Realm."
"You don't mean to say you've taken a liking to me, do you? No, no. This poor monk is a man of the cloth. I have long put down my butcher's knife and become a Buddha. Amitabha!"
Xuanyuan Di'er waved his hand, reciting the Buddha's name, but his eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for an exit from the Refining God Tower.
Zhang Ruochen said: "What this seat has taken a liking to is not you, but the madness in your nature, the dignity and pride of being an ancestor of the Xuanyuan Clan, and your fearless courage."
Before Xuanyuan Di'er could speak, Zhang Ruochen continued: "The only shortcoming is that your current cultivation is still a complete mess."
This sentence carried an obvious sigh.
"What did you say? A complete mess? Ox-nose, you are even crazier than me. Do you know that the fury of an Indestructible Infinite, once ignited, can burn the entire starry sky?" In Xuanyuan Di'er's bony eye sockets, golden flames burned.
"Boom!"
Xuanhuang divine energy and Half-Ancestor rules burst forth from his golden bones.
All his power converged toward his arms, and he fiercely swung his staff down.
He wanted to test the weight of the Daoist before him.
In Zhang Ruochen's eyes, Xuanyuan Di'er's speed was extremely slow. He gently shook his head, flicked his finger, and sent Xuanyuan Di'er flying backward like a cotton ball, colliding with the distant yellow bronze tower wall.
"Bang!"
Xuanyuan Di'er was knocked so hard that his divine soul felt like it was about to scatter, and darkness filled his vision.
Then, he fell to the ground.
Three of his bones were broken. Using his staff to support his body, he stumbled to his feet.
Not daring to approach the Daoist again, his heart was filled with shock. With some wariness and an attempt to save face, he shouted loudly: "You... what did you say your name was? Life-and-Death Heavenly Venerable? Is this the cultivation of a Heavenly Venerable level? I think it's more than that, isn't it?"
Although Xuanyuan Di'er was at the Middle Stage of Indestructible Infinite, he possessed a Half-Ancestor remnant soul and a Half-Ancestor skeletal body, enough to contend with the peak of Indestructible Infinite.
Yet such a strong expert was sent flying with a single finger. Who would believe it if this got out?
This kind of cultivation gap had already exceeded his understanding.
Even his previous life, as a Half-Ancestor of the Xuanyuan Clan and an invincible existence in an era, was not this powerful.
"Is this the fury of an Indestructible Infinite?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xuanyuan Di'er smiled awkwardly, then asked: "Did Hao Tian really pass the position of Heavenly Venerable to you?"
"You can ask Cihang Venerable and Shang Tian about this question in the future." Zhang Ruochen said.
Xuanyuan Di'er was delighted: "They are not dead?"
Zhang Ruochen's right hand reached into the darkness.
"Bang!"
One of the eight leaders of the Eight Divisions Followers, "Curse Bone," flew out and crashed heavily onto the ground between him and Xuanyuan Di'er.
Curse Bone's skeletal body was like a snake's spine, with one hundred and eight segments.
The bones were gray, releasing terrifying death energy and curse power.
Feeling the danger, Xuanyuan Di'er immediately released layers of Buddha light to resist the invisible curse. He exclaimed: "This is a Heavenly Venerable level expert, isn't it? You suppressed him? When did the Bone Clan produce such a formidable existence?"
He could tell that this Heavenly Venerable level was still alive.
"Hao Tian suppressed him." Zhang Ruochen said.
Curse Bone and Nine-Headed Dog were both leaders, suppressed by Hao Tian in the Refining God Tower outside Wangchuan.
Zhang Ruochen said: "If you want to be my blade, with your current cultivation, it is far from enough. So, I have decided to refine Curse Bone into your skeletal body, elevating your combat power to the Heavenly Venerable level in a short time. I need a Heavenly Venerable level blade!"
Xuanyuan Di'er laughed: "Ox-nose, where did you learn this evil technique? Did you learn the Corpse Transformation Forbidden Art from Jiusi Yitianhuang? My skeletal body is a Half-Ancestor skeleton. It is only a Heavenly Venerable level skeleton. Are you sure that refining such a set of bones into my body can enhance my combat power?"
Xuanyuan Di'er did not take Zhang Ruochen's words seriously at all. Instead, he was very vigilant, feeling that this ox-nose was trying to trick him.
"It's not refining a corpse into the body. It's completely refining it into your body, including its divine source, divine soul, rules, order, and esoterica. I want you to refine everything of a Heavenly Venerable level!"
Zhang Ruochen continued: "If you didn't have a Half-Ancestor remnant soul and a Half-Ancestor skeletal body, capable of bearing such powerful strength, why would I come to you?"
Xuanyuan Di'er was now certain that the ox-nose opposite him was trying to trick him. "Refining a Heavenly Venerable level into the body of an Indestructible Infinite Middle Stage? Ox-nose, did you say it backwards? Are you trying to refine me into it? Do you know how terrifying it is for an Indestructible Infinite to self-destruct their divine source? Don't push me."
Zhang Ruochen really had a headache. How did he encounter such a stubborn fellow?
Fine, let it be.
"Trying to turn me into a puppet? Or feed me to it? You underestimate me too much. If you want to kill me, you'll have to pay a price... you..."
Zhang Ruochen manipulated space, grabbing Xuanyuan Di'er from a distance and pulling him in front of him.
Countless space rules and orders attached to his body, rendering him completely immobile.
"What are you doing?"
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Xuanyuan Di'er's neck bone, applied force with his fingers, and amidst a series of "crack, crack" bone-splitting sounds, pulled out Xuanyuan Di'er's entire spine along with his skull, placing them together with Curse Bone's skeletal body on the ground.
The Half-Ancestor skeletal body was like tofu in his hands.
In Xuanyuan Di'er's eye sockets, bone fire flickered. Looking at his headless skeletal body in the distance, he said: "Life-and-Death Heavenly Venerable, how about we discuss this..."
"Crack, crack" sounds rang out again.
This time, Xuanyuan Di'er's spine twisted together with Curse Bone's bones, like a twisted rope, both shattering.
Bone fractures and bone fusions merged together.
As Zhang Ruochen manipulated the flames of life and death to refine the two, a slender and graceful shadow emerged behind him, saying: "His Half-Ancestor remnant soul may not be able to control Curse Bone's Heavenly Venerable level divine soul. He might even be unable to resist the curse power that Curse Bone has cultivated. After all, the gap in cultivation is too great."
"He himself certainly cannot! But with me here, he can control the Heavenly Venerable level." Zhang Ruochen said.
The shadow behind him wore a black veil on her face, surrounded by numerous soul mists, giving her a hazy and mysterious temperament.
If one could see through the soul mist and clearly see the brows above her veil, Xuanyuan Di'er would definitely recognize her.
It was Lian Xi, who had been following Lady Shiji.
What the Soul Mother had said before was not false. Lian Xi could only be considered one of her thoughts, like the Buddha's thousand heads and thousand bodies, ever-changing. One body, one change.
But that was enough!
With Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, he could completely enter the Soul Mother's sea of consciousness and find the thought that belonged to Lian Xi.
Cultivate this thought into the spiritual consciousness that dominates this body.
The biggest problem was that the Soul Mother only had one soul and one spirit. Spiritual consciousness was closely related to the soul and spirit.
Unless this one soul and one spirit were severed, the Soul Mother would never perish. And because her soul power and spirit power were formidable, it could be said that they would severely affect Lian Xi's spiritual consciousness.
To solve this problem, Zhang Ruochen continuously channeled the Soul Mother's cultivation and divine soul to Bore, weakening her and helping Lian Xi control the body.
Of course, the most important thing was for Lian Xi to control her own spiritual consciousness.
Bore's cultivation rapidly broke through from Great Unbound Infinite to Indestructible Infinite.
As for Lian Xi, although she was still at the Half-Ancestor realm, her cultivation combat power was forcibly suppressed by Zhang Ruochen to the Heavenly Venerable level. Only in the future, when she defeats the Soul Mother's spiritual consciousness and completely controls the physical body, can she restore her Half-Ancestor cultivation realm.
Lian Xi said: "Actually, you could completely refine and absorb Curse Bone and Nine-Headed Dog yourself. Your cultivation would surely advance further."
"What you say is not wrong at all! Even if I refined and absorbed Erjun Tian and Qinglu Divine King together, my cultivation could rush straight to the peak of Half-Ancestor, touching the Great Derivation. But I have been suppressing my inner desire. Do you know why?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Lian Xi gently shook her head.
"Because a person must learn to control their desires, not be controlled by them."
"Absorbing the power of the Death Vortex within the Life-and-Death Boundary was because I had no choice. It was the only option under the circumstances at that time."
"Refining Lan Shi God was because he was about to self-destruct his divine source, and also because I needed to intercept Qinglu Divine King at that time. I couldn't slow down and calmly deal with Curse Bone and Nine-Headed Dog like I can now."
"If I only pursued absolute power, driven by desire, after refining Curse Bone, Nine-Headed Dog, Erjun Tian, and Qinglu Divine King, it would probably be your turn, and even Shang Tian, Desolate Tian, Cihang Venerable, Bore... none of you would leave the Gray Sea alive."
"In the future, I could tell the world that you all died in the kalpa fire of the Primordial Ancestor's self-destructing divine source. In this way, wouldn't I be the next Nether Ancestor?"
Zhang Ruochen slowly said: "I think that the Nether Ancestor, or other Immortals, might have initially gathered kindness, courage, righteousness, responsibility, and integrity as great cultivators. But faced with the temptation of immortality, they gradually fell into desire and never found the way back. They looked at all things in the world as if they were grains, and their inner selves became completely unrecognizable."
"Great mistakes all arise from small mistakes. One step forward is an abyss of ten thousand zhang, and you can only fall, no longer under your own control. One step back may not be a smooth path, but you can choose the road you want to take next."
"I am not so noble. It is precisely because of fear that I do this."
"Everyone has something they fear. I am very afraid that one day I will become a monster that only pursues absolute power, losing the emotions and sincerity between people, losing the feeling of experiencing sweet and sour, bitter and spicy, losing sympathy and compassion for the weak. The higher my cultivation, the stronger this fear becomes."
"Back then, Grandmaster was imprisoned in the Hell Realm for a hundred thousand years, his physical body nearly worn away. But after he escaped, the first thing he did was to rebuild his physical body. Such a reconstructed physical body obviously had no meaning and would instead bind his spiritual power. I asked him at the time why he did this."
"I will always remember his answer. He said he must constantly remind himself that he is still a human."
Zhang Ruochen was even clearer that absorbing the cultivation of these Heavenly Venerable and Half-Ancestor levels could indeed quickly condense Dao Light and elevate cultivation.
But this was undoubtedly damaging his foundation!
The cultivation of these Heavenly Venerable and Half-Ancestor levels must have limitations.
If a mass of Dao Light was compared to a pillar supporting a building.
A pillar dismantled from someone else's building and directly appropriated was vastly different in quality from a pillar that Zhang Ruochen personally forged with his current cultivation.
Zhang Ruochen's goal was not the peak of Half-Ancestor, nor the Great Derivation Primordial Ancestor of fifty masses of Dao Light, but an even higher realm.
Taking heaven and earth as teachers, outlining one's own rules, and condensing the most perfect Dao Light.
He did not want to follow in the footsteps of the Great Venerable, reaching the Primordial Ancestor realm only to discover fatal flaws in his own path, regretting it too late.
After arriving at the Life-and-Death Boundary Star, Zhang Ruochen did not stop at all and immediately rushed to the Destiny Temple.
Before going to the Heavenly Court, he must first meet with Void Heaven.
He needed to understand whether the Heavenly Demon had been rescued.
Knowing that Zhang Ruochen was looking for Void Heaven, Xuanyuan Di'er, who was in the process of fusing Curse Bone's power, said: "Void Heaven has long hidden himself. How could you possibly find him?"
"Why is he hiding?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xuanyuan Di'er said: "Because he's afraid! To be precise, almost all Heavenly Venerable and Half-Ancestor level experts in the current universe have hidden themselves! In the Hell Realm, only Yama Tai Shang remains on the surface, helping the cultivators of the ten clans make decisions on major matters. In the Heavenly Court, it's Xuanyuan Taizhen. In the Sword Realm, it's Yunshen Daozhu."
"Think about it! With the Nether Ancestor dead, the Dark Sovereign and the Hongmeng Black Dragon, who are eager to restore their cultivation, will definitely become extremely vicious. Who can make them wary? Every Heavenly Venerable and Half-Ancestor level is no different from a great medicine."
"After Panyuan Ancient God encountered his calamity, everyone became even more terrified!"
"Do you think only Heavenly Venerable and Half-Ancestor levels want to hide? Actually, Indestructible Infinite levels also want to hide. But facing Primordial Ancestors, Indestructible Infinite level cultivators are too easily found."
Xuanyuan Di'er suddenly asked: "Heavenly Venerable, what level of cultivation are you exactly? Are you a Primordial Ancestor?"
The reason he asked this was because Zhang Ruochen's methods were too miraculous. He had refined a Heavenly Venerable level into his skeletal body, allowing him to quickly master Heavenly Venerable level combat power.
This...
This was definitely something only a Primordial Ancestor could do. Because Primordial Ancestors were omnipotent.
Zhang Ruochen said: "Why ask so many questions? Does only a Primordial Ancestor have the ability to elevate you to Heavenly Venerable level combat power?"
Xuanyuan Di'er smiled: "Heavenly Venerable doesn't only have me as a blade, does he? One blade wanting to cut down all the experts of the Divine Realm—that's not realistic!"
In Zhang Ruochen's view, the current Divine Realm was still hiding too deeply.
Only by cutting down all the visible forces of the Divine Realm could he force the Divine Realm to reveal its true strength.
If he did this himself, it would be too easy to lure out the Eternal True Ruler.
Currently, he did not want to confront the Eternal True Ruler directly.
Zhang Ruochen said: "I need your madness. Only by being mad enough can you dare to oppose the Divine Realm, and the Divine Realm will not suspect me. But besides you, the mad blade, I also need a blade that is hard enough."
"Is there any cultivator in the world harder than me?" Xuanyuan Di'er was somewhat unconvinced, then said: "If Heavenly Venerable has any other resources, just throw them at me. I can handle them. I want to become stronger. I want to take off my kasaya, pick up my butcher's knife again, and let the Divine Realm know that Xuanyuan Taizhen does not represent the Xuanyuan Clan."
"I already have someone in mind!"
The other Heavenly Venerable level, Nine-Headed Dog, suppressed in the Refining God Tower, was the leader of the Ghost Clan.
To inherit its power, the first choice was a Ghost Clan cultivator.
Zhang Ruochen thought of that number one tough guy among the Middle Three Clans. Perhaps he was a good candidate.
It was just unknown whether he could handle this overwhelming fortune.
After all, he did not have a Half-Ancestor remnant soul, making him somewhat inferior to Xuanyuan Di'er.