# Chapter 4209: Heaven Begins, Self Ends
Where living beings exist, there may not necessarily be humans, but there will certainly be the Santu River.
In the unknown starry domain of the void, the wide Santu River flows eternally from ancient times to the present, having buried countless beauties and heroes in funeral processions.
Here, the river water is foul and turbid, with tens of thousands of floating corpses, and death qi forming a mist.
"Caw!"
Deathly corpse birds shaped like crows fly in flocks over the water surface, pecking at rotting flesh.
The Dark Lord stands by the water's edge, gazing up at the yellow-brown brilliant star river above. His wide, bag-like black robe cannot conceal his majestic and robust physique, but his ancestral aura is completely restrained. Even those deathly corpse birds are unafraid of him, occasionally landing beside his feet. The Yellow Spring Star River is eerily beautiful and enchanting, stars like grains of sand in a vast sea. With the naked eye, two World Trees can be seen. Even from a great distance, it remains awe-inspiring.
"Nothingness gives birth to myriad forms, myriad forms illuminate the universe. What kind of path is this? A path higher than Myriad Forms Formless?" He mutters to himself.
"Splash!"
Suddenly, the reflection of the star river on the water surface becomes distorted, spinning, startling countless corpse crows into flight.
A liquid form dozens of zhang tall rises from the center of the vortex.
Strangely, the star river reflection that should have shattered still appears on this liquid giant's body, as if a universe is contained within.
It is the power of space.
It is a transcendent great force that has twisted space into human form.
The Dark Lord's eyes narrow. Ancestral rules and ancestral divine qi surge from his body, evolving into over a dozen defensive phenomena, including "Clouds Surrounding Buzhou Mountain," "Nine Halls Suppressing Nine Palaces," and "Three Thousand Rivers of Time."
Each phenomenon is constructed from ancestral rules and ancestral order, more solid than a great world.
He looks around, filled with wariness and vigilance.
"No need to look. If my true body descended, you would already have your ancestral body shattered like back then."
This voice carries an ancient artistic conception, as if coming from the beginning of heaven and earth's creation. It is impossible to tell whether it is old or young, male or female. It sounds like the superposition of all living beings' voices in the world.
It comes from the mouth of that liquid giant at the center of the great river.
Although the liquid giant is only dozens of zhang tall, it gives an incomparable sense of oppression, as if it is taller than the universe itself, capable of crushing the starry sky with one hand.
And yet, this is merely a doppelganger thought.
The Dark Lord knows who has come. Fear and shock mix in his heart, but he does not rush to flee. Instead, his lips curl into a cold smile: "I have completely hidden myself in darkness, with all heavenly secrets extinguished, yet you still found me. With such cultivation and perception, what in the universe can escape your grasp? I'm afraid the secret that Zhang Ruochen is not dead has always been under your control. Have your injuries fully recovered?"
"If you know that everything in the world is under my control, you should have a reverent heart." The liquid giant says without emotion.
The Dark Lord says: "Your schemes run too deep. In ancient times, you, Yan Tingqiu, and the Nether Ancestor and others dismembered Bai Yuan. Then you used the Immovable Bright King as a blade to severely wound the Nether Ancestor, nearly killing him."
"In this era, you used Zhang Ruochen, Xuan Yuan Taihao, and Di Zang Wang to completely eliminate the Nether Ancestor, the only threat."
"But you probably didn't expect Zhang Ruochen's First-rank Divine Path to be so formidable. As soon as he broke through to the Ancestor Realm, he took away the Strange Domain. With his current strength, even you can't handle him, can you?"
"This is what they mean by 'even the wise have a thousand thoughts and one mistake.' Being countered by a pawn doesn't feel good, does it? The Immovable Bright King back then, and Zhang Ruochen today—why don't you learn your lesson?"
The liquid giant's tone gains emotion: "You are too presumptuous. Do you think I cannot kill you?"
"If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have sent just a doppelganger like this."
The Dark Lord continues: "Yan Tingqiu cannot deal with Zhang Ruochen. To deal with him, you have to act personally. But you and I both understand Zhang Ruochen. Even if he is not your match, he will definitely drag you to die with him. His will is unparalleled, even surpassing the Immovable Bright King of that time. You cannot suppress him!"
"So, you have no chance of victory. Years of scheming are nothing but drawing water with a bamboo basket—all in vain."
"More importantly, Zhang Ruochen's First-rank Divine Path has already reached great perfection. He can gather the power of all living beings, with an upper limit that cannot be estimated. So, not only do you have no chance of victory, you might even be defeated by him."
"He dares to self-destruct, to perish together with you like jade and stone. But you value your life far more than he does. You have probably never even entertained the thought of dying together with him, have you?"
"So, your purpose in coming to find me is definitely not to kill me. It is to join forces with me—or rather, to use me—to first eliminate Zhang Ruochen, and then eliminate me."
The liquid giant says: "Your cultivation has not yet recovered to the point of 'ancestral unity,' has it? Do you really think I won't kill you?"
"Swoosh!"
Before the words finish.
The liquid giant raises its right hand, as if grabbing a handful of cosmic starlight. A five-colored power condenses into a water column filled with starry light, surging toward the Dark Lord with ferocious momentum.
Space trembles violently, as if constantly flipping.
The Dark Lord's expression changes drastically. What surges toward him is not a water column, but endless time and space. The power of time and space is completely condensed, continuously being born.
Every drop of water is as heavy as a planet, formed by the aggregation of time and space.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The ancestral phenomena protecting the Dark Lord continuously explode.
Once all the ancestral phenomena are broken through and the water column touches his body, it will be no less than a thousand cuts. Every drop of water will take away part of the material of his ancestral body.
"If you attack me, the resulting fluctuations will definitely be detected by Zhang Ruochen. Then your advantage of hiding in the shadows will be completely lost..."
As the Dark Lord speaks, he executes the Myriad Forms Formless Seal to resist the impact of the time-space water column.
"Boom!"
Like endless stars colliding, the power is inexhaustible, as if it will crush the starry sea and heaven and earth into powder, forcing the Dark Lord to retreat repeatedly.
The Dark Lord notices something and looks toward the opposite bank of the Santu River. In the vast death qi mist and waves, he sees a faint figure.
Not good!
His true body has actually come!
The Dark Lord senses danger and says bitterly: "Withdraw your divine power. I submit, I am convinced! If you want to kill me, without using the Seventy-Two Layer Tower, it won't be so easy. You don't want Zhang Ruochen to rush over and confront you right now, do you?"
"Swoosh!"
The water column instantly dissipates. The liquid giant still stands quietly in the center of the great river.
The Dark Lord looks down and finds himself still standing by the riverbank. For a moment, he cannot tell whether what just happened was real or illusory. The wariness in his heart deepens.
He looks toward the opposite bank of the Santu River again—there is no figure at all!
Is this the martial realm "Heaven Begins, Self Ends," comparable to Spiritual Power Rank 97? At such a realm, even an Ancestor feels like looking up at a towering mountain.
"You know, after you were defeated back then, why didn't I completely annihilate you? It's not that I couldn't kill you, but that you still had value. If you submit, even in the face of the Great Calamity, there will still be a glimmer of hope for survival." The liquid giant says slowly.
The Dark Lord restores his ancestral demeanor and says calmly: "Don't say I was defeated. How could I be worthy of being your opponent? Your opponent back then was Bai Yuan. Bai Yuan at his peak would not have lost to you or the Nether Ancestor by much. I am merely the remnant body and remnant soul of Bai Yuan! None of us are fools, so don't make hypocritical promises. What glimmer of hope under the Great Calamity? Aren't all living beings in the world the sacrifices you raise? Where in the universe is there not your altar?"
"Using the Divine Martial Mark as a rope, you raise all cultivators in the world. Ancestors are just larger livestock, with more delicious flavor and richer blood qi."
The liquid giant says: "You are absolutely right. All realms under heaven are fertile fields, and all living beings in the world are sacrifices. But it is not necessary to absorb all sacrifices to withstand the Great Calamity. What I am currently doing is merely preparing for a rainy day, ensuring everything is under control. I must achieve that when sacrifices are needed, the sacrifices will turn into blood qi and soul energy."
"If, when resisting the Great Calamity, the sacrifices I need are insufficient, you will naturally become one of them. But if the Great Calamity is not as terrible as imagined, you can naturally live under my protection into the new epoch."
"Didn't those prehistoric civilization ruins survive? Empress Houtu and the Hongmeng Black Dragon both withstood the Great Calamity. Do you think I am inferior to them?"
"If I can let some living beings survive, who would want to live alone in the new epoch? How lonely would that be?"
The Dark Lord laughs: "To be honest, I would rather believe Zhang Ruochen. How many sentences of your words do you believe yourself?"
The liquid giant says: "But you understand that Zhang Ruochen's desire to lead all living beings together to resist the Great Calamity is truly without any hope of survival. That is an absolute dead end."
"You say Zhang Ruochen dares to perish together with jade and stone, unafraid of sacrifice, and that this surpasses me. You are wrong, completely wrong. Those who dare to die are the ones without responsibility. If he dies, who will resist the Great Calamity? In the end, the entire universe will be destroyed. This is the first point."
"Second, Zhang Ruochen is not as flawless as you imagine. There are too many people he cares about, and his weaknesses are too obvious. When his dao heart collapses, he will be completely without threat in my eyes."
The Dark Lord falls silent.
Because, in his heart, he has never truly believed that Zhang Ruochen could be a match for this existence.
What he said earlier was entirely a psychological offensive to fight for his own survival.
The liquid giant says: "Last time, when the Hongmeng Black Dragon was suppressed, you escaped. This time, when Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Mother confronted the Divine Realm, you did not appear to help. You have no value left in Zhang Ruochen's eyes. Even if I kill you and expose the fluctuations of my power, he will definitely not appear to save you."
"Now, two choices are placed before you. Either go find Zhang Ruochen and walk a dead end where you either die by my hand or die under the Great Calamity. Or choose to trust me and fight for that glimmer of hope."
"A glimmer of hope that depends on your pity?"
The Dark Lord laughs heartily. After a long while, he gradually stops and says: "I want the Desolate Moon."
"Even if you didn't ask, I would give it to you. Otherwise, with your current strength, how could you meet my needs? The Desolate Moon can not only restore you to the realm of 'ancestral unity,' but it is also a means for me to control you." The liquid giant says.
The Dark Lord says: "You want to tamper with the Desolate Moon?"
"Otherwise? Don't be too naive, thinking you can profit from the fisherman's gain at the critical moment. If you choose to submit, it is best to submit forever."
The liquid giant descends, turning into surging water tides.
In the endless water mist and haze, the Desolate Moon slowly rises, as large as a star, yet as bright and clear as a jade pearl.
---
Chi Yao expresses some concern: "There is one point that Chen Ge must understand clearly. Whether it is the Eternal True Ruler or the Immortal of the Divine Realm, as long as they have an opportunity to severely wound you in one strike, even if they are not fully prepared, they will definitely act."
The Heavenly Mother has been calculating the heavenly mechanisms in the universe, using heavenly mechanisms to lock onto Murong Dominator beyond the endless star sea, saying: "Empress Chi Yao's words are not wrong! How about from now on, Emperor Chen hides in the shadows, and I play this open game with the Eternal True Ruler?"
She knows that Zhang Ruochen's divine thought perception must have been constantly pulling the Eternal True Ruler.
The ancestral thoughts have been dueling in the transcendent domain, trying to escape each other's restraint. Only by escaping restraint can one hide in the shadows and do what truly needs to be done.
"Everyone rest assured. Although I am not afraid of death, I also value my life very much. If there is an opportunity, why wouldn't I want to catch Yan Tingqiu off guard, striking with thunderous momentum to severely wound him to the point of greatly reduced combat power?"
Zhang Ruochen has always maintained a relaxed and carefree expression in front of the cultivators present, because he is the number one person in the current universe. If he so much as frowns, other cultivators will think that heaven is about to collapse and the earth is about to split.
Zhang Ruochen looks at the Heavenly Mother beside him, wearing a phoenix crown: "In this open game below the Ancestor level, the one moving the pieces will definitely not be Yan Tingqiu. He will not waste his energy on this. If it is only against Murong Dominator, Yao Yao is more than enough!"
"Is this my mission?"
Chi Yao stands up, without a woman's frailty or weakness.
"I will definitely win this game for Chen Ge!"
Her peerless immortal face, which looks less than twenty years old, carries a calm smile, as well as an unyielding spirit when facing challenges, as if she would not fall even if ten thousand realms pressed down on her.
"It is not to win this game for Emperor Chen, but to win this game for the world."
Feng Tian sits opposite Chi Yao, as immovable as a mountain, saying: "Below the Ancestor level, the Empress is indeed not afraid of any cultivator. But the Spiritual Power Ancestor knows everything in the world and can also conceal heavenly mechanisms. Their deployment of troops and formations will inevitably be exquisite and cunning. The Empress will probably be very passive."
"Why not leave this game to me, the Hall Master? I can use the 'Fate Heavenly Scripture' to compete with Murong Dominator in deduction and concealing heavenly mechanisms."
"At the same time, with my identity, the cultivators of the Hell Realm can be mobilized freely, and no one dares to hinder me. Moreover, having governed the Heavenly Court Universe for thirty thousand years, my understanding and control of the Heavenly Court Universe far surpass that of Empress Chi Yao."
"As for the Sword Realm... as long as Empress Chi Yao gives one command, no one should dare to disobey my orders."
The smell of gunpowder is very strong.
The atmosphere immediately becomes different!
One must know that whoever controls this open game essentially controls all power below the Ancestor level in the entire universe. Present here, except for Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Mother, everyone must follow that person's will.
Void Heaven supports his chin, frowning deeply, looking up and down at Feng Tian.
Feng Caiyi can actually say words like "for the world"? Has the Destiny Temple produced a great saint?
Nutian Shenzun and Pan Yuan Ancient God do not know what they are thinking. Their bodies are like wooden figures, motionless, not intending to contend for the position of the chess player.
Chi Yao says: "Although the Hall Master's cultivation has reached the peak of the Half-Ancestor realm, you are still not a match for Murong Dominator, are you? Do you really think that with the Eternal True Ruler's agreement, the Ancestors of the Divine Realm will not act? The Divine Realm will stop at nothing to deal with Emperor Chen."
"I will naturally form the Fate Twelve Phases Divine Formation. Ancestors are not invincible." Lan Guan says.
The Heavenly Mother releases her ancestral order field and discusses privately with Zhang Ruochen: "They won't undermine each other, will they?"
"Not to that extent! An Empress and a Hall Master—both are top-tier figures with great magnanimity. They both clearly understand what it means to prioritize the overall situation. They just both want to compete with Murong Dominator. This is ambition." Zhang Ruochen says.
The Heavenly Mother says: "Then let them do it together?"
Zhang Ruochen is silent for a moment, then says: "Not necessary! The Eternal True Ruler said one thing correctly: playing chess is a one-person affair. Too many people will lead to chaotic decision-making."
The Heavenly Mother slightly raises her hand, pointing downward, making a gesture of invitation.
As if saying: "Make the decision!"
Zhang Ruochen smiles, interrupting the arguing Chi Yao and Feng Tian, saying: "This matter will be entrusted to Empress Chi Yao. No changes."
"Hall Master Feng should focus her energy on forming the Fate Twelve Phases Divine Formation. The stronger the divine formation, the greater the role it can play. The Divine Realm's greatest reliance might be the Star Knight Legion and the Divine Talisman Army. With the empowerment of two World Trees, their combat power can rival Ancestors."
Both Chi Yao and Feng Tian have experience governing one side of the universe, and both have strong personalities and decisive actions.
But there are differences.
In absolute major matters, Chi Yao can be ruthless.
To achieve her goals, she can decisively sacrifice everything and endure all grievances and pain.
But Feng Tian, whether before her nirvana, with her paranoid hatred for Kong Fanni, to the point of being used by the Quantity Organization, or after nirvana, attacking the North Marsh Great Wall knowing it was impossible, both show emotions overriding reason.
Chi Yao is sentimental in small matters but ruthless in major ones.
Feng Tian appears ruthless but cannot control her emotions.
Therefore, for this great chess game of heaven and earth, Zhang Ruochen wants Chi Yao, who is ruthless in major matters, to play it.
Zhang Ruochen says: "Pan Yuan Ancient God, on the Heavenly Court Universe side, you will coordinate."
"I am willing to be the Empress's deputy." Pan Yuan Ancient God says.
Void Heaven is somewhat worried about Feng Tian, so he takes the initiative and says: "The Hell Realm's deputy will be me."
Zhang Ruochen says: "Void Heaven, your sword is not meant to be used this way. You must go to battle, you must go to kill the Ten Thousand Generations Nine Ancestors, you must take the initiative. Who else but you?"
Void Heaven immediately sits up straight, as if he has become different from the other four. His spirit and qi rise, saying: "As long as the Ancestors do not act, the remaining several of the Ten Thousand Generations Nine Ancestors will all be mine."
Chi Yao says: "Chen Ge, since you have entrusted this game below the Ancestor level to me, how about I make the arrangements?"
"Fine!"
Zhang Ruochen has great confidence in Chi Yao. Back then, when the Kunlun Realm was so weak and precarious, she maneuvered among all sides and held on.
"Everyone has been to the Jade Desolate Realm. Has anyone had contact with the White Jade Divine Emperor?" Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen asks this.
The Heavenly Mother says: "I have had half a contact."
"Half?" Zhang Ruochen says.
The Heavenly Mother says: "At that time, I was only at the Heavenly Venerable rank. I could not see his true body. Are you looking for an ally?"
"Empress Houtu has fallen, the Hongmeng Black Dragon has turned to bones. Of the Immortals from the previous epoch, only Chi is still alive. I should personally go to the Jade Desolate Realm and have a good talk with him about the last Great Calamity, but..." Zhang Ruochen says.
The Heavenly Mother says: "I will go to the Jade Desolate Realm! Coincidentally, I also want to see what strength this mysterious and unpredictable Immortal really has. He should have some friendship with the Great Venerable. The Great Venerable forged the Witch Cauldron into the Jade Emperor Cauldron in the Jade Desolate Realm. Perhaps we can win him over."
"Be careful in everything. Immortals are never upright and honorable people. To achieve their goals, they will stop at nothing." Zhang Ruochen warns.
The Nether Ancestor, to deal with the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, could use the Withering Death Art on Ling Yanzi and Kong Yinxue.
Was the Nether Ancestor not a match for the Great Venerable? Not necessarily.
He just wanted to win more easily, without being dragged to die together by the Great Venerable.
The Immortal of the Divine Realm, wanting to eliminate the now fully-fledged Zhang Ruochen, will also stop at nothing, attacking Zhang Ruochen's state of mind and weakening his combat power.
He will definitely have schemes. Of course, Zhang Ruochen will not sit idly by and wait for death.