Chapter 4212: News of the Great Venerable
In the dark and desolate starry sky, a person was so insignificant they were less than a speck of dust. The entire world, detached from the mundane affairs of mortals, the chaos of war, and the scheming and deceit, had grown quiet—utterly quiet. Even the fluctuations of the battle between the Primordial Ancestors could not reach this place.
Zhang Ruochen did not know how long he had walked before he stopped in the void.
The white robe he wore was embroidered with azure clouds and hung with a sachet. It had been put on him by Chi Yao before his departure, containing talisman inscriptions and formations. She said it was made by Mu Lingxi before she left, sewn with her own hands. It was originally meant for Zhang Xingchen, but after searching through various major worlds and countless planets without finding him, her heart gradually died. Over the years, Chi Yao had mobilized many people to search, but Mu Lingxi had vanished like smoke. For many years now, she had never appeared in the universe again.
The Four Directions Universe Seal in his hand emitted a wisp of light and became scorching hot.
Zhang Ruochen raised his head and looked around.
"Hua!"
With a light step, a Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal manifested beneath his feet and spread outward.
The space trembled slightly.
Moments later, the Universe Cauldron appeared on a cosmic rock several thousand miles ahead. It was covered in rust, fused with the rock wall like metal ore, emitting no fluctuations at all.
Zhang Ruochen flew down onto the cosmic rock, walked up to the Universe Cauldron, and touched the engraved patterns and seals on its surface with his fingers. He murmured, "The Divine Ancient Nest should emerge now!"
He flicked his sleeve.
The soil, rock spots, and rust on the cauldron's surface turned to dust and fell away.
"Boom!"
The entrance to the Divine Ancient Nest, the "Divine Wood Nest," flew out from the Universe Cauldron, erupting with brilliant divine radiance. It was a nest built from divine wood, hundreds of miles in diameter, truly magnificent. Around the nest, formation inscriptions and talisman patterns were countless, converging into a sea.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen had already enveloped the area within a radius of ten thousand miles with a Taiji circle, so the fluctuations did not spread outward.
The secret realm gate leading to the Divine Ancient Nest was located at the center of the nest, a curtain of light emitting spatial fluctuations.
Zhang Ruochen stepped into the secret realm gate, and his figure disappeared.
The Divine Ancient Nest cosmic secret realm was one of the legendary prehistoric civilization relics, like a vast major world independent of the Three Realms. It was vast and rich in resources, with divine soil and an extremely high plane. As a result, many deities had been born here, and its overall strength was not inferior to any eternal undying major world in the universe.
The He Luo Sea—located in the central hinterland of the Divine Ancient Nest.
It was a crimson ancient ocean.
It contained unimaginable time energy and life force. The various races and beings of the Divine Ancient Nest all lived along its coast. The He Luo Fish, which could swim in the River of Time to travel to the past and future, were born in this sea.
Zhang Ruochen arrived at a shore covered with reefs, standing on soft red sand. The sound of waves came rhythmically, crashing against the rocks with a deafening roar. The sea stretched endlessly, covering countless miles.
With his current cultivation, he could naturally see the entire outline of the He Luo Sea at a glance.
It was circular.
If viewed from a high altitude, the He Luo Sea resembled a blood moon.
"Sha sha!"
Several branches emitting soft divine radiance hung down from the thick clouds above the sea, their leaves flashing with electric light.
Zhang Ruochen stood with one hand behind his back, looking up at the thick, reddish clouds. Within the clouds, a divine tree hundreds of thousands of feet tall loomed like a peerless mountain peak, majestic and exuding an overwhelmingly powerful energy fluctuation. This divine tree was the strongest being of the Divine Ancient Nest—the Ancestral God!
"Congratulations, Imperial Dust, on breaking through to the Primordial Ancestor realm."
The voice of the Divine Ancient Nest's Ancestral God came with the wind from across the sea.
"I have come to see the Spirit Ancestor."
Zhang Ruochen observed the He Luo Sea, noticing that the sea surface was connected to the River of Time. It was as if it were a gap in the spatial dimension of the time dimension, extremely wondrous and marvelous. He Luo Fish, as small as particles of light, were born from the He Luo Sea and immediately leaped out of the water, entering the River of Time.
Then.
They grew rapidly, developing ten tails.
Some were a few inches long, others a foot.
Born in the He Luo Sea, living in the River of Time. Truly one of the most bizarre species in the world!
Two star seas appeared in Zhang Ruochen's pupils, with billions of stars operating, releasing mysterious power that only a Primordial Ancestor could understand.
He squinted his eyes.
As his eyelids gradually closed, his entire being leaped out of the Three Realms, disappearing from the material plane, vanishing before the Ancestral God's eyes, and entering the realm of time.
Space remained unchanged, but time flowed rapidly backward.
Zhang Ruochen's skin seemed woven from time rules and time order, resisting the corrosion of time. His body swam upstream in the River of Time, heading toward the past.
To avoid divine detection and not be discovered by powerful figures in the universe, Zhang Ruochen restrained his aura, hiding in the infinitesimal.
He did not want to be intercepted and killed by the Immortal in the past.
That would be extremely disadvantageous!
Because, at that point in time in the past, the Immortal already existed and would not be suppressed or backlashed by time power, essentially having home-field advantage. Just like when the Great Venerable once summoned several Witch Ancestors to his era to fight the Immortal together. In reality, these Witch Ancestors would also be suppressed and backlashed by time power, reducing their combat effectiveness considerably.
Crossing hundreds of thousands of years, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes again. He was still standing by the shore of the He Luo Sea.
Still the crimson sand, still the sea breeze, the roaring waves.
Only one more person was there.
Ling Yanzi's ethereally beautiful figure sat on a reef a few zhang high not far away. The wind brushed her black hair, her divine robe fluttering like a butterfly. Wisps of Hongmeng divine qi, emitting nine colors, continuously flowed from her fingertips into the He Luo Sea, feeding the He Luo Fish.
Her time had forever stopped on this day. A certain day hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Because the time ahead was severed, she could only seal herself on this day, using Hongmeng divine qi to raise the He Luo Fish, driving them to go to the past, in the hope of bringing back the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable.
Last time, Zhang Ruochen had only a wisp of divine soul consciousness, following the time rules, guided by Ling Yanzi to the broken point of the River of Time hundreds of thousands of years ago, meeting her briefly.
To be precise, it was half a meeting.
At that time, he only saw a mass of Hongmeng mist, unable to see Ling Yanzi's true form or know her spatial location.
He only guessed that she was likely at the He Luo Sea.
This time, they met in the same time and space.
Ling Yanzi turned her head and looked at Zhang Ruochen, who had emerged from the River of Time on the sand below. There was a glint of relief in her eyes. "You have finally broken through to the Primordial Ancestor realm!"
No matter what, Zhang Ruochen was her descendant.
If her descendant could also give birth to a Primordial Ancestor, she would certainly be very happy.
"I have only just reached the Primordial Ancestor realm, equivalent to the initial stage of the ninety-fifth level of spiritual power. It is nothing to speak of." Zhang Ruochen told the truth, appearing mature and steady.
Even though he stated his realm clearly, he still exuded an unfathomable aura. Every glance contained great magical power and divine ability, as if he harbored a universe within him, making it difficult for anyone to easily assess him.
Ling Yanzi had been consuming Hongmeng divine qi to feed the He Luo Fish over the years, delaying her cultivation and not breaking through to the Primordial Ancestor realm. However, persisting for hundreds of thousands of years like a single day had given her enough time to calm her heart and comprehend the various paths of heaven and earth. Her realm and understanding of the Dao would not be inferior to Zhang Ruochen's by much.
She said, "Realm is realm, combat power is combat power. The feeling you give me is very similar to the Great Venerable back then. At that time, the Great Venerable had already stepped into the Primordial Ancestor realm for many years."
Ling Yanzi did not continue discussing the Dao, knowing that with her cultivation below the Primordial Ancestor realm, she could not possibly understand the power of a Primordial Ancestor better than Zhang Ruochen, a true Primordial Ancestor.
"You have come to the Divine Ancient Nest at this point in time to retrieve the Universe Cauldron, haven't you? Have you already encountered the Immortal?" Ling Yanzi asked.
The Universe Cauldron was key to hiding the Divine Ancient Nest, and it also concealed the secret of Ling Yanzi "hiding in the past to guide the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable back." Taking away the Universe Cauldron meant the Divine Ancient Nest could be destroyed at any time, and Ling Yanzi's efforts could fail at any moment. So, unless absolutely necessary, Zhang Ruochen would not come.
Zhang Ruochen nodded, his eyes seeming to contain mist as he looked at the sea ahead. "The Immortal of the Divine Realm has revealed traces, having refined the Seventy-Two Layer Tower into a peerless heavy artifact, killing even the arrogant Nether Ancestor. In this world, only the Nine Cauldrons can oppose the Seventy-Two Layer Tower."
Ling Yanzi was silent for a long time, her emotions complex and hard to describe, digesting this shocking and dire news. She said, "The Great Venerable once said that when one's cultivation reaches the Primordial Ancestor realm, no one at the same realm can defeat another. Even if one is a realm higher, killing a Primordial Ancestor of a lower realm is as difficult as ascending to heaven. However, if one can refine the complete Seventy-Two Layer Tower, one can kill a Primordial Ancestor."
"If the Immortal of the Divine Realm is of the same realm as the Nether Ancestor, then after the Nether Ancestor's death, without the Seventy-Two Layer Tower, they would already be unmatched in the world."
Ling Yanzi understood how terrifying the Nether Ancestor was. Even the Great Venerable was helpless against a single Withering Death Art.
"Indeed. With the Seventy-Two Layer Tower, she can wield supreme authority, killing Primordial Ancestors like slaughtering pigs and dogs, pushing her combat power to the highest point in history."
Standing at the height of a Primordial Ancestor, Zhang Ruochen gave the Immortal of the Divine Realm a very high evaluation. He added, "Besides the Nether Ancestor, the Hongmeng Black Dragon was also killed and obliterated. The Twelve Ancient Clans have suffered near-catastrophic losses. I have deduced that even if the Nine Witch Ancestors were at their peak, none of them would be a match for her in single combat."
Hearing this news, Ling Yanzi, who came from the Hongmeng Clan, showed little emotional fluctuation.
The Great Calamity was approaching; no one could escape.
Death and clan extinction were the normal trajectory; survival was the anomaly.
Ling Yanzi said, "The pressure you bear is far greater than what the Great Venerable faced back then. Is there any way to destroy the Seventy-Two Layer Tower?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, then recounted the battle where the Earth Treasury King self-detonated his divine source and the Nether Ancestor fell.
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower had shattered, but under the control of the Immortal of the Divine Realm, the fragments flew back from all over the universe, reassembling perfectly intact.
Such a realm was too high, high enough to make even a Primordial Ancestor despair.
But Zhang Ruochen would not despair. His heart was immensely strong. No matter how great the pressure, he would face it with the most relaxed demeanor.
If his state of mind collapsed first, in battle, he would surely die.
If his state of mind remained unbroken, his Dao would not break, and his power would be inexhaustible.
"Collect the Nine Cauldrons as quickly as possible. That is your only way to oppose her."
Ling Yanzi could offer no other advice. If the Great Venerable were still here, he could join Zhang Ruochen in fighting the Immortal, carving out a future in the dark and lightless apocalyptic era. Unfortunately, the Great Venerable...
After waiting so many years, she had long since lost hope.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I came here not only to inform you that I will take the Universe Cauldron but also for two other matters. The first is that I want to try to repair the severed River of Time."
Ling Yanzi was not hopeful. She said calmly, "Repairing is often harder than severing. The River of Time was cut by the Nether Ancestor at this point in time, containing his most extreme Dao. Breaking his Dao is very difficult, and it might even alert the Nether Ancestor's true body at this point in time, bringing you deadly danger. If it could be repaired, the Great Venerable would have done it himself long ago and returned from the past. Besides the Great Venerable, there are the Witch Ancestors, and they couldn't repair it either."
Zhang Ruochen said, "No matter how dangerous, I must try. Perhaps the Great Venerable is on the other side of the broken River of Time? The Great Venerable couldn't do it, I couldn't do it alone, but together, we might."
A glimmer of light appeared in Ling Yanzi's dim pupils. She stood up from the reef, her clothes fluttering, her bearing heroic and unmatched.
That was indeed a possibility!
She explained, "The He Luo Sea is extremely special. It might have evolved at the very beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, which is why it has survived through the Great Calamity."
"The time dimension and the space dimension are usually parallel, complementing each other, together forming the universe world we understand. But here, the two dimensions are perpendicular."
Ling Yanzi pointed at the boundless sea, then waved her sleeve, sending out a surge of Hongmeng energy.
The sea surface was lifted up by the energy.
Arcing waves rolled endlessly into the distance. Where the sea was lifted, it was very flat, covered by a layer of Nether Light.
Zhang Ruochen pondered, then suddenly understood. "I see! When the He Luo Fish go downward, passing through the Nether Light, they go to the past of the River of Time. When they leap upward out of the sea, they go to the future of the River of Time. The Nether Light is the power of the Nether Ancestor that severed the River of Time. The power of the time dimension manifests in the space dimension here."
"Exactly!"
Ling Yanzi continued, "Repairing the broken River of Time is almost impossible, but with your Primordial Ancestor cultivation, at this location in the He Luo Sea, building a bridge is worth a try."
"Try, then try."
"Boom!"
For the first time, Zhang Ruochen fully mobilized the power within him. Instantly, the heaven and earth rules of the entire Divine Ancient Nest boiled. His arms spread wide, and the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal unfolded before him.
The Taiji rotated, the Four Symbols cycled.
It was as if all the various Daos of the world converged, wondrous and unparalleled.
"Hua!"
He soared into the air, his body blazing and bright. Every breath affected time and space. Suddenly, he struck the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal downward, using all his strength, aiming at the Nether Light layer on the sea surface. If he could pierce through the Nether Light, he could open a passage connecting the past and future.
If he could even cross the past and future, what in heaven and earth could stop him?
Building a bridge—power was the bridge.
"Boom!"
But the moment the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal collided with the Nether Light, the time rules of heaven and earth crazily surged toward Zhang Ruochen.
Each time rule was like a divine sword, slashing at him. This was time backlash!
The surrounding scene changed dramatically. The He Luo Sea disappeared, the reefs and sand vanished.
Zhang Ruochen appeared in the time dimension, standing at the edge of the broken River of Time. The Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal in his palm was not striking downward but toward the past.
The Nether Light that had severed the River of Time was completely unmovable, not even flickering.
He had to oppose not only the Nether Ancestor, who had cast the spell to sever the River of Time at this point, but also the world itself, heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruochen had another preparation. He shouted, "Miao Li!"
"Hua!"
The Sundial flew out from his Xuan Embryo.
The sundial needle struck the Nether Light.
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal. His body was like a blazing sun, unleashing the terrifying might of a Primordial Ancestor, as if to crush past and present.
He spread his five fingers and struck the Sundial heavily with one palm, unleashing infinite power through it.
Even the forty-nine clusters of Dao Light flew out from his body, each like a cosmic vortex, with surging energy.
And the Strange Domain in his Xuan Embryo also spewed endless matter, energy, and rules.
"Boom!"
A rain of absolute self-time imprint light scattered from the Sundial, invading the broken part of the River of Time.
Gradually.
The sundial needle pressed the Nether Light inward, and the cliff of the River of Time became uneven, with ripples and creases.
It was shaken!
But only for an instant. Time power, overwhelming backlash, came. The time of billions of years of the past all slashed toward Zhang Ruochen and the Sundial.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God, as the artifact spirit, could not possibly withstand it. Zhang Ruochen immediately took it into his Xuan Embryo, along with his new clothes.
And he alone bore the backlash of this time power.
If the Eon Slash of the Time Sword Art could cut off a deity's lifespan of one eon,
The time backlash just now was like a hundred eons stacked together in an Eon Slash. Even a Primordial Ancestor would have all their lifespan cut off by one strike.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen had anticipated this and made ample preparations. When the backlash of heaven and earth struck him, the skin on his body transformed into the patterns of the Origin Cauldron.
The Universe Cauldron, Heaven Cauldron, and Victory Crown all appeared, protecting his chest, back, and head respectively.
After a dizzying spin, Zhang Ruochen, knocked backward by the backlash, stabilized himself on the River of Time. His internal organs were damaged, and a trace of blood hung at the corner of his mouth.
His first battle at full strength was lost to heaven and earth.
Was it only to heaven and earth? Had the Nether Ancestor exerted any power?
Zhang Ruochen looked at the River of Time, now turbulent because of him, and let out a long sigh.
The power of heaven and earth was irresistible. In the end, it was a failure.
When the Nether Ancestor severed the River of Time back then, the backlash of heaven and earth he endured must have been even more terrifying than what Zhang Ruochen faced today. It was unknown how he managed it.
To prevent the Witch Ancestors from descending into the future again and to trap the Great Venerable, he must have paid a great price.
Zhang Ruochen walked step by step back to the broken part of the River of Time, looking at the vertical cliff, and whispered apologetically, "I'm sorry!"
To build a bridge at the broken point was to simultaneously bear the counterattack of both heaven and earth and the Nether Ancestor's power.
He had brought hope to Ling Yanzi, only to plunge her into deeper despair. Naturally, Zhang Ruochen felt guilty.
Soon, fighting spirit returned to Zhang Ruochen's eyes. With a full and vigorous spirit, he said, "However, at least it proves one thing: the broken River of Time is not unshakable. When my cultivation advances further and reaches 'Always Consistent,' I will definitely try again."
The number of great evolution is fifty. In the Wuji Divine Dao, this corresponds to the martial Dao of "Having a Beginning and an End," equivalent to the ninety-fifth level of spiritual power.
And the number of heaven and earth is fifty-five, representing the perfection of the realm, corresponding to the ninety-sixth level of spiritual power.
The higher level, "Heaven Begins, Self Ends," means born from heaven, dying by oneself. If one does not want to die, one can use certain methods to extend life infinitely.
In other words, heaven can only give birth to him but cannot kill him.
The Immortal is at this realm!
Currently, Zhang Ruochen cannot see this realm, cannot deduce it, cannot understand it, and naturally does not know how many clusters of Dao Light need to be cultivated to reach "Heaven Begins, Self Ends."
"Myriad Forms in Chaos, Entropy Never Reverses."
Not far away, Ling Yanzi murmured, her emotions quite stirred.
Zhang Ruochen looked over and asked, "Spirit Ancestor, what do you mean?"
Ling Yanzi held a He Luo Fish in her hands, her emotions out of control, tears in her eyes. She murmured again, "Myriad Forms in Chaos, Entropy Never Reverses. Ruochen... the Great Venerable is on the other side of the broken River of Time! This is the information he sent back! You did not fail; you succeeded. You both succeeded!"
Ling Yanzi looked down at the time cliff.
Below, covered by Nether Light, there was nothing. But she knew that on the other side of the Nether Light layer, the Great Venerable must be standing there.
Zhang Ruochen took the He Luo Fish from Ling Yanzi's hands. On the fish scales, there were indeed the eight characters "Myriad Forms in Chaos, Entropy Never Reverses."
It was the handwriting and aura of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. Clearly, if Zhang Ruochen had not just used his Primordial Ancestor cultivation to shake the River of Time, weakening the barrier, this He Luo Fish, carrying divine detection and text, could never have come from the past to here.
That the Great Venerable could send back information at least proved he was still alive.
Ling Yanzi was not an ordinary person after all. She quickly composed herself, regained her calm and rationality, and analyzed the significance of the divine detection in the message the Great Venerable had sent back.
These eight characters were definitely extraordinary.
"I understand!"
Zhang Ruochen seemed to realize something and said, "When I came last time, Spirit Ancestor told me that the Great Venerable said he was going to a very far place to find the original answer. If he couldn't find that answer, everything would eventually head toward silence and extinction."
Ling Yanzi's gaze sharpened. "Do you mean these eight characters are the answer the Great Venerable found?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded. "The very far place the Great Venerable spoke of should refer to the past, an extremely distant past. The answer he sought—I initially thought it was to find the secret of the Immortal. Now it seems the Great Venerable's thoughts and concerns go far beyond that. The answer he wanted to find should be the cause of the Great Calamity."
"Compared to the Immortal, the Great Calamity that destroys everything is even more terrifying."
No matter how strong the Immortal was, even if they reached a state where heaven could not kill them, Zhang Ruochen had full confidence to perish together with them.
Sacrificing oneself to protect the people, things, and matters one wanted to protect—Xumi Saint Monk could do it, the Twenty-Four Heavens of that era could do it, Yan Huanyu could do it, and Zhang Ruochen could naturally do it as well.
But the Great Calamity could not be resisted by sacrificing oneself.
"The Great Venerable has given me another problem! He found the cause of the Great Calamity but did not provide a solution."
Sacrificing oneself to protect the people, things, and matters one wanted to protect—Xumi Saint Monk could do it, the Twenty-Four Heavens of that era could do it, Yan Huanyu could do it, and Zhang Ruochen could naturally do it as well.
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly and shook his head with a light sigh.
Jie Tian was not wrong in saying that it had always been the Great Venerable who laid out the plans in the past, while Zhang Ruochen was responsible for turning those plans into reality in the future.
One set the problems in the past, the other solved them in the future.
Zhang Ruochen gradually stopped smiling, a trace of helplessness and desolation in his seriousness. "Since the cause has been found, there must be a way to resolve the Great Calamity. For now, the Immortal of the Divine Realm is the greatest threat. To defeat them, we must first find them."
"What do you want me to do?" Ling Yanzi asked.
Zhang Ruochen would not say such things to her without reason. If he said it, there must be a purpose.
Zhang Ruochen looked deeply at her and said, word by word, "I want to borrow your life!"
Ling Yanzi's eyes held a smile, without even a moment's hesitation. She asked, "How do you intend to borrow it?"
"Use you as bait to lure the Immortal of the Divine Realm into making a move. If successful, you will die, but I promise you, the Immortal of the Divine Realm will not survive either!"
With the eight-character message sent back by the Great Venerable, the possibility of resolving the Great Calamity existed. Zhang Ruochen could then, without any lingering worries, make a life-or-death decision with the Immortal of the Divine Realm.
The most fearsome thing was not death. If heaven could not kill me, I would kill them myself.