Chapter 4213: Arrival
Waiting here in desolation for hundreds of thousands of years, each day indistinguishable from the next.
Ling Yanzi had long since seen through everything, and could accept any outcome.
Given Zhang Ruochen's extraordinary realm in the present, even after struggling against the backlash of heaven and earth, he had only managed to bring back eight words.
It was clear that relying on the He Luo fish he had raised, and the fish bridge they formed, it was fundamentally impossible to bring back the Great Venerable. Everything was merely her own delusion.
To be precise, both she and the Great Venerable should belong to the past.
They did not belong to this era.
Ling Yanzi even pondered whether she should guide the Great Venerable to the future, or if she herself should return to the past. To return to the day of their separation, to face the challenges together with the Great Venerable, regardless of life or death.
Having seen through the power that severed the River of Time, realizing it was impossible to resist, and that the past was already fixed, she became calm in the face of life and death.
She said, "If you kill him, you will die too."
Zhang Ruochen revealed a smile, extremely free and easy, pointing at the surging River of Time: "This is a war. In war, how can there be no casualties? Only naive people fantasize about a complete victory. And naive people often suffer the worst defeats and die the fastest. If I did not have a heart prepared for death, then in this battle, I would surely die, and the Immortal of the Divine Realm would surely achieve a great victory."
Ling Yanzi gazed at this junior before her, seeming to see the Great Venerable as he was when he left back then: "Your smile is not sincere. There is much helplessness in your carefreeness. You are merely forcing yourself forward with willpower. It shows that in that future era, there are people and things you deeply cherish."
In Zhang Ruochen's mind, familiar figures flashed by—some laughing, some crying, some together, some parting. Many bittersweet memories passed through.
He said, "Isn't that how everyone is? Facing death and challenges with a smile is always more dignified than moving forward in tears. Besides moving forward and facing them, do we have the possibility of escape? Do we have any other choice?"
"Ancestor Ling, the Great Venerable is on the other side of the Nether Light. Can you let go of this attachment accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years of waiting?"
"On the other side? Within reach, yet infinitely distant." Ling Yanzi looked at the Nether Light mist below the Time Cliff. The Primordial Divine Qi that had been flowing from her fingertips for hundreds of thousands of years was severed.
With this severance, all hope was cut off, and the obsession within her heart was severed.
Without the nourishment of Primordial Divine Qi, the rate at which He Luo fish were born in the He Luo Sea slowed.
The He Luo fish no longer swam like moths to a flame toward the cliff.
Zhang Ruochen could feel the sorrow and pain in Ling Yanzi's heart. Even if she was calm, even if she was rational, it was still hundreds of thousands of years of persistence.
But soon, Zhang Ruochen realized that she had let go of her obsession.
The sorrow and pain in her eyes dissipated, replaced by an unprecedented openness. It was like walking out of a narrow, dark room into a clear, boundless sky.
Her state of mind seemed to have improved again!
Ling Yanzi asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Zhang Ruochen looked at the He Luo fish in the palm of his right hand, which carried the Great Venerable's aura and the eight ancestral words "Myriad Forms in Chaos, Entropy Increases Irreversibly." He gently waved his left hand, and the eight ancestral words fell off.
"Ancestor Ling, if I send these eight ancestral words into the future, can I lure the Immortal of the Divine Realm here?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Ling Yanzi pondered deeply, then said, "If the Immortal of the Divine Realm comes to this era, they will also be counterattacked by the power of time and suppressed by the power of heaven and earth. The higher their cultivation, the greater the suppression. Choosing this place as the battlefield would be more advantageous for us."
"However..."
"The fear is that before these eight ancestral words reach your era, the Immortal of the Divine Realm will detect them and bring the pond of this era to the Divine Ancient Nest. That would be extremely disadvantageous for us."
"Because this will inevitably and severely change the future, and all of this will be caused by you. You will bear the most terrifying backlash of heaven and earth."
Zhang Ruochen had long had a foolproof plan: "With the power of Wuji enveloping them, no matter how strong the Immortal of the Divine Realm is, they cannot detect them in advance on the River of Time. Moreover, if the pond can detect them, then the Nether Ancestor of this era will also be able to detect them. If I can take both of them away hundreds of thousands of years in advance, that might be an even more ideal outcome. The tragic fates of many cultivators who died due to the Nether Ancestor's schemes might change."
Ling Yanzi deduced for a long time, leaving only one final concern: "Do you believe that after you die, relying only on the eight words passed back by the Great Venerable, the cultivators of the future can deal with the Great Calamity on their own?"
Zhang Ruochen was full of confidence in many cultivators of the future: Heavenly Mother, Hao Tian, Fengdu Dadi, Yan Wushen, Chi Yao, Dragon Lord, Desolate Heaven, Patriarch Xue Jue...
A most sincere smile appeared on his face: "That is a great era of heroes contending for supremacy. There are too many exceptionally talented individuals, countless cultivators with great wisdom, great boldness, and great decisiveness. I am merely luckier, with many people paving the way for me, that I have walked ahead of them. They will surely be able to decipher the eight-word heavenly secret passed down by the Great Venerable from the past, and they will surely be able to walk out of the Great Calamity."
Ling Yanzi became interested in the great era Zhang Ruochen described, saying, "Since you have such firm conviction, how could I not help you? If we can solve all the problems in this era, that would naturally be for the best."
"The past cannot be returned to, and the future does not belong to me. Dying in the present might be the best destination."
"Hua!"
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand, and the formless, shadowless power of Wuji enveloped the eight ancestral words, sending them down the River of Time toward the future.
The battle between the Eternal True Ruler and the Corpse Nightmare Ancestor was fierce, occurring in various dimensions, with power spreading to the Void World, Lihentian, the Heavenly Desolate Universe, the Earthly Desolate Universe, the past, and the future.
From the material level, they fought to the rule level.
Corpse Nightmare wielded the Time Cauldron "Zhou Ding," able to mobilize endless time power to empower himself, forming a massive vortex of time imprints.
He could also unleash a sky full of time rules to hinder the Eternal True Ruler's pursuit speed.
However, the ninety-sixth rank was, after all, a higher realm. The distance between the two kept narrowing.
The ancient wooden boat beneath Corpse Nightmare, originally an extremely divine treasure, had long been shattered. Now, using the Witch Cauldron as a boat, he commanded the witch rules of heaven and earth, moving even faster.
Witch rules were the most important cultivation rules of the ancient era, never having disappeared from heaven and earth, but they were unsuitable for cultivators of this era.
Yet, with the Witch Cauldron, he could greatly control this vast power that had been forgotten by all cultivators.
This was the power that once suppressed the Primordial Beings!
The Eternal True Ruler, stepping on a bright river of formation gods, pursued within a hundred billion li, saying, "What is the point of continuing to flee? Can you escape this world? It is merely a deathbed struggle."
Corpse Nightmare's state of mind was unaffected, and he instead laughed loudly:
"Can you kill me? The ninety-sixth rank is nothing special. With the three cauldrons, I can make up for the gap in realm."
The Eternal True Ruler said, "Since you have such confidence, why not fight head-on?"
"What I fear is the Seventy-Two Layer Tower, not you."
Although Corpse Nightmare said this, in his heart, he was not actually that afraid of the Seventy-Two Layer Tower and the Immortal of the Divine Realm. Because, when the time came, the Lady would surely act and would not abandon him as a discarded piece.
If the Lady abandoned him as a discarded piece, then he would have no reason to continue keeping her secrets.
No one would have an easy time!
He had been fighting with the Eternal True Ruler for several days, suffering many injuries. The situation had evolved to such an intense level, yet the Dark Sovereign and the White Jade Divine Emperor remained unmoved.
This made Corpse Nightmare extremely indignant.
Even mortals understood the principle that when the lips are gone, the teeth feel cold, yet the Ancestors did not understand, still standing by with folded arms.
He also thought that Heavenly Mother lacked wisdom and Zhang Ruochen lacked strategy, actually reaching an agreement with the Divine Realm. Once the Divine Realm dealt with the various Ancestors, how could the two of them escape the fate of dying and being used as medicine?
They had no vision at all, blinded by a bit of personal enmity.
"Connecting the Heavens."
The Eternal True Ruler formed an Ancestor-level space teleportation formation beneath his feet, crossing vast void space in an instant, breaking through time rules, and arriving within ten million li of Corpse Nightmare.
His mental power was released from his brow, and "Heavenly Will" transformed into a golden spear that pierced the universe, directly striking Corpse Nightmare's Ancestor spirit soul.
Corpse Nightmare truly felt the pressure of ninety-sixth rank mental power. His Ancestor soul was like a lone boat in a deep sea, with towering waves threatening to shatter it at any moment.
"Bang!"
He took out the Truth Cauldron and struck its body heavily.
Truth divine light and truth rules burst outward, like a great cosmic explosion, evolving into a boundless, starry universe.
It was not like the "Boundless Universe" realm form, but more like a real universe.
The Truth Universe could not block the Heavenly Will spear, but it continuously weakened its power.
"Boom!"
An extremely bright beam of truth light shot out from the giant eye on the cauldron's body, colliding with the Heavenly Will spear that had struck before him.
This was a clash of mental power and truth light, annihilating each other, forming ripples that spread outward.
Taking advantage of this brief moment, the Eternal True Ruler's figure appeared at the mouth of the Truth Cauldron, shifting from blurry to solid.
Even though Corpse Nightmare was battle-hardened, his heart still jumped. He then lifted the Witch Cauldron by its leg and struck out, saying, "A mental power Ancestor wants to engage in close combat with a martial Ancestor?"
The Eternal True Ruler looked down from above, his expression calm, raising his arm to meet the incoming Witch Cauldron.
"Chi chi!"
His arm was like a blade, his fingertips like edges, sliding across the Witch Cauldron, creating destructive sound waves.
Being stared at up close by the Eternal True Ruler, Corpse Nightmare's brow's Divine Martial Mark twitched.
Just a moment of distraction, and a mental power attack had already entered his Divine Sea.
This mental power attack unfolded like a chessboard in his Divine Sea.
Thousands of black and white chess pieces danced on the board. Suddenly, the thousands of chess pieces in the Divine Sea transformed into countless Ancestor beams shooting in all directions.
"Ha! Ha! Hmm..."
Some shot at the walls of the Divine Sea, some struck the Ancestor Divine Source, some attacked the Sea of Consciousness, some attacked the Divine Soul...
"Pfft!"
Corpse Nightmare spat blood, his spirit and energy wilting. This time, he was severely wounded!
But he was also extremely formidable. While striking with the Witch Cauldron, he had also activated the Truth Cauldron and the Time Cauldron.
The power unleashed by the Truth Cauldron shook the Eternal True Ruler back.
The power of the Time Cauldron allowed him to escape on a temporal level, once again putting distance between them.
Only the hem of the Eternal True Ruler's robe was damaged; he was not injured. He said, "In close combat at the same realm, a martial Ancestor has the advantage. But with a difference of one realm, the gap is like heaven and earth."
"If not for the influence of the Divine Martial Mark, how could you have injured me so easily?"
Corpse Nightmare quickly healed.
The Eternal True Ruler said, "If your cultivation reaches 'Always One,' how could the Divine Martial Mark still constrain you? Your Divine Sea and Divine Source would no longer be weaknesses, and you would be unassailable."
Corpse Nightmare's heart stirred greatly, and his gaze involuntarily glanced toward Lihentian.
He had plans to break through to the "Always One" realm, but the process would be grand and time-consuming. And the Divine Realm would never give him this opportunity; they would surely do everything to kill him while he was breaking through.
Now, it seemed the time had come to break through.
If he succeeded, the sky would be the limit. Even figures like the Lady and the Immortal of the Divine Realm could be challenged. He would truly live as an Ancestor should, truly controlling his own future, and even the future of the universe.
The only thing he worried about now was the Seventy-Two Layer Tower sitting in the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom.
Suddenly.
The time rules of the entire cosmic space trembled.
The eight words "Myriad Forms in Chaos, Entropy Increases Irreversibly" were heard by many cultivators in various star regions, like a voice coming from ancient times.
At the same time, these eight ancestral words, carrying the Great Venerable's aura, appeared in the starry sky above the Divine Ancient Nest.
Each word was larger than a star, shining brightly, lingering for a long time.
Cultivators below the level of gods had no idea what had happened, nor could they understand the meaning of this sentence.
But the old giants of the Heavenly Court, Sword Realm, and Hell Realm, looking at the eight ancestral words in the starry sky, were all shaken in spirit.
An old man at the God Venerable level was so excited that tears streamed down his face, roaring to the sky: "It's the Great Venerable's aura... He has returned! The Great Venerable has returned!"
"The Great Venerable is indeed not dead! The Ancestor is indeed not dead! Great! How can there be so many good news lately? So uplifting! Ah, it's not easy at all!"
Jie Zunzhe and the Golden Lion Ancestor embraced each other, weeping together.
No.
The Golden Lion Ancestor was not crying, nor did he want to embrace Jie Zunzhe. Instead, he was struggling and rolling with all four limbs, barking wildly, wanting to rush to the Divine Ancient Nest immediately.
The Golden Lion Ancestor was, after all, a Half-Ancestor at the peak, not someone Jie Zunzhe could match. After a few rolls, he shook off Jie Zunzhe and quickly rushed out of Chaotian Que.
Chi Yao was very calm, but her brows were tightly furrowed, showing worry.
The Great Venerable's return was certainly good news. But had the Great Venerable truly returned?
The Immortal would never allow the Great Venerable to descend upon this era.
And Zhang Ruochen happened to be at the Divine Ancient Nest, going to see Ling Yanzi. Would he be implicated and intercepted by the Immortal?
Zangjin Baihu came behind her, saying, "It seems that a decisive battle is bound to break out at the Divine Ancient Nest. Should we go there?"
"No!"
Chi Yao's reason overcame her emotions, her eyes still so calm: "I promised Chen Ge that I would play this chess game below the Ancestor level for him, and I must not fail. Besides, only eight ancestral words have appeared, which doesn't explain anything. For now, let's wait and see."
Looking at the three World Trees in the distant starry sky, Chi Yao sent a divine thought to the Yama Heaven Beyond Heaven: "Feng Tian, Nutian Shenzun, activate the Fate Twelve Phases Divine Formation, attack the Divine Talisman Army, and at the fastest speed, join Yan Wushen to crush them."
"Has the Great Venerable truly returned? It doesn't seem quite right. These eight ancestral words flew from the past."
The Dragon Lord stood in the Heavenly Palace, gazing at the starry sky. At the same time, he used his Half-Ancestor divine thought to deduce.
But the Half-Ancestor divine thought, at a certain point in the past, was scattered by an unknown force.
"No matter how high the Great Venerable's cultivation realm is, his limited lifespan probably cannot sustain him to live to this era. Forcibly descending into the future may not be a good thing." Gai Mie was not as ecstatic as other cultivators, but analyzed rationally.
Feng Yan said, "You, a Chaos Ancient Demon God, can dominate in this era. How can you, a Heavenly Venerable-level existence, be measured by your standards?"
Gai Mie smiled without speaking.
Zhang Hongchen had been sealed and imprisoned by Feng Yan, but could still speak. She laughed like silver bells, saying, "You call yourselves All Heavens and Half-Ancestors, yet you miss the point. Don't you know that the truly important thing is those eight words? Why would an existence like the Great Venerable send these eight words to the future? The River of Time has clearly been severed, how did he do it?"
Seeing this variable, Corpse Nightmare thought to himself, Heaven does not abandon me, a heavenly opportunity.
He solidified his intention to break through his realm today. His eyes shifted, and he laughed, "The River of Time has been severed, but the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's ancestral words have been sent to this era. It shows that he has crossed the Time Cliff. Yan Tingqiu, if your Divine Realm does not act to intercept, everything will be too late!"
"Even if he truly comes to this era, what can he do? The Seventy-Two Layer Tower has been forged successfully, capable of suppressing all Ancestors."
Although the Eternal True Ruler said this casually, he secretly released two streams of mental power.
One entered the River of Time, flowing upstream toward the past, probing the severed point of time.
The other entered the Divine Ancient Nest, to determine whether the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable had already descended.
"If the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable can cross the severed time, don't you understand what this means? Would his cultivation still fear the Seventy-Two Layer Tower? Add Zhang Ruochen and Heavenly Mother, does your Divine Realm have a chance of victory?"
Leaving this sentence behind, Corpse Nightmare shattered space and laughed loudly as he headed toward the Heavenly Court.
Before breaking through his realm, he had to seize the power of the four great ancestral witches: the Nuwa Palace from Feng Yan, the Dragon Nest from Jiwang, the Truth Heart from Xiang Chunan, and the Ten Thousand Epochs Merit of the Kasyapa Buddha from Cihang Zunzhe.
The Eternal True Ruler quickly probed and got results, his brows raised.
In his mind, the clear figure of Ling Yanzi appeared.
She was traveling down the River of Time, heading toward the future, her figure very distant and blurry.
The Eternal True Ruler's mental power thoughts tried to approach, but were scattered by an Ancestor-level force. This force was indeed exactly the same as the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's.
The Eternal True Ruler looked toward the Seventy-Two Layer Tower at the top of Lihentian.
But he saw that the tower was completely still, showing no intention of intercepting.
"So calm? So confident that he can deal with the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, Zhang Ruochen, and Heavenly Mother all at once?"
The Eternal True Ruler muttered to himself, a complex smile appearing on his face.
Even with mental power at the ninety-sixth rank, he still found it difficult to fathom him, completely unable to see through him. His heart was like eternal darkness, like an endless universe.
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower did not move, so naturally, the Eternal True Ruler did not move either.
"He did not take the bait."
Ling Yanzi was neither sad nor happy, walking on the River of Time. She had already walked for hundreds of thousands of years and was about to reach the future era where Zhang Ruochen was.
"He did not take the bait, which means the pond already knew about the He Luo Sea, understood your situation, and knew that you could not guide the Great Venerable over."
"Hua!"
As the voice sounded, Zhang Ruochen's figure appeared beside Ling Yanzi, taking on the appearance and temperament of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable—unmoving as a mountain, yet full of vigor.
The divine thoughts and mental power that had probed into the past were scattered by the power he had manifested.
The Wuji Divine Dao could manifest the power and aura of any cultivator.
The two stepped out of the River of Time simultaneously, appearing by the He Luo Sea.
They had returned to their original time and space.
"I'm sorry, I miscalculated. In the future, when I break through to 'Always One,' I will do my utmost to go to the Time Cliff and guide the Great Venerable back." Zhang Ruochen frowned, apologizing like this.
Ling Yanzi spread her arms, closed her eyes, and felt the rules of heaven and earth belonging to this era.
These rules were all attacking her, with time rules being the most ferocious, like billions of divine needles piercing.
But it was not a big problem; she was already used to it.
When she stayed at the severed point of time, she was still attacked by time rules.
As long as she avoided fighting as much as possible and did not affect this era on a large scale, she could withstand the backlash of time power.
She said, "Zhang Ruochen, since we met, you have already apologized to me twice. Why do you have so much guilt? Always feeling that you owe others, how tired have you been living this life?"
"You are an Ancestor. Your will is a divine decree. Whether you succeed or fail, whatever consequences you cause, you should have no regrets. No one can make you apologize."
"Besides, you have not done anything wrong. Everything was my own choice."
"This era is quite good. I am very interested. Thank you for leading me out of my obsession and into this magnificent great era."
Zhang Ruochen never expected that someone like Ling Yanzi, who had experienced so much hardship and helplessness, could still have such an optimistic side.
Infected by her, Zhang Ruochen smiled, "Ancestor Ling, don't worry about the backlash of time. Do whatever you want. I can use the Wuji Divine Dao to protect you. Leap out of the Five Elements and Karma, not bound by the Heavenly Dao constraints."
Ling Yanzi, barefoot with snow-white jade feet, strolled on the beach, saying, "Why haven't you changed back yet?"
"No rush! By appearing in the Great Venerable's form for just a moment, I might gain unexpected rewards, enough to influence many things."
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen looked toward the massive tree shadow of the Divine Ancient Nest's Ancestral God in the mist, his eyes gradually becoming deep and gloomy. He asked, "Ancestral God, can you tell me, what did Yunshen Daozhu do when he came to the Divine Ancient Nest back then?"
Zhang Ruochen naturally remembered what Chi Yao had told him on the Abyss of Darkness defense line—that she and Zangjin Baihu had taken Yunshen Daozhu to visit the Divine Ancient Nest.