In the stone temple, the Mani Pearl illuminated the darkness with shimmering specks of light, resplendent in six vivid colours.
At the centre of the stone temple, within a pool of the Spring of Life, floated a delicate body as white and smooth as congealed fat.
Half submerged in the water, half rising above it.
The outline of the delicate body was breathtakingly beautiful, slender yet with soft, graceful curves, full and plump where it should be, like downy and erect swells. Beneath skin like immortal jade, spiritual light seeped out, emanating a rich, fragrant aroma.
The Wonderful Zen Woman slowly awoke, her eyes opening, dazed for an instant before bursting with sharp radiance. She stood straight up from the Spring of Life, her toes lightly touching the water surface like a dragonfly skimming water.
Zhang Ruochen sat at the door of the stone temple, studying the Dark Domain Heavenly Net. Hearing the sound from behind and knowing she had awakened, he said, “Put on some clothes. I have something to discuss with you.”
The Wonderful Zen Woman glanced down at her body, and in the next instant, a cyan Buddhist robe enveloped her.
It was unclear whether it was a genuine Buddhist robe or one conjured by illusion.
Zhang Ruochen continued studying the Dark Domain Heavenly Net, this treasure of immense power and god-slaying capability surprisingly lacking a spirit core.
At this moment, Yin Xue Tian’s dojo had transformed into a lone island, adrift in this dark spatial realm. In Zhang Ruochen’s field of view ahead lay countless fragments of continents, resembling a scene of heaven and earth’s destruction.
After Wujiang and Mohe Yan’s deaths, besides finding their divine sources, Zhang Ruochen had only the Dark Domain Heavenly Net as his spoil of war.
As for the dark mysteries Wujiang commanded, in the instant of his death, they evaporated like a drop of water turning to vapour, returning to the world at large. Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen was not a master of the dark path, nor did he have deep insights into it.
Thus, before the dark mysteries fully dissipated, relying solely on the Infinite Sacred Intent and the Eternal Return to One Domain, he managed to collect merely one millionth of them.
With the quantity of mysteries Zhang Ruochen now grasped, he truly looked down on this mere one millionth of dark mysteries, but it sufficed for comprehending the dark path!
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen’s neck felt a chill.
The Wonderful Zen Woman held an ice sword, standing behind him, its tip pointed at the back of his neck.
Zhang Ruochen merely paused slightly before his expression returned to normal. He stored away the Dark Domain Heavenly Net and said, “With your unparalleled cultivation, Wonderful Zen Woman, why use a sword to kill me if you wish to?”
The Wonderful Zen Woman said, “Do you truly believe that because you saved me, I will not kill you?”
“You are right. In this world, fools who die at the hands of those they saved are far too numerous,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
The Wonderful Zen Woman said, “Then why did you not kill me? Why save me and not leave immediately?”
“Because of Yun Qing Ancient Buddha.”
Zhang Ruochen continued, “I once promised the ancient Buddha that I would do my utmost to resolve the hatred between our two families. Thus, I had to save you!”
“I saved you and stayed not to earn your gratitude, but because of the Three Lives Gate.”
“You took the Three Lives Gate, did you not?”
“Yun Qing Ancient Buddha’s response body is within the Three Lives Gate. I promised the elder to take his response body out of the Abyss of Darkness and aid his reincarnation.”
“A promise made must be kept, no matter what.”
“What if I told you that Yun Qing Ancient Buddha’s response body has already been refined by me?” the Wonderful Zen Woman said.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze darkened.
The Wonderful Zen Woman smiled and added, “I see. You merely want the Three Lives Gate for yourself. It is the inheritance of a divine venerable, enough to save you vast amounts of cultivation time.”
“Think what you will!”
Zhang Ruochen stood up, facing her, and said, “Give me the Three Lives Gate, and we are even. You owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing. Of course, that assumes the ancient Buddha’s response body has not perished. Otherwise, the grudge between us would be immense!”
The Wonderful Zen Woman had never encountered a situation like today’s. She had fallen into a death trap, only to be saved by her own enemy. To be precise, Zhang Ruochen was not even her enemy, for he lacked the qualifications.
At this moment, she found Zhang Ruochen utterly ridiculous, the entire affair utterly laughable.
Her very survival was the most laughable part.
She said, “You do not truly believe I will not kill you, do you? Even if saving me resolves the enmity between our families, the mysteries on your body are reason enough for me to take your life. There could be no better justification for your death!”
“If you truly wished to kill me, you would not have said so much. You merely encountered something you cannot comprehend and wish to understand why I saved you. Because you have never met someone like me before.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “I have explained clearly why I saved you. You should believe me. You should learn to trust others. By refusing to trust anyone, you will forever lack true friends or those worthy of your trust.”
Zhang Ruochen had always been willing to trust others, and because of that, though his true friends to whom he could entrust everything were few, they did exist.
Trusting others might lead to pain.
But those unwilling to trust anyone were doomed to live in suffering.
Zhang Ruochen’s words struck the Wonderful Zen Woman’s heart like a merciless sword.
In this calamity, if she had even one or two gods around her worthy of complete trust, how could she have been so humiliated by a mere Wujiang?
With her resolute will, the Wonderful Zen Woman quickly regained her composure and said, “You, Zhang Ruochen, are indeed brilliantly clever, making you hard to fathom. Yet no matter how eloquently you speak, I could still kill you with a snap of my fingers.”
“I suspect your saving me and staying behind must involve deeper schemes. What exactly are you plotting? Do you seek my trust to borrow my power, so the Nether Hall ceases using the Dao Severing Curse to suppress you?”
Zhang Ruochen revealed a helpless smile.
“Am I correct?” the Wonderful Zen Woman asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Do you not know that the Dao Severing Curse on me has already been lifted?”
“Is that so?”
Zhang Ruochen added, “You cannot discern whether I have resolved the Dao Severing Curse. Can you not sense that the Withering Death Absolute on you has receded?”
This time, the Wonderful Zen Woman truly felt her heart stir. Her gaze abruptly turned back to the lotus on the divine altar, and the six-coloured radiance emanating from the lotus.
Her steadfast inner resolve trembled, her eyes fixed in concentration.
The ice sword in her hand dissolved into vapour.
“The Mani Pearl! You truly found the Mani Pearl?”
The Wonderful Zen Woman hurried to the edge of the divine altar, her hands gently cradling it forward, her inner agitation beyond words.
Tears fell from those eyes beautiful as stars.
The thing she had always sought, which she believed illusory and forever unattainable, now appeared before her. This was even more shocking and moving than her resurrection from death.
From childhood, she had endured the torment of Withering Death Absolute countless times, the agony unbearable.
Each torment deepened her hatred for the Immovable Wisdom King Divine Venerable by a fraction.
Zhang Ruochen followed into the stone temple and said, “Now, do you still think I have ulterior motives?”
The Wonderful Zen Woman glanced back at him.
Zhang Ruochen had never seen such an expression in her eyes. His heart tightened, and he quickly said, “Are you not curious how I survived the seventy-two Demon God Stone Pillars, how I escaped the Ancient Desolate Ruins City? To tell the truth, I met the ancestor Ling Yanzi. She is in the Ancient Desolate Ruins City. It was she who gave me the Mani Pearl. You should know how terrifying the sensory abilities of a powerhouse of her level are. If you dare strike to kill me, you would die as well.”
“That is why I dare remain here!”
The Wonderful Zen Woman revealed a disdainful look and said, “Why lie before a great god? If Ling Yanzi were truly alive, truly in the Ancient Desolate Ruins City, how could you be injured? Why did she not intervene when you fought Wujiang?”
Though the Wonderful Zen Woman had not witnessed Zhang Ruochen’s battle with Wujiang, she had deduced the entire prior fight from the traces in the stone temple.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Very well! The truth is, the senior expert I met in the Ancient Desolate Ruins City was the Heavenly Matron.”
“If you had said that from the start, I might have believed a portion.”
The Wonderful Zen Woman lifted the lotus holding the Mani Pearl and said, “I know you spoke those words merely to intimidate me and preserve your life. No need to be so tense. Since you saved me and delivered the Mani Pearl, I already believe you truly wish to resolve the enmity between our families. Killing you…”
Her lips moved before she continued, “Killing you would feel like owing your Zhang family and the Immovable Wisdom King Divine Venerable yet again. It is truly a headache.”
Zhang Ruochen watched her quietly.
Yet the Wonderful Zen Woman showed a surprised expression and said, “You do not even refute my earlier words? Could it be that from the beginning, you truly intended to give me the Mani Pearl?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “This too is a promise I made to Yun Qing Ancient Buddha!”
“I am truly growing more distrustful of your words, Zhang Ruochen. It is as if you are using the pursuits of wooing a woman on me. I shall ask Ancestor Yun Qing myself!”
The Wonderful Zen Woman took out the Three Lives Gate.
In the next moment, Zhang Ruochen found himself within the Three Lives Gate, standing on water as still as a calm lake.
On the water surface, the phantom of Yun Qing Ancient Buddha emerged.
Seeing Yun Qing Ancient Buddha’s response body, Zhang Ruochen breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking to himself that the Wonderful Zen Woman was not utterly irredeemable.
Yun Qing Ancient Buddha was the transmission master of Yin Xue Tian and the Sixth Ancestor, counting as the Wonderful Zen Woman’s ancestral master. If she dared refine even her ancestral master, then should Zhang Ruochen achieve great cultivation in the future, he would surely slay her.
Yun Qing Ancient Buddha’s response body was already quite faint and said, “Since the Mani Pearl has been found, both the Dao Severing Curse and Withering Death Absolute can be resolved. Before my reincarnation, I truly hope to see you two reconcile and not let the hatred persist.”
“Ruochen, you are a good child. Shumi did not misjudge. As for cultivating Buddha… never mind!”
“Wonderful, the enmities of the past hold too many hidden truths, not all the fault of the Immovable Wisdom King Divine Venerable.”
“Will you two promise your ancestral master that from now on, you will no longer be enemies?”
Zhang Ruochen bowed deeply and said, “As long as she no longer views me with enmity, I can embrace all with open arms.”
“Can you represent the Zhang family? Can you set aside the hatreds of the past, and will they as well?” the Wonderful Zen Woman asked.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze was firmer than ever, and he said, “I can.”
“Good! From this day forward, all grievances are erased. As for the Nether Hall’s Dao Severing Curse, I shall resolve it myself.” The Wonderful Zen Woman showed remarkable resolve in making this pledge.
This was no simple promise!
Rather, it was profoundly weighty.
After emerging from the Three Lives Gate, the Wonderful Zen Woman looked at Zhang Ruochen not with mere approval, but with a deeper emotion, and said, “You truly are remarkable, Zhang Ruochen. Regardless of whether your actions today hold hidden purposes, you have now earned my admiration among those I respect.”
“You are not calling me foolish?” Zhang Ruochen said.
The Wonderful Zen Woman replied, “If you were truly foolish, would I not seem even more foolish for admiring a fool? You truly are remarkable. I even feel as though I owe you something.”
