In the divine hall, only Zhang Ruochen and Xu Tian, seated high upon the divine throne, remained.
Xu Tian gave a cold snort. “Playing clever in front of a Heaven is nothing short of utter foolishness.”
Zhang Ruochen knew full well the fury in Xu Tian’s heart. He dropped to one knee and admitted his fault. “Senior Xu Tian sees through all under heaven, discerning every detail. You must understand that everything in the Dark Triangle Starfield was Wu Yue’s scheme. If she had truly lost her memory and suffered grave injury, how could this junior have let her escape? Yet why was I instead robbed of the Universe Cauldron and the Heavenly Venerable treasure veil?”
“In the end, before a spiritual power expert of her calibre, this junior had no qualification to compete at all.”
“Wu Yue’s ambitions soar higher than the heavens. Her actions were both to avoid entering the Great Tribulation Palace and being bound by Senior Xu Tian, and to exploit Senior to unite the forces of Hell Realm, seeking to seize the City of Hundred Clans and Xing Huan Heaven in one stroke, profiting the Dark Temple.”
“In this struggle, this junior was the absolute victim.”
At this moment, there was no need for pretence. The two finally spoke openly.
Xu Tian glanced coldly at Zhang Ruochen. “If I did not know it was her little scheme, do you think you would still be alive?”
“Many thanks to Senior Xu Tian for sparing my life.” Zhang Ruochen said quickly.
Xu Tian continued, “Opposing this Heaven and even scheming against me, the Nine Deaths Emperor takes me, Xu Fengjin, far too lightly. This grudge will be settled with him sooner or later.”
Clearly, in Xu Tian’s view, neither Wu Yue nor Wu Bian would dare such audacity. It must have been at the Nine Deaths Emperor’s instigation.
This was perhaps one reason he had deliberately bestowed the marriage.
Xu Tian fixed his gaze on Zhang Ruochen. “You found the Sword Realm, didn’t you?”
Zhang Ruochen had long known Xu Tian would ask this. He controlled his heartbeat, breathing, and expression, remaining calm. With a bitter smile, he said, “If I had found the Sword Realm, why would this junior risk coming to Destiny Divine Mountain?”
“Then where did you and Ji Wang go during the time you both vanished?” Xu Tian asked.
This old fellow was far too shrewd.
His spiritual power was terrifying. Few things in the world could be hidden from him.
Ji Wang and Princess Fei Ma had clashed in the starry region where the Yaksha ancestral realm lay. Zhang Ruochen had emerged from the Dark Triangle Starfield almost simultaneously.
To claim he had not travelled with Ji Wang would be a lie even Zhang Ruochen himself would not believe.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Before Senior Xu Tian, I dare not lie. In the Dark Triangle Starfield, this junior was pursued by Ming Jian God. It was Dragon Lord who saved me.”
“A single Ming Jian God could make Ji Wang disappear for so long?” Xu Tian sneered.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Ming Jian God is naturally nothing before Dragon Lord, but Princess Fei Ma from the Primordial Chaos era is no easy opponent.”
Zhang Ruochen could only gamble that his Grand Master had indeed restrained Xu Tian in the Dark Triangle Starfield, preventing him from knowing everything that had occurred there.
Hearing the name Princess Fei Ma, Xu Tian’s expression indeed grew grave. “So you are saying your disappearance all this time was connected to Princess Fei Ma?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Princess Fei Ma was awakened by this junior, then suppressed within the Universe Cauldron. She must bear a grudge against me, which is why she targeted me everywhere in the Dark Triangle Starfield, seeking to kill me.”
A revived demon from the Primordial Chaos era.
To a figure of Xu Tian’s level, it was immensely alluring.
Xu Tian’s attention was drawn to Princess Fei Ma. “How did you awaken her? Tell me in detail. Leave nothing out.”
“To speak of it, this Princess Fei Ma has deep ties to Destiny Temple. In the Hunt Heaven Battle a thousand years ago, Destiny Temple had three candidates for divine maiden. The Pink Skull from Murderous Terror Divine Palace was one of them…”
Zhang Ruochen recounted everything carefully.
When he finished, Xu Tian’s expression grew increasingly solemn. “You are saying the Pink Skull’s skull contains a blood lake? Her divine soul and divine source are preserved within that blood lake?”
“That should be the case.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian asked, “She was killed four times, yet revived four times?”
“This is no secret. Senior Xu Tian could discern it with a single thought.” Zhang Ruochen replied.
“Could it be… the blood of an immortal? But how could true immortality exist?” Xu Tian murmured to himself.
Zhang Ruochen had never considered an immortal before. Hearing Xu Tian say this, he was inwardly shocked.
Indeed, apart from an immortal’s blood, what else could preserve a deity’s divine soul and source for so many years?
Had the Immovable Ming King Great Venerable of old discovered similar traces, which was why he searched everywhere for immortals?
Xu Tian said coldly, “Princess Fei Ma ranks thirty-eighth among the seventy-two pillar demon gods. In cultivation, she is no weaker than the current Heavenly Venerables of Heaven Court and Hell Realm. Yet her power is far from its peak. With Ji Wang’s strength, he still could not subdue her? Ji Wang must have sought to capture her alive, to seize the immortal blood within her.”
“That is beyond this junior’s knowledge. Immortality? In this world, is there truly anyone who does not die? Even gentle plant lifeforms, once they birth intelligence and embark on cultivation, perish in the kalpa tribulations.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian clearly agreed with Zhang Ruochen’s view. It was the belief he had held all his life. Yet a seed of immortality had been planted in his heart.
Crack!
The chains binding Zhang Ruochen all snapped, turning to iron dust that scattered across the floor.
“Many thanks, Senior Xu Tian.”
Zhang Ruochen knew that only now had the crisis truly been resolved.
Xu Tian said, “Do not thank me too soon. It is not that simple. Though this time it was the Dark Temple’s scheme, you slept with this Heaven’s woman. How could I swallow that insult?”
That Xu Tian could say this outright instead made Zhang Ruochen secretly relieved.
He feared Xu Tian would say nothing, for that would seem false. That would be true danger.
Xu Tian continued, “You offered the Universe Cauldron, showing some small cleverness. But the cauldron no longer belongs to you. This Heaven must seize it himself. Thus it cannot redeem your sin or repay my favour. Bring out the Reverse God Stele.”
Zhang Ruochen hesitated.
Xu Tian sneered. “If this Heaven wished to seize the Reverse God Stele by force, I would have done so in the Dark Triangle Starfield. But this Heaven disdains such acts. Times have changed. Debts owed must be repaid, must they not?”
Zhang Ruochen took out half the Reverse God Stele, supporting it with divine qi, and presented it to Xu Tian.
The stele flew automatically to Xu Tian. He examined it closely, fingers tracing the surface, his expression full of contemplation.
“This is the one the Sixth Ancestor brought back. The material is indeed extraordinary. It should not belong to this world.”
Xu Tian released divine qi into the stele. Characters upon it emerged one by one.
His brows furrowed. With a flick of his sleeve, all the characters were erased, leaving a plain stone.
The characters had been inscribed by Heaven Court’s gods when the court was founded ten thousand years ago. Clearly Xu Tian found them superfluous, obscuring the stele’s true nature.
Strands of rule divine patterns flowed from Xu Tian’s fingertips.
Yet before they could touch the Reverse God Stele, the patterns dissipated into nothingness.
“As expected, it tolerates no inscriptions or rules of this world. The thing is not indestructible, merely exceedingly strange. Could it be that three hundred thousand years ago, the place they went was there…” Xu Tian seemed to realise something. His eyes grew unusual.
Zhang Ruochen had long known that once the Reverse God Stele was revealed, he would likely lose it.
After all, it concerned the expedition three hundred thousand years ago by the twenty-four heavens into the unknown, touching the world’s greatest secret. The stronger one was, like Xu Tian, the more interested in such a secret.
Xu Tian’s expression suddenly changed. With a flick of his sleeve, the Reverse God Stele flew back beside Zhang Ruochen.
Xu Tian said, “This Heaven thought it extraordinary, yet ordinary deities can inscribe divine texts upon it. To existences of our level, a single strike could shatter it. Put it away. It is of no great use.”
Zhang Ruochen was stunned. He absolutely did not believe Xu Tian would find something the Sixth Ancestor and others had risked their lives to bring back uninteresting.
In truth, Xu Tian was far more than interested. He was utterly fascinated.
Fascinated enough to plan taking the Reverse God Stele and seeking the place the twenty-four heavens had conquered.
The thought was irrepressible.
Yet reason told Xu Tian that place must never be visited. He had to suppress the urge.
Even if he went, it must be after becoming invincible. To go now… he did not wish to follow in the footsteps of Reverse God Heavenly Venerable and the others.
Curiosity could kill a Heaven.
Xu Tian’s mind was hard to calm. He quickly said, “Zhang Ruochen, you scoundrel. Who told you to bring out the Reverse God Stele? What are you trying to do? Tempt this Heaven to retrace the path of the twenty-four heavens, to conquer that unknown place? Rest assured, once this Heaven defeats Feng Du and Hao Tian, becoming unrivalled in the world, I will certainly demand the Reverse God Stele from you. What those wastes like Reverse God Heavenly Venerable failed to achieve, this Heaven will surely crush flat.”
Zhang Ruochen felt inwardly stifled yet could not refute. He could only put the Reverse God Stele away again.
Xu Tian forcibly shifted his thoughts elsewhere. “Bring out that divine corpse. This Heaven will study it.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the divine hall and presented it.
Xu Tian pointed a finger. The fist-sized hall expanded dramatically, becoming a vast iron citadel suspended in the void that alternately expanded and contracted.
Gazing at the ancient corpse ghost imprisoned in the flame pillar, Xu Tian laughed. “No wonder you could control it. It bears the handiwork of Immovable Ming King Great Venerable. A Great Venerable is indeed a Great Venerable. Even ten kalpas later, he can still influence the world.”
Xu Tian might never have met Immovable Ming King Great Venerable, but the Great Venerable’s impact on Xu Tian’s era had been immense.
How could Xu Tian be ignorant of the Great Venerable’s power?
“Hmm?”
Xu Tian’s gaze shifted from the ancient corpse ghost to the flame pillar imprisoning it.
The pillar stretched 129,600 li, having suppressed the ancient corpse ghost for over two million years yet remaining intact. Clearly no ordinary item.
“Haha! Such a massive piece of fire source divine iron essence. Perfect. The final material for this Heaven to forge my own divine sword is found!”
Xu Tian looked at Zhang Ruochen. “I will take it.”
“If Senior Xu Tian takes the fire source divine iron essence, what of the ancient corpse ghost?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xu Tian sneered. “The ancient corpse ghost you speak of is the true previous incarnation of the Great Emperor Feng Du. Do you think you can keep it? Leave it with this Heaven. This divine corpse still holds much worth studying.”
Yu Hun had used the corpse dissolution forbidden art to refine Xing Huan Heavenly Venerable’s corpse into her body. Even Xu Wen Zhi of Xing Tian Cliff knew this. How could a being like Xu Tian be unaware?
