The Patriarch of the Yanluo Clan, the God of Life, and the rumours about the God of Auspiciousness, Zhang Ruochen had heard about from Luo Ji. At the time, he merely thought it was an internal conflict within the Hell Realm and didn’t dwell on it much.
However, considering the great calamity of the Holy Realm and the era when the myriad worlds and heavens nearly faced destruction, the changes in the Hell Realm seemed rather peculiar.
From what he knew, although the Hell Realm was ostracised by the Holy Realm due to differing ideologies and confined to the Yellow Spring Galaxy, some races in the Hell Realm maintained excellent relations with cultivators from certain major worlds. They were not entirely hostile.
With such a significant event causing panic across the entire universe, wasn’t the Hell Realm afraid at all? Their first reaction was to wage war against the Heavenly Court.
Yan Huangtu had once mentioned that the Twenty Heavens might actually be the “Twenty-Four Heavens,” with the additional four coming from the Hell Realm.
In other words, 300,000 years ago, those who undertook that monumental task were likely the Twenty-Four Heavens.
If the destruction of the Holy Realm was a disaster caused by their actions back then, wouldn’t the Hell Realm fear retaliation?
Why hadn’t the Hell Realm faced retribution?
The more Zhang Ruochen thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. However, too much time had passed, and with no clues, relying solely on legends for speculation would yield unreliable conclusions.
He continued listening to Granny Haitang’s account.
“Since ancient times, the Kunlun Realm has been a supreme world, enduring for eternity. The third Confucian Ancestor of the Confucian Path was one of the Twenty Heavens who participated in that great event 300,000 years ago. Even the Ten Tribulations Heavenly Monarch was once his student.”
Hearing this secret, Zhang Ruochen felt a surge of pride, a smile breaking through his suppressed emotions. He said, “All martial arts in the world originate from the Three Paths, and the hundred schools of thought spread across the land. As one of the three paths of the Kunlun Realm, the Confucian Path should indeed have produced figures of the Heavenly level.”
Granny Haitang said, “Before the third Confucian Ancestor, about ten cosmic cycles ago, your Zhang family’s ancestor, the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, was also one of the Twenty Heavens of that era, and he was a Heavenly Venerable.”
“Heavenly Venerable?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Granny Haitang explained, “Among the Twenty Heavens, the universally recognised first is called the Heavenly Venerable. In every era, there can be twenty Heavens, but only one Heavenly Venerable.”
Zhang Ruochen swallowed hard, hardly imagining that his Zhang family ancestor was so formidable. No wonder a mere jade pendant left by him could block a deity like Xiu Chen from seizing a body.
A Heavenly Venerable, revered by all Heavens.
Reflecting on his current self, Zhang Ruochen suddenly felt like an unworthy descendant.
If the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable’s divine will still lingered in the world and saw the Zhang family’s decline, his coffin lid might not stay shut!
Though Granny Haitang had never met the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, she had heard countless legends about him. In ancient times, during his era, the Kunlun Realm was so glorious that many major worlds looked to it for leadership.
She continued, “In every era’s Twenty Heavens, the Kunlun Realm almost always secured a seat. I’m telling you this to show that even by the end of the Middle Ages, the Kunlun Realm was still immensely powerful, with deep foundations and various protective measures set by historical Heavenly figures. Had it not been for traitors and the sinister forces within the Heavenly Court, the Kunlun Realm might not have fallen to such a dismal state.”
“The Ten Tribulations Heavenly Monarch, Bi Luozi, Saint Monk Xumi, Dragon Lord… many deities of the Kunlun Realm were betrayed during that divine war, their whereabouts exposed, plotted against, ambushed, or besieged. Most perished, with only a few narrowly escaping.”
Zhang Ruochen was aware of the traitors and the shadowy forces, having heard about them from the Moon God.
Granny Haitang clearly didn’t know much about the shadowy forces’ methods, only seeing the surface.
She said, “The divine war between the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm lasted a full millennium, beginning and ending in the Kunlun Realm, concluding with Saint Monk Xumi’s passing, after which both sides signed a truce, marking the end of the Middle Ages.”
A cosmic-level battle was bound to be protracted, not something that could end in a few days with a single charge.
The Heavenly figures in the Kunlun Realm’s history had left countless defensive and offensive measures in the starry skies beyond, along with innumerable spatial traps and array fortresses.
If the Hell Realm had dared to push forward recklessly, even if they could destroy the Kunlun Realm, they would have suffered catastrophic losses.
Who could bear such a cost?
A war among the myriad worlds lasting only a millennium was short! Mortal wars between nations often dragged on for decades. (The Song-Mongol War and the Ming-Qing War both lasted decades.)
“A truce? Why was a truce signed?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Granny Haitang said, “Because both the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm suffered devastating losses in the war, with over half their deities falling. The Heavenly Court’s subordinate mortal worlds saw over a thousand destroyed. The Yellow Spring Galaxy of the Hell Realm was shattered, with tens of billions of inhabited planets annihilated, and over a hundred trillion living and dead beings of the Hell Realm perished.”
Zhang Ruochen could hardly fathom the brutality of that divine war.
The Heavenly Court lost at least one major world every year.
The Hell Realm saw millions of planets fall annually.
What kind of blood feud had been forged?
“After a millennium of war, the Heavenly Court’s realms were devastated, war-weariness was rampant. With many worlds and factions, internal conflicts in the Heavenly Court intensified, forcing the Heavenly Palace to propose a truce to the Hell Realm.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “And the Hell Realm just agreed?”
“Many races in the Hell Realm worship death, glorifying war and slaughter. But everything has a limit, as even the dead fear true death.”
Granny Haitang continued, “In the battle that besieged Saint Monk Xumi, the Hell Realm lost many deities, and internal conflicts erupted, escalating to a point where even the Destiny Temple and the Dark Temple couldn’t suppress them. If they had persisted in fighting, the Hell Realm might have descended into civil war.”
“The Destiny Temple and the Dark Temple had no choice but to sign the truce with the Heavenly Court.”
“Since the Heavenly Court proposed the truce first, and the Hell Realm was stronger, with many deities still eager to fight, the Heavenly Court was at a disadvantage when signing the truce.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “But the war didn’t end. The Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm still battle on the Merit Battlefield, and the Hell Realm hasn’t abandoned its goal of exterminating all living beings.”
Granny Haitang said, “When Saint Monk Xumi passed, he used his final divine power to protect the Kunlun Realm, almost isolating it from both the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm. So, I learned about the truce and other details only after visiting the Heavenly Court and reading records. Only those who lived through that era would know the full truth.”
“However, in the past hundred thousand years, large-scale divine wars between the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm have been rare. Even on the Merit Battlefield, only cultivators below the Great Saint level are allowed to fight, keeping conflicts from escalating to the divine level.”
