Zhang Ruochen’s desire for Ice King Star’s assets was not only an excuse to find Mu Lingxi but also a plan to secure a fallback option.
He had no choice. His identity was too sensitive, and he had made too many enemies in the Infernal Realm. The Tribunal Division even saw him as a potential threat who could one day overturn the Destiny Temple, eager to eliminate him.
For now, the Blood Absolute War God protected him, yet dangers lurked everywhere.
If, as Ni Xuan had said, a cosmic upheaval occurred and something happened to the Blood Absolute War God, who could shelter him then?
If Zhang Ruochen hadn’t achieved divinity by then and remained just a Great Saint, unable to hold his own, staying with the Blood Absolute Family would only harm them.
Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows. If Zhang Ruochen didn’t prepare a fallback and plan ahead, wouldn’t he be less prudent than a rabbit?
As for deities like Fulushen and Emperor Luo Yan, Zhang Ruochen never pinned his hopes on them.
Much like himself, Zhang Ruochen valued only those with cultivation and talent akin to Emperor Yu, or at the very least, comparable to Xuetu.
To figures like Fulushen and Emperor Luo Yan, ordinary deities might not even catch their attention.
What was Zhang Ruochen to them?
Like a highly talented Half-Saint standing before him, Zhang Ruochen might appreciate their potential and offer occasional guidance when the opportunity arose.
In his view, Fulushen’s betrothal was more about winning over the Blood Absolute War God than Zhang Ruochen himself.
Emperor Luo Yan’s agreement to the betrothal was heavily influenced by the Blood Absolute War God’s status and strength as the grand patriarch of the Blood Sky Tribe.
Zhang Ruochen’s own talent and his role as the guide of the Burial Gold White Tiger were certainly factors.
But without being the Blood Absolute War God’s grandson, Zhang Ruochen doubted he would have been chosen as the White Tiger’s guide.
The opportunities he currently held in the Infernal Realm all stemmed from the Blood Absolute War God’s full support. If something happened to the War God, what could he rely on?
“Only myself.”
Seated in the Seven-Star Emperor Palace, carried by eighteen Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings, Zhang Ruochen entered the Hundred Clans Royal City with grandeur.
Before this, he had negotiated with Ni Xuan and reached a compromise.
The Blood Absolute Family’s assets on Ice King Star still belonged to Zhang Ruochen. However, they would be managed by cultivators appointed by Ni Xuan, with Zhang Ruochen only receiving a share of the profits.
Both sides had conceded a step.
Zhang Ruochen figured that since Xiao Hei was the Ice Emperor’s heir, if he truly needed Ice King Star as a fallback, he could simply have Xiao Hei claim its heritage, and the path would be clear.
There was no need to clash head-on with Ni Xuan.
After parting with Ni Xuan, Zhang Ruochen immediately traveled through the spatial wormhole to the Hundred Clans Royal City.
Inside the Seven-Star Emperor Palace, Zhang Ruochen reflected on his experiences in the Infernal Realm, the various events, and the diverse cultivators he had encountered, sinking deep into thought.
There was the Blood Absolute War God, who treated him as kin and protected him fiercely.
There was the unscrupulous and ruthless Xiu Chen Heavenly God.
There was Yan Wushen, both friend and foe.
There was Prajna, entwined with love and hate, bound by past and present lives.
There was Luo Ji, charming and unconventional, yet caught in the web of affection.
There was the cunning and cruel Lan Ying, and the honest and forthright Xing Luo.
There was the pure cultivator Que, and Bai Qing’er, lurking in the shadows, manipulating the world’s cultivators like pawns.
…
These cultivators couldn’t be simply judged as “good” or “bad.”
Each had their own stance and beliefs. Some became Zhang Ruochen’s enemies, others friends or kin.
Some were merely passersby in his life.
Zhang Ruochen had always resisted what he despised.
For instance, the blood-drinking of the Immortal Vampires, the cannibalism of the Rakshasa, the slaughter of the Asura, and the destruction wrought by the undead.
He had once resented Blood Empress, harbored hostility toward Kong Lanyou, severed ties with Huang Yanchen, and stood irreconcilably against Chi Yao.
What defined right and wrong?
When breaking through the shackles of desire and reaching Great Perfection in the Hundred Shackles Realm, Zhang Ruochen relived those past events. Many things he couldn’t let go of before became clear, and his mindset shifted significantly, teetering on the edge of enlightenment.
After exchanging paths with the Burial Gold White Tiger and attempting to create his own method, he realized he lacked a certain spirit.
In Bai Qing’er’s Seven Souls Fearful Dream, his heart was further tempered and elevated.
His conversation with Dragon Lord made him realize he lacked a path.
A path uniquely his own.
What was a path?
For Que, the path was himself; the world held only him, and all else was illusion.
Because Que found his path, Bai Qing’er had once remarked that Zhang Ruochen’s mindset was a step behind Que’s. She even believed he couldn’t condense a First-Grade Saint Will and would perish on this road.
Wu Ma Jiuxing’s path was the blade in his hand, enabling him to achieve divine swordsmanship.
Lan Ying’s path was to become a sword spirit, merging with the Asura Sword to become an ultimate divine weapon, cutting down all in the world. He was the sword, and the sword was him. Thus, he reached the peak of the Thousand Questions Realm and cultivated the Heavenly Sword Soul.
Zhang Ruochen’s life was bound by too many ties, the greatest being vengeance.
Vengeance was the root of all suffering.
It birthed his inner demons, trapped him in pain, and sometimes drove him to extremes or left him lost, unsure of his path or future.
Because of vengeance, he amassed countless enemies, surrounded on all sides.
At times, he even turned potential foes into mortal enemies, who then became true adversaries.
Enemies might deserve death, but why must he keep making them?
Were there truly irreconcilable conflicts in the world?
Who wouldn’t prefer fewer enemies and more friends?
Meeting Ni Xuan this time left a deep impression on Zhang Ruochen.
Before heading to Ice King Star, he had indeed seen her as an enemy, even contemplating a life-or-death confrontation. First, for the sake of interests. Second, to avenge Blood Empress and the Nether King.
But he never considered that Ni Xuan was, after all, the Blood Absolute War God’s wife.
Did the War God truly wish for his wife, daughter, and grandson to worsen their rift?
How would he cope then?
Was Ni Xuan truly so hateful that she deserved death?
Sending Nether King and Blood Empress to Kunlun Realm was indeed dangerous. But in the eyes of Infernal Realm cultivators, Kunlun was a broken world, no different from a dead one.
Her intent was to distance them from the family, paving the way for her son to inherit, not to send them to their deaths.
She was selfish and wrong, but she had paid a price.
As a member of the Blood Absolute Family, should Zhang Ruochen escalate the conflict? Why not consider resolving the feud between Ni Xuan and Blood Empress for the family’s harmony and prosperity?
Perhaps that was what the Blood Absolute War God most wanted to see.
Now that Blood Empress had achieved divinity, she might no longer harbor deep hatred for Ni Xuan. She likely didn’t want to put the War God in a difficult position, so she let the matter slide.
If Zhang Ruochen stepped in, and Ni Xuan was willing to pay a price and sincerely apologize, the conflict could easily be resolved.
Seated cross-legged, Zhang Ruochen spoke, “Embrace all rivers, encompass all things. This is my path, my spirit! To reorder the cosmic order, one must have a heart vast enough to hold all things.”
“My body cannot contain this universe, but my heart can.”
“Good and bad, all exist in the world.”
“Kind and evil, all are facets of mortal life.”
“Who says being a pure cultivator like Que or Lan Ying is the true path? No, theirs is but a narrow way. Embracing all, excluding nothing, is the true great path.”
“Dragon Lord, I understand your words now!”
Zhang Ruochen laughed, his doubts dispelled.
Man, Earth, Heaven, Path.
Man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Path, and the Path follows nature.
What is nature?
Nature is all things in the world.
The First-Grade Saint Will, unattained since ancient times, hinges on the word “one.”
“One” doesn’t mean “singular” but “everything.”
To condense a First-Grade Saint Will, one must encompass all things in the world.
Zhang Ruochen had the foundation to embrace everything: a Five-Element Chaos Body, the identity of a spacetime controller, the vision to reshape the cosmic order, and a heart vast enough to hold all rivers and things.
Both he and Yan Wushen stood atop a mountain, aiming to ascend to Heaven, with no path beneath their feet.
Yan Wushen chose to shed everything, making the ascent lighter.
Zhang Ruochen found a path: treading upon all things to reach Heaven.
Yan Wushen could never cultivate a true First-Grade Saint Will, at best grasping a trace of its essence. Zhang Ruochen’s path was the true way.
But this path was immensely difficult.
“Embrace all rivers, encompass all things” was easier said than done.
The former required boundless tolerance to accept all things.
The latter demanded boundless effort to encompass everything.
Even the most virtuous saint might not achieve it.
At the edge of life and death, how could he embrace all?
He embraced what he protected, not the evildoers who destroyed it. With the greatest goodwill, he would view and change the world.
Perhaps one day, when he stood invincible, living by his own will, he could truly “embrace all rivers, encompass all things.”
For now, his path was set, achieving an unprecedented breakthrough.
His spiritual power surged to the sixty-seventh tier.
Then it climbed further, reaching the sixty-eighth tier.
A double-tier breakthrough.
This wasn’t solely due to his elevated mindset.
He had long refined the Heart of the Divine Wood, gaining the knowledge of a Yuan from the Heaven-Connecting Divine Wood. This knowledge hadn’t been fully integrated until now.
After passing the test of desire shackles and the tempering of the Seven Souls Fearful Dream, with his mindset cleared, his spiritual power soared.
Sensing something, Zhang Ruochen manifested his Truth Realm Shape.
Suddenly, the cultivators in the Hundred Clans Royal City looked up.
In broad daylight, the sky sparkled with stars, shifting and turning.
A deity sensed that the stars in this region, for some unknown reason, shone brighter, their orbits slightly altered.
…
Celestial Realm, Truth Heavenly Domain.
The Truth Temple glowed brilliantly, radiating star-sea-like splendor across countless miles.
The Great Saints in the temple were alarmed, rushing to the hall master’s seclusion site, kneeling and asking what had happened.
The Truth Hall Master, who hadn’t gone to the Jade Emperor Realm, remained in the Celestial Realm.
Emerging from seclusion, the Truth Hall Master waved a sleeve, scolding, “It’s just a phenomenon, no big deal. Go back to your duties.”
After the Great Saints retreated, the Truth Hall Master looked beyond the heavens, as if seeing events billions of miles away, muttering, “This little traitor, achieving the boundless Truth Realm Shape in the Great Saint Realm, causing a phenomenon in the Truth Temple. He’s the first ever. Is it because of the Heart of Truth, or does this kid truly have unprecedented ability?”
The Truth Hall Master grew annoyed, increasingly so.
He dragged Xiang Chunan, who was in seclusion, out and gave him a thorough beating.
Poor Xiang Chunan, clueless about why he was attacked, lay beaten on the ground, unable to stand, staring blankly at the sky, bleeding from all seven orifices, clutching the dirt.
…
The Destiny Temple’s six Heavenly Books were stored in the Heavenly Guard Platform of the Heavenly Fate Division.
Xu Rulai, the chief Sikong of the Heavenly Fate Division, moved among the platform’s many bookshelves, organizing scrolls.
Suddenly, he sensed something, his gaze turning to the area where the six Heavenly Books rested, letting out a soft exclamation.
With a thought, he stood beside the *Divine Storage Scroll*, one of the six books, observing the ranking changes, saying, “Another change, and such a big leap.”
His eyes fell on “Zhang Ruochen.”
Zhang Ruochen’s ranking on the *Divine Storage Scroll* had shifted twice.
The last time, when he broke the desire shackles, he rose from eighty-seventh in the Ding Tier to twenty-first in the Ding Tier.
This time, he jumped to the Yi Tier.
Entering the Yi Tier meant Zhang Ruochen’s chance of achieving divinity exceeded forty percent.
Ding Tier cultivators had a ten to twenty percent chance.
No wonder Xu Rulai was shocked. A Yuan-level genius ranked only in the Ding Tier was laughable to the world’s cultivators. Even deities didn’t think highly of Zhang Ruochen.
This change in the *Divine Storage Scroll*, once spread, would cause a massive stir.
Some would rejoice.
But those deities who once underestimated Zhang Ruochen would likely act swiftly to eliminate him.
“To enter the Yi Tier like this, Zhang Ruochen, what transformation have you undergone?”
Xu Rulai rubbed his chin, thinking, then looked at the nearby *Heavenly Dao Scroll* and *Rebellious God Scroll*, finding Zhang Ruochen’s name on the latter.
“Not on the Heavenly Dao, but on the Rebellious God. This is trouble!”
