The Thousand-Bone Empress stepped out of the Xumi Temple, standing beneath a withered tree by the surging River of Time, gazing at the shimmering water, as if contemplating stepping into it.
After much hesitation, she took out a purple-green spear of the King Saint Weapon level and flung it with a wave of her hand.
“Swish!”
As soon as the spear left the Xumi Temple, beyond the mysteries of time and space, it was instantly subjected to terrifying spatial compression, exploding with a bang, shattering into dozens of iron fragments.
The fragments rusted at a visible rate, turning to ash by the time they fell into the River of Time, as if corroded by billions of years.
Watching from afar, Zhang Ruochen’s heart sank.
How terrifying!
A King Saint Weapon was crushed to pieces and corroded to ash by the power of time.
Even the strongest Saint Realm cultivator would likely die instantly in there.
The Thousand-Bone Empress, wary, retreated to the Xumi Temple despite her divine cultivation.
Suddenly, she paused, murmuring softly, “There are vast amounts of time and space mysteries here. If I absorb and master a portion, I should be able to enter the River of Time.”
In the courtyard, the Empress sat cross-legged, her long skirt spreading like the petals of a divine flower. Her delicate hands formed a peculiar gesture, instantly becoming the centre of this space, entering a state of enlightenment.
Divine rule patterns swirled around her, her body emanating a gentle radiance.
Zhang Ruochen observed her for a long time, seeing her as still as a beautiful stone statue.
“The Empress won’t wake for a while.”
Bypassing her, Zhang Ruochen explored other areas of the Xumi Temple, searching for the God of War’s Star Soul.
“The Ice-Fire Phoenix, not being a deity, couldn’t enter the core area of the Xumi Temple.”
“The Sundial was taken from here by it. Where would the Holy Monk have stored the Sundial back then?”
As he walked, Zhang Ruochen was astonished to find the soil beneath his feet had turned seven-coloured.
Crouching, he picked up a handful of soil, his eyes gleaming with joy, saying, “Rainbow Soil!”
Looking into the distance, among scattered stones and withered trees, he saw a vast expanse of seven-coloured vines enveloping much of the Xumi Temple. Having entered through the front gate, he hadn’t noticed these vines initially.
The seven-coloured vines were called “Rainbow Vines.”
When a Buddhist holy monk passed into nirvana, a rainbow phenomenon occurred, turning the soil into Rainbow Soil and giving rise to Rainbow Vines.
In the Ancestral Spirit Realm, the phoenix nest of the Ice-Fire Phoenix Zhang Ruochen had seen was built from Rainbow Vines.
The vines must have been dug out from the Xumi Temple by her.
“No doubt, the Ice-Fire Phoenix was here.” Zhang Ruochen was elated.
Burning Rainbow Vines could aid cultivators in enlightenment, a rare treasure, but Zhang Ruochen’s focus was solely on finding the God of War’s Star Soul, showing little interest in them.
He searched the vine-covered area three or four times but found nothing.
His initial excitement faded as he sat on a broken stone lion, sighing, “There are only two possibilities. Either the Ice-Fire Phoenix didn’t place the God of War’s Star Soul in the Xumi Temple, or it remained in the original timeline and didn’t come to the past.”
Standing to return to the hall and hide, fearing discovery by the Empress could cost his life, Zhang Ruochen suddenly turned, spotting a misty glow in the Rainbow Vine jungle, his eyes wary. He channelled spatial power, forming a spatial blade and slashing forward.
“Swish!”
As the blade neared a vine as thick as a wine cup, it suddenly emitted a divine aura distinct from other Rainbow Vines, with specks of starlight radiating. The vine seemed to come alive, twisting to dodge the spatial blade.
“Could this Rainbow Vine have developed spirituality and intelligence?”
Zhang Ruochen was astonished. He had noticed the vine’s shape and texture change, suspecting some incomprehensible danger lurked, prompting his preemptive strike.
“No! This vine is vastly different from the others. Its aura is divine, not Buddhist.”
Instead of approaching, Zhang Ruochen summoned the Pure Extinguishing Divine Fire for defence and activated the Heart of Truth to sense.
Instantly, his eyes seemed to pierce spacetime, seeing a beautiful figure with Ice-Fire Phoenix wings burying a radiant starlight orb in the seven-coloured Rainbow Soil.
She cut her wrist, sprinkling holy blood over the soil.
She seemed to murmur sadly, but Zhang Ruochen couldn’t hear her.
The effort drained him, his eyes throbbing with pain, his holy qi nearly depleted, and the vision vanished.
“Was that the Ice-Fire Phoenix?”
Reflecting carefully, Zhang Ruochen surmised that the Heart of Truth, combined with the time and space mysteries here, allowed him to see scenes from another timeline at this location.
This ability astonished him.
If the Heart of Truth, time mysteries, and space mysteries could reveal historical events at a location, what secrets could remain hidden?
Unfortunately, these mysteries didn’t belong to him, and with his current cultivation, he couldn’t wield this ability freely.
Approaching the vine, he looked beneath it.
Indeed, the soil below was vividly red, once soaked with much blood.
Zhang Ruochen pieced it together. During the Merit War in the Ancestral Spirit Realm, the realm’s only deity, the “God of War,” knowing death was certain, entrusted his Star Soul to the Ice-Fire Phoenix, likely hoping she could use it to break through to divinity, sustaining the Ancestral Spirit Realm and protecting its lands and countless beings.
But after the God of War’s death, the Ice-Fire Phoenix didn’t refine the Star Soul. Instead, she brought it to the Xumi Temple and planted it in the Rainbow Soil.
She likely believed in Buddhist reincarnation and the Holy Monk Xumi’s ability to revive the dead.
Planting the Star Soul in the Rainbow Soil might allow the God of War to one day regather his scattered divine soul, sprouting anew from the soil.
Sadly, her wish couldn’t be fulfilled.
The God of War, with only eight divine seat planets and from a weak realm, was far from cosmic titans like the Xiuchen Heavenly God.
Even after the Xiuchen Heavenly God’s body, divine source, and soul were shattered, it took ten thousand years to regather its broken soul, which still wielded the might of a divine giant.
The God of War was leagues behind, his body devoured by Rakshasa deities, his divine source stolen, leaving only the Star Soul, effectively fallen.
There must have been a beautiful story between the Ice-Fire Phoenix and the God of War.
But it had no happy ending, too tragic and poignant.
The God of War died miserably, the Ice-Fire Phoenix fell, and their Ancestral Spirit Realm was annihilated.
All was sorrowful.
Save for Zhang Ruochen, no cultivator in the universe likely knew their story or cared. Such tragedies happened daily.
The universe’s beings were steeped in helplessness.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t want to dwell on why the Ice-Fire Phoenix didn’t refine the Star Soul to reach divinity, instead planting it in the Rainbow Soil, watering it with her blood for a slim chance of revival.
It was foolish, obsessive.
As a supreme Great Sage, didn’t she know that reaching divinity might have saved her?
Perhaps it was such foolish, obsessive people that gave the world humanity, making it worth cherishing, showing cultivation had meaning.
Of course, this was Zhang Ruochen’s conjecture. Another tale suggested the Ice-Fire Phoenix died before the God of War, who buried her in the phoenix nest before facing the Rakshasa deities in battle, meeting a tragic end.
The truth was long lost.
Some truths would never be uncovered, fading with the passing of generations.
Zhang Ruochen reached for the Rainbow Vine.
It dodged again.
But it only knew evasion, no different from a spiritual herb, lacking higher intelligence.
It was merely a Rainbow Vine, no longer the God of War.
Zhang Ruochen sensed the powerful Star Soul energy within. Mastering it meant controlling the God of War’s Star Soul. Refining it could strengthen his Sacred Soul, boost his spiritual power, and harness the “Orion Eight Stars” power, unleashing combat strength akin to a pseudo-deity.
Yet, seeing it dodge, Zhang Ruochen felt reluctant to refine it.
He decided to leave it for Mu Lingxi, who inherited part of the Ice-Fire Phoenix’s legacy and might gain its approval.
“I’ll rely on myself. With the Dragon Lord’s Origin Divine Dragon Fire, breaking through to the sixty-ninth tier of spiritual power shouldn’t be hard.”
Zhang Ruochen held off condensing the Space Sacred Intent, recalling the Holy Monk Xumi’s words that a First-Grade Sacred Intent hinged on time and space.
Since he was heading to the origin of time, when space was still a singularity, condensing it then might be wiser.
Fixing the Space Sacred Intent now might not be ideal.
Time passed silently.
“Boom!”
A deafening roar startled Zhang Ruochen, who was refining his spiritual power.
Blood streamed from his ears, thinking the Empress had made a move. He wrapped himself in the “Six Patriarchs Explaining Zen” painting and rushed outside the hall.
He felt immense divine might surging from all directions, piercing spacetime, shaking the River of Time.
On the River of Time, Zhang Ruochen witnessed the most shocking battle scene of his cultivation, murmuring, “This is… ten thousand years ago!”
Strangely, the Xumi Temple, always moving forward, stopped at this moment.
It halted in this timeline.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart raced. What was this for?
Stopping ten thousand years ago, what could he, a mere Great Sage, do? Join a divine melee?
A single glance from those divine giants could obliterate him.
“Holy Monk, let’s go. I’ll return to this timeline to fight once I’m a deity, at the God Sovereign level,” Zhang Ruochen pleaded with a wry smile.
But the Xumi Temple came to a complete stop.
