The blue-skinned old man appeared quite calm, saying, “Xumi is gravely injured. Even if he breaks through, what of it? No need to fear him.”
The phenomenon of “Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage” emerged, forcing the Hell Realm deities to launch an all-out assault, jointly wielding one divine artifact after another to kill the Holy Monk Xumi the moment after his breakthrough.
Only three Hell Realm deities pursued the Time Source Pearl.
One was the Lord of the Earthly Ghost City, the Ghost Lord.
The other two radiated divine power fluctuations no less potent than the Ghost Lord’s. One, shrouded in dense blood clouds, had a body spanning a hundred thousand miles with twelve pairs of blood wings.
The wings spread like twenty-four blood-red continents across the cosmic space.
The other, from the Stone Clan, resembled a stone bull but had a sharp tail longer than its body, standing on four clouds of white fire.
They had each presided over a star, aiding the blue old man in suppressing Xumi’s spatial power, preventing the Hell Realm deities from being dragged into the abyss of void space.
Now, these three divine giants showed keen interest in seizing the Time Source Pearl.
As the pearl flew toward the Xumi Temple, it brought a vast amount of time mysteries.
Suddenly, the River of Time, previously vanished, reappeared in Zhang Ruochen’s vision.
“Whoosh.”
The flow of time sounded like rushing water.
The Xumi Temple trembled slightly, as if preparing to depart this time node for an even more ancient past.
This was all influenced by the Time Source Pearl and its internal time mysteries.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart jolted with realisation, understanding everything. He fixed his gaze on the Empress and shouted, “Quickly seize the Time Source Pearl. The Holy Monk’s time mysteries must not fall into the hands of these three Hell Realm deities.”
The Thousand-Bone Empress was startled by the sudden voice, her gaze turning to Zhang Ruochen emerging from hiding.
Her eyes first showed astonishment, then gradually calmed, followed by deep respect toward Zhang Ruochen, as if she were about to kneel and pay homage.
Without many words, the Empress, controlling Xumi’s remains, rushed out of the temple.
“The Empress is truly exceptional. Her composure surpasses ordinary cultivators. My sudden appearance only startled her for a moment before she regained calm. Wait, what was that look in her eyes?”
Zhang Ruochen felt the Empress’s final glance was filled with awe.
A peerless deity, awed by a Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Sage?
His attention was wholly drawn to the Time Source Pearl and the three rapidly approaching Hell Realm divine giants, his mind taut with tension. He didn’t notice that the Buddhist light from the “Six Patriarchs Explaining Zen” painting fully enveloped him.
The light converged into the form of the Six Patriarchs.
In the Empress’s vision, she couldn’t see Zhang Ruochen, only the radiant Six Patriarchs standing before her. She naturally assumed it was the Six Patriarchs manifesting, guiding her actions.
In the Xumi Temple, amidst the phenomenon of Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage, with spacetime distorted, encountering the manifested Six Patriarchs seemed plausible.
The Six Patriarchs were a Buddha.
Even a fallen Buddha held immense influence over later generations.
Zhang Ruochen urged the Empress to seize the Time Source Pearl because he knew the future outcome.
The thirty percent of time mysteries and the time-countering artifact the Empress mastered likely came from this moment.
On this journey to the past, Zhang Ruochen boarded the “ship” to cultivate a First-Grade Sacred Intent.
The Empress boarded at this time node to seize the time mysteries.
It was all the Holy Monk’s arrangement!
The Holy Monk didn’t want thirty percent of the time mysteries to fall into Hell Realm hands, so he brought the Empress from the future. She was a passenger who boarded midway and would disembark midway.
As for Zhang Ruochen, he was too weak to contend for the time mysteries.
He could almost feel the Holy Monk’s despair. If, in this timeline, a deity could be entrusted with the time mysteries, why would the Holy Monk need to fetch the Empress from the distant future?
It showed that in this timeline, the Holy Monk trusted no cultivator, and those he trusted lacked the ability to wield time mysteries.
Facing an onslaught of Hell Realm deities, with only himself standing before the Kunlun Realm, was the best proof.
The River of Time beneath the Xumi Temple remained unstable, the temple swaying, unable to proceed.
Though Zhang Ruochen knew the future’s outcome, he was still deeply worried for the Holy Monk. But as the River of Time reappeared, he could no longer see the battlefield outside.
He saw only the river and the temple beneath him.
“Whoosh!”
Spacetime quaked violently.
The Time Source Pearl breached spacetime, landing on the River of Time.
A grim, piercing divine voice came from behind the pearl: “No, the Time Source Pearl is falling into the River of Time. Who will aid me to enter the river?”
It was the Ghost Lord.
The stone bull and the Immortal Blood Clan deity with twelve blood wings ignored him, rushing forward to chase the pearl into the River of Time.
The Ghost Lord urgently said, “There’s no time! If we delay, the pearl will vanish into the river, lost to our timeline. Who will aid me? Seize the pearl, and we’ll split the mysteries.”
“Fine, I’ll help you.”
The stone bull unleashed a divine technique, its power surging, crashing into the Ghost Lord.
The Ghost Lord, standing on inky ghost clouds, successfully entered the River of Time.
Meanwhile, the Immortal Blood Clan deity shrank to human size, its twelve blood wings showing ancestral patterns, also entering the river.
…
From the Xumi Temple, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t see the battlefield but heard the Holy Monk’s final Zen chant as the pearl breached spacetime: “I willingly scatter my divine power for a chance at a future.”
“Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha.”
“Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha…”
…
Unable to see Xumi scattering his divine power to protect the Kunlun Realm, Zhang Ruochen felt the tragic resolve in those words, tears streaming down his face.
As “Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha” resounded, the Xumi Temple seemed empowered, stabilising and slowly moving toward the past.
“The Holy Monk scattered his divine power to protect Kunlun and to pave my path to the past.”
“I understand!”
“I understand!”
“Ten thousand years later, the fallen Holy Monk had no power to bring me to the past. The energy came from the Holy Monk at this moment.”
“Only a Buddha’s martyrdom, unleashing divine power, could fetch me from the future and send me to the ancient, primordial, immemorial… to the origin of time.”
Zhang Ruochen wept and laughed.
At this moment, he understood why the Island Lord of Death God said, “The Holy Monk placed all his hopes on you,” and the meaning of Xumi’s words, “I willingly scatter my divine power for a chance at a future.”
“Holy Monk, your expectations of me are too high. You’re a Buddha. How can a Buddha place hope in a Great Sage?” Zhang Ruochen sobbed.
The Xumi Temple sailed slowly forward.
“Boom!”
A deafening battle erupted on the River of Time, snapping Zhang Ruochen from his grief.
The Empress, controlling Xumi’s remains, seized the Time Source Pearl but was intercepted by the Ghost Lord and the Immortal Blood Clan deity.
“Xumi, didn’t you scatter your divine power and martyr yourself? Haha, you sly monk, hiding in the River of Time.”
Sensing Xumi’s weakened divine power, the Ghost Lord felt no fear, only greed.
The Immortal Blood Clan deity said, “This old monk must be planning to escape, heal, and return. Since we’ve found him, we can’t let him succeed. Banish him to the River of Time to fend for himself.”
The Ghost Lord shook his head, laughing, “Why banish him when we can devour him? I’ll take his Buddhist soul, you take his blood. How’s that?”
“Very well, let’s fight!”
The Immortal Blood Clan deity, wielding a war sword, attacked Xumi’s remains first.
The River of Time’s unique spacetime structure dulled even the Ghost Lord and Immortal Blood Clan deity’s perception, failing to discern that Xumi was a corpse.
They couldn’t see the Xumi Temple.
The Empress, still young, struggled to contend with these divine giants despite controlling Xumi’s remains, retreating toward the temple.
“Boom!”
The Ghost Lord struck with a palm, conjuring countless Abandoned Heaven Ghost Patterns, followed by thousands of ghost shadows crashing onto Xumi’s remains.
Xumi’s corpse and the Empress flew backward.
The tiny Empress fell into the River of Time, swept away by its currents, vanishing from the surface.
Xumi’s corpse, before hitting the water, disappeared, startling the Ghost Lord and the Immortal Blood Clan deity.
The Immortal Blood Clan deity, eyes grave, pointed to the temple’s location, saying, “I sense spatial mystery fluctuations there. Shall we pursue?”
The Ghost Lord’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, hesitating.
The River of Time was dangerous, and now a mysterious domain appeared above it. Even divine giants like them dared not venture recklessly.
That domain was the Xumi Temple.
Xumi’s corpse landed on the wasteland outside the temple, creating a deep pit.
Zhang Ruochen rushed out, gazing at Xumi’s remains in the pit, then toward the River of Time, searching for the Empress. But she was gone, swept back to the future.
“The Empress seized thirty percent of the time mysteries and the Time Source Pearl. She should withstand the River of Time’s power.” The thought barely formed before Zhang Ruochen cursed his own foolishness.
Of course, the Empress withstood it, thriving in the future, far stronger than now.
The Xumi Temple began sailing toward a more ancient past, but too slowly.
Standing by Xumi’s remains, Zhang Ruochen nervously eyed the Ghost Lord and the Immortal Blood Clan deity, fearing they’d brave the danger and enter the temple.
But soon, he saw their faces change, as if witnessing something terrifying.
“Pay… pay respects to the Six Patriarchs. You’re still alive?”
“No time for respects, flee!”
The Ghost Lord, terrified, fled the River of Time back to the original timeline.
Encountering the Six Patriarchs on the River of Time unnerved the two Hell Realm deities, nearly breaking their courage. They planned to report this shocking secret to the Destiny Temple and Darkness Temple’s Sovereigns.
The Six Patriarchs weren’t dead.
The Heavenly Court had kept such a terrifying trump card. What were they planning?
The Ghost Lord and Immortal Blood Clan deity grew more frightened, considering proposing a temporary truce to the Sovereigns.
Until they confirmed whether the Six Patriarchs had truly fallen, continuing this divine war risked falling into the Heavenly Court’s trap.
Zhang Ruochen was stunned, looking down to see his body radiating Buddhist light, a golden Buddha figure forming around him.
The Ghost Lord, third-ranked lord of the Ghost Clan’s Earthly Ghost City, was so cowardly?
Scared by a mere golden Buddha figure?
…
Finally leaving ten thousand years ago, the Xumi Temple sailed toward an older era.
