“The virtuous deeds of Saint Monk Xumi are renowned far and wide. Master Fangcun, having received his teachings, was likewise a great sage of that era. Although the cultivators of the Twelve Divine Maiden Pavilions believed he would not lie, Jade Dragon Immortal was the lord of Xinghuan Heaven. She fell in Yuchen Divine Temple, yet her corpse was never seen. How could they not enter to investigate?”
“After Empress Bai became the new master of the Twelve Divine Maiden Pavilions, she entered this place several times. She discovered that during the day, the space of the reddish-yellow desert contracts, making it relatively easy to reach the outside of the temple.”
“However, the great gate of the temple is protected by profound spatial arrays, one linked to another. It is extremely difficult to force entry.”
Zhang Ruochen walked to the stone pillar on the right of the gate and said, “Yin Escape Nine Arrays? This array should not be able to stop someone of Empress Bai’s level, surely?”
Though he did not know Empress Bai’s exact realm, to become the leader of the Twelve Divine Maiden Pavilions and rule the entire Xinghuan Heaven, her cultivation must be profoundly deep.
A strange voice reached Zhang Ruochen’s ears: “With me here, she cannot enter.”
“Who is it?” Zhang Ruochen demanded in a low voice.
Bai Qing’er also sensed something, but she had not heard the voice.
In an instant, starlight divine radiance burst from Zhang Ruochen’s body. The sound of the Great Dao and the cosmos rang out from within him, and rings of light waves spread in all directions.
In Bai Qing’er’s eyes, Zhang Ruochen had now merged completely with heaven and earth. The space around him contracted and expanded with his every breath.
The entire world was like his lungs.
He had reached a realm of exquisite mystery.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen spread the five fingers of his right hand and raised it above his head.
The ground before them sank, forming a five-fingered pit hundreds of metres deep.
The pit continued sinking deeper and spreading outwards.
“Martial Uncle! Martial Uncle, stop at once!”
A doll only three feet tall shot out from the ground with a whoosh.
It was covered in sharp spikes, its hair tied into a small pigtail that was actually a bright green vine. It looked very much like a humanoid durian.
As the doll emerged, the thorny vines wrapped around a nearby tombstone seemed to come alive and slowly dragged across the ground.
A curtain of spiritual power appeared before Zhang Ruochen, blocking the spiky doll that was trying to charge over. “Why do you call me Martial Uncle?”
The spiky doll immediately halted, clasped its hands together, and said, “Martial Uncle was able to control the Star Gate Subduing Earth Grand Array in such a short time, so you must be of the same lineage. Moreover, Martial Uncle bears the pure aura of our Grandmaster, so you must be Grandmaster’s disciple.”
“A’Ji pays respects to Martial Uncle!”
With Zhang Ruochen’s current spiritual strength, he had long seen through the spiky doll completely. “You are Master Fangcun’s disciple, aren’t you?”
“Half a disciple, half a disciple. I only have my name recorded with Master,” A’Ji said with a cheerful laugh.
The being named A’Ji was a ferocious plant that had attained divinity. It was the main vine of all the thorny creepers here and also the array spirit of the Yin Escape Nine Arrays.
A’Ji continued, “I was ordered by Master to guard this place for a hundred thousand years. Once my merit is complete, I can become his formal disciple.”
“So my ability to control the Yin Escape Nine Arrays was thanks to your assistance?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
A’Ji smiled. “Helping Martial Uncle deal with enemies is A’Ji’s duty.”
At the time, Zhang Ruochen had found it strange. Though he had studied the Yin Escape Nine Arrays, controlling a Star Gate Subduing Earth Grand Array in such a short period was already pushing his limits. How could he simultaneously control nine arrays a hundred times more complex?
With the array spirit’s help, everything naturally fell into place.
A’Ji looked expectant and asked, “Martial Uncle, is Master still well? Has he forgotten A’Ji of Xinghuan Heaven? Now that the hundred thousand years are complete, may I formally become his disciple?”
Bai Qing’er said, “A hundred thousand years ago, after Master Fangcun left Xinghuan Heaven, he was pursued by the Blue Deer God-King of the Asura Clan. He fled into the Sea Stone Star Dock, and his whereabouts have been unknown ever since.”
Zhang Ruochen had heard of this matter.
After the Master of Doomgod Island escaped the Temple of Destiny, he sent Empress Thousand Bones to the Sea Stone Star Dock to search for Master Fangcun. A thousand years have passed since then, with no news of success.
Flames burst from A’Ji’s two eyeballs as he roared, “If Master had not been gravely wounded by that old corpse ghost underground, how could he have been unable to defeat the Blue Deer God-King? Martial Uncle, let us storm the Blue Deer Divine Palace together and avenge Master!”
“That… will require careful consideration.”
Having just experienced the great ups and downs of life and death, and only recently returned from the dead, Zhang Ruochen had no wish to court death again so soon.
The Blue Deer God-King was the most brilliant and outstanding lord the Asura Clan had produced in the last ten eons. In just four eons, he had built the Blue Deer Divine Palace he founded into the second-ranked divine palace of the Asura Clan, surpassing even those with legacies millions of years old.
Even existences at the Divine Venerable level would have to think thrice before attacking the Blue Deer Divine Palace.
Not everyone could act as domineeringly as the Blood Absolute War God.
A’Ji suddenly deflated and said, “Indeed, the Blue Deer God-King is too powerful for us to oppose. If only Grandmaster were still alive, he could crush him with a single raised hand.”
Though A’Ji had spent the last hundred thousand years at Yuchen Divine Temple, many cultivators had come to explore and hunt for treasure. How could he not know of Saint Monk Xumi’s passing?
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Why did Eldest Brother order you to guard this place for a hundred thousand years?”
“Because the Yin Escape Nine Arrays and Yang Escape Nine Arrays can only be maintained for one eon. Has Martial Uncle not sensed that the power of the Yin Escape Nine Arrays has already weakened greatly?”
A’Ji continued proudly, “At the height of the Yin Escape Nine Arrays’ power, under my control, not even Empress Bai could have broken through to enter Yuchen Divine Temple.”
“I mean, why guard this place at all?” Zhang Ruochen stressed again.
A’Ji suddenly understood and lowered his voice. “It is all because of the old corpse ghost underground!”
Bai Qing’er’s heart stirred slightly, but she said nothing.
“What old corpse ghost? The rotting divine hand from earlier?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
A’Ji nodded vigorously. “A hundred thousand years ago, in her later years, Jade Dragon Immortal’s lifespan was nearing its end. She invited Master to Xinghuan Heaven, hoping to enter Yuchen Divine Temple and find a treasure that could extend her life. But after arriving, Master discovered that this place concealed a danger vast as the heavens.”
“Countless divine corpses are buried here. Influenced by a mysterious force underground, they come back to life at specific times.”
“Only then did Jade Dragon Immortal reveal the truth to Master. She had asked him to come to Xinghuan Heaven both to seek the life-extending treasure and to deliver these divine corpses from suffering.”
“For Jade Dragon Immortal had discovered that the divine corpses in Yuchen Divine Temple were becoming ever more active and could soon no longer be suppressed. Once they escaped, all life in Xinghuan Heaven would be annihilated, and the realm would become a ghostly domain of corpses.”
“Therefore, even if she could not find the life-extending treasure, she had to clear Yuchen Divine Temple before her death and remove this hidden peril for Xinghuan Heaven. Unfortunately, a powerful and mysterious force underground made it impossible to deliver the divine corpses.”
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Bai Qing’er.
Bai Qing’er gently shook her head. “I knew nothing of these secrets. Had I known Yuchen Divine Temple was this dangerous, I would never have brought you here.”
“All I knew were two things.”
“First, there truly is a legendary life-extending treasure inside Yuchen Divine Temple. If found, it would be of immeasurable benefit to you, whose lifespan is nearly exhausted and whose cultivation has been utterly destroyed.”
“Second, the arrays here were laid down by Master Fangcun.”
“You are both successors of Saint Monk Xumi. With your comprehension of space, I believed you might be able to break the arrays here and enter the temple. As for the danger, with your seventy-fourth-order spiritual strength and the two of us together, we should be able to handle it.”
Zhang Ruochen was of course not suspecting that Bai Qing’er had used him.
If she had intended to use him, she would not have come herself and placed herself in danger. The peril here had simply exceeded her expectations.
A’Ji said, “The old corpse ghost underground is the greatest danger Master and Jade Dragon Immortal later discovered.”
“Fortunately, it had only just awakened at that time. Master and Jade Dragon Immortal used the Yang Escape Nine Arrays and nine God-Locking Chains, paying an enormous price to suppress and chain it underground.”
“The Yang Escape Nine Arrays suppress the old corpse ghost deep beneath the earth, while the Yin Escape Nine Arrays on the surface suppress the mutated divine corpses.”
“Unfortunately, after a hundred thousand years, the power of both the Yang Escape Nine Arrays and Yin Escape Nine Arrays has greatly diminished. They can barely hold the old corpse ghost any longer. But my task is complete. I can leave to find Master. Even if the divine corpses riot and the old corpse ghost breaks free, that will be Xinghuan Heaven’s calamity, not my concern.”
“No, you must continue suppressing them here for a while longer. You may leave only after I find a proper solution,” Bai Qing’er said.
A’Ji spread his hands. “On what grounds? You are not my master. Why should I listen to you?”
“Master is not here, but Martial Uncle is,” Bai Qing’er replied.
A’Ji looked at Zhang Ruochen. “Martial Uncle, who is she exactly? I, A’Ji, am the grand-disciple of Saint Monk Xumi and disciple of Master Fangcun. My status is exceedingly noble.”
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment. “Those who cultivate Buddhism take compassion as their foundation and care for all sentient beings. A’Ji, if your master were here, he would surely hope you continue holding on for a while longer.”
Zhang Ruochen walked to A’Ji’s side, crouched down, and reached to pat his shoulder.
But seeing nothing but spikes, he slowly withdrew his hand. “You will listen to your Martial Uncle, won’t you?”
“But Martial Uncle, the array inscriptions of both the Yin Escape Nine Arrays and Yang Escape Nine Arrays have already grown faint. They can barely suppress any longer. If A’Ji does not escape now, I fear I will be torn apart and devoured alive by those divine corpses,” A’Ji said with a bitter face.
“Let me try. Perhaps I can reinforce the arrays,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Bai Qing’er finally voiced the doubt in her heart. “Has your martial cultivation been restored?”
Zhang Ruochen spread his right palm. A ball of gentle life qi condensed at its centre. In his left palm appeared a ball of grey death qi.
Both the life qi and death qi had reached the divine level.
Yet the two masses of divine qi with completely opposite properties quickly dispersed, merging into a circle that revolved around Zhang Ruochen.
The circle was highly unstable, flickering in and out of existence and entirely untouchable.
Within Zhang Ruochen’s body, there was not a trace of divine qi or rules.
“I am still far from it.”
Zhang Ruochen gave a soft sigh. He had no idea what path of cultivation he had now embarked upon, but his spirit immediately rallied. “Inscribing spatial array inscriptions only requires spiritual strength!”
Boom!
Suddenly, powerful battle fluctuations erupted tens of thousands of li away.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart stirred. Sensing familiar auras, his expression changed slightly. “Did you not say no one can cross the reddish-yellow desert at night to reach the temple?”
“Then the only explanation is that they entered the reddish-yellow desert before nightfall. They are using origin profound meaning and mobilising the origin rules of heaven and earth. The commotion is too great!” Bai Qing’er said.
