“I can protect them,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Tian revealed a mocking smile. “With your current cultivation and condition, defeating even one of them is almost impossible. And yet you dare claim you can protect them?”
“They are indeed extraordinarily powerful. Even against Miss Bai, I have no certainty of victory. But when facing those divinities under Lord Yi Tian, is there a single one among them who would dare to act?”
Zhang Ruochen continued, “Even you, great god, had to borrow my grandfather’s name to kill a god. When the greatest weakness is held by the enemy, what use is supreme cultivation? You are still constrained by others.”
“Give me divine power and I will storm the First Goddess City right now to take Shang Hong’s life. Great god, do you dare? Does Empress Bai dare? Does Divine Master Yu Yao dare?”
“Give me time and I will surely surpass Shang Hong, surpass Lord Yi Tian. When I want them dead, who will be able to threaten me?”
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the halberd tip still pointing at his chest. Knowing this reason was not yet enough to convince Huang Tian, he went on. “To be honest, Miss Bai has grasped one-tenth of the Source Profundity. In the future she is very likely to become the Lord of Source.”
“If this news spreads, it will still bring her mortal danger, yet I have never revealed it to anyone. So why would I spread the fact that she belongs to the Ni Gods Clan? What benefit would that bring me?”
“You do not even dare to go to the Lake of Heavenly Venerable Mi Shan. Why should I trust you?” Huang Tian asked.
Zhang Ruochen knew what he was referring to. A bitter look appeared in his eyes. “I know I am not a man worthy of lifelong trust. I have too many dangers, too many enemies, too many forces that want me dead. To walk too close to me is never a good thing. I dared not accept the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze only because I feared it would harm Miss Bai.”
Huang Tian’s gaze turned icy.
Zhang Ruochen hurriedly added, “But now she has forced me into a corner where I must make a choice. So even if I dare not accept the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze, I must accept it.”
“There are countless outstanding men in the world who wish to marry Qing’er. The world does not lack one such as you, and you are not the best candidate in my heart. Since you are so reluctant, perhaps I should give the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze to someone else,” Huang Tian said.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “I am not reluctant! Before the Linglong Assembly, I will obtain the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze no matter the cost.”
“The Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze is in my hands. How will you take it?” Huang Tian asked.
“I can immediately send word to my grandfather and ask him to come personally to help me seize it. To be frank, my grandfather has long wished for a great-grandson!” Zhang Ruochen said.
Chi Kongle, Chi Kunlun, and even Yan Ying’er could not truly be considered bearers of the Blood Absolute family bloodline.
Huang Tian had not expected Zhang Ruochen to change his tune so quickly several times in a row. He gave a cold snort. “So what if Blood Absolute comes? He still cannot take the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze from me.”
Zhang Ruochen lowered his head, looking at the sharp halberd tip. “Then I can only ask Miss Bai to act and help me seize it. Great god, please do not misunderstand. I have no intention of threatening you.”
“What I mean is, would it not be best to hand the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze to Miss Bai and let her decide?”
These words struck Huang Tian’s weak spot directly.
In his entire life he could abandon glory, wealth, even cultivation and life itself, yet he was defeated by the single word “love”. Once, four thousand years ago, he believed he had severed his feelings for Empress Bai and no longer had any weakness.
But the birth of Bai Qing’er gave him the affection of a father.
Given Huang Tian’s usual style, he would already have pierced Zhang Ruochen through with a single thrust. Only because this troublesome boy was so deeply entangled with Bai Qing’er did Huang Tian find himself unable to harden his heart.
“A man born into this world should take reaching the pinnacle of heaven and earth, standing proudly among the stars, as his lifelong goal. Romantic entanglements between men and women are the greatest shackles.”
Huang Tian’s expression was desolate as he withdrew the war halberd.
It was unclear whether these words were meant for Zhang Ruochen or for himself.
“I cannot agree with that,” Zhang Ruochen said. “I believe that a person without emotion must also be without love. How can someone without emotion or love possess great emotion and great love? Were the Ni God Heavenly Venerable and the Twenty-Four Heavens of that time not people of great emotion and great love?”
Huang Tian stared at him, a strange light in his eyes. “Zhang Ruochen, do you know that many people have placed high hopes on you? Blood Absolute believes you can surpass us, surpass every Heavenly Venerable throughout history, and stop the Quantity Tribulation.”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart stirred. “You told my grandfather about my secrets in Xinghuan Heaven?”
“Blood Absolute asked me to lend you a hand. In exchange, he will remain in hiding for a time and lend me the identity of the Blood Absolute War God.”
Zhang Ruochen was about to ask more, but Huang Tian raised a hand to stop him and continued, “You learned the secret that Qing’er and the others belong to the Ni Gods Clan. By rights you should die. Yet from our earlier conversation I can see that you still possess the heart of an innocent child. You feel sympathy and indignation for the fate of the Ni Gods Clan. For now, I will tentatively regard you as an ally.”
“But that is still far from enough for me to agree to marry Qing’er to you. At present, you are not worthy of her.”
Had Huang Tian not also been forced into a corner by Bai Qing’er, he would never have chosen Zhang Ruochen. In truth he felt that no man in the world was worthy of her.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “When you speak of lending me a hand, do you mean killing the Goddess in Rainbow Robes?”
“A mere Goddess in Rainbow Robes counts for nothing.”
Huang Tian glanced coldly at Zhang Ruochen, planted the Blood Absolute War Halberd back into the ground, then spread his hands wide. “Watch closely!”
In an instant, the scene before Zhang Ruochen changed completely. The hibiscus tree, the tombstones, the divine temple, everything vanished.
The world split in two. One half was boundless black void and deathly stillness, the other half was filled with green trees and red flowers, brimming with vitality.
Huang Tian stood between a world of life and a world of death. His body turned to stone, coloured black and white, his face ferocious and terrifying.
Zhang Ruochen clearly sensed that the dark, empty world of death contained countless rules of the Death Dao, twisted together. Any living being that entered would perish instantly.
The other world overflowed with rules of the Life Dao. Even the water flowing in the great river was the Spring of Life.
“Such intense life energy. How is this possible? It is purer than the life force produced by the Heaven-Connecting Divine Tree,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Tian’s voice rang through heaven and earth. “Why is it impossible? I am the Lord of Life. All my profundities were bestowed upon me by the Heaven-Connecting Divine Tree in the past. Although my profundities of the Death Dao have not yet reached the level of a Lord God, they are not far off.”
“In the entire universe, there is probably no second divinity who cultivates both the Life Dao and the Death Dao simultaneously and has reached my present attainment.”
“In your current state, no one but me can help you. That is precisely why Blood Absolute had to compromise with me this time.”
Boom!
The world of death and the world of life collapsed, turning into billions of streams of life rules and death rules. They formed two rivers, one black and one white, that surged into Huang Tian’s eyes.
Zhang Ruochen’s vision cleared. He was standing in the divine temple once more.
Lord of Life?
Cultivating both the Life Dao and the Death Dao at the same time?
None of this actually surprised Zhang Ruochen.
After Huang Tian gained sentience in the Western Buddha Realm, his master, the Ancient Buddha Yuanxu, had sent him to the Stone Realm, a mortal world under Heaven, to cultivate and comprehend the true meaning of the Life Dao.
As a member of the Stone Clan, to cultivate a body of flesh and blood he naturally needed extremely deep research into the Life Dao.
Later, he betrayed Heaven and became a disciple of the Stone Ancestor.
The Stone Clan of the Hell Realm revered the Death Dao, so it was only logical that Huang Tian studied the Death Dao under the Stone Ancestor.
Since ancient times, only the Stone Clan had precedents of achieving greatness by cultivating both the Life Dao and the Death Dao simultaneously.
Roughly forty cosmic cycles ago, the Lord of the Gods of the Hell Realm’s Stone Clan, the God of Withering and Flourishing, had been such an existence.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Why did the Heaven-Connecting Divine Tree pass its Life Profundity to you?”
Huang Tian seemed to have anticipated the question. “Because it had no other choice, and because the young me back then was, in truth, a complete fool.”
“I suddenly find myself wanting to hear your story!” Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Tian replied, “If you wish to hear it, I will tell you on the way.”
“On the way? Where are we going?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The blood clouds in the sky had thinned somewhat, revealing sunlight.
Huang Tian lifted his head, gazing at the blazing sun for a long time. His eyes grew increasingly resolute. “I went to great trouble to borrow Blood Absolute’s identity. How could I not kill to my heart’s content?”
In Zhang Ruochen’s view, the successive falls of Demon Eye, Wu Ma Jiuxing, the Fourth Blood Ancestor, and the Goddess in Rainbow Robes had already shocked the world. It was enough to draw the attention of all Heaven and Hell to Xinghuan Heaven.
The next step should be to lie low.
He had never expected Huang Tian to want to strike again.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “You want to kill Shang Hong?”
“Shang Hong is your love rival and one of the foremost figures of your cosmic cycle. Only by dealing with him will you be qualified to marry Qing’er and rightfully climb to the peak of this cosmic cycle. A cosmic-cycle-level genius must defeat all cultivators of his cycle before he can transform into a cosmic-cycle-level powerhouse.”
Huang Tian’s expression was grave yet filled with killing intent. “I have my own opponent.”
“Who?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Huang Tian’s aura grew ever more domineering. “The fourth son of Shang Tian, the Heaven-Seizing Divine Emperor. Among Shang Tian’s sons, he is second only to Lord Yi Tian. He is the ruler of the Great Shang Divine Dynasty in the Paradise Realm. Ten thousand years ago his cultivation already reached the final realm of great gods, the Grand Void Realm. I have waited four thousand years for the day I cross blades with him in a battle to the death.”
“By the way, you may not know why Empress Bai is called Empress Bai. It is because she is the empress of the Heaven-Seizing Divine Emperor.”
Zhang Ruochen was stunned. “How is that possible?”
“There are many things in this world that would astonish you. It is truly strange. Words I have kept buried in my heart and never wished to speak, I have actually said so many of today to you!”
Huang Tian could not help wondering in his heart whether this was because love for his daughter extended to those connected to her.
Looking at Huang Tian’s calm expression, Zhang Ruochen secretly admired the man’s state of mind.
Zhang Ruochen could not imagine that, were he in Huang Tian’s place, he could remain so calm when speaking of Empress Bai and the Heaven-Seizing Divine Emperor.
“How soon do we set out?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“No rush. We still have to wait a little longer, until the Goddess in Rainbow Robes is completely dead.”
Huang Tian looked up at the sky again. The star-soul divine seat of the Goddess in Rainbow Robes still had not extinguished. Clearly, a great god could not be killed so easily.
