The three of them dared not venture deeper, fearing they truly were beneath the Yuchen Divine Temple. If they accidentally roused that strange and malevolent old corpse-ghost, it would be ten times more terrifying than facing the Great God Blackheart Demon Lord.
Zhang Ruochen activated the Sundial, hoping to help Chi Yao and Bai Qing’er recover their divine qi and heal their wounds as quickly as possible.
Yet something unexpected occurred.
The Sundial had not fully returned to its original state; it could only support one true god cultivating within its domain.
The moment all three tried to cultivate at once, time within the area instantly fell into extreme disorder.
Chi Yao glanced at the pale-faced Bai Qing’er, rose gracefully, and stepped out of the Sundial’s range. “She is the most seriously injured. Let her cultivate first.”
Bai Qing’er was only at the early Middle God stage. When one of the Blackheart Demon Lord’s heavenly demon steles had suppressed her, she had only managed to endure by burning her divine blood; otherwise she would have been crushed to death.
Moreover, when she executed Seven Souls Terror Dream, she suffered backlash from the Blackheart Demon Lord’s formidable divine soul, injuring her spirit.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao possessed the power of the White Cang Blood Soil in their bodies, so their physical injuries healed rapidly.
They had merely consumed vast amounts of divine qi while wielding divine artefacts.
For precisely that reason, Bai Qing’er was the weakest of the three.
That Chi Yao would voluntarily yield the Sundial to Bai Qing’er surprised Zhang Ruochen. He knew her proud and domineering character; she had always contended with others and never once stepped back of her own accord.
Bai Qing’er was clearly a little startled as well. She did not know what emotions stirred in her heart, but after lowering her gaze she said, “Thank you.”
“Zhang Ruochen, let us first discuss our next course of action.”
Chi Yao held the Six Patriarchs’ Zen Release Diagram as she spoke.
Zhang Ruochen understood that Chi Yao had private words she wished to say to him alone inside the scroll world.
He very much wanted to say that Bai Qing’er was not an outsider and there was no need to exclude her, but after a moment’s thought he realised that saying so would only make things awkward.
The relationship between the two women had only just begun to ease; there was no reason to reignite tensions.
“Wait a moment.”
Zhang Ruochen used the passage as boundaries, inscribing concealment array patterns and divine marks within ten li in both directions.
The instant any cultivator intruded, he would sense it immediately.
He had only just sent out a spiritual-power clone when Chi Yao’s voice rang in his ears: “Your true body must enter the scroll world.”
“Why?” Zhang Ruochen asked, puzzled.
For secret discussions, a clone was more than sufficient.
Chi Yao’s bright eyes shimmered with extraordinary light. She blinked at him, looking rather sly.
In the end Zhang Ruochen asked no further. Together they turned into two divine beams and entered the Six Patriarchs’ Zen Release Diagram with their true bodies.
Bai Qing’er, seated cross-legged beneath the Sundial, glanced at the scroll floating in mid-air and gained sudden insight. She murmured to herself, “So Chi Yao has a way to recover cultivation far faster than the Sundial and refuses to share it with a love rival. That woman really does not hide her pettiness at all. Good!”
Though Chi Yao was small-minded, she displayed it openly; she was not malicious and knew what mattered most. At the very least, she had voluntarily yielded the Sundial.
When it came to love, who could truly be magnanimous?
Love, after all, is selfish.
As a former empress of the Kunlun Realm, Bai Qing’er believed Chi Yao was no simple woman devoid of schemes; she would never easily reveal her emotions.
If Chi Yao acted so directly in front of Zhang Ruochen, it was very likely because she knew he preferred straightforwardness and disliked women who schemed behind his back or pretended to be harmless little white rabbits.
In the end, everything Chi Yao did was to win back Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
Realising this, Bai Qing’er now clearly understood how she should deal with this rival. She had no wish to fight over a man, quarrelling bitterly until both were humiliated.
In her heart, the path to godhood surpassed everything.
Yet if Zhang Ruochen truly could not withstand Chi Yao’s advances and left with her, Bai Qing’er knew she would feel an immense sense of loss.
…
Inside the world of the Six Patriarchs’ Zen Release Diagram lay a corner of the Sixth Patriarch’s divine realm, fused with the Qiankun Realm. It was vast and boundless, no different from a holy great world.
The two walked beneath the bodhi tree and gazed at the golden Buddha image of the Sixth Patriarch seated upon the Bright Mirror Platform.
Kong Lanyou, her hair completely white yet her beauty serene and dignified, sat beneath the platform with radiant peacock wings sprouting from her back, cultivating with eyes closed. She neither sensed nor saw Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao, for they were gods.
Zhang Ruochen did not disturb her. “Why give up the Sundial?”
“With a great enemy before us, if I still squabbled with her, would I not be looked down upon? But Bai Qing’er is deep and calculating; she would do anything for cultivation. She cannot be brought in here!”
Chi Yao took out the Space-Time Chaos Lotus and flew upwards, landing in the centre of a golden lake, standing upon the water.
In the Sixth Patriarch’s divine realm, every river was Buddha spring, every blade of grass a holy medicine, and every grain of earth contained Buddhahood far surpassing Divine Venerable substance.
Chi Yao planted the Space-Time Chaos Lotus in the lake.
The lotus swayed.
Countless white gaseous roots grew from its base, enveloping the entire Buddha-spring lake.
Whoosh!
The pure Buddha qi in the lake, the Buddhahood in the surrounding soil, and the vitality of every rare flower and herb were all absorbed by the white roots and channelled into the Space-Time Chaos Lotus.
Its petals grew ever brighter.
Zhang Ruochen knew the Space-Time Chaos Lotus possessed this property; Saint Monk Xumi had found it deep within Haishi Xingwu at the origin of the universe.
He had used it himself once.
“Time is compressed, and all essence in space is drawn in. This is the secret behind my reaching Upper God in a mere thousand years! Come!”
Chi Yao looked towards Zhang Ruochen.
The two flew into the Space-Time Chaos Lotus and began cultivating.
…
In the starry void, most regions were endless darkness that even the strongest cultivators could not cross.
“Ten thousand years ago you were utterly defeated. Had that old fisherman not interfered, this heaven would have slain you. How else could you have lived until now?” A tall, majestic elder with red whiskers, clad in yellow robes, stood atop the starry river, gazing down into the boundless darkness below.
The drunken wreck, hair in disarray and clothes tattered, stood within the darkness and laughed. “Shang Big-Beard, spare me the boasting. Ten thousand years ago I might not have been your match, but killing me would not have been so easy either. That old Yu meddled for no reason, yet you really believe you can kill whoever you please?”
Shang Tian frowned, clearly annoyed by the drunkard’s foul mouth. “Step aside! Do not ruin yourself. That fisherman will not come to save you again; he may not even be able to return himself!”
The drunkard planted hands on hips and thrust out his chest. “After sealing heaven you speak with such arrogance, truly frightening. Come on then, hit me, beat me to death or cripple me!”
No sooner had he spoken than Shang Tian struck with a palm.
The starry river was vast, the universe boundless.
Yet that seemingly light palm crossed billions of li and appeared beside the drunkard.
A true distance of billions of li.
The drunkard’s eyes sharpened. “All these years and still the same old moves? The so-called Eight Heaven-Arid Techniques are not worth a fart.”
He stood motionless, yet the Heaven-Arid Seal of the Great Path that should have closed around him failed to form.
“Hmm?”
Shang Tian’s eyes blazed like twin stars. “No wonder you dare contend with heaven. You have broken through to the ninetieth step and reached the Heaven-Round Without Flaw level. You are now the eighth strongest spiritual cultivator in the present universe! Both Heavenly Court and Hell sealed heaven, yet they missed you. Where did you achieve this breakthrough?”
“Scared now?” the drunkard said.
Shang Tian replied, “You have only just reached Heaven-Round Without Flaw. Why would this heaven fear you? Even if your master Qing Tian came in person, he would be no more than my equal.”
The drunkard mobilised the power of heaven and earth, attempting to shatter the Heaven-Arid Seal encircling him.
But when his spiritual power erupted, Shang Tian’s invisible giant hand did not budge; it remained unbroken and continued to imprison him.
The drunkard inwardly shuddered. In a hundred thousand years Shang Tian’s cultivation had climbed to an even higher realm; no wonder he dared claim parity with Qing Tian.
“Haha! I cannot break your Heaven-Arid Seal, but you can only remain here, unable to move. Pity about your four sons; I fear they are done for!” the drunkard laughed.
Shang Tian smiled. “And yet you can still laugh? Did you think this heaven would stoop to attacking juniors like Qing Tian did? This heaven disdains such conduct. But whether Blood Absolutes or Huang Tian, they are mere children after all. Beneath the Immeasurable, there are still those who can deal with them.”
“You mean him?”
At last the drunkard stopped laughing, for he knew exactly whom Shang Tian referred to.
…
Kunlun Realm, beneath the sacred peach tree.
Peach blossoms perfumed the air; spiritual mist formed bridges.
Mu Lingxi dragged Chi Xingtian swiftly through the peach grove, urging, “Godfather, hurry! You said yourself you would help me no matter what. Once we see Taishang we’ll head straight to Xinghuan Heaven.”
Chi Xingtian wore demonic armour; his head was square, his frame more massive than four Mu Lingxis combined.
It had been Xiao Hei who, carrying the Xingtian Jar, went to the Luo Zu Yunshan Realm with Mu Lingxi and helped free Chi Xingtian.
News that Zhang Ruochen had appeared in Xinghuan Heaven had only recently reached Kunlun.
Upon hearing it, Mu Lingxi immediately went to Chi Xingtian and begged her boastful godfather, who feared neither heaven nor earth, to accompany her to Xinghuan Heaven in search of Zhang Ruochen.
Though Chi Xingtian feared nothing under the sky, he knew the gravity of the matter, so he intended to consult Taishang first. In his view, Taishang never left anything to chance and was far more reliable than himself.
The Master of the Island of the Fallen Gods stood beneath the peach tree, gazing at the starry sky, an ancient and mysterious array at his feet.
“Greetings, Taishang,” Mu Lingxi said respectfully with a bow.
Chi Xingtian strode straight over, curious, and followed the Master’s gaze upward. Seeing him motionless as if petrified, Chi Xingtian bellowed, “What are you looking at?”
Mu Lingxi rolled her eyes, thinking her godfather far too rude and utterly lacking in manners.
Fortunately Taishang was good-natured; otherwise he would have slapped this oaf flat to the ground.
“The armies have marched. Thirteen forces in total, from thirteen realms,” the Master of the Island of the Fallen Gods said.
Chi Xingtian rubbed his eyes and looked skyward again. “What armies? I don’t see anything.”
“The armies of the Heavenly Court, marching towards Xinghuan Heaven. A new battlefield is about to emerge!” The Master of the Island of the Fallen Gods gave a soft sigh and shook his head.
