Early morning, by the lakeside, mist curled around the drooping willows.
The drunkard’s hair was a tangled mess, his face dark and stormy. He sat at the stone table beside a willow tree.
Two large white geese strutted arrogantly, necks raised high, hissing at him and demanding food.
“Scram! All you know is eating. One day I’ll stew the pair of you.”
“Honk! Honk!”
The geese were not frightened in the least and kept honking nonstop.
Growing impatient, the drunkard kicked them both into the lake and cursed them roundly.
It was at that moment that Zhang Ruochen walked into the manor.
Yu Rumors stood to one side, divine radiance drifting around her like mist, her graceful figure hazy and indistinct. She sent him a mental message: “Master is in a foul mood. Do not provoke him.”
The drunkard glared over, eyes threaded with red veins, and roared, “Who’s in a foul mood? I’m perfectly fine. My mood is better than anyone’s!”
“Be very careful how you reply.”
Having given the warning, Yu Rumors quickly walked away.
Zhang Ruochen instantly regretted coming.
He should have known better.
Even a great god whose mental strength surpassed the eightieth order had been scared off, and she was his own direct disciple. It was said that people who love drink, once truly drunk, recognise neither kin nor friend.
Judging by the drunkard’s appearance, he had clearly drunk a great deal. Who knew whether his mind was still clear?
Zhang Ruochen did not dare take the risk. He hurried after Yu Rumors and prepared to leave.
From behind him came a hoarse, rasping shout: “Don’t you walk away! Yes, you, the Zhang kid. Stop right there. Get over here!”
At the single word “here”, a fierce wind exploded around Zhang Ruochen. His body was yanked backwards.
When he stopped, he found himself already seated on a stone bench. He tried to stand, but a wrinkled hand pressed down on his shoulder with such force that every bone in his body felt about to shatter.
There was no restraint whatsoever in that grip.
Zhang Ruochen groaned inwardly. A thick stench of alcohol assaulted his nose.
It was no ordinary wine. Just one whiff made his head spin and his vision blur. He immediately held his breath.
The drunkard’s mouth was practically at his ear. “Speak!” he growled.
Zhang Ruochen answered with extreme caution. “Speak about what?”
“Speak!” the drunkard repeated.
Zhang Ruochen could not bear the pressure on his shoulder. He tried to shift his body, only to discover that the entire time-space around him had been locked. He could not move an inch.
“Fine, I’ll speak! In the past this junior did not know Senior’s identity and offended you many times. Please forgive me.”
“Is that what I told you to speak about?”
The drunkard’s eyes bulged. He stared at Zhang Ruochen from inches away, strands of hair falling onto Zhang Ruochen’s face.
Zhang Ruochen became even more careful. “May I ask what exactly Senior wishes me to say?”
“Naturally, how to deal with the armies of the thirteen realms of Heaven, and how to handle the gods of Hell Realm waiting beyond the border?” The drunkard released his hand, sat down opposite Zhang Ruochen, picked up his wine jug, and took a swig.
Zhang Ruochen looked at him in astonishment.
“You thought I was really drunk?”
The drunkard slammed the jug onto the stone table and snapped angrily, “I’m perfectly sober! Now this mess is in front of us. Tell me what we should do.”
Much of the pressure in Zhang Ruochen’s heart eased, yet the drunkard did not seem entirely clear-headed. He still spoke with great caution. “This junior is merely an outsider. I am certain Senior already has a plan.”
“With my status, even if I faced the Celestials of Heaven and Hell, I would not flinch in the slightest. But if you make me handle a matter like this, where am I supposed to put my face?”
As he spoke, the drunkard began slapping his own cheeks, the blows ringing out sharply. “Look! Has Tianmu personally stepped forward? Has that big-bearded Shang? Has Feng Caiyi? With my status, my status!”
He seized the wine jug and hurled it at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen dodged sideways and said quickly, “Whatever instructions Senior has, just say them.”
Clang!
The jug hit the ground and spun.
The drunkard nodded in satisfaction, waved a hand, and said, “Go then!”
Even with all his cleverness, Zhang Ruochen could not work out what the drunkard actually meant.
But how could he ask questions at a moment like this?
He stood up and left at once.
Thud!
A heavy object crashed to the ground behind him, followed by long, rumbling snores.
Zhang Ruochen did not dare look back. By the time he walked out of the manor he was drenched in cold sweat. Seeing Yu Rumors approaching, he immediately gave a wry smile. “That great god nearly got me killed. With Senior Drunkard’s cultivation, if he accidentally slapped me dead while drunk, who could I appeal to for justice?”
“Although Master loves wine more than life itself, he has never truly been drunk. I never expected him to be this drunk today. Earlier, when he told me to bring you here, he was in a bad mood but still perfectly lucid.” A trace of apology appeared in Yu Rumors’ eyes.
Zhang Ruochen was not the sort to bear grudges. “What exactly did Senior Drunkard mean?”
“Have you still not understood? He has handed Xinghuan Heaven to you.” said Yu Rumors.
Although Zhang Ruochen had vaguely sensed it, he still found it hard to believe.
“From this moment on, you are the Lord of Xinghuan Heaven. You may make any decision you wish.” said Yu Rumors.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “How can that be? I am merely an outsider, and my cultivation is low. Great God, you are the one who truly deserves to be Lord of Xinghuan Heaven.”
Yu Rumors said, “I am gravely injured and must enter closed-door seclusion for a very long time. You claim you wish to marry Qing’er, yet now you call yourself an outsider. Could it be that you feel the Rebel God Clan will bring you too much trouble and you now wish to distance yourself from us?”
“Of course not.”
Zhang Ruochen gave a helpless smile. He had never imagined that supreme experts like the drunkard and Yu Rumors would place such importance on him.
One must realise that Xinghuan Heaven was the former territory of a Venerable, a true major realm of the universe, far larger than the ten great worlds he had won in the War of Ten Realms combined.
In terms of power and resources, Xinghuan Heaven was a thousand, ten thousand times stronger than the Three Lives Realm.
Compared even with the top hundred powerful realms of Heaven, it was more than their equal.
In other words, once Zhang Ruochen revealed the title “Lord of Xinghuan Heaven”, he could stand as an equal beside the Lord of Soul Realm, the Moon Goddess, and the Mandala Flower Goddess. Even if his personal cultivation was not yet sufficient, his status, position, and the manpower and material resources he could mobilise were already at the level of a cosmic overlord.
Zhang Ruochen was deeply aware of how enormous the implications were. “I am now a god of Hell Realm. If you make me Lord of Xinghuan Heaven, will Heaven still regard you as a neutral faction?”
Yu Rumors asked, “Are you truly considered a god of Hell Realm?”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart stirred. He looked at her.
Yu Rumors continued, “Your ties with Heaven run far too deep, and you never conceal that your beliefs are completely opposed to those of Hell Realm. In Hell Realm, only some cultivators of the Immortal Vampire clan and the Rakshasa clan can accept a living being like you. To the various death-spirit races, you, Zhang Ruochen, have never been one of them.”
“The reason some Immortal Vampires and Rakshasa can accept you is because of the influence that Blood War God and Tianmu wield in those two clans, not because of you yourself.”
“In the War of Ten Realms, you represented neither Hell Realm nor Heaven. Was that not your way of publicly declaring your own stance?”
Zhang Ruochen could not refute her. “In the current situation of the universe, can anyone truly remain neutral? Can anyone truly represent only themselves?”
“As long as you are strong enough, you can.”
Yu Rumors said, “Rest assured, we are not forcing you to leave Hell Realm. At present, becoming Lord of Xinghuan Heaven will only benefit you; it will not harm you. Whatever decision you make, Master will back you. And you, with your unique status, can help Xinghuan Heaven resolve the crisis that still exists.”
The current crisis was that the gods of Hell Realm wished to devour the Saint Realm armies of the thirteen realms.
If Xinghuan Heaven wished to avoid bringing disaster upon itself, it had to preserve those armies.
Precisely because they understood the stakes, the Thousand Xinghuan Heaven Array continued to keep the gods of Hell Realm outside. However, this could easily enrage those gods and spark a second war.
A war in which Hell Realm would seek to destroy Xinghuan Heaven.
If Zhang Ruochen became Lord of Xinghuan Heaven, he could unquestionably ease the present deadlock.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “I have one question. Heaven launched a massive offensive against Xinghuan Heaven this time; both sides have formed deep enmity. Why does Xinghuan Heaven not simply join Hell Realm?”
Yu Rumors replied, “Things are nowhere near as simple as they appear on the surface. Leaving aside the profound hatred between the Rebel God Clan and Hell Realm, consider only Xinghuan Heaven’s geographical position. Once it sided with Hell Realm, Xinghuan Heaven would inevitably become the vanguard in Hell Realm’s war against Heaven. You can surely imagine what the final outcome would be.”
“Moreover, the ones who decide such matters are Master and that existence on Xing Tian Cliff. The height at which they stand and the things they see are still beyond our current vision.”
“To Heaven, conquering Xinghuan Heaven requires the Saint Realm armies of thirteen realms. Destroying Xinghuan Heaven, however, would be far simpler!”
Zhang Ruochen said, “I still do not understand why Heaven’s armies were so determined to occupy Xinghuan Heaven. Was it to turn this place into a war base, to open a front for a counterattack against Hell Realm, or were they truly targeting the Rebel God Clan? Targeting Senior Drunkard?”
“Until today, I did not understand Heaven’s intentions either.”
Yu Rumors thought for a moment before continuing, “Heaven’s true target was never Xinghuan Heaven. It was Haishi Star Citadel. Xinghuan Heaven and Master simply stood in front of Haishi Star Citadel and became the greatest obstacle.”
“War broke out at Haishi Star Citadel as well?” Zhang Ruochen asked, deeply shaken.
Yu Rumors answered, “Something even more terrifying than war. It nearly caused the sky to collapse and the earth to shatter. Zhang Ruochen, do you know that the defensive line of the ancient civilisation factions is on the verge of falling?”
Zhang Ruochen had never been to the starry battlefield and did not know the details.
Yu Rumors went on, “Heaven had no choice but to stake everything on one throw. They planned to use heaven-defying methods to detonate the shattered chaos of time and space within Haishi Star Citadel, tear open a cosmic spatial rift, and strike directly at Xiuluo Star Pillar Realm, wiping out the entire Xiuluo race and Hell Realm’s armies in a single blow.”
Zhang Ruochen felt his scalp go numb with shock. Whose boldness was this great?
Who possessed such heaven-defying means?
The starry domain where Xiuluo Star Pillar Realm was located had already collided with the starry domain of the ancient civilisation factions; only the starry defence line held them apart for now.
And the star region where Xiuluo Star Pillar Realm currently lay was directly adjacent to both Xinghuan Heaven and Haishi Star Citadel.
Haishi Star Citadel was the place where the universe originated; time and space there were extremely unstable. If enough power were applied, it was indeed possible to rip open a spatial rift that spanned the starry sky and deal a destructive blow to Xiuluo Star Pillar Realm.
Like dropping a single cold droplet into a pot of boiling oil. It would explode instantly.
Not to mention Zhang Ruochen, even the peak experts of Hell Realm could not imagine that anyone in the world possessed such ability and daring. That was why, from beginning to end, their attention had been fixed on Xinghuan Heaven.
Yu Rumors said, “If Heaven had succeeded, Haishi Star Citadel would have expanded at least a hundredfold, and the surrounding star regions would have become shattered and chaotic. With Xiuluo Star Pillar Realm destroyed and Hell Realm’s armies annihilated, Heaven would have ended the war once and for all and could even have launched a counterattack into Hell Realm itself.”
“Why did they fail?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yu Rumors replied, “Because of you. Because of you, Huang Tian, and Jue Miao Zen Girl, Heaven failed to take control of Xinghuan Heaven before Hell Realm’s armies arrived. They could not force Master to yield. Since Master did not yield, that existence on Xing Tian Cliff naturally did not yield either.”
“Of course, that was only a secondary reason. The main reason was that the one leading Heaven’s plan lacked the confidence to control the heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating power that would erupt from Haishi Star Citadel. The slightest mistake would have destroyed Heaven’s own armies and the ancient civilisations as well. Because of his hesitation, he ultimately left the decision to the battle situation at Xinghuan Heaven and to Master’s choice.”
Zhang Ruochen felt a chill run through his entire body. He regretted having asked. Now that he knew the truth, he felt utterly insignificant compared to those who stood at the pinnacle of heaven and earth, like a speck of dust.
Their boldness, their methods, their grasp of the grand structure had long surpassed mere slaughter or a war that engulfed major realms.
Even a war among gods seemed, in their eyes, trivial and insignificant.
