Three days passed in an instant.
Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Lord stayed hidden in the darkness. Only Lan Wu Teng stood alone in the outer region of the Dark Night Realm Gate, waiting quietly.
“The Sword Realm is definitely not inside the Dark Night Realm Gate.” This was Dragon Lord’s earlier judgement.
Lan Wu Teng was merely the eyes that mysterious person used to learn about the outside world. How could such a person reveal the Sword Realm’s location to him?
The Dark Night Realm Gate was more like a trap. Once Lan Wu Teng was exposed, it could lure and kill cultivators who came seeking the Sword Realm. The dangers inside were extreme. Even with Dragon Lord’s cultivation, he had to treat it with caution.
Time passed bit by bit until the fourth day.
The worry between Lan Wu Teng’s brows grew heavier. In all these years, whenever he came to report on the Lost Paradise to that mysterious person, the wait had never exceeded three days.
Why was something wrong this time?
Zhang Ruochen said, “Could the other side have sensed something unusual? No, even to sense it, they would have to arrive here first. If they had already come, how could they conceal it from Uncle Dragon’s perception?”
“He is here!” Dragon Lord said.
In the dark void, a bright sword light flashed past at extreme speed, heading straight for Lan Wu Teng.
The sword light had come from an unknown distance, yet it locked onto Lan Wu Teng, rendering him unable to move. A heavy divine voice arrived with the sword light. “Traitor, die!”
“You go save him.”
Dragon Lord left these words, transformed into a divine dragon, and broke through the void. In an instant, he was millions of li away. His speed was inconceivable.
Compared to it, divine spirit steps were like ants crawling.
Zhang Ruochen sent out the Sundial, mobilising time imprint light points from heaven and earth. They condensed into a thousand-li-long river of time and collided with the incoming sword light.
It could not block it…
The sword light sent the Sundial flying, pierced Lan Wu Teng’s phantom, and crashed into the Dark Night Realm Gate, producing a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering boom.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Lan Wu Teng with one hand and shifted with him a hundred li away.
Lan Wu Teng, soul still shaken, looked at Zhang Ruochen with gratitude. He cupped his hands in salute. “Many thanks for saving my life.”
Even across vast void, a single sword could lock an upper god like him, leaving him unable to move. Did a Grand Void great god possess such strength?
Probably not.
The shock in Zhang Ruochen’s heart was even greater than Lan Wu Teng’s. Yet with Dragon Lord present, no matter how high the opponent’s cultivation, there should be no excessive worry. Escape should be possible.
He stored Lan Wu Teng back in the Sundial. Zhang Ruochen pursued in the direction Dragon Lord had gone. Along the way, strands of dragon qi mist guided him.
…
“Jade Purity, an old friend is here. Why strike and flee?”
The divine dragon’s body contracted, returning to Dragon Lord’s carefree and handsome form. He stopped in the void and turned to look behind.
The void was empty.
Space turned into a water curtain, rippling finely.
A white-haired elder in daoist robes stepped out from the curtain. A jade sword hovered above his head. Divine light bathed his body. He exuded an ancient, sacred aura.
He seemed an immortal stepping from a wall painting, or an ancient sword cultivator walking from an old book.
“Ji Wang, how is it you?”
Incredulity filled the white-haired elder’s eyes.
Dragon Lord smiled. “How have you grown so old? Back then, drunk and dancing with sword, talking and laughing freely, how dashing you were.”
Meeting an old friend, Jade Purity’s mood lifted. The wrinkles on his face lessened. “The ‘back then’ you speak of, how many years ago was that? The past is not worth recalling much.”
“It seems the Dark Triangle Star Domain truly is a place without years or months. It has made your mindset so aged.”
Dragon Lord ceased idle talk. “You truly found the Sword Realm?”
Jade Purity’s smile faded. His gaze turned inward. “You came for the Sword Realm?”
“Not only me. Island Master has come too!” Dragon Lord said.
Though Jade Purity’s expression remained unchanged, the jade sword above his head grew brighter, revealing his inner unrest.
Dragon Lord asked, “How is Grand Purity?”
Jade Purity said nothing, only nodded lightly.
Dragon Lord saw that a deep barrier now existed between this old friend and himself. It was not merely accumulated over two hundred thousand years. Supreme Purity’s death was the main cause.
Dragon Lord said, “It seems you already know about Supreme Purity.”
“In these years, we rarely left the Dark Triangle Star Domain, but we did go out a few times. We are not completely cut off from the world.”
Jade Purity’s expression turned thoroughly cold. He added, “The vulgar matters outside, all that scheming for power and profit, hold no interest. Fighting and killing, greed and deceit, insatiable desire. It is simply wasting limited life.”
“I do not know whether you and Island Master came to seize the Sword Realm, to kill Grand Purity and me, or to bring us back to Kunlun Realm. In any case, I truly wish no further involvement in outside affairs.”
He added, “If it is war you want, I will oblige.”
Dragon Lord gazed steadily at him. “Do you not wish to know why Bi Luo Zi killed Supreme Purity back then?”
“I do, of course. Kunlun Realm owes us an explanation!”
Jade Purity’s white hair flew. His gaze sharpened like a sword.
Zhang Ruochen arrived and stopped far away.
When two Immeasurable Realm ancient gods conversed, a junior like him should keep distance.
Dragon Lord said, “I do not know how Supreme Purity broke through to the Immeasurable Realm, but after returning to Kunlun Realm two hundred thousand years ago, his temperament changed greatly, as if demonised. He not only devoured three gods of the Two Forms Sect in succession but seized the Wordless Sword Manual. He broke into the Nether Dungeon within the Sword Mound, intending to open the eighteenth layer.”
“Great Venerable once instructed that the eighteenth layer of the Nether Dungeon must never be opened, or the universe would fall into great chaos. Supreme Purity could not have been unaware. What did he intend?”
Back then, even the Nether King was imprisoned only in the fifteenth layer.
No one knew what ferociously evil beings were held in the final three layers.
Jade Purity’s expression changed dramatically. “Impossible. How could this be? Supreme Purity would never do such a thing.”
“With your understanding of me, would Ji Wang lie about this?” Dragon Lord asked.
“How could it be… Could it be…”
Jade Purity seemed to think of something. He looked towards the Dark Night Realm Gate. Emotions surged within him.
Dragon Lord said, “Bi Luo Zi was your master. His killing of Supreme Purity was merely cleaning house. But in the battle ten thousand years ago, he fell in the Endless Abyss.”
“Jade Purity, the you of back then was not like now, blindly avoiding everything. You risked entering the Dark Triangle Star Domain, seeking the Sword Realm, breaking into the Immeasurable Realm, all to protect Kunlun Realm, to safeguard the beings of the world.”
“Because of one misunderstanding, you change your original intent? Or have you grown afraid?”
“You saw ten thousand years ago how Kunlun Realm gods fell, how the Infernal Realm slaughtered until blood stained mountains and rivers, with no place to bury heroic bones. So your courage failed, and you can only hide in the Dark Triangle Star Domain, living in fear day by day?”
Jade Purity glared furiously. “Ji Wang, do you take this poor daoist for a timid coward? Do you think, upon learning of Saint Monk and Wen Tianjun’s fall, we shed no tears?”
“But why did Kunlun Realm lose? Why did Wen Tianjun fall? Why did Saint Monk die so tragically? Was it truly only because the Infernal Realm was strong?”
“From what we know, problems arose within the Heavenly Court. They died at the hands of their own. If that is not enough to chill the heart, then how did the Saint Race perish? If I were lord of the Heavenly Court, even fighting to the death, I would never sacrifice the Saint Race.”
“Such a war, no matter how many lives are thrown in, will still end in defeat. No matter how powerful one’s cultivation, one dies in divine war, becoming a wronged soul.”
Dragon Lord was silent for long. “All because of the Quantity Tribulation.”
Jade Purity was slightly moved, but soon grew calm again. “Let it come, then. The Quantity Tribulation will arrive eventually. Three hundred thousand years ago, the Heavens marched out, yet could not stop it. What can we do?”
“It was not unstoppable. At least it was delayed two hundred thousand years. Ten thousand years ago, mysterious powerhouses acted again, repelling the Quantity Tribulation, buying us more time.”
Dragon Lord continued, “So many still fight, unwilling to submit to the Quantity Tribulation. Why have you, Jade Purity, accepted fate?”
Jade Purity’s expression grew heavy.
Dragon Lord said, “Some refuse to submit to the Quantity Tribulation, yet others chose submission. They formed a mysterious world-ending organisation. With the Quantity Tribulation as faith, viewing it as the sole invincible god, they committed many unspeakable acts for its world-ending. Back then, Wen Tianjun and Saint Monk’s deaths likely involved their hand.”
Jade Purity hated evil as an enemy. “What organisation? Who founded it?”
“The Quantity Organisation!”
Dragon Lord said, “To this day, the Quantity Organisation remains highly mysterious. They hide within major forces of Heavenly Court and Infernal Realm, deliberately stirring contradictions, hatred, war, causing all vital forces of the universe to fall into internal strife.”
“No one knows where the enemy is. They are extremely cunning, hidden deep. Often, a god suspected of being a member is seized, only to find the wrong person caught, sparking new contradictions and hatred.”
“Even most powerhouses simply do not believe the Quantity Organisation exists. Who would believe there are people who wish for the world’s destruction?”
Jade Purity gave a bitter laugh. “Even if the war between Heavenly Court and Infernal Realm was sparked by the Quantity Organisation, what of it? Once contradictions and hatred appear in the world, they deepen until one side is utterly destroyed.”
“Perhaps the Quantity Organisation truly does not exist. It is merely fabricated by some who wish to shirk responsibility, pushing blame onto it.”
“Ji Wang, since you and Island Master still live, you can protect Kunlun Realm. If one day Kunlun Realm falls, you may retreat to the Sword Realm. Here, at least you can live until the Quantity Tribulation arrives.”
Dragon Lord felt disappointment. “You truly do not wish to contribute effort to stopping the Quantity Tribulation?”
“I do! But I truly cannot see through people’s hearts. I fear everything I do is already calculated by others. As you said, thinking one has caught a Quantity Organisation member, only to be used, turned into a blade!”
Jade Purity added, “Even more, I do not wish one day to die like Wen Tianjun and Saint Monk, calculated against by one’s own.”
Dragon Lord was helpless. He knew he could not persuade him. His gaze turned to Zhang Ruochen. “What do you think of him?”
Jade Purity had long noticed Zhang Ruochen, assuming him Dragon Lord’s disciple. Only now did he examine closely. Divine light blazed in his eyes. “Truly strange. How can there be such a strange youth in the world? Who is he?”
“He is the successor Saint Monk chose to stop the Quantity Tribulation. Unfortunately, he is still too weak now, yet already noticed by Saint Monk’s old enemies. He may not have the day to grow. Interested in lending Saint Monk a hand?” Dragon Lord said.
Stared at by two ancient gods of legendary renown, Zhang Ruochen felt ill at ease. He could not help speaking. “Uncle Dragon, why force others? In truth, this junior also wishes to hide in the Sword Realm, live a few peaceful, happy years. Who cares about worldly rights and wrongs, who cares about Quantity Tribulation or Quantity Organisation? It has nothing to do with me. Heart free of duty, body light and easy.”
