Chapter 2261: Talking To The Empress
Pan Ruo was straightforward. She cut the chase and said, “In Realm of Star Ocean, the one behind the commotion is you. The Fugue Pills, the Yuanhui level Lotus of Divine Reflection, and the half God corpse fell into your hands. Am I right?”
Zhang Ruochen did not admit or deny it.
He kept silent.
She continued, “Xue Tu doesn’t have the courage or ability to challenge Lord Bladehell. He is just a puppet you set up in the public eye.”
“So what?” said Zhang Ruochen. He finally admitted it.
Pan Ruo’s eyes were bright and clear. She stared straight at him and said, “That desolate god was killed by Sword God Feng Chen. This sword strike must have used the power of Swordsmanship Canon. It was earth-shattering and contained the ultimate swordsmanship.
“I want to study the cut of the sword Qi on that god’s corpse. I hope you can grant my wish.”
Zhang Ruochen stared at her and realized that she had practiced 920,000 Precepts of swordsmanship. She was not far from the Great Perfection.
After a long time, he said, “I thought you came for the Fugue Pills.”
Pan Ruo opened her palm. A piece of paper appeared in her white palm, and she handed it to Zhang Ruochen. “I don’t like to owe people favors. I don’t want to be tied down either. If you agree, I’ll give you this as a thank-you gift.”
“There’s no need for a gift. You are going to just study the god’s corpse. I’ll take you there,” Zhang Ruochen said.”
Don’t refuse so quickly. Open it and see. It’s not too late to make a decision.”
The paper flew out of Pan Ruo’s palm. It was light and floated in front of Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen could not refuse anymore. He reached out and twirled it.”
Huh? Could it be…”
It was just a piece of paper, but it weighed a thousand pounds.
Zhang Ruochen had a guess.
He opened it and saw that it was indeed a Canon mark.
This Canon mark was in the shape of a waterdrop.”
The Canon mark of one of the five elements: the water.”
Zhang Ruochen was a little surprised. He looked up at Pan Ruo.
Pan Ruo’s eyes were calm. “Do you accept this gift, Supreme Saint Ruochen?”
“No wonder you’re a Scioness candidate of the Fane of Destiny. You figured I’m going to condense the Saintwill of Water.” Zhang Ruochen shook his head. His eyes were deep in thought.
Pan Ruo said, “Everything that you are doing now and in the future, has already been decided. You can’t escape. Now, do you know how powerful Destiny is?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled noncommittally. He took the Canon mark of Water and stood up. “Come with me!”
He did not ask where the Canon mark of Water came from.
Pan Ruo did not want to owe him a favor or be bound to him, and Zhang Ruochen felt the same.
When they arrived below Sundial, Zhang Ruochen took out the bronze coffin again.
He had carefully examined the sword Qi cut on the god’s corpse, but he couldn’t find anything. However, Pan Ruo was right. Sword God Feng Chen must have used the power of the Canon.
Studying the cut was like studying Sword God Feng Chen’s peerless sword strike that killed that desolate god. It was no different from analyzing the Canon mark of swordsmanship.
Moreover, there was probably a large number of Precepts of the swordsmanship and Swordwill left in the cut.
However, the god’s corpse contained a large amount of poison. Hence, Zhang Ruochen did not enter the bronze coffin to study it closely.”
“Do you want to go in and take a look?” asked Pan Ruo suddenly.
“Sure.”
Zhang Ruochen and Pan Ruo flew into the coffin. They passed through layers of Dimensional barriers and arrays and flew into the divine soul fog. It was as if they had passed through an atmosphere and landed on the god’s corpse.
From outside the coffin, it was only half a corpse.
However, in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes, it was a vast purple land with no boundaries. The ground was as hard as divine iron. There were streaks of lightning in the air and clouds above his head.
There were green lakes and rivers on this land. What flowed inside was not water, but divine level poison.
A God’s corpse was like a realm.
Only when one descended on the God’s corpse could they feel its vastness and its overwhelming divine might. Of course, with Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation as a Supreme Saint, he was no longer afraid of the divine might.
The poison did not spread throughout the god’s corpse. It only spread in the areas where the lakes and rivers were. However, there would occasionally be a rain of poison in the sky, so Zhang Ruochen and Pan Ruo were very careful to avoid contact.
When they came to the area where the cut on that God’s corpse was, it was as if they had reached the end of the world. A bottomless cliff appeared in front of them. A large amount of blood fog, poison fog, and divine soul fog surged up from the bottom of the cliff. Green and purple mixed together, and two types of energy clashed fiercely.
Any living being standing at the edge of such a cliff would feel their hearts palpitate.
Pan Ruo stood still and looked at the surging fog in front of her. “Did you know? Every move you make in the Divine Domain of Destiny is within the radar of deities. It’s hard to hide a secret.”
Zhang Ruochen was clueless why she suddenly said that. “No matter how powerful the deities are, they can’t possibly know everything. If I want to, I will have a way to deceive their senses. However, doing this at this stage isn’t good for me.”
The gods paid attention to Zhang Ruochen because they did not trust him.
Since that was the case, Zhang Ruochen was fortunate enough to let them see and not hide anything. Otherwise, with his current cultivation, it would not be difficult for him to get rid of a few divine spirits.
Many Supreme Saints who didn’t want to be spied on would do the same.
Supreme Saints weren’t weaklings. The deities could not control or peep at Supreme Saints just because they wanted to. Supreme Saints already gained a certain level of resistance against deities.
Pan Ruo said, “In the divine soul fog or in the god’s corpse, the deities’ perception and even the abilities to make prediction will be ineffective.”
“Oh?”
Zhang Ruochen looked thoughtful. “You mean it’s hard for the gods to sense what’s happening here? And they can’t predict it?”
“Someone wants to see you. This is a good place. I’m going to comprehend the sword move first. Take your time to talk to her.”
With that, Pan Ruo jumped off the cliff and disappeared into the fog.
Zhang Ruochen thought carefully about what Pan Ruo had said. Suddenly, he understood and took out the paper.
In the center of the paper was a drop of water.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the drop of water. Suddenly, his consciousness and Saint Soul were separated by a strange power and came to a vast sea.
There were no waves or wind on the sea.
The water was clear and calm; its surface was like a huge mirror.
A slender figure appeared silently on the sea.
She was standing in front of Zhang Ruochen, but he could not see her face clearly. She was like a shadow, a flower’s reflection in the mirror or the moon’s shadow on the water. But she was real.
It was eerie.
“Who are you?”
Zhang Ruochen felt she was familiar. He seemed to have seen her somewhere before.
“Hanakage Keizen.”
Her voice sounded on the surface of the sea, sometimes far, sometimes near, and sometimes erratic.
Hanakage was an ancient surname in Kunlun. Zhang Ruochen had seen it in the books of Shengming Central Empire. Many influential figures were born into this clan.
Unfortunately, after the Middle Ages, this surname disappeared in Kunlun.
“Are you an ancient god in Kunlun?”
Zhang Ruochen could see that this person was just a divine spirit from a god.
The divine spirit was hidden in the Canon mark of Water. It came here to meet him.”
“Kunlun, what a distant name. I want to go back and take a look.
“It had been 100,000 years!
“Has the water in Da Ming River dried up?
“Has the Confucian Tea Tree of Art Sect grown new tea leaves?
“The mighty Mount Zulong, the vast Northsea, the flourishing Wanxiang City, and my old friends… are they still there?
“Have they woken up?”
The woman named Hanakage Keizen had a misty look in her eyes. Her voice was full of sorrow.
It was as if she was asking Zhang Ruochen or talking to herself.
The voice of Divine Sky-connecting Tree rang in Zhang Ruochen’s mind. “She was the Saintess of Nephilim Island and the granddaughter of the Lord of Nephilim Island. 100,000 years ago, she was Kunlun’s top elite and peerless beauty.
“In her era, her achievements in cultivation surpassed that of other top elites. It was hard for her to meet an opponent of the same rank as none of them could last till her second move
“Xue Lingxian, the eldest disciple of the Blood God, was also considered a top elite. However, when he fought with Hanakage Keizen under the same realm, he could only withstand seven moves. He ended up vomiting blood and fell to the ground.
“It was these seven moves that brought Xue Lingxian fame. He became second only to Hanakage Keizen in that era.
“That famous Blackheart Demonlord in Celestial Court was only her follower.
“It’s a pity that she wasn’t born in the same era as Wargod Bloodximius and Huang Tian. They were born three tens of thousands of years too late. Otherwise, they might not have become the top two elites of last Yuanhui.”
Before Divine Sky-connecting Tree finished speaking, Zhang Ruochen had already guessed Hanakage Keizen’s identity — Empress of Thousand Bones.
No wonder Zhang Ruochen felt a sense of familiarity. When he was at Death’s Door, he had seen Hanakage Keizen through the distant starry sky.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart shook violently.
He hadn’t expected to be able to talk to a legendary figure face to face one day.
I can sense the aura of my senior, Divine Sky-connecting Tree, from you. Can I go and see her?” Hanakage Keizen asked.
“Of course.”
Zhang Ruochen had a sense of respect for Empress of Thousand Bones. He calmly opened the gate of Qiankun.
Hanakage Keizen walked to Divine Sky-connecting Tree and communicated with it. Zhang Ruochen stood far away and did not go closer. He was filled with emotions.
After an unknown amount of time, Hanakage Keizen walked over and looked at Zhang Ruochen carefully, “Saint Monk Xumi chose you to be his successor and let you nurture senior Divine Sky-connecting Tree,” she said. “That means you must be extraordinary. Zhang Ruochen, I actually wanted to meet you a long time ago.”
“Didn’t we already meet once?”
Zhang Ruochen then told them about the encounter at Death’s Door.
Hanakage Keizen thought for a moment and said, “When you saw me, we weren’t in the same timeline.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What do you mean?”
“We’re in the same dimension, but not at the same timeline. What you saw was an image I left many years ago when I traveled to the future,” said Hanakage Keizen.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Are you also a Master of Time? Do you already have the power to travel to the past and the future?”
“It’s not a big deal. The future me will often appear in front of me and teach me a deeper level of Cultivation Paths,” said Hanakage Keizen lightly.
‘Since ancient times, there were only a few living beings who could travel to the past and the future.
‘She actually said that it isn’t a big deal?
‘Moreover, she could actually travel back and forth from the future to the present and preach to herself.
‘In other words, she is her own master in cultivation training. This is unbelievable. What would other cultivators feel if they knew this?’
Zhang Ruochen was even more confused. Since the future self of Empress of Thousand Bones could travel back and forth to the present and preach to her. Why hadn’t his future self appeared?
Did It mean that he had no future at all?
He would die before he reached that realm.
Hanakage Keizen knew what Zhang Ruochen was thinking. She said, “Don’t overthink. Other masters of Time will have to pay a huge price even if they can travel back in time.
“Moreover, unlike me, they can’t change the past, and they can’t meet their past selves directly.
“I can do that because I have a divine artifact that can resist time. I hold about 30 percent of the Canon of Time. Even so, what I can do is very limited.”
Zhang Ruochen was determined. He smiled faintly and stopped thinking about the future.
Hanakage Keizen said, “Do you know why I took the risk to come to Divine Domain of Destiny to meet you in person?”
“Is it related to the Celestial-Hunting Festival?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Hanakage Keizen nodded, “Destiny Token and the Canon of Destiny are things that I must have.
“I know that Xuanji has already told you, but there is a huge risk in this matter. You can completely refuse. There is no need to participate.”
“Are you questioning my resolution or character?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Hanakage Keizen said, “If I were to doubt you, I would never come to see you personally.
“If the deities in Infernal Court knew that I had come to Divine Domain of Destiny, they would definitely find me at all costs and kill me with the most ruthless means.
“The reason I came to see you is to see your resolution. I also want to see what kind of person Saint Monk Xumi’s successor, Xuanji’s disciple, Han Xue’s master is.”
“At the Celestial-Hunting Festival, you will have to face cultivators from Macroworlds of Celestial Court. Will you be able to kill them? What if you meet an old friend from Kunlun? Can you kill them decisively?”
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen didn’t speak for a long time, Hanakage Keizen said again, “If you can’t do it, don’t join the Celestial-Hunting Festival. Pan Ruo will take your place and take Destiny Token and the Canon of Destiny.”
“Do I have to kill them?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Hanakage Keizen said, “You will have to kill as many as you can.”
Zhang Ruochen frowned. He could not answer Empress of Thousand Bones because he did not know who he would meet at the Celestial-Hunting Festival. When the time came, would he be able to kill them without hesitation?
Hanakage Keizen said, “Let me ask you another question. Why do you practice so hard? Why do you attend the Celestial-Hunting Festival? What are you doing now?”
Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself, “Why? Master said that as long as we save that Grand Supreme Array Master, we can turn the tide for Kunlun or make Infernal Court forces retreat.”
“Are you doing this for Kunlun?” Hanakage Keizen asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Maybe… Yes! Aren’t you the same?”
Hanakage Keizen stretched out two slender fingers and pulled up a tender green grass on the ground. There was mud on the grass.
“Like this grass that has left the ground, to me, Kunlun is just a homeland, a place filled with memories. I only want to do what I want to do and what I should do.
“If Kunlun is destroyed, I will feel sad, but it is not all I have
“For 100,000 years, I only want to do one thing: to save my grandfather and reunite with him. To me, Kunlun’s fate is not as important as this.
“Perhaps my grandfather and his generation had lofty aspirations and deep feelings for Kunlun. They also had lofty ideals, dreams of glory, and plans for the universe. But not me.
“Xuanji joined the rescue mission because he has full confidence in my grandfather and deep feelings for Kunlun. Moreover, Xuanji is reluctant to let go of everything about Kunlun.
“But what about you? Are you doing this for Kunlun? Or for yourself? Or is it for your master, Xuanji?
“If you can’t figure this out, don’t get involved. Don’t feel you are obliged to save Kunlun, and don’t get affected by the so-called righteousness. After all, you have nothing to do with my grandfather.
“Whether he is still alive or not, it’s hard for me to judge.
“Even if he’s alive, it’s still unknown whether he can force Infernal Court army to retreat..”