Chapter 112

Chapter 112: Zhantai Zhan!

In the long river of future years, the woman referred to as the Divine Official by those of future years first let her gaze fall on the woman in the plain skirt, but she quickly shifted it to another woman standing not far from her. When she caught sight of that woman, her pupils suddenly contracted, and an expression of utter disbelief flashed across her eyes.

She stared fixedly at the woman standing not far from the plain-skirted woman. After a moment, she turned to look at the plain-skirted woman, who merely glanced back at her, and in an instant, everything in the scene began to dissolve.

When the woman opened her eyes, the desert storm had already vanished.

Ye Tianming carried the woman and crawled out from the yellow sand. Both of them were covered in sand. Ye Tianming brushed the sand off himself, then looked at the woman before him, who was gazing at him at that moment.

Ye Tianming helped her to her feet. Seeing the woman’s indifferent gaze, he hesitated for a moment, then said, “Miss, I was a bit too forward in the heat of the moment just now. Please don’t take offense.”

The woman said nothing, only looking at him calmly.

Ye Tianming asked, “Still moving on?”

The woman said, “Moving on.”

Ye Tianming turned around with his back to her, and it was only then that she saw his back was already a bloody mess.

As for the wound on his back, Ye Tianming naturally felt nothing from it, because when the Tianlong Clan had tempered his body, the pain he had endured was at least ten thousand times worse than this injury.

He took off his robe and draped it over his back, then turned his head to look at the woman. “Miss, let’s keep going.”

The woman said nothing and bent down to lie on his back.

Ye Tianming carried the woman and continued forward. Because of the desert storm, enormous deep pits had appeared in the sand ahead of him, which undoubtedly made their advance more difficult.

The woman suddenly said, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll go back on my word?”

Ye Tianming smiled. “If it were anyone else, I’d naturally be worried. But you, miss, I’m not.”

The woman asked, “Why?”

Ye Tianming said earnestly, “Although I don’t know you, from your words and manner, you’re clearly no ordinary person. Someone like you would never do something as beneath you as going back on your word. No, I should say you wouldn’t even stoop to it.”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

The woman looked down at Ye Tianming. “Young in age, but full of schemes.”

Having been seen through, Ye Tianming felt a little embarrassed. Great, this senior was different from the Pagoda Ancestor — flattery didn’t work on her.

Ye Tianming said honestly, “My Pagoda Ancestor taught me that when you’re out in the world and your abilities are lacking, you’d better sweeten your words. It’s all for the sake of surviving better. I hope senior will forgive me.”

Little Pagoda suddenly said, “Big bro, did I ever teach you that?”

Ye Tianming said, “I figured it out myself from spending time with the Pagoda Ancestor. That counts as something the Pagoda Ancestor taught me.”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

It suddenly had a bad feeling. It feared that from now on, it would unknowingly end up taking the blame for a lot of things. If they were good things, so be it, but what it dreaded was having every kind of blame dumped on it in the future!

After Ye Tianming had been carrying the woman for about two hours, he soon noticed something was off.

He found that the desert still stretched on without end in sight.

Not only that, but he also spotted a corpse — a body kneeling in the desert, letting the wind and sand blow over it.

Ye Tianming carried the woman up to the corpse. It was a man, kneeling upright, staring straight ahead, his eyes full of longing, yet completely devoid of any breath.

Ye Tianming asked, “Senior, this is…?”

The woman said nothing.

Ye Tianming carried the woman and continued forward. Along the way, more and more corpses appeared, and they all held the same posture — kneeling upright, gazing ahead, as if looking toward something in the distance.

After carrying the woman for about two more hours, Ye Tianming suddenly stopped. In the distance, he saw three stone halls standing side by side, and in front of those halls, the ground was covered with corpses.

A dense, countless mass of corpses.

Ye Tianming stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

The woman suddenly said, “Go over.”

Ye Tianming carried the woman toward the distance. He noticed that those corpses, just like the ones before, all held the same posture — gazing toward the three great halls in the distance.

Ye Tianming asked in confusion, “Senior, all of these people…?”

The woman said, “Put me down.”

Ye Tianming set the woman down, but she was still somewhat weak, so she let Ye Tianming support her.

Just then, the woman suddenly turned to look at Ye Tianming. “Do you still want to press forward?”

Ye Tianming said in a low voice, “Senior, you mean……”

The woman turned to look at the three halls. “This is the Ancient Zhe Sect — once the greatest sect of all time, undefeated across thirty thousand epochs……”

Seeing the blank look on Ye Tianming’s face, she said calmly, “One epoch in your terms is ten billion years. Do you understand?”

Ye Tianming was stunned speechless. “Ten billion years per epoch, and they were undefeated for thirty thousand epochs…….”

The woman said, “Within the Ancient Zhe Sect, there were countless factions, and the most renowned among them were the three before you. Each of the three halls represents one faction, and all three share the same origin…… You don’t need to know all that for now. What you need to know is that they were once incredibly powerful, with followers beyond count.”

Ye Tianming asked, “And then they fell?”

The woman nodded.

Ye Tianming glanced at the woman. “Senior, you’re telling me all this…….”

The woman said, “This place is the inheritance ground of the Ancient Zhe Sect. They searched across all universes for an inheritor — or rather, they searched for the ‘Destined One.’ The fact that this secret realm has appeared here means that a ‘Destined One’ may have emerged in your universe.”

As she spoke, she looked at Ye Tianming. “You have already passed their first trial. What comes next is the second trial, and also the last. You need to think carefully — once you fail, you will become one of these countless corpses.”

Ye Tianming said in a low voice, “Senior, what kind of person is the Destined One?”

The woman said calmly, “Very simple. The Destined One is someone who cannot die. Those who die are not the Destined One.”

Ye Tianming: “……”

The woman looked at him. “Want to try?”

Ye Tianming asked, “Senior, which is stronger — the Ancient Zhe Sect, or the Yang family?”

Little Pagoda: “……”

The woman asked in return, “Do you think the Yang family is very strong?”

Ye Tianming froze.

The woman gestured at the corpses all around them. “Do you know what cultivation level the people who died here were at?”

Ye Tianming shook his head.

The woman looked at him. “Everyone who died here was at least at the ninth level of Circle-Breaking.”

Little Pagoda: “……”

Ye Tianming was a little puzzled. “Circle-Breaking ninth level?”

He didn’t know much about the Circle-Breaking tier of cultivation — he hadn’t even come into contact with the Great Emperor level yet.

The woman said, “That’s the ceiling of combat power in your universe.”

Ye Tianming: “…….”

The woman said calmly, “All of them died here in pursuit of ‘truth.'”

Ye Tianming asked no more. What this senior had told him clearly already exceeded his understanding, and it was better not to ask further, since asking would serve no purpose — after all, he was far too weak right now.

The woman said slowly, “In the entire Yang family, only that Blue-Robed Sword Master is worth fighting. The rest are just so-so, including the Guanxuan Sword Master of your universe — his order is far from complete, and his faith power barely reached ‘true’ through the grudging acknowledgment of those behind him. A person who grows by relying on others will ultimately be beneath notice.”

Little Pagoda suddenly cried out in shock, “Who are you, to be so arrogant?”

Only at this moment did it realize this woman was no simple figure.

The woman glanced at the small pagoda hanging at Ye Tianming’s waist. “A broken pagoda.”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

The woman continued, “You may be broken, but……”

As she spoke, she glanced at the Xingdao Sword hanging at Ye Tianming’s waist. “This sword is quite powerful.”

Ye Tianming said, “Senior, my Pagoda Ancestor is not a broken pagoda. It’s a good pagoda — well-traveled and knowledgeable, very impressive.”

The woman gave him a faint look. “If not for the time-space reversal inside that pagoda, it wouldn’t even qualify as a broken pagoda.”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

Ye Tianming was puzzled. “What time-space reversal?”

The woman looked down at Ye Tianming with a pitying expression. “You’re truly pitiful. It still hasn’t used it for you.”

Ye Tianming: “???”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

Little Pagoda suddenly laughed. “You’re an interesting woman. You can actually see that far. It seems you do have something to you. Since you can see that much, can’t you also see my…… karma?”

The woman glanced at Little Pagoda. “Someone tinkered with you a bit, and now you can’t even recognize yourself.”

Little Pagoda: “…….”

Ye Tianming was completely lost listening to all this, but he quickly began to analyze. From the exchange between this senior woman and the Pagoda Ancestor just now, he had gathered two pieces of information: first, there was definitely something special inside the Pagoda Ancestor; second, the Pagoda Ancestor had been modified by someone.

Conclusion:

The Pagoda Ancestor was hiding something!

This senior woman was unfathomably deep!

Little Pagoda — when had it ever backed down in its life? It said, “This sword was forged by me. Does your world have a divine object like this?”

The woman looked down at the small pagoda hanging at Ye Tianming’s waist. “Who taught you to be so shameless? You can actually say something that brazen — you’ve redefined my understanding of shamelessness.”

Little Pagoda: “……”

The woman looked at Ye Tianming. “Without the Blue-Robed Sword Master making a move, the Ancient Zhe Sect could wipe out the Yang family ten thousand times over.”

Ye Tianming asked, “And if the Blue-Robed Sword Master did make a move?”

The woman said, “The Yang family could wipe out the Ancient Zhe Sect ten thousand times over.”

Little Pagoda said, “Woman, the Sword Master of the Human Realm, Ye Xuan, is also very powerful.”

The woman said, “The one you call the Mountain-Backing King?”

Little Pagoda: “……”

The woman said, “I’ve never crossed hands with him, so I don’t know his true depth. However, someone who didn’t become undefeated through their own efforts will inevitably have flaws in their state of mind. It just depends on how large those flaws are.”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Ye Tianming. “Do you want to accept the trial of the Ancient Zhe Sect? If you do, I can help you.”

Ye Tianming looked at the woman. “Senior, why would you help me?”

The woman fixed her eyes on him. “I, Zhan Taizhan, never owe anyone a favor. You gave me a pill and carried me for a stretch of road. I’ll help you obtain a piece of inheritance. We’ll be even.”

She naturally wanted to settle this unknown karmic debt.