Finally, the ritual can proceed as planned. The City of Nature, Xiao Mang grand ancestor, 566 godly spirits, three gods, and numerous divine weapons; with these as offerings, it should barely be able to seal the Ancestral Star and Celestial Wood Star, right?
Zhong Yue’s heart throbbed jubilantly, two years of hard work and preparations for the ritual was finally coming to a head!
Time to return to Swords Gate, notify Lord Dragon, and begin the ritual!
…
In Swords Gate Mountain, Jun Sixie heaved a breath of relief to see him return safely, she smiled and said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, it’s good to see you return safely, and without stirring any trouble. This is?”
She looked at Old Man Six Paths curiously as the old man has a peculiar appearance. Not only that he didn’t look like any of the races in the Ancestral Star, she couldn’t sense his cultivation at all!
One must know that she was already an Imminent Deity magnate, only a step away from deityhood, and yet, she couldn’t sense the cultivation level of the old man. How could she not be shocked?
Zhong Yue briefly introduced them, but never mentioned anything about Old Man Six Paths’s identity. Although Jun Sixie was still curious, she didn’t continue probing.
Another few days passed, and Jun Sixie heard the news from the West Barren—Wen Changgong was wounded, and two insect gods were killed. She was shocked and thought, I still thought Junior Martial Brother didn’t stir any trouble this time, but how can the renowned Disaster Zhong not stir troubles when he is out? Killing two insect gods, even Junior Martial Brother Zhong couldn’t have done that. So, then, this Old Man Six Paths… who exactly is he? Why is he following Junior Martial Brother Zhong?
However, as Zhong Yue didn’t seem to want to talk about it, she wouldn’t ask either.
“Junior martial brother, have you heard the news?” Jun Sixie caught an opening and dragged Zhong Yue to the side, she whispered softly, “They said the Ancestral Star, in addition to the whole Solar System being locked by an external force, cultivation will cease to exist a few thousand years later! This is mostly true as the news comes from the Bai Zhe Clan, they are even shifting their whole race to the Kun Lun Realm! Now, every races in the Ancestral Star are in mayhem, everyone’s talking and discussing about it.”
Zhong Yue smiled, “Of course I know about it, I’m the one that told the Bai Zhe Clan.”
“You?” Jun Sixie startled, she asked puzzlingly, “Really? Is this some sort of fake news to make the other races migrate out to Kun Lun so that the humans can conquer the whole Ancestral Star for ourselves? Sadly, most of the races don’t buy the news, it’s too absurd to be true. Who is that strong to seal a galaxy away? If you want to, you should at least fabricate a more realistic tale…”
“It’s true,” Zhong Yue said placidly, “You can’t feel it yet, but a thousand years later, the effect will be noticeable enough.”
Jun Sixie was shocked, she carefully examine every expression on his face. But after being unable to find my changes in his expression, she came to a conclusion that Zhong Yue was in fact, not lying.
Immediately, her body shivered coldly, and her pupils shrank into needle points.
Is there really such a force that sealed the galaxy?
“Is this your Swords Gate?” Old Man Six Paths abruptly asked, “I have to say, it is far below what I imagined it looked like. So… mediocre and average. How is it that you are still lingering around this place? This is so small, you can’t even fully unleash your prowess here. If it were me, I’d be long gone already.”
Zhong Yue nodded, “I am leaving, after I complete the one last thing I need to do.”
Old Man Six Paths found a nice spot and seated himself, he said, “Go on then. Get back to me when you are done, you can find me here.”
A thought suddenly flashed past Zhong Yue’s mind, he smiled and asked, “Senior, can your Six Paths Fruit…”
“Never,” Old Man Six Paths declined before Zhong Yue could even finish asking, “I cannot give you anymore. It was a deal that we had, that’s why I gave you a Six Paths Fruit. But now, you are the one at fault for ruining my palace, it is your responsibility and to find me a new one. The Six Paths Fruits are like my children, how do you think I will hand them out to be eaten?”
Zhong Yue laughed back awkwardly, “The divine fruits are the products of the divine herb’s continuations. The seeds in the fruits are the new hope for the next generation to grow, if you keep them all away, the Six Paths Fruit Tree will sooner or later become extinct.”
Old Man Six Paths pondered, but still shook his head, “You are very right, but have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Value in rarity?’ If I am the only Six Paths Fruit Tree left, my value will be higher.”
Zhong Yue sighed and gave up. The benefits of the Six Paths Fruit were beyond measure; Zhong Yue was now studying the【Pan Gu Six Paths】 and the Six Paths Reincarnations, what he needed most now was the Six Paths Fruit.
However, Old Man Six Paths had determined he would not give any away, but he couldn’t snatch it forcefully as the divine tree was stronger, nor can he exchange Patriarch Nature’s flesh for it; he still needed the City of Nature to carry on with the ritual.
“Senior, you are erudite, I have seen many divine herbs but only two are able to cultivate and wield the totem patterns, and you are one of the only two. I wonder if you are willing to leave down your knowledge?” Zhong Yue asked.
“Two?” Old Man Six Paths didn’t answer the question but asked back instead, “There is another divine herb who also knows how to cultivate? Who is it?”
Zhong Yue smiled and said, “She is very strong, the Reincarnation Monarch watered her with godly blood, and cultivated under her tree crown. She is the mother tree of all Immortality Peach Trees, the Ancient Mother of the Imperial Woods.”
“So it’s her, no wonder.” The bright rays in Old Man Six Path’s eyes faded away as he said, “She is well taken care of, given the best treatment of all. Surely, she will be stronger than me. If I had the same treatment, I would be even stronger than her!”
The Six Paths Fruit Tree was incredibly arrogant; not only that, but he was also selfish, egocentric, and relentless. Although he appeared to be a benevolent old man, the bones and corpses buried under its roots in the Returning Ruins suggested otherwise.
When he saw Zhong Yue’s copper lamp, Old Man Six Paths had even thought of killing him and snatching the treasure. But, he didn’t only because Zhong Yue has handed over the copper lamp to him, and proved that he couldn’t use it.
Whereas when he saw the City of Nature, Zhong Yue once again picked up the faint killing intent and greed brimming deep within the divine tree. However, the Old Man Six Paths didn’t do anything as he still needed Zhong Yue to bring him out, and had only asked for a chunk of flesh instead.
Thus, it was no surprise to see Old Man Six Paths being so disdainful of the benevolent Ancient Mother of Imperial Woods.
“Old Man Six Paths, we are leaving for a bigger space soon. Do you plan to pass down some of your knowledge?” Zhong Yue asked again, “I have a few divine herbs in the Swords Gate, if you go without leaving anything behind, wouldn’t that be a regret in the future?”
“What regrets will there be?” Old Man Six Paths sneered coldly, “It’s their problem that they cannot find their own way to cultivate, why should I teach them how to do it? However, since I am relying on you to bring me out, I’ll begrudgingly fulfill your request and guide your divine herbs. You can bring them to me!”
A wave of psyche rippled into the Swords Gate Mountain, and the Six Gentlemen of the Returning Ruins were summoned. A few moments later, they had arrived in front of Zhong Yue and Old Man Six Paths.
“You are all from the Returning Ruins as well?” Old Man Six Paths looked at the divine herbs and nodded, “The Returning Ruins has vanished now, we are most probably the only ones left surviving. If that’s the case, I will teach you more because we share the same origins. Furthermore, you are all divine herbs with intelligence, you are not too dumb like the others and are capable of learning more. But I will not repeat myself, it’s solely up to you on how much you can learn from my teachings.”
The Six Gentlemen of Returning Ruins quickly rooted themselves into the soil like sticks., Old Man Six Paths frowned at the scene, he cleared his throat as said, “The beast cultivates and transcends as the monsters, while we divine herbs cultivates and transcends into the…”
Husan Weng abruptly raised its chubby hands and interrupted, “I know, I know, the divine monsters!”
“Shouldn’t we be called the herb monsters?”
“No, I don’t like herb monsters, we should call ourselves the herb divine monsters!”
“Wrong, it’s the divine herb monsters!”
“But we still don’t know how to cultivate yet, so are we herb beasts now?”
“Correction, divine herb beasts!”
The little divine herbs started chattering incessantly.
Old Man Six Paths rolled his eyes, and he shouted helplessly at the little ones, “Keep your mouth shut when I am talking! I’ll eat you all if you interrupt me again when I am talking!”
The little divine herbs all instantly turned dead silence.
Zhong Yue laughed at the scene in front of him before turning around to leave, Old Man Six Paths is selfish, but the little divine herbs are able to tangle him for a moment here! As long as he is still in Swords Gate, he will have to help out if the gods are attacking Swords Gate during the sealing ritual.
However, it was unrealistic to depend on Old Man Six Paths to protect Swords Gate alone, there was no guarantee the selfish divine tree would not leave in the middle of the battle. Thus, Zhong Yue had notified Qiu Jin’er to return before he headed over to Kun Lun, she should be arriving back anytime now.
Qiu Jin’er was just a Heavenly Dharma cultivator when she left for the Celestial Wood Star, but now, after all these years of cultivation, her cultivation level was already close to Jun Sixie’s and Fang Jiange’s. After all, she had stayed and cultivated in the corresponding Celestial Star for the longest period!
There was a teleportation portal set up on the moon by Zhong Yue, it could help Qiu Jin’er get back to Swords Gate faster.
In addition to Jun Sixie, the Water Innate Spirit Body, Fang Jiange the Gold Innate Spirit Body, Shui Zian, Zuo Xiangsheng, the many experts, and divine weapons; Swords Gate now had the capital to protect itself fairly well.
Junior Martial Sister Jin’er’s returns will mark the commencement of the Great Ritual of Sealing Abdication!
With a change of thought, Long Yue left the Xian Kong Saint City for the Bai Zhe Clan, he looked for Bai Shuyue and asked, “Has everything been prepared?”
Bai Shuyue nodded, “The Bai Zhe Clan is all ready, we can move anytime now.”
Long Yue nod back and instructed, “Then, please ask your people to meet in the West Barren snowy mountains.”
Right away, the warships of the Bai Zhe Clan rose into the sky with the Bai Zhe experts surging their arcane energy into the rivers that drove the ships in the air.
The river grew wider and longer across the sky, extending into the West Barren while the ships sailed on it, transporting the Bai Zhe Clan clansmen.
Meanwhile, Bo Xun had also notified Lord Dragon, and the dragon race began moving toward the West Barren snowy mountains as well.
Soon after, countless dragons could be seen filling up the sky as they soared out from the Eastern Sea, flying across the East Barren and Great Wilderness, heading west.