"Oh~ What's behind that door, the heaven?"
After getting the answer he wanted, Du Ruo pointed at the still standing gate and asked curiously.
"No, that is a blocked battlefield, a buffer zone between the heaven and the human world."
Xie Ziran shook his head, as if he had nothing to hide.
"Can I come in then?"
Du Ruo continued to ask questions with a blank expression. He already had a general understanding of the situation, but to be on the safe side, he decided to ask a little more.
"You... can only enter the battlefield behind the gate now, but you can't enter the heaven. There is the South Heaven Gate there, which only immortals and gods can enter. You... can enter if you are willing to shed your mortal body."
Xie Ziran simply shook his head.
"What should I do if I want to become an immortal?"
Du Ruo asked again, and in order to confirm whether the small game program he obtained at that time was related to the other party, he silently summoned out the panel.
But somewhat unexpectedly, Du Ruo saw new changes on the panel, but Du Ruo had strong control over his body and did not show any emotional changes.
"I don't know. I'm a god and I don't understand the affairs of immortals."
Xie Ziran also didn't show much expression or emotion change, he just shook his head.
“Is it true that one day in heaven equals one year on earth?”
Du Ruo didn't dwell on the matter of becoming an immortal anymore, but asked an inexplicable question.
"Yes, and no, because time cannot be changed. The difference is that it takes a year in the human world for the sun to rise and set in the heavens."
Xie Ziran explained that it was actually very easy to understand. A day in the sky was longer, and one sunrise and sunset was a year.
"Oh I got it."
Du Ruo suddenly realized and understood immediately.
"Then... then you should die!!!"
Du Ruo spoke again, but as he spoke, his body moved abruptly.
He clenched his fist, exerted force on his body, and approached Xie Ziran at an extremely fast speed. Before he could finish his words, Du Ruo's fist had already smashed towards Xie Ziran's body.
"You're crazy!!! I'm the only one who knows how to become an immortal!!! Don't you want to be immortal???"
Xie Ziran's figure flashed, and then disappeared from the spot. When he appeared again, his body was already not far away.
What was somewhat unexpected was that when her body reappeared, it was no longer weak and about to dissipate, but had solidified into the original appearance that Du Ruo had seen.
"Humph... You are lying to me! Die!!! Drink!!!"
Du Ruo followed closely behind, but the other party was moving in the air, while he was moving through the void.
It’s a pity that Du Ruo’s movements now are not as fast as when he burned his “spirit” before. He is always half a beat slower, making Xie Ziran’s dodging much easier.
Du Ruo simply stopped chasing him and stood where he was. After he finished speaking, he let out a loud shout, and then transparent red threads flew out of his body again, covering the area within a hundred meters in front of the portal.
"Hmph, you are so stubborn, just wait for death. Without spiritual energy, you can only live for more than 200 years at most. I have plenty of time. When you die, you will come to ask me to become a god."
Xie Ziran snorted coldly. Seeing the red threads covering the space, she knew that she was no match for Du Ruo, so she was ready to move back into the portal out of thin air.
Just like she said, she had plenty of time, and after Du Ruo died, she would eventually have to come to her for help.
"Huh? What's going on??? How is it possible??"
But soon, Xie Ziran opened his eyes wide and looked at Du Ruo in disbelief.
"Hehe, you figured it out, you can't wait for me to die!!! You have to die first!!"
Du Ruo sneered, but he didn't intend to explain anything. He rushed straight towards Xie Ziran.
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Du Ruo acted very decisively. Before Xie Ziran could even react, he had already reached the other party and then used the same method to smash the other party's body again with his punches.
As Du Ruo swung his fist, the originally red silk thread revealed its original appearance. The red silk thread was glowing with golden light, which was because Du Ruo had incorporated "God" into it.
After he heard the other party say that the immortals had blocked the heaven and the human world, he had guessed that the "three flowers", that is, the "spirit, energy and spirit" of his body, should have a great restraining effect on the other party.
So he just experimented and used his divine power to block the space. Sure enough, the opponent could no longer move.
"Wait for me!!! I'll be back soon!!"
After Xie Ziran's body completely disappeared, Du Ruo looked back and saw Xiang Yuanyuan standing there. After shouting, he rushed towards the portal vortex without looking back.
To cut the grass, one must remove the roots. Since he chose to take action, Du Ruo had no intention of letting the other party live from the beginning.
He just blew up the opponent's body, but Du Ruo was still worried. He had to follow up. He would not feel at ease until he completely eliminated the opponent.
The reason why he wanted to kill so badly was very simple.
That is what the other party said, that the spiritual energy generated by Du Ruo's practice was intercepted by her. Even if she said that she only intercepted a small part of it, it was unforgivable for Du Ruo, because it meant that Du Ruo would be controlled by the other party in the future.
So he had to go inside the gate to take a look.
Having just defeated the opponent twice, Du Ruo felt that the opponent would not be so easy to kill.
If you want to lie without any flaws, you have to tell more truth than lies. Du Ruo couldn't tell which one was true and which one was false. His telepathy was only suitable for ordinary people and was useless in front of him.
But Du Ruo's intuition is very accurate and he has his own judgment on this matter.
As for why his body did not show any signs of danger before, it was probably because the other party was only tempting him to achieve godhood and had no intention of killing him. Besides, if he became a god, it should not be considered dangerous.
The only thing the other party had miscalculated was that times had changed and Du Ruo was disrespectful to the gods.
As soon as he stepped into the portal, Du Ruo's figure disappeared, but the portal was still hanging high in the sky.
"Arrange a drone to fly in and check!"
Immediately, some old men gave orders.
As soon as they saw someone coming out of the gate, they were shocked. Even in the nearby military camp, weapons had been set up.
They didn't know what happened specifically, nor did they know what Du Ruo talked about with the other party.
Now that Du Ruo has disappeared, we must conduct research and follow up as soon as possible. We cannot be completely ignorant of what is happening behind the portal.
Unfortunately, the portal does exist physically, and they just saw someone coming out of it, and Du Ruo was also able to enter the vortex.
But when the drone passes through the vortex, it really just passes through and immediately emerges from the other side.
It was as if the vortex was just an illusion.
Then, they started the second step of the experiment, tying some small animals to the drone and flying it inside...
Du Ruo had no idea what the people outside were looking at.
After he stepped into the whirlpool, he felt a flash before his eyes, and then he saw a different scenery.
The sky was filled with stars, illuminating the space. The place where Du Ruo was standing was not the void, but solid ground.
Looking back, Du Ruo saw that the portal was still there, so he felt relieved. It seemed that this portal was really related to his "Three Flowers". At least he didn't have to worry about losing his way back.
In front of Du Ruo were a few remnants of rocks and walls left over from buildings. All were built with stone carvings, but had been completely destroyed and washed away by time. It was no longer possible to see what had been carved on the stones.
What was more, there were large amounts of sand and gravel and some fragments that could not be distinguished as ashes or dust.
This made Du Ruo, who originally wanted to keep his feet on the ground, choose to walk in the air.
Looking from a slightly higher place, this place looks like an island, but the "island" is surrounded not by sea water, but by endless void. Strong winds are raging in the endless void. Just as Du Ruo had the thought of flying out of the "island", a warning sound came from his body.
The feeling of extreme danger made Du Ruo realize that it was not something he could touch now, and the "island" was wrapped in a layer of unknown energy. The strong wind blew on it, causing faint ripples, which seemed to be blown away at any time.
Du Ruo flew through the sky. There was not a single green plant on the "island". Du Ruo had no idea what it was like before, but now it seemed like endless desolation.
Even through the broken rocks and walls, some traces of battle can be seen even after being eroded by time.
Fire, lightning strikes, and sword marks were the most obvious, but Du Ruo just took a look and did not go down to check. He knew the purpose of his visit and he was not here to do archaeological research.
Du Ruo was flying in mid-air, searching the ground for traces with his naked eyes, not missing any clues.
The "island" was not very big, and even though Du Ruo just flew slowly through the air, it didn't take too long for him to fly to the other side of the "island".
And here, Du Ruo made a discovery. He saw two figures sitting cross-legged on the ground, but from a distance, Du Ruo could not detect any "spiritual" fire or life breath.
After confirming that it was not alive, Du Ruo landed from the air.
Du Ruo had very good eyesight and could see clearly that one of the bodies had long hair dragging on the ground, and he was naked, with a strong build. His skin looked a little dry and tightly attached to his muscles, like a completely dead tree. However, it was obvious that it was a male corpse.
And next to this corpse, there was another figure.
This figure was wearing a Taoist robe and a lotus crown on his head. Even though he only saw the back, Du Ruo immediately recognized that this was the person who called himself "Xie Ziran" before.
At this time, three flowers bloomed on Du Ruo's head and rotated slowly. He didn't dare to hide the three flowers, for fear that he would not be able to find the door when he returned later.
However, as he landed and approached the two corpses, just about ten meters away from the corpses, another portal appeared in the air.
It seemed that he was also attracted to the world by Duruo's "three flowers".
However, this portal is slightly different from the one Du Ruo had on Tiandu Peak. This portal actually has a gap opened.
The figure of "Xie Ziran" was only one step away from the gate.
"Aren't you going to come out and talk to me again?"
Du Ruo spoke after the portal appeared.
It seemed that there had been no sound from the "island" for a long time. When Du Ruo's voice sounded, there was a rustling sound of dust falling behind him.
"You've already come in. It seems like you have no intention of letting me go. What else is there to say?"
A female voice sounded, and then a shadow appeared in front of Du Ruo. It was the "Xie Ziran" who had been beaten before.
“Is this your physical body?”
Du Ruo pointed at the body on the ground that was sitting cross-legged with a lotus crown on its head and lowered, and asked, but did not directly answer the other party's question.
"Correct."
Xie Ziran turned his head to glance at "himself" who was sitting cross-legged, and a rare hint of emotion appeared in his eyes.
"Can you tell me why you are like this now? Thank you, Fairy."
Du Ruo was quite curious about this. He was quite curious about the legendary Dongji Zhenren. The two of them had a strong connection with each other. What's more, he was the only person in history books who ascended to heaven in broad daylight since ancient times.
"Heh~ You want to ask why I chose to abandon my physical body and become a god."
When Xie Ziran heard the name Xie Xiangu, a smile appeared on his face, but his smile was more of self-mockery and bitterness.
Du Ruo didn't say anything, but waited quietly for the other party to speak.
"Who doesn't want to become an immortal? You even know the name Xie Ziran, so you must be quite familiar with my cultivation."
After Xie Ziran finished speaking, he looked at Du Ruo, expecting her answer, or perhaps more importantly, wanting to know what future generations would think of her.
"Xie Ziran, Taoist name Dongji Zhenren, founder of the Virgin Girl Sect, the first person in history to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, is said to have practiced... and has been praised by countless literati in poems and lyrics for more than 1,200 years."
Du Ruo was no longer in a hurry and began to tell him some of the records he knew about Xie Ziran, including historical records, local county annals, folk legends, and related knowledge he had obtained from the Hill family.
"Haha, I didn't expect that after more than a thousand years, there are still people who remember these things."
Xie Ziran smiled, then looked at Du Ruo and began to answer Du Ruo's question:
"You also saw the ascension in broad daylight. In fact, it was through that portal that he entered directly here."
"Huh? Wasn't that portal closed? How did you get in?"
Du Ruo asked back, it took him a lot of effort to blast the door open.
"After I saw the portal, I used the flower of the earth as a key, then ignored the portal and walked in."
Xie Ziran seemed to know why Du Ruo asked the question. He rarely showed a smile on his face and explained to Du Ruo.
"Forehead……"
Hearing this answer, Du Ruo was choked and didn't know what to say.
"In fact, it's not completely without benefit that you blasted the door open. The portal outside only requires one of the three flowers of heaven, earth and man to condense in order to enter, but the spiritual energy cannot escape. If you open the portal, the spiritual energy drawn from the void in the future will enter the human world through the portal."
Xie Ziran seemed to know a lot of things and didn't mind telling Du Ruo. Seeing that Du Ruo didn't say anything, she took the initiative to explain.
"Then why did you..."
Du Ruo looked at the body of Xie Ziran who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
“This door is different. It leads to the heaven. To open it, one needs the ‘Three Flowers Gathering at the Top of the Head’. However, I have only made some progress in Qi training. I only have the Flower of the Earth condensed. I have no way to deal with this door.
At that time, it was impossible for me to cultivate the two flowers of heaven and man to such a level, so... in the end, I could only shed my skin, enter the heaven with my soul, and achieve immortality by attaining the fruit position. "
When he said this, a trace of relief appeared in Xie Ziran's eyes. Then he waved his hand, and the body of "Xie Ziran" on the ground turned into powder and disappeared completely.
"What about this senior? And...what is the gap on this door?"
Du Ruo showed a hint of understanding on his face. What Xie Ziran had just said matched what he knew.
Xie Ziran practiced the Shangqing Gong method, and after getting started, he lived on elixirs and no longer took grains. This was a very traditional method of practice.
When she was a virgin, she preserved the innate Qi in her body, and then used it as a foundation. She abstained from taking grains in order to maintain the purity of the innate Qi in her body. This was to completely sublimate the "Qi" in her body, and eventually achieve the "Silver Flower" that represents the flower of Qi, which is what Xie Ziran called the "Flower of the Earth."
In the records of the Virgin Girl Sect's exercises, there are no such exercises as those for training the body or the mind.
"It was this senior who made a crack in the portal. If I guess correctly, the other party should have formed the "Flower of Heaven" and the "Flower of Earth", but unfortunately, his entire body of "essence" was burned, and he was unable to condense the "Flower of Man". He could only make a crack in this portal, and he should have died of exhaustion in the end. Unfortunately, he was unable to send his soul into the heaven."
Xie Ziran turned around and faced the shriveled corpse, his eyes full of respect.
"I think that the senior chose to burn his soul in order to pave a way for future generations."
Du Ruo looked at the corpse and thought of a possibility.
"..."
Xie Ziran opened his mouth, turned his head to look at the door, then turned back and saluted the corpse.
She had to admit that she could become a god thanks to the gap created by the other party, which allowed her soul to pass through.
As Xie Ziran bowed, the corpse shattered into pieces, turned into dust, and merged into the ground, mixing with the ashes or stone powder on the ground that could not be distinguished.
"Since you have become a god, why don't you go to the human world, practice martial arts there, and then revive the spiritual energy?"
Seeing this scene, Du Ruo didn't react much and continued to ask Xie Ziran out of curiosity.
"I can't get out... Before you completely blast open that door, the "Three Flowers" are the key. Only those who hold the key can pass through, and I..."
Xie Ziran gave a bitter smile and turned to look at the place where her body was originally.
She chose to let her soul escape and gave up her physical body. After her soul left its mark on the heaven and earth, she was "dead" and the connection between her physical body and herself was completely severed. She had locked herself here for more than a thousand years.
"Then I opened the portal, why didn't you escape?"
Du Ruo asked all his questions out of curiosity.
"That portal was condensed through your Three Flowers, and you completely opened the portal, which is equivalent to you leaving a mark. It was originally left by the immortals to isolate the gods and prevent them from leaving. So as long as you are still alive, I can't leave too far."
When Xie Ziran said this, she closed her eyes. In fact, she knew very well in her heart that in this era when spiritual energy was almost exhausted, she was like a fish on the chopping board and had no room for resistance.
This is also the main reason why she knows everything.
"understood."
Du Ruo nodded. Everything made sense now. If Xie Ziran didn't want to be controlled by Du Ruo, he could only let Du Ruo shed his body and become a god when Du Ruo was weak.
In that case, she and Du Ruo would be equal, and they would be able to freely promote martial arts in the world, and then become gods together.
Otherwise, everything would be in Du Ruo's hands. Du Ruo might even break the seal on her completely to prevent her from stealing spiritual energy. She had waited for more than a thousand years, so it was impossible for her not to resist.
Even when she escaped at the end, it was to make Du Ruo hesitate to enter the portal.
It’s a pity that she didn’t know that Du Ruo had a trump card.
Before entering the portal, he revealed the panel in order to test whether it was related to Xie Ziran.
However, he unexpectedly discovered that the system had undergone new changes. It was this change that gave Du Ruo the confidence to enter the portal and eliminate the threat of "Xie Ziran". (End of this chapter)
