MF-novel Chapter 1811 The Holy Ancient Heavenly Dragon Resurrected?!
Chapter 1811 The Holy Ancient Heavenly Dragon Resurrected?!
This is practically a dead end with a slim chance of survival!
No wonder the ancient human emperor needed to establish a stable passage like the Yin-Yang Dao Beacon. Relying solely on personal strength to force his way through, even a True Immortal or a Golden Immortal might not be able to succeed!
"Senior, besides this perilous path, are there any other ways? For example... is there any remnant or alternative method to the Yin-Yang Dao Beacon established by the ancient Human Emperor?" Zhang Xuan asked with a glimmer of hope.
The old man in red robes slowly shook his head, his voice still calm: "The Yin-Yang Dao Beacon was built by resonating with the Human Emperor's fortune and a portion of the Heavenly Dragon's essence; it is unique and cannot be rebuilt. If you wish to enter the Central Ancestral Vein, the only way is to follow the path I have described. There is no other way. However…"
He paused, his empty gaze seeming to focus for a moment before landing on Zhang Xuan: "You bear that peculiar path to immortality, and there may be some kind of hidden connection between you and the origin of the Heavenly Dragon that even I haven't fully seen through... This perilous path may not be entirely a dead end for you, but of course, the risks are still enormous."
Zhang Xuan remained silent, digesting this astonishing information.
Although the path is clear, the difficulties and obstacles along the way are enough to deter even the strongest.
Just as Zhang Xuan was weighing his options, the old man in red robes suddenly spoke again, his words sounding both wistful and warning:
"There's one more thing... perhaps you should know."
Zhang Xuan felt a chill and looked up at the old man.
The old man in the red robe gazed at the hazy river of time, as if staring at a fragment of some distant time and space, and slowly said, "That ancient holy dragon... is not truly dead, or rather, its state of death is not eternal."
"What?!" Zhang Xuan was shocked, unable to believe it.
"The Holy Ancient Calamity and the Desolate Ancient Calamity, two great calamities that swept across the heavens, severely damaged it, plunging it into near-eternal silence. However, its core essence did not completely dissipate. Instead, at a near-stagnant pace, it was brewing rebirth deep within the central ancestral vein."
“Once the time comes, a certain opportunity is triggered, or enough energy is accumulated... this ancient holy dragon may very well be resurrected.”
Zhang Xuan felt a chill rise up his spine.
An ancient celestial dragon has been resurrected?
What an earth-shattering event that would be!
“And when it is resurrected…” The red-robed old man turned his head, his empty eyes seeming to pierce through Zhang Xuan and see a terrifying vision of the future, “the nine divine realms that evolved from its remains, skin and scales, and the secret realms that evolved from its organs and meridian ruins… all these attachments built on its corpse will be regarded as the nutrients and materials needed for its resurrection.”
"At that time, the spatial structure of the entire Nine Divine Realms will completely collapse. All living beings, whether cultivators or mortals, will have their flesh, souls, and even the Great Dao Laws condensed through a lifetime of cultivation forcibly extracted and returned to the heavens, merging into the torrent of the Heavenly Dragon's rebirth, becoming part of its energy to reshape its body and reignite the flame of life."
"That will be... a true cataclysmic event, an end more despairing than any other calamity."
Zhang Xuan was struck dumb, frozen in place, his mind buzzing.
All cultivators in the Nine Divine Realms will return to Heaven and become the energy for the resurrection of the Holy Ancient Heavenly Dragon.
This news was a hundred or a thousand times more shocking than knowing the route was treacherous!
This means that everything they are painstakingly building up now may vanish at some point in the future, becoming a sacrifice to nourish the resurgence of that ancient celestial dragon!
"Senior... is this matter... is this matter certain? How long until the time for resurrection... is that?" Zhang Xuan asked in a dry voice.
The old man in the red robe slowly shook his head, his body began to become somewhat transparent, and the surrounding light became increasingly distorted.
"Whether it's accurate or not? To me, it's just a relatively clear fragment among countless possible futures. As for the timing... perhaps it will happen when the next great calamity arrives, or perhaps it will require billions of years of sedimentation, or perhaps it has already happened, or perhaps that day will never come."
"The timeline is already a mess for me. I'm telling you this only because it's closely related to the central ancestral lineage you're seeking, and it's the background you need to know. As for how to choose, that's your own business."
He gave Zhang Xuan one last look, his eyes filled with a complex and unreadable expression: "The favor has been repaid. I hope you... will take care of yourself."
As soon as he finished speaking, the figure of the old man in the red robe became transparent like melting ice and snow, and finally turned into a wisp of gray smoke, dissipating into the eternal, deathly silence of the long river of time, leaving no trace.
Looking into the distance, Zhang Xuan saw once again the old man in red robes fishing by the river of time, seemingly motionless.
"Was the red-robed old man who just merged into the river of time your past self?" Zhang Xuan asked.
The old man in red robes remained noncommittal, saying calmly, "The favor has been repaid, and the path has been pointed out. As for whether that dragon continues to slumber or is about to awaken, whether to go to the dragon's spine to search for people and treasures or to avoid it from afar... these are all your own choices, and just one of the countless possibilities in the flow of time. I am merely a ferryman who can occasionally see a few sections of water."
Having said that, he seemed to lose interest in the conversation, turned back to face the endless flow of time, and resumed his unchanging seated posture, as if he had become one with the long river.
Zhang Xuan knew that asking any further questions would be pointless.
He got the answers he wanted and saw a sight far beyond his imagination.
He took one last deep look at the solid back of the red-robed old man, then stopped and, following the connection with his own Great Dao Tree, struggled against the erosion of time, retreating towards the portal from which he had come.
The process of exiting the River of Time was equally stressful and exhausting. When he finally fell out of that hazy portal and returned to the real space of the Sea of Oblivion, a strong sense of weakness and emptiness of consciousness came at the same time.
His vision went black, and he nearly fell from the sky.
He barely managed to steady himself, his face as pale as paper, his immortal energy less than one-tenth of what it used to be, and his consciousness felt as if it had been torn apart and then roughly stitched back together, throbbing with pain.
The search during that short but long period of time was far more exhausting than a life-or-death battle.
But he couldn't afford to adjust his breathing; the red-robed old man's warning and the awe-inspiring image of the physical figure sitting upright in the river of time kept echoing in his mind.
"The physical body exists in the long river of time... The Holy Ancient Heavenly Dragon may be resurrected... The Nine Realms will be transformed into resources..."
Zhang Xuan took a few deep breaths of the air, which carried a sense of oblivion, and forced himself to calm down.
The information has been obtained. Although the road ahead is fraught with danger and even hides the shadow of destruction, at least we are no longer completely ignorant.
He must discuss this with Jiao'er immediately.
Whether they were searching for a stick or dealing with the potential ultimate threat, they needed to develop the most meticulous plans.