Chapter 145: 203, 204

Song Cheng saw his own "new body," which was not human limbs or a human torso, but the mountains and rivers themselves.

In the babbling brook, fish were swimming, and by the bank, a small deer was nimbly leaping, occasionally glancing at the other side of the stream. There, Ling'er had just finished hanging out the laundry and was making some simple wind chimes.

She had always liked wind chimes; their crisp, moving sound was like a dream. In her dreams, she could recall the quiet An Mansion in Beixue Zhou, the luxurious Song Prince Mansion in the Imperial Capital, and recall the young mistress and many, many others.

After she finished making the wind chimes, she hung them up.

She had already grown accustomed to the master's disappearances.

Those disappearances meant he would suddenly vanish for months or years; it was as if in the time it took for the master to draw a single breath, they had already lived through many days and nights.

The master was no mortal.

And she, though she looked young, was actually a truly elderly woman.

She had witnessed the death of the Lady of Zhushan, and perhaps... she would die here too.

In the instant after death, the false youth would vanish instantly, turning into an old woman with white hair and wrinkled skin.

Thinking of this, she took a thin piece of animal hide and, using ink made from purple flower nectar, slowly wrote a letter upon it.

She knew her physical condition was worsening, and she knew she might die at any moment, so she wanted to leave something behind.

The first letter, she wrote to the master.

After writing the three characters "To the Master," she held the brush made of animal hair, not knowing what to write. She still remembered the first time she saw the master; he was still a villager who had escaped from Tanghe Village. She had thought the master would become a bargaining chip for the young mistress in the struggles of the An Family. At that time, she had her own little schemes; she thought about helping that Guard Captain Shi Yi rise to power, after all, there was too much collusion within the family, and only Guard Captain Shi Yi could protect her lineage... But the master's appearance, with a magical, unimaginably brutal force, shattered all conspiracies and all the ghosts in people's hearts. The master was the legend, the myth, in the depths of her heart.

But what should she write?

Ling'er bit the tip of her brush, resting her chin on her hand, thinking over and over, when she suddenly felt, "In the master's eyes, I am perhaps just like an ant; no matter what I write, what does it matter?"

Just as she was thinking this, a vine beside her embroidered shoe quietly climbed up the embroidery, green leaves miraculously sprouted, and a flower bud appeared abruptly from within. Time seemed to have been pressed to fast-forward; the flower bloomed rapidly, unfurling its gorgeous petals and turning into a wild flower in full bloom.

Ling'er lowered her head and saw that wild flower.

"Oh," she made a sound of surprise; she did not remember there being a flower here just a moment ago.

Just as she was thinking this, her eyes suddenly widened, and an incredible scene appeared before her.

She saw that on the grass by the brook, flowers began to bloom rapidly.

"Wow, Ying'er, Xiao Yuan, look, look!" Ling'er called out.

Ying'er and Xiao Yuan were on rotation; one always needed to guard Xiao Mo'er and A Ting, while the other was responsible for hunting, fishing, and preparing food.

This was the division of labor among the five women.

At this moment, Ying'er was preparing to set off, following a path behind the wooden house that led into the deep mountains to hunt.

Ding Yuan was sitting in front of the wooden house, basking in the warm sunlight.

At this time, there was actually no need for Ling'er to exclaim; both women had already noticed.

Flowers grew miraculously on the grass by the brook, then formed a line of text: I have succeeded.

The three women:!!! Then, Ying'er felt a blur before her eyes, and a demonic wild boar suddenly appeared in front of her.

That demonic wild boar was also staring blankly, looking as if it did not know where it was.

Ying'er instantly drew her blade and "swish," chopped off the pig's head.

Then, the sound of "clatter, clatter" came again, and they saw many wild fruits falling in front of the house door.

The three women blinked, watching this scene.

Ling'er dropped the letter, stretched out her arms, and ran on the grass, her embroidered shoes treading on the lush, long grass.

"Master, Master, have you become this place?"

As her voice fell, she saw grass leaves flying, and in the blink of an eye, they condensed into the human form of Song Cheng, appearing before her. That human form nodded at her and made a sound: "Not bad, I have succeeded."

Having said that, he looked at Ying'er and Ding Yuan and said: "From now on, there is no need to go hunting; whatever you want to eat, I will send it every day."

The entire Ice Volcano had become his body. On this body, he could teleport objects at will, could instantly send stones from the foot of the mountain to the summit, and could hide a tree on the summit in an instant. As long as he did not wish it, no one could find anything they wanted to find in this area.

And the scorching Yang Qi made this place as warm as spring, and the ghost servants in the distance could not even dream of approaching.

He finally understood why he could never find the Flat Peach tree on Jilei Mountain back then.

The Mountain God let whoever he wanted find the Flat Peach tree, and sending someone away was entirely up to his mood.

And this "Wood Spirit Evergreen Scripture" was clearly focused on "plants." On his own land, he could force flowers and grass to mature at will, and could make fruit trees that bore fruit once a year quickly change from "bare branches" to "laden with fruit."

His powerful strength allowed him to manifest and condense into any shape, and he could even make sounds.

However, everything had its limitations, which was that he could not leave this land.

His Soul was at the center of this land, and those wisps of Yang Qi acting as white light were the blood vessels and nerves connecting him to this land, as well as the chains that bound and imprisoned him.

As for the Flat Peach, after comprehending the "Wood Spirit Evergreen Scripture," he also understood.

The Flat Peach tree was something similar to "medicine-person material," yet it could not be easily obtained like medicine-person material.

The cultivation of a Flat Peach tree required consuming your strength and also consuming accumulated Yang Qi. Even if you tried your best to force it to mature, it would still take two or three years for the Flat Peach tree to ripen.

The Flat Peach tree had no seeds, and it was not necessarily a "Flat Peach tree." If the "Spirit of Mountains and Rivers" wished, it could be a "plum tree" or an "apple tree," only the ordinary fruit would contain the power that the Spirit of Mountains and Rivers had spent its heart's blood and time to catalyze.

This gave Song Cheng a further understanding of the previous Jilei Mountain Mountain God.

That Mountain God had clearly used the "Flat Peach tree" to weaken himself, thereby luring in the newborn Ghost.

Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes.

That Mountain God never imagined that there was someone else nearby watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.

Tonight's dinner was unprecedentedly sumptuous.

However, Song Cheng could not eat; he just watched the five women eating happily.

A Ting looked at Song Cheng in surprise.

Song Cheng also looked at this eldest daughter who was already forty-six years old.

Perhaps it was because whether he was cultivating, fusing, or fighting, the time spent was always extremely long, so even though A Ting had already become the image of an old woman, in the depths of his heart, she was still that little girl from back then in the An Mansion courtyard, in the snow, calling out "Daddy" in a milky voice.

After the meal, he sat on A Ting's bed and began to earnestly teach the Fusion Secret Method.

A Ting did not have much time left, and her energy was becoming increasingly insufficient; he wanted to give this piece of the Ice Volcano to A Ting.

After cultivating the *Wood Spirit Evergreen Scripture* to Completion, and combining it with the notes from the Jilei Mountain Mountain God, he could roughly deduce the fusion process of the "Zhen".

His Soul is bound in the center of the "Ice Volcano," and he needs more Soul nourishment.

But the Zhan is exactly the opposite.

The Zhan is a powerful Soul cautiously surviving within a mortal shell; the Zhan needs a stronger body.

Therefore, this fusion is the Zhan moving toward the core of the Zhen.

If the Zhan can arrive smoothly and still have the strength to swallow the Zhen, then the Zhan has fused with the Zhen.

However, before the Zhan enters that core, it will continuously "melt," while the Zhen will continuously absorb its nourishment to grow stronger.

In this process, the "Zhan" is the attacker and the "Zhen" is the defender; the place where both sides finally decide the battle is where the Soul is hidden within the mountain-and-river shell, just like a person's Purple Mansion between the eyebrows.

This is a cruel struggle.

But for Song Cheng, it is not.

It is not that he cannot escape the mountain-and-river shell, he simply has not brought out the Nine-Layer Nether Tower and the eight Ghosts.

Therefore, A Ting's fusion is like "attacking a country with no resistance." As long as A Ting arrives at the core smoothly, Song Cheng will leave rapidly, and in the process of leaving, he will also consume the Yin energy of the eight Ghosts to replenish A Ting's Soul power.

This is Song Cheng's plan.

He has thought about it over and over for a long time. Now, he bows his head, looking tenderly at his daughter, gently stroking her cheek with a large hand made of tree leaves, and explaining this process in a soft voice.

However, he cannot guarantee success, because A Ting is actually not a Zhan.

"You are a Nine Yang Mysterious Zhan. The fusion process will be more difficult for you than for others, but this is normal. If you encounter difficulties, even if they are heaven-defying difficulties, absolutely do not give up, because this is normal."

"I know, Father." A Ting replied obediently.

In front of Song Cheng, she is always this obedient.

After more than a month of preparation, Song Cheng had the four women go to the edge of the Ice Volcano, then brought A Ting to the place where the Earth Fire of the Ice Volcano was weakest.

This is equivalent to the weakest part of his shell. In a normal "Zhan-Zhen" fusion, no matter where the Zhan is, it will inevitably be moved by the Zhen to the place where the Earth Fire is most intense so that it is consumed to the greatest extent.

But Song Cheng intends to give the Ice Volcano to A Ting.

"Begin."

He glanced at A Ting, then immediately grabbed her hand and began to manipulate Yang energy to invade A Ting.

A Ting immediately broke into a sweat, but the Yin energy deep within her soul soon erupted, beginning to resist.

Song Cheng was nervous inside, yet he still feigned composure as he guided her bit by bit.

After a long, long time... A Ting's body went limp. She entered the core and subconsciously began to fuse and wrap around the white light connecting the mountains and rivers, while Song Cheng rapidly brought out the Nine-Layer Nether Tower, from the first layer to the seventh, pulling seven Ghosts, and adding his own "Great Dark Heaven," he arrived at the ninth layer, leaped out, transformed into a wisp of pitch-black multi-layered evil Ghosts, and fled rapidly outward.

He deliberately headed toward places with abundant Yang energy, to the point that the evil Ghosts wrapped around his body like armor transformed one after another into Yin energy.

Red and black intermingled.

An unprecedented fusion.

When he leaped out, Song Cheng felt that the seven Ghosts were much weaker, and he rapidly burrowed toward his own original body. In an instant, he returned to his original body and looked at the panel again.

The data fell back, changing from "Earth Grade Grade D" back to "Mysterious Grade Jiappin."

"It works!"

Song Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

But now, he could no longer know A Ting's situation.

Man proposes, God disposes.

The rest can only be left to Heaven.

Because the fusion process went smoothly, the Ice Volcano did not experience the situation that occurred when the "Jilei Mountain Mountain God and the Doctor" fused before.

Song Cheng observed for a few more days and decided to continue toward the depths of this land. He needed to find a second "Broken Land," and then follow the same pattern to hand it over to Xiao Mo'er.

Ding Yuan did not leave with him but stayed behind. She is waiting for A Ting here, no matter how long it takes. And Xiao Mo'er, Ling'er, and Ying'er did not leave either.

Song Cheng came here because the journey was too far, too deep, and too uncertain, so he brought the women. Now that there is a foothold, he will explore the surroundings and return to pick them up after finding a "Broken Land."

On an extinct land, there is more than one Broken Land.

Song Cheng calculated the time by the increase in points.

After about two months, he found the second Broken Land. Similar to the "Ice Volcano," this was a wasteland full of Earth Fire.

Song Cheng then turned back and brought Xiao Mo'er, Ying'er, and Ling'er along.

Afterward, he spent less than a year fusing the Earth Fire Wasteland, and just as he had taught A Ting before, he guided Xiao Mo'er to fuse.

Upon seeing the terrifying power hidden in Xiao Mo'er's soul, Song Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, he intends to find his own "Broken Land," and after taking over a body, use his own soul to fuse and break through.

But before that, he must go see how A Ting is doing.

Ying'er and Ling'er both stayed on the Earth Fire Wasteland.

Song Cheng transformed into a Li Fire Kunpeng and left alone.

The Kunpeng's speed was much, much faster. Although countless Ghost servants pounced from all directions, they were all like moths to a flame.

In just a few days, he found A Ting and Ding Yuan.

Song Cheng landed, Manifested, asked about Xiao Yuan's situation, and after observing for himself and confirming there was no harm, he left and returned to the Earth Fire Wasteland.

Just as Ding Yuan guarded the Ice Volcano, Ying'er also stayed on the Earth Fire Wasteland.

Song Cheng continued to search for Broken Lands.

After finding one, he decided to fuse.

However, Ling'er was already very, very weak. She was just a complete mortal, and now her real age was that of an old woman; it was only the Supplementing Yuan Pill refined by Tong Niangzi that allowed her to prolong her life... "I will wait here for the Young Master, I promise that before the Young Master returns, I will definitely try hard to live."

Ling'er urged Song Cheng to leave.

And the letter that was finally written slid out from her sleeve and was handed to Song Cheng.

It was a letter deeply hiding a young girl's thoughts, and Song Cheng read it earnestly.

How to extend the life of a mortal, he truly did not know.

Forcibly pulling them into the Reappearance World might be an option, but it was definitely not a good one.

And the answer might be hidden in a higher realm.

Thus, he nodded, and after spending several nights with Ling'er, he left amidst her joyful farewell; yet after he departed, that smile turned into tears.

All that begins with a smile must end with tears.

Song Cheng's journey became lonely.

But he had also grown accustomed to this loneliness.

He arrived at another Broken Land, which was a strange "Inner Sea of Earth Fire."

He merged into that sea.

One year later, the fusion was successful.

He skillfully summoned the eight Ghosts, using those eight Ghosts to transform into Soul power to nourish his body of mountains and rivers; in this way, it could be considered an alternative form of "Zhen" fusion.

The flow of time began to speed up, but for Song Cheng, he had become completely immersed in this fusion.

Great Song.

The peace was suddenly broken.

News arrived of a counterattack by the Molten Empire in the west, while the Wanling Empire, which had long since belonged to Great Song, was retreating steadily.

The reason was simple: the Prayer Spirit Masters of the Wanling Empire were losing their power.

It was as if the gods were losing their magic; Great Prayer Spirit Masters could no longer be produced.

Regarding this invasion, Song An reacted quickly, dispatching generals to provide support.

However... once, twice, three times... the generals sent only returned with news of defeat.

Meanwhile, the Molten Empire was devouring the lands of the Wanling Empire with miraculous speed.

Seeing that the western borders of Great Song were about to completely collapse, Song An made a decision: to lead the imperial expedition in person.

In the days without pursuits, he was indeed debauched, but when matters arose, he could truly step up; for many years, he had kept his own state maintained at its peak, though it was a pity that many of the original elite soldiers had already left the army due to age, injury, or illness.

Song An appointed the Crown Prince Song Zhangjian, then led a new army, bringing Empress Zhao Lingxue and many tamed magical beasts, and headed west.

As the son of Song Cheng, Song An never thought of disgracing his father.

He had minor moral failings, but he would certainly step up for major matters.

Since the generals had been defeated one by one, he only needed to send the most formidable general to handle it.

And in the entire Great Song, even Zhao Hua was actually inferior to him in terms of military command, and furthermore... Zhao Hua was not familiar with the situation in the west at all, so Song An was the most suitable candidate.

Song An led a massive army of four hundred thousand, bringing along many sons of noble families and Pseudo-Profound experts, and charged straight toward the western border.

Along the way, he could be said to have killed gods if gods blocked him, and killed Buddhas if Buddhas blocked him, properly displaying the national might of Great Song.

Territory was being recovered rapidly, and this continued for over half a year.

In the Imperial Capital.

The initiator of "Governing the Country through Filial Piety" slowly surfaced; it was none other than the Ji Family.

The Ji Family's promotion of the Classic of Filial Piety was precisely to let the world know that the Crown Prince's mother was Ji Youke, in order to compete with that Empress Dowager for the power of "ruling from behind the curtain."

An Chenyu, however, had long since had the daughter of Wu Lie of the Yin Gui Society marry Song Zhangjian, thereby exerting dual control over the Crown Prince.

Everyone was engaged in internal strife while simultaneously keeping an eye on the situation in the west.

One winter, Song An once again crushed the Molten Empire's army with his military momentum; he climbed to a high vantage point, looked at the routed enemy forces, and smiled contemptuously.

But soon, his smile came to an abrupt halt, for he was stunned to feel the surrounding air begin to tighten; the wind and snow seemed to be manipulated by an invisible force, stopping completely for an instant, then rushing like a torrent toward one spot, where they formed a terrifying giant of indistinguishable shape.

"Dharma Heaven and Earth."

Song An's pupils constricted.

Facing such an abrupt expert, fleeing would only lead to total collapse.

The blood of the Heavenly Son of Great Song surged, and fear welled up, but he did not retreat; "the dignity of Great Song" and "Song Cheng" became two reasons he could not be weak. He swung his long blade, advancing instead of retreating, mounted on a giant magical beast, and roared: "Great Song is invincible!"

The soldiers, having been tempered by many wars, had all transformed into veteran soldiers who were always victorious; their mindset was naturally not that of green recruits, and seeing the Heavenly Son act this way, they transformed their initial fear into intense, bloody courage.

"Kill!"

Song An gathered his military momentum, and as it climbed to its peak, he swung a fatal blade at the ice and snow giant of Dharma Heaven and Earth.

The blade light left a bloodstain on the giant, but immediately, Song An felt his body lift into the air.

He scanned his surroundings; his thousands of troops and horses were also lifting into the air.

The ice and snow giant let out a roar.

Song An's vision went black, his whole body was in intense pain, and he lost consciousness.

Deep within the Wanling Empire, at the center of a nearly exhausted earth fire, an aged silhouette sighed faintly... the silhouette raised a hand and beckoned, sucking in the Soul of Song An which was floating in mid-air, and then carefully hid it away.

Several months later.

The center of the earth fire welcomed a knock at the door.

Outside the door, a hoarse voice asked: "God, are you there?"

The aged silhouette replied: "This old one is about to pass, and is no longer a god."

The hoarse voice said: "May I ask, after Dharma Heaven and Earth, where does the path lie? If you answer, I will spare the Wanling Empire; I imagine your descendants are here as well, right?"

The aged silhouette was silent for a long time, then said: "The land of Extinction, and the Zhen.

And... everything you want, Great Song has."

(End of this chapter)