Chapter 1190 - 818: The Altar Nears Completion, Undercurrents Stir

Zhang Chen stood in the distance, his eyes looking at the sacrificial altar before him, tilting his head to scrutinize the altar, a hint of curiosity in his gaze:

"The Queen Mother of the West wants me to build the sacrificial altar, which is indeed strange. At the realm of the Queen Mother of the West’s cultivation, what does she need to sacrifice for? She’s one with the Dao, what in this universe is still worthy of her worship?"

Zhang Chen’s eyes showed a hint of confusion, not knowing why the Queen Mother of the West expended so much effort to build the altar.

"How odd." Zhang Chen marveled secretly but was unaware of the reason behind it; however, he knew there must be a great secret involved.

As for what secret? Zhang Chen dared not explore it, for fear that knowing something one shouldn’t might lead to a fate worse than death.

He needed to survive in this era as much as possible to seize the Wonderful Technique from the Queen Mother’s Library Pavilion.

Zhang Chen put away the blueprint in his hand, then held the compass in his left hand, while two peach pits appeared in his right hand, unaware when they started, slowly turning in his palm, played with by Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen was ready to nurture these two peach pits, but couldn’t find a suitable opportunity for now, being constantly under the watchful eyes at Kunlun Mountain beneath the Queen Mother’s gaze; causing any trouble could be disastrous.

The Queen Mother of the West possesses vast divine techniques, what if she realizes he’s nurturing the Peach Tree, how would he explain?

"In mythology, the Queen Mother’s Peach Tree is divided into three thousand years, six thousand years, and nine thousand years sections, each with three thousand trees, but myth is myth, it’s not reliable, everything can’t be done according to mythology, otherwise, who knows what trouble it might bring." Zhang Chen slowly stuffed the two peach pits into his sleeves, clearly knowing that even if he nurtured a Peach Tree and bore peaches, he dared not eat them.

The lifespans of all Golden Armor Divine Generals are recorded, certainly with a measure in the Queen Mother’s heart, if he secretly eats the peaches prolonging his life, can he hide it from the Queen Mother?

How would he explain the sudden increase in lifespan then? Since the Queen Mother isn’t a fool.

While Zhang Chen mulled over countless thoughts, the compass in his hand shook in the southeast direction; Zhang Chen quickly ran towards the southeast, running for three hours, crossing over hundreds of miles, and arrived at the site of the sacrificial altar construction.

"Greetings, sir." A Golden Armor Divine General stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Zhang Chen.

"The tomb you’ve built previously has flaws, you built it wrong! Quickly find and fix the errors." Zhang Chen instructed.

The Golden Armor Divine General was stunned upon hearing, quickly took out Zhang Chen’s segmented blueprint, instructing his subordinate warriors to check and patch the gaps according to the drawing.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chen didn’t idle beside them, assisting everyone to check and patch gaps; having studied the array map for hundreds of years, he had it engraved in his heart, finding mistakes in the array map within half an hour, then instructed everyone to patch the gaps, returned to the central location, sat in place continuing to comprehend and deduce the array’s mysteries.

This is Zhang Chen’s daily life; he modularized the entire altar’s array, then instructed those warriors to build methodically. If there were errors, Zhang Chen would check and correct them.

This had been Zhang Chen’s routine for several hundred years, usually mending the great array, sparing time to comprehend the paths of the array.

"Only today, something feels amiss, there’s an inexplicable sense of crisis shrouding my heart." Zhang Chen felt his Primordial Spirit jumping from time to time, such an omen isn’t a good sign, with a looming great catastrophe feeling.

"But what danger could descend upon me here in Kunlun Mountain?" Zhang Chen couldn’t find the reason, could only endure it silently, continuing to build the array.

Only next with the building of the array, that ominous feeling in Zhang Chen’s heart grew heavier, even his Primordial Spirit jumped more frequently.

"Old man, you’ve been asleep for so long, why don’t you hurry and awake?" Zhang Chen sensed things weren’t right, questioning the Celestial Demon mark in his Primordial Spirit.

Since coming to the Mysterious Era, the Celestial Demon mark utterly fell into silence, the transformation of the Great Freedom Celestial Demon hadn’t completed, Zhang Chen couldn’t tell where the crisis came from, could only disturb the sleeping Great Freedom Celestial Demon.

Yet Zhang Chen called several times, never seeing the Great Freedom Celestial Demon respond, forced to give up helplessly. This old man had completely fallen asleep since devouring the head, leaving Zhang Chen somewhat handicapped.

Now in this Mysterious Era, Zhang Chen had no one to discuss anything with.

"Feeling handicapped! Seems to be lacking a crutch." Zhang Chen grumbled, now could only rely on himself to observe where the catastrophe would come from.

As Zhang Chen’s thoughts were in turmoil, suddenly the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s imprint within his Primordial Spirit started to pulsate. Zhang Chen’s heart skipped a beat: "Why is the imprint of this Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit pulsating now? Could something have happened on his side? Or has the Queen Mother discovered that I’ve been refining the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit and is searching for the person who refined it? Is that why I feel impending doom?"

Zhang Chen’s mind was racing with thoughts. As he considered, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s imprint became increasingly active within his Primordial Spirit. Zhang Chen hesitated for a moment, then his eyes turned towards the Queen Mother’s palace: "If the Queen Mother realizes something, eventually she’ll investigate and find me. At that time, I’m afraid I won’t escape death. Given this, why not take the initiative? If I go to see what’s happening with the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, if I capture him, I might still have a chance to escape from the Queen Mother."

Zhang Chen thought of this, and left the altar, heading to a desolate place. His form flashed and the Escape Technique was activated. Along with his mastery of the Authority of the Five Elements, all Five Elements Items in this world were within his Escape Light.

Moreover, he wasn’t worried that the Queen Mother would notice his Escape Technique. The Dragon Vein’s Destruction of All Techniques, no matter how profound the Queen Mother’s cultivation, she could not detect Zhang Chen using Escape Technique within the Dragon Vein.

Zhang Chen’s Five Elements Escape Technique, accompanied by his mastery of authority, allowed him to traverse even within the Dragon Vein.

Zhang Chen arrived at the location of the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, quietly observing the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit without noticing the Queen Mother’s aura, and then revealed himself in the sea of flames: "Why is your imprint frantically pulsating? Has the Queen Mother noticed something?"

"Kid, you finally came. I was activating the imprint to call you over. Didn’t you say you wanted to help me escape? Hundreds of years have passed now, why haven’t you made any move?" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said discontentedly.

"I naturally have plans, but now the time is not right, I can’t let you out yet." Zhang Chen deflected the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, as he was not yet willing to betray the Queen Mother.

"Not the right time? I’m worried that after some years, you’ll die outside, and won’t have any chance to let me out." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen was shocked, looking at the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit with disbelief: "Die outside? I am quite well, why would I die outside?"

He felt as though the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit seemed to know something.

"How would I know why you might die outside? It’s just that you’re now shrouded in doom, it seems you’re not far from death. As for what calamity exactly, I don’t know. The sins on you are so deep, you’re simply the most sinful person I’ve ever seen. Such sins, I’ve never witnessed." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said.

Zhang Chen was shocked, staring intensely at the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit. He didn’t think the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit was trying to fool him, as he often felt a looming crisis recently, like a thorn in his back, piercing into his heart.

"Where does the crisis stem from..." Zhang Chen was somewhat uneasy, for an unknown crisis is more terrifying.

"Kid, perhaps you should let me out? Even if you die..." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit began to speak but stopped when he saw Zhang Chen’s unsettling expression, closing his mouth slowly, not daring to provoke Zhang Chen further.

"Forget it, I’ll counter as soldiers come, and cover as water flows. There’s no use worrying now, instead, I should relax. Even if calamity does come, with the Queen Mother here, it might not be able to kill me." Zhang Chen thought for a while, failing to find the source of the calamity, then flashed into firelight and vanished into the sea of flames.

Since mastering the Authority of the Five Elements, Zhang Chen had a bit of confidence regarding survival.

"It’s just a pity not knowing where the crisis originates, otherwise I could prepare in advance, employ tactics." Zhang Chen returned to the altar, continued studying the array, while secretly vigilant of the surrounding environment, keeping his guard up.

"If I truly find any crisis, I’ll run towards the Queen Mother’s palace, I don’t believe anyone could kill the Queen Mother." Zhang Chen muttered, yet a thought arose: "What if the crisis comes from the Queen Mother?"

Zhang Chen was terrified, but he pressed down this thought: "It shouldn’t be, the Queen Mother doesn’t have the intent to harm me. If she wanted to kill me, she would’ve done so right away, crushing me."

Zhang Chen dismissed this notion; if the Queen Mother wished to kill him, given her power, she could crush him with a single finger, she would’ve acted directly long ago.

"My crisis isn’t from the Queen Mother, then where does it come from?" Zhang Chen glanced at the Compass in front of him, staring at its continuously rotating symbols, closing his eyes after a while to keep comprehending the path of the array.

Everything had reached this point, he had no solution, he could only wait for the crisis to come and then think of ways to resolve it.

Time seemed to have become stagnant, everything appeared without anomaly, yet Zhang Chen kept a keen eye in his mind.

A few years later, Zhang Chen always felt something was off in the Kunlun Mountain realm, an indescribable oppressive atmosphere shrouded the Kunlun realm.

"The atmosphere of the whole Kunlun Mountain seems odd? Is there really someone in this world who can provoke the Queen Mother?" Zhang Chen thought briefly.