Mo Yin sensed Zhang Ruochen’s weakness and secretly transmitted, “Master, I’ll confront him. You find a chance to escape first.”
Mo Yin’s current strength was comparable to Xu and Yan Hong Great Saints, sufficient to face a mid-stage Thousand Questions Realm Great Saint. However, Zuo Mu Saint Monarch was no ordinary mid-stage Thousand Questions Realm opponent. Without wielding a supreme sacred artefact, Mo Yin would surely lose against him.
“If we’re leaving, we leave together. But before we go, there’s one more thing to do.”
Zhang Ruochen bit his tongue to stay alert, clasping his hands into a spherical shape. Specks of time imprint light gathered between his palms.
One of them was the “Absolute Self Time Imprint.”
“Still have strength to fight?”
Zuo Mu Saint Monarch, standing on the purple meteor, showed a trace of surprise, then chuckled lightly, activating spatial power and vanishing from his spot.
“Swish—”
The next moment, the purple meteor appeared above Zhang Ruochen and Mo Yin.
The meteor plunged downward, carrying an overwhelming force, crashing toward the two below.
Even before the meteor’s body struck, the gusts of fierce energy it emitted enveloped Zhang Ruochen and Mo Yin. Each stream of air held terrifying power, capable of slicing through a Great Saint’s immortal body.
“No wonder Huo Mei Yin Ji lost consciousness after just two strikes from the purple meteor. This Thousand Questions Realm Heavenly Slave’s attack power is stronger than I imagined.”
“Moreover, it’s not just a simple impact. This strike contains spatial power. As it lands, the surrounding space compresses inward, leaving the targeted cultivator no escape.”
This thought flashed through Zhang Ruochen’s mind as his gaze turned to Mo Yin.
Mo Yin nodded slightly, raising her snow-white hands. From her ten fingers surged countless purple vines.
The vines, crackling with lightning and Pure Extinguishing Divine Fire, formed a jungle-like sea of electric fire.
“Rumble.”
Over a thousand purple vines clashed with the purple meteor, and in an instant, more than a hundred vines snapped, scattering into the starry sky.
However, the vines’ flexible strength rapidly diffused the meteor’s fierce, domineering impact.
Zuo Mu Saint Monarch let out a surprised hum, never expecting a mere Saint-Devouring Flower to withstand his attack.
Below, Zhang Ruochen raised his hands, releasing the specks of time imprint light.
With his mental energy sealed, Zuo Mu Saint Monarch didn’t know the nature of Zhang Ruochen’s time imprints and dared not touch them. He immediately drove the purple meteor upward.
Seeing the Absolute Self Time Imprint land on the purple meteor, Zhang Ruochen’s lips curved into a smile. His voice weak, he said, “Let’s go. We’ll deal with him next time.”
With the Absolute Self Time Imprint, no matter where Zuo Mu Saint Monarch fled, Zhang Ruochen could sense his location.
“Master, lend me the Purple Gold Gourd. I can fight him,” Mo Yin said.
Zhang Ruochen’s face grew paler, his aura weakening rapidly. With effort, he said, “Even if you can fight him, you can’t kill him. Continuing the battle is pointless.”
Seeing Zhang Ruochen’s dire condition, Mo Yin didn’t press further. She grabbed his wrist, released spatial rules, and performed a spatial teleportation.
As Zhang Ruochen’s parasitic plant, Mo Yin had also cultivated the Path of Space.
The purple meteor flew upward over a thousand miles before stopping.
Standing atop it, Zuo Mu Saint Monarch gazed far into the distance, only to find that Mo Yin and Zhang Ruochen had vanished from his sight after several spatial teleports.
Without mental energy, he couldn’t track which direction they had fled or locate them.
In a Great Saint-level battle, lacking mental energy was like being blind.
“What a pity. If I could seize the supreme sacred artefact from Zhang Ruochen, I wouldn’t fear any cultivator in this Hunting Battlefield,” Zuo Mu Saint Monarch sighed with regret.
For a Heavenly Slave, the only way to survive was to kill at least one participating Hell Realm cultivator.
That was the Destiny Temple’s promise!
Zuo Mu Saint Monarch’s goal was to kill at least fifty Hell Realm Great Saints in the Merit Battlefield, to humiliate the gods and test the Destiny Temple’s limits, to see if they would break their own promise.
Seizing a supreme sacred artefact was a crucial part of his audacious plan.
Zhang Ruochen retracted his ten golden wings. His body bore dozens of wounds, three of which pierced through his chest and back, nearly shattering his internal organs.
Within him, ghost energy, Shura battle energy, curse power, dark energy, and various other forces rampaged, eroding the vitality of his immortal body.
Each clash with a cultivator allowed their energy to invade through his wounds.
If his injuries hadn’t worsened so severely, Zhang Ruochen’s willpower would have driven him to keep fighting.
Mo Yin stared at his chest wounds, finding them shocking.
Zhang Ruochen’s body was like shattered porcelain, ready to break into pieces at the slightest touch.
“Master, should we return to the Immortal Blood Clan’s home star to recover?” Mo Yin asked.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t answer, instead asking, “Can you set up a spatial teleportation array?”
“I’ve never done it, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” Mo Yin replied.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Find a concealed planet nearby and set up a spatial teleportation array first.”
The Ghost Clan’s home star and the Immortal Blood Clan’s home star were separated by an immense distance, over a hundred million miles. Even at a Great Saint’s speed, it would take more than ten days to reach.
Only a spatial teleportation array could bridge the gap.
Two hours later, Mo Yin and Zhang Ruochen arrived at a reddish-brown planet, five thousand miles in diameter. It lacked an atmosphere and was enveloped in a vast cloud of black stellar fog.
The fog, formed from various toxic gases, was unapproachable for cultivators below the Saint King Realm.
On the planet, Zhang Ruochen scanned with his mental energy, detecting no Hell Realm cultivators or Heavenly Slaves, and said, “This will do!”
“Thud!”
Mo Yin tossed the unconscious Da Sen Luo Emperor onto the ground. At the planet’s south pole, she used holy jade and divine stone fragments from Zhang Ruochen to set up a spatial teleportation array.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged by a lava river, channelling Pure Extinguishing Divine Fire to refine the chaotic energies in his body.
If he didn’t refine the energies from Xu, Ye Chang Zai, Que Fei, and others, his injuries would only worsen, never healing.
Soon, Mo Yin completed the teleportation array. Seeing Zhang Ruochen still refining, she didn’t disturb him but took out Da Sen Luo Emperor’s Ice Wood Divine Bow.
She refined the bow’s spirit, intending to use it herself.
A Three-Yuan Monarch Sacred Artefact, worth nearly a thousand divine stones, could kill a Great Saint with each arrow if used well—a true weapon of destruction.
Besides the bow, there were six arrows.
Each was of Monarch Sacred Artefact level, with different materials and forms.
One was translucent, like crystal. When Mo Yin infused it with holy energy, the arrow vanished, becoming invisible and emitting no fluctuations.
This was a “Soul Arrow,” forged from soul crystal, designed to target a cultivator’s holy soul, especially lethal against the soul-only Ghost Clan.
Paired with Da Sen Luo Emperor’s dark arrow technique, its power would be even more terrifying, capable of killing across realms.
After refining the Ice Wood Divine Bow and six arrows, Mo Yin pressed her fingers to Da Sen Luo Emperor’s head. Tiny, needle-like tendrils extended, piercing his scalp and entering his mind.
“Ah…”
Da Sen Luo Emperor, previously unconscious, convulsed, limbs flailing, letting out a piercing scream.
Mo Yin was soul-searching, extracting his memories to find his arrow technique cultivation methods.
After a while, the tendrils retracted from his head and vanished.
A captivating smile appeared on Mo Yin’s snow-white face.
“Hm?”
Sensing a powerful holy energy fluctuation from the stellar fog above, Mo Yin’s expression turned cold. She nocked a divine wood arrow onto the Ice Wood Divine Bow and drew it.
“Swish—”
Wrapped in a cloud of blood-fiend energy, a stunningly beautiful woman broke through the fog, revealing herself.
With ten silver wings, a tall figure, cascading hair like a waterfall, skin like jade, and a jade flute hanging at her waist, she flew toward the south pole.
Mo Yin recognised her as Yu Huang of the Blood Sky Tribe.
“Stay back.”
Mo Yin aimed the divine wood arrow at Yu Huang, icy energy radiating from the arrowhead, freezing the south pole’s lava into a glacial river.
Yu Huang landed on a crimson mountain peak, spotting Zhang Ruochen seated on the ground. Her willow-like brows furrowed slightly as she said, “What’s this about?”
Mo Yin’s red lips curved into a smile. “My master is healing. No one is allowed near.”
“Not even me?”
Yu Huang’s phoenix-like eyes flared with blood light, her anger rising.
“Of course not.”
In the Hell Realm, Zhang Ruochen trusted no one, and neither did Mo Yin.
Moreover, Yu Huang had always been suspicious, making it even less wise to let her near Zhang Ruochen now.
For instance:
At the Ascension Banquet, when competing to lead the Blood Sky Tribe, Yu Huang had been full of killing intent toward Zhang Ruochen.
On this trip to the Ghost Clan’s home star, Yu Huang had promised to help Zhang Ruochen break its array. Yet, at the critical moment, she vanished.
After the battle, with Zhang Ruochen gravely injured, she conveniently showed up here.
Too coincidental, wasn’t it?
Yu Huang’s teeth itched with anger. A mere Saint-Devouring Flower, a pet raised by Zhang Ruochen, dared to point an arrow at her—utterly outrageous.
“You think you can stop me?”
Yu Huang’s robes fluttered as she moved through the air, flying forward.
“Twang!”
Mo Yin released the arrow, which shot out, leaving a trail of light dozens of metres long.
Initially, Yu Huang didn’t take Mo Yin seriously. But as the arrow flew, a chilling force erupted from the Ice Wood Divine Bow.
“Sss.”
The south pole of the planet instantly became a glacial continent.
The divine wood arrow was astonishingly sharp, forcing Yu Huang to draw her Soul-Seizing Flute to counter it. The impact sent her flying back, landing messily on the glacial ground a hundred miles away, retreating another ten miles before steadying herself.
Her flute-holding hand ached and went numb.
“How is she so strong? Even in Da Sen Luo Emperor’s hands, the Ice Wood Divine Bow couldn’t unleash such terrifying power.”
Yu Huang was stunned.
She had cultivated a Third-Grade Holy Will, ranking eleventh on the Hundred-Shackle Realm Perfect Stage List. Given time, with a Thousand Questions Realm holy technique and her mastery of arrays and talismans, she could surpass Pink Skeleton and Xu, reaching seventh or even sixth.
Though she had been caught off guard by underestimating Mo Yin, being so thoroughly outmatched by a single arrow was a blow to her pride.
Did Zhang Ruochen’s pet have the strength of the top ten on the Hundred-Shackle Realm Perfect Stage List?
“Let’s go again.”
Yu Huang’s strong, stubborn personality was ignited by Mo Yin, her fighting spirit surging as she prepared to take her seriously.
Mo Yin struck a pose, laughing, “Heh, think I’m scared?”
“Stop fighting. Save your strength. There are tougher battles ahead.”
Zhang Ruochen’s voice, vast and boundless, echoed across the south pole’s glacial continent.
The two women looked toward the sound, seeing Zhang Ruochen standing, having refined the invasive energies in his body. His external wounds had healed, his upper body bare.
Despite Yu Huang’s pride and confidence, she couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances.
“Let Yu Huang come. She can be trusted,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Yes, Master.”
Mo Yin giggled, flying to Zhang Ruochen’s side, draping a blood-red robe over him. “A peerless man like Master makes even Mo Yin’s heart flutter, wanting to stay by your side forever, never parting for a moment.”
“A mere parasitic plant. If I were him, I’d have refined you long ago. How could I let you keep your own consciousness?”
Yu Huang flew over, landing on the ground, eyeing Zhang Ruochen up and down. “Why are you so weak? Are you badly injured?”
Though his external wounds had vanished, his internal injuries wouldn’t heal quickly.
“No matter. I’ve refined the various energies invading my body. With the Heart of Divine Wood, I’ll be fully healed in a day,” Zhang Ruochen said calmly.
Yu Huang asked, “Did you destroy the Ghost Clan’s home star?”
“You went back to check?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yu Huang nodded. “I ran into some trouble and got held up. By the time I shook it off and returned, I found the Ghost Clan’s home star had become a golden planet, shrouded in golden mist, impenetrable to any cultivator.”
“I thought you’d died there, but on my way back to the Immortal Blood Clan’s home star, I found the markers you left, so I tracked you here.”
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze grew heavy. “I left those markers for you deliberately. What trouble did you run into?”
Yu Huang snorted. “The Corpse Clan’s top powerhouse, Purple Corpse. He was lying in wait near the Ghost Clan’s home star. Just as I was about to break the array, he ambushed me. Luckily, my mental energy is strong, so I escaped.”
“He’s ranked tenth on the Hundred-Shackle Realm Perfect Stage List, I’m eleventh. Normally, I wouldn’t fear him. But he wields the Corpse Clan’s supreme sacred artefact, making me no match. I could only fight while retreating. If I had a supreme sacred artefact, would I fear him?”
At this, Yu Huang’s pearly teeth clenched, her bright eyes flashing with intense killing intent.
Chased for three days and nights, Yu Huang was seething with suppressed anger.
Zhang Ruochen stood with his hands behind his back. “I happen to have an extra supreme sacred artefact, which I can lend you for now. But I have conditions. You must fight a few tough battles with me. If luck’s against us, we might die. If luck’s on our side and we survive, the supreme sacred artefact is yours. Think carefully about your choice.”
