“Forget it, the priority is to find a way out.”
Zhang Ruochen couldn’t locate the White Cang Blood Soil and restrained his urge to immediately fuse the Sacred Intent of Earth.
Trapped in the stone coffin for an unknown number of days, he wondered if the War of the Hunt had ended.
Probably not.
If it had, the gods of the Immortal Blood Clan and Yanluo Clan would have come to the core to rescue him and Yan Zhe Xian.
Yan Zhe Xian’s pregnancy was unclear—either the Blood Shadow Divine Mother had infused her divine power and essence, causing it to appear this way, or months had passed. Regardless, her condition made Zhang Ruochen anxious.
When he entered the core, the Immortal Blood Clan held an absolute advantage, nearly impossible to lose.
But the Yanluo Clan would never cede first place without a fierce counterattack, using every means possible. The later stages of the War of the Hunt would be brutal.
He had to return to the battlefield immediately.
Zhang Ruochen tried various methods to open the stone coffin.
In the corner, Yan Zhe Xian gradually calmed from her whirlwind of emotions.
Upon waking, her mind was chaotic, then she discovered her pregnancy, and both she and Zhang Ruochen had tried to kill the fetus, keeping her in an unprecedented state of extreme emotion.
Now calm, she quickly understood many things.
First, Zhang Ruochen had deceived her.
He never intended to kill the fetus. If he had, he would have done so while she was unconscious.
Damn him!
Damn Zhang Ruochen!
“He must be using this to maintain his cold, ruthless facade and to test if I’d stop trying to kill the fetus.”
Yan Zhe Xian closed her eyes, growing angrier.
She prided herself on her intelligence, yet Zhang Ruochen had played her. Worse, she had shown weakness, pleading with him and crying.
Utterly humiliating!
More humiliating than when Zhang Ruochen captured her on the Yanluo Clan’s home star and disrespected her.
Second, she realized she and Zhang Ruochen hadn’t been intimate.
She sensed his blood within her.
Unlike Zhang Ruochen, she was born with a Five Elements Mysterious Yellow Body, so the Blood Shadow Divine Mother’s divine power and essence hadn’t altered her constitution much.
Her constitution was already at its peak, unchangeable.
Thus, she knew his blood was in her, but he didn’t know hers was in him.
They hadn’t been kissing but exchanging blood.
Yet, pregnant as she was, who would believe she and Zhang Ruochen were innocent?
Moreover…
Yan Zhe Xian glanced at the robe Zhang Ruochen had given her, wearing nothing underneath, and sighed deeply. Were she and Zhang Ruochen truly innocent?
No one in the Hell Realm would believe it.
“The fetus was formed by the Blood Shadow Divine Mother’s divine power and essence, cultivated over countless years, yet it absorbed my and Zhang Ruochen’s blood, tying it to him inescapably. Fate, why must I be entangled with him?” She sighed again.
Looking at Zhang Ruochen, she recalled their brief encounters.
In talent and intellect, he was among the best of their generation.
In appearance, he was strikingly handsome.
In background, the Blood Absolute Family was ancient and powerful, with Blood Absolute War God revered by all Hell Realm cultivators.
Zhang Ruochen’s qualities were impeccable, fatally attractive to any woman. Yet why did she find him so disagreeable?
After much thought, she found her answer.
It wasn’t because he had disrespected her. Back then, he was only trying to survive on the Yanluo Clan’s home star, not intentionally humiliating her.
The root cause was her initial dislike of him.
Zhang Ruochen, a cultivator from the Heavenly Realm, had betrayed it to join the Hell Realm, even killing his close friend Barbarian Sword Great Sage.
Many also said he was a spy sent by the Heavenly Realm.
Yan Zhe Xian disliked both types.
Her ideal man wasn’t just highly talented but a heroic figure, loyal, righteous, steadfast in belief, not a treacherous schemer.
In the previous millennium, Blood Absolute War God and Huang Tian were twin prodigies.
Yet Yan Zhe Xian admired only Blood Absolute War God, despising Huang Tian.
If Zhang Ruochen were still in the Heavenly Realm, even as an enemy, she would have held endless expectations and admiration for him, perhaps even fallen for him.
She was a willful, romantic woman, yearning for a flawless husband.
From the start, she was prejudiced against Zhang Ruochen.
“The fetus is mine alone. Zhang Ruochen has no claim. After the War of the Hunt, I’ll return to the Yanluo Clan, give birth, and never marry.”
“Now, I must delay him, keeping him from the battlefield. Without him, the Immortal Blood Clan can’t match the Yanluo Clan.”
Yan Zhe Xian stood and approached Zhang Ruochen, asking, “Still can’t open the coffin?”
“No,” Zhang Ruochen replied, having tried every method, but the lid wouldn’t budge.
No divine patterns or mechanisms were inside.
They were completely trapped.
Yan Zhe Xian rejoiced inwardly but said calmly, “Why not stay? When the War of the Hunt ends, the gods will rescue us. Shall we talk?”
“About what?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Our relationship is so close now, yet we know little about each other. Must we remain distant? Perhaps we could try to understand each other better.”
“Is that necessary?”
Zhang Ruochen knew she wanted to stall him.
Yan Zhe Xian said, “I’ve heard much about you. You crossed the tenth sea of the Sea of Truth. You and the Kunlun Realm’s Goddess Chi Yao have two children. You’re highly favored by Moon Goddess. You’ve fought Yan Wushen three times. You faced the Hell Realm’s Saint Realm warriors alone… and more. You’re one of this millennium’s most legendary cultivators.”
“But why join the Hell Realm? Don’t you have a deep grudge against it? Don’t you despise the Immortal Blood Clan?”
“Have you considered the disappointment of those who admired you? The pain of the gods who nurtured you? Though ostracized in the Heavenly Realm, you had friends who stood by you and gods who protected you.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Are you sure you want a proper talk?”
“I just want to know if you’ve truly abandoned your beliefs and friends or become a spy for the Heavenly Realm,” Yan Zhe Xian said.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “In your eyes, are those the only possibilities?”
Yan Zhe Xian frowned, “Is there a third?”
“Many things you wouldn’t understand. With your noble status, you can act as you please, choose your future, and embrace what you like while rejecting what you don’t. But countless beings in this world have no choice.”
With that, Zhang Ruochen resumed studying how to open the coffin.
…
At the start of the battlefield, the Immortal Blood Clan’s spiritual power Great Sages sent to gather intelligence on the other nine clans had all returned.
Now, the clan’s home star hosted 324 participating cultivators, 172 of whom were Nine-Step Saint Kings. Despite consuming Mysterious Extreme Sacred Fruit and many treasures at the banquet, they hadn’t broken through.
Of the 152 Great Sages, nearly 100 were talisman and array masters.
Yu Huang, overseeing the home star, had been under immense pressure recently.
The clan’s points were constantly deducted, likely because Great Sages carrying clansmen were found by the Yanluo Clan, and all were killed.
Zhang Ruochen was right: Yan Huang Tu had allied with Pink Skeleton.
Only the three Divine Maidens of Fate could so precisely locate the Immortal Blood Clan’s Great Sages.
“The Yanluo Clan will surely attack our home star. Why hasn’t Zhang Ruochen returned from the core? I hope nothing’s happened.”
Yu Huang was anxious, wanting to dive into the core, but knowing she couldn’t counter the Blood Shadow Ghost Seed, she restrained herself.
With Feng Hou not returning, likely dead, Yu Huang was single-handedly holding the home star.
She had sent cultivators to the Seventh Dark Star to urge Dao Yu Huang to lead the Immortal Blood Clan’s Great Sage army back to defend, but all three sent had vanished.
On the final day of the War of the Hunt, Yu Huang’s unease grew.
A Saint King descended, rushing in and bowing, “Yu Huang, the Yanluo Clan’s six array master earth sages, one talisman master earth sage, and over a hundred Great Sage array and talisman masters have appeared above our home star.”
“They’ve come! Six earth sages—terrifying.”
Yu Huang felt panic but controlled her emotions, remaining composed. Even six earth sages couldn’t break her array in one day.
Another Nine-Step Saint King burst in, reporting frantically, “The Bone Clan’s fifty-two Great Sage array masters are outside, protected by three Hundred-Shackle Realm peak Great Sages.”
Yu Huang asked, “Have Yan Huang Tu or Pink Skeleton appeared?”
The Saint King shook his head.
“Disaster! Hundreds of Bone Clan Great Sages have appeared above our home star,” another cultivator reported.
*Boom!*
A deafening shockwave erupted above, shaking the entire star.
In the starry sky, asteroids and massive cosmic rocks bombarded the blood-red home star, blocked by the array’s light membrane, bursting into dazzling flames.
The star seemed ablaze.
Meteors streaked across the sky, collisions unending.
The cultivators saw the sky ripple densely, the noise deafening, making even their cultivation feel like doomsday.
If the protective array fell, how could they resist the Yanluo and Bone Clans?
“Where’s Cousin Ruochen? Without him, how do we face such enemies?” Xue Ning Xiao bit her lip, eager to enter the core.
Other cultivators worried, “Why hasn’t Dao Yu Huang brought the army back?”
“It’s the last day. Even without Zhang Ruochen or the army, we must defend to the death.”
“Yan Huang Tu and Pink Skeleton haven’t appeared. If they use Supreme Sacred Artifacts, our array may not hold for a day.”
…
Blood Demon strolled into the city lord’s mansion.
While the Immortal Blood Clan was in panic, he was calm and at ease—not feigned like Yu Huang’s, but genuinely fearless.
Yu Huang was about to leave to lead the attack array and counterattack.
Blood Demon stopped her, saying, “Xue Qi hasn’t returned.”
A bizarre statement!
Yu Huang, anxious, had no time for nonsense and tried to bypass him.
Blood Demon blocked her again, “Xue Qi is a leader of the intelligence team, holding the coordinates of our star’s teleportation array. He hasn’t returned—don’t you see the problem?”
Yu Huang’s heart tightened, sensing danger, but shook her head, “Impossible. Xue Qi wouldn’t betray us.”
“Of course not, but someone could steal his memories. If I’m right, Xue Qi is either dead or expelled from the battlefield,” Blood Demon said.
Yu Huang shouted, “Xue Ning Xiao, destroy the teleportation array now.”
Outside, Xue Ning Xiao froze.
Destroy it?
How would Dao Yu Huang and the army return?
Blood Demon chuckled, “Girl, don’t listen. Destroying the array is a last resort. If Yan Huang Tu’s teleportation fails, he’ll attack the array from outside. How long can your array hold against seven earth sages and two Supreme Sacred Artifacts?”
Yu Huang asked, “What do you suggest?”
“First, move the teleportation array up there.”
Blood Demon pointed to the sky.
Yu Huang’s eyes lit up, “You mean place it within our attack array?”
“Haha, no wonder Zhang Ruochen values you—not just for your looks, but you’re not too dim. Yes, put the array in the attack array. When Yan Huang Tu arrives, activate it and hit them hard,” Blood Demon said.
Yu Huang replied, “But that would destroy the teleportation array!”
“No matter. There’s another on the star, known only to me and Zhang Ruochen. Well, and the Saint Devourer Flower with Dao Yu Huang.”
Blood Demon added, “If the first step doesn’t cripple the Yanluo and Bone Clans, we move to the second step.”
“What’s the second step?” Yu Huang asked.
Blood Demon pointed downward, “The strongest defense and most fearsome attack of our home star were never in the sky, but underground.”
