In the Netherworld Kingdom, Wu Jiang’s figure divided into countless parts, thousands upon tens of thousands, innumerable.
Each figure was an avatar of divine sense.
All the Wu Jiangs spoke simultaneously, their voices converging together: “The Buddha’s sarira, the Equality of All Beings, is indeed remarkable. However, how could the means of a true god be comprehended by a mere Saint Realm cultivator?”
“To deal with you, I have come with one hundred thousand divine senses. Each divine sense is an avatar.”
“The Equality of All Beings, does it not suppress one’s own cultivation to the level of a single one of my divine senses? Can one withstand ten thousand?”
Those voices rose and fell like echoes.
Back then, the Black Heart Demon Lord’s three thousand divine senses, when condensed into avatars, possessed the combat power of top-tier Great Saints. Although Wu Jiang’s cultivation could not compare to the Black Heart Demon Lord who had passed the Yuanhui Tribulation, releasing one hundred thousand divine senses at once and condensing them into avatars was indeed extraordinary.
Zhang Ruochen showed no sign of panic and said, “I see, it is not merely one hundred thousand divine senses so simple, is it? Wu Jiang, I never expected that you could cultivate so many divine senses in such a short time. But I can only regretfully tell you that these divine senses of yours have come at precisely the right moment; I have great use for them.”
The God-Devouring Insects had consumed a large number of divine corpses and had reached the critical moment for advancing to the third generation.
The greatest ability of third-generation God-Devouring Insects was their mental power and divine soul attack methods.
If Wu Jiang’s one hundred thousand divine senses could be retained and fed to the God-Devouring Insects, the insects would have a high chance of fully evolving into the third generation.
Yan Wushen burst out from the ice layer and returned to the stone temple, saying, “If we can destroy his one hundred thousand divine senses, his divine soul will surely suffer severe damage.”
“All Eras Return to One, Space-Time Separation.”
Zhang Ruochen put away the Buddha’s sarira, and all his Saint Path rules surged out from his body, condensing into the All Eras Return to One Domain, which enveloped the Netherworld Kingdom.
“Rumble.”
The deathly city pools in the Netherworld Kingdom collapsed one after another, and the Yan Luo Clan Supreme Realm great saints who had been suppressed beneath the cities broke free in succession. Each one harboured hatred for Wu Jiang to the bone and unleashed their saintly techniques, attacking Wu Jiang’s divine senses.
Wu Jiang’s one hundred thousand divine senses, if united, would naturally be invincible to anyone.
But at this moment, with the one hundred thousand divine senses scattered and attempting to recombine into one, they discovered that Zhang Ruochen’s All Eras Return to One Domain had divided this heaven and earth into numerous separate spaces.
The battle erupted.
How could the divine sense avatars separated by Zhang Ruochen possibly be a match for the dozens of Yan Luo Clan Supreme Realm great saints, each filled with seething hatred and fury?
“Slaughter Wu Jiang’s divine senses to avenge the fallen Yan Luo Clan cultivators.”
“Wu Jiang has gone too far in bullying us.”
…
Zhang Ruochen said, “Everyone, do not destroy Wu Jiang’s divine senses first; please help us collect them. I have great use for them.”
Amid the pitch-black Netherworld Kingdom rang out a thunderous divine sound: “To destroy this god’s divine senses, you lot are still not qualified.”
A beam of divine light burst out from the ice layer, its speed as swift as a meteor.
The divine light was unstoppable, continuously piercing through the spatial barriers of Zhang Ruochen’s domain. In an instant, it retrieved over ten thousand divine senses.
Zhang Ruochen focused his gaze and saw clearly that within the divine light was a finger.
On the finger, rule divine patterns coiled around, and the qi fluctuations were immensely powerful.
Zhang Ruochen said, “It is one of Wu Jiang’s true god fingers, containing surging vital blood and a vast number of rule divine patterns.”
Xue Tu scratched his scalp and said, “I never would have thought Wu Jiang was such a ruthless character, severing one of his own fingers. Using the finger as an avatar, once it retrieves all one hundred thousand divine senses, it will become extremely troublesome.”
“This is not ruthlessness at all; it is clearly greed, resorting to any means to seize the treasures on Zhang Ruochen’s body,” Yan Ting said.
After this incident, Yan Ting’s impression of Zhang Ruochen had improved considerably.
After all, Wu Jiang had suppressed the Yan Luo Clan great saints; their lives and deaths had nothing to do with Zhang Ruochen. Yet Zhang Ruochen was willing to take the initiative to rush out of the stone temple and rescue those Yan Luo Clan great saints.
This required taking a great risk!
From this, it seemed that although Zhang Ruochen was amorous and fickle, he was also affectionate and righteous, not the sort of treacherous scoundrel who would abandon allies at a critical moment.
“Boom!”
Yan Wushen charged into the All Eras Return to One Domain, a radiance of ten thousand zhang erupting from the top of his head. From within the radiance shot out a stone bridge, which collided with that true god finger and intercepted it.
The stone bridge was none other than the Naihe Bridge.
“Origin Dao Pagoda!”
Yan Wushen’s origin rules entered the divine, condensing a Origin Dao Pagoda of unknown millions of layers, emanating white divine light, which drew the true god finger into the pagoda.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
…
Within the pagoda, resounding explosions echoed continuously, and it shook violently.
“Suppress it for me!”
The Naihe Bridge spanned across heaven and earth, pressing down atop the Origin Dao Pagoda. The secret patterns on the bridge all lit up, cleaving the Netherworld Kingdom below into two shattered domain worlds.
The divine senses within the All Eras Return to One Domain were all collected and suppressed by the Yan Luo Clan Supreme Realm great saints.
Zhang Ruochen arrived beneath the Origin Dao Pagoda, glanced at Yan Wushen, and said, “Open the pagoda door; I will deal with it.”
“Senior Brother, stay calm. Although Wu Jiang is a new god, I see his combat power surpasses many mid-tier gods. Even just a single finger wields boundless might,” Xue Tu called out from afar.
“It is merely a true god finger; what is there to fear?”
Though Zhang Ruochen said this, he did not underestimate the true god finger. The Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror flew out on its own, hovering before him.
“Very well, the pagoda opens.”
Yan Wushen clearly trusted Zhang Ruochen absolutely.
The Origin Dao Pagoda dispersed, transforming into streams of origin rules and qi flows that surged back into Yan Wushen’s body.
“Zhang Ruochen, next time we meet, you will not be so lucky!” Wu Jiang cried out thus.
The true god finger turned into a beam of divine light and shot towards the ice layer above.
Evidently, Wu Jiang knew that with merely over ten thousand divine senses plus the true god finger, it was impossible to defeat Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen, so he could only withdraw in resentment.
“Seal!”
A mass of flames descended from above, enveloping the true god finger.
The flames condensed into armour plates, like a layer of armour.
It was the Fire God Armour!
Zhang Ruochen’s figure flashed, appearing above the Fire God Armour, and he stomped down with one foot, pressing the true god finger into the ground. Immediately after, Yan Wushen trod upon the Naihe Bridge and pressed down as well.
“Rumble!”
The true god’s divine body was enormous.
The true god finger fully manifested, six or seven hundred metres long, like a mountain peak toppled to the ground, with extremely dense divine qi.
Amid Wu Jiang’s agonised screams, Zhang Ruochen extracted every one of the divine senses from the true god finger and stored them into the mirror surface space of the Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror.
Within the true god finger, remnants of the soul still struggled, but they were no longer a threat.
Xue Tu rushed over first and said, “Senior Brother, leave the cleanup to me! I will refine this true god finger. My path of fire has entered the divine, and the Great Slaughter God Fire shakes the Heavenly Court and Infernal Realms. I guarantee no hidden dangers will remain.”
Zhang Ruochen was busy refining Wu Jiang’s divine senses to prepare for feeding the God-Devouring Insects, while Yan Wushen needed to check on the injuries of the Yan Luo Clan Supreme Realm great saints. Thus, neither wanted to waste time dealing with Wu Jiang’s true god finger.
And so, they tossed it to Xue Tu.
“Make sure to handle it thoroughly, or Wu Jiang’s true body might trace the residual aura of the true god finger and find us in the Abyss of Darkness,” Zhang Ruochen cautioned.
“Rest assured; when have I ever slipped up in my work?”
Xue Tu was thrilled beyond measure and had already taken out a treasure bestowed by the Death God Venerable to begin collecting the divine blood from the true god finger. With this treasure, he could obscure a true god’s perception.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at that gourd-shaped treasure and thought to himself, this fellow has quite a few hidden treasures on him!
Without spending much time, Zhang Ruochen refined each of Wu Jiang’s one hundred thousand divine senses one by one and tossed them into the copper coffin containing the God-Devouring Insects. Within the copper coffin, there were still unfinished divine corpses and the bodies of two flood dragon strange beasts that had not been fully devoured.
Being hunted in the Abyss of Darkness seemed perilous, yet Zhang Ruochen revelled in it, as it allowed him to gather vast amounts of divine food for the God-Devouring Insects.
Of course, the premise was to avoid encountering a true god at all costs.
The Yan Luo Clan had suffered heavy losses; mere days after entering the Abyss of Darkness, nine Supreme Realm great saints had already fallen.
Although they had entered the Abyss of Darkness with a resolve to face death generously, their emotions were still affected, and everyone felt deeply depressed.
No one knew if they could reach the destination of this journey, the “Great Nether Mountain”, or even make it to the rendezvous point with the true gods, the “Desolate Ancient Ruins City”.
Yan Ting found Yan Wushen, her eyes reddened, and said, “The Great Nether Mountain is illusory and ethereal; even in the ancient texts, there are only fragmentary mentions. Finding it will likely be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Moreover, the old clan leader may not even be at the Great Nether Mountain; he might already have…”
“What do you want to say?” Yan Wushen asked.
Yan Ting glanced towards Zhang Ruochen and Xue Tu in the distance and said, “Rather than seeking a place that may not even exist, why not first seize this powerful force right before our eyes?”
Yan Wushen’s gaze turned towards the stone temple.
Yan Ting said, “The Imprint Snow Heaven once possessed cultivation that overshadowed the Yellow Springs Star River; none among the ten clans could rival her. The Snowy Domain Star Ocean Divine Army she refined, though it has never truly appeared in the Infernal Realm and has no records of battle, we saw earlier just how terrifying those human cocoons are, and there are an immense number of them.”
“If we can awaken them and bend them to our will, with this divine army, our Yan Clan of the Abyss of Darkness need not fear mere self-preservation; we could even dominate a region of starry space, no longer dreading the Yan Clan of the Outer Heavens or the Dark Temple.”
“Over these years, were it not for the Temple of Destiny balancing the various powers in the Infernal Realm, and were it not for the possibility that our ancestor is still alive, our Yan Clan of the Abyss of Darkness would likely have been eradicated long ago.”
“But this facade of friendliness and closeness, with the outbreak of war between the Heavenly Court and the Infernal Realm, how much longer can it last? They will not wish for the clan leader to break through to the God Venerable level, nor for us to grow stronger.”
“This is an opportunity, perhaps our only one!”
Yan Ting’s words struck a chord in Yan Wushen’s heart, plunging him into deep contemplation.
…
On the other side, Hai Shui approached Zhang Ruochen and said, “We must leave as soon as possible. Since Wu Jiang’s avatar could find this place, the strange beasts will surely come here as well.”
“Moreover, I heard them say that one pseudo-god from the Dark Temple escaped, and it is an extremely powerful pseudo-god who might also come here. The mysterious powerhouse who killed the Dark Temple pseudo-god is also a potential threat.”
“The fluctuations from that earlier battle were intense and will surely draw nearby enemies.”
Zhang Ruochen revealed a surprised expression, clasped his hands together in Buddhist salute, and said, “Why is Little Master Hai Shui so eager to leave? With the heavenly patterns guarding the stone temple, is it not safer to stay here?”
“Exactly, my senior brother has the Buddha’s sarira; we can advance to attack or retreat to defend.”
Xue Tu had always felt that this little nun was rather demonic, not a good person, though he himself was hardly one either.
