At the critical moment between life and death, Bai Qing’er’s full attention was fixed on the rotting divine hand and the grey abyss deep below. She did not notice that the corpse on the ground had already begun to change.
Whoosh!
She turned into a streak of light, flew out from the mouth of the Earth Demon Sparrow, and landed on its back.
Her slender and graceful figure stood tall and straight like a pine.
Even in such desperate circumstances, not a trace of fear appeared in her cold, sharp eyes.
Bai Qing’er pressed down with the five fingers of her left hand. Immediately, the clanging clash of metal rang out around her. The sixty-five bronze bells whirled into motion, flew forth, and smashed into the thumb of the rotting divine hand.
Only by breaking the restraint of the rotting divine hand and avoiding being dragged underground did they have any chance of survival today.
Bang! Bang!
A series of collision sounds exploded, each one deafening, like peals of startling thunder.
This set of bronze bells was no ordinary treasure. Driven by Bai Qing’er’s full power, brilliant divine light burst from the bells. Every ring of sound waves tore the surrounding space to fragments.
Yet the spatial rules here were strange.
The moment space shattered, it instantly repaired itself.
Even stranger, despite the attacks from the bronze bells, the rotting divine hand remained completely unharmed. One must realise that even a great god, if standing still and enduring attacks of this intensity, would certainly suffer severe damage to their divine body.
Bai Qing’er’s expression finally grew grave and tense.
From the depths of the abyss came a hoarse voice: “Thousand Stars Linked… kill…”
The power erupting from the rotting divine hand suddenly increased dramatically. The Earth Demon Sparrow and Bai Qing’er plummeted like stones from a cliff, straight down into the abyss.
The surrounding death qi grew denser, forming a pressure of wind force that compressed the demonic clouds released by the Earth Demon Sparrow.
Bai Qing’er, standing on the sparrow’s back, bore even greater pressure, as though ten million stars were crushing down on her. She immediately mobilised the origin rules of heaven and earth.
“Origin Flower, bloom.”
With her at the centre, a flawless white nine-petalled wonder flower blossomed open, slightly forcing apart the five fingers of the rotting divine hand.
But that was all she could achieve.
She could not stop herself and the Earth Demon Sparrow from falling deeper underground.
Clank! Clank!
The sound of iron chains from below grew clearer, accompanied by waves of roars that were neither human nor beast, making one’s hair stand on end.
“It seems the legend is true. The one imprisoned beneath the ground really is him. But how many years has it been? How can that be possible?”
Bai Qing’er protected herself with the sixty-five bronze bells, struggling to hold on while her mind raced, seeking a way to break the deadlock.
At the edge of the Pivot Pool.
Vital life qi dispersed from Zhang Ruochen’s body, drifting in all directions and soon filling the entire inner space of the Earth Demon Sparrow.
Tender shoots sprouted from the stone floor, turning into green seedlings that grew branches and leaves, blooming into fragrant flowers of every kind. Colourful floating grasses appeared in the air.
Green vines spread along the ground, growing all the way outside the body of the Earth Demon Sparrow.
Bai Qing’er, who was sustaining the Origin Divine Flower, saw the grass and flowers sprouting beneath her feet and finally sensed the powerful surge of life qi inside the Earth Demon Sparrow.
“It is him… it really is him…”
For the first time, shock appeared in her ever-calm eyes, together with a flash of joy.
This was too unbelievable!
She had carefully examined Zhang Ruochen earlier. He had clearly died, his flame of life extinguished. How could such abundant life qi now pour from a corpse?
Something even more incomprehensible happened.
The Earth Demon Sparrow opened its mouth and swallowed the origin rules of heaven and earth. Moments later, countless divine patterns emerged across its body. Each pattern resembled a white river of origin, dense and innumerable.
The power bursting from the Earth Demon Sparrow continued to rise, even surpassing what it could achieve when Bai Qing’er controlled it with all her strength.
One must understand that the Earth Demon Sparrow was a divine artefact. The stronger the controller’s spiritual power, the greater the might it could unleash. When operated only by the artefact spirit, its battle strength was merely at the level of a false god.
Zhang Ruochen stood in the Pivot Pool, young and handsome, his long black hair loose, hands raised in empty support. Powerful spiritual force turned into hundreds of millions of light rays that flew out through the pivot, activating array after array inside the Earth Demon Sparrow.
The stone body of the Earth Demon Sparrow rapidly grew enormous, so large that even the five fingers of the rotting divine hand could no longer suppress it.
At that very moment.
Bai Qing’er released an ocean of divine qi, pouring it all into the sixty-five bronze bells.
The bells formed a circular array, vibrating as they spiralled upward and crashed into the five fingers of the rotting divine hand.
The five fingers were slowly forced open.
Whoosh!
The Earth Demon Sparrow turned into a beam of sinister demonic light and shot out through the gap between the fingers, streaking straight towards the surface.
Bai Qing’er stood on the sparrow’s back. As the pressure lightened, petals of gorgeous, fragrant flowers rose from the vibrant sea of blossoms beneath her feet, becoming a rain of colourful petals that scattered into the grey abyss of death qi.
She recalled the bronze bells, stood with hands clasped behind her back, and looked up at the sunlight above. A breathtakingly beautiful smile appeared on her crystal-clear face.
The Earth Demon Sparrow flew out of the abyss.
On the surface, the ground fissure that stretched for a thousand li slowly closed, pressing back the rotting divine hand that had tried to reach out once more.
From underground came a shrill howl.
The earth shook violently.
As the sun set and night fell, this expanse of reddish-yellow land gradually grew calm. Yet it seemed somehow different from before.
Zhang Ruochen flew out from inside the Earth Demon Sparrow and immediately saw Bai Qing’er standing on the red desert.
Her long skirt fluttered in the wind, her brows like willows in misty waves, her red lips gleaming like jewels, her figure as radiant as the bright moon in the sky, beautiful beyond compare.
They gazed at each other for a moment and smiled at the same time.
The danger just now had been extreme. Had Zhang Ruochen not awakened in time, taken control of the Earth Demon Sparrow, and joined forces with Bai Qing’er to break free from the rotting divine hand, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The Earth Demon Sparrow had already shrunk and was now only the size of an ostrich.
Bai Qing’er had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but after surviving such a calamity and seeing Zhang Ruochen now full of vigour and vitality, her mood was one of utmost delight.
She did not wish to spoil the atmosphere at that moment.
“Oh no, my ox!”
Zhang Ruochen gave a low cry. From his sleeve he took out the old yellow ox, now the size of a mung bean, and was relieved to find it still alive.
Yet the moment the old yellow ox stood beside Zhang Ruochen and stared at her with its huge bovine eyes, the atmosphere was completely ruined.
Bai Qing’er was about to speak and voice her questions.
But Zhang Ruochen spoke first. “This place is too dangerous. We must leave at once.”
“I’m afraid we cannot leave for now,” Bai Qing’er said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Why not?”
“This reddish-yellow land is very strange. It is easy to enter by day, but extremely dangerous, for the divine corpses underground will come to life. Night is safer, yet…” Bai Qing’er said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Yet what?”
“No one has ever reached the divine temple at night, that is, the place where we now stand.” Bai Qing’er turned and pointed to the great gate of the temple behind them.
“Why is that?”
“Because once night falls, the space of this reddish-yellow land becomes active and divine patterns fully manifest. Even the current City Lord of the First Divine Maiden City cannot cross the reddish-yellow land to reach the temple.”
Bai Qing’er did not call her mother, but instead referred to her as the City Lord, and did so quite naturally.
Zhang Ruochen looked towards the outer sky, stretched out a hand, and released his spiritual power.
Boom!
His spiritual power spread more than ten thousand li before touching a divine pattern. Instantly, a bolt of thunderous divine light tore through the night, connecting sky to earth.
Powerful energy fluctuations turned into waves of air that surged from ten thousand li away.
Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew his spiritual power and said, “It really has changed. The entire Yuhong Mountain Range is not even ten thousand li long. Just how vast has this reddish-yellow desert become?”
“That, only Master Fangcun would know!” Bai Qing’er said.
Zhang Ruochen stared at her. “You mean the spatial arrays and various spatial arrangements here are all the work of Master Fangcun?”
Zhang Ruochen was naturally familiar with Master Fangcun, for he was the chief disciple of Saint Monk Xumi.
“A hundred thousand years ago, before the full-scale war between the Hell Realm and Heaven Court broke out, the previous City Lord of the First Divine Maiden City, Jade Dragon Immortal, invited Master Fangcun to Xinghuan Heaven, intending to enter the Yuchen Divine Temple.”
“Both of them were peerless experts of unparalleled cultivation, yet they remained in the Yuhong Mountain Range for nearly a hundred years making preparations, laying down numerous spatial arrays and divine patterns.”
“In the end, Jade Dragon Immortal still fell inside the Yuchen Divine Temple, and only Master Fangcun escaped gravely wounded.”
“Master Fangcun told the Twelve Divine Maiden Pavilions that Jade Dragon Immortal had perished and strictly warned us never to set foot in this place.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Since Master Fangcun gave such a strict warning, why did you lure me here? And why did you yourself enter? I do not believe the Twelve Divine Maiden Pavilions were unaware of the dangers during the day.”
