Yan Yu flew out from the nebula, unfurling the Dark Heaven Secret Umbrella like a vast black curtain that spread out to shield Zhang Ruochen.
Boom!
The seven-coloured divine arrow collided with the umbrella, producing a powerful ripple of divine light.
Yan Yu was hurled back more than thirty li. He steadied himself in the void. Yanluo qi and rule divine patterns surged beneath his feet, forming his divine realm world and protecting Zhang Ruochen within it.
“Ruochen, devote yourself entirely to controlling the divine corpse. Leave the rest to me!” Yan Yu declared.
“Young Yanluo brat, you overestimate yourself!”
Yan Shen raised both arms skyward. His divine body grew steadily larger, becoming even more colossal than a mountain range.
His entire form glowed crimson, as though molten lava flowed within him.
Roar!
With Yan Shen’s roar, three utterly distinct divine flames burst from his body and transformed into three torrents of fire that slammed into the Dark Heaven Secret Umbrella.
Purifying Extinction Divine Flame!
Annihilation Heavenly Flame!
Obliteration Stellar Flame!
All three flames burned at unimaginable temperatures. They dispersed the darkness and set the umbrella ablaze.
The divine fire spread into Yan Yu’s divine realm world and surged towards Zhang Ruochen.
“Wind Sweeps Ten Thousand Li.”
Yan Yu silently intoned the words. Within his divine realm world, fierce winds arose. A gigantic tornado hundreds of li in diameter condensed and dragged all the divine fire inside.
Zhang Ruochen sensed something and glanced sideways.
The elf god Kailan Feili had bypassed the umbrella, appearing behind them. He drew his bowstring once more.
All the spiritual qi of the universe gathered towards the arrow. Even space itself contracted, compressed to its limit.
“Not good!”
Yan Yu detected the danger. His expression changed.
Yet with his cultivation, facing Yan Shen he could only hold his own. In this moment of extreme peril, he simply could not spare any effort to deal with Kailan Feili.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze remained calm. A streak of cyan radiance flew from his body.
Within that cyan light was wrapped a bronze coffin.
Hiss! Hiss!
From the coffin flew a cloud of insects that condensed in mid-air into a circular shield.
The seven-coloured divine arrow arrived and struck the shield formed by the God-Devouring Insects, only to be halted.
The shield dispersed, splitting into two streams that became countless black specks. One stream rushed towards Kailan Feili, the other towards Yan Shen.
“This is… God-Devouring Insects… How can they be so strong? They actually formed an insect shield and blocked my full-power arrow!”
Light wings condensed on Kailan Feili’s back. He fled at top speed, not daring to let the insects approach.
On the other side, the God-Devouring Insects displayed terrifying defensive power. Even the divine flames released by Yan Shen could not stop them.
Yan Shen gave a cold snort. Dense rule divine patterns appeared on his thick right arm. He unleashed a Heaven-Mending level divine ability.
One punch!
Divine fire exceeding ten million degrees in temperature erupted together with his fist force, striking the insect cloud.
The insect cloud rapidly condensed into the shape of a palm print, brilliant and dazzling. It collided head-on with Yan Shen’s punch.
Yan Yu, still holding the umbrella, had assumed that once the cloud split in two its power would greatly diminish. Yan Shen’s single punch would scatter it and kill countless insects.
Yet what he witnessed left him dumbfounded.
The palm print formed by the insect cloud shattered Yan Shen’s full-strength punch with overwhelming force. Then the palm print pressed back and landed squarely on Yan Shen’s body.
“Ah… No…”
Yan Shen was flung backwards, screaming in agony.
God-Devouring Insects swarmed over his entire body, producing crunching sounds as they devoured him.
Yan Yu withdrew the umbrella. His face was filled with disbelief. Yan Shen was considered strong among middle gods, yet he had been defeated by a swarm of God-Devouring Insects.
Just how powerful had these insects become?
Elsewhere, Lan Jun was utterly suppressed by Yulong Xian. He had no strength to fight back and could only rely on superior speed to dodge.
“Two useless fools.”
Lan Jun had placed his hopes on Yan Shen and Kailan Feili, never expecting them to be so incompetent that they could not even handle a swarm of insects.
Suddenly an immense sense of crisis struck. Out of the corner of his eye, Lan Jun glanced towards the nebula.
Swish!
A flaming white-bone spear flew out from the nebula at an inconceivable speed.
Before Lan Jun could even draw his sword to parry, the spear had already pierced his protective divine barrier and transfixed him from back to front.
Blood sprayed.
Though Lan Jun avoided a fatal blow, a bloody hole still appeared near his left shoulder. Death qi invaded his body through the wound.
Hai Shang Minggong appeared out of thin air, seized the spear, and shouted coldly, “Lan Jun, today I claim your life!”
Those words alone shook the soul with every syllable.
Hai Shang Minggong’s renown was overwhelming. The roar, infused with spiritual force attack, nearly frightened Lan Jun out of his wits. He immediately burned divine blood and lifespan, burst forth with extreme speed, and fled through the void.
Yan Shen, Jia Linnán, and Kailan Feili all burned with anger at the sight.
Yet they were helpless. If it were them facing such a terrifying existence as Hai Shang Minggong, they would probably flee even faster than Lan Jun.
Hai Shang Minggong did not pursue. He knew he could not catch up unless he too burned divine blood and lifespan.
But it was not worth it.
Even if he caught up, with Lan Jun’s peak upper-god cultivation, the final outcome would surely be Lan Jun detonating his divine source and perishing together with him.
Hai Shang Minggong turned his gaze towards the divine array set by the gods of the Twelve Mansions of the Divine Maiden. Spear in hand, he charged into the formation and thrust straight at Mo Yu.
Mo Yu, an upper god of mid-stage cultivation, was trapped with nowhere to escape. He could only burn divine blood and lifespan to forcibly raise his power and unleash his strongest divine ability.
“Profound Ice Ten-Thousand Pagodas!”
He struck with his palm. Vast freezing qi poured from it.
The qi condensed into ice crystals that spiralled layer upon layer like ten thousand ice pagodas, meeting the flaming white-bone spear.
This ability was of the Tai Zhen level, Mo Yu’s ultimate trump card.
With it, Mo Yu could force Gu Ya, another mid-stage upper god, to flee.
“Break!”
Bang! Bang!
The flaming white-bone spear advanced irresistibly, piercing through the ten-thousand pagodas. Its tip stabbed into Mo Yu’s chest, lifting his divine body into the air. As he flew upward, Hai Shang Minggong exerted force with his arm and divine power surged forth.
Pfft!
Mo Yu’s divine body shattered into four pieces.
Blood rained down from above like flower petals, drenching Hai Shang Minggong.
This was invincible momentum. Even an upper god was skewered with a single thrust!
The four manor lords of the Twelve Mansions exchanged stunned glances. Even combining their strength through the divine array, they had been unable to wound Mo Yu.
Yet before Hai Shang Minggong, Mo Yu could not withstand a single spear thrust.
Hai Shang Minggong reached out and seized from afar the divine diagram suppressing Gu Ya. Divine flames rose from his five fingers and refined the diagram.
The diagram unfurled. Gu Ya spread his wings and flew out.
Seeing Hai Shang Minggong, Gu Ya assumed human form, bowed, and said, “Greetings, Lord Hai Shang. Many thanks for your rescue.”
“The ones you should thank are them. Had the gods of the Twelve Mansions not intercepted, you would by now have been taken to Heaven and become a sacrifice for Heaven’s armies,” Hai Shang Minggong replied.
Gu Ya looked towards Bai Qing’er at the centre of the array from afar and gave a slight nod.
A god only salutes the strong.
The gods of the Twelve Mansions were all too weak!
Mo Yu recombined his divine body, now greatly weakened. He looked at Hai Shang Minggong and Gu Ya opposite him, then at the array inscriptions surrounding him. Despair rose in his heart.
Escaping today was now harder than ascending to heaven.
Since that was so, he could only fight to the death. If detonating his divine source could kill Hai Shang Minggong, a Hell god of immense potential, it would still count as a contribution to all beings of Heaven.
Rip!
The divine array was torn apart by an extremely powerful force. The sky seemed to split open, forming a path of light.
The four gods of the Twelve Mansions cried out miserably and were flung backwards.
Even Bai Qing’er instantly rushed into the Earth Demon Sparrow to avoid the array-breaking power.
With a mere wave of his hand, Shang Hong shattered the divine array and appeared beside Mo Yu. His sharp gaze fixed on Hai Shang Minggong and Gu Ya. “Let us go! Today’s effort has failed. We shall settle matters another day on the starry battlefield.”
Gratitude showed on Mo Yu’s face. Together with Shang Hong, he soared away through the void.
Rivers of divine qi light flowed from Shang Hong’s body, wrapping around Jia Linnán, Yan Shen, and Kailan Feili, intending to pull them into his divine realm world and take them with him.
Hai Shang Minggong thrust his spear across the distance. It pierced space and struck Kailan Feili from a hundred thousand li away, exploding his divine body into bloody mist.
Yet he failed to kill Kailan Feili. The god’s body reformed and fell into Shang Hong’s divine realm world.
Yan Shen’s scream rang out. Yulong Xian had smashed the divine qi light river binding him with a single staff strike, leaving him behind.
Shang Hong did not pause for Yan Shen. He continued soaring away and vanished into the universe in the blink of an eye.
God-Devouring Insects crawled all over Yan Shen. He looked around and saw only gods of Hell. Despair filled him.
Zhang Ruochen flew over and hovered in the starry sky. “Any last words?”
Yan Shen’s gaze was fierce. “Zhang Ruochen, both you and the Twelve Mansions of the Divine Maiden will pay a terrible price. The Shang Clan and Heaven will never forgive you.”
With those words, Yan Shen circulated his divine qi and charged towards his divine source.
But the God-Devouring Insects covering his body released a strange spiritual force. Pain stabbed through his divine soul. His mind fell into chaos. The gathered divine qi dispersed. He could not detonate his divine source.
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head, took out the bronze coffin, and sealed Yan Shen together with the insects inside.
“Zhang Ruochen, kill me now! Otherwise, when this god escapes, you will be the one to die. This god will capture every one of your family and friends, extract their souls, and refine their blood… Ah… Kill me now…”
Yan Shen’s voice, utterly wretched, echoed from within the bronze coffin.
Yan Yu, Xue Tu, Gu Ya, and the four manor lords of the Twelve Mansions all looked at the cold and merciless Zhang Ruochen with wary expressions.
After today’s battle, the methods Zhang Ruochen had revealed left even Hai Shang Minggong astonished. He thought to himself, “Even crippling his martial cultivation cannot stop the rise of a peerless genius. In just a few short decades, the divine realm of the Immortal Vampires has gained another powerhouse!”
Xue Tu felt sour inside. “His cultivation was clearly destroyed, yet he has become even stronger. Why is the gap between people so huge?”
The nebula shuddered. Powerful divine force fluctuations erupted.
Mi Lianshan’s roar shook the starry sky. “Shang Hong, where are you running? I have not had enough fun yet!”
