In the black divine temple hovering above the Seven Peaks Chain Mountains, God Venerable Wubian’s pair of bone-green divine eyes emerged from the thick black fog. One blazed like a fierce sun, the other curved like a crescent moon. They fixed on the Ice Emperor standing in the hall.
The interior of the temple was coated in thick ice, resembling an ice cavern.
The Ice Emperor stood with extraordinary poise inside a vortex of stars, as though he were in a spacetime billions of miles away. Yet to him, that vast distance felt as close as the space directly before him.
He appeared refined and graceful, but his presence was truly overpowering, as if he could prop up heaven and earth with one hand or shatter entire star rivers with a single stomp.
“This Venerable truly did not expect that you, Xia Huangchao, would come to the Royal City of the Hundred Clans. A hundred thousand years ago, you released Ji Wang and lost the position of Lord of the Undying God Temple that should have been yours. A hundred thousand years later, you once again stand in opposition to Hell Realm. Do you believe the heavens will tolerate you this time?” God Venerable Wubian’s voice was deep and resonant, his imposing aura no less than the Ice Emperor’s.
The Ice Emperor replied, “Stand in opposition to Hell Realm? No. This Emperor merely wishes to settle a personal grudge with you from a hundred thousand years ago.”
“If your Xia Huangchao had remained hidden on Ice King Star and never emerged, no one would have pursued the events of that year. But to leave Ice King Star at this precise moment and appear here, do you truly think the words ‘personal grudge’ can conceal everything?”
God Venerable Wubian laughed, then continued, “All along, this Venerable has indeed regarded you as a threat and wished to eliminate you, yet I could never find the opportunity.”
“If you came to Ice King Star, this Emperor would certainly give you that opportunity. But in a hundred thousand years, why have you never dared to come?” the Ice Emperor said calmly.
God Venerable Wubian replied, “This Venerable has always been waiting for you to leave Ice King Star.”
“Wubian, how could the actions of your Dark Temple escape this Emperor’s notice? If you were truly only targeting the Royal City of the Hundred Clans, Xing Huan Tian, and the Nishen Clan, this Emperor would not have appeared here. But you deliberately provoked internal strife within the Undying Blood Clan, intending to remove their future clan leader. How could this Emperor stand by and watch?”
The Ice Emperor’s voice gradually turned colder. He took three steps forward.
How could God Venerable Wubian not be equally furious about this matter?
From the very beginning, he had never intended to touch the Blood Jue War God, fully aware of the immense forces behind him.
Dealing with the Royal City of the Hundred Clans, Xing Huan Tian, and Xing Tian Ya was already extremely taxing and required full commitment. Moreover, digesting the benefits after the fall of these three forces would not be easy.
Drawing in the Blood Jue War God would inevitably arouse dissatisfaction among many powerhouses of the lower three clans, achieving the opposite effect.
Yet he had not expected things to spiral out of control from the start. Under the deliberate instigation of divine spirits like Pu Chuanqi and the Ghost Lord, who bore enmity toward the Blood Jue War God, those within the Undying Blood Clan coveting the clan leader position believed their moment had come and acted one after another.
The situation that ultimately formed even drew out numerous old monsters from the lower three clans, who rebuked the Dark Temple for overreaching.
Especially the Undying Blood Clan. The clan leader and three veteran war gods personally visited the Dark Temple to question the Nine-Death Heterodox Emperor: “Have all the elders of the Undying Blood Clan died out, requiring your Dark Temple to help select our clan leader?”
If the situation had not spiralled out of control, with the Dark Temple restrained by the forces behind the Blood Jue War God, how could such a momentous event, capable of altering the cosmic landscape, have only God Venerable Wubian present in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans?
This was also why, after the fall of the Human Skin Lantern and Shidi, God Venerable Wubian had not immediately struck against the Yaksha Clan. To some extent, he was outwardly strong but inwardly weak, a lone palm unable to clap.
“Why is it so quiet outside?”
God Venerable Wubian murmured to himself. In his left eye, a vigorous surge of solar divine power blasted toward the Ice Emperor. Instantly, torrents of crimson force filled the interior of the temple.
The Ice Emperor remained standing within the starry vortex, but dense symbolic inscriptions appeared around its periphery, blocking the solar divine power.
Identical inscriptions emerged on the four walls of the temple.
“The Heaven-Sealing Divine Sense Inscription Array!”
God Venerable Wubian flew into a rage. He rose from his divine throne. Dark divine qi surged forth. A massive fist imprint smashed out, striking heavily against the starry vortex.
The Ice Emperor gently reached out, catching the fist in his grasp and revealing a faint smile.
“You are not the Ice Emperor. Who are you truly? Jiutian?” Behind God Venerable Wubian, an ever-expanding black hole appeared, rotating fiercely like a millstone, continuously grinding away the temple’s inscriptions.
The inscription array within the temple had appeared silently, severing God Venerable Wubian’s perception of the outside world.
Apart from someone with ninetieth-order spiritual power, who could achieve this?
The Ice Emperor threw his head back and laughed. His body became wrinkled and shrivelled, his hair dishevelled. In a hoarse voice he said, “Little Wubian, since you so desperately wish to cross swords with the Ice Emperor, how could this old man refuse to oblige you? Come, let us go to Ice King Star.”
…
The moment the Ghost Lord appeared, he unleashed an Immeasurable-level divine technique. Ghostly qi and inscriptions condensed into numerous colossal ghostly deities, each a hundred zhang tall, with nine heads and clad in divine armour. They attacked Zhang Ruochen in overwhelming numbers.
The Ghost Lord knew full well that over a hundred divine spirits were already activating the Starry Cage Grand Array. The temple blocking the array’s gap would not hold for long.
He had to breach the Guan Yun Array Tower at the fastest possible speed.
Zhang Ruochen felt no fear. He took out a fist-sized divine temple and held it in his hand.
With a flash, a graceful figure descended from the sky and landed beside him. In her left hand she held the Yaksha Ancestral Temple, activating an ancient divine array within it that clashed directly with the Ghost Lord’s Immeasurable-level technique.
Boom!
The colossal ghostly deities collided with the ancient divine array, exploding one after another into yin soul black mist.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Yuling God. Her profile was exquisitely beautiful, her skin as fine and smooth as jade.
Being a pretty boy toy did not seem such a bad idea. It could save a lot of effort.
The thought flashed and vanished, for Zhang Ruochen knew that Yuling God was fighting so fiercely not because of his face, but because of Sword Realm.
The Ghost Lord fumed. “Yuling God, you dare to block this seat?”
With the Yaksha Ancestral Temple in hand, how could Yuling God fear the Ghost Lord? She replied, “This god dares even to slaughter the Dark Temple. What does a mere Ghost Lord like you amount to?”
“Good. Let us see how the Yaksha Clan perishes!”
The Ghost Lord trembled with rage and looked toward Ting Yunsheng.
Yet Ting Yunsheng gazed up at God Venerable Wubian’s black divine temple, a sense of foreboding rising within him.
The city below was already in such chaos. Why had the lord of the Dark Temple not yet acted?
A flicker of doubt passed through the Ghost Lord’s eyes, but he did not believe anything had gone wrong.
In all the world, there were certainly those capable of defeating the lord of the Dark Temple.
But was there truly anyone who could silently trap and kill him?
The Ghost Lord cupped his fists toward the sky. “I beseech the Lord of the Temple to act and execute the rebels.”
From within the black divine temple came God Venerable Wubian’s vast divine voice. “Mere two insignificant great gods. You, Ghost Lord, are more than sufficient to deal with them. Victory in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans is already assured. This Venerable shall now proceed to Ice King Star to slay a formidable foe.”
Before the words finished, the majestic black divine temple soared upward, burst out of the Royal City of the Hundred Clans, and sped toward Ice King Star.
Victory already assured?
The Ghost Lord, Ting Yunsheng, the Lord of Xuemu Hall, Qingyun Tai, and the ? Emperor who had reformed his bony frame all stared in stunned silence at the departing black divine temple.
God Venerable Wubian had simply left?
To go to Ice King Star and kill the Ice Emperor?
The cultivators of the Dark Temple, Disha Ghost City, Qinglu Divine Temple, Hall of Longevity, and other forces in the city were utterly bewildered, completely unable to fathom the deeper meaning behind the actions of the lord of the Dark Temple.
There must be profound intent.
If they could not discern it, it only proved their cultivation was still too low.
Zhang Ruochen vaguely formed a guess and smiled. He then turned to Yuling God, who still seemed somewhat dazed. “Subdue the Ghost Lord. Otherwise, this fiend will surely seek revenge against the Yaksha Clan. Only by suppressing and imprisoning him in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans can we negotiate with Disha Ghost City and the Ghost Clan.”
With the Yaksha Ancestral Temple in hand and the Royal City of the Hundred Clans as her territory, Yuling God was quite confident in suppressing the Ghost Lord.
The Ghost Lord’s expression shifted slightly. He realised something major had gone wrong. He could no longer remain in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans.
At that very moment, a brilliant light like the explosion of a constant star appeared in the starry sky. The cosmic winds formed by the residual divine power rippled from the starry battlefield all the way to the Royal City of the Hundred Clans.
All the gods in the city halted and looked toward the void beyond.
Though Zhang Ruochen had anticipated it, his heart still jolted fiercely. He knew something terrible must have occurred deep in the starry expanse.
“Ghost God Venerable’s divine throne star has gone dark!” Someone let out a trembling cry.
Boom!
Both the Ghost Lord and Ting Yunsheng paled dramatically. They exchanged a glance, then transformed into two streaks of divine light and fled straight into the void.
“No need to pursue! If the Ghost Lord wishes to fight, you could certainly hold him. But if he wishes to escape, few below the Immeasurable Realm can stop him. Right now, you have more important matters to attend to,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Yuling God naturally understood what was most urgent at present. Her extraordinarily lively star-like eyes narrowed. With a voice sweet as honey, she smiled. “Now you can tell Yuling the location of Sword Realm, can you not, Realm Venerable Ruochen?”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “First, have the divine spirits of the Yaksha Clan gather the thirty-seven great worlds into their divine realm worlds. Also, I prefer your aloof and unapproachable demeanour. An ancient god should carry some gravitas.”
Yuling God gave a cold snort. Space trembled, and she vanished from Zhang Ruochen’s side.
Clearly, the Yaksha Clan would soon face bloody retaliation. Victory in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans did not mean the war was over.
In truth, the war in this star domain encompassing the hundred clans had only just begun.
The Yaksha Clan might not possess thirty-seven true gods with divine realm worlds, but with Yuling God’s current influence in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans, mobilising a hundred true gods possessing divine realm worlds would be entirely feasible.
The Starry Cage Grand Array fully activated. Over a thousand divine throne stars encircled the Royal City of the Hundred Clans on all sides, forming an impregnable array star domain.
Regarding the crisis facing the Yaksha Clan, the Fire Ghost Clan, and others, when they had resolved to confront the Dark Temple head-on, they must already have had countermeasures prepared.
Yet Zhang Ruochen now had to consider the monstrous waves that would follow the fall of Ghost God Venerable.
The Heavenly Court taking action had been within his expectations.
But the fall of a God Venerable carried entirely different significance. It could even trigger an ultra-large-scale divine war, accelerating the outbreak of full-scale conflict between Heavenly Court and Hell.
After a long while, Zhang Ruochen let out a deep sigh. “This move truly reveals one’s calibre! Everyone will assume that the reason I dared to slaughter freely in the Royal City of the Hundred Clans is because Senior Jiutian and the Star Sea Angler reached some secret agreement with the Heavenly Court.”
“Next, Hell Realm’s war faction will surely seize this opportunity to unite in shared enmity, consolidate their forces, and direct their spearhead toward Xing Tian Ya, Xing Huan Tian, and the Royal City of the Hundred Clans. At that point, the three forces will have only one path to survival: throw in their lot with the Heavenly Court.”
“However… this may also be an opportunity!”
Zhang Ruochen thought of a strategy, but to realise it, a figure of sufficient weight in Hell Realm would need to step forward.
It seemed he must immediately head to the Temple of Destiny.
