Xu Liao dared not confront the old corpse ghost directly. He immediately deployed an escape technique and fled through a gap in the shattered space into the Void World. In future, he would find ways to exact revenge with interest.
In Hell Realm, though great gods could not be killed, their profound truths could be seized.
Without profound truths, a great god would hold no advantage in the same realm. It was more painful than crippling their arms and legs.
Profound truths were not useless to Zhang Ruochen. They could recruit divine spirits and bolster his forces.
“This divine corpse should interest the Corpse God Temple greatly. Why has no Immeasurable Realm divine spirit acted? Are they truly so fearful of Grandmother Tian and that old drunkard in Xing Huan Tian?”
The Ghost Lord alone sustained the Disha Bell, clashing with the old corpse ghost. Divine qi drained massively each moment, placing him under immense pressure.
As the old corpse ghost pressed closer, the Ghost Lord swiftly retreated with his divine temple, avoiding direct confrontation.
“Go!”
Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power depleted rapidly. He did not wish to entangle with the Ghost Lord. This old fellow was exceedingly cunning, always attacking across star domains with the Disha Bell while hiding his true body in the divine temple far away, aiming to exhaust him to death.
How could Zhang Ruochen be the impulsive, warlike type?
Upon reaching near the wormhole, Prajna and the five gods of the Lost Paradise piloted the Blood-Coloured Divine Centipede Vessel and departed first.
Zhang Ruochen stood on the old corpse ghost’s shoulder, staring intently at the incoming Disha Bell, intending to take a risk. He fully infused his spiritual power into the “Ming” character token, divine qi surging toward the flame pillar.
Instantly, a spark of lively divine lustre appeared in the old corpse ghost’s burning eyes. Its hands strangely clasped together at its chest.
Whoosh.
Before the old corpse ghost, over ten thousand streaks of starlight appeared.
Each streak of starlight was a star.
Over ten thousand stars formed a vortex-shaped galaxy, enveloping the incoming Disha Bell.
“How is this possible?”
The Ghost Lord stood outside his divine temple, staring ahead intently, unable to resist the urge to charge out.
As lord of ten thousand ghosts, today he had truly seen a ghost.
A divine corpse buried underground for who knows how many millions of years had actually unleashed the legendary divine technique “Myriad Stars Chaos”, intending to seize the town-suppressing ancestral artefact of Disha Ghost City.
Was this still a divine corpse?
The Ghost Lord suppressed the impulse to rush out and roared, “Why have you not come to assist this seat in retrieving the Disha Bell?”
God of War Li Yuan and Divine Master Qianqian flew to the divine temple, standing on either side of the Ghost Lord, unleashing divine qi and spiritual power toward the Disha Bell.
Boom!
The vortex-shaped galaxy before the old corpse ghost collapsed. Myriad stars annihilated. All death qi rushed into the wormhole, vanishing from this starry expanse.
“Ghost Lord, today I shall spare your life.” Zhang Ruochen’s voice emerged from the wormhole.
“Hmph, arrogant.”
The Ghost Lord retrieved the Disha Bell, secretly exhaling in relief. His pair of profound ghostly eyes gazed at the now calm wormhole, still with lingering fear.
Just now, if not for the divine corpse malfunctioning and the unleashed technique collapsing on its own, the Disha Bell might truly have been seized.
So close.
Divine Master Qianqian’s voice held no emotion. “This divine corpse is very powerful. Zhang Ruochen seems unable to fully control it. Otherwise, today we would be in great danger.”
God of War Li Yuan’s bony mouth spoke human words. “This is fundamentally not a divine corpse. It possesses its own consciousness, but sealed by some formidable power. Zhang Ruochen can control that sealing power, thus controlling it. Without that sealing power, it is unimaginable how terrifying it would be.”
The Ghost Lord agreed with their analysis. “Just now, Zhang Ruochen likely partially unsealed it, allowing the divine corpse to suddenly unleash Myriad Stars Chaos. But with Zhang Ruochen’s current spiritual power strength, he clearly could not dominate the divine corpse’s will and suffered backlash. Thus, at the moment of nearly seizing the Disha Bell, he immediately resealed the divine corpse.”
“Could this divine corpse be an Immeasurable Realm corpse god?” God of War Li Yuan guessed, heart pounding with fear.
The Immeasurable Realm was the goal they pursued all their lives, representing the most powerful rulers in the universe.
They could not accept that an Immeasurable Realm corpse god was sealed and reduced to a junior’s battle tool. Then, what meaning did their lifelong pursuit hold?
This dealt too great a blow to their cultivation heart.
The Ghost Lord said, “Have you noticed? The aura on that divine corpse is completely different from Corpse Clan divine spirits, exceedingly strange and abnormally violent.”
Xu Liao flew over, filled with hatred. “We cannot let Zhang Ruochen go. Controlling such a powerful divine corpse must consume immense spiritual power. If we pursue now and entangle him, we can surely exhaust him to death.”
The Ghost Lord looked at Xu Liao with sympathy.
If he could not reclaim the lost profound truths, Xu Liao’s battle power would plummet dramatically, reducing him to the weakest divine spirit in the Taixu Realm.
“Go. We can pursue now.”
The Ghost Lord clearly knew the situation on the other side of the wormhole, so he deliberately lingered a moment longer here.
…
Each wormhole jump spanned thousands of light years, even tens of thousands, as if traversing folded space.
God of War Muto of the Dark Temple hovered in the starry sky. His body was all bones, wrapped in black iron skin, none exposed.
Pu Chuanqi had his head severed by Huang Tian, cursed by death power, unable to regrow it, like a headless corpse.
Xue Li of Fengdu Ghost City was slightly weaker than God of War Muto and Pu Chuanqi, only mid-Taixu Realm cultivation. Yet his battle power might not be inferior to Pu Chuanqi, who had lost his divine artefact and head.
The three Taixu Realm great gods were like three towering divine peaks, hovering above a yellowish-brown nebula cloud cluster. They remained motionless, yet their emitted auras terrified the beings in the surrounding star domain.
The wormhole hovered not far from them, appearing and disappearing.
Hell Realm’s Yellow Spring Star River was generally divided into nineteen major star systems.
The ten star systems with the densest heaven-earth divine qi were each occupied by one of the ten great clans.
The Destiny Divine Domain, Fengdu Ghost City, and the Wugui Forest where Yama Beyond Heaven was located formed the smallest star system among the nineteen, belonging to none of the ten great clans.
Each star system, based on the orbits of constant stars, star clusters, and nebulae, was divided into countless star domains.
The star domain where the three Taixu Realm great gods were now located was on the fringe of the Rakshasa Clan star system, called “Qilin Star Domain”. Because the nebula cloud cluster here resembled a qilin, covering a hundred trillion li of void.
Within the nebula cloud cluster, countless asteroids were distributed.
Three streaks of light like meteors flew through the nebula and stopped below the massive divine frames of the three Taixu Realm great gods.
Many women of the Rakshasa Clan were born with enchanting bones or evil, seductive auras.
Yet Goddess Mother Tian Yin was dignified and beautiful, colourful ribbons fluttering, skin crystalline and translucent, her face showing no trace of age, like an immortal treading waves. She slightly bowed in greeting. “Greetings to the three seniors.”
Xue Li opened a pair of eyes the size of ponds, filled with symbolic inscriptions. “Goddess Mother’s status is exalted. By no means bow to us. If word spread, Emperor Luo Yan would surely think us too presumptuous.”
Though Goddess Mother Tian Yin was Emperor Luo Yan’s empress, she was only hundreds of thousands of years old, naturally a junior before Muto, Pu Chuanqi, and Xue Li.
“We know Goddess Mother’s intent. Please return. No need for more words. Our grudge with Zhang Ruochen is personal. Even if Grandmother Tian were here, she would grant us the chance to seek vengeance.”
Pu Chuanqi had no mouth. His voice emerged from his body, exceedingly arrogant, paying no heed to Goddess Mother Tian Yin.
Merely a Taiyi great god, who had climbed onto Emperor Luo Yan to gain her current status.
What a heroic figure Emperor Luo Yan was, yet he too could not resist the allure of beauty. It was said he entrusted many affairs of the Tian Luo Divine Kingdom to Goddess Mother Tian Yin. Evidently, beyond her beauty, this woman possessed extraordinary means.
Hearing Pu Chuanqi’s words, Luo Yi behind Goddess Mother Tian Yin giggled. “Great God Pu is a pinnacle Taixu Realm figure, whose might has shaken Heavenly Court and Hell for hundreds of thousands of years. My Brother Chen has cultivated only a thousand-odd years. What virtue or ability does he have to incur resentment from you, elder? Perhaps Great God has misplaced his grudge against the Blood Jue Clan Leader onto him? This is rather… hehe…”
Naturally, Luo Yi had not counted Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation time in the Sundial.
Goddess Mother Tian Yin did not stop Luo Yi, her gaze soft and beautiful.
Pu Chuanqi knew Luo Yi was mocking him and snorted. “In the Dark Triangular Star Domain, were it not for Zhang Ruochen’s interference, the Universe Cauldron would already be this seat’s.”
“Yet I heard it was you who sought to seize Brother Chen’s divine sword and Nishen Stele, only to have your divine artefact seized by the Blood Jue War God instead.” Luo Yi’s smile was playful, showing no face to Pu Chuanqi.
Divine flames surged from Pu Chuanqi’s severed neck, but he did not act.
This was, after all, Rakshasa Clan territory.
Goddess Mother Tian Yin said, “Zhang Ruochen is Grandmother Tian’s divine envoy, holding transcendent status in the Rakshasa Clan. I beseech the three seniors to give Grandmother Tian some face and refrain from intercepting him.”
God of War Muto said gravely, “Is Goddess Mother using Grandmother Tian to pressure us? Our Dark Temple’s Great God Li Xiao, Zhao Wuyan, Frost City Demon, Shidi, Human Skin Lantern, five great gods died by his hand. Yu Shi was captured by him, life or death unknown. Moreover, the lord of the Twelve Spiritual God Halls, Wuyue… was insulted by him in that manner. If this vengeance is not taken, how can our Dark Temple stand in Hell Realm?”
“Even if Grandmother Tian is stronger, there is still justice in the world, is there not?”
The Dark Temple actually speaking of justice?
Luo Yi smiled mockingly and wished to speak again, but this time Goddess Mother Tian Yin stopped her.
Goddess Mother Tian Yin said, “Has Senior Xue Li come under Heavenly Venerable’s command?”
“Heavenly Venerable is not in Fengdu Ghost City, but Goddess Mother should know the relationship between Wuyue and Heavenly Venerable. With Zhang Ruochen acting thus, how could we cultivators loyal to Heavenly Venerable not take his life?” Xue Li clasped his fists and bowed toward Fengdu Ghost City’s direction.
In the Ghost Clan, Emperor Fengdu was faith itself, the symbol of supreme power, worshipped by billions of ghosts. Countless divine spirits were willing to die for him.
Precisely because of this, great gods of the Ghost Clan like Xue Li permitted no cultivator to tarnish Emperor Fengdu.
Even a single curse would warrant exterminating the entire clan.
Wuyue, in the hearts of the Ghost Clan gods, was the Emperor’s wife from a previous life.
Regardless of the truth, in their hearts it was so.
