After five teleportations, Zhang Ruochen and his group traversed over a million li, arriving at a region not far from the Xumi Dojo.
Gazing westward, about a hundred li away, Zhang Ruochen spotted a dojo radiating with Buddhist light, situated at the centre of a shimmering, emerald lake.
Within the dojo stood dozens of resplendent golden temples.
At its very heart rose a seventy-two-storey Buddhist pagoda, resembling a mountain peak piercing the clouds.
Strangely, the dojo exuded tranquillity and peace, showing no signs of a battle having erupted.
“Could it be that the cultivators from the Kunlun Realm haven’t made their move yet?” A flicker of doubt arose in Zhang Ruochen’s mind.
Xiao Hei, endowed with the eyes of a Great Saint, sensed something amiss and cautioned, “Something’s wrong, very wrong… There’s a serious issue with this dojo. Let’s not rush in recklessly.”
Zhang Ruochen activated his Heavenly Eye and noticed something off, though he couldn’t discern it clearly or pinpoint exactly what was amiss.
“You possess the Divine Eyes of Origin, help me observe the Xumi Dojo,” Zhang Ruochen said, turning to the Thousand-Star Maiden.
“This maiden is here to watch the spectacle, not to assist you,” the Thousand-Star Maiden replied, tilting her snowy-white chin with an air of utmost arrogance.
She still harboured resentment towards Zhang Ruochen for spreading word of the marriage contract, her anger yet to subside, naturally inclined to oppose him.
Ye Honglei seemed to notice something. She stepped onto the lake, standing on its surface, her expression shifting repeatedly before she declared, “It’s an illusion.”
“What?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“This lake and the Xumi Dojo aren’t real. They’re illusions conjured by a saint master with profound expertise in illusionary arts, woven into an illusion array. The real Xumi Dojo should be nearby, but it’s definitely not at this location,” Ye Honglei explained.
Even the Thousand-Star Maiden was somewhat shaken. If everything before them was an illusion, then even she had been deceived by it.
Just how advanced must that person’s mastery of illusions be?
The Thousand-Star Maiden hastily activated her Divine Eyes of Origin, peering towards the Xumi Dojo. A look of astonishment flashed in her eyes, her expression turning gravely serious.
“What did you see?” Zhang Ruochen asked urgently, gripping her wrist.
The Thousand-Star Maiden hesitated, unsure how to break the news. After a pause, she said, “The cultivators from the Kunlun Realm… I fear they’re facing total annihilation. We shouldn’t get involved in this battle, let’s leave quickly.”
Zhang Ruochen released her wrist, summoned the Chenyuan Ancient Sword, and charged straight towards the illusory Xumi Dojo.
“Zhang Ruochen, get back here! That’s not the real Xumi Dojo, you can’t activate the Equality of All Beings there. Going in won’t change the outcome; you’ll only throw your life away for nothing,” the Thousand-Star Maiden shouted coldly.
Zhang Ruochen unleashed his spatial domain, probing his surroundings to avoid being misled by the illusion’s effects on his mental power and vision. His steps didn’t falter.
As he rushed into the lake, three waves of saintly energy pulsed ahead of him.
Three cultivators from the Kunlun Realm, having used some unknown method, escaped to the edge of the illusion array and burst out, appearing above the lake.
All three were gravely wounded, fleeing in a panic.
Behind them, a group of white-winged angel clan cultivators pursued relentlessly.
Among them was a four-winged Saint King realm angel wielding a broad white saint sword. Hovering above the three Kunlun Realm cultivators like a lofty Arbiter, he declared, “The elite of the Kunlun Realm must all perish today, no one escapes.”
“That divine-demonic rat has some skill, managing to lead two humans out of the illusion array set by Lady Huan Ji.”
“Escaping the illusion array doesn’t mean escaping our grasp.”
…
The leading four-winged angel, a cultivator at the Six-Step Saint King realm, flung his white saint sword forward. Executing a mid-tier saint technique sword art, he struck one of the human cultivators.
“Crack.”
With a scream, the Kunlun Realm human cultivator’s body was cleaved into six pieces, plummeting into the lake below.
A shower of crimson blood rained down from above.
Witnessing this, the divine-demonic rat and Chi Wansui felt their hearts tremble, realising that escape might be impossible today, they would likely die here.
“Could it be that the heavens themselves are against us, intent on destroying the Kunlun Realm?” Chi Wansui muttered. A ghastly sword wound marred his chest, severing his ribs and damaging his internal organs.
Sword qi had invaded his body, preventing the wound from healing, and blood continued to gush out.
A silver-winged Saint King from the angel clan, wielding a staff, laughed skyward, “Indeed, it’s the heavens that want you dead, and we are the heavens.”
The four-winged Six-Step Saint King angel added coldly, “It’s not the heavens targeting you, it’s that the Kunlun Realm is too weak. In this world of survival of the fittest, weakness itself is a sin.”
Chi Wansui pulled out a messaging light talisman, intending to inscribe words upon it.
“Swish.”
The four-winged Six-Step Saint King swung his sword across the sky, severing Chi Wansui’s remaining arm.
“You wanted to inscribe a messaging light talisman to send word to the Temple of Truth? Too bad, we won’t give you that chance,” an angel clan Saint King laughed, relishing the thrill of holding others’ lives in his hands.
The Six-Step Saint King angel said indifferently, “This trap was personally laid by Young Master Zi Xi, meticulously planned. Even if you sent a messaging light talisman, it wouldn’t reach the Temple of Truth. Of course, to be absolutely certain, this king won’t let you send it.”
A sorrowful expression crossed Chi Wansui’s face. He couldn’t imagine the Kunlun Realm’s elite all dying here, how far the realm would fall into decline.
Having just regained some vitality, it would once again be plunged into an abyss of ruin.
The divine-demonic rat remained silent, overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness.
In the Kunlun Realm, when facing an enemy they couldn’t afford to provoke, merely mentioning the Moon-Worship Demonic Sect would inspire some caution.
But here in the Heavenly Realm, they had no backing, everything depended on themselves.
The divine-demonic rat sighed deeply. Suddenly, its eyes lit up upon spotting a figure standing in the lake. Tears of excitement streamed down its face as it flew forward frantically, crying, “Master Chen, you’re finally here! The Paradise Realm is bullying us too much, they’re out to exterminate us. You have to stand up for us!”
“Stand up for what? We’re cultivators of the Guanghan Realm now, here only to watch the show,” Xiao Hei said, waddling across the lake’s surface with his feathered rear swaying unhurriedly.
Seeing Xiao Hei, the divine-demonic rat’s eyes gleamed, its fear evaporating completely. It lunged forward, clinging to one of Xiao Hei’s claws and pleaded, “Lord Hei, don’t say such things! Since you and Master Chen are here, how could you just be spectators? You’re the pillars of the Kunlun Realm. If the real masters don’t step in, they’ll think the Kunlun Realm is an easy target.”
“You’re quite the flatterer,” Xiao Hei chuckled.
“I’ll cling to Lord Hei’s leg for life,” the divine-demonic rat said shamelessly.
Xiao Hei revelled in the praise, squinting with satisfaction and nodding, “Alright, for that alone, this emperor will take charge of today’s matter!”
“No one can take charge of today’s matter!”
The Six-Step Saint King angel waved his arm, and the angel clan cultivators behind him launched a barrage of attacks towards Xiao Hei and Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen unfurled the Eight Dragon Umbrella, and instantly, eight dragons soared, golden light blazing forth, deflecting all the incoming assaults.
The Six-Step Saint King’s expression darkened with a hint of surprise.
Could it truly be that a top-tier expert from the Kunlun Realm had arrived?
“Ants like you aren’t worthy of facing this emperor,” Xiao Hei scoffed, producing a millstone-sized divine bone riddled with holes like a honeycomb.
“Hiss.”
Hundreds of three-legged corpse-eating insects flew out from the divine bone, transforming into a swarm of black dots that surged towards the angel clan cultivators.
“Merely a few bugs… wait, those are three-legged corpse-eating insects!”
By the time the angel clan cultivators realised what they were facing, they were already surrounded. They hastily activated their protective saint armour and wielded saint weapons, frantically attacking in disarray.
After all, three-legged corpse-eating insects could gnaw through even the immortal body of a Great Saint, how could they not be terrified?
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes brightened as he remarked, “The number of three-legged corpse-eating insects seems to have grown quite a bit.”
He recalled that when he handed them over to Xiao Hei, there were only about two hundred.
Now, there were seven or eight hundred, two or three times as many.
Xiao Hei grinned smugly, “While you were in closed-door cultivation at the temple for a year, this emperor conquered the Guanghan Realm dojo and gathered plenty of saintly blood food for the three-legged corpse-eating insects. Not only have they grown stronger, but they’ve also laid eggs and spawned a new batch.”
“Then you must have collected quite a few treasures and saint stones too?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xiao Hei’s expression turned wary as he replied, “Indeed, not a single saint stone.”
Screams erupted from within the insect swarm.
One by one, the angel clan cultivators were devoured by the three-legged corpse-eating insects, reduced to skeletons, and even those bones were soon eaten clean.
The Six-Step Saint King angel’s face grew increasingly grim. If he couldn’t deal with the three-legged corpse-eating insects, the cultivators he’d brought might be wiped out first.
To handle the insects, he’d need to target the creature controlling them.
His gaze locked onto Xiao Hei. With a surge of effort, he channelled saint qi into his armour, which emitted a dazzling ring of white light, repelling all the surrounding three-legged corpse-eating insects.
Before they could swarm back, the Six-Step Saint King angel flapped his four wings, transforming into a white beam of light and charging towards Xiao Hei.
In the Truth Heavenly Domain, reaching the Six-Step Saint King realm meant he was no ordinary figure. Even a typical Seven-Step Saint King might not last a few moves against him before fleeing in defeat.
Without using the powers of time and space, Zhang Ruochen would find such an opponent quite troublesome.
“Xie Chengzi, go!” Zhang Ruochen commanded.
Clad in thick armour, Xie Chengzi rushed out from behind Zhang Ruochen, exuding a pitch-black aura of malevolence. He collided head-on with the Six-Step Saint King angel.
“Thud!”
In their first exchange, the Six-Step Saint King angel was sent flying backwards, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Both at the Six-Step Saint King realm, Xie Chengzi, as a world leader, was evidently far stronger than the angel.
“You… you’re Xie Chengzi…”
The Six-Step Saint King held a high status in the Paradise Realm and had access to figures of Xie Chengzi’s calibre. Recognising him was precisely what left him so stunned.
Zhang Ruochen ordered, “Kill him.”
The Six-Step Saint King turned an even more shocked gaze towards Zhang Ruochen. Just who was this person, capable of making Xie Chengzi bow and call him master?
A sense of familiarity struck him.
“It’s him.”
The Six-Step Saint King had once seen an image of Zhang Ruochen. Finally recognising him, he ignored the angels surrounded by the three-legged corpse-eating insects, unfurled his four wings, and fled towards the illusion array.
“Since my master has ordered your death, you won’t escape today,” Xie Chengzi declared, hurling his Bloodthirsty Ring at the angel.
The Bloodthirsty Ring spun rapidly, releasing a torrent of blood qi. It expanded to a diameter of three zhang, emitting a piercing “buzz” as it tore through the air.
“Crack.”
The ring smashed through all the saint weapons the Six-Step Saint King unleashed, before striking his back with devastating force. His body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
Moments later, the Bloodthirsty Ring absorbed all the blood mist entirely.
