“Overestimating yourself.”
Tianmingzi stood at the centre of the Black Tortoise phantom, ignoring the approaching butcher.
The Six-Armour Cloud-Swallowing Array’s greatest strength was its defence—how could a crude brute possibly breach it?
“Black Tortoise Void Breaker.”
Tianmingzi softly chanted.
Dense light patterns emerged on the surface of the Black Tortoise phantom, then it raised a foot as thick as a pillar, stomping towards the butcher.
“Rustle, rustle.”
The grass, trees, and rubble around the butcher were all blasted away.
Not only did the butcher not retreat, he laughed heartily, extending a single hand, a massive claw materialised, catching the Black Tortoise phantom’s foot.
“How is that possible?”
The Tianyuan Four within the Black Tortoise phantom all stared in dumbfounded shock.
The butcher swung his cleaver with a backhand, unleashing a river-like wave of blade qi, shattering the Black Tortoise phantom with unstoppable force.
“Pfft.”
Tianjinzi, Tianxuzi, and Tianshangzi of the Tianyuan Four were sliced in half on the spot, even Tianmingzi, with his Ninth-Step Saint King cultivation, was flung like a cannonball, crashing into a mountain dozens of li away.
Astonishment flashed in Black Phoenix’s beautiful eyes—she hadn’t expected the butcher to be so formidable, a single casual slash cutting through the Six-Armour Cloud-Swallowing Array as easily as slicing vegetables.
“Haha! A bunch of clownish fools, utterly pathetic… utterly…”
Before finishing, the butcher collapsed backwards onto the ground.
“What happened?”
Black Phoenix, thinking he’d been ambushed, immediately raised a black flame shield, enveloping herself and Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said calmly, “No need to be so tense—he faints at blood.”
Black Phoenix’s exquisite eyes blinked twice, at a loss for words, after a moment, she said, “I’ll deal with Tianmingzi—you handle things here!”
With a “swish,” Black Phoenix vanished from the spot.
Saint King-level cultivators, even when cut in two, wouldn’t die as long as their saint souls remained intact.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen conjured three sword forces, piercing the brows of Tianjinzi, Tianxuzi, and Tianshangzi, only then approaching with confidence.
Taking out a yin bottle, Zhang Ruochen began collecting their residual souls.
The Saint Devourer Flower rushed forth, rooting into the four Saint King corpses on the ground, feeding on them.
By the time Black Phoenix returned, dragging the gravely injured and unconscious Tianmingzi, the four corpses had turned into shrivelled husks, a cold wind blew, making a “crack, crack” sound, reducing them to four piles of loose soil.
“Thud.”
Black Phoenix tossed Tianmingzi to the ground, using a rope specifically designed to restrain Saint Kings, locking it around his neck.
“Why keep him alive?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Her lashes curved upward, long hair fluttering in the wind, she smiled, “Killing him like this—wouldn’t that be too easy for him? Besides, Tianmingzi and the others are mere pawns, there are greater figures behind them, wanting to plant gu in me, to enslave this fairy? They’ll pay a steep price.”
Hearing “this fairy,” Zhang Ruochen felt a strange twinge—she hadn’t referred to herself that way before.
Of course, with Black Phoenix’s cultivation and beauty, she was indeed worthy of the title “fairy.”
Hands behind his back, Zhang Ruochen said, “You’re planning to escort him to a merit station, handing him over to Tian Palace and the Merit God Hall for judgment?”
“Exactly.”
Black Phoenix added, “Colluding with Hell Realm beings, harming Heaven’s allies—that’s a grave crime, not only will Tianmingzi die, but those behind him will too, even the Tianyuan Divine Sect will have to pay a price.”
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze lingered on her, “Fairy, you should change into some saint robes first—standing before me like this puts you at too much of a disadvantage!”
Her silk gown was in tatters, exposing vast swathes of alluring white skin.
“No matter—it’s repayment!”
Black Phoenix declared boldly, throwing him a flirtatious, captivating glance, deliberately teasing him.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head with a smile, dragged the butcher from the ground, turned, and walked into the distance.
Facing a woman as proactive, bold, and straightforward as Black Phoenix, Zhang Ruochen dared not engage—any misunderstanding might end up hurting her.
*Once, drunk, I whipped a famed horse; I fear too much affection would burden a beauty.*
“This blasted cripple, too upright for his own good! A living, fragrant, peerless beauty stands before him, and he just walks away.”
Black Phoenix lightly bit her elastic red lips, staring at Zhang Ruochen’s limping silhouette, her eyes rippling with amusement.
“Swish.”
A beam of white light descended from the sky, landing on the ground, coalescing into an ethereal, transcendent figure.
It was White Sparrow.
“Shi Kai saw Tianmingzi captured and used an earth escape technique to flee, as long as he’s on land, capturing or killing a Stone Clan cultivator is too difficult!”
White Sparrow said with regret, her eyes still glinting with hatred.
This time, she and Black Phoenix had lost all face at Shi Kai’s hands.
Without Zhang Ruochen’s rescue, they might have been beyond salvation.
This grudge was as vast as the heavens.
She continued, “Still, I’ve left Shi Kai gravely wounded—he shouldn’t stir trouble for a while.”
Black Phoenix changed into an exquisitely ornate Thousand-Feather Phoenix Saint Robe, shimmering with myriad colours, a faint fragrance wafting, accentuating her fairy-like figure’s curves to perfection.
They say clothes make the person, and it’s true.
Already striking in temperament, in this robe, Black Phoenix was breathtaking—like a phoenix goddess descended to the mortal realm.
A flicker of surprise crossed White Sparrow’s eyes, “Senior Sister, this Thousand-Feather Phoenix Saint Robe is too ostentatious! Didn’t you say to keep a low profile when out?”
Ignoring White Sparrow, Black Phoenix twirled before Zhang Ruochen, laughing like silver bells, “Cripple, is this robe pretty?”
“Pretty,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
Black Phoenix asked, “So, is the robe prettier, or am I? You can only pick one.”
Zhang Ruochen didn’t believe a Saint King like Black Phoenix would fall for a masked cripple she’d never truly seen, just because he saved her once.
Clearly, she saw him as an unromantic block of wood, teasing him on purpose.
Playing along, he said, “Of course, you’re prettier.”
“Hehe.”
Black Phoenix smiled radiantly, “Then, if this fairy gave you a chance to pursue her, would you take it?”
White Sparrow’s expression turned pensive, clearly wondering if Black Phoenix was joking or serious, while also debating whether to share her suspicions with her.
“Fairy, stop teasing me—let’s head back to Luocheng.”
Worried for Luocheng’s people, Zhang Ruochen set off first.
Black Phoenix moved to follow, but White Sparrow held her back, transmitting something mentally.
“What? Him… could it be? No way! Legend says the spacetime heir is strikingly handsome, hailed as one of the most outstanding rising stars in Heaven’s myriad realms—countless prodigies long to meet him, how could he be a cripple?”
“Perhaps I guessed wrong!”
Black Phoenix nodded lightly, concluding the cripple merely knew some spatial tricks, not the spacetime heir Zhang Ruochen, after all, his limp wasn’t feigned.
…
The next morning.
In Luocheng, Zhang Ruochen, the butcher, the dullard, Black Phoenix, and White Sparrow gathered, the table laden with dishes and fine wine.
The dullard grumbled, “Such a pity! Just a hair’s breadth—you know, really just a hair’s breadth—and I could’ve finished Qi Xiaotian, but the Undying Blood Clan’s vitality is too strong, plus Qi Xiaotian carried a flask of Greater Saint blood, I’d nearly crippled him, but one sip, and he healed.”
The butcher scoffed, “Qi Xiaotian’s that weak, and you couldn’t handle him? Pathetic, how’ll you explain this to Her Highness the Celestial Maiden?”
The dullard retorted, “Oh, you’re so great—down before a single move, if you faint at blood, why not gouge out those eyes?”
“You little dullard, have you been itching to blind me all along?”
…
Zhang Ruochen coughed twice, interrupting the bickering dullard and butcher, “You two seem well-acquainted with Qi Xiaotian—who is he exactly?”
Having encountered Ying Huo last night, Zhang Ruochen asked this.
The butcher’s voice boomed, “Qi Xiaotian is a divine son of the Qitian Tribe, one of the Undying Blood Clan’s ten major tribes, his status is lofty, his strength formidable.”
Zhang Ruochen knew that not only Kunlun Realm’s Undying Blood Clan was divided into ten tribes, but Hell Realm’s was too.
The Qitian Tribe was the mightiest among Hell Realm’s ten Undying Blood Clan tribes.
“Looks like you, cripple, don’t have the *Hell’s Ten Tribes’ Evil Registry*,” Black Phoenix smiled, her lips red, teeth white.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What’s the *Hell’s Ten Tribes’ Evil Registry*?”
Black Phoenix produced a cyan gem, handing it to Zhang Ruochen.
Injecting mental power into the gem, Zhang Ruochen saw figures appear before him, accompanied by dense textual descriptions.
Some figures were colossal as mountains, others resembled fierce ghosts, some bore silver wings, some had beauty rivalling the nine fairies of the *Nine Immortal Beauties Chart*.
Black Phoenix explained, “The *Hell’s Ten Tribes’ Evil Registry* records notable Saint Kings from Hell’s ten tribes—those with great strength or potential, it includes not just their appearances, but their cultivation techniques, weapons, even their weaknesses.”
“It also marks their danger levels.”
“For instance, Shi Kai, at the peak of Eighth-Step Saint King, has a danger level of four, Qi Xiaotian’s reaches five.”
Within the gem, Zhang Ruochen spotted the graceful, enchanting figure of Rakshasa Princess Luo Sha, her danger level a shocking seven, he was quite surprised— was the Rakshasa Princess that dangerous?
Withdrawing his mental power from the gem, he said, “Truly a fine item.”
Black Phoenix said, “It’s yours!”
“Really?” Zhang Ruochen was taken aback.
Black Phoenix replied, “Such a precious treasure, this fairy gives it to you without batting an eye—won’t you offer something in return?”
Zhang Ruochen immediately rummaged through his storage ring, seeking a suitable item to trade for the *Hell’s Ten Tribes’ Evil Registry*.
The dullard chuckled, “Actually, it’s not that precious—just one saint stone gets you one at a merit station.”
The butcher tried to stop him, but too late—the dullard had blurted it out.
Black Phoenix’s phoenix eyes glared, “If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute.”
Hearing the butcher’s transmitted explanation, the dullard realised his blunder, sidling up to Zhang Ruochen, whispering, “Uh… earlier… I was talking nonsense, don’t take it seriously, it’s a great thing, very precious, I’d say a billion saint stones couldn’t buy it.”
Flames practically sparked in Black Phoenix’s eyes—where did this irritating dullard come from?
“Found it!”
Unconcerned with the registry’s true value, eager to befriend the formidable Black Phoenix and White Sparrow, Zhang Ruochen retrieved a small wooden vial from his spatial ring, handing it over.
