Feng Chengdao stood atop a dense web of saintly rules, those rules stirring the air currents between heaven and earth, forming a circular millstone-like cloud, rolling down with crushing force.
On the other side, Venerable Hidden Heart, hair dishevelled, let out a long roar, charging out from the forest.
With a wave of his arm, a swarm of silver-winged corpse insects flew towards Zhang Ruochen.
As the corpse insects passed, grass and trees were devoured completely, even stones were riddled with dense holes.
Facing two veteran Ninth-Step Saint Kings from the Nether God Hall, Zhang Ruochen showed no fear, summoning the Yi Huang Bone Staff, gripping it in his hand.
Instantly, a chilling ghostly mist spread out, sweeping across the sky and earth.
“Roar!”
From the mist emerged the figure of a black skeleton.
The black skeleton shot skyward, its fist smashing into the millstone-like cloud, shattering it apart.
The bone fist’s momentum didn’t wane, clashing with Feng Chengdao’s finger technique, blasting Feng Chengdao’s body into the air.
Witnessing this, countless cultivators stared in dumbfounded shock, that was a Ninth-Step Saint King nearing the Major Rule Heaven realm, sent flying by a skeleton’s single punch?
During his two-year seclusion, Zhang Ruochen had fed all the collected remnant souls to the Evil Spirit.
Beyond that, the Evil Spirit had refined two percent of Qing Jin’s soul mist, such strength wasn’t surprising.
In fact, Zhang Ruochen, wary of his own cultivation being too low to control the Evil Spirit, had fed it gradually, keeping its power just below the Major Rule Heaven realm.
“Swish, swish.”
The corpse insects unleashed by Venerable Hidden Heart were all incinerated to ash by Zhang Ruochen’s Purifying Divine Fire.
In the moment Venerable Hidden Heart was stunned, Zhang Ruochen rushed forward, swinging the Chenyuan Ancient Sword, slashing at him, the sword dao mysteries clashed with the white bone armour, emitting a piercing screech.
Venerable Hidden Heart flew backwards, crashing into a cliff with a boom, causing half the mountain to collapse.
A bone-chilling cold surged from the collapsed mountain’s interior, instantly freezing a thousand li.
“Rumble.”
Venerable Hidden Heart burst from the ground, behind him, a thousands-of-metres-tall iceberg rose from the earth.
“Zhang Ruochen, today I’ll show you the true might of a Ninth-Step Saint King.”
“Mysterious Ice Snow Phoenix.”
The thousands-of-metres-tall iceberg shattered, its ice crystals, like snowflakes, gathered together, forming a dozens-of-li-long ice phoenix, diving towards Zhang Ruochen.
With a gentle flap of the ice phoenix’s wings, the ground beneath Zhang Ruochen sank in vast swathes.
The “Mysterious Ice Snow Phoenix” unleashed by Venerable Hidden Heart was a mid-tier saint technique he’d spent over 400 years perfecting, its power unmatched, ranking among the top ten mid-tier saint techniques collected by the Nether God Hall.
Zhang Ruochen’s eleventh palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, among mid-tier saint techniques, surpassed the “Mysterious Ice Snow Phoenix” in sophistication.
But Venerable Hidden Heart had infused the “Mysterious Ice Snow Phoenix” with 160,000 ice rules, while Zhang Ruochen’s palm dao rules numbered just over 8,000.
Clashing head-on with Venerable Hidden Heart’s saint technique would be suicidal for Zhang Ruochen.
Standing atop the ice phoenix, Venerable Hidden Heart’s expression twisted, “Brat, how many years have you cultivated? You’re still far off.”
As the ice phoenix drew closer, the surrounding air grew colder, even Zhang Ruochen’s body was encased in ice, his protective saint qi unable to resist the chill.
“Crack!”
Purifying Divine Fire flared out, breaking the ice.
Zhang Ruochen lifted his left leg, roaring, “Blazing God Leg.”
“Boom.”
Crimson patterns emerged on his left leg, terrifying divine power surged forth, shattering the dozens-of-li-long ice phoenix.
Venerable Hidden Heart let out a scream, his body ignited, flying backwards.
In mid-flight, his body disintegrated, turning into specks of crimson ash.
The power of that kick was staggering, its mere shockwave reduced a Ninth-Step Saint King to ashes, uninformed onlookers might think it was a Greater Saint’s strike.
In the distance, the black skeleton and Feng Chengdao, locked in combat, were staggered by the force’s ripples, retreating repeatedly.
Sensing the immense divine power at the epicentre, Feng Chengdao felt a chill, thinking to himself, “Could Zhang Ruochen truly wield an ancient divine relic, activated by divine stones, unleashing unparalleled destructive force?”
Only a divine stone-powered ancient relic could allow a Saint King to wield such fearsome divine might.
Feng Chengdao couldn’t fathom that Zhang Ruochen possessed a divine leg.
Meanwhile, in King Mountain, the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror unleashed its supreme power, firing a purple beam that struck the black sacrificial platform.
“Rumble.”
The array flags on the platform fluttered, forming a ninth-grade array, blocking the supreme power.
The black platform continued flying towards King Mountain, nearing a breach of the spatial maze and temporal arrays.
The faceless man on the platform laughed, “The might of a supreme saint weapon, is that all?”
True Wonder Little Taoist, feeling humiliated, gritted his teeth, “If the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror weren’t flawed, I’d crush you in moments.”
The faceless man’s laughter rang out again, “Big words, once I descend, I’ll capture you first, a 100,000-year-old saint herb could refine a top-tier saint pill.”
Infuriated, True Wonder Little Taoist retorted, “That platform of yours only has a rudimentary ninth-grade array, not a complete one, you really think I can’t break it?”
He leapt into the air, landing on the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror’s surface, sitting cross-legged.
The mirror turned liquid-like, True Wonder Little Taoist’s body sinking into it, merging with the mirror.
“Swish.”
Instantly, the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror radiated boundless purple qi, covering King Mountain’s 3,000-li sky.
Zhang Ruochen looked up, astonished, “The Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror is True Lord Luo Tian’s weapon, True Wonder is just a saint herb, how can he merge with it? What secrets does this fellow hide?”
The mirror’s supreme power intensified, flying towards the black platform, their collision unleashed a force wave that dimmed even the sky’s blazing sun.
The ninth-grade array was pierced, the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror’s momentum unchecked, crashing into the platform.
“Boom.”
The black platform split in two under the purple light, plummeting from the sky.
This strike killed most of the Nether God Hall cultivators on the platform, the few survivors gravely wounded.
Wait…
The faceless man, shielded by a protective treasure, emerged unscathed, transforming into a bolt of lightning, racing towards where the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror fell.
True Wonder Little Taoist, having unleashed that strike with all his might, fell into King Mountain with the mirror, now at his weakest—how could he withstand the faceless man?
After using the Blazing God Leg, Zhang Ruochen’s saint qi was ninety percent depleted, his combat strength less than half its peak, yet he charged desperately into King Mountain, determined not to let True Wonder Little Taoist and the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror fall into the faceless man’s hands.
Elephant-Swallowing Rabbit, Demon Ape, and Evil Chengzi rushed out to intercept the faceless man.
“Roar.”
Elephant-Swallowing Rabbit unleashed the *Heaven-Swallowing Technique*, transforming into a dozens-of-li-long Heaven-Swallowing Demon Dragon, exuding a mountain-devouring aura.
Demon Ape’s body swelled, becoming a mountain-sized giant ape, swinging iron fists at the faceless man.
Two years of seclusion, plus consuming King Mountain’s abundant saint herbs, had pushed their cultivation to the peak of Seventh-Step Saint King, their unleashed saintly might formidable.
The faceless man waved his saint staff, conjuring a lightning storm, blasting Elephant-Swallowing Rabbit and Demon Ape away, their massive forms crashing into the deep mountains.
“Hmph, I’m a fifty-ninth-tier mental power Saint King, one step from becoming a Greater Saint of mental power, you two beasts think you can stop me?” the faceless man sneered.
Evil Chengzi’s Bloodthirsty Ring struck, managing to repel the faceless man a step.
Evil Chengzi’s cultivation had also reached Seventh-Step Saint King.
Once the leader of the younger generation in the Ten Thousand Evils Realm, hailed as its top prodigy, he naturally outclassed Elephant-Swallowing Rabbit and Demon Ape by a wide margin.
Such a figure, at Seventh-Step Saint King, could challenge Ninth-Step Saint Kings.
Of course, he could only contend with them—defeating a Ninth-Step Saint King was still beyond Evil Chengzi’s current strength.
Thus, in clashing with the faceless man, Evil Chengzi was at a clear disadvantage, after just ten exchanges, his abdomen was torn open with a deep gash, nearly split in two.
The faceless man ignored Evil Chengzi, speeding towards True Wonder Little Taoist and the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror, both the 100,000-year-old saint herb and the supreme saint weapon driving him to frenzy.
Obtaining these would make this trip worthwhile.
Suddenly, a faint floral fragrance wafted through the forest.
Petals drifted from the sky.
The ground bloomed with vibrant flowers, in an instant, the ravaged mountains transformed into a sea of blossoms.
Sensing danger, the faceless man summoned his formidable mental power, forming a mental defence tower around himself.
Protected by the tower, even a Ninth-Step Saint King couldn’t harm him.
“Who’s there, skulking about, show yourself!” the faceless man said warily.
“Swish.”
A breathtakingly beautiful figure stepped out from the flower sea, as if tearing through a sheet of paper, shattering the faceless man’s mental defence tower.
The next moment, the faceless man fell straight to the ground, a bloody hole in his chest, saint blood gushing out, staining his robe red.
Zhang Ruochen arrived just then, seeing the ethereal figure beside the corpse, the tension on his face melted away, replaced by a faint smile.
“Just an early fifty-ninth-tier mental power Saint King, and he truly thought himself invincible,” the flower-fairy-like beauty said lightly.
Even after killing, she remained elegant and pure.
Zhang Ruochen approached, “Fairy, you slipped through my spatial maze and temporal arrays without a sound, your mental power must exceed that faceless man’s, right?”
As an Illuminating Divine Lotus that had lived since ancient times, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t be surprised no matter how high Ji Fanxin’s mental power reached.
