“What a formidable Jiang Yunchong. Even the Nine-Eyed Wind Harmony Array can’t bring him down.”
Lord Shenya was secretly astonished. Below the Great Saint level, he rarely encountered a powerhouse as troublesome as Jiang Yunchong.
Normally, a single glance from him could kill an ordinary Nine-Step Saint King.
“Nine-Eyed Storm.”
A surge of spiritual power poured from Lord Shenya’s brow into the nine array flags. Instantly, the Nine-Eyed Wind Harmony Array shifted, the array disc expanding a hundredfold, enveloping Jiang Yunchong within.
“Hmm… Yunchong…”
Yinruo couldn’t withstand the spiritual assault within the array. Her translucent form faded further, as if a gust could scatter her soul.
“Yinruo, it’s too dangerous here. Enter the Soul-Sealing Bottle for now.”
Concern filled Jiang Yunchong’s eyes as he produced a dark purple porcelain bottle, drawing Yinruo inside.
At that moment, the array’s fierce winds converged, forming nine grotesque dragons with writhing bodies, charging at Jiang Yunchong.
Each dragon contained millions of wind blades.
Each blade could cleave a mountain.
“Six Harmonies: Dao, Reason, Heaven, Earth, Vision, End. Six Gates Unleashed, Void Severance.”
Jiang Yunchong hurled all six light gates forward, clashing with the nine dragons.
The dragons crumbled, the gates dimmed.
Amid ceaseless roars, the nine storm dragons and six light gates shattered simultaneously, vanishing.
Residual wind struck Jiang Yunchong, leaving over a dozen bloody gashes, flinging him backwards.
Kneeling on one knee, right hand braced on the ground, a red streak marred his cheek, dripping blood. “Worthy of an Earth Master. Facing him with my current cultivation is indeed a stretch,” he said.
Lord Shenya stood at the array’s centre, looking down, “Leave. Today, I’ll spare your life.”
Jiang Yunchong laughed, rising, “I’m not leaving.”
Lord Shenya’s gaze darkened sharply.
Were it not for needing to focus on the Eastern Domain Saint King Mansion, would he ever spare Jiang Yunchong?
Now, it seemed Jiang Yunchong was determined to stall him at all costs.
Wait…
Lord Shenya sensed something amiss. Why would Jiang Yunchong risk his life to delay him?
Even to prevent him from seizing the Eastern Domain Holy City, it shouldn’t come to disregarding his own survival, should it?
“You’re a Kunlun Realm cultivator?”
Lord Shenya’s eyes sharpened.
He finally recalled where he’d seen the “Six Harmonies Technique”—in an ancient Kunlun Realm text.
The Six Harmonies Technique was a high-tier saint technique of the Jiang Clan, one of Kunlun’s eighteen ancient clans.
“No point hiding it then. Indeed, I’m a Kunlun cultivator.”
A flash of saintly light restored Jiang Yunchong’s wounds.
“Then you must die.”
Lord Shenya’s eyes blazed with killing intent, forming a blood-red sea of murderous aura.
“Killing me won’t be so easy.”
Jiang Yunchong summoned the Six Harmonies Technique again, facing off against Lord Shenya.
Before they even clashed, the forces of the Six Harmonies and Nine-Eyed Wind Harmony Array collided, unleashing thunderous booms.
Lord Shenya’s expression softened abruptly, a smile emerging, “Elsewhere, killing you might take effort. But in the Eastern Domain Holy City, it’s like slaughtering livestock.”
Having repaired the city’s ancient inscriptions, Lord Shenya had left backdoors.
Even without controlling the Torchfire Tower, he could tap into some inscriptions, unleashing unparalleled power.
The nine array flags around him flew out—some into the sea, others into Golden Rainbow Continent’s perilous peaks and valleys.
Nine rivers of spiritual power flowed from him, linking to the flags.
Moments later, the flags triggered the ancient inscriptions, igniting web-like light threads across the city’s sky and depths, countless and intricate.
Harnessing the inscriptions, Lord Shenya drew the city’s full might into his palm.
Instantly, storms brewed over thousands of miles, an oppressive aura pressing down on every cultivator, suffocating them.
“Die.”
He unleashed the energy orb, shattering the Six Harmonies Technique.
Struck, Jiang Yunchong flew like a broken kite, his body mangled, saintly blood spilling into the sea. The blood’s potent energy set the waters ablaze.
An Earth Master wielding ancient inscriptions wielded power to rival a Great Saint.
No matter how skilled, opposing him was like a mantis blocking a cart.
Lord Shenya stood godlike above the sea, proclaiming, “From now on, I am the Eastern Domain’s lord. Oppose me, and I’ll spare no one.”
…
…
At that moment, the Torchfire Tower’s bottom three storeys flared brilliantly, light threads streaking outward.
This shift, unprompted by the Torchfire Token, stemmed from Lord Shenya’s special methods activating some inscriptions.
The fiercer the tower’s flames burned, the stronger the inscriptions’ power.
“Zhang Ruochen, no more hesitation. The Eastern Domain’s fate rests on you… cough, cough…” Chen Yuhua urged.
Zhang Ruochen extended his spiritual power over the Sixth District.
The once-thriving district was now chaotic.
War hadn’t reached here yet, but panic gripped the cultivators, as if doomsday loomed, hearts in turmoil.
“Boom.”
Fireballs from other districts crashed into streets, forming craters dozens of yards wide, collapsing nearby buildings.
The district’s defensive array activated, but against Saint King-level attacks, it was frail, crumbling easily.
In the main city, Eastern Domain King Chen Yin activated the Zhou Tian Grand Array.
The eighty-one Saint King Mansions’ arrays linked, each firing a massive light pillar through the clouds into the heavens.
But before fully activating, some mansions’ arrays were sabotaged, their pillars vanishing.
Soon, the Zhou Tian Grand Array faltered and collapsed.
The city’s chaos intensified, cries of slaughter echoing everywhere.
Zhang Ruochen clenched his fists, torn within.
His reluctance to take the Torchfire Token wasn’t from fear of facing Lord Shenya or shirking responsibility.
Taking it meant returning to Kunlun Realm, rejoining it. As long as Chi Yao remained its Empress, Zhang Ruochen resisted that.
After a long pause, he reached out, accepting the token, “Fine, I’ll be the Eastern Domain King for now. If a suitable Chen Clan member emerges, I’ll pass it on.”
Joy flickered in Chen Yuhua’s eyes, “Even with the token, your spiritual power must reach the fifty-ninth rank to initially control the Torchfire Tower.”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Zhang Ruochen groaned, tempted to slap the token onto Chen Yuhua’s head.
His spiritual power had only recently hit the fifty-eighth rank—leagues from the fifty-ninth. For now, the token was little more than a trinket.
Chen Yuhua collapsed, staring skyward, murmuring as if to Zhang Ruochen and himself, “I focused on spiritual power, neglecting my saintly path, missing the Great Saint realm—a lifelong regret. Given another chance, I’d never be Eastern Domain King… Zhang Ruochen… the Eastern Domain is yours now…”
His life force ebbed swiftly. Even the Spring of Life couldn’t save him.
Death comes to all.
Higher cultivation merely delays it.
Zhang Ruochen closed Chen Yuhua’s eyes, a complex weight settling on his shoulders, a burden he couldn’t shirk.
“When the lives of billions hinge on your choice, can you still run?” A past voice echoed in his ears.
He smiled bitterly, muttering, “Some things can’t be escaped.”
“Fifty-ninth-rank spiritual power—where do I find a Saint King with that now?”
His gaze fixed on the hovering Array-Suppressing Pearl, a spark igniting. Perhaps it could counter Lord Shenya.
Zhang Ruochen claimed the pearl, then used the Torchfire Token to open the tower’s door, rushing inside.
He channelled endless saintly energy from his palms into the pearl.
Its glow intensified, rapidly draining the tower’s saintly energy. Simultaneously, a mysterious force stabilised the tower’s inscriptions.
The three glowing storeys dimmed.
“What’s happening?”
Unable to wield the inscriptions, Lord Shenya’s eyes flashed with surprise, then turned towards the Sixth District, muttering, “Did something happen to Jie Canghai?”
Jiang Yunchong rose from the blood, laughing, “Jie Canghai’s likely dead. Your plan’s missing its linchpin. I declare your scheme for the Eastern Domain Holy City a failure!”
“Hmph! Even if Jie Canghai faltered, it won’t change the outcome. I alone can crush you all—starting with you, Jiang Yunchong.”
Lord Shenya recalled the nine flags, reforming the Nine-Eyed Wind Harmony Array. Nine massive black vortexes spun, roaring towards Jiang Yunchong.
Gravely wounded, Jiang Yunchong couldn’t survive this, Lord Shenya was certain.
“Big words. You alone can’t wipe us out.”
A commanding voice boomed from the clouds, churning the sea over thousands of miles.
A towering, burly man in thick iron armour, astride a fire-lion beast, emerged from the cloud sea. With a palm strike, he clashed with the array.
“Boom.” The nine flags scattered, tumbling into the sea.
“Who are you?” Lord Shenya demanded.
The man rode forward on fire clouds, “Murong Yefeng, Chief Guardian Knight of the Saintly Central Empire’s Crown Prince, here to test your skills.”
