Even a mighty Six-Tribulation Ghost King perished instantly under Zhang Ruochen’s sword, filling the others with dread.
Possessing high intelligence, they knew to seek advantage and avoid harm. None dared face him alone, fearing they’d be picked off one by one.
“You’ve finally used the power of time—truly extraordinary.”
Grand Dawn King’s face remained calm, but her heart wasn’t unruffled.
Taming a Ghost King was no small feat.
Especially a Six-Tribulation one—most were nurtured from weakness, requiring vast resources. They weren’t easily subdued.
Each fallen Six-Tribulation Ghost King meant losing billions of saint stones.
Grand Dawn King strove for composure. Her dark eyes gleamed with divine seals, scrutinising Zhang Ruochen’s every move, seeking flaws in his time sword technique.
Simultaneously, she issued new orders to the Ghost Kings, “Take your array positions.”
Led by the four remaining Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings, over forty others stepped into intricate patterns, occupying the ghost array’s nodes.
Their ghostly energy surged, merging with the array’s inscriptions.
Instantly, Zhang Ruochen felt immense pressure.
“Grand Dawn King is impressive—controlling dozens of powerful Ghost Kings alone. Her might surpasses many ancient sect leaders.”
One person rivalled a sect.
The forty-plus Ghost Kings channelled their energy to the array’s centre.
A blood-red millstone formed, humming as it spun, resembling a rotating star.
“Zhang Ruochen, submit now, and you’ll have a chance to live. Otherwise, when the World-Ending Millstone flies, you’ll be ground to blood and dust—body and soul destroyed.”
Grand Dawn King controlled the millstone single-handedly. Its bloodlight cast a strange crimson sheen on her crystalline face.
With his Five-Element Chaos Body and mastery of space-time, Zhang Ruochen was a rare prodigy. Rather than kill him, she’d prefer to claim him.
The World-Ending Millstone, one of her key trump cards, could effortlessly shred Nine-Step Saint Kings.
Thus, she wielded it with utmost caution.
As it spun, the ghost array became a vortex, whipping up sand and stone. Zhang Ruochen stabbed the Abyss Ancient Sword into the ground to steady himself.
He laughed, “I’ll give you a chance too—submit to me, and you’ll have a chance to live.”
Grand Dawn King didn’t believe he could break the millstone, her gaze indifferent, “Use whatever you’ve got. If I can’t withstand it, I’ll die without complaint.”
“Very well.”
Zhang Ruochen directed all his saintly energy to his left leg.
“Crackle.”
His left leg glowed red-hot like molten iron, over ten thousand rule patterns surfacing.
With a boom, a wave of fire erupted from his foot, surging outward, shaking the ghost array violently.
Grand Dawn King sensed a vast divine might from him, her expression shifting sharply.
It mirrored Yan God’s power—nearly identical.
“So you’re the one from Heavenly Absolute Pavilion. All that talk of Yan God’s secret disciple was a lie.”
Unsure of Zhang Ruochen’s power, she felt a dire threat. Without hesitation, she and the forty-two Ghost Kings unleashed the World-Ending Millstone.
“Divine Step Nine Heavens.”
Zhang Ruochen raised his left leg, channelling Yan God’s Leg power and a recently mastered mid-tier leg saint technique.
“Boom.”
His foot slammed down, a tidal wave of divine force shattering the ghost array.
The forty-two Ghost Kings screamed, their bodies breaking apart, then incinerated by fiery qi, souls scattering. Only the four Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings survived, gravely wounded.
A protective treasure—a wishbone-shaped pendant at Grand Dawn King’s slender waist—glowed white, shielding her from the divine flames. She sustained only minor injuries, quickly stabilising.
Seeing most of her painstakingly cultivated Ghost Kings crushed by one stomp, she lost her calm, teeth clenched, “Today, I’ll rip out your saint soul and refine it into a war soul to offset my losses.”
“Your Majesty? Quite the regal air, Fairy,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Her chest heaved faintly as she huffed, “How can you wield Yan God’s power?”
“Submit to me, and I’ll tell you,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
His greatest foe was undoubtedly Shang Ziyan.
Capturing Grand Dawn King would be a trump card against him.
In their rivalry, Shang Ziyan had always held the upper hand, forcing Zhang Ruochen into desperate counters, each time narrowly escaping death.
Now, Zhang Ruochen sought the initiative.
He lifted his left leg slightly.
Grand Dawn King retreated dozens of yards, widening the gap.
“Fairy, so afraid of this leg?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
He wasn’t fully satisfied with that stomp—failing to kill the four Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings and letting Grand Dawn King escape.
His cultivation was still lacking.
He’d only refined over ten thousand of the red rules in his left leg, far from unleashing Yan God’s Leg’s true might.
But to Grand Dawn King, that strike rivalled a Domain of the Dao cultivator’s blow, earning her deep wariness.
“No wonder Ziyan sees you as a major threat. I underestimated you.”
She drew a talisman, holding it between slender fingers, “This was meant for a Domain of the Dao foe, but now, it’s for you.”
The talisman ignited, forming a fireball.
Within emerged a skull.
Its sinister power assaulted Zhang Ruochen’s saint soul, plunging his vision into darkness, as if he’d fallen into hell—body numbing, chilling.
The flaming skull hovered above, jaws gaping to devour his soul.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen looked up, his brow’s Space-Time Martial Mark spinning rapidly. A long roar erupted, Pure Extinguishing Divine Fire spewing forth, striking the skull.
It shattered, vanishing into the air.
“Another saint soul attack? Last time’s lesson wasn’t enough?”
Zhang Ruochen roared, using spatial shift to appear before Grand Dawn King, hand grasping her snowy neck.
For the first time, she faced such peril, her face paling. She deployed a movement technique, retreating swiftly. Beyond her fifty-ninth-rank spiritual power, her martial cultivation reached Eight-Step Saint King.
But to her shock, no matter how fast she fled, Zhang Ruochen’s hand closed in like a relentless parasite.
“Hmm… Zhang… Ruochen…”
Caught!
Showing no mercy, Zhang Ruochen gripped her neck like a cat, lifting her off the ground. His fingers locked her saintly meridians and channels, halting her saintly energy.
“Let go of Her Majesty!”
“Die!”
Two wounded Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings charged from behind, unleashing ghost weapons ten yards away.
“Boom.”
Zhang Ruochen’s left palm struck.
A massive dragon shadow surged, hurling them back, their bodies shattering, injuries worsening.
“Dare act again, and I’ll snap her neck now.”
He held Grand Dawn King aloft, toes dangling, hair cascading like a stunning ghost.
She struggled, swinging her crystal saint staff at him.
“Bang.”
With a flex of his arm, Zhang Ruochen slammed her into the ground, cracking it into countless fissures.
She groaned in pain, her body limp, saintly energy and spiritual power scattered, unable to resist.
The four wounded Six-Tribulation Ghost Kings encircled them, staring gravely.
Zhang Ruochen tossed out the Yi Emperor Bone Staff, “Deal with them!”
An eerie laugh rang from the staff as it became a black skeleton, gleefully charging the Ghost Kings.
Now, the evil spirit rivalled a Nine-Step Saint King of the Greater Rule Heaven, easily handling four injured Six-Tribulation foes.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Grand Dawn King’s waist, clamping her under his arm, and dashed into the Torchfire Tower.
“Bang.”
He bound her with the Saint-Binding Rope, tossing her to the ground near the well’s base.
One hand held the rope, the other pressed the Abyss Ancient Sword to her brow, “Live or die?”
Blood trickled from her lips, her exquisite face dust-streaked, eyes cold yet weak, “Death… kill me quickly… or are you afraid to?”
Zhang Ruochen knew she sought death deliberately.
A beauty like her, captured, could never live as gloriously as before.
Death was freedom.
“Since you want death, I’ll make you live. But how you live is my call—perhaps sent to Kunlun’s vilest brothel, or stripped and paraded before Shang Ziyan, enslaved in shame. Scared yet?” Zhang Ruochen said.
He spared enemies no pity.
Her eyes flashed with anger and a hint of fear.
He added, “But if you submit—or do one task for me—I’ll let you live or die with dignity.”
“What task?” she asked.
