Outside the Central Imperial City, the Hell Realm had amassed an army of over forty million Saint Realm warriors, with nearly one in ten being Saint King Realm powerhouses.
Such a formidable force would be invincible on other merit battlefields.
Yet in the Kunlun Realm, this was merely a fraction of the Hell Realm’s forces, with more armies still unable to enter, stationed at battlefields behind various world rifts.
Zhang Ruochen faced no obstacles, striding out of the imperial city to the vast battlefield beyond.
The closer one was to the imperial city, the stronger the influence of the array’s divine patterns, making the ground exceptionally stable and resistant to damage. Otherwise, the repeated clashes of top powerhouses would have long left the area around the city in ruins.
The hundreds of powerhouses who had rushed over at top speed now followed Zhang Ruochen, appearing on the city walls, curious to see what he intended to do.
Zhang Ruochen stood in midair, waving a hand. The Shen Yuan Ancient Sword and Blood-Dripping Sword flew out, activating the Yin-Yang Sword Formation, manifesting a vast, boundless Yin-Yang Taiji pattern that blotted out the sky.
A profoundly mysterious sword intent rapidly spread, intangible yet undeniably real, keenly felt by every sword cultivator.
“Hum.”
In an instant, the swords of all cultivators inside and outside the imperial city trembled violently, summoned by a powerful force. Many swords flew uncontrollably toward the Yin-Yang Taiji pattern in the sky.
At the same time, the flowers, grass, and stones outside the city transformed, taking on a sharp edge as countless sword lights soared into the sky.
At a certain level of swordsmanship, all things in heaven and earth could become a sword.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze was cold as his hands formed sword seals, activating the Yin-Yang Sword Formation.
“Swish—”
A terrifying sword beam, tens of thousands of zhang long, erupted from the Yin-Yang Taiji pattern, piercing the heavens and earth, rending the universe.
Instantly, nearly all cultivators felt an illusion: the world darkened, with the sword beam as the only light, their minds irresistibly drawn to it.
The sword beam slashed down, aimed directly at the Hell Realm’s camp, unstoppable in its might.
The Hell Realm’s camp was protected by intricate arrays set up by array masters, with defenses so strong that even ordinary Immortal Great Saints could hardly dent them.
But now, facing the tens-of-thousands-zhang-long sword beam, these arrays were as flimsy as paper, utterly unable to resist.
“Boom.”
The sword beam tore through the arrays like a hot knife through butter, cleaving the entire camp in two.
Even the extraordinarily solid ground outside the city was sliced open, leaving a deep trench ten zhang wide, stretching a thousand li.
In many places along the path, scorching magma erupted, creating a terrifying scene.
With this single strike, the Hell Realm suffered catastrophic losses, countless cultivators obliterated in body and soul, with even more wounded.
And this was with arrays and powerhouses attempting to resist. Without them, the casualties would have multiplied.
Though called a city, the Central Imperial City was not merely a city.
It was more like a small world.
Like the Eastern Region Saint City, a planet, the Central Imperial City was even larger.
Though the Hell Realm had forty million Saint Realm warriors, surrounding such a vast, world-like city was no easy task.
Their arrays couldn’t be equally strong everywhere, naturally unable to withstand Zhang Ruochen’s attack.
“What a ferocious sword.”
On the city walls, the Heavenly Realm’s powerhouses were all stunned, many gasping in shock.
It was hard to imagine that a Saint King Realm cultivator could unleash such a terrifying attack. How many below the Great Saint level could withstand it?
The faces of the Blood Heaven Evil Lord and Prince Yaotian grew grim, clearly regretting their earlier confrontation with Zhang Ruochen—an unwise move.
With this one sword, who would dare question him again?
In the Hell Realm’s camp, array masters acted swiftly, setting up powerful arrays to prevent further attacks.
“Swish.”
Figures rushed out from the damaged camp.
All were top powerhouses, including the Bone Clan’s Three Emperors and Five Venerables, familiar to Zhang Ruochen.
These powerhouses were filled with rage, their killing intent surging.
Everything had happened too suddenly. Though they reacted quickly, they could only mitigate some losses, not prevent them entirely.
“Zhang Ruochen, are you seeking death? Do you really think no one can handle you?” a Ghost Clan powerhouse roared.
In other circumstances, he might have feared Zhang Ruochen, but with the Hell Realm’s powerhouses gathered, what could Zhang Ruochen do, no matter how strong?
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the Ghost Clan powerhouse and said calmly, “Not convinced? Then come fight me.”
The Ghost Clan powerhouse’s expression shifted. He was indeed a top figure in the Ghost Clan, fearless of most below the Great Saint level, but facing Zhang Ruochen made him hesitate.
Leaving aside Zhang Ruochen’s record of defeating Yan Wushen, that single sword strike earlier—how many could stand unshaken?
“What? No one dares to act? Are the Hell Realm’s cultivators all this cowardly?” Zhang Ruochen said coldly.
His words ignited fury among the Hell Realm’s powerhouses. Such scorn was intolerable.
A short figure stepped forward, five feet tall, clad in dark golden armor, with two thick bone horns on its head, black flames swirling around its body.
The black flames distorted the surrounding space, as if it might melt.
“Hell Annihilation Flame—it’s Bone Nether Emperor.”
A Heavenly Realm powerhouse whispered.
Bone Nether Emperor was the Bone Clan’s strongest below the Great Saint level, ranking firmly in the top ten among the Hell Realm’s ten clans.
Not only was his strength formidable, but his defense was astonishing. His demigod-level bone body could clash head-on with supreme holy artifacts, shrugging off ordinary attacks like a tickle.
Bone Nether Emperor released a powerful aura, locking onto Zhang Ruochen. “The Hell Realm will not be insulted. Let this emperor test you.”
Confident in his strength, Bone Nether Emperor knew of Yan Wushen’s good-and-evil split and that Zhang Ruochen had defeated his weaker evil body in Luoshui.
Yan Wushen’s reputation was indeed great, hailed as invincible below the Great Saint level.
But without a fight, Bone Nether Emperor didn’t believe he was inferior. Moreover, since arriving in the Kunlun Realm, his cultivation had advanced, giving him confidence to face Yan Wushen’s good body.
Thus, he saw Zhang Ruochen as not invincible.
Besides, if no one stepped up, how could the Hell Realm save face?
“Let’s see how many swords you can take,” Zhang Ruochen said calmly.
As he spoke, he casually waved a hand. The Yin-Yang Sword Formation activated, the Yin-Yang Taiji pattern contracting. Two sharp sword beams shot from the Yin and Yang eyes, radiating distinct sword intents—one of life, one of death—intertwining and cycling endlessly.
Bone Nether Emperor snorted, showing no intent to dodge, planning to use his formidable bone body to withstand the two sword beams.
To him, his demigod-level bone body was his greatest weapon, every part usable in battle.
As he channeled power, countless demigod rules surfaced on his fist, releasing immense strength.
His predecessor had reached the demigod realm, one step from true divinity, with rules fused into every bone. Even after falling millennia ago, they never dissipated.
This was the key to his bone body’s extraordinary resilience.
“Bang.”
The life-and-death sword beams, ever-changing—now sharp, now soft—sliced open a dark spatial rift, striking Bone Nether Emperor’s fist solidly.
Despite his efforts to resist, he plummeted from midair.
“Boom.”
Bone Nether Emperor landed, like a meteor crashing, shattering the ground.
“What power. Has Zhang Ruochen’s strength grown again recently?” he thought.
Yan Wushen’s secret battle with Zhang Ruochen in the imperial city, though causing a stir, was unknown to the Hell Realm.
Since few witnessed their fight, almost no one could accurately gauge Zhang Ruochen’s true strength.
In Bone Nether Emperor’s hollow eye sockets, two flames flickered like eyes, coldly inspecting his fist.
The strike’s power was terrifying, dimming the demigod rules he had summoned, forcing them back into his bones.
Yet his bone body was unharmed, though a strange sword intent invaded, targeting his saint soul.
Fortunately, a secret treasure protected his soul, keeping him unscathed.
“Roar.”
Bone Nether Emperor looked up, letting out a long howl.
Surging Hell Annihilation Flame erupted from his bone body, its destructive aura spreading, further shattering the ground into viscous magma.
Hell Annihilation Flame, a terrifying fire comparable to the Eternal Path, existed deep in the Hell Realm, mastered by few since ancient times.
If wielded by a sufficiently powerful being, it could reduce a major world to ashes.
As his aura surged, Bone Nether Emperor’s bone body expanded to a thousand zhang, countless demigod rules emerging, drawing vast rules and saint qi from the heavens and earth.
With a wave of his arm, a long bone whip appeared, thousands of zhang long, seemingly crafted from a dragon’s spine, each segment inscribed with countless supreme inscriptions.
As it lashed out, the bone whip seemed alive, unleashing bursts of supreme power, striking at Zhang Ruochen like lightning.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm, his sword seals shifting unhurriedly.
“Yin-Yang cycle, swallowing heaven and earth.”
The Yin-Yang Taiji pattern rotated slowly, releasing immense suction, like a massive black hole.
The bone whip, just striking, was caught by the pattern, its force effortlessly dissipated.
Then, several condensed sword energies slashed out from the pattern.
“Bang.”
Struck by the sword energies, Bone Nether Emperor’s massive body was sent flying hundreds of li, crashing into a towering ridge.
Instantly, the ridge collapsed, dust rising, burying his massive form.
The Yin-Yang Taiji pattern pressed down like an ancient divine mountain.
Bone Nether Emperor struggled to rise, fighting to break the pattern, but he couldn’t move.
Even Yan Wushen, after merging good and evil, had to exert immense effort to tear a gap in the Yin-Yang Sword Formation. Bone Nether Emperor’s strength was clearly lacking.
Seeing this, the Hell Realm’s powerhouses felt their spirits sink.
That someone as mighty as Bone Nether Emperor could fall so swiftly was hard to accept.
“Strange, why hasn’t Yan Wushen acted?” a Heavenly Realm powerhouse wondered.
If fighting in the city was inconvenient, Yan Wushen should have no such concerns outside.
With the domineering strength he displayed, no one believed he feared Zhang Ruochen.
Yet not only did he not act, but his presence was nowhere to be seen, as if he had already left.
Only Zhang Ruochen knew Yan Wushen wasn’t unwilling to act but couldn’t. His good-and-evil bodies hadn’t fully merged, leaving a fatal flaw.
Against Zhang Ruochen, wielding the Shen Yuan and Blood-Dripping Swords, his chances of victory were slim.
Thus, Yan Wushen was likely in seclusion, refining his merger. He wouldn’t reappear until it was complete.
Losing to Zhang Ruochen at full strength would severely damage his invincible belief.
His previous two encounters didn’t truly count as losses.
In another direction, Rakshasa Princess Luo Ji stood in the sky, her gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen, strange lights flickering in her eyes.
Last time, Zhang Ruochen captured her, took her sword hilt, and forced her clan to trade a Saint Path Ancient Tea Tree, leaving her humiliated.
Known for her cunning, Luo Ji kept suffering losses against Zhang Ruochen.
“This Zhang Ruochen is getting stronger, but provoking the Hell Realm like this—does he think no one can kill him? If Yan Wushen can’t, a Great Saint can. If not a Great Saint, surely a god can.”
“Fated one, fated one… perhaps my fated nemesis.”
Luo Ji sighed, head aching at the thought.
Elsewhere, in the Undying Blood Clan’s camp, many powerhouses, including Blood Chen Heavenly Lord, watched Zhang Ruochen.
Blood Chen Heavenly Lord gazed at him from afar, a glint in his eyes, murmuring, “Xiao Xiao, see that? That’s the son of Fourteenth Aunt and a human.”
“Cousin?”
Xue Ningxiao looked at Zhang Ruochen with interest.
She appeared sixteen or seventeen, with a bewitching face, her body flickering between solid and ethereal, sometimes fading into nothingness, eerily strange.
“Older cousin. He’s at least eight hundred years old; you’re just over a hundred,” Blood Chen Heavenly Lord said.
Xue Ningxiao’s eyes sparkled as she smiled. “Pretty strong, but I don’t believe he can beat Yan Wushen. That big guy’s no small fry—one in an eon.”
Blood Chen Heavenly Lord offered no comment, his expression calm. After a moment, he said, “Fourteenth Aunt has become a god.”
“What? A god?” Xue Ningxiao exclaimed.
After all, her grandfather, Blood Absolute War God, was a god and the Blood Heaven Tribe’s top war god, having surpassed several ancient gods.
Now, with another god in the Blood Absolute Family, the tribe was likely to undergo massive changes.
Blood Chen Heavenly Lord nodded slightly. “She contacted me recently.”
“When will Fourteenth Aunt return to the Hell Realm?” Xue Ningxiao asked.
Since she became a god, she would surely return.
“Soon, but she has matters to settle in the Kunlun Realm. Sixth Uncle is still suppressed; she’ll definitely free him before leaving,” Blood Chen Heavenly Lord said.
“Sixth Uncle’s still alive?” Xue Ningxiao asked.
Blood Chen Heavenly Lord glared at her. “Fourteenth Aunt told me that if Sixth Uncle has survived this long, his mindset, body, and will have likely reached divine levels, perhaps surpassing ordinary gods. The day he’s freed, he’ll become a god. You dare curse a god’s death?”
Another god in the Blood Absolute Family?
Xue Ningxiao was stunned, then sighed. “Once Fourteenth Aunt and Sixth Uncle return, the Blood Absolute Family will shake things up. Those from back then will face a reckoning. What will Grandfather decide?”
“With two gods returning, what do you think?”
Blood Chen Heavenly Lord added, “No one expected Sixth Uncle and Fourteenth Aunt, both of lesser birth, forced to the Kunlun Realm, to both become gods. Now, even Fourteenth Aunt’s descendant is this monstrous. If the clan’s mainline elders knew, they’d probably cry.”
Xue Ningxiao snorted. “Lesser-born children fight on merit battlefields, conquering stars, while mainline children enjoy peace, only needing to cultivate. The Blood Absolute Family’s rules need changing.”
“Who told you the strongest in each generation are mainline? Their purer blood makes it easier to become Great Saints, so they don’t need to fight on merit battlefields.”
A mocking glint flashed in Blood Chen Heavenly Lord’s eyes, clearly disdainful of the clan’s mainline.
The reason was simple: his father was also of lesser birth, not forced to the Kunlun Realm like Pluto and Blood Empress to fight for the Undying Blood Clan.
Growing up, he endured plenty of bullying from mainline members. Without his exceptional talent, he wouldn’t have his current status or Blood Absolute War God’s attention.
In the Hell Realm, many powerhouses didn’t need to fight on merit battlefields. Some prodigies were unknown to the Heavenly Realm, which was normal given the gods’ limited knowledge of the Hell Realm.
