Within the Primordial Temple, all the formidable warriors of the imperial court gathered, facing several top-tier leaders without showing the slightest hint of fear.
The Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, her garments stained with blood, stood resolutely. Her earlier battle with the Heartless Evil Lord had left her severely wounded, her spirit greatly depleted, sustained only by an indomitable will.
“The day has finally come, the moment to offer our lives and blood for the Kunlun Realm,” the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady declared, her eyes gleaming with resolve.
Raising her sacred sword high, she proclaimed loudly, “Let us burn our lives, burn our sacred blood, and fight the final battle to protect the Kunlun Realm, showing the Heaven Realm faction our will and courage.”
Her words ignited a surge of spirit among all present, their sacred blood boiling, unleashing an overwhelming surge of battle intent.
“To destroy the Kunlun Realm, they must first step over our corpses.”
“Men of the Kunlun Realm shed blood, not tears.”
“We may die, but the Kunlun Realm will not perish. One day, it will rise again to the pinnacle of the universe, and then, the great worlds behind you will face reckoning.”
“We fight for the Kunlun Realm, with no regrets even in death.”
…
Many warriors spoke out, their emotions soaring, fully prepared to sacrifice themselves for the Kunlun Realm.
Almost simultaneously, led by the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady and the six Realm Sons, all the court’s warriors began to burn their lives and sacred blood, sublimating their strength to the utmost.
“Sizzle.”
In an instant, their powers converged, forming a dazzling beam of light that pierced through time and space, illuminating past and present, becoming eternal.
“Kill.”
Including Young Master Yaotian, several leaders of the Heaven Realm faction struck, each unleashing high-tier sacred techniques capable of destroying stars beyond the domain and piercing through the Ruins Realm.
“Boom.”
The ferocious attacks collided, causing the Primordial Temple to tremble violently.
Had it not been nurtured by Empress Chi Yao’s divine power, making it extraordinary, the temple would likely have shattered into fragments.
Due to burning their lives and sacred blood, the hair of all the court’s warriors rapidly turned from black to snow-white, their skin dulled, losing its lustre, as if they aged a thousand years in an instant.
Yet, even so, they could only hold on for a moment before their strength was exhausted.
“Thud.”
All the warriors of the court were sent flying backward.
None spat blood, for they had no blood left to spill.
Their faces turned as pale as paper, collapsing to the ground, without the strength to even move, utterly devoid of resistance.
The disparity in strength was too vast, even their desperate efforts could not change the outcome.
Young Master Yaotian sighed, “Why bother? You clearly had a path to survival, yet you chose a path to death. How foolish, all your efforts are meaningless.”
“We are not like you, content to be the Heaven Realm’s dog, while we stand upright as true men. It is a tragedy for the Tianquan Great World to have a leader like you,” the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady retorted.
At that moment, she alone retained some strength, able to stand and face the leaders of the Heaven Realm faction.
A cold glint flashed in Young Master Yaotian’s eyes as he said, “Your words are futile now. In the end, you cannot escape becoming my woman.”
As the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady was about to respond, a wondrous change occurred within her. Nine beams of sacred light burst from her body, forming nine faint figures that circled around her, each resembling one of the nine Mysterious Ladies.
Within these nine faint figures, each held a tear, radiating divine light in different colours.
“The Nine Radiance Divine Tears.”
Young Master Yaotian’s eyes lit up.
This was the very reason he had come to the Kunlun Realm.
At that moment, the divine light of the nine tears grew increasingly brilliant, resonating strangely with one another, each releasing a glow that infused into the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady’s body.
Instantly, her dulled skin regained its radiance, every inch of her body exuding sacred light.
“I never imagined reaching the realm spoken of by the Empress at this moment,” the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady sighed.
The Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, the Saintly Scholar “Nalan Danqing”, the Skilled Divine Lady “Qingmo”, the Canglan Martial Saint “Wan Canglan”, the Oracle Divine Lady “Xian Feizi”…, each was a prodigy of extraordinary talent, individually brilliant.
Yet, united as the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, they far surpassed their expected heights.
The Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady had once sought the Empress Chi Yao’s guidance on this matter.
Empress Chi Yao had explained in detail that the nine ladies were distinct individuals, each with their own will, making it difficult to achieve true unity of mind. Their powers, differing in nature, repelled one another, hard to fully merge.
The nine needed time to harmonise, to endure countless trials, to perfectly align and fully unleash their combined power, even surpassing their original potential.
At that point, the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady would truly be herself, with achievements potentially surpassing the Empress.
For this reason, the nine Mysterious Ladies had long remained in a united state, inseparable, hastening their integration. Now, under immense pressure, their spirits and wills had finally fused completely.
“Swoosh.”
The nine faint figures reintegrated into the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady’s body.
Without hesitation, she channelled her remaining strength into the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor”, striking with full force.
“Even now, you still struggle? Suppress her,” Young Master Yaotian commanded, shaking his head as he unleashed the Taiji Array Diagram.
The Taiji Array Diagram rotated slowly, releasing yin and yang energies, enveloping the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor”.
“Rumble.”
The “Sacred Art of the Confucian Ancestor” flipped open, and an ancient sacred figure emerged from its pages, its white beard like a heavenly blade slashing forth.
With devastating force, it shattered the Taiji Array Diagram and struck Young Master Yaotian.
“Slash.”
Half of Young Master Yaotian’s body was severed, his divine patterns on the surface broken, sacred blood splattering, sacred bones shattering, revealing his organs in a gruesome state, as he screamed in agony.
“Impossible, your strength is nearly depleted, how could you so easily wound me?” Young Master Yaotian said, swallowing healing pills while retreating.
The Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady was now terrifying, leaving him seemingly powerless before her.
Could she have fully mastered the power of the Nine Radiance Divine Tears?
“Pfft.”
At the end of her strength, the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady spat out a large mouthful of blood, her body swaying on the verge of collapse.
“The situation is dire, attack together to suppress her, kill her if necessary,” the five great world leaders of the Heaven Realm faction commanded, each striking with a Primordial Sacred Artifact, shattering the sacred figure above the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor” and pressing down ruthlessly.
In her prime, with their powers fully integrated, she would not fear them.
But now, too weak, suppressed by five Primordial Sacred Artifacts, she could not even open the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor”. Yet, she did not fall, leaning on her sacred sword, struggling to hold on.
“Zhang Ruochen is the unyielding backbone of the Kunlun Realm, and I… wish to be its final breath, never yielding, never surrendering, with no regrets in death,” the Saintly Scholar said, one hand gripping the sword, the other supporting the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor”, her sacred light fading, her skin cracking inch by inch.
Seeing this, the court warriors’ eyes filled with sorrow and despair.
In the end, they could not escape their doomed fate, and the court would cease to exist.
The result filled them with both rage and sorrow, powerless without great strength, left to be slaughtered.
The Devouring Sky Rabbit, reverted to its original form, covered in cracks, struggled and cried, “Master Chen, we can’t hold on any longer, if you don’t come soon, we’ll all die here. Your pot doesn’t want to die yet… there are so many things I haven’t eaten, at least let me taste a Great Saint Angel’s wings before I die…”
“Rumble.”
The battle outside the Primordial Temple grew fiercer.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze turned towards the Primordial Temple.
Seeing Chi Kongle, the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, and others gravely wounded and weak, a more terrifying killing intent erupted from him.
Activating the Yin-Yang Sword Array, he unleashed an unmatched sword strike.
“Thud.”
The sword light struck Archangel King Michael, sending him flying, leaving a deep, bone-visible gash.
“Stay here,” Zhang Ruochen called, but before he could rush to the Primordial Temple, two array masters led an assault, their sacred power surging like waves, blocking his path.
The next moment, Archangel King Michael flew back, laughing loudly, “Zhang Ruochen, your composure is finally broken, today you will die here.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes grew cold, his strength greatly hindered by the confinement of space and time.
“Swish—”
Another sword strike sent Archangel King Michael flying for the seventy-fourth time, covered in sword wounds, blood-soaked, and gravely injured.
Yet, with immense willpower, Archangel King Michael suppressed his wounds and returned, blood in his mouth, saying, “Fight on, my will is no weaker than yours, let’s see who falls first.”
Yin Yuanchen, the Soul Demon Lord, and the two array masters relentlessly attacked, clashing with Zhang Ruochen, heedless of their own lives, determined to suppress him.
Yin Yuanchen, with a crazed expression, said, “Are you feeling despair now? Watching those you care for fall in pools of blood, unable to save them, this is the price of opposing the Heaven Realm.”
“But don’t worry, they will die, and you won’t live long either, you’ll soon join them.”
As he spoke, Yin Yuanchen swung his divine sword again, gathering immense deathly divine power, slashing at Zhang Ruochen.
Fused with a divine corpse, his defence was formidable, unafraid of the current Zhang Ruochen.
The Heaven Realm faction held the absolute advantage, unable to easily defeat Zhang Ruochen, but able to wear him down slowly.
No one can maintain peak condition forever, and when Zhang Ruochen weakened, it would be his end.
Moreover, his concern for Chi Kongle, the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, and others disrupted his composure, making flaws more likely.
Everything was under control.
Zhang Ruochen’s state of mind was indeed shaken, unable to remain calm.
He had unleashed every technique, used all his treasures, yet remained trapped, utterly suppressed.
“Do you know what a caged beast’s struggle is? That’s you now,” the Soul Demon Lord laughed.
“The Time Temple, the Space Temple, if I, Zhang Ruochen, don’t die, I will settle this score with you,” Zhang Ruochen seethed with killing intent.
His greatest desire was to destroy the two temples suppressing from above.
No.
To slaughter all the Heaven Realm faction cultivators before him.
The Heaven Realm faction warriors all smiled, the situation decided, even Zhang Ruochen could not alter the outcome.
“Rumble.”
At that moment, a terrifying aura suddenly appeared above everyone’s heads.
“What power? Such a formidable presence.”
The Heaven Realm faction warriors all looked up.
The sky darkened, pitch black.
A majestic sacred altar appeared in the sky, its sacred light dispelling the darkness, like a blazing sun, carrying overwhelming might, plummeting swiftly.
On the altar stood dozens of sacred figures, overlooking the world, proclaiming in unison, “Your Highness, the Dragon Guard Pavilion has come to aid you in slaying the enemy.”
“Your Highness, the Dragon Guard Pavilion has come to aid you in slaying the enemy.”
…
The altar, ninety-nine zhang tall, radiated white jade-like sacred light, its surface etched with intricate patterns, sacred blood flowing within them.
Han Qiu, Shangguan Que… all Dragon Guard Pavilion members stood in specific positions on the altar.
Han Qiu declared, “The Heaven Realm faction dares to target Your Highness, a grave offence, today, they all must die.”
Ale, a member of the Dragon Guard Pavilion, had immediately notified them upon learning of the Heaven Realm faction’s actions, enabling their timely assembly and rush to the Ziwei Palace.
The altar, forged from the entire treasury of the Saintly Central Empire, housed the sacred souls of countless deceased saints of the Kunlun Realm.
Now, those sacred souls flew out, their forms not faint but solid, indistinguishable from true saint-realm cultivators.
Like ghost kings among spirits.
A unique state, neither human nor ghost.
The Dragon Guard Pavilion called them “Dispersed Saints”.
Dispersed Saints followed the sacred path left by Emperor Ming, a different path with the potential to reach Great Saint or even divine levels.
This path, called the “Bilu Path”, was created by Biluozi, one of the greatest figures of the Kunlun Realm’s Middle Ages.
Biluozi himself had walked this path, becoming a mighty deity alongside Saint Monk Xumi and the Ten Tribulations Heavenly Lord, awe-inspiring across myriad realms.
How the “Bilu Path” came into Emperor Ming’s hands remains unknown.
The Dispersed Saints, vast in number, filled the altar.
The altar crushed downward, unleashing a sound like divine thunder.
“Rumble.”
The Time Temple and Space Temple, suspended above, were the first to be shattered by the altar’s pressure.
The disciples within the two temples, unable to react, were all crushed into pulp, meeting gruesome deaths.
“Ah…”
Dongfang Qingyu let out a scream, his sacred body exploding into a mist of blood.
“Just in time, kill all the Heaven Realm faction cultivators, leave none alive.”
Freed from the two temples’ suppression, Zhang Ruochen’s aura surged, regaining control over time and space.
Mobilising time and space rules, he infused them into the mysterious sword hilt from the Sword Tomb, slashing out with a single stroke.
“Bad news.”
Archangel King Michael’s pupils constricted.
Too late to dodge.
Forced to block with the Sword of Judgment, he unleashed his vast sacred energy, constructing layers of defence.
“Thud.”
The Sword of Judgment was knocked away, all defences crumbling like paper.
At the critical moment, Archangel King Michael used the twelve halos formed by the Twelve Judgment Envoys to shield himself, absorbing most of the attack’s force.
The twelve halos shattered, reduced to scattered corpses, raining blood, the air sizzling as it burned.
All twelve Judgment Envoys perished.
Archangel King Michael survived but was gravely wounded, nearly cleaved in two, his platinum wings shredded into bloody pulp by the sword energy.
Ignoring him, Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar and charged towards the Primordial Temple.
Everything had happened in an instant, so the Heaven Realm faction cultivators within the Primordial Temple had yet to react.
What had happened?
Seeing Zhang Ruochen charge in, their scalps tingled, wishing to flee instantly.
“Don’t kill me,” Young Master Yaotian pleaded.
“Die.”
Before he could finish, Zhang Ruochen’s divine sword severed his head.
Extreme killing intent surged into his body, swiftly destroying his vitality and sacred soul.
“I am a descendant of the Nine Radiance Divine Lord, how could…” Young Master Yaotian, filled with unwillingness, faded into oblivion.
“The Nine Radiance Divine Lord has no descendant like you.”
Zhang Ruochen slapped his airborne head into fragments, irritated by the sight of his face.
The five Heaven Realm faction leaders, terrified, hurriedly recalled the five Primordial Sacred Artifacts suppressing the “Sacred Book of the Confucian Ancestor”, striking at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen wielded his sword with both hands, Shen Yuan and Dripping Blood in constant motion, cleaving all five artifacts into broken scraps of metal.
Step by step, he advanced.
One step, one sword.
By the time Zhang Ruochen took five steps to reach the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady, all five Heaven Realm faction leaders were cut in two, their corpses still airborne.
“Thud, thud.”
Only when Zhang Ruochen helped the Nine-Heavens Mysterious Lady to her feet did the five mangled corpses fall, staining the temple’s ornate floor with five brutal sacred blood murals.
“Rest and recover, leave the rest to me, rest assured, they will all die,” Zhang Ruochen said, patting her cracked jade hands, infusing the Spring of Life into her body.
