Two teams of Yanluo Clan array masters, commanding two centipede arrays over three hundred li long, soared above the battlefield where Yan Huangtu, Pink Skull, and Zhang Ruochen clashed.
The Eight Sons of Life and Death hovered atop the wall-like talisman pattern, guarding without attacking.
Yan Huangtu’s face was stripped of flesh, exposing teeth, cheekbones, and jaw in a ghastly visage. He growled, “How long can you sustain constantly activating a supreme sacred artifact?”
“I could fight like this for a day without issue. And you? When will your Yanluo qi and divine power run dry?” Zhang Ruochen replied.
Both the “Nine-Dragon Divine Patterns” on Yan Huangtu and the “Undying Divine Patterns” on Pink Skull relied on divine power within their bones. Once depleted, the divine substance would vanish, and even divine bones couldn’t protect their holy sources and souls.
Zhang Ruochen’s insight into his weakness sent a ripple through Yan Huangtu’s calm mind.
Indeed, the divine power in his bones was nearly exhausted, unable to sustain much longer.
In contrast, Zhang Ruochen brimmed with vitality. Though Yan Huangtu doubted he could truly maintain such intensity for a day, he found him unfathomable, his limits unseen.
Pink Skull fared worse, her peak combat strength waning, her aura declining.
“His demigod body combined with the Five Elements Chaotic Immortal Saint Body makes his physical form so robust, surpassing my Imperial Divine Bones in endurance?” Yan Huangtu mused.
He sent a mental command, “All cultivators, attack together.”
“Fight, suppress Zhang Ruochen.”
The Eight Sons of Life and Death instantly harnessed the Books of Life and Death, transforming them into a Tree of Life, a Divine Lake of Life, a Blood Stele of Death, Feathers of Death Light, and four other forms, striking Zhang Ruochen from afar.
United in array, their aura and might stacked exponentially.
As they joined the fray, the already precarious wall-like talisman pattern showed signs of breaking.
“Now.”
Zhang Ruochen unleashed the Immovable Bright King Saint Aspect, towering a thousand li high, its unrivalled power rippling outward, shattering the near-collapsing talisman wall completely.
Over sixty Yanluo Clan talisman masters spat blood, flying backward like straw men.
Yan Huangtu and Pink Skull, aware of the Saint Aspect’s terror, retreated swiftly.
“Where are you going?”
Zhang Ruochen had prepared the Purple Gold Gourd.
At its mouth, seventy-two million spatial inscriptions blazed, causing space within eight hundred li to tremble.
“Zhang Ruochen’s finally using the Purple Gold Gourd! Retreat, as far as possible!”
Yan Huangtu turned into a golden beam, fleeing rapidly.
“You can’t escape. Zhang Ruochen planned this moment to use the gourd, aiming to take us all down,” Pink Skull said.
Having acknowledged the gap between herself and Zhang Ruochen, Pink Skull grew calmer, seeing things more clearly.
Though Yan Huangtu was fast, he couldn’t escape beyond eight hundred li.
Zhang Ruochen had waited until now to use the gourd, calculating that their divine power was largely depleted, rendering them unable to resist its suction and spatial collapse.
“Yan Huangtu, I’ll help you escape. Remember your promise to me.”
Pink Skull’s divine light surged, manifesting a thousand-eight-hundred-li-tall divine bone true form, a Gate of Destiny appearing behind her as she charged the Purple Gold Gourd.
She mustered her dwindling divine power, throwing a punch.
Boom.
The eight-hundred-li radius, covered by a spatial array, collapsed rapidly.
The eight attacks from the Eight Sons of Life and Death were sucked into the gourd instantly, failing to harm Zhang Ruochen.
Yanluo Clan talisman masters, unable to resist, were drawn into the gourd.
Had Pink Skull’s massive divine bone true form not blocked most of the spatial collapse, the Eight Sons would have been entirely consumed.
“What a pity, a perfect chance to take them all, ruined by you.”
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the divine bone skeleton delivering a punch.
The fist, like a blood-red mountain, was immense, etched with divine patterns, carrying terrifying divine might.
Even the Immovable Bright King Saint Aspect was dwarfed by it.
“God-Demon Prison Suppression.”
Zhang Ruochen summoned a god-demon phantom, merging it with the Saint Aspect, standing atop hell with nine heavenly gates overhead. He struck a palm, clashing with Pink Skull’s fist.
“Tenfold Attack Power.”
The truth realm contracted, merging with the Saint Aspect, amplifying the palm’s power tenfold.
Boom.
With unstoppable force, the Saint Aspect sent the thousand-eight-hundred-li divine bone skeleton flying backward, its divine light dimming rapidly.
The Eight Sons of Life and Death, having fled behind Pink Skull thinking they were safe, now looked up, trembling as the divine bone skeleton soared overhead.
Before today, who could believe Yan Huangtu and Pink Skull, allied, would lose so miserably?
Zhang Ruochen crossed space, catching up to the flying divine bone skeleton, and flicked his finger.
A drop of dark spacetime matter shot out.
With his current mastery, he could unleash dark spacetime matter with greater force, perfectly blending darkness, space, and time.
Boom.
The dark spacetime matter struck the skeleton’s head, enveloping its two-hundred-li skull.
Darkness, space, and time—three eternal forces—eroded the undying divine patterns, aiming to obliterate Pink Skull’s holy soul within, killing her utterly.
Zhang Ruochen rarely killed Yanluo Clan cultivators, both to avoid making enemies and because they never sought his life directly.
Their conflicts stemmed from competition, not personal grudges.
And the competition was often provoked by Zhang Ruochen.
Pink Skull was different. Before entering the Hunting Heaven Battlefield, she had vowed to take his life, scheming to kill him.
Seizing the chance, Zhang Ruochen would kill her.
If the gods wanted him as a blade, he’d unsheathe it now.
He unleashed three more drops of dark spacetime matter. The undying divine patterns on Pink Skull’s skull faded completely, losing all light, her fluctuations ceasing.
The cosmic void seemed to hush.
“One of the three goddess candidates, Great Saint Yanhong… just… killed by Zhang Ruochen…”
“Zhang Ruochen’s in deep trouble. Great Saint Yanhong had immense backing in the Temple of Destiny and the Bone Clan.”
“I don’t believe it! Yanhong had an undying body, unkillable even by Supreme Realm Great Saints. How could she die by Zhang Ruochen’s hand?”
“With the undying divine patterns on her skull erased, how could she still live?” a Bone Clan cultivator sighed.
…
Zhang Ruochen flew above the planet-sized divine bone skeleton, probing with mental power, then wove spatial inscriptions to bind it.
The thousand-eight-hundred-li skeleton shrank…
To normal human size.
Zhang Ruochen sealed the ring-shaped supreme sacred artifact and stored Pink Skull in a king-grade sacred artifact’s inner space.
Though dead, her divine bones held immense value, and the undying divine patterns offered great research potential.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen sensed a strange area deep in her skull, impervious to mental probing, hinting at a hidden secret.
After this, Zhang Ruochen held the Seven-Star Ghost Lotus in one hand, the Purple Gold Gourd in the other, and with a commanding gaze, looked at Yan Huangtu in the distance, “Where’s your clone? Still not playing that trump card? Hiding won’t help, I’ll find him soon.”
“Zhang Ruochen, you’re undeniably a once-in-an-eon genius, but I, Yan Huangtu, will never admit defeat.”
Yan Huangtu’s true body, now a golden skeleton, was too wounded for flesh to regrow quickly.
The Eight Sons of Life and Death and two array centipedes flew to his side, Yanluo Clan Great Saints’ eyes blazing with resolve, ready to fight Zhang Ruochen to the death.
They refused to believe he could single-handedly crush their entire clan’s powerhouses.
…
On Dark Star No. 7, Yan Wushen had set up a hundred-zhang-diameter spatial teleportation array, harnessing the star’s dark and spatial forces for long-distance transmission.
Emperor Chi, with some knowledge of spatial arts, confirmed the array’s safety, not a trap by Yan Wushen.
He waved, “All Great Saint slaves, enter the array.”
“No rush, we can wait,” Yan Wushen said.
Prajna gave him a strange look.
Emperor Chi cast a puzzled glance, “Why wait?”
Yan Wushen replied, “The teleportation array on the Undead Blood Clan’s home star is likely exposed or destroyed. We can’t pinpoint teleport there. We must wait until the Yanluo and Bone Clans destroy the star’s protective array, or it’ll be troublesome.”
Yan Wushen and Prajna stood three thousand steps away, on another teleportation array, its light flickering, ready to depart.
Clearly, facing a powerhouse like Emperor Chi, Yan Wushen was cautious.
Survival first.
Emperor Chi asked, “Haven’t you received a Yanluo Clan transmission talisman? They haven’t informed you the array’s broken?”
Yan Wushen shook his head.
Prajna glanced at him again, realisation dawning.
Though Yan Wushen hadn’t received word of the Undead Blood Clan’s protective array breaking, he had heard of unusual five-coloured light emanating from their home star.
No need to guess—the array was surely broken.
The five-coloured light likely tied to Zhang Ruochen.
Moreover, while setting up the array, Yan Wushen had worked at a leisurely pace, unhurried.
Prajna deduced he was stalling.
Why stall?
Likely to exhaust Zhang Ruochen and Yan Huangtu, letting them weaken each other.
Worse, Yan Wushen might be borrowing a knife to kill.
Using Zhang Ruochen’s blade to eliminate Yan Huangtu.
No cultivators understood Zhang Ruochen’s strength better than Prajna and Yan Wushen—not just his combat prowess, but his heart.
A heart that grew stronger in adversity.
In dire straits, he unleashed extraordinary power.
Though Yan Huangtu and Pink Skull seemed dominant, to Prajna and Yan Wushen, even combined, they likely couldn’t match Zhang Ruochen.
Prajna thought, “The world sees Yan Wushen as a brainless martial fanatic, no match for Yan Huangtu’s cunning. But a cultivator who navigates the Merit Battlefield freely lacks neither wit nor wisdom, or he’d have died countless times. How could Yan Wushen not know Yan Huangtu’s jealousy? One mountain can’t hold two tigers.”
Above Dark Star No. 7, Wujiang, Great Saint Yuanfei, and others stood within the Scroll of Truth and Illusion, astonished.
They never imagined Prajna and Yan Wushen could persuade Emperor Chi to lead all Great Saint slaves to teleport to the Undead Blood Clan’s home star.
Great Saint Yuanfei said meaningfully, “I understand! In war, envoys aren’t killed. Besides, killing Yan Wushen and Prajna isn’t easy for Emperor Chi.”
Wujiang pondered, then smiled, “I get it too! Sending the Great Saint slaves to the Undead Blood Clan’s star isn’t hard. The key is having the guts to negotiate with them. In foresight, I’m far behind Prajna and Yan Wushen. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?”
“For these dozens of days, all Great Saint slaves, including Emperor Chi, have depleted their holy qi without replenishment on Dark Star. They’re too weak for a prolonged fight. They’re more eager than anyone to leave Dark Star No. 7,” Yuanfei said.
Wujiang added, “Dark Star No. 7 is a cage they can’t escape. At the Undead Blood Clan’s star, the chaotic situation gives them a chance to flee.”
“If Yan Wushen promised Emperor Chi a thing or two…” Yuanfei trailed off.
Wujiang nodded, “Yan Wushen delayed until the final day, knowing the slaves’ survival instincts would peak, no longer resigned to death. With strong survival desire and a glimmer of hope, how could they refuse?”
