Exclamations of surprise rang out in the Returning Sea Pavilion.
It was Chu Jian, the foremost powerhouse of the Demon God Realm, who had arrived!
All ten great powerhouses of the Demon God Realm had absorbed the ancestral blood of the Demon Ancestor, each with world-shaking cultivation. In any other era, any one of the ten could represent the Demon God Realm’s strongest.
Chu Jian was the first among the ten.
Tonight, Chu Jian and Ao Yi would have a decisive battle on the Divine Moon Beach, vying for the title of the Southern Universe’s number one powerhouse.
Chu Jian arrived first and was invited by Shang Zian into the Li character private room on the fourth floor.
The expression on Zhang Ruochen’s face finally changed. He said, “The Dark Abyss is a famously perilous forbidden zone, where even gods face the risk of falling. I want to know, Brother Wushen, what matter brings you there?”
“No need for pretence between clear-minded people. Entering the Dark Abyss concerns the former clan leader of the Yama race. I hope Brother Zhang can lend me a hand. Regardless of the outcome, I will be endlessly grateful.” Yan Wushen’s profound gaze lingered in Chi Kunlun’s eyes.
Zhang Ruochen had once heard Luo Ji mention the matter of the Yama race’s former clan leader, but he knew very little.
He did know that the former clan leader had been one of the few divine realm powerhouses in the Infernal Court who advocated for peaceful coexistence with the Heavenly Court’s ten thousand realms. Yet, for unknown reasons, he had become trapped in the Dark Abyss.
If the Yama race’s former clan leader had truly been a “peace faction”, Zhang Ruochen would be willing to help, even without any reward, and go to the Dark Abyss.
However, Zhang Ruochen still had doubts. He said, “The Yama race has gods in abundance. Why seek me out?”
Yan Wushen seemed to have anticipated this question. He said, “The Dark Abyss is no benevolent place. It is filled with unparalleled strangeness. Gods entering may not find it easier than we would. All its various perils, I will naturally explain to you in detail before we enter.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded. “Very well! Since Brother Wushen dares to come to the appointment with one soul, how could I not dare to go to the Dark Abyss? But Brother Wushen should know that once I return to the Infernal Court, I may not be able to decide for myself. If the elders at home disagree, I am afraid I cannot go!”
Zhang Ruochen did not dare to commit fully, for he knew very little about the Dark Abyss and only had hearsay about the Yama race’s former clan leader. He planned to return to the Infernal Court, consult his mother and the War God, and then decide.
Yan Wushen naturally understood the implication in Zhang Ruochen’s words. He said, “With Brother Zhang’s current cultivation, where is the need to heed the words of gods? If Brother Zhang fears the perils of the Dark Abyss at that time and chooses to withdraw, I can understand. But tonight, I shall take it as Brother Zhang has agreed. Come, drink this cup.”
Zhang Ruochen raised his cup and drank first.
Just as Yan Wushen did not dare to come to the Heavenly Court in his true body, how could Zhang Ruochen agree to enter the Dark Abyss without knowing anything?
This, Yan Wushen had long foreseen.
But he believed that Zhang Ruochen would ultimately go with him, because Zhang Ruochen needed the Yama race’s help in the Infernal Court.
Zhang Ruochen intended to take his leave, but Shang Zian was in the next room. Now might be an opportunity to kill him.
However, in the Li character private room, there were at least three powerhouses from the Demon God Realm. To kill Shang Zian under such circumstances, no cultivator below the divine realm could likely succeed.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen knew nothing of Shang Zian’s current cultivation level. Acting rashly would be utterly unwise.
Yan Wushen saw Zhang Ruochen’s contemplative expression and, as if reading his mind, smiled. “Brother Zhang, killing intent is leaking from you!”
“Is it?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Yan Wushen replied, “It is.”
Xu Sheng, Yan Divine Consort, and Yan Xiaoli exchanged glances, finding it inconceivable, for they had sensed no killing intent at all. Was the gap in cultivation truly so vast?
Zhang Ruochen said, “Brother Wushen should know whom I wish to kill, yes?”
“I can guess.”
Yan Wushen added, “However, this is not a good place to act.”
“Is not a place where all cultivators believe no one will act the very best place to do so?” Zhang Ruochen said this, his gaze turning to Xu Sheng. “I wonder if Uncle Xu the Emperor could help me with a favour?”
“Great Saint Ruochen, speak freely,” Xu Sheng said.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Does Uncle Xu the Emperor have any grudge or enmity with Shang Zian?”
Xu Sheng was a perceptive man and understood Zhang Ruochen’s intent. He said, “I have almost no dealings with Shang Zian, but if one deliberately seeks conflict, some can certainly be found.”
“I have heard that Uncle Xu the Emperor is the foremost powerhouse of the Giant Deer Divine Dynasty. Might you act and test Shang Zian’s cultivation level?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Sheng laughed heartily and straightforwardly. “The Young Master Yan and I are life-and-death friends. Great Saint Ruochen and Young Master Yan are also close friends. This small favour, naturally, I must help with.”
Xu Sheng picked up a secret silver wine pot from the table and poured it straight into his mouth.
With the pot emptied, golden light blazed around Xu Sheng.
“Bang!”
He reached into the void and grasped a purple-gold hammer the size of a water vat, then shoved the door open with a great roar. “Shang Zian, you son of a bitch, get out here. Today, we settle this to the death.”
His voice was like thunder, silencing all the cultivators in the Returning Sea Pavilion.
“Thud, thud, thud…”
Xu Sheng’s footsteps shook the fourth floor incessantly, dense divine patterns and formation inscriptions manifesting.
No one knew what had happened, but that a cultivator in the world dared to curse Shang Zian so boldly was a shocking matter.
“It is Uncle Xu the Emperor of the Giant Deer Divine Dynasty,” some cultivators recognised Xu Sheng and said in low voices.
“Uncle Xu the Emperor is a man of refined elegance. What could make him so furious as to curse like that?”
“Wait and watch the show!”
…
“Get lost!” Xu Sheng roared explosively.
The four great saints of the Heavenly Court faction guarding the Li character private room tried to block Xu Sheng but were sent flying by a swing of his hammer. Each one’s saint body turned to pulp, their life or death unknown.
The purple-gold hammer’s power was unparalleled. Even the wind from its swing was beyond ordinary great saints.
The door to the Li character private room was pushed open.
Shang Zian had silver-white long hair, a vermilion hair crown, and an ethereal, otherworldly temperament. He glanced at the four Heavenly Court great saints who had fallen to the first floor. His ancient, still eyes revealed a trace of cold intent.
He said, “Though Uncle the Emperor holds a noble position, to strike and injure without cause is rather too domineering, is it not?”
“Strike and injure without cause? Hmph, you, the young hall master of the Merit Divine Temple, have done conscienceless deeds yet feel no guilt at all. This seat asks you: on the Merit Battlefield of the Xijia Realm five hundred years ago, was my son Xu Cailin not killed by the Merit Divine Temple? You were in the Xijia Realm at the time. Dare you say you had no hand in it?” Xu Sheng’s gaze was cold and ruthless, his anger surging to the heavens.
Shang Zian frowned. “Events from five hundred years ago, who remembers? Besides, countless cultivators die on the Merit Battlefield each year. They went willingly. What relation does it have to the Merit Divine Temple?”
“But this seat has heard that he died unjustly, not at the hands of Infernal Court cultivators but harmed by you.”
No more words. Xu Sheng had already released his path domain, pulling Shang Zian inside.
When Zhang Ruochen, Yan Divine Consort, and Yan Xiaoli stepped out of the Qian character private room, Xu Sheng and Shang Zian were already battling within the path domain.
The so-called path domain was a domain space forcibly opened by great saints who had reached the Thousand Query Realm, using their saint path rules to alter the surrounding heaven and earth rules. It was worlds apart from a saint king’s path domain.
Ordinary great saints could not see the battle unfolding in Xu Sheng’s path domain; one needed sufficiently high cultivation to do so.
Xu Sheng was indeed a top-tier figure. The number of saint path rules composing his path domain reached eighteen trillion, ranking him five hundred and seventy-fourth on the Red Dust Peerless List.
One must know that Wu Yue, the First Fate Emperor of the Fate Divine Temple’s Heavenly Mandate Division, had cultivated just over two hundred thousand saint path rules.
Though for Supreme Realm great saints, more saint path rules did not necessarily mean greater strength, the quantity was still a symbol of power and the foundation of Supreme Realm great saints.
Wu Yue Fate Emperor had used twelve trillion saint path rules to condense his supreme physical form, naturally yielding incomparable combat power. In the future, he even had a slim chance to impact three hundred trillion saint path rules and reach the level of a Yuan Hui-grade representative figure.
Precisely so, when Wu Yue Fate Emperor unleashed a forbidden technique in a mutual destruction, he could even erupt with power to contend against the Yuan Hui-grade genius Bai Qing’er. Though it was but a moment’s glory, it remained unparalleled.
Xu Sheng was not on Wu Yue Fate Emperor’s level, but with the foundation of eighteen trillion saint path rules, he was still a top-tier powerhouse.
Yet under his fierce offensive, Shang Zian flickered rapidly within the path domain, still coping with ease.
Though the purple-gold hammer erupted with immense power, it could not touch Shang Zian at all.
The two’s superiority was clear at a glance.
“Shang Zian has cultivated at least twenty-five trillion saint path rules, possibly even approaching thirty trillion.” Since Shang Zian had not released his path domain nor fully exerted his movement saint arts, Zhang Ruochen could only speculate.
Even among cultivators at the half-god peak, there were vast gaps.
A half-god peak with twenty trillion saint path rules differed immensely in combat power from one with twenty-nine trillion saint path rules.
Breaking into the divine realm with twenty trillion saint path rules naturally yielded a different number of divine seat planets from doing so with twenty-nine trillion.
Of course, the further along, the exponentially greater the difficulty in increasing by one trillion saint path rules.
Back then, Zhuo Yunnong, the foremost powerhouse of the Fate Divine Temple’s Adjudication Division, had exceeded twenty-five trillion saint path rules.
“Still not advising your family emperor? If he does not stop soon, he is likely to suffer greatly later.”
A delicate and enchanting voice sounded beside Zhang Ruochen.
The voice was like spring brook water, summer breeze, bringing endless enjoyment, yet it carried a seductive charm that could pierce a cultivator’s state of mind. A very plain sentence felt like an order.
Indeed, it was an order.
Zhang Ruochen caught a bewitchingly alluring fragrance and said indifferently, “The emperor uncle has endured the grief of losing his beloved son for five hundred years, suppressed in his heart. How could we persuade him?”
Standing behind the three were the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox and the Ancient Bronze Lion.
Yan Divine Consort and Yan Xiaoli were both affected by the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox’s voice, their eyes glazing over, nearly opening their mouths to advise Xu Sheng. But Zhang Ruochen suppressed it with his spiritual power.
What sort of powerhouse was the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox? She never expected that a mere elder from the Giant Deer Divine Dynasty could so calmly resolve her bewitchment technique.
Unwilling to accept it, she walked to Zhang Ruochen’s side, her beautiful eyes rippling as she gazed over and said, “Has this old gentleman’s spiritual power reached the sixty-ninth order peak? How have I never heard of such a senior expert in the Giant Deer Divine Dynasty before?”
