The battle worsened, and in an instant, life and death hung in the balance.
Everyone could see that this time, Zhang Ruochen might truly fall, for Yin Yuanchen, Shang Ziyan, Lanying, and Yuan each wielded powers capable of extinguishing all his vitality.
The four masters’ resolve to kill him was unwavering.
However, the great saints who had reached the Supreme Realm and the gods in the sky watched with solemn expressions, their attention fixed on the number of Zhang Ruochen’s holy path precepts.
He was only a thousand precepts away from the extreme number of two Yuanhui, extraordinarily close.
Compared to the trillion precepts, a thousand holy path precepts seemed insignificant, almost negligible. But for Zhang Ruochen at this moment, that thousand was the difference between heaven and earth.
This was a contest with the universe itself!
The force of the universe suppressed him.
If he broke through, he would triumph over the heavens.
If he failed, Zhang Ruochen could still be called the greatest in the world, but only in the world. To shed the word “world” from his title, he fought to the death, using the pressure of mortality to ignite his potential.
Blood Absolute War God and Blood Empress watched intently, their spirits taut.
Even with the mindset of gods, they could not remain calm.
Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar, and dense purple lightning vines sprouted from his back, enveloping his body. Within the vines, Moyin’s figure flickered faintly. Three swords, red, black, and white, formed a sword array to meet Shang Ziyan’s Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal.
“Boom!”
Moyin’s cultivation was formidable, and the sword array she formed was supremely refined.
But it held for only a breath before the Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal shattered it, snapping all the vines. The three swords, originally belonging to three angel emperors, flew backward, one grazing Moyin’s waist, nearly injuring her.
Faced with Shang Ziyan’s devastating strike, who would dare meet it head-on?
Even with Moyin’s cultivation, or that of Yin Yuanchen or Que, they would avoid its edge.
“Master, lend me the Sundial.”
Moyin extended her right arm, which transformed into dozens of lightning bolts, sweeping up the Sundial to clash with the Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal. Countless time imprint specks flew out with the Sundial.
Lanying’s World-Destroying Asura sword cleaved Zhang Ruochen’s blood-soaked body in two, with a surge of killing aura invading his body, destroying his vitality.
But Lanying paid a price, struck by a phantom river of time, instantly losing a thousand years of lifespan.
His body weakened, and he rapidly retreated.
While retreating, he released the Heavenly Sword Soul, controlling six swords to seal Zhang Ruochen’s six directions, leaving him no chance to escape.
Moyin and the Sundial plummeted from the sky, shrouded in blood mist.
At great cost, Moyin broke the Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal but lost her combat strength.
Zhang Ruochen was now only a hundred holy path precepts away from two Yuanhui.
Closer still!
But his holy path precepts stalled, no longer growing.
From above, Yin Yuanchen’s cold voice rang out, “One Yuanhui, the heavens can tolerate. Two Yuanhui, the heavens will not allow. There’s no need to keep striving. I’ll send you on your way.”
“Clang!”
The Witch God Sword grew to a thousand zhang, like a sword-shaped mountain, thrusting downward with overwhelming force.
Zhang Ruochen’s two severed body parts reformed, with no time to refine the killing aura within him. Clasping his hands, he used a forbidden technique, burning his lifespan, his power surging higher and higher.
The Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror expanded to the size of a lake, pushed out by Zhang Ruochen’s palm to collide with the Witch God Sword’s tip.
“Boom!”
Space showed signs of fracturing.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen’s combat strength surpassed his earlier state, blocking the Witch God Sword.
But his opponents were not just Yin Yuanchen.
Yuan, standing amidst ghostly clouds, spread her arms, and thousands of bone spears formed from holy path precepts broke through Zhang Ruochen’s defenses, striking him one after another.
With each spear, Zhang Ruochen spat blood.
Yet, astonishingly, attacks from a Yuanhui-level figure failed to pierce his body.
The bone spears broke through skin and flesh but were stopped by his bones.
Undoubtedly, burning his lifespan had made Zhang Ruochen’s physical defense even more formidable, able to withstand Yuan’s attacks head-on.
“Damn it! Can’t kill him without a supreme holy artifact?”
A string of bells wrapped around Yuan’s arm flew out, circling her body. With each orbit, the twelve bells doubled in size, their supreme inscriptions growing brighter.
The bells’ sound affected the holy souls of all cultivators from the Heavenly Realm and Infernal Court.
“Soul-Devouring Bells!” Prajna glanced at her.
“Boom!”
Yin Yuanchen landed on the Witch God Sword’s hilt, unleashing the Tongtian Domain, drawing endless holy energy from heaven and earth through his feet into the sword, pressing the Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror and Zhang Ruochen toward the sea.
“Your holy path precepts have stopped growing. Even if you burn all your lifespan, you cannot resist the heavens’ suppression.” To kill the lifespan-burning Zhang Ruochen, Yin Yuanchen also used a forbidden technique, cutting his wrist to fuel the Witch God Sword with his holy blood.
“Ding, ding, dang, dang!”
The twelve Soul-Devouring Bells, now the size of bronze gongs, linked together and flew toward Zhang Ruochen.
The bells drew closer.
To Zhang Ruochen, their sound was earth-shaking, soul-rattling.
Gritting his teeth, he resisted the bells’ influence while using his strong will to connect with the seven soul swords in his qi sea.
As the twelve Soul-Devouring Bells were about to strike, a graceful, slender figure appeared before Zhang Ruochen, revealing Prajna’s face and form.
“Bang!”
Prajna swung the Staff of Destiny, striking the Soul-Devouring Bells, sending them spinning back.
Prajna’s intervention stunned all the cultivators.
Yuan, standing in the ghostly clouds above, was even more shocked, incredulous.
“The Staff of Destiny, the Wood of Heaven’s Decision. The change of space and time, light and darkness divided.”
Countless destiny precepts flowed from Prajna’s Staff of Destiny, forming a towering divine tree of light and darkness, supporting the Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror and holding back the Witch God Sword and Yin Yuanchen pressing down on it.
“Zhang Ruochen, this goddess will help you break through. Follow me.”
Prajna grabbed Zhang Ruochen’s hand, flying away from the Staff of Destiny and Hidden Mountain Demon Mirror, stepping on a winding Styx River, riding the waves, soaring into the sky.
Dark clouds filled the sky, dense with ghostly runes, yet they could not hinder the Styx.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes locked onto Prajna’s sharply defined, breathtakingly beautiful profile, his heart filled with profound shock. This shock was not grand or spectacular but stemmed from subtle, deep emotions.
In front of countless cultivators from the Heavenly Realm and Infernal Court, with myriad eyes watching, Prajna took his hand, flying through the howling cloudy winds. This scene felt dreamlike, unreal.
In moments, they had soared tens of thousands of zhang into the sky.
“Seeking death.”
After a brief moment of surprise, Yin Yuanchen withdrew the Witch God Sword, then pointed a sword gesture toward the Styx in the sky.
“Swish!”
The Witch God Sword grew mountain-sized again, locking onto Prajna and Zhang Ruochen’s auras, thrusting toward them.
Prajna glanced back, stopped, and struck with a palm.
The Gate of True Self, dazzling to the extreme, appeared before her palm like a shield, clashing heavily with the Witch God Sword.
“Boom!”
To the onlookers below, the collision of the light gate and giant sword erupted in radiance ten times brighter than before. Waves of light spread out, illuminating hundreds of thousands of li of sea.
Prajna let out a muffled sound, turned to Zhang Ruochen, a trace of tenderness in her eyes, and struck with a palm.
Instinctively, Zhang Ruochen raised his hand, their palms meeting.
Though neither palm carried great force, when they connected, the Gate of True Self blazed brilliantly, sending the Witch God Sword flying back to the sea.
“True self is within me, true self is me.”
As Prajna spoke, the Gate of True Self passed from her right palm through her graceful form to her left, hovering between their joined hands.
Their bodies began to rotate rapidly around the Gate of True Self.
“No, the goddess is using the Gate of True Self to help Zhang Ruochen break through,” Yuan exclaimed.
“Even a goddess? Whoever blocks me from killing Zhang Ruochen must die.”
Lanying, with resolute and chilling killing intent, had recovered his cultivation state. Controlling six swords, he broke through the air toward the Gate of True Self.
From both the Heavenly Realm and Infernal Court, a deafening uproar arose.
The Destiny Goddess’s intervention shocked all cultivators.
“Zhang Ruochen’s holy path precepts are growing again! Is the power of the Gate of True Self so miraculous?” Luo Shengtian exclaimed.
Luo Ji’s delicate brows furrowed slightly, noticing something only a woman would understand, and said, “The Gate of True Self is inherently profound, representing destiny, a corner of the universe. With its power, it can weaken the universe’s suppression on Zhang Ruochen. Brother, lend me your eyes.”
“What do you mean…”
Luo Ji struck Luo Shengtian’s back with a palm.
Her long hair fluttered, her divine crystal crown fell to the ground, and the overwhelming evil Rakshasa energy surged into Luo Shengtian like a divine river, rushing toward his eyes.
Luo Shengtian’s eyes, infused with two active divine seat stars, began to burn, emitting a stellar blaze, his eye sockets like lakes brimming with divine energy.
“What… are you doing…”
Unable to bear the force, Luo Shengtian’s facial flesh burned, his head feeling as if it would explode.
Luo Ji’s gaze fixed on the Tongtian Pagoda on the distant sea.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
From Luo Shengtian’s eye sockets, two thick divine flame pillars shot out, crossing ten thousand li of sea, striking the Tongtian Pagoda.
Like a heavenly bell struck, the Tongtian Pagoda toppled, falling toward the sea.
Yin Yuanchen, about to fly to the sky to strike Prajna and Zhang Ruochen, turned to see the Tongtian Pagoda collapse into the sea.
With the Tongtian Pagoda down, the suppression on Zhang Ruochen’s Eternal Unity Domain vanished instantly.
