Entering the Dark Abyss, the temperature grew increasingly frigid.
Darkness made it hard to see any light.
Fortunately, everyone’s cultivation had reached the Supreme Realm, their eyesight extraordinary, their mental power strong, so they were not greatly affected.
In the abyss, chunks of spatial fragments had turned into dark spatial continents, some hundreds of li long, others tens of thousands of li long, arrayed in a stepped formation, extending ever downward.
The number of these dark spatial continents here was like countless scraps of torn paper, innumerable.
Along the way, they encountered many strange beasts, but because they had refined dark source liquid and cultivated dark rules, their auras were similar to those of the strange beasts, masking the power of heaven and earth, allowing them to dodge past easily.
Dark source liquid was extracted from the bodies of Great Saint-level strange beasts.
After passing through nine dark spatial continents in succession, they finally encountered a formidable strange beast, and their auras were exposed.
That strange beast had a body over a thousand metres long, sprawled on the ground in long slumber, covered entirely in soil. Because its aura had almost merged completely with the Dark Abyss, it was hard to sense, and at first, all the cultivators thought it was merely a mountain.
It was precisely this that startled it awake.
Xue Tu, who was leading the way ahead, was decisive enough, striking out at once, condensing a thousand-metre light blade that cleaved the strange beast in two.
It was a Great Saint-level strange beast, yet it could not withstand a single blade from Xue Tu.
Xue Tu extracted the dark source liquid from the strange beast’s bone marrow, refining it into a palm-sized mass, which he swallowed directly into his abdomen, using his internal divine fire to refine and absorb it swiftly.
Originally, the number of saint path rules in his body had already reached the limit.
But after refining this mass of dark source liquid, the saint path rules within him rapidly increased by over a million.
This filled Xue Tu with immense joy, his earlier trepidation and doubts vanishing without a trace, and he said, “Senior Brother, this is rather interesting, the suppression from the heavens and earth in the Dark Abyss seems to have weakened for me, the number of saint path rules can be substantially elevated once more.”
Zhang Ruochen had long noticed this, saying, “I told you long ago, there are great opportunities here.”
Having just resolved one strange beast with a single blade, Xue Tu’s fear of the Dark Abyss diminished greatly, and he laughed, “If one were to cross the divine tribulation in the Dark Abyss, perhaps the power of the divine tribulation would also weaken.”
Yan Ting snorted, “Crossing the divine tribulation in the Dark Abyss would surely draw flood dragon strange beasts, at that point, you would not even know how you died.”
Xue Tu bickered back, “This emperor was merely speaking casually, did you take it seriously?”
Flood dragon strange beasts were extremely terrifying existences in the Dark Abyss, and once saint realm cultivators encountered them, they must flee immediately.
Zhang Ruochen released his God-Eating Insects, which devoured the strange beast on the ground completely, and just as he was about to continue onward, suddenly, his heart stirred with a premonition, and he looked upward.
“Brother Ruochen, what is it?” Yan Wushen asked.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew grave, “Several old friends have followed us down. Earlier, Brother Wushen said that if we travelled with gods, it would be nine deaths and one life?”
“Indeed.”
Yan Wushen looked upward, but before his eyes was pitch darkness, seeing nothing.
In terms of perception alone, even true gods with their powerful divine souls might not surpass Zhang Ruochen.
The elder generation Supreme Realm Great Saints of the Yama Clan all felt their hearts quake.
“Gods have pursued us?”
“What shall we do? Which faction’s gods are they?”
“Gods who have crossed the divine tribulation carry strong power of heaven and earth, easily drawing flood dragon strange beasts.”
…
Gods, even if merely pseudo-gods, were unattainably high for Supreme Realm Great Saints, their combat power on entirely different levels, so naturally, their hearts could not remain calm.
Zhang Ruochen said, “They come for me, I will draw them away, you lot go on ahead.”
“The opponents are gods, and more than one at that, Sword God Ruochen, do not risk yourself alone. Why not form an array to confront them?” An elder suggested.
This suggestion was evidently unfeasible.
Engaging in fierce battle with gods in the dark depths would draw who knew how many strange beasts, and at that point, everyone would perish.
Among those present, even one as strong as Xue Tu dared not clash head-on with pseudo-gods, and the other cultivators charging forward would likely only threaten pseudo-gods by self-detonating their saint sources.
Only Zhang Ruochen, this secular myth, had the audacity to face several pseudo-gods squarely.
Such heights were beyond any other cultivator’s comparison.
Yan Wushen, Xue Tu, and Yan Ting led the elder generation Supreme Realm Great Saints of the Yama Clan away from this dark spatial continent, flying toward the even deeper parts of the abyss.
Zhang Ruochen remained alone, deploying spatial techniques, his body vanishing into space, concealing himself.
Moments later.
Four faint auras descended from above.
All four were wrapped in strands of dark radiance, their auras akin to strange beasts and exceedingly faint. As the dark radiance dispersed, their figures revealed themselves.
They were precisely the four pseudo-gods of the Nether Hall: Kong Zhi, Lan Gu, Ai Longxing, and Bei Yu.
“They left not long ago.” Bei Yu said.
Bei Yu appeared as a young woman, her countenance rather striking, both a divine general under the Communication Great God and his woman.
Ai Longxing held a dark source pearl in his hand and smiled, “The Dark Abyss is not as dangerous as imagined, with the dark source pearl, it is entirely unimpeded.”
Lan Gu said, “That may be so, but Zhang Ruochen’s combat power is no small matter, never has such a figure appeared in the saint realm.”
The four pseudo-gods had all more or less suffered losses at Zhang Ruochen’s hands, so how could they still dare to underestimate their foe?
Kong Zhi was calm and composed, saying, “Zhang Ruochen is indeed very strong, but this god has roughly fathomed his depths. Outside, dealing with him is indeed not easy. But in the Dark Abyss, the number of origin rules his origin envoys can mobilise from the origin is negligible, and judging solely by his own combat power, he is not much stronger than you lot.”
Zhang Ruochen hid nearby, listening to their conversation.
His most powerful strength was indeed the power mobilised from one percent of the origin mysteries. Now, this power was severely suppressed by the Dark Abyss, hardly of any use.
To contend with a pseudo-god of Kong Zhi’s calibre was truly no easy task.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen also had advantages, like now, hidden in the shadows, such that even Kong Zhi’s divine soul and mental power could not perceive him.
“Must first inflict heavy damage on Kong Zhi, if he is at full strength, I fear even if I joined forces with all the Yama Clan cultivators, we could not withstand him.”
Zhang Ruochen gripped the Abyss Ancient Sword, fourteen golden wings unfolding on his back, the saint path rules in his body flowing rapidly.
Poised and ready to strike.
Kong Zhi waved his hand, saying, “Let us go, pursue them, leave Zhang Ruochen to this god to handle…”
Suddenly, Kong Zhi’s divine soul quivered, a chill running down his spine, and he let out an ear-shattering roar from his mouth: “Pa!”
It was a Buddhist true word.
In an instant, his divine body turned golden bronze.
The “Pa” word burst from within his body, growing ever larger.
The other three pseudo-gods also sensed Zhang Ruochen’s aura, but they were half a beat slower than Kong Zhi.
In just that half beat, the sword in Zhang Ruochen’s hand had shattered the Buddha light, piercing through the “Pa” word, the sword tip slamming heavily into the back of Kong Zhi’s head.
Countless rule divine patterns emerged on the golden bronze skin.
Even so, it was hard to block.
The sword tip sank down, piercing the skull.
Kong Zhi was exceptionally formidable, his body suddenly plunging downward, stomping through the dark spatial continent beneath his feet, escaping from under Zhang Ruochen’s sword.
Zhang Ruochen inwardly sighed in regret, had it advanced another inch, perhaps there would have been a chance to pierce Kong Zhi’s qi sea, greatly impairing his combat power.
Of course, a god’s qi sea had already metamorphosed into a divine sea.
A divine sea was hard to pierce, and even if pierced, the god would not lose all combat power, the divine source could support a domain, even restoring the divine sea.
Unlike saint realm cultivators, whose qi sea, once shattered, was hard to repair, turning them into cripples.
One could only say that Kong Zhi was truly very strong, worthy of being first among the lower third of pseudo-gods, even in an ambush, inflicting heavy damage on him was no easy matter.
“It is Zhang Ruochen, he was actually hiding here.”
“What audacity, daring to ambush us.”
The attacks from the other three pseudo-gods landed successively on Zhang Ruochen.
However, Zhang Ruochen had long erected the Eternal Return to One Dao Domain, all powers entering the dao domain were shifted away by the chaotic space within, unable to harm Zhang Ruochen in the slightest.
With the origin mysteries hard to deploy to great effect, battling three pseudo-gods simultaneously was evidently unwise.
Zhang Ruochen decisively withdrew, flying toward the depths of the dark spatial continent.
“Where do you think you are going?”
“Zhang Ruochen ambushing us alone is the perfect chance to surround and kill him.”
The three pseudo-gods rapidly pursued Zhang Ruochen.
Suddenly, the ground ahead of Zhang Ruochen burst open, a mass of golden light flying out from underground, hovering in mid-air.
Within the golden light was Kong Zhi, his face full of ferocity.
That earlier sword, though it had not pierced his divine sea, had injured it, and the power fluctuations on his body could no longer compare to his peak state.
Kong Zhi clasped his hands together, roaring loudly, “Today, where do you think you can flee?”
Zhang Ruochen fortunately came to a halt, saying, “If I do not flee, then I do not, what have I to fear? Where are the true gods of your Nether Hall, why have they not shown themselves?”
“To kill you, why need a true god to act?” Bei Yu said coldly.
The three pseudo-gods blocked off Zhang Ruochen’s rear, dense rule divine patterns emerging beneath their feet, like streams of divine light intertwining, encompassing a vast region.
Wherever the rule divine patterns passed, strange beasts were all shredded, turning into blood mud.
Zhang Ruochen smiled, “From your words, it seems the Nether Hall truly has true gods who came to the Dark Abyss? But they did not come with you lot?”
“Why waste so many words on him, strike together, quick battle and swift resolution, in case a horde of strange beasts surges forth, it will be troublesome!”
Lan Gu struck out streams of icy crystal light rain from his palm, bone-chillingly cold, a divine ability-level spell.
The Concealing Mountain Demonic Mirror flew from Zhang Ruochen’s hand, expanding to the size of a lake, its surface rippling with light, continuously drawing the icy crystal light rain into the mirror face, hard pressed to reach Zhang Ruochen.
Even encircled by four pseudo-gods, Zhang Ruochen remained utterly calm, saying, “A bunch of pitiful wretches, you have been abandoned by the Nether Hall yet remain oblivious. This path is one for saint realm cultivators to tread, even true gods walking this path face nine deaths and one life.”
“You few pseudo-gods, if you turn back along the original path now, perhaps there is still a slim chance of survival.”
“Continue entangling with me, drawing the strange beast horde, and you will face ten deaths without life.”
Lan Gu said, “Do you think saying this can shake our resolve to kill you? The Nether Hall has no reason whatsoever to abandon us.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “The true gods of the Nether Hall must have seen that Goddess Prajna and the others did not travel with us, harbouring misgivings, not daring to pursue rashly. Thus, they dispatched you four pseudo-gods to kill me, and once you perish unjustly, your divine star souls dimming, they will naturally know this is a path of death. In the end, you are merely tools the Nether Hall’s true gods use to probe the way. To kill me, with just you lot, it is impossible.”
