The horizon gradually paled, and soon rosy clouds appeared like flames of fire.
Across the reddish-yellow desert, the rules of heaven and earth shifted violently. Space folded layer upon layer, and air currents surged into howling gales.
Whoosh!
The roaring never ceased.
The sun rose.
When sunlight touched Zhang Ruochen’s face, his appearance changed.
Within the circle revolving around him, the flow of life rules and death rules reversed. Death rules gained the upper hand.
The vital energy inside Zhang Ruochen rapidly drained away. The flame of life dwindled once more to a mere thread. His skin turned sallow, wrinkles sprouted one by one, black hair became white, and his body withered.
Zhang Ruochen tremulously raised a hand, touched his deeply creased face, and gave a wry smile. “I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.”
Inside the circle, he had inscribed too few life rules, and in sheer quantity death rules vastly outnumbered them.
Under such circumstances, how could the vital energy in his body remain stable?
Let alone stabilise vital energy, even the Taiji circle that represented the supreme principle flickered in and out of existence. It was completely beyond Zhang Ruochen’s control and could not be drawn into his body.
Precisely because of this, whenever day turned to night or night to day, and the rules of heaven and earth changed, the balance of life and death forces within the Taiji circle shifted accordingly.
Zhang Ruochen’s state of mind remained unaffected. He felt neither disappointment nor discouragement.
Because no matter how life and death fluctuated, he now had a path to follow.
As long as there was a path, there was a direction for effort and hope for the future.
“To master life and death, to remain forever young and full of vitality, I must inscribe far more life rules inside the Taiji circle. To inscribe more life rules, I must not only learn from heaven and earth but also comprehend the understanding of life that the ancients left behind.”
The life rules Zhang Ruochen had previously inscribed were all modelled on heaven and earth, drawn according to the life rules that existed between them.
He had been able to draw life rules only because he had once refined the Heart of the Divine Tree and possessed a certain degree of study and insight into the Dao of Life.
“Once I master life and death, I will then inscribe other rules. I will treat the Taiji circle as my sea of qi, take the rules I create myself as saintly path rules or rule divine patterns, and walk a cultivation road that belongs entirely to me.”
Zhang Ruochen suddenly saw the light. In excellent spirits, he looked up at the sky. He felt as though he had already transcended heaven and earth, stepped out of the muddy swamp of the mortal world, and stood beyond yin, yang, and the five elements.
From now on, the road ahead would be decided by him alone.
…
Many cultivators had been drawn into the Yuhong Mountain Range by the rules of heavenly origin. Last night they had all been trapped in the reddish-yellow desert.
At dawn the world changed utterly. One after another they arrived outside Yuchen Divine Temple.
“The rules of heavenly origin were definitely triggered 100% by an origin profundity. Yesterday someone must have displayed divine power here.”
“This place is far too strange. Day and night are like two different worlds.”
“Xing Huan Tian was once the land of a Heavenly Venerable. There are many forbidden zones. In any case, caution is best. Have you noticed? Hidden within the space here are inscriptions of spatial arrays, ancient divine formations.”
Bang!
One god struck out, attempting to break the formation.
But with Zhang Ruochen controlling the arrays and A Ji assisting, forget these Heaven-Mending realm gods; even a Great God of the Taizhen realm would be unable to break the Nine Yin Evasion Arrays.
Six gods attacked in succession.
The spatial divine arrays returned every bit of their assaulting power exactly as it had been sent, leaving them covered in dust and looking wretched. Some gods were even injured by the rebound.
Lan Jun, an Upper God from the Cha Realm, stepped forward. Holding a jade fan and with bewitching eyes, he smiled. “It is only one divine array, yet so many gods have gathered here and still cannot break it?”
Lan Jun knew that Yuchen Divine Temple had once been the dojo of Xing Huan Heavenly Venerable’s second disciple, Yuchen Zi. The Heavenly Venerable divine source might well remain inside the temple, so naturally he actively incited the gods to break the formation.
Yu Chenjing, clad in white brocade with purple fish sacred robes, a golden silk belt around her waist and long hair tied up, walked out looking like a strikingly beautiful youth. “If you wish to die, by all means attack. Do not drag everyone else down to be buried with you.”
Despite the many gods present, each radiating majestic divine might, she remained perfectly calm and composed.
Though the gods felt that a mere Saint-realm cultivator had no right to speak before gods, when they saw Yu Taizhen standing behind Yu Chenjing, none dared to reprimand her.
Lan Jun glanced at Yu Taizhen and smiled. “If Lord Taizhen were to act, one spatial divine array would surely be broken with ease.”
Yu Taizhen ignored him.
“It is not one spatial divine array. It is nine. These are the legendary Nine Yin Evasion Arrays!” Yu Chenjing continued. “Yin evasion and yang evasion are inextricably linked. Since the Nine Yin Evasion Arrays have appeared, the Nine Yang Evasion Arrays must also be here. The Eighteen Yin-Yang Bureaus, even Great Gods cannot withstand them, can they?”
At these words, the gods were deeply shaken. They all activated their divine eyes to the fullest and examined carefully.
Lan Jun’s expression changed abruptly.
If a master of the spatial Dao had truly set up the Eighteen Yin-Yang Bureaus here, this place was nothing less than a god-slaying ground.
Some gods spotted clues, transmitted warnings to close friends, then immediately fled with faces full of terror.
“There really is a problem. Retreat quickly. Do not fall into a trap prepared in advance by Heaven Court!”
The gods of Hell Realm retreated like a receding tide, divine lights vanishing one after another.
At that moment Lan Jun received a sound transmission from Shang Hong: “Return to First Divine Maiden City at once. There is urgent business.”
“Something big has happened. Last night the gods of the Temple of Destiny struck first and suppressed the true gods Yan God, Jialin Nan, and Kelan Feili,” a demon-race god shouted loudly.
Boom!
The gods of the Heaven Court faction erupted in fury.
A young god radiating silver divine light coldly demanded, “Is this true or false? Is Hell Realm declaring war in Xing Huan Tian?”
The demon-race god replied, “It is absolutely true. The news has already spread throughout Xing Huan Tian. That Hell Realm god was extremely arrogant. He cut off Jialin Nan’s wings, wrote a battle declaration upon them, and hurled them from beyond the firmament down outside First Divine Maiden City.”
“The declaration read: All gods of Heaven Court are mere ants. I trample the Bright God Hall beneath my feet, punch the Elf God Hall into submission, and annihilate the Merit God Hall. In all the world, only I, the Great Slaughter War God Prince, reign supreme.”
“Utterly outrageous.”
An Upper God from Pangu Realm who had cultivated for nearly a hundred thousand years burned with anger atop his head. “What Great Slaughter War God Prince? Who on earth is he? Why have I never heard that name?”
“To call every god of Heaven Court an ant, he has some guts. His cultivation must be high. He wants to make a name for himself this way.”
“No matter how high his cultivation, having captured three gods of the Paradise Realm faction, Heavenly Sun will surely fight him to the bitter end.”
…
Intense battle intent surged in Yu Taizhen’s eyes. He did not know exactly how strong this Great Slaughter War God Prince was, but anyone daring to take such a domineering title and act with such arrogance had to be a first-class powerhouse.
To miss a battle against such a powerhouse would be a lifelong regret.
Yu Chenjing was stunned, then said to the crowd in a rather uncertain tone, “The Great Slaughter War God Prince should be a new god of the Death God Palace in the Temple of Destiny. As far as I know, he only stepped into the divine realm a few decades ago… Never mind, it probably isn’t him. It must be someone else who happens to share the same title.”
In Yu Chenjing’s view, no new god could possibly possess such audacity.
The title Great Slaughter War God Prince had only been in use for a few hundred years, and its influence was mainly in the secular world. These veteran gods who were often tens of thousands of years old might spend more than a few centuries in one seclusion, so it would be strange if they had heard of him.
“Never mind that. Let us leave first. No matter what, we must rescue the three gods, join forces to surround and kill the Great Slaughter War God Prince, and restore the dignity of Heaven Court gods. They are the ones who declared war first!” Lan Jun proposed.
Thereupon the gods of Heaven Court departed one after another.
Zhang Ruochen’s aged figure appeared beneath the main gate. He muttered to himself, “That fellow, is he insane for fame? ‘In all the world, only I, the Great Slaughter War God Prince, reign supreme’, even God Venerables wouldn’t dare say such a thing.”
Zhang Ruochen had only told Xue Tu to take the three gods and leave Xing Huan Tian, then spread the news.
Who would have thought Xue Tu would add so much extra drama himself?
Did he really believe that no matter how big a mess he made, Zhang Ruochen could clean it up for him?
Or perhaps he genuinely thought Zhang Ruochen had already invited the Blood Jue War God, so he dared to be this fearless.
“I hope your hidden techniques are clever enough that you don’t get yourself killed!” Zhang Ruochen thought silently.
A Ji said, “The sun has risen. The divine corpses and the old corpse ghost will surely start causing trouble again. Martial Uncle, when do we begin?”
“We can start now.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the sundial and placed it beneath the main gate.
“This is a sacred relic of our Sumeru Temple! To see it is like seeing the ancestral master once more.” A Ji hurriedly pressed his palms together and bowed respectfully to the sundial.
In the battle a hundred thousand years ago, the sundial had been severely damaged and could no longer support divine cultivation.
Yet when besieging Xiu Chen Heavenly Goddess, signs of recovery had appeared in the sundial. Later it repaired itself and could now cover a wider area.
In the Desolate Ancient Ruined City, after Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual force achieved godhood, he had cultivated using the sundial and found it could once again support divine cultivation. However, the consumption of divine stones was now more than ten times greater than before.
Previously Zhang Ruochen had not dared to activate the sundial because his lifespan was nearly exhausted.
Now he feared nothing. Though only a single thread of life-flame remained within him, he had absolute confidence that he could contend with death and protect that flame.
“What does ‘Thousand Stars Linked as Pearls’ mean?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Since arriving here, he had repeatedly heard the old corpse ghost’s voice from beneath the ground. Four characters had been especially clear: Thousand Stars Linked as Pearls.
A Ji replied, “Thousand Stars Linked as Pearls is a peerless divine technique, the strongest combat method of Xing Huan Heavenly Venerable. When he was alive, Xing Huan Heavenly Venerable once used this technique and caused tens of thousands of stars to revolve around him. The instant the thousand stars linked, one strike nearly severed the entire Yellow Spring Star River in two.”
Zhang Ruochen well understood the significance of divine techniques to gods. Some techniques, when unleashed, could rival the might of profundities.
For example, Shang Tian’s “Eight Heaven-Arid Techniques”, Long Zhong’s “Myriad Dragons Paying Homage”… these were all supreme studies of the heavens recorded in the Grand Void Divine Technique Canon.
Divine techniques are divided into Heaven-Mending divine techniques, Taizhen divine techniques, Immeasurable divine techniques, Myriad Heavens divine techniques, and Heavenly Venerable divine techniques.
Only Immeasurable divine techniques and above qualify for inclusion in the Grand Void Divine Technique Canon. Almost all Immeasurable divine techniques are the strongest ultimate arts created by God Venerables. Their mysteries are far beyond what ordinary gods can successfully cultivate.
Lost divine techniques automatically vanish from the Grand Void Divine Technique Canon.
The ranking records only contemporary techniques.
Every technique listed in the Grand Void Divine Technique Canon is extraordinarily powerful. Only when combined with a profundity can it unleash its greatest might. Likewise, only when a profundity is paired with such a technique can a god fully utilise it and transform it into a supreme killing art.
A Ji continued, “There are only twenty-two Heavenly Venerable divine techniques currently listed in the Grand Void Divine Technique Canon; all others have been lost. If the cultivation method for Thousand Stars Linked as Pearls were to reappear, it would become the twenty-third. Even God Venerables would fight to seize it.”
“Our Kunlun Realm’s Wordless Sword Manual is one of those twenty-two Heavenly Venerable divine techniques, ranked eighteenth. Actually the Wordless Sword Manual should rank higher, but sadly swordsmanship has declined, and no one can cultivate the Wordless Sword Manual to its highest level.”
Because the cultivation method for sword souls has been lost, sword cultivators naturally cannot reach the highest level of the Wordless Sword Manual. Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly at this, then asked, “Did Eldest Brother ever tell you what exactly that old corpse ghost is?”
