BOOM!
Caoyi Shen’s divine realm world was no different from a great world in scale: rivers surged, mountains towered. Yet now it completely collapsed, reduced to ruins.
Caoyi Shen seethed with such hatred that he nearly went mad, his divine teeth grinding to splinters.
Countless trillions of order divine runes burst from the shattered divine realm world, swirling around his divine body and condensing into a luminous sphere ten thousand zhang across, continuing to resist the Fivefold Seas.
“Damn it! If this seat still had the Seven-Source Multicoloured Robes, why would I ever need to clash head-on with his divine realm world?”
More cracks spread across Caoyi Shen’s body.
He realised that Blood Absolute War God’s appearance was no mere coincidence. Perhaps from the very beginning, he and the Twelve Divine Maiden Workshops had been scheming against him.
First they used a Tianzun divine source as bait, costing him an avatar, thirty million divine thoughts, and the Seven-Source Multicoloured Robes.
Then they employed the Yin Escape Nine Arrays to draw his attention. Only thus could the Fivefold Seas descend without warning, leaving him no chance to escape.
Had he been even slightly more cautious, Caoyi Shen could have fled the Fivefold Seas and would never have fallen into such a passive position.
A great god who truly wished to flee was nearly impossible to kill, even for Wuqing Zong before he reached God Venerable realm. Witness Grand Master Wentong!
Yet a great god who chose to fight to the death could be slain even by one of similar cultivation.
Now, Blood Absolute War God had pinned Caoyi Shen beneath the Fivefold Seas, forcing him into a battle to the death. He had missed the perfect moment to escape.
“Fight!”
Caoyi Shen roared. Every hair on his body stood erect. A yin-yang vortex formed at his chest.
The profound truths of fire and water within him stirred all the heavenly fire and water rules across Xinghuan Heaven and even the surrounding starfield.
His cultivation was profound, his divine soul mighty. Through his truths he could mobilise the heavenly rules across an incomparably vast starfield, far surpassing new gods like Wuma Jiuxing and Bai Qing’er.
Wuma Jiuxing could only draw upon the blade rules inside Xinghuan Heaven itself.
Bai Qing’er could mobilise the primal rules of the starfield near Xinghuan Heaven through her origin truths.
Yet Caoyi Shen’s reach was tens or hundreds of thousands of times greater. Across a cosmos more than a trillion li wide, countless fire and water rules poured continuously toward Xinghuan Heaven, converging upon him.
Every constant star in the starfield dimmed slightly.
Caoyi Shen’s aura grew ever stronger. One palm became a world of flame; the other became an ocean of Weak Water.
“Is that all you have?”
Blood Absolute War God stood majestically atop the Fivefold Seas, imposing and domineering. He let out a cold snort and gave Caoyi Shen no chance to continue gathering heavenly rules and reach his peak.
He stamped downward. His body became a beam of light that pierced through the Fivefold Seas and landed on the ten-thousand-zhang sphere of order runes.
BANG!
The sphere shattered.
Blood Absolute War God’s foot came down squarely on Caoyi Shen’s head.
BOOM!
The earth beneath Caoyi Shen could not withstand the force and split apart.
The two plummeted straight into the depths of the earthly abyss.
“This is not the Fivefold Seas profound divine path. You are not Blood Absolute War God! This seat understands now. This… this is the Grand Evolution Cosmic profound divine path that can manifest all phenomena of the world. You are Huang Tian! Huang Tian!”
Caoyi Shen’s furious voice rose from underground.
Yet before it reached the surface, layer upon layer of divine power smothered it.
“You have learned too much!”
A cold indifference appeared on Blood Absolute War God’s face as he crushed Caoyi Shen’s skull.
Clank! Clank!
From the depths of the abyss came the sound of iron chains shifting.
A rotting divine hand reached out, seized Caoyi Shen’s divine body, and, despite his desperate struggles, dragged him into the deepest darkness.
Blood Absolute War God transformed into a brilliant shaft of divine light, shot skyward, and returned to the surface.
BOOM!
With the Yuchen Divine Temple at its centre, a massive earthquake rocked Xinghuan Heaven.
Across the five-thousand-li Yuhong Mountain Range, peaks toppled one after another. The entire range was levelled flat by the residual waves of great-god power. The sight was utterly staggering.
The tremors gradually subsided, yet the lingering divine might still surged like great waves. No one dared take a single step beyond First Divine Maiden City. Not even true gods.
…
Night fell. Within the Taiji circle, the rules of life overpowered the rules of death.
Zhang Ruochen had reverted to his youthful appearance, brimming with vitality.
He stood straight-backed inside a relatively intact stone hall amid the temple ruins, hands clasped behind him, gazing out at the blood-red heavens.
“Intact” meant only that seventy-two stone pillars still stood. The roof was in tatters; there were no walls or windows, only the desolation of ages.
Wave after wave of great-god residual power crashed in like ocean swells, yet an invisible force outside the temple blocked them all, preventing entry into the ruins.
The Master of the Netherflower Workshop leaned against a stone pillar, sitting on the ground, head raised to look at Zhang Ruochen’s profile.
Beneath the blood-red light, his features were sharp and striking, brows handsome, nose straight, exuding a resolute and profound aura.
“I wonder what he is thinking right now?” the thought drifted across her mind.
Finally she gave two light coughs, drawing Zhang Ruochen’s gaze to her. She smiled brightly. “Blood Absolute War God truly dotes on you. He actually came to Xinghuan Heaven in person. No wonder you were so fearless.”
“You are mistaken. He is not my maternal grandfather,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Not Blood Absolute War God?”
She was briefly stunned, then shook her head. “Impossible! The whole universe knows that Blood Absolute War God’s second-grade saintwill, the Fivefold Seas, has evolved into the Fivefold Seas profound divine path. After the battle at Tiannan, his name shook the stars. Who does not know this?”
Zhang Ruochen offered no further explanation. Seeing her face pale and her injuries evidently severe, he asked, “It was Bai Qing’er who sent you to the Yuchen Divine Temple, was it not?”
He crouched down, took her snow-white, delicate wrist, and channelled the qi of life from his Taiji circle into her body.
While helping her heal, he also contemplated the true meaning of the Dao of life.
Warmth flowed through her arm. Looking at Zhang Ruochen’s handsome face up close, she felt his gentleness deeply. It stirred her heart powerfully.
The “old gentleman” had given her the impression of overflowing talent and worthy admiration, along with gratitude for saving her from Caoyi Shen.
Yet Zhang Ruochen felt steady, calm, full of compassion, and in no way treacherous or sinister.
When the two images merged, she realised she would never forget this broken temple or the blood-red sky outside for the rest of her life.
But she was, after all, a god who had cultivated for sixty thousand years. She quickly regained composure and smiled playfully. “Hey! What exactly is your relationship with our Young Mistress?”
From the question he had just asked, how could she not guess there was something between them?
“A cooperative relationship,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
“Cooperating to deal with Heaven’s gods?” she pressed.
“The more you know, the less good it will do you,” Zhang Ruochen said.
She shot him a resentful glance before continuing, “Then tell me, why did you come to Xinghuan Heaven? Why disguise yourself as a decrepit old man? Have you taken a fancy to one of the women in our Twelve Divine Maiden Workshops and are hatching wicked plans?”
Zhang Ruochen did not wish to speak further. He closed his eyes, feeling the flow of life qi within the Taiji circle and the transformation of death qi within that process.
“If you stay silent, that means I guessed right! The Romantic Sword God truly lives up to his name. Come on, tell your big sister which one you like. I can help you!” she teased.
“Does big sister still wish to study music?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
She pressed her red lips together but still shot him a glare.
Suddenly.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his hand and slowly stood, looking outside the stone hall.
The tall, majestic figure of Blood Absolute War God strode through the temple gates, walked to the hibiscus tree where Immortal Jade Dragon had once been buried, planted the Blood Dragon War Halberd into the ground with a thud, and stood silently.
Zhang Ruochen knew the man was waiting for him. He walked out of the hall and approached.
The Master of the Netherflower Workshop rose and stood beneath a pillar, gazing toward the hibiscus tree in full crimson bloom. Her eyes fell upon Blood Absolute War God, and reverence instantly filled her expression.
She did not dare approach directly as Zhang Ruochen did. The man before her was one of the ten great clan butchers of the Undying Blood Race.
Blood Absolute War God did not look at Zhang Ruochen approaching from behind. His gaze fixed on the tomb stele. “The dead can crawl back out and become murderous creatures. How interesting. You used the secret method from the Nether Soldiers Volume to refine her, didn’t you?”
The sudden question sent a faint jolt through Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
Was nothing hidden from him? How exactly had he seen through it?
