Swish! Swish!
Lan Jun formed a sword gesture with two fingers of his right hand.
The twelve jade swords flew back from cosmic space, circling his body and generating thousands upon thousands of sword qi strands.
He said, “Although the Buddha’s relic grants you powerful defence, it is still only a single relic. It can be broken all the same.”
“So it is a set of Primordial-level supreme sacred war swords. No wonder their might is so great. Still, breaking the defence of the Buddha’s relic will not be that easy,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
Lan Jun smiled wickedly. “You underestimate the battle power of an upper god far too much. Compared with middle gods, the difference is like heaven and earth. Hmm…”
This region of the star domain suddenly turned pitch black without limit.
Rules of darkness surged wildly between heaven and earth.
Lan Jun’s vision was blocked, his perception weakened. Suddenly he discovered that Zhang Ruochen’s figure had vanished.
Yan Yu’s two severed divine halves recombined, forming a god a thousand zhang tall who raised the Dark Heaven Secret Umbrella, enveloping the entire area. With the power of darkness he sealed Lan Jun’s senses.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew, appeared beside Yan Yu, and sent the Soul-Devouring Bells flying forth.
Ding! Ding!
The twelve bells danced within the umbrella’s darkness. Their chimes came from all directions, disturbing Lan Jun’s divine soul.
From the darkness, Lan Jun let out a piercing laugh. “The Yanluo clan’s Dark Heaven Secret Umbrella is somewhat interesting, but unfortunately it still cannot trap this god. Break!”
Twelve resplendent sword lights tore the darkness apart.
Lan Jun flew out from the centre of the sword lights. Countless rule divine patterns surged from his body and merged with the twelve jade swords. He raised both hands above his head, fingers pressed together.
“Sword Rules the World.”
The twelve jade swords fused into one, becoming a ten-thousand-zhang supreme war weapon.
As Lan Jun swung his arms downward, the colossal jade sword slashed straight at Yan Yu and Zhang Ruochen, cleaving the thick nebula in two.
“Lan Jun’s cultivation has already broken through to the peak of upper god. We cannot oppose him. Flee at once!”
Seeing the situation was hopeless, Yan Yu acted decisively. He immediately ignited his divine blood, burst forth with extreme speed, smashed through space, and rushed into the void dimension.
Far away, Xue Tu, who had turned into a bat the size of a palm, flapped his wings and fled. He thought to himself, “This Lan Jun is monstrously strong. Thank goodness this sovereign is sensible enough not to show off.”
Yan Yu, having entered the void dimension, realised Zhang Ruochen had not followed. His expression changed. He looked back.
There stood Zhang Ruochen still within the nebula, facing the descending ten-thousand-zhang jade sword.
Lan Jun’s vast divine force sent the twelve Soul-Devouring Bells flying. The sword’s momentum was unstoppable. Even Yan Yu, already inside the void dimension, felt enormous pressure, as though he might be killed across the distance.
“It is over. Senior Brother must have been locked onto by Lan Jun, so he cannot escape.”
Xue Tu sighed as he fled, once again admiring his own cleverness.
Boom!
Two torrents of formidable divine force collided.
The resulting shockwave ripped space layer by layer, caught up with the escaping Xue Tu, and flung him back to his original form. He tumbled within the divine qi tide.
When Xue Tu finally steadied himself and looked towards the centre of the divine force fluctuation, he saw a graceful silver-haired dragon maiden appear before Zhang Ruochen. The dragon maiden swung a golden staff, clashing directly with Lan Jun’s jade sword.
The two divine forces were deadlocked, neither yielding.
Xue Tu’s eyes widened. Where did this expert come from?
Another peak upper god?
Whoosh!
The silver-haired dragon maiden shone with brilliant white light like a young girl in her prime, holy and exquisitely beautiful. With a wave of her hand she sent the jade sword flying backwards.
Barefoot, her snow-white feet gleaming, she soared upward. Her delicate body spun in the air as she delivered a second strike.
The golden staff became a ten-thousand-zhang mountain peak, pressing straight down onto Lan Jun’s head.
Lan Jun clearly had not expected this dragon maiden to appear out of nowhere. Her divine force was so strong that even he found her troublesome. He hurriedly poured all his power into the jade sword to meet the descending golden mountain.
The force the silver-haired dragon maiden unleashed exceeded Lan Jun’s estimation.
The moment they clashed, sword qi collapsed. An overwhelming surge of power flooded into Lan Jun’s divine realm world and slammed towards his divine body.
Boom!
A corner of Lan Jun’s divine realm world shattered. His body suffered the impact, his internal organs aching faintly.
“So it is a divine corpse!”
Lan Jun saw through the truth. His gaze passed the dragon maiden Yulong Xian and fixed on Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen held the Myriad Curse Heavenly Pearl, employing the Military Dao Nether Law Curse. Countless threads of connection linked him to Yulong Xian, as though a master puppeteer controlled a marionette.
A yuanhui-level genius truly was a favoured child of heaven. Even with his martial path destroyed, he could still rise swiftly.
With this single technique alone, he could continue to dominate his generation. Even the dazzlingly brilliant Yan Wushen probably did not yet possess the strength to fight a peak upper god.
Whoosh!
The Myriad Curse Heavenly Pearl in Zhang Ruochen’s hand blazed with light.
Yulong Xian raised her lovely head, transformed into a streak of white divine light, and attacked Lan Jun.
“Senior Brother, Xue Tu is here! No matter how dangerous, we shall fight side by side!”
Xue Tu’s divine body grew to ten thousand li tall. A sea of blood spread beneath his feet, assaulting Lan Jun’s divine realm world. His battle intent surged. He summoned scorching divine flames that turned into a long river of fire and launched an assault.
Yan Yu held the Dark Heaven Secret Umbrella. His eyes flicked between Zhang Ruochen and Yulong Xian, revealing a thoughtful expression. He murmured, “The Military Dao Nether Law Curse from the Nether Soldier Scroll?”
Lan Jun was forced continuously backwards by Yulong Xian. Piece after piece of his divine realm world crumbled.
He was a peak upper god.
To be suppressed and beaten by a junior whose martial cultivation had been utterly destroyed merely by controlling a divine corpse filled him with frustration.
“This cannot continue. If Hai Shang Minggong and Mi Lianshan catch up, I will be the one in mortal danger.”
Lan Jun unleashed a divine ability. After exchanging one blow with Yulong Xian, he immediately fled into the nebula.
“Lan Jun, you cowardly rat! Where are you running? Fight this sovereign one-on-one if you dare!”
Hearing Xue Tu’s arrogant shout from behind, Lan Jun almost spat blood in rage. It was infuriating. If not for his wariness of Hai Shang Minggong and Mi Lianshan, he would turn back and slap Xue Tu to death.
“Senior Brother, let us pursue!” Xue Tu cried.
Only after Zhang Ruochen and Yulong Xian had flown off did Xue Tu spread his blood wings and charge after them. He roared, “Today, not a single god of Heaven shall escape! This sovereign is very much looking forward to tasting the divine blood of an upper god. Fight!”
The gods of Heaven could not escape.
Mo Yu, the strongest among them, had barely emerged from the Luotuo Nebula when he fell into a divine array.
The array was controlled by Bai Qing’er together with the four manor lords of the Twelve Mansions of the Divine Maiden.
Each manor lord held an array tower. The inscriptions on the towers connected with space, covering a radius of three thousand li.
At the array’s centre lay a white lake. Bai Qing’er stood within the lake, the Earth Demon Sparrow circling above her head.
Not far away in the starry sky, the astral soul divine thrones of the four manor lords, twenty-three divine throne planets in total, released vast quantities of divine qi that continuously poured into the array.
Mo Yu tried to break the formation but failed. “The Twelve Mansions of the Divine Maiden have great nerve. Do you truly intend to become enemies of Heaven?”
Wearing a veil, Bai Qing’er was clear and movingly beautiful. “The Twelve Mansions have no wish to oppose Heaven. We only ask that Your Excellency release Gu Ya. Qing’er will immediately withdraw the array and allow you all to leave.”
“You wish to avoid offending either side? That may prove impossible. Since Cai Yi Shen fell in Xinghuan Heaven, your mansions are fated to pay the price,” Mo Yu replied firmly, showing no intention of compromise.
“I see. In that case, the Twelve Mansions of the Divine Maiden can only stand fully on Hell’s side!”
Bai Qing’er’s voice was soft and gentle. With a light wave of her hand, the array’s configuration changed dramatically.
From a trapping array, it became a grand offensive formation.
One must remember that although Bai Qing’er’s attainment in the martial path was profound, her master was a supreme spiritual force expert. Her own spiritual force far surpassed that of ordinary middle gods.
Her mastery of arrays was especially outstanding.
Even though Mo Yu was an upper god, he was completely suppressed by the divine array. Breaking it in a short time was clearly impossible.
Yan Shen, Jia Linnán, and Kailan Feili had not fallen into the array. They stood in the starry sky, each unleashing divine abilities to attack the formation from outside. Yet as middle gods, the divine force they struck with could not damage the array.
At that moment, they saw Lan Jun fly out from the nebula.
Jia Linnán cried out joyfully, “You finally made it! How did it go? Did you finish off Zhang Ruochen and the others?”
Yan Shen said, “Senior Lan Jun, please break the array of the Twelve Mansions first and rescue Senior Mo Yu.”
Although Yan Shen had cultivated for forty thousand years, before Lan Jun and Mo Yu he was still a junior, whether in cultivation or age.
Seeing Lan Jun arrive, the expressions of the four manor lords of the Twelve Mansions all changed slightly.
If a terrifying existence like Lan Jun cooperated with Mo Yu from within and without, the array they had set would probably be shattered in moments. Afterwards, they would face the wrath of two upper gods.
Lan Jun acted as if he had not heard Yan Shen at all. Somewhat nervously, he glanced behind him.
From within the nebula rang Zhang Ruochen’s voice. “Lan Jun can barely protect himself. How could he have strength left to help you?”
Whoosh!
Zhang Ruochen flew out from the nebula like a speck of light.
Yulong Xian flew beside him, robes fluttering, silver hair cascading like a waterfall. She swung the Wujin War Heaven Pillar, sweeping horizontally towards the gods of Heaven hundreds of li away.
Lan Jun did not dare clash directly with Yulong Xian and used a divine movement technique to evade.
Yan Shen, Jia Linnán, and Kailan Feili, however, were not so fortunate. Struck by the Wujin War Heaven Pillar, they flew outwards like three leaves.
All three gods spat large mouthfuls of blood. Not only were their bodies wounded, even their divine souls felt as though they were about to shatter.
“Jia Linnán! This sovereign challenges you to single combat!”
Xue Tu’s colossal divine body flew out from the nebula. He swung a blood-coloured divine hand a thousand li long downwards at Jia Linnán. The palm lines were like mountain ranges, the five fingers like heavenly pillars.
Jia Linnán had never taken Xue Tu seriously. He slashed out with his supreme sacred war sword to meet the blood-coloured divine hand.
Boom!
Jia Linnán had already lost a great amount of divine blood to Xue Tu earlier and had just been gravely injured by Yulong Xian’s strike. Therefore he could not withstand this blow. Xue Tu’s palm sent him plummeting more than three hundred li. His divine robes were torn and tattered.
“Damn it! This exalted one is a god of the Order Palace of the Temple of Light, yet now when wounded I am bullied by a dog.” Jia Linnán’s mouth was full of blood, yet his eyes blazed with defiance.
“Bullied by a dog? Who are you calling a dog? Is this sovereign not strong enough?”
Xue Tu flew into a rage. His entire body ignited. Scorching divine fire poured from his mouth, instantly setting the whole starry sky ablaze and turning it into a domain of fire.
“The divine corpse is controlled by Zhang Ruochen! I will pin down the corpse. You two kill Zhang Ruochen.” Lan Jun transmitted to Yan Shen and Kailan Feili, then took the initiative to attack Yulong Xian.
Kailan Feili suppressed his injuries, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow. Billions of rule divine patterns flowed across his body, forming a ring of seven-coloured divine light.
Twang!
The bowstring sang. The starry sky trembled.
A seven-coloured divine arrow trailing a tail more than ten li long flew straight towards Zhang Ruochen.
