In the depths beneath the Rain Deity Temple, Zhang Ruochen and the two women ultimately failed to escape.
Clang, clang, clang!
The corpse god that Ah Ji called the “Old Corpse Ghoul” awoke just as the three were about to leave. It strained against the serpentine chains, loosening them, and let out a long, eerie howl from its mouth.
The howl struck the flesh and wounded the divine soul.
All three felt sonic waves slam into them like the palm of a god, capable of shattering bones and flesh, scattering souls into oblivion.
The divine realms that Chi Yao and Bai Qing’er had raised dissolved into grains of dust. Every defensive measure they deployed was instantly dispersed.
Zhang Ruochen relied on the Buddha’s śarīra to transform his body into a golden form and stood in front of them.
With his right hand forming a sword seal, he thrust forward.
Six divine swords formed the Six-Unity Sword Astonishing Spirit Array. For a moment, ten thousand swords flew as they collided with the sound wave, divine might, and qi force.
Yet they were still no match.
All three were hurled backwards, crashing against the underground stone walls. Their divine souls suffered severe trauma; consciousness blurred.
As Zhang Ruochen lay half-unconscious on the ground, he suddenly saw the Old Corpse Ghoul exhale a stream of air that turned into a misty river of corpse qi. It swept the three of them straight towards its maw.
“No…”
Zhang Ruochen fought to regain awareness, grinding his teeth.
No matter how strong the Old Corpse Ghoul might be, he would never accept fate. He would never willingly die here.
He forced himself upright. Strands of corpse qi enveloped him like billions of chains weighing upon his body. His spine bent, bones cracking and grinding.
“It’s the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays!”
Zhang Ruochen realised that what restrained the Old Corpse Ghoul was not only the serpentine chains on the flaming pillar of light but also nine spatial divine arrays left long ago by Master Fangcun.
The Yin Evasion Nine Arrays lay above ground in the Rain Deity Temple.
The Yang Evasion Nine Arrays pressed directly upon the Old Corpse Ghoul itself.
Had the power of the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays not weakened so greatly, the Old Corpse Ghoul could never have unleashed such strength.
“Sword of Desire!”
Zhang Ruochen roared with every ounce of strength.
From the mysterious foetus beneath his navel, a sword soul blazing with boundless light shot forth, severing every strand of corpse qi that bound him.
This Sword of Desire was born of the will to live.
Zhang Ruochen seized Chi Yao with one hand and Bai Qing’er with the other. He became a streak of flowing light, brushing past the very tip of the Old Corpse Ghoul’s nose before plunging into the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays.
A fraction closer and all three would have been swallowed.
To any other cultivator, entering the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays would still be perilous in the extreme. But with Zhang Ruochen’s mastery of space and his knowledge of these arrays, he moved like a fish in water.
It took little time for him to seize control of the formation.
Chi Yao, who carried White Cang Bloodsoil within her, recovered first. Standing inside the array, she looked downward and said, “On its shoulder!”
Zhang Ruochen fixed his gaze on the Old Corpse Ghoul’s left shoulder and saw Jade Dragon Immortal.
Compared to the colossal corpse god, Jade Dragon Immortal was no larger than a grain of sand. She climbed step by step up the shoulder as if scaling a mountain, heading somewhere unknown.
“She possesses independent consciousness?” Chi Yao was both shocked and puzzled.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Perhaps the Old Corpse Ghoul’s consciousness is controlling her.”
Everything was simply too bizarre.
Rain Soul, who should have perished two or three million years ago, had somehow become this Old Corpse Ghoul.
Jade Dragon Immortal, dead for a hundred thousand years, had crawled out of her own grave and now seemed to possess consciousness once more.
In Hell Realm, such strangeness was not unheard of.
Every day in the Tripathi River, countless corpses gave birth to consciousness and wisdom, becoming members of the Corpse Clan.
Yet those corpse beings, no matter how mighty they had been in life, had to cultivate anew from the beginning. None could retain power and combat strength like Jade Dragon Immortal and the Old Corpse Ghoul.
Moreover, that was the Tripathi River.
The Tripathi River was universally acknowledged as the most uncanny place in Hell Realm, the greatest enigma since antiquity. Even Heavenly Venerables could not comprehend it.
Bai Qing’er sat cross-legged. The Earth Demon Sparrow circled above her head. Though greatly weakened, her eyes still burned with sharpness. She said, “It must be the power of a Heavenly Venerable’s divine source. Only the might of a Heavenly Venerable could be this bizarre.”
Zhang Ruochen extended two fingers and pressed them to Bai Qing’er’s wrist.
Earlier, True Lord Blood Howl had been invaded by the Old Corpse Ghoul’s corpse qi and turned into a mindless beast. Naturally Zhang Ruochen was concerned for her.
“I’m fine. Mere corpse qi cannot overcome my spiritual will,” Bai Qing’er declared.
Only after confirming she was unharmed did Zhang Ruochen release her hand. He scanned their surroundings but saw no sign of True Lord Luan Ying. Presumably he had fled with Blackheart Demon Lord at the first opportunity.
Chi Yao stared downward. “Something is wrong. We must leave this place at once.”
Boom!
Boom!
…
The Old Corpse Ghoul struggled ever more violently. Its roars never ceased. It snapped the serpentine chains one after another until they shattered into scrap iron.
The aura leaking from its body grew ever stronger.
The Yang Evasion Nine Arrays began to tremble. Formation inscriptions flickered incessantly.
“The Old Corpse Ghoul must have devoured Cai Yi Shen, greatly increasing its power. It is about to break free!”
Zhang Ruochen looked around for any means of escape.
Bai Qing’er said, “We could try entering the Earth Demon Sparrow!”
Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao both turned to the stone sparrow hovering above Bai Qing’er.
“No,” Chi Yao said. “The Old Corpse Ghoul is too powerful. Even though the Earth Demon Sparrow is a divine artefact, it could never escape him.”
Boom!
More than half the serpentine chains on the Old Corpse Ghoul snapped. It stretched out a rotting divine hand and struck the underside of the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays, destroying a corner of the formation.
Bai Qing’er urged anxiously, “We have no other choice now! If the three of us combine our strength to drive the Earth Demon Sparrow, we should have a chance to flee. Or at least escape into the starry sky and reach that black divine temple.”
She pointed upward at the unfamiliar starfield.
There, a majestic and imposing divine temple floated in the void, radiating sanctity and mystery, as though ancient divinities resided within.
“Let’s go!”
Zhang Ruochen was the first to rush into the Earth Demon Sparrow.
Chi Yao no longer hesitated. Together with Bai Qing’er, she followed him inside.
United, the three drove the Earth Demon Sparrow to grow ever larger. Brilliant divine light shone across its stone surface.
Roar!
The Old Corpse Ghoul bellowed. Dense lightning surged from its body, shattering every remaining serpentine chain. The Yang Evasion Nine Arrays could no longer suppress it; the divine force it unleashed smashed the formation into pieces.
The nine arrays shattered, becoming nine spheres of flame.
Zhang Ruochen stood in the Tianshu Pool inside the Earth Demon Sparrow’s belly. Sensing the terrifying fluctuations from the Old Corpse Ghoul, his expression turned grave and solemn. Was this power still at the level of a great god, or had it already surpassed it?
How could the corpse of a god sovereign, dead for so many ages, still be this strong?
The Old Corpse Ghoul swung its corpse hand across the distance toward the Earth Demon Sparrow.
The divine light on the sparrow’s surface exploded under the blow.
Just as the hand was about to land, the Old Corpse Ghoul suddenly uttered a mournful, anguished cry.
It was that pillar of flaming light!
The pillar blazed brighter than ever before, pinning the corpse body fast. It could not break away.
Every chain broken, the Yang Evasion Nine Arrays destroyed, yet it could not escape the flaming pillar.
Whoosh!
The Earth Demon Sparrow burst through a curtain of light, arriving beneath the black divine temple. It came to rest on the suspended plaza outside the temple gates.
Chi Yao and Bai Qing’er both looked around warily, hearts still pounding from the narrow escape. They had nearly been struck. Even hiding inside the Earth Demon Sparrow might not have withstood such overwhelming divine might.
Zhang Ruochen flew out from the sparrow’s mouth and landed atop its back. He gazed toward the distant flaming pillar in the void.
The Old Corpse Ghoul’s divine corpse exceeded ten thousand li in height.
Yet the flaming pillar stretched for hundreds of thousands of li.
Only from this distant starfield could the scene be seen in full. The Old Corpse Ghoul’s back pressed against the pillar, its body burning, unable to flee.
“This power…”
Zhang Ruochen felt it was utterly familiar. His gaze lifted to the summit of the flaming pillar, where he saw a heroic, valiant figure. That figure seemed to step straight out of ancient time, radiating unparalleled presence.
Zhang Ruochen had seen this figure before, in the Long River of Time.
“Grand Master! Grand Master, is it truly you? Have you come from the past to this era?”
Zhang Ruochen shouted in excitement.
The figure atop the flaming pillar turned, glanced at him, and smiled. Then it leapt into the air and flew straight toward the black divine temple.
Zhang Ruochen’s blood boiled. His emotions surged. At last he beheld his ancestor, meeting across time and space.
Yet when Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master descended onto the suspended plaza, he paid Zhang Ruochen no heed at all. He merely glanced up at the plaque atop the black divine temple, then ascended the steps alone, entered the temple, and vanished.
No matter how loudly Zhang Ruochen called, Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master seemed unable to hear.
“What happened? What is going on?”
Chi Yao and Bai Qing’er flew out from the Earth Demon Sparrow, two fairy-like beauties side by side, their lovely eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
Zhang Ruochen stared fixedly at the temple gates. “I saw Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master. He went inside!”
“Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master? Impossible. The Grand Master fell over a million years ago.” Chi Yao knew Zhang Ruochen would never joke about such a thing; the shock in her heart was beyond words.
“Could there be a powerful illusion here?” Bai Qing’er wondered.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “It was no illusion. I truly saw him! Moreover, it was the Grand Master’s power that suppressed the Old Corpse Ghoul, preventing it from escaping the flaming pillar. Perhaps…”
A possibility occurred to him. What he had just seen might be nothing more than a projection left by Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master a million years ago.
Back then, the Grand Master had searched the universe’s secret realms for the Undying Eternal. It would not be strange for him to have visited the former territory of Starry Abyss Heavenly Venerable.
Yet why had only he seen the Grand Master?
And earlier, the Grand Master had clearly looked straight at him.
“Could the Grand Master be trying to lead me into the black divine temple?”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the temple gates. Step by step, he climbed the stairs, treading exactly where Immovable Wisdom King Grand Master had trodden moments before.
