The red-yellow Gobi outside Yuchen Temple had long since turned into an ocean of magma during the divine war, then cooled and solidified into hard stone.
Boom!
In one spot, the stone cracked open. Two beams of divine light shot out from within and landed on the ground.
The Blackheart Demon Lord was covered in blood. Six bloody holes, pierced straight through by a divine sword, continuously leaked divine qi and refused to heal.
Sword qi kept ravaging his flesh.
His divine body now resembled a tattered leather ball.
Lord Luanying reverted to human form, still bearing an enormous eagle head. He spoke with lingering fear, “We finally escaped. That was terrifying. I don’t know where that ten-thousand-zhang corpse god came from. Even in the Demon God Realm, few forbidden grounds are more dreadful than that place.”
He glanced at the Blackheart Demon Lord, inwardly startled, and sighed, “Zhang Ruochen is formidable. He actually wounded the Demon Lord this gravely.”
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s cold, sombre eyes glared at him.
Lord Luanying immediately shut his mouth. He knew great gods valued face above all else. His earlier words had wounded the Blackheart Demon Lord’s dignity.
One simply could not afford to provoke a great god.
Best to say nothing more.
The Blackheart Demon Lord gave a cold snort. “Zhang Ruochen concealed a peerless sword strike within him. That sword was definitely not his own power. Had I not been gravely injured by it, a mere fledgling who achieved godhood only a few decades ago could have been crushed to death with a single finger.”
“Any other new god who achieved divinity just a few decades ago would indeed die beneath a great god’s finger. But Zhang Ruochen…” Lord Luanying thought to himself.
Recalling how Zhang Ruochen pointed once and six swords flew forth together, unleashing overwhelming battle might, Lord Luanying still felt his heart tremble.
He had the distinct feeling that this young man had already become an absolute powerhouse among gods. One could no longer treat him as a mere new god.
Lord Luanying said, “Is the Demon Lord not curious why Zhang Ruochen’s martial cultivation was not crippled?”
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s expression darkened further. “If a Heaven himself personally acted to cripple your cultivation, do you think you could ever recover?”
“Does the Demon Lord mean…?”
“It is obvious. Zhang Ruochen’s ‘crippling’ was nothing more than a ploy by the Hell Realm to protect him. They staged it so convincingly that they even invited a Heaven to play the part.”
The Blackheart Demon Lord silently resolved that even if he himself could not kill Zhang Ruochen, he would report the matter to the Heavenly Palace.
Let the Heavenly Palace act and slay Zhang Ruochen. This youth must never be allowed to become a Divine Venerable in future.
No, wait…
Why had the thought that he himself might fail to kill Zhang Ruochen even crossed his mind?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible. He was a great god.
For a great god to kill a new god, how could that be difficult?
“Someone is coming!”
The Blackheart Demon Lord looked toward the horizon.
Mu Lingxi, radiant phoenix wings sprouting from her back, flew through the sky, trailing a streak of colourful light as she descended straight toward the Blackheart Demon Lord and Lord Luanying.
“Blackheart Demon Lord, why are you in Xinghuan Heaven?”
Mu Lingxi naturally recognised the Blackheart Demon Lord. Coldness flashed in her almond-shaped eyes.
Who did not hate this universally known traitor of the Kunlun Realm?
“How insolent! You see a god and do not kneel?”
Lord Luanying stood with hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sharp. Invisible divine might pressed down upon Mu Lingxi.
Mu Lingxi had already reached the pinnacle of Great Saint level. Mere divine might, how could it suppress her?
A being like the Blackheart Demon Lord would naturally never place a Great Saint in his eyes.
Yet he sensed the Moon God’s aura on Mu Lingxi, and it was extremely strong.
With a brief calculation, he understood.
His tone turned hostile. “So you are the Moon God’s personal disciple. No wonder you dare address this seat by name. However, a mere Great Saint showing such disrespect to a god, that crime is no small matter!”
Long ago in the Truth Heavenly Domain, Bian Zhuang had forced the Blackheart Demon Lord to hand over a divine herb he had obtained only after immense hardship, then gifted it to the Moon God.
The Blackheart Demon Lord had nursed that grudge ever since.
Now even a lowly saint-realm disciple dared disrespect him. How could he not be enraged?
Mu Lingxi was unafraid. “How many pieces of the Kunlun Realm’s Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings did you seize? Are the stone carvings on you right now?”
The Blackheart Demon Lord laughed from sheer anger. “Indeed, the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings are on this seat. What do you intend to do about it?”
Lord Luanying said, “This little girl is outrageously insolent. Why waste words on her? Even if she is the Moon God’s disciple, disrespect toward a god means death.”
“Who has such a big mouth? She is this seat’s adopted daughter. Try laying a finger on her.” A rough voice echoed between heaven and earth.
Chi Xingtian’s tall, imposing divine frame strode forward step by step. Though he released no divine might, the invisible pressure alone made Lord Luanying’s body sink and his breathing falter.
“King Qingli!”
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s mind reeled as if he had seen a ghost. He could not believe Chi Xingtian had actually escaped from the Luo Zu Cloud Mountain Realm.
Chi Xingtian had only broken free a few years earlier. After returning to the Kunlun Realm, he had gone into secluded recovery and never visited the Heavenly Court. Moreover, both the God of the Grave Island and the Luo Zu Cloud Mountain Realm had deliberately sealed the news, so of course the Blackheart Demon Lord remained unaware that Chi Xingtian was free.
Back in the Kunlun Realm, when the Blackheart Demon Lord’s cultivation was at its peak, he had only reached the Supreme Great Saint realm. Chi Xingtian, meanwhile, had already been a peerless war god renowned throughout the universe, standing at the very pinnacle. How could someone like that ever notice him?
Yet now Chi Xingtian’s gaze locked firmly onto him. “You are the Blackheart Demon Lord, the current number one powerhouse of the Black Demon Realm?”
“I dare not… In front of King Qingli, how could Blackheart presume to call himself any kind of powerhouse?”
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s mood was grim beyond measure. He bowed in salute while frantically thinking of a way to escape alive.
Whoosh!
Chi Xingtian beckoned with one arm.
Instantly, the four Heavenly Demon Stone Carving monuments stored in the Blackheart Demon Lord’s divine realm world shrank to the size of walnuts and floated into Chi Xingtian’s palm.
The Blackheart Demon Lord clenched his teeth, not daring to show any outburst.
While cultivating in the Kunlun Realm, the Blackheart Demon Lord had always regarded Chi Xingtian as the goal to chase, a divine mountain blocking his heart. Even now, after reaching great god level, traces of that awe still lingered inside him.
Chi Xingtian refined the four monuments briefly, put them away, and said gravely, “In this seat’s presence, traitors must die, and they must die by a thousand cuts and ten thousand slices. The God-Reaching Divine Tree was severed because of you. Your death would be well deserved!”
“I refuse to accept this!”
The Blackheart Demon Lord roared, “I will accept every other charge, but only the crime of severing the God-Reaching Divine Tree, I will not accept. There are still living witnesses who can prove I had nothing to do with that matter.”
Chi Xingtian felt a headache coming on.
If the Blackheart Demon Lord suddenly fought him to the death, he would not mind killing him right now. Although killing a Heavenly Court great god would certainly bring heavy punishment from the Heavenly Palace, he was not afraid in the slightest.
Yet the Blackheart Demon Lord insisted on reasoning with him. Was this not making things difficult on purpose?
Mu Lingxi said, “After the Kunlun Realm’s Merit Battlefield opened, you ordered Black Demon Realm cultivators to slaughter widely across the Kunlun Realm, seizing by force without regard for right or wrong. Just this grudge alone makes you unforgivable.”
“Exactly.”
Chi Xingtian agreed, unwilling to give the Blackheart Demon Lord another chance to speak and reason. Demonic qi surged from his body, condensing above the Blackheart Demon Lord’s head into a giant palm seal.
Lord Luanying was already scared out of his wits. Who was this newcomer that he actually intended to kill the Blackheart Demon Lord? Was he not afraid of the Heavenly Palace unleashing thunderous wrath?
The Blackheart Demon Lord was a great god. Why did he not flee?
Of course the Blackheart Demon Lord had considered fleeing.
But he knew full well how terrifying Chi Xingtian was. A hundred thousand years ago, Fei Xian Valley Master Yu Qingsheng wrote “Treatise on Great Gods”, analysing every great god then living from multiple aspects: physique, speed, cultivation, divine abilities, mental strength, divine soul, formations, illusions, overall power, and more.
She ranked Chi Xingtian’s physique first among all great gods.
When Chi Xingtian’s physique was still merely at Great Saint level, he could withstand three strikes from a god and not die.
His head had been severed for a hundred thousand years, yet his torso lived on. Among great gods, apart from Chi Xingtian himself, who else could achieve that?
If they were far apart in the starry sky, the Blackheart Demon Lord might still have a chance to escape.
But at such close range, trying to flee from the physically invincible Chi Xingtian, let alone the Blackheart Demon Lord, even those Taixu great gods who had lived several kalpas probably could not manage it.
At this moment between life and death, the Blackheart Demon Lord shouted, “I know who betrayed you all!”
Hearing this, Chi Xingtian flew into a towering rage. Images surfaced in his mind of the Kunlun Realm gods who had once fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him, dying tragically one by one. Even Lord Wentian of Questions might already have fallen, his blood staining an entire expanse of starry sky.
“Who else but Xuan Yi?”
Chi Xingtian grabbed the Blackheart Demon Lord by the neck like a chick and lifted him up.
“Back then Xuan Yi’s cultivation was not particularly high. There was someone behind him,” the Blackheart Demon Lord said.
“Who?”
“I cannot say! Once I do, how would King Qingli still spare my life?” the Blackheart Demon Lord replied.
Boom!
Chi Xingtian punched down, shattering half of the Blackheart Demon Lord’s body into broken bone and bloody mist. The remains collapsed into a stone pit. “If you won’t speak, I will search your soul and seize your spirit.”
“Though King Qingli’s physique is mighty, your attainment in mental strength is not particularly profound. Moreover, your divine soul must have suffered severe damage in recent years, yes? Trying to soul-search a great god, I fear you cannot do it,” the Blackheart Demon Lord said.
Mu Lingxi stopped Chi Xingtian, who was about to beat the Blackheart Demon Lord to death, and said, “The Blackheart Demon Lord is, after all, a great god of the Heavenly Court. Even if we must kill him, we cannot leave any trace.”
“Kill him and be done with it. At worst…”
Chi Xingtian’s tiger-like eyes turned to Lord Luanying. “At worst, silence all witnesses.”
Lord Luanying jumped in fright and immediately dropped to one knee. “King Qingli, I’m on your side! This lord is now Empress Chi Yao’s mount. I already count as half a Kunlun god.”
Though he did not know who this King Qingli was, Lord Luanying had gathered that he must be some ancient god of the Kunlun Realm.
Chi Xingtian showed open contempt. “A dignified god, yet so shameless. To stay alive, you even dare tell such a brazen lie?”
“No lie, absolutely no lie. How would I dare lie in front of King Qingli? Empress Chi Yao and Zhang Ruochen are right beneath the ground. If you do not believe me, Your Excellency, go ask her yourself,” Lord Luanying said.
“Zhang Ruochen is underground?” Mu Lingxi’s eyes lit up.
