Ailian Jun said, “Who can deny it? If the Ice Emperor had not imprisoned himself on Ice King Star, he would already be the palace lord of the Undying Divine Hall by now. A powerhouse of that level is not someone the Yasha Clan can afford to offend.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression turned strange. He asked, “He really went to inspect the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm?”
Ailian Jun prided herself on being exceptionally clever, yet she was completely helpless against the Slaughter Heaven Kill Earth Sovereign. She said, “Young Master Tu Tian went to the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm. He barged into every forbidden area and entered the divine halls of various gods as if they were his own home. Whenever he saw something valuable, he simply took it. Now all the gods of the Yasha Clan are on edge, terrified that he might pay them a visit.”
“A robber! Shameless! What a pity that the great Ice Emperor, a hero of his generation, gave birth to such a worthless scoundrel.” Zhang Ruochen spoke with pain and indignation, stomping his foot hard.
Ailian Jun said, “Losing some treasures to Young Master Tu Tian is not a big deal. But Young Master Tu Tian has settled down in the ancestral realm and shows no intention of leaving. The clan leader personally went to ask what demands he had, yet he refused to say anything. Instead he angrily scolded the clan leader in a fit of temper.”
Zhang Ruochen felt indignant. He said, “The Yasha Clan is only tolerating him because of the Ice Emperor’s face. Rest assured. In a few days, when I go to the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm, I will get to the bottom of this and find out exactly what he wants.”
“What? Boundary Venerable Ruochen is not planning to go to the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm right now?” Ailian Jun asked.
Zhang Ruochen pointed toward the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage. He said, “The one inside the carriage said he would first help me raise my spiritual power a bit more. After all, our plan is of great importance and cannot afford any mistakes. The stronger the strength, the better.”
With that, he entered the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage.
“Is raising spiritual power really that easy? Could the person in the carriage be that ancient existence from Xinghuan Heaven whose spiritual power has reached the ninetieth rank?” Ailian Jun stared at the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage and bowed deeply.
…
A crimson metal divine ship three hundred li long sailed through the cosmos at a speed of sixty thousand li per second. It landed on a rocky planet at the edge of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
Great God Li Xiao, with his hundred-zhang-tall skeleton body, stepped down from the divine ship and headed straight toward a grand divine hall on the planet.
From the crimson metal divine ship, saint-level cultivators from various minor clans kept descending and gathering on the planet.
The Rain Master was one of the top powerhouses in the Spiritual God Hall of the Dark Divine Hall. After the death of Capricorn Spiritual God in Xinghuan Heaven, she became the second strongest in the Spiritual God Hall, only below the hall master Wu Yue.
The Spiritual God Hall was personally founded by Divine Master Wu Yue with the aim of cultivating spiritual power cultivators for the Dark Divine Hall.
Although it had not been established for long and could not yet compare to the other halls of the Dark Divine Hall, Divine Master Wu Yue’s appeal was astonishing. Now the Spiritual God Hall had an abundance of talented individuals under its command.
The Rain Master’s spiritual power had reached the seventy-eighth rank. She was Divine Master Wu Yue’s chief disciple. She wore a wide black robe and held a withered wooden staff. Her face could not be seen. Inside the black robe there seemed to be only a mass of misty vapour.
Inside the hall was another great god, Frost City Demon. This person was the number one sword dao powerhouse of the Dark Divine Hall and wielded the divine artefact “Dark Divine Sword”.
After Great God Li Xiao entered, he could not see Frost City Demon’s true form. He only saw a ten-zhang-tall black light sword standing in front of the highest divine throne in the hall, radiating formidable might.
The Rain Master’s voice rang out with cold mockery. She said, “I heard you clashed with Zhang Ruochen in Hundred Clans Royal City and were defeated by his formation?”
Great God Li Xiao let out a heavy snort. “Where did such rumours come from? This seat was not defeated! I only acted to test his strength.”
“A堂堂 great god being forced back by a greenhorn junior, and that is not embarrassing enough? That does not count as defeat?” the Rain Master said.
Great God Li Xiao said angrily, “The Nine Yin Evasion Array suppressed the Second Jia Blood Ancestor. I am not boosting Zhang Ruochen’s morale or undermining my own prestige, but even you, Rain Master, would not fare well if you fell into the Nine Yin Evasion Array.”
The Rain Master said, “With Zhang Ruochen’s mere seventy-sixth-rank spiritual power, he wants to compete with me? That trifling Nine Yin Evasion Array, I already have a way to break it. To tell you the truth, I came here this time precisely to cut off Zhang Ruochen’s head and offer it to my master as a birthday gift.”
“Stop arguing, both of you!”
From the black light sword above came Frost City Demon’s voice. He said, “Li Xiao was right to test Zhang Ruochen. This boy inherited Sword Ancestor’s seven soul swords. His strength cannot be underestimated.”
Great God Li Xiao said, “It is a pity he repaired the Nine Yin Evasion Array. I could not force him to use the soul swords, so it is hard to judge under what circumstances he can use them.”
“I know a little about that point.”
Frost City Demon said, “According to the notes left by Dark Night Sword Emperor, the so-called soul swords are the seven human souls fused into seven different emotions: sorrow, love, desire, anger, joy, hatred, fear. The stronger the emotion, the greater the explosive power of the sword dao. However, even with Dark Night Sword Emperor’s ability, after spending his entire life on it, he only comprehended this theory and never created a cultivation method for the soul swords.”
The Rain Master said, “In that case, as long as we launch a surprise attack and kill him in one strike, there is no need to fear his soul swords at all?”
Great God Li Xiao laughed loudly. “For spiritual power gods, the weakest part is the physical body. One solid hit means certain death.”
“If we are to launch a surprise attack, the Rain Master is the best choice. Your spiritual power far surpasses his, so you can evade his perception.”
Frost City Demon added, “Zhang Ruochen is a minor issue. Once he enters the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, he is just a small prey for us. What we truly need to be cautious of are the Yasha Clan and the sword dao powerhouses from Heaven Court. Just now, we received news that the aura of a sword dao god from the Brightness Divine Hall has appeared in the starry sky. I must go there immediately and deal with them first.”
Whoosh!
The ten-zhang black light sword flew out of the divine hall and shot straight into the cosmic starry sky. Wherever it passed, dense cracks appeared in space.
…
Of course Zhang Ruochen did not fully trust the Yasha Clan. He knew that cooperating with them was like bargaining with a tiger and that they might even scheme against him in secret. Therefore he drove the carriage and paid another visit to the Demon Wolf Clan.
Zhang Ruochen still had considerable trust in the Demon Wolf Clan.
On the third day, when Zhang Ruochen returned to the Yasha Clan, his spiritual power had already reached the peak of the seventy-sixth rank. The medicinal power of the spiritual power divine pill continued to ferment in his body.
Although Ailian Jun’s cultivation was far below Zhang Ruochen’s, she could clearly sense the obvious changes in his aura and presence. Her heart trembled inwardly. She hurried forward to greet him and asked, “Why has only Boundary Venerable Ruochen come? Where is that senior?”
“The senior has his own matters to attend to. Dealing with a few great gods of the Dark Divine Hall is a trivial matter. If even something like this required him to personally take action, then there would be no need for me to be Boundary Venerable! Come, let us go to the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Through the space transmission array in Night Rain Sea and after jumping through space wormholes, it was not long before Zhang Ruochen and Ailian Jun arrived at the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm.
Standing on the ground and looking up.
Half the sky was filled with brilliant starlight.
The other half was pitch black.
This was a unique sight of the Yasha Clan’s ancestral realm, because it was close enough to the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
Ailian Jun took out a star map imprinted on a scroll, unfolded it, and explained, “From ancient times to now, the Yasha Clan has never stopped exploring the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain. From this direction, advancing inward, we found a path three million god steps deep. Beyond that, no one has gone further!”
Here, three million steps obviously referred to god steps.
One step equalled one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred li.
Three million steps amounted to roughly four trillion li.
“Inside the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, there is actually almost no danger. The most dangerous part is its darkness and the dense dark rules, which interfere with cultivators’ spiritual power and divine souls, making it easy to get lost.”
“But the celestial bodies in the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain are different from those outside. They do not keep revolving but remain stationary. It is precisely by using these celestial bodies as reference points that we could explore a path three million god steps deep and still return without getting lost.”
Zhang Ruochen thought to himself that the Yasha Clan must know some secrets unknown to outsiders. Otherwise, how could they invest such enormous manpower and resources to explore the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain?
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen suspected that this star map was most likely incomplete. They would not show everything to an outsider like him.
The Yasha Clan’s exploration of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain was probably much broader.
What was laughable was that they had spent so much effort and explored to a depth of three million steps, yet they never realised that right at the edge of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain there was a Jiannan Realm.
He wondered what expressions the Yasha Clan’s gods had when Jiannan Realm first appeared.
Ailian Jun pointed to a spot on the star map. She said, “Here, we of the Yasha Clan call it Shattered Star Bowl. It is five hundred thousand god steps from the edge of the Dark Great Triangle. If we set a trap here, even if a great god-level divine battle erupts, the outside world would not sense it. The vast dark space would smooth out all divine power fluctuations.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Setting up a trap will probably take quite a bit of time, right?”
“Actually, there is no need to wait any longer. Now we only lack Boundary Venerable Ruochen to lure the gods of the Dark Divine Hall into the trap.” Ailian Jun said.
Zhang Ruochen understood inwardly. It seemed the Yasha Clan had prepared long ago. He wondered who this trap was originally meant to catch.
He had to be cautious and make sure he did not fall into the pit himself.
Whoosh!
A communication light talisman flew into Ailian Jun’s hand.
After reading its contents, Ailian Jun’s expression changed. She said, “I beg Boundary Venerable Ruochen to come with me. Young Master Tu Tian wants to barge into Ancient Ink Sea.”
“What is Ancient Ink Sea?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Ailian Jun said, “That is the place where two of our Yasha Clan’s old ancestors are in secluded death cultivation. If they are disturbed, and since they do not know Young Master Tu Tian’s identity, they might kill him. Would that not provoke a great war between the Yasha Clan and Ice King Star?”
Zhang Ruochen was also shocked and uneasy. He had not expected Little Black to cause so much trouble.
Back then, he had only asked him to come to the Yasha Clan ahead of time to lay preparations for exploring the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain. He had never told him to come here to throw his weight around and stir up trouble.
The old ancestors of the Yasha Clan were immeasurable realm existences. It was said that they suffered heavy injuries in the divine war a hundred thousand years ago and had been in seclusion recovering ever since. If they were disturbed and came out, what then?
