After flying into the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain the field of vision darkened and the rules between heaven and earth underwent a clear change.
The quantity of dark rules increased greatly while light rules diminished.
Little Black consumed energy at an extreme rate. The divine qi stored in his divine realm world drained rapidly. He said urgently “This Emperor can hardly hold on any longer! Old Yasha you are a great god with profound foundations. Carry this Emperor along for a stretch.”
Little Black transformed back into his cat-headed human form and prepared to ride on the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable’s back.
The ancestral realm Boundary Venerable pretended not to hear. The night yaksha wings on his back flapped and he accelerated. Behind him Little Black howled in rage and began shouting again about exterminating half the living beings of the Yasha Clan.
The ancestral realm Boundary Venerable snorted coldly. He said “Young Master Tu Tian has collected quite a few divine stones from the Yasha Clan right? Now is the time to use them!”
Not to mention divine stones Little Black had even forcibly taken two divine sources.
But he was unwilling to part with them!
Who knew how much longer the six divine swords would keep flying?
Even absorbing divine qi from divine sources probably would not last.
Zhang Ruochen took out a pair of white wings and tossed them to Little Black. He said “These light divine wings were refined from Seizing Heaven Divine Emperor’s feathers. They can unleash speed not inferior to a great god’s and the consumption of divine stones should be much lower.”
“You Zhang Ruochen are truly a good brother.”
Little Black treasured them like a prize. He immediately put away his undying phoenix flame wings attached the light divine wings to his back and transformed into a cat-headed angel.
The two light divine wings bloomed with incomparably bright radiance. Even from a hundred million li away a white point of light could be seen shining extremely dazzlingly in this endless darkness.
Little Black asked curiously “Weren’t three pairs of light divine wings refined? Why aren’t you using one?”
“I have no need! With my spiritual power I can continuously draw upon the heaven and earth spirit qi and saint qi for my own use to sustain the consumption of god steps.” Zhang Ruochen said full of confidence.
Of course Zhang Ruochen would not tell Little Black that the real reason he gave him the light divine wings was to light a beacon for the Dark Divine Hall gods chasing behind so they would not lose the trail!
Little Black’s spiritual power had actually always been very strong. Especially after several thousand years of secluded cultivation in Xinghuan Heaven it had broken through to the seventy-fifth rank. Yet even with such powerful spiritual power drawing upon heaven and earth spirit qi and saint qi could not fully compensate for the divine qi consumption at such extreme speed.
“Is the gap between the seventy-fifth rank and seventy-sixth rank really that huge?”
Little Black felt deep envy in his heart. He quickly said “Then how about that spiritual power divine pill…”
Whoosh!
Zhang Ruochen’s speed suddenly surged forward surpassing Little Black and the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable. He flew ahead plunged into the thousand-li sword river stepped on one holy sword after another and rapidly approached the six divine swords.
But the moment he got close a sword beam erupted from the divine swords and struck him.
Pfft!
Zhang Ruochen groaned muffled blood sprayed from his body and he fell into the void.
It took him quite a while to recover. He turned into a streak of light and continued the chase.
On the three-hundred-li-long divine ship quietly following behind hidden in the darkness Great God Li Xiao watched this scene. All his doubts vanished. He smiled and said “It seems the six divine swords are completely out of Zhang Ruochen’s control now!”
The Rain Master said “Those six divine swords have long been corroded and cannot compare to true divine artefacts. But if they fall into the hands of our Dark Divine Hall we can use the six swords as the foundation seek the best materials in heaven and earth and recast them to restore the original might of divine swords. We might even help the sword spirits of the six swords reach the true god level.”
Great God Li Xiao’s body shone with black light. His emotions surged. He said “In that case the Dark Divine Hall will gain six true divine artefacts. How could we not overshadow the Destiny Divine Hall in the future?”
The Rain Master said “Divine swords can only unleash their greatest power when wielded by sword dao cultivators. Therefore we must not only seize the six divine swords but also find Sword Realm and the ancient Sword God Hall to complete the missing parts of sword dao.”
Great God Li Xiao looked at the Rain Master. His hostility lessened considerably.
After all she was merely a spiritual power cultivator. Even if she seized the six divine swords and found the ancient Sword God Hall she would gain little benefit.
But Great God Li Xiao was a sword dao cultivator and could obtain the most tangible advantages.
Great God Li Xiao said “What Lady Rain Master says is reasonable. From now on we must cooperate fully and allow no further rifts!”
…
The deeper they flew into the darkness the greater the fear in one’s heart grew. It felt as though one was moving farther and farther from the outside world with the very real possibility of never returning!
Imagine a mortal entering several thousand metres underground looking up as the cave mouth grew smaller and smaller until it vanished completely. The surroundings became silent no longer any life no grass or trees no sunlight only oneself and endless darkness. If the people above took away the rope there would be no way back to the surface.
That was something more terrifying than death!
Five hundred thousand god steps was an extremely terrifying distance. Saint realm cultivators could not cross it at all.
For gods in the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain without stellar coordinates as reference and with dark power interfering with the divine soul it was easy to misjudge direction and become lost.
At first Little Black could still chat and laugh but by the third day he fell silent unable to utter a word.
Even if he spoke it was only to ask Zhang Ruochen and the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable whether they still remembered the direction whether they could still sense fluctuations from the outside world how vast the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain truly was and whether they could still get out.
By the seventh day even Zhang Ruochen felt a suppressed emotion rising in his heart.
Although he had memorised the Yasha Clan’s star map and knew the path to Shattered Star Bowl was safe and that he could find the way back staying too long in the darkness made the fear of the unknown and the fear of the empty cosmic space impossible to suppress.
Sometimes the thought “Can I still get back?” would surface in Zhang Ruochen’s mind.
Little Black had become completely mute turning into a sullen gourd.
Until the tenth day.
Finally a powerful cosmic wind appeared in the dark world breaking the silence and stillness. Little Black grew excited and shouted in wild joy “Have we arrived? Have we found Sword Realm?”
Zhang Ruochen silently calculated. They had probably crossed five hundred thousand god steps and reached the star domain where Shattered Star Bowl was located. He looked toward the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable.
The ancestral realm Boundary Venerable nodded to him.
The light bursting from the light divine wings on Little Black’s back illuminated this dark heaven and earth. In the hazy murk ahead tens of thousands of small asteroids and rock fragments appeared.
They spun rapidly covering a million li and formed a bowl-shaped vortex.
The six divine swords charged ahead first carrying the thousand-li sword river and vanished into the immensely vast stellar vortex.
The cosmic wind was powerful producing a deafening buzzing sound.
“Hurry chase inside.”
Little Black was thrilled beyond measure and rushed toward Shattered Star Bowl.
Zhang Ruochen however was not so hasty. He looked toward the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable.
This was no joke. They were already five hundred thousand god steps from the outside world. If the Yasha Clan used the trap to kill him as well who would ever know?
One could never drop one’s guard at any time.
Zhang Ruochen and the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable charged into Shattered Star Bowl at the same time.
The Dark Divine Hall cultivators following behind had also endured great torment these ten days. Although they favoured darkness and had left space markers along the way the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain still brought them immense shock. Fear kept sprouting in their hearts.
Upon seeing Shattered Star Bowl their spirits lifted. They drove the divine ship crashing inside.
The instant they passed through the asteroid and rubble belt the Rain Master noticed traces of an array and realised something was wrong. She shouted loudly “Quick turn the divine ship around and leave this place.”
Great God Li Xiao’s divine soul was powerful. He sensed an extremely terrifying aura of danger and personally rushed to the bow of the divine ship.
Boom!
The divine ship’s protective array was struck. The ship body shook violently.
Some Dark Divine Hall cultivators looked up. They saw space collapsing and dense small stars falling down. In that moment terror gripped their souls leaving them petrified.
The Rain Master remained relatively calm but her anger boiled over. She said “It is the Heaven Collapse Divine Array. We have fallen into a trap and cannot escape now. Quick activate all protective arrays on the divine ship. All cultivators listen up. Attack together and unleash your war weapons.”
Inside the divine ship the sealed star became active erupting with bright scorching light.
One array after another rose up.
On the ship the Dark Divine Hall and saint realm cultivators from various minor clans totalled several hundred thousand. They all unleashed their war weapons turning them into a rain of light that bombarded the descending small asteroids.
Intense energy fluctuations erupted fiercely within Shattered Star Bowl creating a shocking spectacle.
Zhang Ruochen the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable and Little Black had already passed through from the other side of Shattered Star Bowl. They stood in the void watching.
“So it was all to ambush and kill the Dark Divine Hall. Was there really a need to make such a big commotion? Acting like it was real.”
Little Black felt somewhat displeased. He had been excited for so long consumed vast amounts of divine stones rushed desperately for ten days only to end up finding nothing.
“I did not tell you because I feared you would give it away.”
Zhang Ruochen looked upward. Above Shattered Star Bowl he saw a vast sea of divine qi clouds. A divine array covering a million li of heaven and earth operated within the divine qi cloud sea.
The array’s outline was contracting pressing space to collapse and tearing apart one protective array after another on the periphery of the Dark Divine Hall divine ship.
Faintly one could see a figure with an intimidating aura standing within the divine qi cloud sea.
Bang bang!
It was pure crushing. The war weapons unleashed by the saint realm cultivators on the divine ship exploded one after another. Cracks appeared on the ship body unable to resist the Heaven Collapse Divine Array.
Little Black’s eyes showed shock. He asked “This Heaven Collapse Divine Array is no small thing. It can suppress and kill great gods. Who is that great figure controlling the array? The spiritual power fluctuations emanating from him Zhang Ruochen are far stronger than yours!”
It was rare to see the Slaughter Heaven Kill Earth Sovereign so shocked. The ancestral realm Boundary Venerable said with considerable pride “That is our Yasha Clan’s clan leader. His spiritual power has reached the peak of the seventy-eighth rank. Even without this Heaven Collapse Divine Array he could stand toe-to-toe with a Taibai realm great god.”
Boom!
Within Shattered Star Bowl the three-hundred-li-long divine ship was crushed and exploded by the Heaven Collapse Divine Array controlled by the Yasha Clan clan leader.
Space shook violently.
The star sealed inside the divine ship erupted with unparalleled destructive power incinerating and vaporising tens of thousands of small asteroids and rock fragments.
Yet even so it still could not break through the Heaven Collapse Divine Array.
Zhang Ruochen and the ancestral realm Boundary Venerable did not relax because of this. Their eyes remained fixed on that dazzling region of destruction. They knew very well how terrifying a great god’s power was and how strong their vitality could be.
Suddenly from that region of destruction a wave of power erupted a hundred times stronger than the star’s earlier detonation.
“A true god has self-detonated the divine source.”
Zhang Ruochen’s worst fear had come true. He grabbed Little Black and fled rapidly into the distance.
If a great god self-detonated the divine source the destructive force would be unimaginable. The Heaven Collapse Divine Array could not possibly withstand it.
