Zhang Ruochen held the Reverse God Stele, now reduced to the size of a brick, and ascended the steps one by one.
The demon race upper god bowed deeply, performing a gesture of submission.
If the Eternal Heavenly God had been a deity of virtue and prestige, one who did not slaughter the innocent, this demon race upper god might have fought Zhang Ruochen to the death.
Moreover, he had seen that although Zhang Ruochen had swept through everything with overwhelming force, he had not killed a single person along the way.
With no threat to his life, naturally no will to resist arose.
Zhang Ruochen entered the divine hall and saw dozens of desiccated divine corpses on the floor. His expression darkened slightly. “What is Xiu Chen doing? Lacking a divine source herself, she excavated the divine sources of all these false gods? Has her mind become so twisted?”
The demon race upper god replied, “In answer to the great god, she did it to refine a divine source using the Eternal Heart.”
“What Eternal Heart?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“The Eternal Heart is an inherited supreme treasure of the Eternal Divine Hall. Only each successive Lord of Eternity can wield it. It is the fundamental reason the Paradise of the Lost can serve as a convergence point for spiritual qi belts. Once the Heavenly God refines it into her own divine source and leaves the Paradise of the Lost, within tens of thousands of years, the spiritual qi here will dissipate, turning the place into a dead land.”
Zhang Ruochen began to understand why this old demon had not blocked him.
It clearly did not want Xiu Chen to succeed in refining the divine source.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Where is the Eternal Heart?”
The demon race upper god said, “A treasure of such calibre the Heavenly God naturally keeps on her person. However, great god, please look. The divine lake at the centre of the hall is the essence refined over a thousand years from the petals of vast quantities of Flowers of Time. Now it has also fused the divine sources, divine blood, and divine souls of dozens of false gods. For a god of the way of time, it holds boundless wondrous uses.”
“This must be what Xiu Chen uses to refine her divine source,” Zhang Ruochen said.
The demon race upper god replied, “Precisely. Great god, be careful. That divine lake must not be approached. The flow of time is extremely rapid and will devour lifespan…”
Who could remain unmoved by such a divine lake?
Why had Xiu Chen Heavenly God felt safe leaving the lake here?
Because the eruptive power of time from the lake was something only she herself could withstand. For any other god to draw near would be to court death.
What the demon race upper god had imagined did not occur. Zhang Ruochen easily reached the lakeside. His body enveloped in dense time imprint light points and time rules, he used the Six Patriarchs’ Zen Release Diagram to collect every drop of divine liquid from the lake.
Witnessing this, the demon race upper god felt a mixture of shock, joy, and terror.
He dared not imagine what insane actions the Eternal Heavenly God would take upon returning to find the divine lake completely empty. Would she sacrifice and refine the entire Continent of Gods?
The Eternal Heavenly God had always been a woman of explosive temper, cruel and bloodthirsty, cold and merciless.
The Continent of Gods could no longer be remained upon.
He must flee, and flee immediately.
“The two gods captured by your Heavenly God, where are they held?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The demon race upper god said, “Great god, follow me.”
Holding the Reverse God Stele, Zhang Ruochen feared no traps. He followed the demon race upper god through a spatial gate and down stone steps into the depths beneath the Eternal Divine Hall.
The Yasha clan chief and Yu Shi were chained to two pillars of dark matter bronze. Their cultivation and mental strength sealed, their auras extremely weak.
Zhang Ruochen drew Divine Sword Old Six, severed the divine chains and divine patterns binding the Yasha clan chief, then pointed a finger at his chest to help unseal him.
“Boom!”
A powerful surge of divine force rebounded, numbing Zhang Ruochen’s finger with pain.
Zhang Ruochen was fine, but the Yasha clan chief could not withstand such immense power. He spat a mouthful of blood and said, “It cannot be done. Xiu Chen Heavenly God possesses Immensity realm cultivation, and the sealing method is ancient and strange. Even if you forcibly break the seal, this old man could not endure the backlash.”
Zhang Ruochen had considered using the Reverse God Stele, but time was pressing and he could not delay. “Very well. Yu Ling God should be able to unseal you. I shall take you away from here.”
He stored the Yasha clan chief inside a bead. Zhang Ruochen’s gaze fell upon Yu Shi. He was about to raise his sword and kill her.
Suddenly, he sensed something. His expression changed drastically.
He rushed back towards the surface, but it was too late. A brilliant wave of time imprint light points surged down from above the passage, accompanied by vast and overwhelming divine might.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God’s tall and stunningly beautiful figure emerged from the light points. Every strand of her hair burned with white flames. She spoke coldly. “Every one of you truly courts death. Do you really believe that reaching great god level allows you to act without restraint and disregard this god?”
The demon race upper god had long since prostrated himself on the ground.
Wu Yue had been captured and sealed by Xiu Chen Heavenly God. Held in one arm, her starry, beautiful eyes remained open, showing pain mixed with bewilderment. She wished to speak but could not.
She truly resembled the Moon Goddess far too closely. She was utterly different from the Wu Yue Zhang Ruochen had known.
Yet she was also far too weak. To actually be captured by Xiu Chen.
Zhang Ruochen had already sheathed his divine sword and drawn the Qing Ping Sword instead. His face showed no fear. “This seat serves under Xu Tian. Why should I place any importance on a crippled god like you?”
“Xu Tian? I have never heard of him.”
Xiu Chen Heavenly God had little patience. Time imprint light points gathered between the five fingers of her right hand, growing ever brighter.
Zhang Ruochen looked at her with disdain. “Xiu Chen, you are truly ignorant and ill-informed. In the millennium you have hidden in the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, the cosmos has undergone tremendous changes. War has erupted once more between the Heavenly Court and the hell realm. Both sides have each sealed twenty Zhutians who laugh proudly over the world, look down upon all beings, and control the great authority of the cosmos. Every one is a chessmaster.”
“My master, the former Xu Feng Jin of the Temple of Destiny, has been ranked among the Zhutians and renamed Xu Tian.”
Chained to the bronze pillar, Yu Shi had recognised Zhang Ruochen’s identity the moment he used his divine sword.
Seeing him now boldly claiming the banner of Xu Tian and speaking with such conviction, she could not help finding it amusing. A powerhouse like Xiu Chen Heavenly God being intimidated by him would be strange indeed.
Yet upon seeing Wu Yue captured by Xiu Chen Heavenly God, Yu Shi’s shock reached an unimaginable peak. She completely failed to understand what had happened.
How could this be?
How could her master have been captured?
No one knew Wu Yue’s strength better than she did.
Even with mental strength at the seventy-eighth order, comparable to a Tai Bai realm great god, Yu Shi could only look up to this unattainable master as to a divine mountain.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was briefly dazed, then her gaze grew even colder. “That old bastard Xu Feng Jin deserves to seal a heaven? You think to pressure this god with him? Let me tell you plainly, junior. Ten thousand years ago, even if Xu Feng Jin himself stood here, this god would not have feared him.”
“Xiu Chen, Xiu Chen. Ten thousand years have passed. Why can you still not face reality? Do you think you are still the Xiu Chen Heavenly God of old? My master’s true body is unnecessary. A single sword from him would suffice to slay you.”
Zhang Ruochen raised the Qing Ping Sword. Instantly sword qi raged through the underground world.
The sword’s cry rang in their ears.
Zhang Ruochen’s long hair flew wildly. His eyes flashed like lightning. “My master has achieved the twenty-third sword. This sword he bestowed upon me should be enough to cut you down.”
Xiu Chen Heavenly God’s phoenix eyes contracted sharply. She sensed the terrifying sword intent within Zhang Ruochen’s blade. “Xu Feng Jin truly bestowed a sword upon you.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “More than that. My master has personally come to the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain and will arrive shortly. Xiu Chen, this seat shows mercy because we are all gods of the hell realm and has not yet unleashed this sword. Do not reject the face I offer.”
How could Xiu Chen Heavenly God, with her immense pride, willingly submit?
If the opponent possessed only this one sword, at such close range, Xiu Chen Heavenly God had indeed considered seizing it in a lightning-fast move. Though risky, success was possible.
But was Xu Feng Jin truly coming?
Though her words were defiant and unyielding, she now possessed only Immensity realm strength. How could she dare challenge Xu Feng Jin?
“Xu Feng Jin would come to the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain? Does he dare take such a risk?” Xiu Chen Heavenly God asked.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “So many gods have suddenly arrived in the Paradise of the Lost. Does it not strike you as strange? And the Wu Yue in your hands. Had she not offended my master, how would she have ended up like this?”
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was completely convinced. The chill in her eyes receded. She dispersed the time imprint light points in her palm yet maintained her proud bearing. “Since you are Xu Feng Jin’s disciple, this god shall give him face and let today’s matter pass. However, the time divine liquid you took must be returned. And you cannot take that Yasha clan chief. This god has great need of him.”
Yu Shi felt certain she must be hallucinating or dreaming.
How could Zhang Ruochen have become Xu Tian’s disciple?
It was utterly impossible.
Zhang Ruochen gave a cold laugh. “This seat is a disciple of a Tian, wielder of one sword of heaven. You are not an Immeasurable realm god. How dare you demand anything from this seat? Xiu Chen, I shall tell you plainly. Today your only path to survival is to hand over the Eternal Heart and submit to this seat.”
Zhang Ruochen step by step tested Xiu Chen Heavenly God’s bottom line, fully embodying the arrogant and overbearing disciple of a Tian.
Asura murderous qi surged from Xiu Chen Heavenly God’s body, filling the underground world. Her eyes turned blood-red. “Junior, with your mere cultivation, you dare demand this god’s submission? Come then. Let us see whether your single sword slays this god or whether this god tears you to pieces today.”
Zhang Ruochen had not expected Xiu Chen Heavenly God to flare up so easily. She truly feared no death. Any god who understood the situation would already have submitted.
It seemed she truly was a woman and could not be judged by common reason.
Had he not intended to take Xiu Chen Heavenly God as the vessel spirit for a sundial, Zhang Ruochen would already have struck with this sword.
Seeing her utterly uncompromising stance, ready to perish together, Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat awkward. “Very well. Worthy of a foremost figure of the Asura clan in former days. This seat underestimated you. Let each side yield a step. This seat shall not demand your submission, nor need you surrender the Eternal Heart, but you must hand over Wu Yue. She is the woman my master has taken interest in. She has already been sealed as a Tian Ji and will be the future mistress of the Great Tribulation Palace.”
A strange expression appeared on Xiu Chen Heavenly God’s face. She sneered coldly. “Hundreds of thousands of years have passed. How has Xu Feng Jin reverted to his old nature? Does he not know Wu Yue’s origins? He actually dares to covet her?”
“It seems that after sealing a heaven, he has become utterly lawless. Wait. Why is your sword the Qing Ping Sword? As Xu Feng Jin’s disciple, you should cultivate the way of nothingness. Why do you cultivate the way of time?”
The demon race upper god kneeling in the corner heard the words “Qing Ping Sword” and immediately looked up at Zhang Ruochen. A flicker of unusual light passed through his eyes.
…
It is the start of the month. I still have to ask for monthly tickets. Look how hard your fish has been working lately…
