It felt as if he had fought a desperate battle against thousands upon thousands of soldiers and horses. Utterly drained, every limb ached with numbness. He had no desire to move.
Zhang Ruochen drifted in the void. His gaze was vacant. His powerful, beautifully muscled body was covered in scratches and bruises, along with bite marks. Every wound proclaimed the ferocity of the struggle and the fearsome strength of his opponent.
Terrifying.
Who would have thought that a dark enchantress famed throughout the universe for her mental strength could be so overpowering? She had nearly exhausted the essence, qi, and spirit of a proud and unyielding young great god.
Swish!
A streak of light flashed past.
The Sundial flew out from the darkness and stopped beside Zhang Ruochen.
A wisp of divine soul emerged from the Sundial and condensed into Xiu Chen’s graceful form. She glanced at Zhang Ruochen’s wretched state and gave a cold snort. “You are finished. You defiled Xu Fengjin’s woman. No one in heaven or on earth can save you now.”
Zhang Ruochen forced his aching body upright. He looked at the bite marks on himself. Fatigue filled his eyes, yet they carried a cold edge. “Are you blind? Can you not see that I am the victim here, violated and then abandoned in the void?”
Xiu Chen wanted to laugh, but could not. “Do you think Xu Fengjin will believe that? He will only believe that Wu Yue lost her memory, and while gravely injured, you ravished her.”
“She has been scheming against you from the very beginning. Yet you thought yourself clever, believing you could deceive and use her. With your shallow skills, you dared to match wits with her?”
“But I truly cannot understand why Wu Yue would resort to such a borrowed-knife murder. In the Dark Triangle Star Domain, she could have killed you herself. Who would ever know?”
“The only reason I can think of is that she harbours enormous ambition and refuses to be confined within the Great Tribulation Palace. By feigning memory loss and placing all blame for the loss of her virtue upon you, she can both eliminate you and escape Xu Fengjin’s control. One stone, two birds.”
“Yet that reason is not sufficient. Why did she choose you in particular? Would Xuan Yuanlian or the Blood Absolute War God not have served better?”
Zhang Ruochen touched his chest. The divine talisman that had clouded his reason and inflamed his passions had burned itself out.
Such was the gulf in mental strength.
A talisman ignited could sway the mind.
Now fully dressed, Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew grave. “If she also seized the Sundial, would that not be one stone, three birds? You hid your abilities well. To escape from her presence shows considerable skill.”
“That is because this god has always been on guard. How could I be as naive as you, believing Wu Yue had truly lost her memory?”
Xiu Chen showed no smugness. Seeing that, despite his dark mood, Zhang Ruochen remained calm, she warned, “You do not think this is a minor matter, do you?”
“Since Xu Fengjin declared he would take Wu Yue as his Heavenly Consort, it was no idle remark. Even mortal emperors keep their word. The words of the Heavens are heavenly decree. They have fixed Wu Yue’s status.”
“You knew full well that Xu Fengjin granted her the position of mistress of the Great Tribulation Palace, yet you violated her. That is a capital crime. No god could endure such an insult, least of all one as extraordinary as Xu Fengjin.”
How could Zhang Ruochen not understand?
Even if Xu Fengjin, seeking to mend old regrets, restrained his fury and allowed Zhang Ruochen to grow to the level of Saint Monk Xumi before acting, that would be his personal choice alone.
For Wu Yue needed only a small nudge for the matter to become known across the universe.
Then Xu Fengjin would not even need to lift a finger. Gods wishing to curry favour with him, gods bearing grudges against Zhang Ruochen, gods indebted to Xu Fengjin, would descend in overwhelming numbers and tear Zhang Ruochen to pieces.
Even gods who revered Destiny would see it as a stain upon the Destiny Temple and take action.
The involvement of Dark Temple gods was certain.
Zhang Ruochen had played the beast first, causing Xu Tian to be mocked by cultivators everywhere and bringing shame upon the Destiny Temple. When that happened, even the status of Heavenly Grandmother’s envoy would be useless.
This scheme was vicious to the extreme. It thrust Zhang Ruochen fully onto the opposite side of the entire Infernal Realm, into mortal peril.
Yet Xiu Chen, having spent a millennium in the Dark Triangle Star Domain, knew nothing of changes beyond it, nothing of the forces behind Zhang Ruochen. Thus she saw only part of the picture.
Wu Yue’s vision, however, had long risen to a higher plane. She saw the grand situation across the entire universe.
King Yu could perceive the vast power gathering around Zhang Ruochen. How could Wu Yue fail to see it?
If this single move provoked Xu Fengjin into striking down Zhang Ruochen in rage, the storm that followed would be exactly what Wu Yue wished to witness.
First, the Supreme of Kunlun Realm would surely act.
The clues were plentiful. Wu Yue could guess that Zhang Ruochen’s presence in the Dark Triangle Star Domain was likely connected to that Supreme.
One Zhang family god was trapped in the Destiny Temple to save the Supreme. Another had died in the Dark Triangle because of the Supreme.
With lifespan running out, if the Supreme did not avenge those wrongs, what face would remain to go on living?
In that clash, the Supreme would surely fall. Even if Xu Fengjin survived, he would be forced irrevocably into the war faction.
Second, with Zhang Ruochen dead, how could Xing Huan Tian remain unmoved?
The entire universe knew that Zhang Ruochen had risked everything, repelled the Heavenly Court armies, and borrowed Heavenly Grandmother’s authority to save Xing Huan Tian.
This opportunity would allow the Infernal Realm to consolidate its strength, destroy Xing Huan Tian and Xing Tian Cliff in one stroke, remove the final obstacles, and open a second battlefield in the Southern Universe.
Third, Wu Yue had borrowed not only Xu Fengjin’s sword but also Emperor Fengdu’s banner.
Emperor Fengdu himself might care little about what transpired between Zhang Ruochen and Wu Yue.
But Emperor Fengdu had gone to the cosmic frontier as spokesman for the Middle Three Races and Heavenly Venerable of the Infernal Realm. Countless gods would die willingly for him. How could those gods spare Zhang Ruochen?
Raising Emperor Fengdu’s banner would suffice to overcome their fear of Heavenly Grandmother and unite the entire Infernal Realm’s strength into a single rope. It could even purge unstable elements within the Rakshasa and Undying Blood Races.
After all, as living beings, the Rakshasa and Undying Blood Races had always guarded against and suppressed the Dark Temple.
This was far beyond one stone, three birds. It was closer to one stone, ten birds.
Even if Xu Fengjin saw through Wu Yue’s calculations and spared Zhang Ruochen, her plan could still proceed.
Countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Ruochen’s mind. Naturally he would not sit and await death. “Did Wu Yue take the Universe Cauldron?”
“Do you think she would leave it for you?” Xiu Chen replied.
“And the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze?”
“Heh heh.”
“Very well. I understand.”
Suddenly Zhang Ruochen stripped off the robes he had just donned and lay back in the void. “Project this scene and transmit it to the Continent of Gods.”
With that, he closed his eyes. His body went limp as if he had fainted.
Xiu Chen stared at Zhang Ruochen’s naked form and froze. “What are you doing?”
“Since Wu Yue seeks to consign me to eternal damnation, I can only strike first and seize some initiative. Do it quickly. Do not tell me you lack even this ability.”
Zhang Ruochen had no choice but to fight fire with fire.
If Wu Yue could disregard her own body, why should he care about his?
They would see who had fewer limits.
They would see who could throw caution furthest to the wind.
Of course, it also depended on Xiu Chen’s skill.
…
The Xufeng divine warship rested on the southwestern plains of the Continent of Gods. Thousands of li long, it loomed like a mountain range, startling countless native cultivators across the continent.
Xuan Yuanqing led the Wind Clan and Bright Temple gods in gathering the many beings of the plains into her divine realm world. She planned, after leaving the Dark Triangle Star Domain, to find them new homes.
They returned from all directions and landed upon the warship.
One Bright Temple god said, “Lady Qing, is this truly necessary? Away from the special environment of the Lost Paradise Star Domain, they may not survive.”
“Indeed. The Universe Cauldron has been taken by Wu Yue. The fighting is over. The Continent of Gods should face no further danger!” another god added.
Xuan Yuanqing replied, “Is the fighting truly over? The Sword Realm remains unfound. A Chaotic Ancient Demon God is in this star domain. With the Universe Cauldron, Wu Yue is now a tiger with wings. Would she spare us? Too many perils remain. No one knows how long the Continent of Gods can endure.”
She continued, “This catastrophe arose because of us. Whatever the future holds, we must do what we can.”
The gods bowed in admiration, offering various words of praise.
Xuan Yuanqing had heard such words too often and had grown numb to them. Whatever their true thoughts, for now she needed only to act without regret.
“You all say, who truly seized the Universe Cauldron? Wu Yue or the Moon God?” a Wind Clan god asked.
That doubt lingered in every cultivator present.
Xuan Yuanqing answered, “It should be Wu Yue. In the clash between Xiu Chen and Wu Yue in the starry void, Wu Yue fought solely with mental strength. Xiu Chen was once a supreme figure of the Asura Clan. He would not mistake her. Yet Wu Yue’s state was strange, as if she had indeed lost her memory!”
The image surfaced in Xuan Yuanqing’s mind of Xiu Chen Heavenly God being intercepted by the Blood Absolute War God in the Nihility World. A smile appeared in her misty eyes beneath the veil. “If Wu Yue has truly lost her memory, with Zhang Ruochen’s intelligence, how could he miss the chance to use her?”
The gods suddenly understood. One said, “Zhang Ruochen must have let Wu Yue enter his sea of consciousness and see his experiences with the Moon God, thereby reshaping her memories. Brilliant. Truly a masterful stroke.”
“That is plainly shameless and utterly insidious.”
“Against a god of the Dark Temple, must one be honourable?”
…
Feng Xuan asked doubtfully, “Why do Wu Yue and the Moon God look identical? Is there some connection?”
Xuan Yuanqing knew certain secrets. “The matter is vast in scope, involving two Heavenly Venerables past and present… eh…”
She looked up. Clouds gathered overhead, forming a curtain of light.
An image, projected from some immeasurably distant place, appeared upon it.
Xuan Yuanqing’s radiant eyes gradually turned strange. She stared in disbelief at the naked figure at the centre, drifting alone and desolate in the dark void.
The image was clear. Even the bruises, scratches, and bite marks were visible.
The Xufeng divine warship erupted in uproar.
“Big Brother is in danger. I must save him.”
Feng Yan summoned his Pure Yang Divine Sword and prepared to fly from the Continent of Gods, but Master Mo stopped him.
“Do you even know where he is?” Master Mo asked.
Though Feng Xuan suspected Qing Pingzi was likely Zhang Ruochen, his goodwill remained unchanged. He said worriedly, “What has happened to Zhang Ruochen? Why is he drifting alone in the void, covered in wounds? Could he have encountered an unbeatable foe and been stripped of everything? He carries many supreme treasures.”
“Seventh Brother, you have no dao companion, so naturally you do not understand. Heh heh. This time, Zhang Ruochen has surely fallen to a woman. Judging by how thoroughly he was tormented, that woman’s cultivation must be terrifyingly high,” a Wind Clan god laughed.
Feng Xi emerged from the divine hall and looked upward. Complex emotions flickered in her almond eyes.
She quickly withdrew her gaze and returned inside.
Not only gods could see the projection in the sky. Holy Realm cultivators and every living being on the Continent of Gods could see it.
“Could it be Princess Fei Ma?” Feng Xuan asked.
“No. It is Wu Yue.”
A golden chariot approached.
Xuan Yuanlian’s voice emerged from within. “Though well concealed, by calculating with the Path of Truth, one can detect a trace of Wu Yue’s aura within this projection. A being of eighty-fourth order mental strength, how could she possibly lose her memory? Zhang Ruochen has stumbled badly this time!”
Feng Yan burned with hatred and roared, “What does that demoness want? To flaunt? To humiliate? She cares nothing for face, but does my Big Brother care nothing either? My Big Brother is lord of an entire realm! After such utter humiliation, how can he go on living…”
Feng Yan worried deeply for Zhang Ruochen, his heart twisting like a knife.
One must remember that dignity and face were what gods valued most.
If it were him, suffering first a great tribulation and then such profound disgrace, what face would remain to face others? Better to die.
“Why would Wu Yue do this? For whose benefit?” Xuan Yuanlian’s voice murmured from within the golden chariot.
…
On the Continent of Gods, aboard the Undying Blood Race divine warship, Bloodslaughter roared, “She did it deliberately for Xu Tian to see. She is telling him she will never marry him. Pitiful. My senior brother has become the sacrifice in her game with Xu Tian.”
The Nether King had already informed the Undying Blood Race gods that Xu Tian wished to take Wu Yue as Heavenly Consort.
The matter was momentous, enough to affect the entire cosmic situation and even the interests of the Undying Blood Race.
Wu Yue playing games with Xu Tian?
Lord Bloodshine kicked Bloodslaughter flying and glared furiously. “You have already stepped into godhood, yet you can still speak such brainless words.”
