Although Fang Lingzi was extremely arrogant, he was far from foolish. The moment his words ended, scorching underworld flames erupted in the temple and surged simultaneously towards Zhang Ruochen, Xue Ningxiao, and Xue Chen.
If Zhang Ruochen moved to save Xue Ningxiao and Xue Chen, Fang Lingzi would seize the initiative, activate the two divine arrays and the divine patterns left by the Dark Temple Master, and slay him inside the hall.
With this single battle, he would shake the universe.
The underworld flames bloomed like flowers. No Great Saint could withstand them; the slightest touch meant death.
As expected, Zhang Ruochen took the bait and diverted divine qi to shield Xue Ningxiao and Xue Chen.
“Haha! Zhang Ruochen, in a clash between peak powerhouses, you actually split your focus to save two mere ants. Today, you are fated to die miserably here.”
Fang Lingzi laughed loudly, channeling divine qi to trigger the two divine arrays in the temple. One rose from the ground, the other descended from the ceiling, pressing down on Zhang Ruochen from above and below.
The array rising from the ground expanded space to thousands of miles in length and width, its dense inscriptions writhing like dragons and serpents.
The array descending from the sky was black as storm clouds, concealing boundless killing intent.
“Among the beings born in this cosmic cycle, you are indeed a supreme powerhouse. Yet how could you possibly comprehend my cultivation realm?”
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze was cold. He struck out with one palm.
The phantom of a dragon elephant nearly solidified into substance. With overwhelming force, it shattered both divine arrays and sent Fang Lingzi, who had thrust his spear-shaped weapon, flying backwards into chaotic space.
This chaotic space had been created by Zhang Ruochen’s will.
Just as Fang Lingzi, terrified beyond measure, prepared to activate a fragment of the Dark Temple Master’s divine patterns, a sword light plunged from the heavens. It pierced his divine realm world and ran through his chest.
Boom!
Fang Lingzi was pinned to the temple floor by the light sword, smashing a deep crater into the ground.
The light sword dispersed, dissolving into countless specks of light.
Zhang Ruochen stepped into the crater. He looked down at Fang Lingzi, whose mouth overflowed with blood, and used the domain of the Wuji Divine Way to pin him firmly to the ground so he could not rise. “You guessed correctly. I came precisely to borrow the head upon your shoulders.”
Pfft!
He severed Fang Lingzi’s head, extracted the divine source, refined the mental will and divine soul thoughts within the divine body, and only then threw the remains below the neck into the Six Patriarchs’ Zen Diagram.
Grabbing Fang Lingzi’s strange spear, a supreme sacred artefact, he walked out of the temple.
Outside, the vast army of the Dark Temple was approaching like a tide, black clouds rolling nearer from the horizon.
Within those clouds, killing cries shook the heavens, war banners flew thickly, and war drums thundered.
The glow of arrays shone like hundreds upon thousands of small suns.
Zhang Ruochen gave a cold snort. Divine qi surged into the spear in his hand, and he hurled it forward.
The spear unleashed unrivalled supreme might. Its light blazed like a constant star, its heat astonishing, and it manifested countless spear phantoms that flew into the ranks of the Dark Temple army.
Boom!
Swish! Swish! Swish…
The saint-realm soldiers of the Dark Temple fell like rain. Blood dyed the entire sky red.
“To any still alive, go tell Wu Bian that opposing me, Zhang Ruochen, comes at a price.”
Zhang Ruochen wrapped Xue Ningxiao and Xue Chen in divine qi. Carrying Fang Lingzi’s head, he transformed into a brilliant divine light and shot straight into the void.
Xue Ningxiao and Xue Chen were deeply shaken, their eyes filled with reverence.
The present Zhang Ruochen had become a peerless figure whose slightest movement could shake heaven and earth. Compared to the man who had first arrived at the Xue Jue family, the change was heaven-shaking.
“Today I intend to slaughter freely. You are not fit to travel with me. Find a place to hide first, and return to the Xue Jue family once this storm passes.”
Zhang Ruochen left Xue Ningxiao and Xue Chen in the starry void. Taking divine steps, he headed straight for the Qing Ling Great World.
The Three Lives Realm was a war base on the starry battlefield. Naturally, the major hell-realm forces all had cultivators stationed there. Not long after Zhang Ruochen departed, transmission light talismans flew out in all directions.
The Qing Ling Great World, also one of the ten realms, belonged to Zhang Ruochen.
Once a world teeming with life, it had become a land of yin corpses and ghosts. Corpse clouds covered the sky, yellow springs gushed from the earth.
Yin souls wandered mountains and wilderness, roads and cities. Evil corpses devoured the living. Skeletons freshly crawled from the soil. The ghost clan’s Di Sha Ghost City, the corpse clan’s Longevity Hall, and the bone clan’s Hidden Bone Sea had seized the world and turned it into their granary of yin nourishment.
Boom!
A meteor streaked from beyond the cosmos and crashed heavily into the ground. It shattered the temple of a corpse-clan true god in the Longevity Hall and buried it deep underground.
Zhang Ruochen emerged from below, dragging a corpse god covered in red fur. He flung it to the ground.
“Zhang Ruochen, I am Qing Ba God Lord of the Longevity Hall…”
Pfft!
A single sword stroke took its head.
Zhang Ruochen lifted the red-furred head, vast as a water vat. Flames flicked from his fingertip and incinerated the divine body to ashes.
“Who dares cause trouble in the Qing Ling Great World?” A cold divine voice rang from millions of miles away.
The Flying Wing Old Ghost of Di Sha Ghost City and Tai Ding Bone God of Hidden Bone Sea, both veteran gods who had survived the cosmic tribulation, flew towards the disturbance from opposite directions.
Yet, sensing the terrifying aura radiating from Zhang Ruochen, the two old gods turned and fled at ten thousand miles out, racing into the cosmos.
“Their instincts are sharp.”
Zhang Ruochen took one step, crossing space instantly, and appeared above the Flying Wing Old Ghost.
“Zhang Ruochen, how can it be you?”
The Flying Wing Old Ghost smashed through space, fleeing into the void world. Ghost qi burned across his body as he unleashed an escape secret art.
Zhang Ruochen’s palm became the hand of heaven itself, stretching ten thousand miles. It seized the massive ghost body from the void and crushed it with a bang.
“Zhang Ruochen, you have committed a crime against heaven. Xu Tian will reduce you to dust… Ah…”
Divine flames in Zhang Ruochen’s palm burned the Flying Wing Old Ghost into wisps of green smoke, leaving only an intact divine source.
Elsewhere, Tai Ding Bone God saw Qing Ba God Lord and Flying Wing Old Ghost fall in quick succession. He knew Zhang Ruochen would never spare him today. The youth slaughtered hell-realm gods at will, like a rabid hound.
Escape! Escape! Escape!
He fled at maximum speed. If he could hold out just a little longer, great gods would surely arrive to deal with Zhang Ruochen.
“Where do you think you are going?” Zhang Ruochen’s voice sounded.
Before Tai Ding Bone God even saw him, cracking sounds rang from his body. A sword slash cut him in two.
It was a single stroke from the divine sword, killing Tai Ding Bone God utterly.
The divine sword’s flames refined his mental will and divine substance.
The sword intent, containing sword soul and sword spirit, severed his divine soul directly.
In the Qing Ling Great World, Great Saint powerhouses of the three major forces gazed skyward. All trembled, fearing Zhang Ruochen might unleash divine retribution.
Yet the divine might that enveloped the entire world soon dissipated.
Zhang Ruochen had already left. He did not linger. Slaughtering mere saint-realm cultivators would waste too much time and was hardly worth it. Should the great gods of the three forces arrive, he would be drawn into prolonged combat, and the cost would outweigh the gain.
Soon after, Zhang Ruochen reached the Fire Cloud Realm, another of the ten realms. He beheaded a seventy-sixth-order mental power god and departed.
This mental power god was the disciple of one of the three masters of Tian Nan Life-Death Ruins, a woman of striking beauty.
…
News of the events in the Three Lives Realm, Qing Ling Great World, and Fire Cloud Realm spread rapidly across the universe and naturally reached the Hundred Clans King City.
The Seven Peaks Linked Mountains were the holy land of the Demon Wolf Clan.
A black temple the size of a city hovered above the peaks. The dark power it radiated enveloped the entire Hundred Clans King City.
Below, Demon Wolf Clan cultivators between the peaks were suppressed by the temple’s aura and reverted to their original forms.
The Dark Temple Master sat within the temple, his form unseen. His voice was deep and vast, as though echoing from primordial times. “A mental power expert of perfect heavenly roundness is concealing the heavenly secrets. Zhang Ruochen’s whereabouts cannot be divined.”
One of the temple’s gods exclaimed in surprise, “How can this be? It was said a heavenly figure ascended Star Heaven Cliff, and the Second Master went to Xing Huan Heaven. Who else could spare the effort to aid Zhang Ruochen?”
The Dark Temple Master replied, “What kind of place is Star Heaven Cliff? Even heaven itself may not suppress it. Moreover, the gap between the Second Master and the one in Xing Huan Heaven remains vast. Why do you assume only those two perfect heavenly roundness mental power experts exist in this star domain?”
“Is the Master referring to the perfect heavenly roundness expert in the Heavenly Court?” one god asked.
The Dark Temple Master did not name names. “Whoever it is, anyone who dares oppose the hell realm must die.”
Mu Tuo War God, the youngest war god of the Dark Temple, had reached the pinnacle of the Tai Xu realm. Every bone in his body was sheathed in iron. He stepped forward carrying a heavy hammer. “Even if someone conceals the secrets for him, that person would not dare show themselves openly. Mu Tuo requests battle. Give me three hours, and I will bring back Zhang Ruochen’s head.”
Mu Tuo War God was renowned across the universe for ruthless slaughter. Heavenly Court gods trembled at his name. Below the Immeasurable realm, he was the Dark Temple’s strongest apart from Wu Yue.
The Dark Temple Master said, “Why use an ox knife to kill a chicken? Great gods from Tian Nan, Di Sha Ghost City, Longevity Hall, and Hidden Bone Sea have already left the Hundred Clans King City to hunt Zhang Ruochen. Great gods from other forces with interests in the ten realms have also mobilised. Mu Tuo, why must you act?”
“Zhang Ruochen carries many treasures. How can we allow them to fall into other forces’ hands?” Mu Tuo War God said gravely.
At that moment, a divine light flew in from outside and condensed into the figure of a divine general.
The general bowed towards the upper seat. “Reporting to the Master: traces of Bai Qing’er have been discovered.”
Ordinary matters concerning upper gods would not require reporting to the Master.
But Bai Qing’er’s status was special. She was both a cosmic-cycle genius and disciple of the Star Sea Angler, so consulting the Master was necessary.
Had Zhang Ruochen not appeared, the Dark Temple Master truly would not have wished to touch the girl just yet. “Mu Tuo, you go. I want her alive.”
Mu Tuo War God was displeased. “She is merely an upper god. If Yu Shi went, he could capture her easily.”
“Do you truly believe that? Have you not always wished to fight Huang Tian? This is an excellent opportunity. Capture his daughter, and you will not need to seek him out. He will come to you.” The Dark Temple Master said.
Divine flames ignited in the bony sockets of Mu Tuo War God’s eyes. Carrying his war hammer, he flew out of the temple with the divine general.
After a while, the Dark Temple Master said, “Yu Shi, take this news to Pu Chuanqi of the Qing Lu Temple.”
The Dark Temple Master had always regarded prodigies of Huang Tian and Xue Jue War God’s calibre with utmost caution. Any chance to eliminate them must be seized.
He himself was one who cultivated at astonishing speed, leaving countless elders far behind.
Precisely because he understood how terrifying the potential of supreme prodigies could be, he had once disregarded his own status and struck against Zhang Ruochen shortly after the latter attained godhood.
