“Zhang Ruochen, do not be insolent. With the arrays of the Hundred Clans King City, slaying you would be as easy as turning over my hand for this god.”
Yu Shi struck the ground heavily with her staff. Mental power surged out like a tide. At once, the number of array inscriptions on the light curtain blocking the six divine swords multiplied.
The six divine swords were blasted away.
A divine array beam shot out, causing space to shake violently. It shattered Zhang Ruochen’s body into dust.
The long street was pierced through, forming a gully dozens of miles long. The sight was shocking.
The Hundred Clans King City had stood for so many years on the edge of the hell realm without falling. The arrays within the city were naturally extraordinary. Even great gods who came here would meet their end.
This was the root of Yu Shi’s confidence.
“It was merely a divine soul thought. Does your true body dare to show itself, Zhang Ruochen?” Yu Shi’s eyes radiated divine light for tens of thousands of zhang as she searched all around.
“Why would it not dare?”
Zhang Ruochen’s voice came from above.
Yu Shi looked up. She saw Zhang Ruochen’s unrestrained figure step out of space. He held the Ni Shen Stele and smashed straight down towards the array light curtain below.
On the Ni Shen Stele, divine characters flickered one by one. Strange divine light enveloped Zhang Ruochen’s body.
Yu Shi knew a fair amount about the Ni Shen Stele. She gave a cold snort. “Do you think the Ni Shen Stele is omnipotent? When an array reaches a certain strength, even god kings and god venerables cannot breach it. You rely on a mere stele?”
“All array towers, operate together. Suppress and kill Zhang Ruochen.”
Each of the thirty-six smaller array towers was guarded by a god.
They came from the thirty-six minor clans that had submitted to the Dark Temple. Some were pseudo-gods, some true gods. They released divine qi from their bodies, merging with their towers.
The light bursting from the thirty-six towers intensified greatly. The entire Hundred Clans King City trembled.
Just as Yu Shi believed confidently that Zhang Ruochen would surely be slain by the divine array’s power, four of the towers suddenly dimmed. A flaw appeared in the array that could kill great gods.
The Ni Shen Stele struck the flaw in the array. The bright light curtain sank downwards.
Array inscriptions rapidly faded, actually dissolving into nothingness.
Boom!
Half the Ni Shen Stele smashed heavily into the spot where Yu Shi had just stood. It created a large crater full of cracks in the plaza outside the Guan Yun Array Tower.
Yu Shi had retreated to the tower gate. Her eyes were filled with disbelief as she looked towards the four towers that had dimmed.
“No need to look. Do you truly believe the Dark Temple is already master of the Hundred Clans King City? Did you really take my Yaksha Clan for slaves to be slaughtered at will?”
Divine might surged from Yu Ling God. Divine qi was vast as the sea. Her exquisite body, carved as though from divine jade, descended from the sky.
The gods in those four towers all bowed to her.
Yu Ling God and the Yaksha Clan Chief had entered the city early for a reason.
How could they attack the Guan Yun Array Tower without prior arrangements?
Yu Shi said, “Yu Ling God, it seems you truly weary of living, daring to oppose the Dark Temple.”
“The Dark Temple bullies others too severely. Not only has it stretched its hand into the Hundred Clans King City, it wants to enslave the Yaksha Clan for eternity. Today, the Yaksha Clan must fight. We do not fear your Dark Temple. Even if we die, we will die standing.”
Yu Ling God’s divine voice spread across the Hundred Clans King City. “Where are the Yaksha Clan cultivators? Do you still have blood and courage? Follow this god into battle. Slay the foreign enemies. We will not be slaves.”
“The Yaksha Clan cultivators have always been here!”
“Slay the foreign enemies. We will not be slaves.”
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Yaksha Clan cultivators were scattered throughout the entire Hundred Clans King City. How could the Dark Temple kill them all?
In recent days, the Yaksha Clan had been humiliated far too harshly. The desire to resist had long been there. They had merely lacked a leader, remaining like loose sand.
Yu Ling God’s personal arrival was equivalent to raising a war banner for them.
A young Yaksha saint crawled out from beneath a manor. Covered in dirt, he gazed towards the direction of Yu Ling God’s divine light. He trembled with excitement.
He picked up his long spear, pushed open the gate, and roared, “The Yaksha Clan’s spine remains unbroken. Our hot blood does not die. Fight!”
At the Yaksha Clan’s holy land in the Hundred Clans King City, the Night Rain Sea, the gates opened. Armoured soldiers poured out like a tide, rushing towards the source of the divine light.
“The Yaksha Clan is the true king of the Hundred Clans King City. This is the foundation our ancestors fought for. No force will be allowed to touch it.”
“The Dark Temple has humiliated our clan too greatly. Even if we die today, we will fight.”
…
Throughout the city, Yaksha Clan cultivators charged out. Some rushed towards the Guan Yun Array Tower. Others directly clashed with Dark Temple cultivators in the streets.
Some even rushed into the Dark Temple army and detonated their saint sources.
This was the influence of a god. A single sentence could make an entire clan’s cultivators follow her into battle, regretting nothing even in death.
Yu Shi watched smoke rise thickly in the city, killing cries ringing from all directions. Yet she remained calm and smiled. “Yu Ling God, the current Yaksha Clan Chief is Lord Ye Kong. You are merely a sinner of the Yaksha Clan.”
A powerful divine might spread from the Guan Yun Array Tower. Dense rule divine patterns surged like a tide towards Yu Ling God and Zhang Ruochen.
Lord Ye Kong stepped out of the Guan Yun Array Tower. His body was tall, his head triangular. Green flames burned atop it. He rebuked gravely, “Yu Ling God, you already committed a grave error before, bringing great calamity. Now, do you wish to see the Yaksha Clan exterminated?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Those words are mistaken. From what I know, the legend of the Sword Realm was spread single-handedly by the Dark Temple. Its purpose was never to find some nonexistent Sword Realm, but to take the opportunity to place forces on the edge of the hell realm and seize the Hundred Clans King City.”
“One could say that even without Yu Ling God acting, the Dark Temple would inevitably target the three great clans with massive influence here. You, Lord Ye Kong, fear the Dark Temple and are willing to be slaughtered, abandoning the territory our ancestors won. Yet Yu Ling God is not so weak.”
“If you are the Yaksha Clan Chief, then the Yaksha Clan truly has no hope.”
“Is this a place for you to speak?”
Lord Ye Kong roared in fury. He struck with a fist. Divine patterns filled the sky, pressing towards Zhang Ruochen.
Yu Ling God raised a spatial barrier, blocking the punch for Zhang Ruochen. “Ye Kong, join this god in retaking the Hundred Clans King City. Rescue the imprisoned and enslaved clansmen. Drive the invaders out.”
Lord Ye Kong glanced up at the black temple hovering in the distance. “Do not dream of going against the greater trend. The era has changed. The Yaksha Clan is no longer a great clan. Before the Dark Temple, we are far too weak. Yu Ling God, quickly suppress Zhang Ruochen. You may yet redeem yourself. The Master is broad-minded and will forgive your earlier crimes.”
Yu Ling God’s eyes were filled with disappointment. “To submit before even resisting. You kneel truly quickly. Leaving you in this world will only bring calamity to the Yaksha Clan.”
A seal appeared in her pale palm. It pierced through the rule divine patterns vast as rivers and seas, striking towards Lord Ye Kong.
“Han Yu Ling, this lord sees you have lost your mind to that pretty boy Zhang Ruochen. You would drag the Yaksha Clan into the abyss of extinction. The one who deserves death is you.”
Lord Ye Kong’s rage surged. Green divine light poured from his head, forming a blazing sea of fire.
Within the fire sea, ten thousand beasts galloped. It refined heaven and earth, burning holes in the stable space here.
Yu Ling God had come prepared. She raised both hands. A three-chi-long divine temple appeared. It spun slowly as it rose, growing ever larger.
It was none other than the Yaksha Ancestral Divine Temple.
This temple contained vast profundities. Wielded by Yu Ling God, it was more fearsome than ordinary divine artefacts.
Seeing the Yaksha Ancestral Divine Temple, Lord Ye Kong immediately revealed terror. He cursed loudly, “Wretch, you truly wish to doom the Yaksha Clan forever!”
Yu Ling God stood outside the Yaksha Ancestral Divine Temple. Her divine robes fluttered. Her skin glowed like fine jade. She activated an ancient array within the ancestral temple. At once, the phantom of a Yaksha Clan progenitor appeared, radiating terrifying might.
Boom!
The progenitor’s phantom struck Lord Ye Kong, sending him crashing into a chaotic space of alternating light and dark.
The influence of the Yaksha Ancestral Divine Temple spread across half the Hundred Clans King City. The closer to the centre, the more chaotic space-time became. The chaos was caused by the temple’s numerous divine arrays and divine patterns.
This was the ultimate foundation of the Yaksha Clan, once one of the ten great clans of the hell realm. Zhang Ruochen suspected that Yu Ling God, wielding the Yaksha Ancestral Divine Temple, could challenge a god king.
“Pretty boy?”
Zhang Ruochen touched his face. Did his face truly have such great charm?
Yu Shi saw the situation turning bad and tried to retreat into the Guan Yun Array Tower. Yet a blue divine beast resembling a lion-tiger blocked her, smashing her backwards.
The Yaksha Clan Chief stood on the beast’s back. With mental power, he summoned vast lightning that struck down towards Yu Shi, forming an ocean of thunder.
Appearing alongside the Yaksha Clan Chief was the Fire Ghost Clan Chief, Xuan ?.
Chief Xuan ? stood on the white stone plaza. He surveyed the thirty-six array towers. Ghost qi soared skyward. He declared loudly, “The Hundred Clans King City is the divine city of the hundred clans. Any who continue to side with the Dark Temple will be attacked together by the three great clans.”
The three great clans had long held deep prestige in the Hundred Clans King City. Their influence far exceeded the Dark Temple’s.
The gods in the array towers were all shaken by Chief Xuan ?’s divine voice. They trembled in fear and grew hesitant.
“Leave this place to the two clan chiefs. When it comes to matters of slaughter, one must still be decisive.”
Zhang Ruochen had great confidence in these two chiefs who led great clans. Holding the Ni Shen Stele, he walked out of the plaza enveloped by the thirty-six array towers.
One of the divine swords hovering to his right suddenly rang loudly. It became a brilliant sword light and slashed out.
Pfft!
Blood flashed.
A great god of the Undying Blood Clan who had tried to charge in was slashed by the divine sword and sent tumbling back. He crashed into the city, smashing a large swathe of buildings on the ground.
The divine sword had only left a shallow blood mark on his chest. It failed to wound him gravely.
A strange light appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes. “Not weak cultivation. Who comes?”
“This seat is Qing Tian Tribe, Qing Yun Tai!”
The Undying Blood Clan great god’s voice boomed like thunder. Above his head appeared a tangible blood-coloured ocean. One could hear the crashing waves of the blood sea.
The great clan butcher of the Qing Tian Tribe was one of the powerhouses qualified to become Undying Blood Clan chief.
Qing Yun Tai was the clan brother of the Qing Tian Tribe’s great clan butcher. He was an ancient god who had cultivated for over four hundred thousand years.
Zhang Ruochen smiled. “So it is a senior mighty figure of the Undying Blood Clan. My apologies. I wounded the senior by mistake just now.”
These words of apology grated unbearably on Qing Yun Tai’s ears.
With his status and cultivation, to be wounded in a single exchange by a junior of impure bloodline was utter humiliation.
