As Zhang Ruochen’s martial cultivation and sword attainment continued to rise, the power of the Sword Ancestor soul swords surged once more.
This time, he unleashed the Anger Sword.
His anger was not particularly intense, yet the might of the Anger Sword was still enough to threaten a great god of the Tai Xu realm.
Boom.
The space in front of Xu Liao exploded.
Waves of spatial shock and fist force clashed violently with the Anger Sword, forming torrents of raging energy.
“The Sword Ancestor soul swords are treasures of the world. Keeping them in your hands is a waste. This seat will take them.”
Xu Liao’s feet spread a yellowish-brown divine realm world. Corpse qi surged, divine patterns beyond count enveloped the Anger Sword, attempting to seize it.
In the end, the gap in cultivation between Zhang Ruochen and a Tai Xu great god remained vast.
Even the Sword Ancestor soul swords could only threaten a Tai Xu great god. With slight caution, the great god would not capsize in the gutter.
Of course, if Zhang Ruochen’s seven emotions erupted fully, the power of the Sword Ancestor soul swords would be on another level entirely.
Seeing the Anger Sword about to be lost, Zhang Ruochen’s emotions rose. His gaze turned icy.
Swish.
The Desire Sword flew out.
Its sword light surpassed the Anger Sword, slashing heavily onto Xu Liao’s divine realm world.
A deafening explosion rang out. Xu Liao’s divine realm world shook violently.
“Useless. Your cultivation is worlds apart from mine. To break my divine realm world, you would need Blood Jue War God himself.”
“Take.”
Xu Liao reached out with a divine hand across the void. Corpse qi surged like a river thousands of li long, sweeping up the Desire Sword and dragging it into his divine realm world. He laughed loudly. “Bring out the other five Sword Ancestor soul swords together. This seat wants them all.”
Anyone could see the enormous gap between Zhang Ruochen and Xu Liao. Even borrowing the Sword Ancestor’s power, he had no strength to fight back.
Many gods watched with envy and jealousy.
Those were Sword Ancestor soul swords. Even for non-sword cultivators, they held immense value for comprehension.
In the hands of a junior like Zhang Ruochen, newly entered into the great god level, they could already contend with a Tai Xu great god. In their hands, how much stronger would the swords be?
“With the Sword Ancestor soul swords, Xu Liao’s combat strength will rise to unknown heights.” A sword-cultivating god stared with red, burning eyes.
Yet the Sword Ancestor soul swords were not so easily claimed.
Inside Xu Liao’s divine realm world, Anger Sword and Desire Sword turned into two sword dragons, rampaging wildly, slashing rules and divine patterns, destroying mountains and rivers. Despite Xu Liao’s Tai Xu realm cultivation, he could not suppress them quickly.
Under Zhang Ruochen’s control, the two swords flew towards the core of the divine realm world.
“Damn it.”
With a thought from Xu Liao, peaks rose from the ground of his divine realm world, crashing from all directions to fully suppress the two Sword Ancestor soul swords.
Now.
The five remaining soul swords flew from Zhang Ruochen’s body. Brilliant light shone as they severed the formation inscriptions in the divine array, attacking Xu Liao’s divine realm world from different angles.
For now, the seven soul swords were Zhang Ruochen’s strongest trump card, his only means to challenge a Tai Xu great god.
Because this was not his power. It was the Sword Ancestor’s.
Boom.
Xu Liao’s divine realm world shattered.
The seven soul swords gathered, merging into one radiant divine sword. It drew upon the sword dao rules of heaven and earth, slashing straight down.
Xu Liao punched out. Divine power erupted. Divine flames formed a nebula of stars.
Bang.
Fist met sword.
A large piece of Xu Liao’s divine realm world beneath his feet cracked. His divine body retreated explosively. Though uninjured, he lost face completely.
A grand Tai Xu great god, actually forced back by Zhang Ruochen.
How… how was this possible?
In this exchange with Xu Liao, Zhang Ruochen had already brought out the Reverse God Stele. Using the mysterious power within, he broke a gap in the divine array set by Master Qianqian.
Banya seized the chance. She piloted the blood-coloured divine vessel and rushed out through the opening.
Zhang Ruochen returned to the vessel. Seeing the pursuing divine lights closing in, he handed the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus to Xiao Hei. “You activate the array. Protect the vessel.”
Xiao Hei’s array attainment surpassed Zhang Ruochen’s, though his mental strength was far weaker. After quickly familiarising himself with the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus, he said, “Xue Tu, you serve as array spirit.”
“What?”
Xue Tu thought he had misheard, utterly stunned.
Xiao Hei said gravely, “The enemy has an array divine master. Without a powerful array spirit, how can the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus withstand the divine master’s dismantling?”
Xue Tu felt depressed. He was a disciple of heaven, yet reduced to array spirit.
Zhang Ruochen said, “A Tai Xu great god’s attack is coming. Stop dawdling. Raise the array.”
Xiao Hei urged frantically. He roared, “Why not you control the array and this emperor be the vessel spirit? Can you even manage the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus?”
Xue Tu gritted his teeth and flew into the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus.
The blood-coloured divine vessel was extremely fast, crossing ten thousand li in an instant. Ordinary Tai Xu great gods could not catch up.
Behind, Xu Liao drew on fire dao profundities, mobilising fire dao rules in the starry sky to condense a powerful Tai Zhen-level divine ability.
A cyan fire lotus bloomed in the void, its light a hundred times brighter than a constant star. It crashed towards the blood-coloured divine vessel.
Zhang Ruochen summoned six divine swords. Divine qi in his body flowed like six rivers into the swords. Divine weapon might erupted, filling the starry sky with billions of sword shadows.
The Six United Into One Sword Shocking God Array struck out, shattering the cyan fire lotus at its centre.
Even so, the fire lotus fragments still carried immense destructive power, slamming towards the blood-coloured divine vessel. Just as the vessel seemed doomed, Xiao Hei raised the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus.
Bang, bang.
The fire lotus fragments turned to ash.
Xue Tu hovered at the centre of the eighteen spatial divine arrays. His divine soul split like plant roots into eighteen strands, infusing each spatial divine array with spirituality.
“Well done, Xue Tu. With you here, we will break through today.” Xiao Hei praised.
Xue Tu’s expression was one of utter despair.
Crack.
A thick river of lightning crashed down from above, striking the Yin Yang Eighteen Bureaus with power comparable to a full blow from a Tai Xu great god.
It was Master Qianqian mobilising mental strength for a remote attack.
Struck by lightning, Xue Tu convulsed all over.
Crack.
Second bolt, third bolt…
Lightning fell ceaselessly like a flashing waterfall, mighty power drawn from the entire starry sky.
Xue Tu’s hair stood on end like steel needles. Black smoke rose from his body. Currents coursed through him. He pleaded, “Senior Brother, think of something quick. The opponent is a divine master. With one thought she can mobilise power across billions of li of star domain. If this continues, even a god will perish.”
Zhang Ruochen looked to Banya. “Activate the vessel’s offensive power.”
At the prow, Banya’s face remained calm. Her divine realm world faintly appeared above her head. Vast dark light divine qi surged from the world, pouring into the vessel.
Dense blood patterns emerged on the hull.
This divine vessel, given to Zhang Ruochen by Blood Jue War God, was called the Blood Radiance Divine Centipede Vessel. Its offensive power was formidable.
Regrettably, the vessel was damaged.
Blood Jue War God had found it in an ancestor’s tomb. Though vast resources had been spent repairing it, defence remained weak, unable to withstand a Tai Xu great god’s attacks.
In the Blood Jue family, Banya had practised many times and could skilfully control the vessel’s arrays, runes, inscriptions, and several accumulated ten-thousand-year divine powers.
At the vessel’s stern stood a crossbow over twenty zhang long. The bow resembled some creature’s spine, thick as a pillar.
This was a god-slaying crossbow, capable of killing gods across the starry sky. The entire undead blood race possessed fewer than twenty.
Blood Jue War God had somehow acquired one and forged it into the Blood Radiance Divine Centipede Vessel.
Zhang Ruochen stood beneath the god-slaying crossbow. With a flick of his finger, a twenty-zhang dark bolt rose and slotted into the groove.
The bolt was forged from dark matter. Zhang Ruochen had tempered the arrowhead with Buddha relic power, greatly lethal to undead.
Crack, crack.
Zhang Ruochen drew the bowstring. Muscles bulged in his arms. Buddhist light blazed across his body. Phantoms of divine dragon and divine elephant appeared behind him, majestic as if swallowing mountains and rivers.
All his strength erupted. He drew the god-slaying crossbow to the third notch.
Mysterious inscriptions on the crossbow all lit up.
Surrounding space expanded as the string was drawn.
Bang.
A thunderous roar shook the ears.
The bolt flew at near-light speed. In an instant, it crossed hundreds of thousands of li and struck a mid-rank ghost clan god.
Too fast to dodge.
The ghost clan mid-rank god screamed. His divine body exploded into a ghost mist ten thousand li wide. Fragments of his divine realm world scattered. Broken ghost cities, black mountains, continental plates. Like a great world destroyed.
Buddhist fire burned in the ghost mist, refining the ghost clan god’s divine soul.
A weak, terrified voice cried, “Great God… save me…”
Li Yuan Tian God rushed over, but too late. The ghost clan mid-rank god’s divine soul burned away completely. His divine source had shattered earlier under the bolt.
Li Yuan Tian God’s gaze froze the starry sky. His roar shook the heavens.
These mid-rank and high-rank gods had come to assist Master Qianqian in controlling the divine array. Yet they underestimated the Reverse God Stele’s power. Zhang Ruochen had escaped.
Before setting out, Zhang Ruochen’s strategy was: flee the strong, kill the weak.
Direct confrontation was the last resort.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze was cold. He loaded a second bolt and drew the crossbow again. Even gods in distant starry sky could hear the crossbow’s crack, crack.
Still drawn to the third notch.
Bang.
The second bolt flew, striking a high-rank bone clan god four million li away.
Bone body shattered. Buddhist fire burned.
Zhang Ruochen frowned. This bolt failed to hit the opponent’s divine source.
Nothing to be done. High-rank gods were far stronger than mid-rank. Four million li was too distant. The opponent had time to avoid vital points.
Regrettably, with his current strength, he could only draw to the third notch.
If he could reach the fourth or fifth, the bolt would be faster and far more powerful.
