Xue Li continued, “We also hold Lady Tianmu in the highest respect. If Zhang Ruochen could only show a little restraint, even if he committed minor offences, no one would pursue them. Should anyone dare to provoke or humiliate him, not only would the gods of the Luosha clan unite against them, the entire hell realm would stand with him.”
“But Zhang Ruochen is utterly unworthy to serve as Lady Tianmu’s divine envoy. His actions dishonour her prestige. The fact that the gods of the Luosha clan did not accompany the Divine Mother here to plead for him is the clearest proof.”
Mu Tuo War God spoke in a low, sombre voice. “In the Dark Triangle Starfield, Zhang Ruochen allied with the Feng clan and the daughter of that Heavenly Venerable from the heavenly court, opposing the hell realm at every turn and even killing major gods of our side. He damages the interests of the hell realm and maintains close ties with the core upper echelons of the heavenly court. Does the Divine Mother truly believe such a traitor should not die?”
“The status of Tianmu’s divine envoy cannot supersede the interests of the hell realm. The gods of the Luosha clan understand this, and the Divine Mother cannot fail to understand it.”
“The Divine Mother’s presence here to plead for mercy is surely only because of Princess Luoyi and Zhang Ruochen’s engagement. It is quite simple. After we eliminate Zhang Ruochen, the three of us will accompany the Divine Mother to the Temple of Destiny and request Venerable Fulu to dissolve the engagement.”
Pu Chuanqi also spoke. “Zhang Ruochen indeed possesses remarkable talent and strong fortune, but judging by his conduct, he is not one fated for longevity. He is doomed to meet a bad end. This engagement should have been dissolved long ago. Why push one’s own daughter into a pit of fire?”
Seeing the resolute will of the three Taixu great gods, Divine Mother Tianyin ceased her pleas and departed with Luoyi and Guyue Jing.
Yet they only withdrew to a distance, not leaving the Qilin Starfield.
“These three are outrageously arrogant, actually trying to force me to break the engagement. When the Dark Temple and Tiannan inexplicably acted to cripple Brother Chen’s cultivation and nearly killed him, he was not yet Tianmu’s divine envoy. Is that grudge simply to be forgotten? Pu Chuanqi, presuming to act as a great god, was clearly greedy and sought to seize the treasures on Brother Chen. Now he shifts the blame onto Brother Chen instead.”
Luoyi knew the three Taixu great gods could certainly hear her words, yet she paid no heed and continued. “Mother, are we truly just going to let this go?”
“We have done what needed to be done. Your father has gone to the Starry Battlefield. Shall we summon him back for this matter?” Divine Mother Tianyin’s gaze was deep and profound, lost in thought.
Luoyi felt a jolt in her heart and stared at Divine Mother Tianyin in disbelief.
If Divine Mother Tianyin truly intended to act, she could mobilise a large number of gods from the Tianluo Divine Kingdom. How could she possibly fail to stop Mu Tuo War God, Pu Chuanqi, and Xue Li?
To treat it so lightly, offering only a few words of persuasion, and call that “what needed to be done”?
Was this entirely for show to outsiders?
Luoyi said, “Mother, do you truly intend to dissolve the engagement?”
“My child, this is not a question of dissolving or not dissolving the engagement. It is a game of power between the greatest forces in the universe. Does Zhang Ruochen now represent only himself? You are clever. You should understand the stakes involved.”
Divine Mother Tianyin’s eyes were tender as water, yet utterly inscrutable. “We must plead for Zhang Ruochen because you are his fiancée, but we can only represent ourselves. The Tianluo Divine Kingdom, or the Luosha clan, cannot oppose the entire hell realm for the sake of the Hundred Clans King City or Xinghuan Heaven. The interests of the Luosha clan do not lie in the Hundred Clans King City or Xinghuan Heaven.”
“Zhang Ruochen must bear responsibility for his own actions, not have the Tianluo Divine Kingdom or the Luosha clan bear it for him.”
“If you wish to rule the Tianluo Divine Kingdom in future, you must distinguish clearly between personal feelings and the interests of a kingdom or a clan.”
“Zhang Ruochen himself distinguishes this far better than you. Has he asked Blood Jue War God for help? Has he sent word to you, asking the Luosha clan for assistance? He knows exactly what he is doing.”
“Since he dared to come to the hell realm and dared to go to the Destiny Divine Domain, he certainly does not place his hopes on the Luosha clan. Rather, he has sufficient confidence of his own. If Mu Tuo War God and Pu Chuanqi could truly threaten Zhang Ruochen, would the Nine Heavens have allowed him to come to the hell realm?”
“What we can do is declare our stance. Let Zhang Ruochen know that even if he commits a heaven-shaking offence and becomes enemy to the world, we will not kick him when he is down, nor watch coldly from the side. We will still stand with him. But we can only represent ourselves.”
“Is that all?” Luoyi asked.
Divine Mother Tianyin appeared almost like Luoyi’s elder sister, very youthful, graceful and ethereal. Her red lips parted slightly, a gentle smile on her face, as she transmitted her voice. “Since we have appeared here, how could we possibly represent only ourselves? We may think so, but Mu Tuo War God, Pu Chuanqi, and Xue Li will never think so. This alone is enough to make them wary and thereby preserve Zhang Ruochen’s life.”
“Because they know that preserving Zhang Ruochen’s life is our bottom line.”
Divine Mother Tianyin looked towards Guyue Jing and smiled. “The Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm holds the same attitude, does it not?”
“In the Dark Triangle Starfield and the Hundred Clans King City, Zhang Ruochen did indeed act too aggressively. Even if his cultivation were crippled again, even if he were cast into the dust and suffered great setbacks, it would be deserved. But in the current world, only Tianmu may take his life. Anyone who crosses that line becomes a mortal enemy of the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm,” Guyue Jing said.
Luoyi also understood that the current Zhang Ruochen was no longer the Zhang Ruochen of the past. In the Dark Triangle Starfield and the Hundred Clans King City, the number of hell realm major gods and divine spirits he had killed had reached a level that shocked even her father.
This was entirely drawing a clear line with the hell realm.
The battle of Xinghuan Heaven had drawn a clear line with the heavenly court.
The present Zhang Ruochen was no longer a mere saint-realm junior, no longer simply the grandson of Blood Jue War God, no longer merely her fiancée Luoyi. His most important identity was Lord of Xinghuan Heaven.
“They have arrived,” Guyue Jing said.
At the location of the wormhole, powerful spatial fluctuations appeared, forming ripples one after another.
A crimson divine warship, resembling a thunderous centipede, gradually passed through the wormhole and descended into the Qilin Starfield.
Divine light burst from Mu Tuo War God, Pu Chuanqi, and Xue Li, their auras surging dramatically.
Zhang Ruochen had actually broken through the encirclement of the gods of Earth Fiend Ghost City, Longevity Hall, and Hidden Bone Sea?
As expected, Blood Jue War God had intervened.
Mu Tuo War God transmitted to Pu Chuanqi. “This battle is to retrieve the Purple Sea Asura Lamp for you. Do not forget your earlier promise.”
“Rest assured. If the War God can retrieve the divine artefact for this seat, in future, at a single word from the War God, I will go through fire and water without hesitation,” Pu Chuanqi replied.
“Zhang Ruochen, Blood Jue, will you still not reveal yourselves?”
Pu Chuanqi knew that both Zhang Ruochen and Blood Jue War God possessed extraordinary concealment methods and assumed they were hidden aboard the crimson divine warship. Thus, he struck out with a palm seal, forming a heaven-like five-fingered expanse.
Little Black knew the Yin-Yang Eighteen Bureaus could not withstand Pu Chuanqi’s strike and immediately cried out. “Zhang Ruochen is not on the warship. Pu Chuanqi, I am the son of the Ice Emperor. If you kill me, the Ice Emperor will surely take your dog life.”
Pu Chuanqi hesitated briefly and withdrew part of his force.
“Boom!”
The Yin-Yang Eighteen Bureaus collapsed. Little Black and the five divine spirits of the Lost Paradise all spat blood and collapsed limply to the ground. Blood Butcher and Prajna were also severely injured.
“It seems Zhang Ruochen and Blood Jue War God are indeed not on the warship,” Pu Chuanqi said.
How could the proud Zhang Ruochen and Blood Jue War God watch their subordinate divine spirits suffer heavy injury and not act?
“Whoosh!”
The wormhole trembled once more.
Zhang Ruochen’s voice emerged from the wormhole first. “Pu Chuanqi, you are a dignified Taixu great god, yet you strike so ruthlessly against several new gods of the Butian realm. Truly shameless. If you have the guts, face this god one-on-one.”
Old Corpse Ghost and Zhang Ruochen flew out from the wormhole.
“Boom!”
In an instant, Old Corpse Ghost’s body swelled violently, divine power surging outward, once again reaching over ten thousand li in height.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed a spiritual power divine pill, stood on Old Corpse Ghost’s shoulder, formed seals with both hands, and released powerful spiritual force from his body, pouring it into the Ming character token.
Old Corpse Ghost let out a heaven-shaking roar and spat a beam of profound light from his mouth.
The profound light streaked across the void and struck Pu Chuanqi.
Rules and divine patterns densely covered Pu Chuanqi’s surroundings. His divine realm world expanded space outward, but it held for only an instant before all defensive forces shattered completely.
The profound light struck his headless divine body.
The divine body of a peak Taixu realm divine spirit, tempered a thousand times, was now fragile as if moulded from clay. Flesh flew off in chunks. Pain striking directly at the divine soul caused Pu Chuanqi to scream miserably.
It was too sudden.
Pu Chuanqi was caught completely off guard.
“Insolence!”
Mu Tuo War God recovered first. His black body ignited with flames, condensing a massive arm spanning tens of thousands of li as he swung the Soul-Suppressing Hammer.
The Soul-Suppressing Hammer was a sub-divine supreme sacred artefact containing a trace of divine artefact aura.
Zhang Ruochen knew the Ghost Lord and others would surely pursue through the wormhole, so he had to end the battle here quickly.
Old Corpse Ghost’s physical body was immensely strong. He swung his palm and clashed directly with the Soul-Suppressing Hammer.
“Bang!”
The massive arm condensed from Mu Tuo War God’s black flames could not withstand the impact and shattered. The Soul-Suppressing Hammer flew away, falling into deep space.
Mu Tuo War God froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Old Corpse Ghost to catch his strike bare-handed.
On the other side, Xue Li treated the situation as facing a great enemy. He raised both hands skyward, condensing a majestic ghost city above his head, identical in form to Fengdu Ghost City.
The ghost city was not illusory. It was tangible, as if Fengdu Ghost City itself had crossed space and descended here.
The ghost city smashed towards Old Corpse Ghost, but Old Corpse Ghost shattered it with a single punch.
The profound light from Old Corpse Ghost’s mouth, like a bright waterfall in the starry sky, fell upon Xue Li, sending this mid-Taixu realm great god flying hundreds of thousands of li away. A supreme sacred artefact he used for protection melted directly into molten iron.
His ghostly body was corroded by strange grey death qi, showing signs of decay that spread inward towards his divine sea.
Xue Li was shocked, believing he faced a god-king. While refining the death qi in his body, he retreated farther away, probing Old Corpse Ghost’s true nature with divine sense.
A massive explosion sounded from Xue Li’s left.
The Pu Chuanqi who had earlier been reduced to a skeleton by the profound light was now struck by a rotting corpse hand and shattered into bone fragments. On Old Corpse Ghost’s shoulder, Zhang Ruochen manifested a bright circle that seized all of Pu Chuanqi’s profound meanings.
