Zhang Ruochen stared towards the hall doors. The tsk-tsk voice of Xue Tu sounded in his ear. “She is far too devoted to family. To have a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?”
“Did she bribe you?” Zhang Ruochen asked coldly.
Xue Tu shuddered. “No, absolutely not. That was purely a heartfelt sigh just now. Senior brother, you do not know how many forces Hall Master Wu Yue offended to reclaim the Twelve Booths of the Divine Maiden and the Blood Jue Family industries. Even Qing Yun Que was brought down with her help. From then on, nothing stands in the way of Da Zu Zai becoming clan leader.”
“Not even married yet, and already so devoted to family. In the hell realm, who would not envy you? Senior brother, you truly live in blessings and do not realise it.”
Cultivators unaware of the true situation would naturally envy Zhang Ruochen.
His wife possessed beauty that could topple cities and nations, unmatched cultivation, profound background, and a marriage bestowed by Xu Tian. Even before the wedding, she was already working tirelessly for Zhang Ruochen in every direction.
Even her humiliation of the Ghost Lord appeared, to those cultivators, as vengeance on Zhang Ruochen’s behalf.
To marry such a wife was truly unfair to heaven.
Yet in this world, the vast majority of cultivators did not know the truth.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What great favour did she do for grandfather?”
This time, the Blood Queen answered. She said, “Qing Yun Que originally intended to sacrifice his pawn to save the chariot, pushing all blame onto Qing Yun Tai. But one of the transmission light talismans between him and Qing Yun Tai was intercepted by Wu Yue during the events in the Hundred Clans King City.”
“How could Qing Yun Que make such a basic mistake?” Zhang Ruochen found it hard to believe. He sensed something suspicious.
The Blood Queen said, “You underestimate Wu Yue too much. In terms of spiritual power alone, many gods of the Immensity realm in the world today cannot match her. Combined with her status as a talisman dao divine master, intercepting a transmission light talisman is indeed quite possible.”
A martial dao powerhouse is not necessarily a spiritual power powerhouse.
Someone like Xu Tian, reaching the peak in both spiritual power and martial dao, is beyond what many heavenly venerables can achieve.
The spiritual power of many god kings and god venerables truly falls short of Wu Yue’s.
However, god kings and god venerables possess powerful divine souls, surging blood qi, and countless profound laws, enough to neutralise spiritual attacks from even the strongest spiritual experts.
…
Li Yuan Heavenly God’s pair of bone-fire eyes were extremely gloomy as he arrived at a necropolis hall in the Destiny Divine Domain.
“Greetings, Heavenly God.”
The ghost clan god generals outside the hall immediately knelt on one knee.
Li Yuan Heavenly God pushed open the doors and walked in. The anger in his eyes immediately turned to shock. The Ghost Lord was slumped on a long bench, hair dishevelled, face alternating between ferocious and dejected. He had none of his former majestic aura.
He had not expected the humiliation at Divine Maiden Tower to affect the Ghost Lord so deeply.
“Why are you here?”
The Ghost Lord spoke weakly, his face ashen.
Li Yuan Heavenly God said, “Wu Yue brought Cang Chang Ji to me, demanding three million god stones.”
“That bitch!”
The Ghost Lord stood up and roared, “What does she want? Is she really going to marry that brat? I think she simply craves men. After tasting it in the Dark Triangle Star Domain, she truly became addicted! We absolutely cannot give her three million god stones. Otherwise, cultivators of the Hidden Bone Sea will never hold their heads high in the hell realm again.”
Li Yuan Heavenly God said, “She claims this god once targeted her husband and sought his life. Her husband was magnanimous and spared this god, but she is the type who always seeks revenge. If we refuse the three million god stones, not only will Cang Chang Ji be refined into a divine pill, but this god will also have his bones pulled and soul extracted.”
The Ghost Lord gradually calmed, yet still gnashed his teeth. He snorted, “That bitch crosses the river and tears down the bridge. She has no honour at all.”
He had thought that, although the campaign against the Hundred Clans King City, Blood Jue Family, and Xing Huan Tian had failed, they were at least allies. Now he realised how naive he had been.
Li Yuan Heavenly God asked, “Could Wu Yue truly have lost her memory and betrayed the Darkness Temple, throwing in her lot with Xu Tian?”
The Ghost Lord grew suspicious. The possibility existed.
After all, the Darkness Temple had always claimed outwardly that Wu Yue had lost her memory and suffered severe injury. The plan against the Blood Jue Family, Hundred Clans King City, and Xing Huan Tian had always been directed by Lord Wu Bian.
“Impossible! With her profound spiritual power, how could she lose her memory? She must be scheming something, perhaps deliberately guiding everyone to think this way,” the Ghost Lord said.
Li Yuan Heavenly God asked, “Just how high is Wu Yue’s spiritual power now? How did even… even you fall to her tricks?”
“At that time, this seat was indeed careless. I never truly believed she would act, so my divine soul was not at peak concentration,” the Ghost Lord said. Recalling the humiliation at Divine Maiden Tower filled him with the urge to find Wu Yue immediately and perish together with her.
Li Yuan Heavenly God said, “Wu Yue is an illusion dao divine master with terrifyingly high spiritual power. Against her, any cultivator below Immensity must concentrate their spirit to the utmost. Otherwise, even a momentary influence from her illusion can decide victory or defeat.”
“Your words have woken me. With this seat’s cultivation and spiritual will, how could her illusion affect me for so long? Could… could her spiritual power have reached the level of one thought fixing the universe?” the Ghost Lord said.
Li Yuan Heavenly God was greatly shocked. “Then I had better not offend her. Three million god stones is a huge sum, but if I sell all of Cang Chang Ji’s territories and divine hoards, plus my own savings over the years, I should be able to gather it.”
“That works. We will act separately. This seat will go see Shen Du Ghost Emperor at once. The ghost clan has suffered such a great loss. How can Feng Du Ghost City sit idly by?” the Ghost Lord said.
At Cascade Sea Manor, Zhang Ruochen hosted a banquet for dozens of gods from the Luo Sha clan and the Undying Blood clan. He learned much about the situation on the starry battlefield.
Although three months had passed, the battles between the heavens on the starry battlefield had never ceased.
Clashes between heavenly-level powerhouses sometimes shook heaven and earth, disrupting space and time. Sometimes they were silent, battles of divine thought, clashes of spiritual consciousness.
Let alone three months, a single battle lasting three hundred years was possible.
At present, neither the heavenly court nor hell realm wished to fight until the heavens overturned, consequences be damned, first destroying the starry defence line, then annihilating the Xiuluo Pillar Star Realm… ending with both sides crippled and all realms collapsing.
Even if hell realm won such a war, the price would be unbearable, and they would gain nothing.
Thus, the current situation resembled the latter. Both sides sought flaws in the other, aiming to gain the greatest benefit at the smallest cost.
…
Destiny Temple.
The Universe Cauldron stood at the centre of the temple.
Xu Tian walked around its body, sometimes striking with divine flames that could burn through space, sometimes infusing spiritual power, sometimes bombarding with the power of nothingness.
Unfortunately, apart from growing larger or smaller, the Universe Cauldron showed no other reaction.
And with his cultivation, he could not destroy it. Clearly, it was not fake.
From the direction of the temple doors, a surge of red divine light poured in.
Laughter rang out. “Congratulations, Xu Tian. Joyous congratulations. You have seized a legendary supreme treasure for our Destiny Temple. The emergence of the nine cauldrons symbolises that Destiny Temple shall flourish for eternity, mastering the fates of all beings.”
The red divine light hovered in the hall. A bone god with a human body and bull head appeared, covered in dense red fur, dozens of zhang long, yet constantly lengthening and shortening.
Xu Tian put away the Universe Cauldron. “Are you not enjoying your battles with Hao Tian on the starry battlefield? Why return to Divine Mountain?”
The bull-headed bone god said, “Xu Tian jests. With this honour’s cultivation, how could I qualify to fight Hao Tian? Those truly standing at the front are still Ninth Death Different Heavenly Emperor, Yan Ren Huan, Shi Zu, and the others.”
“Why so modest? You, Murong Dread God Venerable, failed to seal heaven. Surely you remain unconvinced? Go contend with Hao Tian. I guarantee everyone will accept it,” Xu Tian said.
Murong Dread God Venerable was not angered. “This time we returned because everyone wishes to invite you over for one sword to decide victory.”
Xu Tian laughed scornfully. “If this heaven leaves, who will guard the Destiny Divine Domain? Do you want another assault on Divine Mountain like last time? Where is our heavenly venerable? Why has he not appeared? If he is unwilling, this heaven is willing to take the role!”
Seeing his temper still so peculiar, Murong Dread God Venerable dropped the matter. “A great god of my Murong Dread Divine Palace was killed. This concerns the face of Destiny Temple. There must be an explanation, yes?”
Xu Tian glared. “What explanation do you want?”
Murong Dread God Venerable said, “Hand Zhang Ruochen over to this honour for disposal.”
“Hand him to you? I understand. You believe you are certain to win, that dealing with Hao Tian will be easy, so you wish to provoke two more powerful enemies. Just two cultivators with spiritually perfect heavenly round. Easy to crush,” Xu Tian said coldly.
Murong Dread God Venerable said, “Would this honour do such a thing? This honour merely wishes to test how much weight Zhang Ruochen carries in those two’s hearts.”
“If he weighs heavily enough, holding Zhang Ruochen will make them hesitate to act rashly. If he weighs little, killing Zhang Ruochen is no great matter.”
“Once the starry defence line breaks, we must uproot Xing Huan Tian and Xing Tian Cliff. We should prepare in advance!”
Xu Tian tugged his beard. “Your boldness is truly extraordinary. Even if this heaven finds an excuse to leave Destiny Divine Mountain, deliberately letting you succeed, are you not afraid of provoking that woman? She has already declared that Zhang Ruochen walks the world in her stead.”
Murong Dread God Venerable said, “Zhang Ruochen killed a great god of my Murong Dread Divine Palace. Whatever this honour does to him is justified. Even if Tian Mu is strong, she is not yet an ancestor. She remains within the rules.”
Xu Tian said, “The youngest son of the Yan Luo clan’s supreme elder visited Destiny Temple. He told this heaven he could testify that Huo Ze God Lord nearly killed Ban Ruo. Nu Tian has remained silent, clearly watching developments. But if you use Huo Ze God Lord’s death to kill Zhang Ruochen, their attitude is uncertain. Back then, he hated only Sumeru. And that hatred vanished with Sumeru’s death. He even built a cenotaph for Sumeru.”
“Is this the will of Yan Luo Supreme Heaven?” Murong Dread God Venerable’s tone changed.
“I do not know.”
Xu Tian was too lazy to say more. “Enough of that. What exactly is going on with Fei Ma King? Do not say you know nothing.”
