The patriarch of the Xuan? Clan looked deeply worried and said, “The Temple of Darkness, the Death Clan, and the Ghost Clan have the most gods, but dozens of other forces also covet a share of the spoils, including the Qinglu Temple, the Longevity Hall, the Sea of Hidden Bones, and even the Temple of Destiny.”
“In short, large numbers of gods have gathered, along with numerous armies of the Sacred Realm. They continually plunder the life planets and resource planets that originally belonged to our Hundred Clans in this star domain, enslave our people, and seize cultivation resources at will.”
Though the ancestral realms of the Hundred Clans had been relocated into the Myriad Stars Imprisoning Array, preserving their foundations, the countless life planets and resource planets scattered across this star domain could not all be moved.
“Report!”
A divine general strode swiftly into the hall and announced, “The armies of the Hell Realm have withdrawn!”
The patriarch of the Xuan? Clan showed delight, rose to his feet, and asked, “How can this be? Why have they retreated?”
“The exact reason is still unclear, but although the Hell Realm armies are withdrawing, they have not left this star domain. They have fallen back to the ancestral realms of Fengxu, Daxinyuan, and Hanshi.” the divine general replied.
These three realms had once belonged to minor clans within the former Hundred Clans Royal City.
However, the gods of those three clans had pledged allegiance to the Temple of Darkness and other forces, only to be slain jointly by the Yasha Clan, the Demon Wolf Clan, and the Fire Ghost Clan. The powers within their cities had been uprooted entirely.
Zhang Ruochen said, “It seems there are shrewd individuals among the Hell Realm armies. They know I have arrived, and their forces would be rendered ineffective. If they do not consolidate, once I strike, their Sacred Realm soldiers would suffer heavy casualties, and their gods would be assassinated one by one.”
“There must be someone among them who understands your strength very well.” Bai Qing’er said.
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
In terms of combat power, even within the Hundred Clans Royal City, Zhang Ruochen was far from invincible. Li Mo God Master, Yu Ling God, and Amur all surpassed him.
Yet if he were to face the Hell Realm armies alone, Zhang Ruochen was absolutely confident he could inflict severe damage and then escape unscathed.
If Li Mo God Master, Yu Ling God, or Amur went instead, they would likely never return.
This was Zhang Ruochen’s deterrent power.
It had altered the balance of the divine realm.
“Since they have chosen to fall back and defend, the Hundred Clans Royal City will face no immediate danger for now. You may seize back those life planets and resource planets and try to minimise losses.” Zhang Ruochen said.
The patriarch of the Xuan? Clan asked, “Is the Realm Venerable planning to leave?”
“I must make a trip to the Starry Sky Battlefield. But this is confidential. The gods of the Hell Realm must never learn that I have left the Hundred Clans Royal City. They must remain constantly deterred.” Zhang Ruochen replied.
After the gods concluded their discussions, Yu Ling God sought out Zhang Ruochen alone. A fragrant breeze accompanied her, carrying the lively aura of a young girl. She hinted, “Realm Venerable, if we calculate the time, my Yuanhui Tribulation is approaching!”
Zhang Ruochen understood her meaning and said, “Xinghuan Heaven does indeed possess a divine medicine left by Xinghuan Tianzun in the past. However, it is sealed by methods left by a Tianzun. If Ninth Heaven Senior were here, we could ask him to retrieve it. As things stand, frankly, I have no absolute certainty of extracting the medicine.”
Yu Ling God’s brows furrowed slightly, worry appearing in her eyes.
No god could face a Yuanhui Tribulation without fear.
Zhang Ruochen continued, “This is not an excuse. If you do not believe me, you may come with me to Xinghuan Heaven. Together, our combined strength might succeed. Should you survive the Yuanhui Tribulation, you will borrow the power of heaven and earth to reach the peak of the Grand Void Realm, which would also benefit me.”
Yu Ling God’s red lips curved upward, her smile bright as clear skies after rain. “Of course I choose to believe you!”
……
The River of Three Paths was like a net spanning heaven and earth, connecting every space in the universe. Whether great realms, secret realms, or individual planets, all possessed tributaries of the River of Three Paths.
Yet the river was full of unknowns and dangers. Space was disordered, and in some regions time itself shifted unpredictably. The tributaries on planets were extremely fragile; even Sacred Realm cultivators entering them could cause collapse.
At every critical spatial entrance, gods had arranged killing arrays and traps.
It was precisely these dangers that had prevented the Hell Realm from launching large-scale invasions through the tributaries against the realms of Heaven.
The river channel was broad, its waters turbid.
Corpses floated across the surface, emitting a foul stench.
Whoosh!
A ripple of divine power appeared on the murky surface.
An concealing array dissolved, and a black ship of unknown material emerged from nowhere, sailing forward and docking on the corrupted soil beside the River of Three Paths.
As far as the eye could see, the land was barren, scattered with half-buried white bones and souls drifting in the air.
This was a true realm of the dead.
A black-robed cultivator stepped down from the ship, stowed it in his sleeve, and walked into the corrupted land. In the darkness, countless skeletal crows were startled and flew far into the gloom.
After travelling an unknown distance, the black-robed cultivator reached the foot of a towering rocky mountain. The slopes were sheer, forming a nest of ten thousand ghosts.
He entered the mountain and followed a passage deep underground.
Soon he arrived before the gates of an underground divine hall. Above the gates hung an ancient character: “量”.
As if verifying identity, a “量” character flew out from the cultivator’s body. The hall gates opened, and he walked inside.
At the centre of the hall stood a bronze round table ten times larger than a millstone. Around it, fifteen figures already sat on bronze chairs.
Each wore a black robe and a bronze mask on their face.
The masks bore characters.
The sixteenth and final arrival, Quantity Lone, wore a bronze mask inscribed with the character “孤”.
“Quantity Lone, once again you are the last to arrive. You must have come from the farthest point, the Eastern Universe of Heaven, furthest from the River of Three Paths?” a black-robed figure wearing a mask with the character “空” asked in a hoarse voice.
Quantity Lone replied, “Do not probe my identity. It is useless. To conceal our true selves, what method would we not employ? How do you know I did not arrive late deliberately?”
Though the sixteen black-robed figures belonged to the same organisation, none knew the others’ true identities.
Even when gathered, they addressed one another only by the characters on their masks.
This was the greatest safeguard against infiltration and total destruction by a traitor.
“When Quantity Emperor Kui departed, he instructed that the Immeasurable Northern Expedition is an excellent opportunity. Without the suppression of the heavens, few great gods below remain capable of commanding respect. Once chaos erupts, it will truly be a fight to the death. Full-scale war may even break out.”
The speaker was Quantity Mechanism.
She was one of the emissaries of the four great Quantity Emperors, “Quantity Emperor Kui”. Her figure was slender, her voice pleasant; she was a woman.
Yet no one could be certain she truly was female. She might deliberately assume a feminine form to mislead.
To the south of the hall, four mountain-like massive chairs floated above a bank of dark clouds.
Those were the seats of the four Quantity Emperors.
Quantity Lone said, “Quantity Mechanism, you have always been resourceful. How, in your view, can we incite hatred between Heaven and Hell, let the situation spiral out of control, and spark all-out war?”
“In truth, ever since the Starry Sky Defence Line fell, hatred in Heaven has already been stirred. Yet reason still prevails. We need only light a few more fires.” Quantity Mechanism replied.
Quantity Lone asked, “How do we light these fires without leaving traces that could burn back to us?”
“Indeed, we must leave no traces.” another emissary said.
Quantity Mechanism answered, “To leave no traces, we borrow another’s blade to kill.”
“You speak of murder?”
Quantity Mechanism said, “Murder is the simplest way to ignite flames.”
“Whom should we kill?” Quantity Lone asked.
Quantity Void said, “What about Zhang Ruochen? He has successively defeated Xu Liao and Haishang Youruo, now possessing Grand Void strength. How many years has it been? Moreover, after Qing Tian crippled his cultivation, his cultivation method is extremely strange, seemingly superior to the Unmoving Ming King Great Venerable’s Thirty-Three Heavens. He is definitely a calamity.”
Quantity Mechanism firmly rejected the idea. “No. It is not yet time to move against Zhang Ruochen.”
Quantity Void laughed. “I hear Zhang Ruochen has quite a way with women. Could Emissary Quantity Mechanism be one of his many women? We must not let personal feelings interfere with duty.”
More than a dozen emissaries turned to look at Quantity Mechanism, their gazes scrutinising, speculative, thoughtful.
“Indeed, this seat does have a rather close relationship with Zhang Ruochen. Can you guess what it is?”
Quantity Mechanism’s voice suddenly turned icy. She slammed the bronze table and said coldly, “Foolish thing. Do you think this emissary would so easily reveal traces before you? Killing Zhang Ruochen, you want the treasures he possesses, do you not? To lose the greater for the smaller is utterly foolish.”
Quantity Void hurriedly apologised. After all, she was the emissary of Quantity Emperor Kui; her backing was immense.
Though they did not know the identities of the four Quantity Emperors, they could roughly guess their cultivation: they must be cosmic overlords.
Quantity Lone spoke steadily. “Quantity Mechanism is correct. We cannot touch Zhang Ruochen yet. His value to us has far from been fully realised.”
“Could we possibly draw Zhang Ruochen into the Quantity Organisation?” one emissary asked.
Quantity Lone replied, “Impossible. Abandon that thought entirely. Quantity Mechanism, whom do you believe we should kill?”
“To inflame Heaven’s hatred, we must kill Xuanyuan Lian. To inflame Hell’s hatred, we must kill Xue Jue. I propose we add one more: Chi Yao. This woman has received Zhang Ruochen’s transmission and cultivated the Thirty-Three Heavens to the twelfth celestial layer. It is said she recently broke through to great god level. She is no small threat.”
Quantity Mechanism continued, “Even without killing Zhang Ruochen, we must first prune the wings around him. We cannot allow him to grow too powerful to contain later.”
Quantity Lone said, “I have no objection to killing Xue Jue. He is the future spokesman cultivated by the Lower Three Clans, and because most of the Lower Three Clans are living beings, they always harbour their own ideas in the war against Heaven. It is time to ignite their killing intent.”
Quantity Void sneered, “To kill Xue Jue, we must slaughter the entire Xue Jue family, slay the Nether King, and execute the Blood Empress. Perhaps we can even use this chance to harness Zhang Ruochen’s hatred.”
Quantity Mechanism said, “If we wish to use Zhang Ruochen, capturing the Blood Empress would be more effective than killing her.”
