The Starry Sky Battlefield was immensely vast. Fluctuations from divine battles could be sensed at any moment, but the distances were often enormous. By the time one arrived to investigate, the divine conflict had usually ended, both sides having withdrawn, concealed their auras, and vanished without trace.
Everyone on the battlefield was cautious.
Even from over a hundred million li away, Zhang Ruochen sensed the identities of the combatants.
Overwhelming death qi spread across a vast area, tearing open voids into canyons of nothingness.
The attackers were two from the Death Clan: Source Heaven Lord and Crimson Soul Lord. One had survived a Yuanhui Tribulation and reached peak Upper God level, the other had attained Upper God Great Perfection. Both were formidable divine realm powerhouses.
The ones under assault were four gods from Heaven.
They included Buddhists and Daoists, each employing their arts just to hold on, unable to break free and escape.
The Buddhist named Jing Xiu had clearly had his golden body shattered before. His skin was covered in cracks from recondensation, and his vital blood qi was severely weakened.
Qing Si Xue, daughter of the Lord of the Truth Temple, manifested the Form of the Truth Realm and activated a bead-like sub-divine supreme sacred artefact. It was the protection of this treasure that had allowed them to endure the attacks of two divine realm powerhouses until now.
But she too was injured, continually spitting divine blood.
Feng Xi and Wu Ming, both in Daoist robes, unleashed winding rivers of divine qi to assist Qing Si Xue in powering the bead.
Crack!
The bead released a hundred thousand bolts of lightning, forming clouds of thunder and seas of electricity.
With the abilities of Source Heaven Lord and Crimson Soul Lord, they could not approach in a short time.
Roar!
From tens of millions of li away, Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo unleashed a lion’s roar. The sound shook space like rolling waves, striking across the void toward the two Death Clan gods.
“This is bad. It is a great god, and… a Grand Void great god.” Source Heaven Lord’s expression changed dramatically.
Jing Xiu, Qing Si Xue, Feng Xi, and Wu Ming had all been at the end of of their strength, utterly exhausted. Now their spirits soared. Strong reinforcements had arrived. If they could hold on a片刻 longer, the tide would turn.
A cold voice reached the ears of Source Heaven Lord and Crimson Soul Lord. “No need to worry.”
Just as the Buddhist vigour of the lion’s roar was about to strike the two Death Clan gods, an invisible wall suddenly appeared, blocking all of Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo’s sound wave power.
It rebounded like tides crashing against cliffs.
Following behind Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo, Zhang Ruochen pointed through the void. A long chaotic passage appeared in the starry sky, as if stretching across infinite distance.
At the end of the passage, Zhang Ruochen saw a blue figure, rather short, its body covered in bulging lumps.
The blue figure looked through the chaotic passage and saw Zhang Ruochen too. Surprise flashed in its eyes, then turned icy cold.
“Tiannán Old Fifth!” Zhang Ruochen recognised the opponent’s identity.
No wonder it could neutralise Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo’s attack from a distant star domain using spiritual power.
Old Fifth’s body dissolved into threads of light that crossed the void. It said coldly, “Your methods are exquisite, sir. May I know which eminent monk of the Western Heaven Buddhist Realm you are?”
As it spoke, it struck again from afar, unleashing death念力 upon Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo.
Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo immediately felt his body turn ice-cold. A surge of death qi erupted from his heart, seeking to devour him from within.
Death念力 was inherently strange and terrifying, and Tiannán’s techniques were exceptionally refined.
Even someone as strong as Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo had to halt, devoting his full effort to circulating Buddhist qi within. A ring of golden Buddhist light appeared behind him, purifying the death qi in his heart.
Zhang Ruochen also suffered an attack of death念力. His skin instantly turned grey-white, like that of a corpse.
But protected by the power of the Buddha Ancestor’s sarira, he feared no death念力.
Noticing that the defence of Jing Xiu, Qing Si Xue, and the others had been pierced by Crimson Soul Lord’s spear, Zhang Ruochen immediately divided a portion of his spiritual power thoughts, condensing a spiritual power avatar and projecting it across tens of millions of li.
Spiritual power could cross billions of li in an instant.
Crimson Soul Lord sought a swift victory. After knocking away the sub-divine supreme sacred artefact bead, he split Qing Si Xue’s body with one spear thrust, exploding half of it into shattered bone and flesh.
His target was clear: he went straight for Jing Xiu.
Multicoloured radiance burst from Feng Xi’s body as he burned his divine blood, unleashing a Daoist divine art that condensed an ancient seal in the form of a numinous mountain.
Bang!
The ancient spear shattered the numinous mountain seal and stabbed toward Feng Xi’s brow.
Death qi flowed along the spear tip, its sharp gleam blinding. Before it struck, cracks of blood appeared on Feng Xi’s snow-white brow. She was on the verge of perishing.
Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power avatar arrived, seized the ancient spear, and struck with a palm, sending Crimson Soul Lord flying hundreds of li.
Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power was now extraordinarily strong. Even a mere avatar was far beyond what an Upper God Great Perfection could withstand.
The spiritual power avatar, wielding the ancient spear, became a river of light and instantly caught up with Crimson Soul Lord, piercing his divine body.
After gravely wounding him, the avatar sensed Source Heaven Lord approaching and exploded.
The next instant, it reformed before Source Heaven Lord and punched. Heaven and earth collapsed, shattering Source Heaven Lord’s divine realm world and sending his divine body tumbling into the Void World.
With only one spiritual power avatar, he had gravely injured two major Death Clan gods in moments.
Old Fifth’s true body finally arrived, its expression dark as it said, “You are the first to dare release a spiritual power avatar before this seat. Devour引!”
Old Fifth unleashed an exquisite divine art to devour spiritual power.
Myriad colourful rays of light appeared in this star domain, blocking Zhang Ruochen from recalling his spiritual power.
The colourful rays were like bright chains, binding Zhang Ruochen’s scattered spiritual power thoughts.
Each thought resembled a soul shadow.
“Amitabha!”
Zhang Ruochen summoned the Bodhi Tree. Golden Buddhist light illuminated heaven and earth, and the void resounded with the voices of ten thousand Buddhas.
The Bodhi Tree swept out, and all the colourful rays dissipated.
Zhang Ruochen successfully recalled his spiritual power thoughts. All death qi on his body was purified by the Buddhist light. A golden ocean appeared beneath his feet, spreading toward Old Fifth.
Elsewhere, Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo purified the death念力 and hurried over, releasing his Buddhist realm world.
Roar!
From the distant depths of space came a tiger’s roar that shook heaven and earth.
Then a golden character “葬” rose in the darkness, dyeing the star domain gold.
No matter how confident Old Fifth was, it knew the tide had turned. Alone, it could not overcome three Grand Void great gods. If entangled in prolonged combat and more Heaven great gods arrived, it would be in danger.
After rescuing Crimson Soul Lord and Source Heaven Lord, it prepared to withdraw.
Suddenly, a change occurred. Some unknown force struck, shattering space inch by inch across hundreds of thousands of li, spreading rapidly toward them.
It was faster than the Burial Gold White Tiger.
Space in the cosmic void was inherently fragile, and no god feared its shattering. Yet such large-scale destruction was still awe-inspiring, implying an extremely powerful force behind it.
Zhang Ruochen peered ahead and, behind the collapsing waves of space, faintly glimpsed a figure that gave him an intense sense of danger.
“Protect them quickly.”
Saying this to Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo, Zhang Ruochen held the Bodhi Tree and walked toward the spreading tidal waves of shattered space. He roared, “Fix!”
Holding the Bodhi Tree with both hands, he pressed it down as if planting a tree, using its Buddhist power to forcibly stabilise space.
Circles of light spread outward.
But it held only for an instant. Zhang Ruochen and the Bodhi Tree were flung back, the space around them collapsing into chaos.
Yet that single instant gave Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo time to pull Jing Xiu, Feng Xi, Qing Si Xue, and Wu Ming into his Buddhist light, forming a golden bell divine shield.
Buddhist scripts danced upon the golden bell shield.
Old Fifth did not know who approached, but how could it miss such a perfect opportunity?
Whoosh!
With powerful spiritual power, it located the golden bell shield amid the chaos.
It drew out a divine talisman, light as a feather, and pressed it forward.
The talisman landed on the golden bell shield, continuously absorbing Buddhist qi. The shield gradually turned transparent.
Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo’s expression changed. He immediately took the four gods into his sleeve.
The next moment, the golden bell shield vanished, and the talisman pressed toward him.
“With my Buddha’s mercy, I sacrifice this flesh.”
Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo fled rapidly while forming seals with both hands, performing a secret art. His skin peeled from his body, condensing into an avatar that collided with the talisman.
Boom!
The talisman exploded, and Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo’s avatar disintegrated into dust.
His true body was reduced to bone and blood, his aura weakened drastically. Yet he managed to escape hundreds of thousands of li away, emerging from the chaotic space.
“You think you, Pu Tuo, can escape this seat?” Old Fifth smiled coldly. Its spiritual power pursued first.
Chi Yao stood atop the Burial Gold White Tiger, gazing toward the shattered space.
She realised the waves of spatial collapse were aimed at her, surging rapidly.
Boom!
Space continued to collapse. An apex powerhouse was unleashing destructive force.
“Such powerful aura. I fear it is peak Grand Void.” the Burial Gold White Tiger said.
Chi Yao looked toward the direction Old Fifth had flown. “We cannot retreat. Ancient Buddha Pu Tuo is no match for Old Fifth. No matter how strong the enemy, we can only fight now.”
“To battle peak Grand Void, we must reveal the identity of a primary source god!” the Burial Gold White Tiger said.
Chi Yao was calm. She said lightly, “With deities on the Immeasurable Northern Expedition, what secret that we dared not reveal in the past cannot be exposed now?”
In an instant, primary source profound truths stirred the source rules of the entire star domain, rapidly converging on the Burial Gold White Tiger and forming a white source vortex the size of a planet. The vortex collided fiercely with the incoming waves of shattered space.
Bang!
The surrounding void collapsed in an even more astonishing manner, as if a god had detonated their divine source.
Destructive force swept in all directions.
The Burial Gold White Tiger’s own cultivation was already peak Grand Void. As a prehistoric relic species, it was rejected by the heavenly rules of this era and dared not unleash its power.
But with a guide, it could continually exchange paths with the guide, comprehend the rules of this era, and gradually integrate, no longer rejected.
Especially after gaining one-tenth of primary source profound truths, the heavenly source no longer repelled it.
Now, with Chi Yao as guide having stepped into great god level and exchanged paths once more, the Burial Gold White Tiger could unleash even greater combat power. Yet it still could not reach its absolute peak; Chi Yao needed to enter Grand Void for that.
One had to admit Zhang Ruochen was reliable. The new guide he had found was truly a supreme heaven’s chosen daughter of this era.
