Chapter 1002: Blood Clan Reappears
The sword technique Zhang Ruochen executed was indeed infused with the artistic conception of Sword Three.
Using Saint-level power to unleash Sword Three, the force it erupted with was naturally incomparable to before.
Mr. Nie swung the Tranquil Heart Saint Staff upward, and a surge of green wood-type power burst forth, condensing into the phantom image of a towering ancient tree.
“Rustle.”
It was the shadow of the Ten-Thousand-Year Tranquil Heart Saint Tree, carrying a power of life, tenacity, and destruction, causing the entire space to tremble slightly, forming ripples.
Indeed.
It was space itself vibrating.
The power of a Saint was too immense, capable of shattering the rules of heaven and earth, and thus able to affect the stability of space to a certain extent.
When a Saint’s power reached a sufficient level, it could even shatter space.
Mr. Nie mobilized his full strength, causing slight spatial fluctuations, precisely to suppress Zhang Ruochen’s spatial power.
Once space became unstable, even an Heir of Time and Space would find it difficult to control spatial forces, and forcibly using them could easily harm oneself.
“Boom,” the Tranquil Heart Saint Staff clashed head-on with the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
The phantom of the towering sacred tree shattered all the sword energy. Mr. Nie and Zhang Ruochen both retreated, creating a distance of over ten miles.
Mr. Nie stroked his beard and laughed, “Zhang Ruochen, with this Saint suppressing your spatial power, how much combat strength can you still unleash? Young man, the power of a Saint is not something you can fathom.”
“Rustle.”
Mr. Nie grabbed the Tranquil Heart Saint Staff and shook it violently. The massive sacred tree phantom swayed along, causing the space within a dozen miles to tremble slightly again.
The enormous sacred tree phantom carried a thunderous roar, like a patch of green divine cloud pressing downward, completely enveloping Zhang Ruochen.
The Tranquil Heart Saint Staff was a treasure listed in the Hundred-Pattern Sacred Armament Catalog, its unleashed power comparable to a Thousand-Pattern Sacred Armament. With a Saint wielding such a formidable weapon, the force unleashed could annihilate all life within dozens of miles.
Yao Ji glanced toward Zhang Ruochen’s direction, a look of worry on her face. Mr. Nie’s cultivation was far stronger than she had imagined.
“Zhang Ruochen, you must hold out long enough. Once this Saint suppresses the four Sacred Battle Bone Kings first, the scales of victory will tip.”
Yao Ji accelerated her attacks, unleashing a Sacred Art that struck one of the Sacred Battle Bone Kings, driving it deep into the ground. Half of its sacred bones melted, rendering it unable to continue fighting.
The four Sacred Battle Bone Kings were puppets forged from the remains of Saints, controlled using talismans and inscriptions.
Though they possessed only one-tenth to half the combat power of a true Saint, they were extremely troublesome, and ordinary attacks could not destroy them.
Now, Yao Ji was anxious. If Zhang Ruochen failed to withstand Mr. Nie’s assault and fell first, her situation would become perilous.
Facing the attack of the sacred tree phantom, Zhang Ruochen remained remarkably composed, using his Divine Mark Eye to observe the spots where spatial vibrations were weakest.
With a flicker of movement, Zhang Ruochen executed a Spatial Displacement, shifting positions seven times in succession, each time landing on the weakest points of spatial oscillation.
On the sixth shift, Zhang Ruochen passed through the sacred tree phantom and appeared above Mr. Nie’s head.
On the seventh shift, he pierced through Mr. Nie’s Saint Soul Domain, and with a “pfft,” thrust his sword into Mr. Nie’s heart.
Crimson sacred blood, burning with red flames, gushed from Mr. Nie’s heart.
Zhang Ruochen stared closely at Mr. Nie’s aged face and said in a low voice, “The power of an Heir of Time and Space is also not something you can fathom.”
“You… were not… controlled…”
Mr. Nie’s pupils gradually dilated as he finally realized that Zhang Ruochen had never been controlled by Yao Ji and had been fully lucid all along.
Mr. Nie had already warned himself not to repeat the mistakes of the two Saints from the Demon Sect and never to underestimate Zhang Ruochen.
In this moment, he finally understood that he had still underestimated Zhang Ruochen.
In truth, Mr. Nie could not be entirely blamed. Everyone makes such errors.
Even with Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation, facing a Ninth-Step Saint King-level powerhouse versus a Fish-Dragon First-Transformation junior, though he would not underestimate either, his mindset would inevitably differ.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed an extremely dangerous aura surging from Mr. Nie’s body.
“Is he going to self-destruct his Saint Source?”
Zhang Ruochen’s hairs stood on end as he pulled the Abyssal Ancient Sword back with force.
If Mr. Nie truly detonated his Saint Source, everything within a hundred miles would be utterly destroyed.
Zhang Ruochen had no need to flee, as even opening the Scroll World would be too late, let alone escaping. He would surely die.
However, Mr. Nie clearly lacked the courage to self-destruct his Saint Source. Instead, he sealed the blood vessels in his heart and, with all his might, formed a hand seal that sent Zhang Ruochen flying back dozens of feet.
Then, Mr. Nie flew backward, activating an escape secret art at five times his normal speed, vanishing at the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Ruochen clutched his aching chest, a trace of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “The vitality of a Saint is far too strong. Even with his heart shattered, he doesn’t die. I must remember this in the future, or it could be dangerous.”
Mr. Nie’s escape secret art also astonished Zhang Ruochen. Its speed was several times his normal pace. Even a cultivator ten times stronger might not catch him.
Of course, using such an escape secret art came at a tremendous cost, and it would only be employed as a last resort.
“Killing a Saint is far too difficult,” Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
A Saint’s vitality was immense. Even if their head were severed, they might not die. Moreover, most Saints were proficient in escape secret arts, allowing them to flee even if outmatched.
Most importantly, a Saint could threaten to self-destruct their Saint Source. If you couldn’t kill them in one blow, it could easily lead to mutual destruction.
Zhang Ruochen had to admit that killing the two Saint-level titans of the Demon Sect was pure luck. With such a feat, he had become a figure that all Saints under heaven had to take seriously.
As Mr. Nie fled with severe injuries, aside from the two Sacred Battle Bone Kings Yao Ji had scattered, the other two also retreated, carrying a mass of deathly energy into the forest.
Yao Ji did not pursue. Instead, she stared at the young man holding the war sword with a look of admiration. The more she looked, the more handsome he seemed, and the more reluctant she was to kill him.
Such a formidable prodigy—if she could keep him under her command forever, within a century, the Tianluo Sect would surely grow into one of the most powerful sects in Taizhou Prefecture.
Why not even make him her man?
But it was all just fantasy. Yao Ji knew she could never permanently control Zhang Ruochen.
“Zhang Ruochen! Zhang Ruochen! Big Sister likes you more and more, and it’s a pity to send you off. But you’re a peerless genius, and Big Sister is afraid she can’t control you in the future. You’re not the type to cherish beauty, and if I were to die by your sword, where would Big Sister cry?”
Yao Ji’s slender jade finger gently traced Zhang Ruochen’s chin. Her pupils gradually turned red, and her smile faded, replaced by a cold glare.
She curled her fingers into a claw, forming a vortex of energy, and swiftly struck at Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
“Swish.”
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen, who had been motionless, moved faster than her, thrusting his sword forward.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword was incredibly sharp. With a “chi,” it pierced through Yao Ji’s palm, emerging from the back of her hand.
“Since you know I’m not one to cherish beauty, you shouldn’t have set your sights on me.”
Zhang Ruochen twisted his fingers, spinning the Abyssal Ancient Sword rapidly, unleashing a black sword light that completely shredded Yao Ji’s right arm.
“You weren’t controlled by the illusion?”
Yao Ji’s beautiful face showed shock as she immediately activated an escape secret art, turning into a purple spectral light to flee.
“Still trying to escape?” Zhang Ruochen shouted coldly.
“One Moment, Four Directions Change.”
The Time Sword Art erupted, slowing the flow of time around them.
Zhang Ruochen’s sword speed increased dramatically, dragging a blinding sword aura as he slashed at Yao Ji, who was flying through the air.
“Pfft.”
Sacred blood splattered down.
At the same time, Yao Ji let out a muffled groan, and three snow-white fox tails fell from above.
“Zhang Ruochen, today you cut off Big Sister’s three tails. One day, I’ll make you pay back double.” Yao Ji’s voice echoed back from hundreds of miles away.
“Fast escape speed.”
Zhang Ruochen ignored Yao Ji, immediately executing his movement technique to return to the snowy peak. He hoisted the Stone Beauty, who was wearing the Meteor Invisibility Cloak, onto his back and dashed out.
The one-hour mark was approaching, and Zhang Ruochen could feel his power slowly fading.
He had to escape immediately and reach a safe place.
Zhang Ruochen believed that with that battle, severely wounding both Mr. Nie and Yao Ji, he had sufficiently intimidated the hidden evil Saints of the Black Market, making them hesitate to pursue him swiftly.
Yao Ji stood by the bank of a stream, her hip area drenched in blood, not a single fox tail left. As the leader of a sect and a Saint-level titan, she was in a pitiful state and quite humiliated.
She gazed in the direction Zhang Ruochen had fled, her charming face twisted with anger. “That detestable man. One day, Big Sister will eat your heart.”
As she spoke, Yao Ji extended her tongue, licking her glistening, blood-red lips.
Just then, Yao Ji caught a whiff of blood. Her pretty face turned pale as she looked up to find the entire sky had turned blood-red.
A vast expanse of blood clouds flew overhead, emanating an aura that even she found terrifying.
That direction was exactly where Zhang Ruochen had fled.
“Blood Kings of the Undying Blood Clan… and more than one.”
Yao Ji immediately took out an Invisibility Pearl and hid herself until the blood clouds had completely passed. Only then did she emerge, sighing softly, “The Blood Kings of the Undying Blood Clan must be after the Sky-Soaring Sword. It seems Zhang Ruochen won’t survive today.”