# Chapter 1077: Reunion
On the ground, a legion of undead composed of ghostly fiends and corpse soldiers had gathered, densely packed and stretching far into the distance, likely numbering over a hundred thousand.
Among these ghostly fiends, some had already condensed solid ghost bodies, reaching the Wuchang level.
Among the corpse soldiers, there were also some Half-Saint-level corpse generals, riding on the backs of barbarian beast carcasses, holding pale bone spears, releasing icy killing intent.
The bone dragon beneath Han Qiu coiled and spiraled, spewing green-brown corpse mist from its mouth. Its long tail was formed from connected bone segments, and with a light flick, it struck a sand dune over a thousand meters high.
With a "bang," the sand dune exploded like piled earth.
The power of a Beast King was probably no more than this.
Just this undead legion alone had already given Han Qiu the ability to contend with an ancient sect in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm.
Han Qiu's gaze was sinister, staring at Huang Yanchen, and said, "If you admit defeat now, it's still not too late."
"Whoosh—"
Huang Yanchen's war sword swung, forming a white sword waterfall hundreds of meters long, shattering countless ghostly fiends and corpse soldiers, tearing open a path.
Above her head was a cyan sacred cloud, and beneath her feet was a massive Xuanwu, charging through the undead legion, scattering them, and directly attacking Han Qiu.
"Kill her." Han Qiu lightly shouted.
Below, tens of thousands of attack waves flew up, simultaneously striking toward Huang Yanchen.
The shell of the Xuanwu phantom propped up, forming a hemispherical light shield, blocking the attacks of those ghostly fiends and corpse soldiers.
Zhang Ruochen stood to the side, observing carefully, and thought to himself: "Han Qiu should be summoning the undead from the underworld for the first time; she doesn't yet know how to maximize their power."
"If that wave of attacks had used a combined attack formation, not to mention Senior Sister Huang, even a weaker lower-realm Saint might not have been able to withstand it."
The undead legion Han Qiu had summoned was indeed quite formidable, with overwhelming numbers. Using a human wave tactic, they could even suppress and kill a Beast King-level powerhouse.
Of course, Han Qiu had lost too much blood and was very weak.
As long as Huang Yanchen broke through the encirclement of the undead legion, she could secure victory.
"Rumble."
Huang Yanchen's sacred qi seemed inexhaustible. With each attack, she shredded a large area of corpse soldiers and shattered hundreds of ghostly fiends into oblivion.
With the combat power she displayed, she was far beyond the Blue Eagle Beast King, enough to contend with some more powerful Beast Kings.
It was worth noting that Huang Yanchen had only just broken through to the Ninth-Rank Half-Saint, while the Blue Eagle Beast King was a divine beast descendant who had passed a quasi-saint tribulation.
One could say she still had great potential for the future.
Becoming a Realm Son had truly elevated her to an extraordinary degree.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Zhang Ruochen would have found it hard to believe that two women could fight so fiercely. Even if he wanted to intervene, he probably couldn't separate them.
Huang Yanchen advanced step by step, getting closer and closer to Han Qiu.
Han Qiu felt the pressure again and had no choice but to drive the bone dragon into the battle.
The bone dragon's body was several thousand meters long. When alive, it had reached the lower-realm Saint level. Even though it was dead and its combat power was greatly diminished, it was still quite terrifying.
"Boom."
With a swipe of its dragon claw, it broke through the Xuanwu's defense, colliding with the sword technique Huang Yanchen had unleashed, sending her flying backward.
Huang Yanchen executed a mysterious movement martial technique, turning into a beam of light and attacking the bone dragon.
"Bang bang."
The blue light streak shuttled rapidly through the air, continuously colliding with the bone dragon.
With each collision, another deep sword mark appeared on the bone dragon's body.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze narrowed, fully concentrating his spiritual power, because the moment to determine victory or defeat was approaching.
The movement martial technique Huang Yanchen had unleashed was likely a Sacred Art, incredibly fast.
Since it was a Sacred Art, it naturally consumed a great deal of sacred qi.
If the bone dragon could hold out until Huang Yanchen's sacred qi was exhausted, then Han Qiu would win.
If Huang Yanchen broke through the bone dragon's defense, she could defeat Han Qiu.
After enduring dozens of attacks, the bone dragon finally couldn't hold on. With a loud crash, its massive skeletal body broke into seven sections and fell downward.
Han Qiu naturally wouldn't just wait to die. She once again mobilized the meager dark force within her body, injecting it into her sacred sword.
"Whoosh—"
A flash of sword light passed before Han Qiu's eyes.
The next moment, Han Qiu felt a slight sting on her neck, enveloped by a deadly crisis that made her whole body unable to move.
Even moving a little might get her killed.
"You have lost."
At this moment, Huang Yanchen held her sacred sword, looking very cold, pressing the sword tip against Han Qiu's neck. The sword tip pierced the skin, causing drops of blood to flow, staining the front of Han Qiu's clothes red.
Han Qiu clenched her ten fingers, extremely unwilling.
She would rather lose to anyone than to Huang Yanchen. Losing to her meant losing everything.
Han Qiu stared at Huang Yanchen with a complex gaze, letting out a self-deprecating laugh: "I know, falling into your hands means I will die today."
Huang Yanchen's gaze turned to Zhang Ruochen, seeking his opinion.
"Let her go."
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands behind his back and walked straight into the distance, disappearing into the yellow-brown wind and sand.
Huang Yanchen put away her sacred sword, gave Han Qiu a deep look, and then chased after Zhang Ruochen. Only Han Qiu was left standing alone in place, her lively, beautiful eyes turning somewhat dull.
Han Qiu couldn't understand no matter how she thought about it. Zhang Ruochen could accept Huang Yanchen, so why couldn't he accept her?
In the desert, Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen walked side by side, leaving two long lines of footprints.
"Actually, you should have agreed to Han Qiu. After all, the conditions she proposed weren't excessive. You wouldn't have lost anything—you'd not only win a beauty but also add a member with limitless potential to the Ming Sect." Huang Yanchen said.
Zhang Ruochen looked at Huang Yanchen, staring into her eyes, wanting to know if she was speaking truthfully or sarcastically.
"What are you looking at me for? Am I wrong?" Huang Yanchen asked.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, "Han Qiu indeed has limitless potential, and her future achievements are hard to predict. However, some people are only suitable as friends, not for taking the relationship further. Besides, when it comes to feelings, I prefer a natural process; I don't like being used as a bargaining chip."
Huang Yanchen was quite satisfied with this explanation and said, "Since Han Qiu's potential is limitless, why didn't you just kill her? By letting her go today, aren't you afraid she might turn love into hate and completely become your enemy?"
Zhang Ruochen pondered carefully and said, "Actually, Han Qiu's nature isn't bad. It's just that her realm has improved too quickly, lacking necessary experience. Her mind can't control the surging dark force, and she's already showing signs of going berserk."
"It's time to let her go and experience things alone. Only by going through more trials can she truly grow. In the future, when the passage to the underworld opens again, she will truly have the strength to stand on her own."
Huang Yanchen blinked her eyes, revealing a faint smile, and said, "Are you so sure that when the time comes, she will stand on the same side as you?"
"As long as the dark force hasn't completely eroded her true heart, she will definitely come back." Zhang Ruochen said with great confidence.
Huang Yanchen said, "What if the dark force completely devours her true heart?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't answer Huang Yanchen. Instead, he looked ahead.
Right in front of Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen, in the desert, there was a huge six-colored sacred flower, dozens of meters in diameter, blooming under the sunlight.
The sacred flower was originally seven-colored, with seven petals, but now one was missing, leaving only six petals.
Zhang Ruochen walked over and saw a line of sharp, forceful characters carved on one petal: "Zhang Ruochen, one day I will prove to you that I am ten times more outstanding than Huang Yanchen. You made the wrong choice."
After reading it, Zhang Ruochen just smiled faintly, then put the sacred flower and the sacred source spiritual spring inside it into his space ring.
It wasn't until late at night that Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen arrived at the bank of the Sediment River, meeting up with Xiao Hei, Da Sikong, Er Sikong, and the others.
Xiao Hei looked behind Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen and asked, "Where's the other person?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't explain much, just said lightly, "She won't be coming back for now."
Sun Dadi rushed over, pushing Xiao Hei aside, and said anxiously, "Boss, something big has happened! The Devouring Demon Dragon has captured several thousand human cultivators as hostages, claiming that if you don't go to kneel and confess your sins within three days, it will devour a thousand human cultivators every day. What now? What should we do?"
Zhang Ruochen remained very calm, as if he hadn't heard Sun Dadi's words at all. He took out the black sacred flower and the six-colored sacred flower, handed them to Xiao Hei, and said, "Refine a Seventh-Rank Sacred Yuan Pill for me. I want to break through to the Seventh-Rank Half-Saint realm."
Seeing the two sacred flowers and the large amount of sacred source spiritual spring, Xiao Hei's eyes widened roundly, and he chuckled, "A small matter, leave it to this Emperor."
Zhang Ruochen's heart stirred, remembering something, and asked, "What exactly is the medicinal value of the sacred flower?"
Xiao Hei rolled his eyes at Zhang Ruochen and said, "What do you know? Medicinal value? The medicinal value of the sacred flower is only its most secondary function. The sacred flower is condensed from a wisp of source qi from the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. Only by refining a sacred flower can a cultivator use its aura to approach the source qi of the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm."
"In other words, only by refining a sacred flower does one qualify to compete for the source qi."
"The Azure Dragon Ruins Realm is a high-level ruins realm. The source qi has likely already given birth to intelligence and grown into a World Spirit."
The so-called "World Spirit" is essentially equivalent to the creator god or the heavenly dao of the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm.
All the top experts who came to the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm were there to seize the World Spirit.
Of course, the World Spirit would only appear at the final moment when the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm was about to shatter. For now, even if one refined a sacred flower, they couldn't sense the specific location of the World Spirit. (To be continued.)