Chapter 1092: Fighting Nineteen Kings Alone
“Whoosh!”
The Xuanwei Beast King stood inside a mass of black mist, its body dozens of zhang tall, a black hedgehog. Opening its mouth wide, it exhaled a breath toward Zhang Ruochen’s location.
From the sacred energy, over a hundred bolts of lightning condensed, forming a devastating electric river.
From another direction, two Beast Kings simultaneously struck with an ancestral artifact, unleashing a primordial wild force.
One of the ancestral artifacts was a seven-meter-long, crimson antelope horn, extremely sharp, with a surge of scorching flames pouring out, covering dozens of li of the sky with a sea of fire clouds.
The other ancestral artifact was a piece of translucent jade, roughly the size of a water vat. The power it unleashed was even stronger than the antelope horn.
The seven Beast Kings each unleashed their most powerful techniques, every strike earth-shattering, enough to make anyone’s heart tremble with fear.
Even the human cultivators standing hundreds of li away felt extreme danger, as powerful shockwaves constantly flew past them.
Even a single shockwave could kill them.
At the center of the battle, seven chaotic forces simultaneously attacked Zhang Ruochen alone. How long could he hold out?
Zhang Ruochen naturally bore immense pressure, his entire being in a state of high tension, not daring to relax even for a moment.
“Space Distortion.”
Zhang Ruochen’s hands moved slowly, forming rippling, translucent waves.
Within a hundred zhang radius, space became severely distorted. The attacks of the seven Beast Kings all deviated from their paths, failing to land on Zhang Ruochen.
Of course, even using space power to neutralize the attacks of seven Beast Kings was no easy task.
Zhang Ruochen’s sacred energy consumption was enormous. If he continued fighting like this, even if he didn’t die under the claws of the seven Beast Kings, he would eventually exhaust his sacred energy and perish.
No longer on the defensive, Zhang Ruochen took a step forward, executed a Space Displacement, escaped the encirclement of the seven Beast Kings, and landed above the Konglu Beast King’s head.
“Whoosh—”
The Abyssal Ancient Sword slashed down, dragging a black sword light over twenty zhang long, forming an arc like a black moon falling from the sky.
The Konglu Beast King was startled, immediately activating a triangular shield-shaped ancestral artifact to block Zhang Ruochen’s attack.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword slashed down beside the shield artifact, producing a harsh scraping sound and sending out bright sparks.
The Konglu Beast King retreated, its heart pounding with fear.
That had been far too close. If its reaction had been even slightly slower, even if it didn’t die, it would have been severely wounded.
Space power was truly bizarre—able to cross space, distort space, and even tear space apart.
Zhang Ruochen’s various techniques left all the Beast Kings present feeling troubled. For a time, they couldn’t capture him.
“Once the Heir of Time and Space grows up, he will surely become a great enemy of all barbarian beast clans,” a Beast King evaluated Zhang Ruochen.
“Empress Chi Yao alone suppressed the barbarian beast clans for centuries. If the Heir of Time and Space also reaches the Great Saint realm, the barbarian beast clans may never rise again for the next thousand years,” another Beast King said.
The Devouring Demon Dragon was also watching the battlefield. It issued an order to the Beast Kings who hadn’t joined the fight: “The rest of you, return to Yingsha City immediately. I’ll hold the line here. The Heir of Time and Space is as good as dead.”
“Rest assured, Lord Demon Dragon. We will slaughter all the human cultivators.”
The other eleven Beast Kings charged toward Yingsha City.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was pinned down by seven Beast Kings, barely able to save himself, and would soon fall. Naturally, no one could stop them.
Zhang Ruochen glanced in the direction of the eleven Beast Kings. His mind raced.
“Great Space Teleportation.”
Zhang Ruochen’s figure moved, crossing dozens of li in an instant, catching up to one of the Beast Kings that had taken human form.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Zhang Ruochen roared.
That Beast King was from the Teng Snake Clan. In human form, it was a rather beautiful woman in black armor, with a very slender, flexible waist and bronze-colored skin.
She had already crossed her second Quasi-Saint Tribulation and was a descendant of a divine beast, with some divine beast blood flowing in her veins. Her combat power was naturally formidable.
Zhang Ruochen’s sudden appearance startled the Teng Snake Beast King.
At that moment—
“Whoosh!”
Zhang Ruochen executed the Time Sword Art, merging time imprints with his sword technique, thrusting his sword straight at the Teng Snake Beast King’s brow.
Within ten zhang, the flow of time slowed drastically, while Zhang Ruochen’s sword speed became even faster.
“Pfft.”
The Teng Snake Beast King couldn’t block in time. Her head was pierced by Zhang Ruochen’s sword, the tip emerging from the back of her skull, splattering a large amount of blood.
“Not good.”
Zhang Ruochen sensed something was wrong. He immediately withdrew his sword, kicked off, and flew backward.
Even though Zhang Ruochen’s reaction speed was already extremely fast, he was still a step too late.
The Teng Snake Beast King’s straight, long legs transformed into a serpent’s tail, her waist and abdomen into a snake’s body, and her hands into a pair of black, leathery wings. Her body rapidly expanded, becoming a fierce Teng Snake dozens of zhang long.
Her tail whipped around, carrying a mass of black sacred light, and struck Zhang Ruochen directly.
Zhang Ruochen blocked with his sword, deflecting most of the force, and retreated a hundred meters before regaining his footing. The tiger’s mouth of his right hand, where he gripped the sword, had split open, blood seeping out.
The Teng Snake Beast King reared up, emitting a thick, bloody aura. A cold female voice came from her mouth: “My Qi Sea isn’t in my brow. Even if you pierce my brow, you’ll only wound me, not kill me.”
Zhang Ruochen was indeed disappointed that he hadn’t killed the Teng Snake Beast King.
However, his essential goal was to stop the Teng Snake Beast King from leaving, to intercept and wound her. That goal had been achieved.
The eleven Beast Kings preparing to return to Yingsha City hadn’t expected Zhang Ruochen to attack so quickly, and even wound the Teng Snake Beast King.
“Does this Heir of Time and Space really have no fear of death? Does he truly believe he can stop all the Beast Kings by himself?”
Many Beast Kings were speechless. They had never seen such a desperate human cultivator.
Zhang Ruochen executed Great Space Teleportation again, catching up to the Beast King at the very front. He stood in midair, slashing out a Space Rift toward that Beast King.
That Beast King sensed the danger in advance, immediately stopping and dodging.
Even so, the power unleashed by the Space Rift still terrified that Beast King. It had been only a few zhang away from the rift, nearly dying.
Next, Zhang Ruochen struck repeatedly. Whoever dared to charge to the front was immediately met with space power or Time Sword Art attacks.
Two of the Beast Kings, unable to dodge in time, suffered severe injuries.
Although the Beast Kings were still advancing toward Yingsha City, their progress had become quite slow.
What should have taken only a quarter of an hour to return to Yingsha City would now take half an hour or more.
“Let’s all attack together. Kill Zhang Ruochen first, then go to Yingsha City.”
“This is infuriating! Being chased by a human junior. I also suggest we kill him first.”
…
Because the Beast Kings were in a hurry to return to Yingsha City, they had given Zhang Ruochen an opening.
Now, feeling quite enraged, the Beast Kings stopped rushing and halted, all taking out their ancestral artifacts to lock down the space within a hundred li radius.
“With space locked down, let’s see how much longer you can keep jumping around,” the Teng Snake Beast King said in a sharp, cold voice.
Zhang Ruochen stood alone in the empty desert, one hand holding his sword, the other supporting the Realm Seal, gazing at the dozen or so ancestral artifacts floating in midair.
He felt a suffocating, deathly force pressing down on him.
“Half an hour has passed. I wonder how things are in Yingsha City?”
Zhang Ruochen decided to give it his all and stall for another quarter of an hour.
“Roar!”
From the clouds, a deafening dragon roar sounded. Then, the Devouring Demon Dragon’s form appeared, slowly circling above Zhang Ruochen’s head.
“It’s over. The Beast Kings have locked down space with their ancestral artifacts. Zhang Ruochen can’t escape now. If the Devouring Demon Dragon attacks him now, he won’t be able to dodge—he’ll have to take it head-on.”
All the human cultivators were deeply worried.
They knew that Zhang Ruochen’s greatest trump card was his space power.
It was by wielding this power that Zhang Ruochen, at the Seventh-Step Half-Saint level, could hinder the Beast Kings to some extent.
Now, deprived of his space power, how many attacks from the Devouring Demon Dragon could Zhang Ruochen withstand?
The Devouring Demon Dragon’s voice rang out: “To be honest, the strength you’ve displayed has truly surprised me. Even in the ancient era, I never encountered a human as powerful as you. At the same cultivation level, even I might not be your match.”
“Is that so?”
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, trying to appear calm and composed.
In truth, Zhang Ruochen had already sustained some injuries while intercepting the Beast Kings earlier. But he completely suppressed his injuries, refusing to reveal any sign of weakness.
If he was going to be strong, he had to be strong to the very end.
This was why, in history, some great conquerors, even after dying in battle, still maintained a standing posture. A mere corpse could frighten powerful enemies into retreating.
The Devouring Demon Dragon continued: “However, you no longer have the chance to grow to my level. Now, you can die.”
“Boom.”
The Devouring Demon Dragon’s claw pressed down, compressing the world’s spiritual energy and forcing it outward. Even the spatial structure developed fine cracks.
This showed that the Devouring Demon Dragon’s attack was comparable to the full-force strike of a Lower Realm Saint.
“Sword Five.”
Zhang Ruochen poured his sacred energy continuously into the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
On the sword’s body, countless inscriptions emerged. A black sword light surged out wildly, like a pillar of light shooting from the ground into the sky.
Finally, over a thousand inscriptions were activated simultaneously, unleashing a Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force.
“Whoosh—”
Zhang Ruochen merged with the Abyssal Ancient Sword, achieving the state of unity between man and sword. He stomped the ground and transformed into a streak of light, charging upward to meet the descending dragon claw.