Chapter 1094: Slaying the Beast Kings
After swallowing three drops of Sun Spirit Dew, the sacred qi consumed within his body was quickly replenished, and Zhang Ruochen's spiritual will once again reached a state of fullness.
The various beast kings were quite frustrated. That Heir of Time and Space was clearly severely injured and could collapse at any moment, yet his battle intent was overwhelming, more spirited than anyone else.
From another direction, the Devouring Demon Dragon, relying on its seven hundred and twenty-eight segments of dragon bone, had finally managed to injure the Devouring Demon Flower.
The Devouring Demon Flower used its roots to quickly retreat, pulling back to Zhang Ruochen's side. Its long vines were covered in shattered cracks, and the white flower at the top of the vines had been beaten into withering, with all its petals fallen off.
The Teng Snake Beast King stood not far away, having transformed back into human form—a beautiful woman clad in black armor, a snake tongue flickering from her mouth as she laughed, "Zhang Ruochen, even if you've subdued the Devouring Demon Flower, you're no match for Lord Demon Dragon."
"The Devouring Demon Dragon is not invincible. As long as I absorb a bit more nourishment, I can stand against it."
The Devouring Demon Flower was quite proud and refused to admit defeat.
Its hundreds of roots grew rapidly, resembling countless fine, hair-like long snakes writhing through the yellow sand, spreading dozens of miles away.
"Hiss, hiss."
All the roots pierced into the corpses of sixth-rank savage beasts and half-saints on the battlefield, absorbing the sacred power within them.
Nourished by the sacred power, the Devouring Demon Flower's vines once again became radiant and emitted an emerald green light. At the top of the vines, petals bloomed one after another, the flower larger than before, and the sacred light it emitted was even brighter.
After blooming, the Devouring Demon Flower hadn't absorbed enough nutrients and was not at its peak state.
Now, on the battlefield, it used the hundreds of sixth-rank savage beast and half-saint corpses as nourishment, draining their sacred power, finally becoming "full."
Those corpses all became withered and shriveled, no different from ordinary dried corpses.
The power aura emitted by the Devouring Demon Flower had increased significantly.
"Snap!"
The Devouring Demon Dragon lashed out its dragon bone, transforming it into a bone whip that swept through the air, attacking the Devouring Demon Flower.
From the flower of the Devouring Demon Flower, a spiritual power was released, forming a childish voice: "Well met! Today, I shall devour a dragon."
On the surface of the vines, lightning patterns emerged, clashing head-on with the bone whip.
Then, the long vines began to grow wildly, wrapping around the bone whip and extending toward the Devouring Demon Dragon's arm, the petals opening wide, attempting to devour it.
The battle between the Devouring Demon Flower and the Devouring Demon Dragon erupted once again, causing the space to tremble incessantly.
At the same time, the dozen or so beast kings on the ground also acted immediately, unleashing ancestral artifacts to attack Zhang Ruochen.
"Nurture the sword."
Zhang Ruochen shouted deeply, sending out the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
The black sword body hung in midair, its powerful sword intent spreading like ripples on water, surging a thousand miles away.
Around Yingsha City, the war weapons scattered on the battlefield all began to tremble.
Then, tens of thousands of war weapons lifted off the ground, making a clattering sound as they flew toward the Abyssal Ancient Sword, merging into its blade.
The inscriptions within the Abyssal Ancient Sword grew denser and denser, and the sword light it emitted became increasingly bright.
"It can even refine other war weapons. That sword of Zhang Ruochen is indeed a divine weapon."
A beast king was moved by greed. A pair of large wings grew from its back as it soared into the air, approaching the Abyssal Ancient Sword, attempting to seize it.
Zhang Ruochen formed a sword technique with two fingers and uttered a single word: "Die."
From within the Abyssal Ancient Sword's blade, about two thousand inscriptions simultaneously emerged, unleashing the Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force.
Then, the sword body transformed into a black streak of light, carrying a chilling cold aura, and struck toward that beast king.
Sensing the danger, the beast king immediately unleashed an ancestral artifact, activating its ancient savage power, trying to block the Abyssal Ancient Sword's attack.
Both were thousand-mark sacred artifacts. The destructive force unleashed by activating a thousand inscriptions was on a different level from that unleashed by activating two thousand inscriptions.
At this moment, the Abyssal Ancient Sword had activated two thousand inscriptions, unleashing a destructive force more than twice as powerful as before.
"Boom!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword struck the ancestral artifact, driving both the artifact and the beast king deep into the ground.
The beast king was not dead yet; there was still a faint life fluctuation.
Now is the time.
"Die for me."
Zhang Ruochen rushed to its side at the fastest speed, unleashing a series of twelve palm strikes, shattering the beast king's physical body into pieces.
Of course, at the moment of death, the beast king unleashed a trump card technique, striking Zhang Ruochen's chest. The blow slightly caved in his chest, and blood gushed out.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen's physical body was strong enough to withstand it; otherwise, the beast king's dying strike could have taken him down with it.
"Activating two thousand inscriptions actually consumed sixty percent of my sacred qi."
Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat exhausted, so he took out two drops of Sun Spirit Dew and swallowed them immediately.
The power of the Sun Spirit Dew was easily absorbed, quickly converting into sacred qi to replenish the consumption from battle.
At Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation level, at his peak, he could activate a thousand inscriptions and use the Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force seven or eight times.
But activating two thousand inscriptions, he could only use it once.
The more inscriptions activated, the greater the consumption of sacred qi.
Of course, the power unleashed by activating two thousand inscriptions in the Abyssal Ancient Sword was quite considerable—just one strike heavily injured a beast king.
It was precisely this strike that created an opportunity for Zhang Ruochen to kill a beast king.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword refined the ancestral artifact from earlier, then flew back into the air, continuing to absorb other war weapons, aiming to raise the inscriptions within its blade to three thousand.
For a thousand-mark sacred artifact, each additional thousand inscriptions increased its power by a level.
"He actually killed the Huoye Beast King."
"With so many of us beast kings attacking together, he still managed to kill one of us. This is a great humiliation."
"No need to fear him. His injuries are even more severe now; he won't last much longer."
...
The ensuing battle was extremely brutal. Zhang Ruochen had no strength to fight back and could only retreat.
The attacks from over a dozen beast kings—even the Devouring Demon Dragon couldn't withstand them.
Finally, the Abyssal Ancient Sword, suspended in midair, had refined all the war weapons.
The inscriptions within the blade reached three thousand one hundred and forty-two.
Zhang Ruochen stretched out his arm, grabbing into the void, and the Abyssal Ancient Sword flew back into his hand.
At that moment, the Teng Snake Beast King, stepping with extremely profound footwork, formed twelve phantom images and attacked him from the left.
"Final strike, Zhang Ruochen. You should fall now."
The Teng Snake Beast King's eyes glowed with green light. Her slender arms grew scales the size of fingernails as she struck at Zhang Ruochen's head.
On the outside of her arms, ten circles of black sacred light formed, surging toward her ten fingertips, accompanied by a dull sound of wind and thunder.
The Teng Snake Beast King used a sacred art, unleashing a thirty-five times attack multiplier, aiming to completely take down Zhang Ruochen with this strike.
Even though Zhang Ruochen was already severely wounded, he did not dodge.
"Whoosh—"
On the blade of the Abyssal Ancient Sword, over a thousand inscriptions emerged, releasing circles of black destructive force.
The sword shadow flickered once, sweeping across.
The next moment, the Teng Snake Beast King let out a scream and flew backward. The sword energy severed her arms, and from her shoulders, two pillars of blood spurted out.
Since she was heavily injured, naturally, he couldn't let her escape.
Zhang Ruochen pursued, raising the sword again and slashing downward.
The sword edge grazed the Teng Snake Beast King's left ear, slicing off half of her head.
"Zhang Ruochen, you will die a miserable death."
The Teng Snake Beast King let out a shrill cry, transforming back into her true form—a black python—and charged into the yellow sand, burrowing toward the depths of the desert.
At this moment, the Teng Snake Beast King was terrified to the extreme, wanting only to flee immediately.
"Boom."
Zhang Ruochen, chasing from behind, struck the ground with a palm. From his palm, a dragon shadow dozens of feet long flew out, plunging into the earth.
From beneath the desert, a scream was heard. The Teng Snake Beast King had been severely wounded again.
Although over a dozen beast kings were chasing behind Zhang Ruochen, continuously unleashing attacks to try to rescue the Teng Snake Beast King.
However, Zhang Ruochen was in a state of overwhelming killing intent, ignoring those attacks. Using his spiritual power, he locked onto the Teng Snake Beast King's position and unleashed a space rift.
"Pfft."
The space rift shot over a thousand meters deep into the ground, severing the Teng Snake Beast King into two halves.
Finally, the life aura on the Teng Snake Beast King's body completely vanished, and she died underground.
Another beast king had fallen.
Of course, to kill the Teng Snake Beast King, Zhang Ruochen paid a heavy price, enduring the attacks of over a dozen beast kings.
His body gained over a dozen more wounds, becoming tattered and broken. No one knew how many bones were broken, and a third of his blood had already drained away.
Zhang Ruochen still did not fall. He held his longsword, his face showing no fear.
The deaths of the Huoye Beast King and the Teng Snake Beast King made the remaining beast kings feel a chill, giving rise to some fear.
Clearly, they held an absolute advantage and could easily crush this human before them.
Who would have thought it would end like this?
That human man, seemingly on the verge of collapse at any moment, yet giving off a feeling that he would never fall.
"Who wants to die next?"
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was extremely sharp as he swept his eyes over the beast kings opposite him. His battle intent had not diminished.
"You are already at the end of your rope, yet you still dare to be arrogant. I will destroy you."
The Konglu Beast King saw that Zhang Ruochen was already extremely weak, merely putting on a brave front.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen's earlier display had been too dominant, making it unwilling to approach, only daring to launch long-range attacks.
The Konglu Beast King raised its two front iron hooves, then quickly brought them down, stomping hard.
With a thunderous roar, a bone-chilling cold air surged along the ground toward Zhang Ruochen. Within the cold air, a "shushing" sound could be heard, and over two hundred ice blades could be seen flying within the mist.
At that moment, a tall figure flew in from afar at extreme speed, forming a series of afterimages as it rushed before Zhang Ruochen.
All the afterimages overlapped, coalescing into the figure of Huang Yanchen.
Huang Yanchen stood upright, her gaze extremely cold. She swung her sacred sword, creating a vast expanse of sword shadows that shattered all the ice blades.
All the beast kings were stunned for a moment. Another human who wasn't afraid of death had arrived.
(I went out to handle some matters today and returned late. I'll post one chapter first, then go sleep for a while before writing the second chapter, aiming to release it before dawn.)