Chapter 1100: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes
The oasis was located in a relatively low-lying area, with towering sand dunes on three sides, stacked layer upon layer like three plateaus in the desert.
The air was filled with the sound of wind breaking, rising and falling.
Winged barbarian beasts, heirs of large sects, and some humanoid undead ghosts and fiends arrived one after another in this region, landing on the ground.
Although the various forces were hostile to each other and would fight without any reason, they did not clash now. Instead, they formed camps, maintaining a certain distance from one another. All living beings gazed toward the oasis.
That oasis was completely enveloped in a blood-red mist. The mist churned incessantly, accompanied by deafening roars, as waves of majestic power fluctuations surged out, shaking the desert hundreds of miles away and sending dust flying into the air, as if a giant blood beast was lurking there.
The power surging out was extremely terrifying, and no living being dared to approach.
The barbarian beast groups that had arrived came from the Blood Ant Tribe and the Corpse Ancestor Bird Tribe.
They had been searching for traces of Zhang Ruochen nearby. Sensing the intense battle fluctuations, the Corpse Ancestor Bird Beast King and the Blood Ant Beast King immediately led a large number of half-saint-level barbarian beasts from their tribes to the scene.
Among them, a half-saint-level barbarian beast, a blood-red ant as large as an elephant, said, "How strange. I passed by here not long ago and didn't see any oasis at all."
"Two days ago, I flew over this area from the sky and didn't see any oasis either," said a Corpse Ancestor Bird flying in midair, speaking in human tongue.
Among the humans, there were also some cultivators who had passed by nearby but had never seen an oasis here.
Wan Huayu, clad in the Fire Phoenix Saint Armor, stood among the crowd with a standout presence. Her powerful cultivation and beautiful appearance made her particularly eye-catching.
She noticed some clues. Her delicate nose sniffed lightly, and she said, "The smell of blood is very strong. There must be a large number of Undying Blood Clan gathered inside the oasis. If I'm not mistaken, the outer perimeter of the oasis was once covered by a highly sophisticated concealment formation, fooling the perception of all cultivators."
"What? A large number of Undying Blood Clan are hiding here? What are they planning?"
"This place is less than thirty thousand miles from Yingsha City. Their hiding here must have ulterior motives."
Some sharp-witted cultivators immediately woke up and said, "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. While humans and barbarian beasts fight to the death, they can collect a steady stream of high-grade blood."
"I'm afraid it's more than that. I suspect that the several major battles between humans and barbarian beasts were all instigated by the Undying Blood Clan behind the scenes. Remember, a few days ago, dozens of quasi-saints and beast kings fell in that battle, and hundreds of thousands of barbarian beasts and human cultivators died," Wan Huayu said coldly, her face pale.
"I remember now! Before the battle broke out, a group of people in Yingsha City strongly advocated for a life-and-death battle with the barbarian beasts, to avenge the fallen compatriots, saying they would rather die than be cowards. At the time, I thought their declaration was correct and showed courage. But now that I think about it, I feel they were deliberately stirring up emotions, forcing the two realm sons to lead the human cultivators into war with the barbarian beasts. If Zhang Ruochen hadn't single-handedly held off all the beast kings, the human cultivators in Yingsha City would have been completely wiped out."
The human cultivators present thought deeply and were terrified, breaking out in cold sweat.
Among the barbarian beast groups, there were also some intelligent beasts that thought of this layer. Recalling several suspicious points, it seemed that there really was a mastermind behind the scenes manipulating their emotions.
Originally, the various barbarian beast clans had only planned to trap the human cultivators in Yingsha City, preventing them from rushing out to seize the treasures of the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm.
Who would have thought that a brutal war would later erupt, with the number of barbarian beasts killed being two to three times that of the human cultivators, and some races were completely annihilated.
If they could avoid fighting, who would be willing to fight to the death?
The contradictions between the barbarian beast clans and humans were indeed irreconcilable.
But the feeling of being used made all the barbarian beasts extremely angry.
If not for this battle, they would never have known the truth and would have remained in the dark.
"Which force is fighting the Undying Blood Clan in the oasis?"
Both the barbarian beasts and the human cultivators were curious about this.
Wan Huayu's phoenix eyes flowed with strands of crimson flames, like two holy sparks, piercing through layers of blood mist, finally seeing the battle scene unfolding in the oasis.
"How is it him again?"
Wan Huayu showed a strange expression, feeling it was unbelievable.
Zhang Ruochen had just single-handedly challenged over a dozen beast kings, nearly crippling himself. A few days later, he was now single-handedly challenging a tribe of the Undying Blood Clan.
Was he a war god reincarnated?
She had to admit that Wan Huayu was utterly impressed by this heir of time and space. Every time, he could do earth-shattering things, and each event had profound significance, not just showing off his bravery.
If other cultivators could accomplish just one of his deeds, they would be famous throughout the world, even leaving their names in history books.
"Zhang Ruochen is the same kind of person as my father. The gap between me and them is too great," Wan Huayu sighed inwardly.
Wan Zhaoyi had also done many things that shook the world. Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned the title "Wan Zhaoyi of the Nine Prefectures of the Central Domain."
For the past hundred years, the entire Central Domain's Nine Prefectures had only been the legend of one man, Wan Zhaoyi.
The difference was that Wan Zhaoyi was a member of the imperial court, bound by certain constraints in many things, unable to act freely. Zhang Ruochen had no such constraints and could only do what he wanted.
Relatively speaking, Wan Huayu admired Zhang Ruochen more.
Other human cultivators also saw Zhang Ruochen's figure and sighed, "Zhang Ruochen is full of guts. You have to admire him."
Wan Huayu's right hand gripped the sword hilt, and a blazing sword intent surged from her body, along with a majestic battle intent rising to the sky.
The great battle a few days ago had indeed brought her to the brink of death, but it also brought her tremendous gains, elevating her cultivation to a higher level.
Now, even without using the power of the Fire Phoenix, she could fight a beast king.
"Princess, don't do it."
The purple-robed old man stopped Wan Huayu, not wanting her to take the risk.
"No matter what, in the sand city, Zhang Ruochen once saved my life. I can't watch him fight the Undying Blood Clan alone," Wan Huayu said.
The other human cultivators, most of whom had escaped from Yingsha City, were deeply grateful to Zhang Ruochen and also intended to help him.
The purple-robed old man earnestly advised, "The Undying Blood Clan gathered in the oasis comes from the Qingtian Tribe. Princess, you know better than anyone how terrifying the strength of a tribe is. If we rush in, it's no different from moths flying into a flame. It's better to wait and see. When Zhang Ruochen retreats, we can help him fend off the pursuing Undying Blood Clan."
Wan Huayu was an extremely intelligent woman. After careful consideration, she finally sheathed her sacred sword.
With Zhang Ruochen's strength alone, he couldn't shake the Qingtian Tribe. Wan Huayu speculated that Zhang Ruochen only wanted to force the Undying Blood Clan into the open through this battle.
Now that his plan had succeeded, he would likely retreat soon.
In the oasis.
Zhang Ruochen's aura was like a rainbow. He raised his arms, and the phantom images of a green dragon and a green elephant appeared, emitting dragon roars and elephant trumpets.
"Boom, boom."
He executed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, striking out rapidly with both palms, unleashing nearly forty times the attack power.
It must be noted that Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had reached the peak of the seventh-order half-saint, and his strength had nearly doubled. Unleashing forty times the attack power, the force was unimaginably terrifying.
After three consecutive palms, the blood-red formation diagram shattered.
In the formation, ten half-saints simultaneously stepped back.
Except for the ninth-order half-saint, the other nine half-saints each spat out a mouthful of blood, suffering considerable injuries.
Too terrifying!
The combined attack formation of ten half-saints connected their strength, with a ninth-order half-saint at the core.
Such a powerful blood formation could rival a quasi-saint, yet it couldn't withstand three palms from Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen slashed down with his hand, striking the neck of a fourth-order half-saint Undying Blood Clan member, cleaving his body in two.
The vitality of Undying Blood Clan half-saints was indeed strong. As long as they could absorb blood, even if split in two, they might revive.
But Zhang Ruochen's strike shattered his sacred soul, not giving him a chance to come back to life.
"Boom!"
"Pfft!"
...
Zhang Ruochen struck repeatedly, killing seven Undying Blood Clan half-saints in a row. Just as he was about to kill the eighth, a large blood formation blocked him.
"Zhang Ruochen, you are too arrogant. I will suppress you."
A roar erupted from within the large blood formation.
The light emitted by the large blood formation condensed into the outline of a three-thousand-meter-tall mountain, exuding a majestic aura. In the formation stood a hundred Undying Blood Clan experts, more than half of whom were half-saints.
The power of the combined attack formation, even when only slightly leaked, shattered the space into dense cracks.
It was clear how terrifying such a blood formation was. If it were in the Kunlun Realm, even a lower-realm saint would have to retreat.
Of course, in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, the Undying Blood Clan did not dare to fully unleash the power of the large blood formation, having to control it within a certain range. If the space shattered on a large scale, they would also suffer heavy losses.
A ninth-order half-saint peak Undying Blood Clan member stood at the center of the large blood formation, mobilizing the formation's power to lift the three-thousand-meter-tall blood-red mountain phantom and ram it toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen did not dodge or use the Abyssal Ancient Sword. Instead, he released his space domain, enveloping the entire large blood formation.
"Break for me."
Above the large blood formation, a violent spatial fluctuation erupted, and a hole dozens of meters in diameter appeared, causing the space to collapse and form a chaotic zone.
Some of the quicker Undying Blood Clan members immediately fled the large blood formation.
But dozens of Undying Blood Clan experts were too slow to escape and were swept into the shattered space, their bodies torn to pieces.
The screams of the Undying Blood Clan echoed continuously from the chaotic zone.
Using a combined attack formation against Zhang Ruochen was clearly not a wise move.
...
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