Chapter 1150: Azure Dragon Emperor
The surface of the asteroid was covered by a layer of formation light shield.
When Demon Ran Princess Consort flew over, the light shield immediately opened. Two Eight-Dragon Martial Saints rode thirty-zhang-long iron-scaled beasts, soaring up to escort the princess consort into a pitch-black stone city.
Inside the asteroid lay a large spirit crystal mine. Formation masters from the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm had utilized the mine, spending centuries to convert the asteroid into a temporary dwelling place for cultivators at the Fish-Dragon Realm and above.
"Greetings, Demon Ran Princess Consort."
Inside the stone city, all cultivators bowed respectfully to Demon Ran Princess Consort, including some saints whose cultivation levels surpassed hers.
The Azure Dragon Emperor, the seventy-sixth ruler of the Azure Dragon Dynasty, was one of the most powerful beings in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. Appearing to be in his fifties or sixties, despite his immense power, he looked quite haggard.
Seeing Demon Ran Princess Consort return, the Azure Dragon Emperor immediately set down his wine cup, rushed down the steps, and greeted her. Grabbing her hands, he asked anxiously, "My beloved consort, did you seize the World Spirit?"
Demon Ran Princess Consort cast a cold, icy glance at the Azure Dragon Emperor, withdrew her delicate jade hands, and slapped him across the face. With a sharp crack, the blow sent him tumbling to the ground.
The Azure Dragon Emperor, who commanded awe across the world, had been slapped by Demon Ran Princess Consort.
Fortunately, none of the Azure Dragon Dynasty's cultivators witnessed this scene, or they would have been utterly stunned.
"Worthless! The Azure Dragon Dynasty is already destroyed, and you still have the heart to drink?"
The Azure Dragon Emperor climbed back to his feet, showing no anger. Instead, he tried to please Demon Ran Princess Consort, forcing a smile. "My beloved consort, calm your anger, calm your anger. This emperor is merely a Sacred Soul avatar stationed here to hold the stronghold. My true body has already gone to the starry sky near the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, locked in a magical contest with the experts of the Kunlun Realm. I have not lost my fighting spirit."
Demon Ran Princess Consort stared at the Azure Dragon Emperor and indeed noticed that the man before her was only a Sacred Soul avatar, not his true body.
"How many experts did the Kunlun Realm dispatch?" Demon Ran Princess Consort asked.
The Azure Dragon Emperor replied, "It is said that a great upheaval has occurred in the Kunlun Realm. The major powers are too preoccupied with their own affairs to care for others. Even the Ministry of War has withdrawn a large number of Ruins Realm warriors back to the Kunlun Realm. Therefore, only a few saint-level experts have come to compete for the World Spirit. As for the legendary saint kings, not a single one has appeared."
"A great upheaval in the Kunlun Realm?"
Demon Ran Princess Consort's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on her face.
Seeing her smile, the Azure Dragon Emperor was overjoyed and quickly added, "We captured a powerful human cultivator and extracted some information about the Kunlun Realm from him through interrogation."
"I heard that the Great Virtuous and Virtuous Female Saint Emperor has gone missing and may have already fallen. The Kunlun Realm is without a leader, and various forces are ambitious, seeking to seize the opportunity to overthrow the First Central Empire. Both the human territories and the wild secret realms have erupted in great chaos, with blood flowing like rivers and corpses piling up like mountains."
Demon Ran Princess Consort gently stroked her chin with her fingers and smiled. "The wild secret realms are also in great chaos?"
"Not long ago, a peerless ancient relic beast in the Kunlun Realm cultivated to the Beast Emperor realm and sought to unify all the barbarian beast clans, taking over the wild secret realms, sparking the most brutal war since the Middle Ages," the Azure Dragon Emperor said.
Demon Ran Princess Consort pursed her lips slightly and asked, "What formidable figures from the Kunlun Realm have come to compete for the World Spirit?"
"At least six or seven are on par with me in strength. For example, Qingxiao Heavenly King of the Ministry of War, and Wukong Blood Saint and Yuanyi Blood Saint of the Undying Blood Clan."
"However, the top experts are all restraining each other, making it difficult to directly engage in the competition. Before the World Spirit even emerged, they had already clashed four or five times," the Azure Dragon Emperor said.
Demon Ran Princess Consort nodded. "Give me the Azure Dragon Dynasty's Imperial Talisman. I want to mobilize all the Martial Saints here to recover the World Spirit."
The Imperial Talisman symbolized the Azure Dragon Emperor and could mobilize all the forces of the Azure Dragon Dynasty.
Without any hesitation, the Azure Dragon Emperor took out the Imperial Talisman and, smiling, placed it in Demon Ran Princess Consort's hand. "My beloved consort, when you return victorious, this emperor..."
Before the Azure Dragon Emperor could finish, Demon Ran Princess Consort had already left with the Imperial Talisman.
"Every time, it's like this. She increasingly despises this emperor. Who is the true ruler of the Azure Dragon Dynasty?"
"Boom!"
Only after Demon Ran Princess Consort led a group of Martial Saints out of the asteroid did the Azure Dragon Emperor erupt with overwhelming fury, smashing the stone palace to pieces.
Yet, when Demon Ran Princess Consort was before him, the Azure Dragon Emperor dared not show even a hint of anger. He only tried his best to please her, and even touching her hand was a source of immense happiness for him.
Even the Azure Dragon Emperor himself did not know when he had become so pathetic. So afraid of her?
...
The surface of the comet was covered in dark blue ice, with snowflakes drifting, reaching an extreme cold.
Even with Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen's cultivation levels, they felt a bone-piercing chill.
Zhang Ruochen stood like an unyielding monument on the ice, holding Huang Yanchen's delicate body in his arms. The yang energy within him turned into flames, driving away the cold surging from all directions.
"We finally escaped. What are your plans next?" Huang Yanchen looked up at Zhang Ruochen's handsome profile.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was sharp, devoid of emotion. "Who are you, really?"
Huang Yanchen was taken aback. "Chen Ge, why do you ask that? What's wrong with you?"
Zhang Ruochen stared into Huang Yanchen's eyes, feeling deeply puzzled. After a long silence, he spoke his thoughts. "You carry too many shadows of her. I can no longer see who you truly are."
Earlier, when Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen had jointly executed the Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Formation, their coordination had been perfect, as if they had practiced it countless times.
In that moment, Zhang Ruochen almost believed the woman standing opposite him was Chi Yao from eight hundred years ago.
The two of them had practiced swords together, traveled through mountains, and gazed at the stars in the sky.
Zhang Ruochen did not believe that his first time practicing the Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Formation with Huang Yanchen could reach such a level of harmony.
Huang Yanchen bit her lip tightly, her eyes blinking with a sorrowful expression, and slowly lowered her head.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Huang Yanchen shook her head gently and sighed. "You still can't forget her. The one you love most in your heart has always been her. I... am I just her shadow?"
"No."
"Denying it is useless. You hate her so much, isn't it because you love her to the extreme? You can't fool me. On our wedding night, you were calling her name." Huang Yanchen's tears flowed like a torrent, heartbroken.
Zhang Ruochen felt guilty and did not continue to argue. His gaze grew distant. "Pretend I never said that."
Huang Yanchen did not press him further. Pushing too hard might backfire.
She could sense that Zhang Ruochen had already begun to distance himself from her.
The comet flew at an extreme speed, moving farther and farther from the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, soon reaching another stretch of starry sky.
If they stayed on the comet, they might get lost in the vast universe and never return to the Kunlun Realm.
Zhang Ruochen used the Great Space Teleportation to leave the comet and land on the surface of a large, barren planet.
He activated his Heavenly Eye, looking upward to observe the movement of the stars, and soon recognized some familiar star regions, roughly determining the location of the Kunlun Realm.
"We are too far from the Kunlun Realm. At our current speed, it would take a thousand years to return. We must use a wormhole for spatial jumps," Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Yanchen said, "There is a wormhole near the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. We know its approximate location, and it's not too far from us."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Many saint-level beings are surely guarding that area. If we go there, we'll be walking into a trap."
Zhang Ruochen considered using a Space Teleportation Array to return to the Kunlun Realm, but with his current spatial mastery, he could only set up basic teleportation formations, capable of moving at most three hundred thousand miles.
In the vast starry sky, three hundred thousand miles was too short. The distance between any two stars was millions or even hundreds of millions of miles.
A thought struck Zhang Ruochen. He recalled the Space Teleportation Array he had excavated from the underground of Dragon Summit Mountain. He was very curious about where the spatial coordinates marked on the array led.
Now that he had seized the World Spirit, he could activate the teleportation array and go investigate.
Xumi Saint Monk would not have left a Space Teleportation Array in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm for no reason. This array must have an extraordinary purpose.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and tried to communicate with the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree and Xiao Hei. However, the Scroll World remained sealed, receiving no response.
That array was stored in the Scroll World. Since the Scroll World was sealed, he could not retrieve it.
"Chen Ge, don't worry. As long as I can be with you, even if we spend our whole lives on this barren planet, I would be infinitely happy," Huang Yanchen said, trying to soothe Zhang Ruochen's emotions.
Zhang Ruochen felt even more guilty. He tightly grasped Huang Yanchen's hand, his gaze firm. "Don't worry, I will definitely bring you back to the Kunlun Realm."
Over the following days, Zhang Ruochen waited for Xiao Hei and the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree to suppress the World Spirit of the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm while refining the residual energy of the sacred pills, striving to improve his cultivation.
In this seemingly peaceful starry sky, danger could come at any moment. Zhang Ruochen dared not slack off and had to do everything in his power to grow stronger.
Three days later.
Dozens of asteroids flew toward the planet where Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen were located.
On each asteroid stood a Martial Saint from the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. Led by Demon Ran Princess Consort, they surrounded the entire planet.
"They've caught up after all."
Zhang Ruochen sensed their presence, immediately opened his eyes, stood up, and looked toward the starry sky above. (To be continued. Your support is my greatest motivation.)