Chapter 1173: Sudden Turn of Events
Every saint cultivates a divine manifestation technique and an escape secret art to ensure their long-term survival in the world between heaven and earth. By unleashing the divine manifestation technique, one can burst forth with ten times the combat power at a great cost.
Even though Liao Teng was now only a head, by unleashing the divine manifestation technique, he still erupted with several times the power of his prime. At this moment, even a seasoned middle-stage saint would have to temporarily avoid his sharp edge.
Qing Mo flew out, flicking a wisp of cyan flame from her fingertip, burning the dozens of blood streams flying toward Liao Teng's head into ashes.
"Boundless Saint Flame... There is actually such a powerful expert in the Hidden Dragon Hall."
Liao Teng was so startled he nearly lost his soul. Realizing the situation was dire, he abandoned the attempt to suppress Zhang Ruochen, controlled his head, and activated his escape secret art, trying to flee.
However, the gap in their realms was too great; he simply could not escape.
A cyan vine shadow shot out, wrapped around him, and pulled him back. With a loud crash, the burning head fell into the back garden of the Hidden Dragon Hall.
"Sizzle, sizzle."
The flames on the head scorched the ground into blackened earth.
"You think you can capture this saint? Now, we die together!"
Unwilling to suffer humiliation, Liao Teng roared fiercely, activating the sacred source in his Qi Sea, preparing to self-destruct both his sacred source and Qi Sea.
Zhang Ruochen pointed a finger. The Abyssal Ancient Sword let out a piercing sword cry, breaking through the air and flying toward the ground. With a thunderous roar, it pierced Liao Teng's head first, dispersing his sacred soul.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword stood embedded in the ground, dripping with blood, still trembling incessantly, emitting streaks of black sword light.
Zhang Ruochen drifted down like a leaf, landing on the ground. Staring at the head that had been shattered into two halves, he sighed softly: "I originally wanted to extract some information about the Undying Blood Clan from his mouth, but I put everyone in danger. Too risky. It seems I shouldn't easily attempt to capture a saint in the future."
Qing Mo pouted and said, "Actually, most of Liao Teng's memories are preserved in his sacred source. As long as you refine it, you can not only plunder his sacred dao insights but also uncover many secrets."
Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Abyssal Ancient Sword and found Liao Teng's sacred source from the blood-red soil.
Did Zhang Ruochen not know what Qing Mo said?
However, relying on someone else's sacred source to reach the saint realm was ultimately inferior to cultivating one's own sacred source. Only by cultivating one's own sacred source could the sacred dao reach its most perfect state.
If Zhang Ruochen truly wanted to refine a sacred source, he would have already refined the Buddha Emperor Relic, which would be thousands or tens of thousands of times better than refining Liao Teng's sacred source.
Shi Shenghua's voice sounded within Zhang Ruochen's body: "Zhang Ruochen, give Liao Teng's sacred source to me as nourishment. I can break through to the saint realm in one go. And I will tell you all the secrets Liao Teng knew without holding anything back."
"You're quite eager when you see a sacred source. Why weren't you so eager to volunteer when I was fighting Liao Teng earlier?"
Zhang Ruochen had no intention of letting Shi Shenghua break through to the saint realm for now. Holding the sacred source, he looked toward Ji Shui, his previously tense face relaxing into a smile: "Junior Master Ji, since you already know my true identity, there are only two paths before you now."
"The first path: work for me. I will give you Liao Teng's sacred source and fully assist you in reaching the saint realm."
"The second path..."
Before Zhang Ruochen could finish, Ji Shui had already made her decision: "I choose the first path."
Zhang Ruochen was slightly surprised, not expecting Ji Shui to agree so readily.
Ji Shui bit her lip lightly and added, "Your second path is probably death, right? Actually, I never had a choice, did I?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, "A beautiful woman like Junior Master Ji—how could I bear to destroy such a flower? Actually, the second path was just about erasing some of your memories."
If Gu Linfeng had said such words, Ji Shui would not have believed him and would have felt disgusted, thinking he was flirting with her.
But strangely, now that she knew Gu Linfeng was Zhang Ruochen, she believed his words without hesitation. Not only did she not feel disgusted, but she also found him quite gentlemanly.
With Zhang Ruochen's help, Ji Shui did not take long to refine Liao Teng's sacred source, and her cultivation realm directly broke through to the ninth-order Half-Saint.
Absorbing part of Liao Teng's memories, Ji Shui learned a shocking secret. Her jade-like face instantly turned as pale as paper.
"It's unimaginable that so many Undying Blood Clan members are lurking in the Blood God Sect. If they strike, the consequences would be disastrous."
Ji Shui recounted the secrets she had learned to Zhang Ruochen.
She had expected Zhang Ruochen to be as shocked as she was, but Zhang Ruochen remained extremely calm, as if he had known about it all along.
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly and said, "So, the Palace Master of the Chaos Character Heavenly Palace, Yu Huacheng, and the Earth Element Dharma King, Kong Yi, can be confirmed as Undying Blood Clan members."
Ji Shui listed some names of the lurking Undying Blood Clan members. The most important information was confirming the identities of the Chaos Character Heavenly Palace Master and the Earth Element Dharma King.
These two were absolute top-tier figures in the Blood God Sect, each commanding vast power. Exposing either of them would cause a massive earthquake.
It would not only shake the Blood God Sect but also the entire Tiantai Prefecture.
Of course, Liao Teng did not know many of the lurkers. There were only about twenty-plus Undying Blood Clan experts above the Half-Saint realm, far fewer than the list Zhang Ruochen had compiled.
This showed how cautious the Undying Blood Clan was—even saint-level figures could not know all their secrets.
Ji Shui's face was very grim. After all, the Blood God Sect was where she had grown up, and she had some emotional attachment to it.
Now, with internal and external troubles, the sect could collapse at any moment, becoming a tool for the Undying Blood Clan to attack humanity. How could she not be worried?
Ji Shui added, "According to Liao Teng's memories, it can be inferred that among the Undying Blood Clan's lurkers, there is an even more formidable figure than the Earth Element Dharma King and the Chaos Character Heavenly Palace Master. However, that person has always stayed behind the scenes, and even Liao Teng did not know his true identity."
"A figure more formidable than the Earth Element Dharma King and the Chaos Character Heavenly Palace Master?" Zhang Ruochen showed a contemplative expression.
In the Blood God Sect, there were very few people more powerful than these two.
Was the person hiding behind the scenes the Blood God Sect Leader? Or someone else?
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, shook his head gently, and stopped guessing. He looked at Ji Shui and said, "Now you understand who you are helping me deal with, right?"
"If the Divine Son had told me the truth earlier, even without the sacred source, Ji Shui would have done her utmost to eliminate the Undying Blood Clan lurkers," Ji Shui said.
In fact, Ji Shui still had many questions she wanted to ask Zhang Ruochen. For example, why had he transformed into Gu Linfeng to enter the Blood God Sect? How did he know there were so many Undying Blood Clan lurkers in the sect?
But she suppressed her curiosity and did not ask.
Zhang Ruochen took out the list he had compiled earlier and placed it before Ji Shui. "Memorize all the cultivators on this list. Every one of them could be an Undying Blood Clan member."
Ji Shui took the list and quickly flipped through it, growing more shocked with each page. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.
Had the Undying Blood Clan's infiltration of the Blood God Sect reached such a level?
Zhang Ruochen said, "The lurkers below the saint realm will be handled by you and Zhao Shiqi. I hope you can cooperate and not let a single Undying Blood Clan member escape."
"Rest assured, Divine Son. I will not disappoint you. Within half a month, all the Undying Blood Clan Half-Saints on the list will disappear from this world," Zhao Shiqi said darkly.
Ji Shui asked, "How should we deal with Liao Teng's corpse? Should we reveal his true identity?"
In fact, Liao Teng's corpse was just a head split in two.
His true identity would certainly have to be revealed. Only by leveraging the power of the entire Blood God Sect could the Undying Blood Clan forces he controlled be completely eliminated.
The key was how to reveal Liao Teng's true identity in the most clever way.
Just then, Ji Shui received a voice transmission. Her expression tightened. "The Sea Darkness Dharma King has been assassinated and is severely injured."
Zhang Ruochen and Ji Shui left the Hidden Dragon Hall and rushed to the Immortal Dark Sea to find out what had happened.
Someone had actually managed to wound the Sea Darkness Dharma King. That person must be a top-tier saint-level titan.
The Immortal Dark Sea was a thousand-mile-long lake and the cultivation site of the Sea Darkness Dharma King.
The once vast, blue Immortal Dark Sea was now completely dry. All the lake water had evaporated, and all the islands had collapsed, with huge cracks everywhere. The entire land seemed shattered.
It was impossible to imagine what kind of terrifying battle had taken place here not long ago.
Ji Shui rushed to the central area of the Immortal Dark Sea, meeting with the Sea Darkness Dharma King's second disciple to learn the details.
Zhang Ruochen roamed the edge of the Immortal Dark Sea, observing the traces and auras left by the battle, trying to deduce who the saint-level expert who had fought the Sea Darkness Dharma King was.
The battle had not been long ago, and some sacred dao auras had not yet dissipated, allowing clues to be found.
Soon, Ji Shui flew back and told Zhang Ruochen what had happened.
"The Sea Darkness Dharma King is severely injured and has gone to a secret place deep in the Eternal Ancient Snow Mountains to recover. He likely won't be able to return to the Blood God Sect for a short time," Ji Shui said.
Zhang Ruochen rubbed his chin with his finger. "The saint-level expert who assassinated the Sea Darkness Dharma King is probably the Chaos Character Heavenly Palace Master, Yu Huacheng. The Undying Blood Clan has played a clever game—sending Yu Huacheng to assassinate the Sea Darkness Dharma King while using Liao Teng to deal with me."
Zhang Ruochen squinted and smiled. "I know how to reveal Liao Teng's true identity. We'll say that Liao Teng was killed by the severely injured Sea Darkness Dharma King, and after killing Liao Teng, the Sea Darkness Dharma King went into the Eternal Ancient Snow Mountains to recover."
Zhang Ruochen did not want to reveal his strength yet, so he had to let the Sea Darkness Dharma King take the blame.
This way, most of the Undying Blood Clan's attention would be focused on dealing with the Sea Darkness Dharma King. Zhang Ruochen could then quietly eliminate the Undying Blood Clan lurkers one by one from the shadows.