# Chapter 1294: Situ Fengcheng
The figure standing beside Zhu Qingyi was named Situ Fengcheng. He was the senior disciple of Zhong Ying Wang and also the deputy commander of the Azure Dragon Tribe army attacking Hongchuan Prefecture, commanding millions of troops—a true titan.
Situ Fengcheng was nearly two meters tall, broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with sharply defined facial features as if carved by knives and axes, exuding a masculine aura.
His voice was deep and heavy: "Qingyi, Master has always praised your intelligence. I never thought you would make such a low-level mistake."
"What mistake?"
Zhu Qingyi stood up again. A layer of holy light surged from within her body, and all the bloodstains on her disappeared. She no longer looked so disheveled and regained the elegant bearing of a top-tier expert.
Situ Fengcheng said: "Since Pei Yutian has been listed on the 'Must Kill List,' that means he cannot possibly defect to the Undying Blood Clan. What use is there in continuing to try and persuade him to surrender?"
"Senior Brother makes a good point."
A seductive smile appeared on Zhu Qingyi's face. She added: "However, it wasn't entirely useless. At least it bought time for you to come and save me."
From beginning to end, Pei Yutian stood calmly to the side. His aura gradually sharpened, and ancient patterns emerged on the stone knife in his hand. Those patterns were strikingly similar to the geographical veins of the Northern Domain.
Situ Fengcheng clasped his hands behind his back. The armor on his body reflected metallic light under the moonlight. He said: "East has Wutian, West has Wufa. South has Xinshu, North has Yutian. Central Domain has nine provinces with trillions. I've long heard that the five men on the 'Heroes' Ode' are the five strongest experts born among humanity in the last hundred years. Seeing you today, you haven't disappointed me. With your mastery of the blade, you deserve to be titled the Northern Domain Blade Saint."
"Situ Fengcheng, I've heard your name more than once. I've already killed forty-two Blood Saints. I hope you'll be the forty-third," Pei Yutian said.
Situ Fengcheng revealed a smile: "You're a fine prey. Unfortunately, I have other matters to attend to today and cannot fight you."
"That's not for you to decide. If you want to leave, you'll have to ask if I agree," Pei Yutian said.
"If I want to leave, you really can't stop me."
Situ Fengcheng chuckled. He pointed a finger forward, and from the direction he pointed came a deafening sound. A figure shrouded in sixty-four layers of blood light shattered a great mountain and walked out from within.
It was a middle-aged man, his body covered in blood patterns. He held a sacred sword in hand and carried six more sacred swords on his back. Sword energy surged all around him as he directly attacked Pei Yutian.
"Boom."
At the first clash, that stretch of land was torn apart by blade energy and sword energy. The clouds in the sky were shattered as well. The area became a death zone—any living being that entered would surely die.
Situ Fengcheng and Zhu Qingyi had already retreated five hundred miles away.
Situ Fengcheng's eyes narrowed as he stared at the dusty region: "As expected of Bei Yutian. Truly a formidable figure. He's only cultivated for a hundred years, yet he's already this powerful. He must be eliminated as soon as possible."
Zhu Qingyi also drew a cold breath. She asked herself that even if she used all her techniques, she probably couldn't withstand three moves from Pei Yutian.
She asked: "Senior Brother, where did you find that sword path expert? He can actually match Pei Yutian."
"He is a human sword saint," Situ Fengcheng said.
"Sword saint?"
Zhu Qingyi's heart could not remain calm. She felt shocked.
One must know that in the entire Northern Domain, there were only two human sword saints, both old monsters who had lived for over five hundred years—figures as revered as Mount Tai and the Big Dipper. Any one of them making a move would surely shake heaven and earth.
Situ Fengcheng said: "This man was once the clan leader of the Zhenyu Ancient Clan, Wang Beilie. He was captured by Lord Blood Emperor and refined into a blood slave. Now he works for the Qingtian Tribe. I originally thought that with Wang Beilie's strength, he could kill Pei Yutian, but I didn't expect Pei Yutian to be this powerful."
Zhu Qingyi said: "After being refined into a blood slave, Wang Beilie's consciousness would have greatly diminished. He can't bring out his original strength. Otherwise, Pei Yutian couldn't have held him off."
Situ Fengcheng stopped looking at the battlefield and fixed his gaze on Zhu Qingyi's stunning face: "Master sent you to Hongchuan Prefecture. There should be a secret mission, right?"
"There is indeed an important mission. Pick a few powerful holy realm experts from your camp. I need to leave immediately," Zhu Qingyi said.
...
Zhang Ruochen, carrying Huang Yanchen and Qing Mo, burst forth at top speed and fled tens of thousands of miles away.
Gradually, the power of the Sarira calmed down, and Zhang Ruochen's speed returned to normal. The three did not stop but continued their frantic journey, erasing their residual aura to prevent the Undying Blood Clan's experts from tracking them again.
Hongchuan Prefecture was indeed engulfed in war. Everywhere Zhang Ruochen passed, there was scorched earth, and it was hard to see living people.
Some small towns had been struck by an attack and sank into the ground, becoming giant pits. Some cities were battered and broken, piled high with corpses drained of blood. Mountains and fields were all stained red with blood. Rivers floated with remains, emitting a foul stench.
Too tragic. It was no longer like the human world but a world of death.
Continuing forward, Zhang Ruochen encountered some small Undying Blood Clan army units. They fought their way through and finally reached a human city pass that had not yet been breached.
This city pass was extremely grand. The city walls were a hundred zhang high, majestic and imposing. From afar, it looked like a black mountain range stretching across the horizon.
"Zhilin Pass—the last major pass within Hongchuan Prefecture and the most fiercely contested battleground between the imperial army and the Undying Blood Clan. Once Zhilin Pass falls, the entire Hongchuan Prefecture will be lost. Should we enter Zhilin Pass to gather information?" Huang Yanchen asked.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head: "Better not alert the imperial court's experts, lest we be caught between two fires. We'll bypass the weak points of the defense line and go directly to Heifeng Commandery."
Zhilin Pass was not far from Heifeng Commandery. They were almost at their destination.
The defense line set up by the imperial court was not without flaws everywhere. With Zhang Ruochen's cultivation, the three easily slipped through and headed toward Heifeng Commandery.
Over the next few days, Zhang Ruochen continuously absorbed the spiritual power emitted by the Sarira. His spiritual power increased rapidly, reaching the peak of the fifty-second rank.
"At this rate, I should reach the fifty-third rank in a few days."
Now, Zhang Ruochen couldn't care about anything else. He only wanted to focus on improving his combat power to avoid being beaten without any ability to fight back if he encountered Zhu Qingyi again.
He would have to find a way to resolve the drawbacks of swallowing the Sarira later.
"Can I use spatial power with just spiritual power?"
Zhang Ruochen's greatest trump cards were time power and spatial power. If he still had those two powers, why would he have fled so miserably when encountering Zhu Qingyi?
But these two powers required the support of sacred qi to be used.
Now, Zhang Ruochen's body only had blood vessels constructed by spiritual power, no meridians or sacred veins. He couldn't mobilize sacred qi at all.
Zhang Ruochen was unwilling to give up. He thought: "Spiritual power can mobilize the world's spiritual energy. With the support of world spiritual energy, I might be able to use spatial power."
"Space Rift."
Using spiritual power as the foundation, Zhang Ruochen mobilized world spiritual energy as a medium, raised his arm, and slashed forward.
The space did not tear open. It only trembled slightly.
But that slight tremor made Zhang Ruochen's heart rejoice: "There's hope."
Next, Zhang Ruochen took out the "Space-Time Secret Scripture" and began to seriously study the Way of Space.
Before becoming a saint, Zhang Ruochen had been fully focused on cultivating palm techniques and sword techniques. Only now did he truly calm down to study and cultivate space.
"Space: boundless yet eternal."
"'Boundless' means any point in space is the starting point in any direction."
"'Eternal' means space always appears in the present moment."
...
The knowledge contained in space was extremely profound and extensive. Zhang Ruochen only dared to study it carefully after becoming a saint. Before that, studying too deeply would have done more harm than good.
As for the power of time, Zhang Ruochen still didn't dare to touch it lightly. If he fell into illusory time, his entire being would collapse.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on one page, which explained one of the spatial techniques—Space Distortion.
Previously, Zhang Ruochen had also cultivated Space Distortion, but his understanding of this technique was quite shallow. When facing true top experts, it became useless. The opponent could casually strike through the distorted space.
Carefully studying this technique, Zhang Ruochen realized that the power of Space Distortion was actually quite formidable, full of infinite variables. It could not only be used to neutralize an enemy's attack but also to redirect attacks in any direction to counter the enemy.
In addition, Space Distortion could also be used to change mountain ranges, redirect rivers, break formations, and even set up spatial maze formations.
Any substance within space could not escape the attack of Space Distortion.
"First distort the space on both sides, then connect them and fix them together—that's true Space Distortion. The Space Distortion I cultivated before only distorted the space on both sides without connecting them. That's why it wasn't stable, and its power was limited."
After comprehending the root cause, Zhang Ruochen began to cultivate Space Distortion again.
Zhang Ruochen raised both hands simultaneously, releasing spiritual power. Using world spiritual energy, he changed the space rules, causing the space on both sides to become distorted.
"Connect."
Zhang Ruochen uttered a word, then brought his hands together. The distorted spaces on both sides immediately connected.
"Swoosh—"
The road ahead of the carriage, originally more than ten meters wide, suddenly disappeared as the air twisted. In an instant, the road closed up.
The towering ancient trees on both sides of the road violently collided. Some trunks and branches even overlapped, and leaves fell down.
Even the spatial structure was permanently changed.
"The road is gone!"
Qing Mo, who was driving the carriage, was startled. She quickly controlled the pulling beast and stopped.
Huang Yanchen, however, showed no surprise. Instead, a meaningful, beautiful smile curled on her rosy lips as she murmured to herself: "Indeed, the harder one is pressed, the stronger one becomes. His potential is endless."
(Chapter End)