# Chapter 1364: Severing All Ties
Xue Wuye's sword strike contained an extremely exquisite sword dao artistic conception, not only sword dao, but also the way of speed, the way of sharpness, the way of penetration... and so on, dozens of sacred ways fused into one.
When the sword was thrust out, cold light radiated in all directions, and the falling snow between heaven and earth trembled slightly.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes were utterly resolute. A sword intent from within his body, no weaker than Xue Wuye's, burst outward. Both hands grabbed the hilt of the Abyssal Ancient Sword as countless sacred dao rules surged forth and merged into the sword body. He launched a strike, clashing with Xue Wuye.
"Bang bang."
Both were top-tier sword dao prodigies, their sword techniques incredibly fast. Though there were only two of them, they manifested over a hundred afterimages, and the sword qi that erupted was dense like a sea of swords, filling the entire space, making it difficult for anyone to approach.
Suddenly, time between heaven and earth paused for a moment. All the afterimages, sword qi, and snowflakes froze motionless, with only a single bright sword light passing through that space.
"Not good, a Time Sword."
Xue Wuye's eyes contracted, his pupils almost filled by the sword light. He quickly activated the time imprint on his palm and also executed a Time Sword technique, meeting the incoming sword light.
On Xue Wuye's left and right palms were time imprints and space imprints, bestowed upon him by Xumi Saint Monk.
"Pfft."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword pierced through Xue Wuye's body, and at the same time, the sword in Xue Wuye's hand also pierced through Zhang Ruochen's body.
Sacred blood gushed from both their bodies.
Xue Wuye was slightly stunned, not expecting Zhang Ruochen would rather fight to mutual destruction than dodge. Had he truly become numb to pain?
In that instant, Zhang Ruochen quickly changed his technique. His five fingers released the sword hilt, then formed a palm seal. With full force, he struck the hilt of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Chi."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword sank completely into Xue Wuye's body, all the way to the hilt. The impact force contained in the sword sent Xue Wuye flying backward, pinned by the Abyssal Ancient Sword to the city wall dozens of zhang high.
"Even Xue Wuye was defeated."
"Xue Wuye has never been defeated before. Even his battle with Lidi Dashi was only a draw. Moreover, not long ago, he defeated the Wuji Sword Saint of the Undying Blood Clan. Even the Sword Emperor at this age was probably only about the same."
"But Zhang Ruochen defeated him. He's truly monstrously strong."
...
Three Realm Sons in a row were severely wounded. The scene was too shocking. Many people were dumbfounded, a thought arising in their hearts: perhaps there was no undefeated person under heaven; even the most outstanding talents could fall.
And Zhang Ruochen was overturning one legend after another, defeating one impossible opponent after another.
Because of his existence, the radiance of the nine Realm Sons had dimmed.
The remaining Realm Sons realized that even if they possessed strength equal to Zhang Ruochen's, in a one-on-one situation, it was unlikely they could defeat him.
"Good, worthy of being the Heir of Time and Space. Let me fight you."
Gai Tianjiao's voice was very rough. She let out a loud roar, activated the power of the Innate Extreme Yang Body, and radiated scorching power and golden light.
From a distance, she looked like a blazing sun emitting flames, with the power to destroy heaven and earth contained within her body.
The muscles on Gai Tianjiao's body were like red-hot iron blocks. She threw a punch, and a large spray of sparks burst forth, causing space to tremble slightly.
Five-colored light surged from Zhang Ruochen's body as he struck out a palm seal, colliding with her blazing fist. A wave of fire spread outward.
On the other side, Sui Han stood upright outside the palace gate, taking out a six-foot-long ancient zither.
The zither stood vertically on the ground. Sui Han supported the zither's head with one hand while his other hand danced across the strings.
From the strings, notes flew out, condensing into human figures holding long swords. They were murderous, like hundreds of swordsmen attacking Zhang Ruochen simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Mi Yingzi, wrapped in a black robe, grabbed his black staff and pointed it in Zhang Ruochen's direction.
"Hua—"
In an instant, above Zhang Ruochen's head, the heaven and earth spiritual energy interwove, condensing into a circular formation.
The formation spun rapidly, and rings of light patterns surged out of the formation, falling onto Zhang Ruochen. With each ring of light that landed, it felt like the weight of a great mountain pressing down on him, causing his feet to sink deeper into the ground.
Every zither note Sui Han struck landed on Zhang Ruochen, either leaving a sword wound or causing his body to cave inward, worsening his injuries.
Three Realm Sons attacked simultaneously, suppressing Zhang Ruochen so he couldn't move, only passively taking the beating.
"Won't you admit defeat yet?"
Sui Han sighed and shook his head slightly.
The next moment, overlapping afterimages appeared on his ten fingers as he pressed them all onto the zither strings, playing over a thousand notes in an instant.
A thousand notes overlapped, forming resonance, and transformed into a earth-shaking sound that spread outward.
The zither trembled, Sui Han's hands trembled, and even his own eardrums were ruptured, blood trickling from his ears.
The thousand zither notes condensed into a semi-transparent giant sword several dozen zhang long. It spun half a turn in the air, then slashed down violently toward Zhang Ruochen's head.
Everyone knew the moment of life or death for Zhang Ruochen had arrived.
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, his chest and abdomen heaving violently.
"Boom—"
Purifying Divine Flame surged out from all one hundred and forty-four acupoints on Zhang Ruochen's body. In an instant, Gai Tianjiao's arm was scorched black. Apart from the bone, the flesh and blood on her arm turned to ash.
It must be known that Gai Tianjiao's Innate Extreme Yang Body had already reached great perfection, making her most resistant to flames. Even refining her with Boundless Sacred Flame for three days and three nights couldn't harm a single strand of her hair.
Yet under the Purifying Divine Flame, she suffered severe injury.
The formation suspended above Zhang Ruochen's head was naturally burned to nothing by the Purifying Divine Flame, losing its power.
However, the giant sword formed by the zither notes was not destroyed by the Purifying Divine Flame, now only three feet away from Zhang Ruochen's head.
"Change Heaven and Earth, Space Distortion."
Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar, embracing the void with both hands. Space power surged outward, and the spatial structure of the giant sword's tip and hilt was swapped.
What was originally the tip cutting toward Zhang Ruochen became the hilt.
Though it was zither notes, they could not escape space.
Zhang Ruochen's hands embraced the hilt in the void, using space power to control the sound wave giant sword, swinging it in a circle. Sui Han, Mi Yingzi, and Gai Tianjiao were all within the sword's arc, attacked by it.
"Bang."
The ancient zither in Sui Han's hands and the staff in Mi Yingzi's hands both snapped. The next moment, including Gai Tianjiao, all three spat blood and flew backward, their bodies severed in two.
Zhang Ruochen was not much better off than them, heavily wounded. However, the killing intent in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest; instead, it grew even stronger.
"Amitabha." Lidi Heshang chanted a Buddhist phrase.
Zhang Ruochen didn't even glance at him. With a wave of his arm, a space rift flew out.
Lidi Heshang's figure flickered, shifting to another direction to avoid the space rift, and advised again, "Knowing it's impossible, why persist?"
Zhang Ruochen's eyes were like two demon lamps, scarlet like blood. His hands formed claw shapes as he pounced at Lidi Heshang, simultaneously pressing down on the void.
The entire space crackled, splitting into over a hundred fissures.
All the space cracks spread to Lidi Heshang's front, enveloping him at the center, about to devour him.
Lidi Heshang closed his eyes, hands clasped together. Over ten thousand ancient and mysterious Sanskrit characters appeared on his body, each containing supreme great dao, emitting ten thousand zhang of Buddha light.
From his mouth, he uttered four words: "Buddha's Law is Boundless."
In an instant, heaven and earth became extremely peaceful, and the space cracks stopped spreading toward him. Strands of Buddha light radiating from his body poured into the space cracks, actually filling them, restoring the space to flatness.
At the same time, behind Lidi Heshang, a massive Buddha shadow emerged, exuding a majestic and sacred aura. He struck out a Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, pressing down toward Zhang Ruochen.
Buddha light also emerged from the Qi Sea in Zhang Ruochen's brow, illuminating heaven and earth. His hands raised, one with a dragon shadow, one with an elephant shadow, as if transforming into a primordial divine elephant and an abyssal demon dragon. His palms struck forward.
Both were Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
One possessed the Buddha Emperor Golden Body, the other possessed the Buddha Emperor Relic.
"Wild Elephant Charging the Earth."
"Soaring Dragon in the Sky."
"Dragon-Elephant Returning to Heaven."
"Dragon Form, Elephant Shadow."
...
"Dragon-Elephant Divine Furnace."
"Dragon Wandering the Nine Heavens."
The two clashed head-on, using the same techniques. Lidi Heshang possessed the Buddha Emperor Golden Body, known as the Indestructible Vajra. Zhang Ruochen possessed the Innate Five Elements Chaos Body, known as the strongest physique.
Each collision was like two vajra iron mountains crashing together, the sound seeming to shatter people's hearts.
Zhang Ruochen's injuries worsened further. Even with the Innate Five Elements Chaos Body, he could barely hold on. Cracks appeared all over his body, like porcelain on the verge of shattering into pieces.
At that moment, between the cracks on his body, Purifying Divine Flame burst out.
In the subsequent exchanges, every time the two clashed, Lidi Heshang's hands would be scorched red, emitting wisps of green smoke. If this continued, even the Buddha Emperor Golden Body might be destroyed by the Purifying Divine Flame.
Once destroyed, the Buddha Emperor Golden Body would no longer be indestructible.
Earlier, Lidi Heshang had been fighting with his own power, the Buddha Emperor Golden Body merely a shell, an indestructible vessel. Now, Lidi Heshang was about to borrow the power of the Buddha Emperor Golden Body to suppress Zhang Ruochen.
In other words, Lidi Heshang was about to mobilize the power of the Buddha Emperor.
"Amitabha!"
Lidi Heshang's arms spread wide as he rose from the ground. Every Sanskrit character on his body transformed into a Buddha shadow, flying out from him and suspending between heaven and earth.
The space outside the palace gate seemed to become a land of ten thousand Buddhas, with ethereal chanting sounds echoing.
Lidi Heshang extended a palm, slowly pressing down toward Zhang Ruochen. At the same time, the myriad Buddha shadows suspended between heaven and earth also struck out a hand seal simultaneously.
Zhang Ruochen's long hair was disheveled. In the Qi Sea at his brow, it was like a tsunami, sacred qi surging violently. The next moment, the power of the Qiankun Realm gushed out.
"Die—"
Zhang Ruochen roared, pressing both palms upward.
"Bang bang."
The countless Buddha shadows in the sky burst like bubbles, turning into wisps of Buddha qi. Lidi Heshang also spat blood, flying backward and crashing into the city wall, directly breaking through it.
Zhang Ruochen walked step by step toward the palace gate, his body a bloody mess. Ahead of him, only Huang Yanchen's figure remained.
Huang Yanchen's eyes were somewhat red. Holding the Hunyuan Sword, she pointed it at Zhang Ruochen's heart, saying, "Zhang Ruochen, don't walk any further. Once you step through the palace gate, the Empress will surely kill you."
"If I continue forward, will you kill me?" Zhang Ruochen stopped.
His heart pressed against the tip of the Hunyuan Sword.
Huang Yanchen's hand trembled slightly. "Don't... don't force me."
"When you point a sword at my heart, have you ever thought that my heart would ache..."
Before Zhang Ruochen could finish, a massive palm force struck his back, sending his body lurching forward.
Rip.
Zhang Ruochen seemed to hear the sound of the blade piercing his heart.
The one who struck that palm from behind Zhang Ruochen was Ouyang Huan, who had never acted before.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's body pierced by the Hunyuan Sword, Huang Yanchen was clearly startled, her almond-shaped eyes wide open, not expecting Ouyang Huan to strike at this moment.
She was about to step forward to support Zhang Ruochen, but a tremendously powerful force erupted from Zhang Ruochen's body, turning into energy ripples that sent both her and Ouyang Huan flying backward.
It was Xuanhuang Qi.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen had stepped into the Xuanhuang Realm.
Zhang Ruochen stood alone beneath the palace gate, looking at the sword embedded in his heart, letting out a bitter laugh. Then he turned his gaze to Huang Yanchen, who had fallen in the distance.
He reached out, grabbed the sword hilt, and pulled the Hunyuan Sword from his heart. A fountain of blood gushed from his chest, splattering onto the palace gate.
Zhang Ruochen roared, swinging the sword in a slash. With a ripping sound, he cut off a section of his robe. "From now on, all ties are severed. You are no longer my wife."
Zhang Ruochen threw the Hunyuan Sword away. His eyes dimmed, as if all his spirit and energy had dissipated. He no longer moved forward, turning and walking away from the imperial city, leaving behind only a lonely, desolate silhouette and a trail of blood-red footprints.
"Hualala."
The Hunyuan Sword fell to the ground, landing right in front of Huang Yanchen.
...
(The update is a bit late, but I wanted to finish the plot, so this chapter is four thousand words. Isn't that enough sincerity? So, shouldn't the votes be given to Little Fish?)