# Chapter 1408: Second Clash
"Swoosh——"
Han Qiu twisted her wrist, and a wisp of dark power surged from her palm. Faintly visible, a sacred sword could be seen wrapped within the dark power.
With a flicker of her form, Han Qiu moved like a ghost, darting in front of Huang Yanchen and slashing her sword forward.
Huang Yanchen did not dodge. Her sapphire-blue eyes stared unblinkingly at Zhang Ruochen.
Just as Huang Yanchen was about to die beneath Han Qiu's blade, Canglan Martial Saint, standing nearby, narrowed his eyes. Gripping the hilt of the Blazing Heaven Sword, he dragged out a long trail of fiery sword light.
Canglan Martial Saint grasped the sword hilt with both hands and swung it fiercely, colliding with the sacred sword in Han Qiu's hand.
*Boom!*
A crimson fire cloud seemed to burst forth from the Blazing Heaven Sword, sending Han Qiu flying backward.
A shallow bloody mark appeared on Huang Yanchen's long, snow-white neck, with a single drop of blood trickling out. It was a wound left by the sword qi released from Han Qiu's sacred sword.
If Canglan Martial Saint had been even a moment slower, Huang Yanchen would likely have lost her head.
Canglan Martial Saint stood before Huang Yanchen, holding his sword with both hands, and said in a deep voice: "Zhang Ruochen, are you still the Zhang Ruochen I once knew—the one with love and righteousness? Destroying the Lingxiao Heavenly King Manor, annihilating the Fire Clan, ascending the Wuding Mountain—I only thought you had anger, hatred, and conviction in your heart. Even if thousands of innocent humans died because of you, I couldn't be bothered to spout those high-sounding words. After all, there is no absolute right or wrong in this world. Living is what matters most. The strong preying on the weak is the truth."
"But Huang Yanchen is your lawful wife! A year ago, outside the Ziwei Palace, if she hadn't desperately protected you, you would have died at the hands of the Empress. Otherwise, do you think the Empress would have let you, the Sacred Bright Crown Prince, leave? Do you think she didn't know the full extent of the Sacred Bright remnants' resources? And now you want to kill her—are you even a man?"
Zhang Ruochen said indifferently: "My affairs are none of your concern."
"You—"
Canglan Martial Saint widened his beautiful eyes, revealing two rows of snow-white teeth.
Huang Yanchen walked back to face Zhang Ruochen. Her entire demeanor had changed, her gaze becoming incredibly sharp. She said: "Sister Canglan, this is a grudge between him and me. Don't get involved."
Han Qiu let out a sinister laugh: "Excellent! Truly excellent. Last time in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, I lost to you, but I've reflected deeply on that defeat. This time, I'm afraid you won't be so lucky!"
Han Qiu's form dissolved, transforming into a black hole ten zhang in diameter. Instantly, a powerful devouring force erupted from within the black hole.
Six demon cult cultivators standing close to Han Qiu were caught off guard, pulled by the devouring force toward the black hole. They screamed in agony, struggling desperately to escape.
"Boom, boom."
The bodies of the six demon cult cultivators exploded into dust.
"This is... dark power... fall back!"
The other cultivators were all startled, retreating far away, afraid of being dragged into the black hole.
Among the members of the Dragon-Protecting Pavilion, a Confucian Saint King threw out a sacred book.
Instantly, hundreds of thousands of characters flew out from the sacred book, forming a character domain a hundred zhang in diameter, enveloping Han Qiu and Huang Yanchen within it.
Clearly, that Confucian Saint King did not want their battle to affect the cultivators outside.
Shengshu Cainü gazed at the hundreds of thousands of characters suspended in the center of the square, then glanced at the Confucian Saint King wearing a starry sky mask, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Canglan Martial Saint retreated to Shengshu Cainü's side, still furious, and said: "How could Zhang Ruochen have changed so much?"
"Gaining something means losing something. Losing something also means gaining something," Shengshu Cainü said.
"What are you talking about?" Canglan Martial Saint asked.
"Nothing. I'm just telling you that everyone changes—some because of their circumstances, some because of time, some because they have no choice," Shengshu Cainü said.
"You Confucian cultivators are so pretentious, always speaking in riddles, saying half and hiding half. Is that interesting?"
Canglan Martial Saint didn't want to continue the conversation with Shengshu Cainü. She focused on the battle inside the character domain, squinting her eyes, and said: "That woman beside Zhang Ruochen is incredibly powerful. She can actually fight Huang Yanchen to a standstill. With such strength, she should have become as famous as the Nine Realm Sons long ago. Why haven't I heard of her before?"
Shengshu Cainü nodded and said: "A perfected Dark Body, cultivating the Path of Darkness. At the same cultivation level, among the Nine Realm Sons, only Xue Wuye and Lidi can surpass her by a hair. Moreover, whether it's the Dark Body or the Path of Darkness, the higher the cultivation level, the stronger the power they unleash. In the future, when she reaches the Saint King Realm, if Xue Wuye and Lidi don't make further progress in sacred dao rules, they might not be able to defeat her."
In just a few moments, inside the character domain, Han Qiu and Huang Yanchen had already exchanged over a hundred moves, causing the hundreds of thousands of characters used to stabilize space to tremble.
A year ago, when the Nine Realm Sons fought Zhang Ruochen, they all received divine power infusion from the Empress, breaking through to the Thorough Ground Realm at that moment.
After a full year of cultivation, Huang Yanchen's cultivation had recently broken through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
Han Qiu's cultivation, on the other hand, remained at the peak of the Thorough Ground Realm.
Of course, the power of a deity could only help cultivators reach the Thorough Ground Realm as quickly as possible. Starting from the Heaven-Connecting Realm, a saint's cultivation would focus more on sacred dao rules, and even gods couldn't provide much assistance.
"Your strength is somewhat impressive, lasting this long against me. It seems your submission to the Empress has brought you quite a few benefits," Han Qiu said with a cold laugh.
Han Qiu's cultivation speed was so fast because the Path of Darkness she cultivated allowed her to devour other cultivators' power and convert it into her own.
This was something even Zhang Ruochen couldn't match!
Therefore, Han Qiu didn't believe that Huang Yanchen could match her cultivation speed through her own efforts.
Huang Yanchen remained silent, channeling the sacred qi within her body and pouring it continuously into the Chaos Origin Sword. The sword body radiated ten thousand zhang of silver light, dragging a tens-of-meters-long sword qi as she slashed downward.
Han Qiu didn't take the attack head-on. She sidestepped to the left.
Even though her speed was like lightning, a strand of her hair was still cut off.
"Courting death."
Han Qiu rose into the air, pointing both hands forward: "Soul-devouring ghosts, heed my call. Gate of the Underworld, open!"
From her fingertips, chains formed by dark rules pierced through space, connecting to the Underworld.
Instantly, a deep ghost gate slowly opened.
From within the ghost gate came spine-chilling roars, and then a corpse king wearing tattered dragon robes charged out.
The corpse king's body was severely decayed, with bones exposed on its face and chest, emitting icy death qi.
"A perfected Dark Body is truly formidable—able to summon a corpse king from the Underworld."
"That corpse king's combat power can rival a Heaven-Connecting Realm saint."
"Huang Yanchen is no ordinary Heaven-Connecting cultivator. At the same level, she can take on a group alone. A single Heaven-Connecting corpse king is no match for her."
...
A slight smile curled at the corner of Han Qiu's mouth as she channeled more dark rules into the ghost gate.
Immediately, four more corpse kings and five ghost kings rushed out from the ghost gate.
Thus, there were five corpse kings and five ghost kings, each with strength comparable to Heaven-Connecting cultivators. It was like ten Heaven-Connecting cultivators attacking Huang Yanchen simultaneously.
Seeing this, all the cultivators shook their heads. At the same level, ten against one was a complete crushing defeat—Huang Yanchen was sure to lose.
Shengshu Cainü held her breath, staring intently at the battle inside the character domain. Only when she saw Huang Yanchen managing to hold out against the siege of five corpse kings and five ghost kings did she breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Shengshu Cainü asked: "A year ago, when the Chaos Army Lord and the Ministry of War held the War God Arena, how many opponents could Wan Zhaoyi take on at the same cultivation level?"
"Nineteen."
"And you?" Shengshu Cainü asked again.
Canglan Martial Saint was silent for a moment, then said: "Nine."
After a pause, Canglan Martial Saint added: "The War God Arena has great limitations. My speed advantage couldn't be fully utilized. On a vast battlefield, nine cultivators at the same level wouldn't be enough for me to kill."
Shengshu Cainü smiled and said: "On a vast battlefield, with Wan Zhaoyi's combat experience, it wouldn't be just nineteen opponents either. However, real life-and-death battles have far more variables than arena fights. If the enemy saints decide to self-destruct their sacred sources from the start, then even Zhang Ruochen couldn't take on nineteen at the same level."
Canglan Martial Saint said: "Do you think Zhang Ruochen is stronger than that madman, my brother? Do you even understand what it means to fight nineteen True Saints alone at the same level? That shocking scene—I was completely convinced. Besides, the second-ranked one in the Ministry of War is also an unparalleled genius, having reached the Unrivaled Extreme Realm more than once in the Four Martial Realms, with an invincible constitution, yet he only took on twelve. Moreover, the higher the cultivation level, the harder it is to fight multiple opponents."
Shengshu Cainü didn't argue with Canglan Martial Saint. She just smiled and said: "Wan Zhaoyi being able to fight nineteen True Saints at the same level in the True Saint Realm is indeed remarkable. In his era, he was truly invincible."
Inside the character domain, Huang Yanchen held out for a quarter of an hour under the siege of five ghost kings and five corpse kings. Though she hadn't been defeated, more than a dozen bloody wounds covered her body. She was severely injured, as if she could be killed at any moment.
"Return to One Sword Art."
Huang Yanchen gritted her teeth, gripping the sword hilt with her blood-soaked hands. Sacred qi poured continuously from her body into the Chaos Origin Sword. Instantly, a vast and destructive sword qi erupted from the sword body.
This one strike drained all the sacred qi within her.
Victory or defeat rested on this single blow.