Chapter 1409: Defeated in Three Moves
Huang Yanchen swung her sword, sending a dazzling sword aura flying at extreme speed, cutting three Corpse Kings and two Ghost Kings in half, tearing open a gap.
Huang Yanchen charged through, thrusting her sword toward Han Qiu's brow.
At this moment, all of Han Qiu's power was focused on controlling the Corpse Kings and Ghost Kings, making her seem utterly unable to evade Huang Yanchen's strike.
Yet, staring at the approaching sword light, Han Qiu smiled eerily.
"Shua."
From within Han Qiu's body, a dark shadow identical to her flew out, stepped forward, and struck Huang Yanchen's chest with a palm.
Huang Yanchen's body trembled, blood spilling from her mouth as she flew backward like a kite with a broken string.
The dark shadow flew back into Han Qiu's body.
Han Qiu stopped controlling the Corpse Kings and Ghost Kings, lifted her Sacred Sword, and rushed to Huang Yanchen's side in an instant. With a sweep of her blade, the sword's edge pressed against Huang Yanchen's neck, and she sneered mockingly, "My Dark Doppelganger's power isn't far off from the original, is it?"
Huang Yanchen stood on the plaza, her entire body dripping blood. She closed her eyes and said, "If you're going to kill me, just do it. Why all the nonsense?"
Han Qiu raised her eyes, glancing smugly at Zhang Ruochen, and said with a smile, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, you decide—should I kill her or not?"
At the peak of Saint Wood Peak, countless eyes turned to Zhang Ruochen.
Even the Heavenly Kings of the imperial court dared not act rashly at this moment. If a rescue attempt failed, Huang Yanchen would surely be killed by Han Qiu, and no one could bear that responsibility.
In essence, Huang Yanchen's life now rested solely in Zhang Ruochen's hands.
Mu Lingxi grabbed Zhang Ruochen's wrist, stepped in front of him, and shook her head vigorously. "No, you absolutely cannot kill Sister Chen."
Mu Lingxi feared that Zhang Ruochen would regret it in the future. Regret would surely break his heart and make life worse than death. She didn't want to see Zhang Ruochen do something he'd later lament.
"Kill what? Kill who? Have you all forgotten that I, the Emperor, am here? I haven't spoken yet—who dares to draw a sword and kill?"
A cat-headed undying bird squeezed out from the crowd.
Its body was round and plump, spreading a pair of wings and wiggling its large rear as it strutted imposingly toward Han Qiu and Huang Yanchen.
The cat-headed undying bird widened its cat eyes and roared at Han Qiu, "Didn't you hear what I, the Emperor, said? Put down the sword now, or I'll beat you until you cry for your parents!"
As it spoke, the cat-headed undying bird extended a wing and knocked Han Qiu's sword aside.
Han Qiu had planned to seize this perfect opportunity to eliminate Huang Yanchen once and for all, cutting off Zhang Ruochen's lingering hopes. But she hadn't expected this half-cat, half-bird monster to intervene.
"Where did this owl come from? How dare you meddle in my affairs? Do you have a death wish?"
Han Qiu's eyes blazed with intense killing intent. She swung her Sacred Sword, dragging a sword arc that slashed down on the cat-headed undying bird's head.
"Bang."
The strike didn't harm a single feather on the cat-headed undying bird; instead, it sparked a shower of flames.
Han Qiu felt her arm go numb from the impact and quickly withdrew her Sacred Sword, staring at the cat-headed undying bird with growing wariness.
The cat-headed undying bird puffed up smugly and laughed, "I, the Emperor, stand right here—can you even damage a single feather of mine?"
"Hmph!"
Han Qiu mobilized her Dark Force, channeling dozens of black, extremely evil streams of energy from her brow into her left arm. Then, she struck the cat-headed undying bird's abdomen with a palm.
Dark Force had multiple attributes—it could devour, corrode, and also represented death.
Yet, the moment her palm pressed against the cat-headed undying bird's abdomen, she saw flames erupt from the feathers there, turning them into fiery plumes.
Even the Dark Force couldn't penetrate its body.
The cat-headed undying bird shook its body, sending Han Qiu stumbling backward, and then burst into laughter: "I, the Emperor, am invincible under heaven! You think you can hurt me?"
The surrounding cultivators marveled, finding it hard to believe.
Huang Yanchen stared suspiciously at the cat-headed undying bird standing before her, feeling a strange familiarity. Its speech and behavior were too similar to Xiao Hei's.
But its aura was completely different.
Moreover, one was a cat, and the other was an owl.
Xiao Hei's voice echoed in Huang Yanchen's mind: "Today, Zhang Ruochen is clearly set on killing Qiuyu no matter what. No one else dared to speak up, and you come out to protect Qiuyu? Are you stupid?"
Huang Yanchen finally confirmed that this cat-headed undying bird was Xiao Hei.
She said, "Before the Empress left, she decreed that Qiuyu is the spiritual root of the Kunlun Realm and its future hope. If Zhang Ruochen kills him, the Empress will surely kill Zhang Ruochen when she returns. I had no choice."
"Forget it, leave this to me, the Emperor."
Xiao Hei's voice sounded again in Huang Yanchen's mind.
Then, Xiao Hei turned its gaze to Qiuyu and said, "Hey, tree, come here, come here."
Qiuyu's eyes were cold. Ignoring Xiao Hei, he fixed his gaze on Huang Yanchen and said, "Realm Son, don't think I don't know—you still have feelings for Zhang Ruochen. Yesterday, you ordered the imperial court's cultivators not to act against the Sacred Bright rebels. Otherwise, they wouldn't have grown so arrogant. Let me remind you: don't forget the divine decree the Empress left before her departure. You know better than anyone the consequences of defying a god."
Xiao Hei spread its wings and charged at Qiuyu like a black goose with a cat's head, shouting, "How dare you ignore me, the Emperor? I'll beat you to death!"
Qiuyu sneered disdainfully. With a flicker of movement faster than a Supreme Saint, he easily dodged Xiao Hei's lunge.
Missing Qiuyu, Xiao Hei crashed into a Fire Clan Saint Ancestor behind him.
"Bang, bang."
That Fire Clan Saint Ancestor struck seventeen hand seals in succession, hitting Xiao Hei's chest. The next moment, Xiao Hei flew backward like a cannonball, crashing into the Golden Step Dragon Carriage.
Just as Xiao Hei flew back, Zhang Ruochen lifted his Abyssal Ancient Sword, used Space Displacement, and vanished from Mu Lingxi's side.
The next instant, Zhang Ruochen appeared above Qiuyu's head, gripping his sword with both hands and slashing downward.
No matter how fast Qiuyu was, he couldn't outpace Space Displacement. Facing Zhang Ruochen's strike, he had no way to evade.
"Boom."
Zhang Ruochen's sword slashed down, colliding with Qiuyu's arms, unleashing an immense force that shattered the plaza's stone slabs and caused the ground to cave in.
Qiuyu's arms and hands were protected by two arm guards and a pair of fist gloves, which managed to block the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
Canglan Martial Saint was shocked. "Flame God Armor."
Shengshu Cainü was also surprised. "It is indeed the Flame God Armor, but not the complete set—only the arm guards and fist gloves."
"I once asked the Empress to grant me a Flame God Arm guard, but she refused," Canglan Martial Saint said.
Shengshu Cainü smiled. "Qiuyu is a True God Body, a spiritual root, and the future hope of the Kunlun Realm. The Empress naturally values him more."
Canglan Martial Saint frowned. "So what if he's a True God Body? His cultivation is a whole level above Zhang Ruochen's, and he has the Flame God Armor's enhancement, yet he's still being suppressed by Zhang Ruochen. If the Kunlun Realm didn't only have this one divine tree seedling, with his mindset, would he even deserve the Empress's attention?"
Shengshu Cainü said, "You underestimate Qiuyu. His True God Body alone makes him stronger than Xue Wuye and Lidi at the same level. His mindset is indeed a flaw, otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" Canglan Martial Saint asked.
"Nothing." Shengshu Cainü smiled faintly.
Over the past half month, Zhang Ruochen had refined part of the Chongling Pill's medicinal energy, raising his cultivation to the middle stage of the Thorough Ground Realm.
Qiuyu's cultivation was at the peak of the Thorough Ground Realm.
"Aren't you supposed to be the number one under heaven at the same level?"
Zhang Ruochen pressed down on Qiuyu, asking coldly.
Qiuyu knelt on one knee, pinned beneath the Abyssal Ancient Sword, unable to move, struggling to hold on, unable to utter a single word.
Zhang Ruochen could suppress him while still speaking, showing he hadn't even used his full strength.
Zhang Ruochen changed his technique, slashing horizontally with the sword's flat side, striking Qiuyu's head.
"Bang."
Qiuyu's skull cracked, half his head caved in, and his body flew backward.
As Qiuyu soared through the air, Zhang Ruochen slashed downward again, hitting his waist and abdomen. The sword sank into his body, blood gushing out.
"Boom."
Qiuyu's body crashed heavily to the ground, shattering the earth.
Yet the Abyssal Ancient Sword couldn't cut Qiuyu's body in half. His spine was incredibly tough, seemingly unbreakable.
Zhang Ruochen instantly understood—Qiuyu's spine was the trunk of the Parasol Divine Tree.
Without severing the trunk, the Parasol Divine Tree wouldn't die.
Now, most of Qiuyu's body had turned to wood, pinned to the ground by the Abyssal Ancient Sword, utterly immobile, a pitiful sight.
Two Fire Clan Saint Ancestors tried to rescue Qiuyu but were suppressed by Ling Xiu's Spiritual Power.
"Isn't the True God Body supposed to be the ultimate physique? Claimed to be invincible at the same level? Both at the Thorough Ground Realm, and Qiuyu only lasted three moves against Zhang Ruochen?"
"Three moves? He couldn't even fight back."
"From the start, Zhang Ruochen had him pinned down, and he was still holding back."
...
Qiuyu felt nothing but humiliation and rage, wishing he could crawl into a hole. As the Parasol Divine Tree, first Zhang Ruochen stole his fiancée, then defeated him in just a few moves.
After such disgrace, countless people would mock him in secret.
Knowing the Abyssal Ancient Sword couldn't kill Qiuyu, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his blade, grabbed Qiuyu by the collar like a dead dog, and tossed him into the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron.
Zhang Ruochen thrust the blood-drenched Abyssal Ancient Sword into the ground and said coldly, "Sacrifice the Parasol Divine Tree to heaven and earth."