Chapter 1430: Rakshasa Princess
At dusk that very day, the saints of the Blade Prison Realm launched an assault on the location of the space wormhole.
They did not charge directly but instead stood five hundred li away, each unleashing a sacred artifact that transformed into patches of sacred clouds, initiating a long-range attack.
Clearly, the Blade Prison Realm had invested heavily to secure victory in the Sacred Merit War.
Among the more than eight hundred and fifty saints, over a hundred wielded Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifacts. As bursts of Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force erupted, mountains collapsed, the earth shattered, and mud and stone melted into droplets.
With just the first wave of attacks, they broke through four layers of the defensive formations set up by the Rakshasa Clan.
The Six-Armed Supreme Saint stood on a high vantage point, gazing at the distant land wracked with thunder and fire, and issued an order: "Xu Fang, lead sixty saints at the Xuanhuang and Chendi cultivation levels as a spearhead and attack from the flank."
"Remember, your goal is not to capture the wormhole. It is to probe what formidable figures are inside the Rakshasa camp. So, you must be prepared to retreat at any moment."
"The remaining saints will continue long-range attacks from the front using sacred artifacts, ensuring all of the Rakshasa Clan's defensive formations are destroyed."
Xu Fang grabbed a crystalline long spear and led sixty saints of the Blade Prison Realm, accelerating at full speed toward the wormhole.
They moved with incredible swiftness, crossing the shattered land in an instant and engaging the Rakshasa cultivators in frenzied slaughter.
The battle between two saints shook heaven and earth.
Dozens of saints charging forward were like dozens of death gods, pushing straight ahead, invincible.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
...
...
With the support of the saints behind them, the Blade Prison Realm quickly broke through ten layers of defensive formations, leaving only a hundred li to the wormhole.
The Rakshasa military camp came into view before them.
"Bang."
Just as the eleventh defensive formation was breached, a scream erupted beside Xu Fang. Startled, he immediately turned his head to the right.
About three li away, a cyan feather pierced the brow of a Chendi realm saint from the Blade Prison Realm.
That Chendi realm saint then fell heavily to the ground, lifeless.
"Where did that feather come from? How can a Chendi realm saint, with such formidable vitality, be killed in one strike?"
Cold sweat broke out on Xu Fang's forehead.
From five hundred li away, the Six-Armed Supreme Saint immediately transmitted a message: "Xu Fang, retreat now!"
Xu Fang also sensed a tremendous deathly crisis, as if a demon god from hell was approaching him. Every hair on his body stood on end.
"Retreat!"
No sooner had Xu Fang shouted this...
From the Rakshasa camp, dozens of cyan feathers flew out in succession, each carrying wisps of dark red flames.
These feathers seemed condensed from sacred dao rules, possessing immense penetrating power and flying at a speed of a hundred times the speed of sound.
Only a Ten-Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact unleashing its full power could achieve such speed.
At that level of speed, no saint could evade, not even those who had just reached the Saint King realm.
A hundred times the speed of sound was a watershed in attack speed.
Whoever could master such an attack speed was undoubtedly a top-tier expert among saints.
"Pfft."
Over twenty saints fell into pools of blood, becoming corpses. More than a dozen others avoided fatal blows but were severely wounded.
"Run, run now!"
Xu Fang roared.
At that moment, three cyan feathers flew toward Xu Fang.
Xu Fang, a true saint ranked in the top twenty of the Blade Prison Realm, was indeed powerful. He used his Ten-Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact-level long spear to knock two of the cyan feathers away.
But the third feather pierced his heart.
The flame carried by the feather burned a fist-sized hole through his sacred robe, and a sinister force invaded his body.
In an instant, his entire body turned black, he lost consciousness, and fell heavily to the ground.
"He's a fairly strong one. His flesh and blood should contain considerable energy. I'll grant it to you as a reward!"
A voice, both melodious and seductive, came from within the Rakshasa camp.
Then, surrounded by a group of Rakshasa saints, a Rakshasa woman nearly one meter eighty tall stepped forward.
This Rakshasa woman exuded an extremely noble aura. She wore a silver-white divine crystal crown on her head and a light green sacred robe that accentuated her perfect, curvaceous figure.
Every thread of the sacred robe was refined from the sacred meridians of a saint. The sacred light it emitted formed a sacred cloud that enveloped her delicate body.
That robe was called the "Ten Thousand Saints Plain Robe."
It meant that the meridians of ten thousand saints had to be extracted to forge such a garment.
Wearing it allowed her to absorb the spiritual and sacred energy of heaven and earth at any time, channeling it into her master's body.
Moreover, the Ten Thousand Saints Plain Robe absorbed spiritual and sacred energy at a speed equivalent to that of ten thousand saints combined.
In other words, as long as she wore this robe, that Rakshasa woman could continuously use a Ten Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact without worrying about depleting her sacred energy.
That Rakshasa woman extended five slender, long jade fingers and pressed them toward Xu Fang's corpse from a distance. A wisp of dark red energy flowed into her palm.
Xu Fang's corpse then returned to its original color.
"Thank you, Princess, for the reward."
All the Rakshasa saints present bowed to the Rakshasa Princess in salute.
The Rakshasa Princess's beauty was like that of a celestial maiden, her skin like snow and ice. Her eyes possessed a soul-enticing magic. She merely glanced at the more than thirty surviving saints of the Blade Prison Realm.
Those saints seemed to truly lose their souls. Their expressions turned dull, or they grinned foolishly, or they revealed lewd looks.
The Rakshasa Princess's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she blinked her eyes.
"Thud, thud."
All thirty-plus powerful saints fell to the ground, lifeless.
The Rakshasa saints present all drew in cold breaths, utterly clueless as to how the Rakshasa Princess had killed those Blade Prison Realm saints.
Even they kept their heads lowered, not daring to meet the Rakshasa Princess's eyes, fearing they too might die inexplicably.
The Rakshasa Princess said, "What are you all standing around for? Aren't you going to hunt down those Blade Prison Realm saints?"
The Rakshasa saints swarmed out to pursue the fleeing Blade Prison Realm saints.
The Rakshasa Princess touched her pointed chin with two slender jade fingers, revealing a smile that was both noble and alluring. "The Heavenly Court's merit war has begun. Cultivators below the Marquis rank no longer need to remain in the Ancestral Spirit Realm."
Behind the Rakshasa Princess stood two saints, each two meters tall. They were robust but extremely aged.
The black-robed elder on the left bowed and said, "Princess, as the commander-in-chief of this assault on the Ancestral Spirit Realm, all decisions rest with you."
The Rakshasa Princess said, "Two military orders. First, the Rakshasa army will begin withdrawing from the Ancestral Spirit Realm starting today. Only those at the Marquis rank and above are to remain."
"Second, Heiyu, return to the Giant Tower Star and have Emperor Feng dispatch three million Marquis-rank cultivators to me. The Heavenly Court is holding a merit war in the Ancestral Spirit Realm. I, this princess, will also join in the fun. Over the next two months, let all the saints of the seven worlds remain on this land!"
"Understood."
The elder named Heiyu withdrew.
The Rakshasa Princess watched the fierce battle in the distance and smiled faintly. "Baiyu, you are a Second-Class Marquis, correct?"
"Yes," said the white-robed elder.
The Rakshasa Princess said, "News from the Giant Whale River Basin indicates that the Merit Wall of the Southern World seems to have been found. I intend to go and see what this Merit Wall is. If it's interesting, I'll take it. I'll leave this place to you for now. As news spreads, many saints will likely try to pass through this wormhole to reach the Giant Whale River Basin. Guarding this spot should yield considerable gains."
The white-robed elder said, "But, Princess, traveling alone to the Giant Whale River Basin—this general is uneasy."
"My strength is many times greater than yours. Do I need your protection?"
The Rakshasa Princess rolled her eyes, then soared into the air, landing on the back of a nine-headed cyan bird, and flew into the wormhole.
The Golden Step Dragon Carriage, pulled by nine golden dragons, raced across the wilderness like a golden streak of light.
Even if saints of the Heavenly Court or Rakshasa cultivators spotted the Golden Step Dragon Carriage, they could not catch up, only watching it vanish at the horizon.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword had refined all the war implements, and the number of inscriptions within its blade exceeded ten thousand, making it a Ten-Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact.
Zhang Ruochen grasped the hilt, a smile spreading across his face. "Without activating the internal inscriptions, the Abyssal Ancient Sword already weighs over a hundred thousand jin. I can't wait to test how much power a Ten-Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact-level Abyssal Ancient Sword can unleash."
The Golden Step Dragon Carriage's presence was too conspicuous and would surely alert the Rakshasa army stationed near the wormhole.
Confronting the Rakshasa army head-on was clearly unwise.
Thus, thirty thousand li from the wormhole, Zhang Ruochen halted the Golden Step Dragon Carriage.
After putting away the carriage, Zhang Ruochen released his spiritual power to probe toward the wormhole.
"Boom."
A violent wave of sacred dao fluctuations came from afar, and a powerful force of energy directly collapsed a mountain to Zhang Ruochen's right.
What was happening?
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his spiritual power, leaped up, and flew above the clouds, looking toward the source of the battle fluctuations. He saw a group of Rakshasa saints pursuing over a hundred Heavenly Court saints.
"Those cultivators... seem to be saints of the Blade Prison Realm."
Zhang Ruochen smiled, not expecting someone to attack the Rakshasa army stationed at the wormhole before him.
However, those Blade Prison Realm saints seemed to have underestimated the Rakshasa army's strength. They were being hunted miserably, with saints falling into pools of blood one after another.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Azure Sky Bow and the Daylight Arrow, nocked the arrow, and drew the bowstring.
"Whoosh—"
The Daylight Arrow flew at sixty times the speed of sound, turning into a streak of light, bursting through the clouds, and striking a Rakshasa Marquis.
With a bang, that Rakshasa Marquis's body turned into a cloud of blood mist.