# Chapter 1436: Encountering a Second-Class Marquis
Immediately after, Zhang Ruochen once again mobilized spatial power, using a space rift to slash upward.
A space rift several hundred meters long collided with the attack formation suspended in midair, instantly tearing the attack formation in two, shattering every single formation inscription.
The Rakshasa Demon God standing at the center of the attack formation also exploded with a loud crash.
"Space... it was actually torn apart..."
"He is a space cultivator. Heavens, he's actually a ruthless character who cultivates the Way of Space."
...
All those Rakshasa Marquises were stunned. Looking at Zhang Ruochen again, their eyes revealed expressions of fear and shock.
All the Rakshasa Marquises retreated backward, entering the innermost layer of the defensive formation. Then, they quickly formed three Ninety-Nine Return-to-One Formations.
At the same time, the attack formations on this stretch of land were all activated, unleashing devastating attack power that surged toward Zhang Ruochen like a blanket covering the sky.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Buddha Emperor Relic and held it aloft in his left palm.
Abundant Saint Qi surged out from the seven orifices of his left hand, pouring into the Buddha Emperor Relic. Instantly, a Great Saint's source power erupted forth.
"Swoosh—"
Tens of thousands of Buddhist characters flew around Zhang Ruochen, forming a sphere of Buddhist light ten zhang in diameter.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen also released his Space Domain, controlling it within a radius of ten zhang.
The power unleashed from the attack formations entered Zhang Ruochen's ten-zhang range. More than half was blocked by the relic's power, while the remaining attacks were displaced elsewhere by spatial power.
Zhang Ruochen held the relic in one hand and the Abyssal Ancient Sword in the other, striding forward toward the innermost defensive formation.
"Boom."
Suddenly, a palm print pierced through the relic's defensive power, striking toward Zhang Ruochen's heart.
That palm print was condensed from Palm Dao rules and Saint Dao power. At the center of the palm was a black hole that actually began devouring the source power of the Buddha Emperor Relic.
"Finally, I've encountered a top-tier expert of the Rakshasa Clan," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
This palm print carried extremely profound power, and its palm force was also incredibly domineering. Clearly, the opponent's mastery of palm techniques had reached a very high level.
At the very least, Zhang Ruochen had not yet cultivated his palm techniques to that degree.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Abyssal Ancient Sword and swung it with full force, colliding with the flying palm print.
"Boom."
A mountain-toppling, sea-overturning force transmitted through the Abyssal Ancient Sword, shaking Zhang Ruochen back fourteen steps. Each step he took caused a large area of ground to collapse.
Sword Qi and palm power filled this space, lingering for a long time without dispersing.
An old man in a white robe stood opposite Zhang Ruochen. The sword Qi and palm power that surged within ten zhang of him automatically dissipated.
The white-robed old man was named Bai Yu. His cultivation had reached the peak of the Ultimate Saint realm, and he was a Second-Class Marquis of the Rakshasa Clan.
Bai Yu's aged eyes carefully examined Zhang Ruochen. He nodded and said, "To have such strength at such a young age is quite extraordinary."
Zhang Ruochen thrust the Abyssal Ancient Sword into the ground, flexing his somewhat painful arm. "That palm technique you just used—has it reached the level of a Mid-rank Sacred Art?"
"The Heaven-Devouring Palm is indeed a Mid-rank Sacred Art-level palm technique. However, this old man has cultivated it for over three hundred years and has only reached minor mastery. There is still some distance to major mastery."
Bai Yu's voice was somewhat hoarse as he spoke.
Sacred Arts were divided into Low-rank Sacred Arts, Mid-rank Sacred Arts, and High-rank Sacred Arts.
For a Saint to cultivate a Low-rank Sacred Art to its highest level was already quite an achievement.
Generally speaking, only Saint Kings could successfully cultivate Mid-rank Sacred Arts, and only Saint Kings had enough abundant Saint power to execute them.
That Bai Yu could cultivate a Mid-rank Sacred Art to minor mastery showed that he must have extraordinary talent in palm techniques.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Abyssal Ancient Sword again, his aura once more becoming sharp and fierce. "Fight."
Facing a Second-Class Marquis, there was no need for probing moves. Zhang Ruochen directly unleashed his strongest power. Waves of powerful sword intent condensed into sword forms, turning into a torrent of sword Qi that surged toward Bai Yu.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen activated all the inscriptions within the Abyssal Ancient Sword, drawing forth a perfect power. He thrust his sword forward, dragging a long streak of sword light behind it.
"Your attainment in the Sword Dao is not low."
Bai Yu muttered a sentence, then extended both hands simultaneously. In the center of each palm appeared a black hole, forming two huge black wind vortexes.
"Heaven-Devouring Palm."
He struck out with both palms, shattering all the sword Qi into wisps of white smoke.
At the same time, the two black wind vortexes overlapped, their power increasing tenfold, growing stronger and stronger, sweeping up all the mud and stones from the ground into the sky.
"Boom."
The two terrifying forces collided, shattering the earth and forming a crack several hundred li long.
Bai Yu had lived on the battlefield for years, so his combat experience was naturally quite rich. After unleashing the Heaven-Devouring Palm, he immediately used his movement technique to circle around to Zhang Ruochen's side and threw out a blood-red talisman.
"Sage-Killing Talisman."
The talisman turned into a blood-red light, flying to within several zhang of Zhang Ruochen before suddenly shattering, releasing an extremely dazzling blood-red light.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Monument Shield and blocked it in the direction of the Sage-Killing Talisman.
However, from within the defensive formation, one of the Ninety-Nine Return-to-One Formations also sent out several thousand bolts of lightning, interweaving together to form twelve lightning giants that charged at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen could only grab the Abyssal Ancient Sword and block horizontally.
"Boom."
Under the attack of two forces, Zhang Ruochen was sent flying backward, landing more than ten li away. His internal organs felt as if they had been displaced, sending a sharp pain through his body.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Yu struck again the moment Zhang Ruochen landed. White xia guang (rosy light) surged from both sleeves, transforming into two holy clouds that blasted toward him.
Zhang Ruochen focused his gaze and saw that inside the two holy clouds, there was a human-shaped holy skeleton each.
The skeletons appeared crystalline and translucent, as if composed of pieces of holy jade. From within the bones, an extremely powerful holy might emanated.
If these two holy skeletons were still alive, they would surely be quite formidable figures. Even if they hadn't reached the Great Saint realm, they had probably reached the peak of the Saint King realm.
Zhang Ruochen raised the Monument Shield again. Dense thunder and fire flew out from the shield's surface, condensing into a huge divine stele.
"Boom."
The two holy skeletons unleashed powerful force, shattering the thunder-fire divine stele and striking heavily against the Monument Shield, once again sending Zhang Ruochen stumbling backward.
At the same time, the three Ninety-Nine Return-to-One Formations and over a dozen attack formations launched continuous assaults, assisting Bai Yu in his attempt to completely annihilate Zhang Ruochen.
Suffering from the relentless attacks, the Devouring Saint Flower was severely injured and was taken back into Zhang Ruochen's body.
Zhang Ruochen used his movement technique, dodging the formation attacks while clashing with Bai Yu, causing this stretch of land to resound with continuous booming noises.
"Young human, if you don't use your spatial power, I'm afraid you'll die here."
Knowing that Zhang Ruochen cultivated the Way of Space, Bai Yu did not approach him. Instead, he controlled the two holy skeletons to continuously attack him.
Inside the two holy skeletons, a large number of inscriptions were carved, refining them into two human-shaped Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifacts. Therefore, every attack they unleashed was quite domineering, comparable to the half-perfect power of a Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact.
"Your strength is indeed formidable, but it's not enough to force me to use spatial power. Now, the battle has only just begun."
Zhang Ruochen no longer retreated. He mobilized the Saint Qi within his body, continuously pouring it into the fist glove on his right hand. Immediately, the fist glove transformed into a Hundred Saint Blood Armor, covering his entire body.
Then, the Hundred Saint Blood Armor emitted a dazzling light. From within the armor, a hundred saintly shadows flew out, each possessing the power of a Lower Realm Saint.
"Power of a Hundred Saints."
Zhang Ruochen's hands formed palm seals.
Gathering the power of a hundred saints, Zhang Ruochen executed a move from the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm: Thousand-Hand Dragon-Elephant.
Instantly, tens of thousands of divine dragon and divine elephant projections appeared, surging forward and colliding with the two holy skeletons.
"Rumble."
Zhang Ruochen's two palm seals struck the chests of the two holy skeletons, sending them flying backward to crash heavily against the light barrier of the defensive formation.
Without giving Bai Yu another chance to control the two holy skeletons, Zhang Ruochen kicked off the ground and shot forward. In an instant, he reached Bai Yu and roared, "Dragon Soaring Nine Heavens."
The tenth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
Bai Yu's expression remained unchanged. He also mobilized all his evil-fiend Qi, condensing a Heaven-Devouring Palm and striking out.
The two palm seals collided like two divine mountains crashing together, producing a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sound.
The tenth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was indeed slightly weaker than the Heaven-Devouring Palm. However, at this moment, Zhang Ruochen had the jia chi (empowerment) of the Power of a Hundred Saints, making him like an invincible war god. He actually made Bai Yu unable to stand firm, continuously retreating backward.
"Dragon-Elephant Divine Furnace."
Zhang Ruochen changed his technique again. His entire body ignited with blazing flames, turning into a blazing sun divine furnace, colliding with Bai Yu once more.
It should be noted that the flames surging from Zhang Ruochen's body were Purifying Divine Flame. When combined with the Power of a Hundred Saints and the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, the unleashed power was terrifying to the extreme.
"Boom."
Bai Yu was sent flying backward, crashing down below the defensive formation.
He raised his hands and saw that the two metal fist gloves on his palms had melted into droplets. Both palms were continuously dripping blood.
"It's actually Purifying Divine Flame."
Bai Yu's expression turned somewhat grave. Looking at Zhang Ruochen again, he couldn't help but draw a cold breath.
This person not only had extremely high attainment in the Sword Dao and Palm Dao, but he could also subdue Purifying Divine Flame and control the Way of Space. What background did he have?
Could he be a Realm Son of one of the Seven Realms of Shatuo?
...
(I had some business yesterday and only posted one chapter. I'll try to make up for it today.)