Chapter 1500: Number One
"Damn it, with my strength, how could I possibly be a match for Chu Siyuan? This Rakshasa Princess clearly wants to sacrifice me to hold Chu Siyuan back. It seems even the words of the Rakshasa Clan cannot be trusted at all."
Autumn Rain was extremely furious in his heart, but now he had no right to choose. He could only fight to the death against Chu Siyuan.
The Kunlun Realm was already out of reach, and he absolutely could not afford to lose the Rakshasa Princess, this big tree.
...
The Rakshasa Princess casually tossed the Merit Record Wall, sending it flying over twenty miles away, like a stone mountain soaring through the air.
Zhang Ruochen arrived beneath the Merit Record Wall and leaped upward.
Just as he jumped ten zhang high, Zhang Ruochen sensed a strong crisis and quickly took out the Monument Shield to block in the direction from which the danger came.
"Boom." A Sacred Sword struck the Monument Shield, forming ripples of energy that shook Zhang Ruochen sideways, sending him back down to the surface of the Nether Ice Cold Sea.
That Sacred Sword flew back like a meteor, returning to the hands of Dongliu Sword Venerable.
Dongliu Sword Venerable stood on a small boat burning with flames, clad in a suit of dark armor, his body standing straight, his sharp eyes seemingly containing divine light.
This small boat was refined from part of the wood of a Great Saint-level sacred tree, a precious treasure. When the inscriptions within the boat were activated, it could transform into a giant vessel with formidable defensive power.
At the stern of the small boat sat a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old youth, radiating sacred light, his pupils blood-red, giving off a sinister feeling.
This person was the Divine Envoy of the Blade Prison Realm, Blood Lingfeng.
Zhang Ruochen stood on a branch of the parasol tree and asked, "Why are you here?"
"Of course, to seize the Merit Record Wall. Our Blade Prison Realm doesn't want to end up at the bottom. If possible, we'd like to contend for the top spot on the Sacred Merit Ranking," Blood Lingfeng said with a sinister smile.
Dongliu Sword Venerable said, "Outside on the battlefield, Fang Yi, Yue Kong, and others are leading the saints of the Blade Prison Realm and the Purple Mansion Realm to fight against the Rakshasa Clan's army. Here, we only compete for the Merit Record Wall and the inheritance of the Ice Fire Phoenix." Blood Lingfeng laughed, "We have to thank you for sending back the news; otherwise, we wouldn't have known that the Rakshasa Clan had dispatched three million marquises into the Ancestral Spirit Realm. But the Merit Record Wall concerns the life and death of the Blade Prison Realm, so we have to fight for it."
"You shouldn't have come. In the end, you might all die here."
Zhang Ruochen glanced upward and saw that the Merit Record Wall was about to fall into the sea. He burst into extreme speed, turning into a streak of light as he charged forward.
"Whoosh."
Dongliu Sword Venerable entered the state of "unity of man and sword," transforming into a sword light, flying out of the small boat to intercept Zhang Ruochen.
At the same time, Blood Lingfeng piloted the small boat, rushing toward the direction of the Merit Record Wall.
"Bang, bang."
This was not the first time Zhang Ruochen and Dongliu Sword Venerable had clashed. Both knew each other's techniques and moves, so they countered each other's attacks, fighting fiercely.
Two sword shadows continuously collided, causing the waves on the cold sea to rise higher and higher, with thousands of sword qi filling this sea area.
In just three breaths, Zhang Ruochen and Dongliu Sword Venerable had exchanged over two hundred sword techniques.
"Zhang Ruochen, I want to see your Time Sword Art again."
Dongliu Sword Venerable had been defeated by the Time Sword Art last time and was very unwilling. Recently, he had been thinking of ways to counter it.
In the end, he found that the Time Sword Art was impossible to counter; there were only two ways to deal with it.
First, before the Time Sword Art was unleashed, immediately retreat outside the time domain.
Second, strike first to prevent Zhang Ruochen from executing the Time Sword Art.
The Time Sword Art had no flaws.
But Zhang Ruochen had flaws.
"There will be a chance."
Zhang Ruochen glanced toward Blood Lingfeng and found that Blood Lingfeng had not obtained the Merit Record Wall either. He had also encountered a powerful enemy.
That person's figure was quite familiar, seemingly from the Tianmu Realm.
Clearly, while the Seven Realms of Shatuo were fighting against the Rakshasa Clan's marquis army, they had each sent one or two top experts to seize the Merit Record Wall and the inheritance of the Ice Fire Phoenix.
Had other experts gone to the Phoenix Nest, or were they hiding nearby?
Zhang Ruochen speculated that among the Seven Realms of Shatuo, the most powerful realms, the Great Demon Ten Directions Realm and the Eight Divisions Realm, had likely sent their experts to the Phoenix Nest. Meanwhile, weaker realms like the Blade Prison Realm, Kunlun Realm, and Tianmu Realm felt a strong sense of crisis and wanted to compete for the top spot on the Sacred Merit Ranking, so they would definitely seize the Merit Record Wall first.
Dongliu Sword Venerable's cultivation had improved again, now very close to the Half-Step Saint King realm. With his powerful sword dao cultivation, he managed to hold Zhang Ruochen back, creating an opportunity for Blood Lingfeng to seize the Merit Record Wall.
"The Rakshasa Clan will definitely send other experts to intervene. I must finish this quickly."
Zhang Ruochen took out the Buddha Emperor Relic, pressed his palm on it, and tens of thousands of Buddhist characters surged out, condensing into a golden dragon hundreds of meters long.
A surge of the Great Saint's original power merged with the golden dragon.
Dongliu Sword Venerable retreated dozens of zhang, gripping his sword hilt with both hands and raising it above his head. A Great Saint's phantom appeared at the tip of his sword, also surging with original power.
His Sacred Sword was also a Great Saint ancient artifact.
"Boom."
The golden dragon collided with the Great Saint phantom, the two forces canceling each other out, scattering particles of light like rain.
At that moment, Zhang Ruochen used the Time Sword Art, transforming into a dazzling sword light, piercing through the rain of light, striking toward Dongliu Sword Venerable's heart.
"Not good..."
The moment this thought arose, Dongliu Sword Venerable felt a chilling force pierce through his body.
It was the Abyssal Ancient Sword in Zhang Ruochen's hand.
Even though Dongliu Sword Venerable's true body was not human, he still suffered some injuries. The force from the sword sent him flying backward for over ten miles.
"Defeated... again..."
Dongliu Sword Venerable found it hard to accept this fact. As the undefeated proud son of heaven from the Purple Mansion Realm, he had suffered repeated setbacks on the Merit Battlefield—first losing to the Rakshasa Princess, and now losing to Zhang Ruochen for the second time.
These battles had dealt a significant blow to his confidence.
Zhang Ruochen stared at Dongliu Sword Venerable and said, "The Time Sword Art has no flaws, and Zhang Ruochen has no flaws either. If you want to defeat me, first cultivate Sword Eight to Great Perfection."
"Whoosh."
Zhang Ruochen charged toward the battlefield where Blood Lingfeng and Li Mu were. The Merit Record Wall floated above the battlefield, held up by a gust of wind, so it had not fallen.
Li Mu was a Half-Step Saint King from the Tianmu Realm, slightly stronger than Feng Mo.
When he was still three li away from them, Zhang Ruochen stopped, furiously circulating his sacred qi. Then, he reached out with both hands toward the void, using the method of space distortion to collect the Merit Record Wall from a distance.
Blood Lingfeng and Li Mu stopped fighting and simultaneously attacked Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen frowned and had to stop collecting the Merit Record Wall. He struck the void with both hands, using space power to shatter the space around Blood Lingfeng and Li Mu.
Unable to withstand the space power, the two had to retreat immediately to avoid the collapsing space.
"Collect."
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Merit Record Wall from a distance, pulling it to his side. Then, he quickly took out a precious bottle containing a large number of Rakshasa remnant souls and began to exchange them for merit points.
"Zhang Ruochen, don't even think about it."
Blood Lingfeng took out a two-meter-long iron fan, activating tens of thousands of inscriptions inside it. He swung it fiercely, sending out a large number of wind blades that turned into a violent storm.
Li Mu cast a sacred art, condensing a massive phantom of a black serpent, causing the sky above the Nether Ice Cold Sea to become overcast and dark.
On the other side, Dongliu Sword Venerable launched his Sacred Sword, activating its original power, also attacking Zhang Ruochen.
The three experts struck simultaneously, aiming to stop Zhang Ruochen from exchanging merit points. Because once he succeeded, the Guanghan Realm would jump to the top. At that point, Zhang Ruochen would surely destroy the Merit Record Wall, and the outcome of the entire Sacred Merit Battle would be decided.
Zhang Ruochen opened almost all one hundred and forty-four acupoints on his body, continuously surging out sacred qi to support the Buddha Emperor Relic. On the surface of the relic, thirty-six circles of golden Buddha light spread out, wrapping around the Merit Record Wall.
On the Merit Record Wall, the merit points of the Guanghan Realm kept increasing.
But the defense formed by the relic was also constantly being shattered by the three experts. At this moment, time was especially precious; even a single breath could determine the situation.
At this moment, the most nervous were the Great Saints, Half-Saints, and the billions of living beings of the Guanghan Realm.
Through the battlefield mirror images, they could see the crisis Zhang Ruochen faced, as well as the changes in merit points on the Merit Record Wall.
"Faster, faster!"
"Why does it feel like the merit points are growing so slowly?"
"Zhang Ruochen, you have to hold on!"
...
Even the Great Saint-level beings held their breath, extremely tense, afraid that Zhang Ruochen would not withstand the pressure and fail at the last moment.
After a moment, on the Merit Record Wall, the merit points of the Guanghan Realm surpassed those of the Great Demon Ten Directions Realm, jumping to first place.
Seeing this, the entire Guanghan Realm erupted in cheers. Some shouted Zhang Ruochen's name, some ran wildly through the streets, and some sat in taverns, smashing the tables to pieces...
Overwhelmed by emotion, they did all sorts of crazy things.
In the Moon God Mountain, the Great Saints of the Guanghan Realm also burst into laughter.
As long as the Guanghan Realm became the number one in the Sacred Merit Battle, it would not become the next battlefield. Zhang Ruochen had fought for a way out for them.
Zhang Ruochen also breathed a slight sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face. He then looked up and saw that the defensive golden light of the relic was down to its last layer.
So, he quickly used the method of space teleportation, taking the relic and disappearing from the spot.
The attacks from Dongliu Sword Venerable, Blood Lingfeng, and Li Mu all landed on the Merit Record Wall, producing a series of deafening booms.
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