Chapter 1525: The Rakshasa Army Retreats
"That was the Blazing Fire Copper City, which contained the Great Saint power left behind by Patriarch Qiao, yet Zhang Ruochen sent it flying with a single palm strike."
"What kind of trump card does Zhang Ruochen possess? Aside from Great Saints, how can any other being still fight against him?"
"This method is too ruthless. A Supreme Saint, overpowering the legacy left by a Great Saint."
...
The cultivators of the Heavenly Court erupted into an uproar, all discussing and speculating. Not just Half-Saints and Saints, even many Saint Kings found it difficult to remain calm.
Some cultivators even suspected it might be divine power left to Zhang Ruochen by the Moon God. But this idea was quickly dismissed. If that were the case, the gods of the Merit Divine Palace would surely have intervened. Yet now, the Merit Divine Palace had made no statement at all.
In other words, Zhang Ruochen had destroyed the Blazing Fire Copper City using his own strength.
"Could it be the power of space or time?"
Many cultivators made such guesses. The powers of space and time were both too mysterious, filled with infinite unknown possibilities. It was only natural for them to suspect this.
On Moon God Mountain, at the Guanghan Divine Palace.
Dozens of Great Saints from the Guanghan Realm gathered together, exchanging glances. Even with their knowledge and experience, they felt confused. This human man brought back by the Moon God truly kept creating miracles.
Barbarian Sword Great Saint couldn't help but ask, "Moon God, what treasure does Zhang Ruochen possess that makes him so powerful?"
From beginning to end, the Moon God remained exceptionally calm. She didn't answer Barbarian Sword Great Saint, only saying, "Zhang Ruochen possesses great fortune and an indomitable will. His future prospects are limitless."
The Great Saints present all pondered the meaning of the Moon God's words, grasping two points.
First, stop asking what treasure Zhang Ruochen possessed. That treasure was undoubtedly extraordinary, and the Moon God would never reveal it.
Second, Zhang Ruochen had great fortune and an indomitable will, meaning he had the potential to become a god. From now on, the major powers of the Guanghan Realm would have to find ways to win him over.
The Saints in the Ancestral Spirit Realm were also stunned. They had been far away earlier and didn't know exactly what had happened. But they could clearly sense the Saintly might erupting from the Blazing Fire Copper City. That power was unmistakably real.
The faces of the Rakshasa Marquis Army were all quite grim.
Lingquan Young Lord hadn't died. The divine formation imprint within his body had saved his life once again. Now standing behind the Rakshasa Princess, he couldn't help but draw in a cold breath. "He still has trump cards. Zhang Ruochen is truly unfathomable."
Lingquan Young Lord, possessing the Supreme Perfect Physique, rarely encountered opponents among his peers and never feared anyone. But now, fear of Zhang Ruochen had taken root in his heart.
"How did Zhang Ruochen send the Blazing Fire Copper City flying with one palm strike and destroy it in the chaotic space?" The Rakshasa Princess thought hard but couldn't come up with any possibility.
The power unleashed by the God-Defying Stele was extremely strange. It could make Great Saint power vanish and turn sacred artifacts into ordinary vessels, as if altering the rules of heaven and earth. Naturally, this was beyond Zhang Ruochen's understanding, so he dared not expose it for now.
"Only Qiu Yu knows this secret. He must die."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze darkened, and killing intent surged from within him.
"Not good. Zhang Ruochen wants to silence me."
Qiu Yu knew that Zhang Ruochen didn't truly possess the power to oppose a Great Saint. He only had a mysterious broken stele. If he spread this news, countless powerful beings would come to seize it. It would be strange if Zhang Ruochen didn't die.
Qiu Yu turned and fled, bursting forth at his fastest speed, charging toward the direction where the Rakshasa Princess, Ji Hua, Lingquan Young Lord, Yang Qi, and others were.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Zhang Ruochen mobilized the power of the Qiankun Realm, stomping the ground and shattering it. Both palms struck out simultaneously, condensing into two phantom images—one dragon, one elephant.
With a thunderous roar, Qiu Yu was sent flying, spitting out a large amount of sacred blood.
In truth, after fusing with Patriarch Qiao's Great Saint body, Qiu Yu's strength wasn't much weaker than Zhang Ruochen's. But having been defeated by Zhang Ruochen time and again, he had long lost his confidence, thinking only of escape.
A man who had lost his confidence naturally fell even faster.
"Bam, bam."
A series of dozens of palm prints landed on Qiu Yu's body, each one forcing him to spit out blood.
Even with a Great Saint body, he couldn't hold on. The sacred qi within Qiu Yu was almost completely scattered. Cracks appeared in both his sacred source and sacred soul. Only his body remained intact.
This showed just how formidable a Great Saint body truly was.
"Zhang Ruochen, I'll expose your secret to the world..."
Qiu Yu's collar was soaked with blood. His mental will was in chaos as he prepared to shout out.
"Bam."
Zhang Ruochen struck with the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron, slamming it down from above onto Qiu Yu, trapping him inside the cauldron and completely suppressing him. The sound from Qiu Yu's mouth abruptly ceased.
The Rakshasa Princess's long eyelashes fluttered slightly as she gazed at the man holding the massive bronze cauldron. She let out a soft sigh. "It seems we've truly lost this time."
Unwilling to cause more casualties, the Rakshasa Princess decided to withdraw the Rakshasa Marquis Army.
Zhang Ruochen, at this moment, was imposing and unstoppable, no different from a War God. If the battle continued, no one knew how many more Rakshasa Marquises would die.
More importantly, how many Rakshasa Marquises still dared to fight Zhang Ruochen?
But Ji Hua was unwilling to retreat just like that. Her voice was rather cold. "Relying on Zhang Ruochen alone to change the outcome of this battle is impossible. Perhaps he truly possesses some remarkable means, but such means must have many restrictions. Otherwise, why would he have waited until now to use them?"
The Rakshasa Princess frowned slightly. "It's better not to provoke him. Zhang Ruochen is at the peak of his power right now. We should avoid his sharp edge."
Ji Hua, however, refused to heed the Rakshasa Princess's advice. The words Qiu Yu had spoken echoed in her mind: "Zhang Ruochen also has weaknesses. His weakness is that group of Saints from the Kunlun Realm."
"Since entering the Ancestral Spirit Realm, the Princess has been advancing triumphantly, routing the Heavenly Court's cultivators and earning great military merit. Why, in the final stage, have you become so cautious, lacking confidence even against a single Saint?"
After saying this, Ji Hua mobilized her spiritual power, turning into a blurry afterimage as she charged toward Bai Li Princess, A Le, Han Qiu, and the others, intending to suppress them.
The Rakshasa Princess failed to stop Ji Hua and had to lead a group of first-rank Marquises in hot pursuit.
But just as they started moving, a loud crash came from ahead. The Rakshasa Princess stopped in her tracks and looked up. She saw Ji Hua's body explode into pieces, shattered by a bronze ancient cauldron, turning into a cloud of blood mist.
"Whoosh—"
The space trembled slightly. In the next moment, Zhang Ruochen was already standing atop the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron. He reached out a large hand into the blood mist and grabbed a mass of black light.
That was Ji Hua's sacred soul.
Her physical body was destroyed, but her sacred soul remained intact. Such was the power of a Spiritual Power Saint King.
Of course, no matter how powerful Ji Hua's sacred soul was, it couldn't escape Zhang Ruochen's grasp now.
Ji Hua's voice came from within the black light mist, roaring, "How is this possible? How is this possible... My body is inscribed with numerous defensive formation runes. My physical strength is no less than that of a One-Step Saint King. How could you shatter my physical body with a single strike?"
The black light mist trembled violently, and powerful spiritual power surged from within. In an instant, the broken land was covered with dense purple lightning, like thousands of electric dragons shuttling between the sky and the earth.
Having been captured by Zhang Ruochen before she could even strike, Ji Hua was extremely unwilling and tried to counterattack.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen gave her no chance. His five fingers clenched, and with a "bang," the black light shattered, turning into wisps of mist that dissipated into the air.
"Princess... he will surely hinder your cultivation, causing you to fall into eternal damnation... you must kill him... kill... kill..."
Ji Hua's voice grew fainter and fainter until it vanished completely.
After Ji Hua died completely, the lightning in the sky and on the ground, no longer controlled by spiritual power, fell wildly, striking the ground and raising clouds of dust, making the battlefield even more dim and murky.
The Rakshasa Princess and the first-rank Marquises all stopped in their tracks, not advancing further.
The Rakshasa Princess's expression was quite grave.
The words Ji Hua had shouted before her death caused the Rakshasa Princess's heart to tremble. She feared they might come true. The world only knew that heroes had difficulty passing through the trial of love, but they didn't know that beauties had an even harder time with it.
Yang Qi asked, "Your Highness, should we still attack?"
After a moment of silence, the Rakshasa Princess collected her thoughts, her gaze becoming calm again. "Forget it. There's no need to take the risk. Although we failed to wipe out the Saints of the Seven Realms of Sha Tuo in this battle, we inflicted sixty to seventy percent casualties on them. Even with Zhang Ruochen as a variable, we still have an absolute advantage."
"Your Highness means we should withdraw from the Ancestral Spirit Realm now?" Yang Qi asked.
"There's nothing of value left in the Ancestral Spirit Realm. Let the Half-Saint level Rakshasa fight over the resources on the remaining world fragments. There's no point in Saint-level beings staying in the Ancestral Spirit Realm any longer."
The Rakshasa Princess took one last deep look at Zhang Ruochen before turning around, leaving behind a graceful silhouette as she led the Rakshasa Marquis Army away, disappearing at the horizon's edge.
Seeing the Rakshasa Marquis Army recede like a tide, the Saints of the Sacred Bright Central Empire all couldn't help but cheer.
"The Crown Prince is invincible under heaven, single-handedly driving back the Rakshasa Marquis Army."
The Saints of the Guanghan Realm in the distance were also moved to tears, roaring up at the sky, "The Rakshasa Princess has been defeated. Our Guanghan Realm has taken first place in the Saint Merit War. The Divine Envoy is the greatest contributor to this battle."
"From now on, the Divine Envoy is the hero in my heart."
"The Divine Envoy is the goal I strive to reach."
...
Many who were usually silent and reserved now showed excited emotions, letting out long shouts.
This victory had come too hard.
Standing on the broken land, Zhang Ruochen gazed into the distance. Only after confirming that the Rakshasa Marquis Army had truly retreated did he let out a slight sigh of relief. Outsiders only saw him sweeping through everything, suppressing Qiu Yu and Ji Hua, but they didn't know he had borrowed the power of the Qiankun Realm.
Inside the Hundred Saint Blood Armor, Zhang Ruochen's body surface was covered with blood-red cracks. Having endured power beyond his own realm for so long, even his formidable body couldn't withstand it and was on the verge of breaking apart.
Zhang Ruochen still had the strength to continue fighting, but if he did, his body might shatter and he would die.
"Boom."
Zhang Ruochen slammed the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron heavily onto the ground, standing straight and tall. He declared loudly, "With the Parasol Tree Sacred Tree, I offer sacrifice to heaven, to earth, and to the fallen souls who died in battle. The sacrifice that could not be completed atop Wuding Mountain back then, I shall now begin anew."
The Saints of the Sacred Bright Central Empire surrounded the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron on all four sides, kneeling down with their hands pressed to the ground. Surging sacred qi flowed from their hands into the cauldron.
The sacrifice began.
The offering inside the cauldron, Qiu Yu, let out a miserable scream, as if suffering the torment of ten thousand blades.
(End of Chapter)