Chapter 1564: Kill Them All, Leave No Survivors
Su Jing watched the enormous halo rising from within the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground, his expression shifting dramatically. Only someone who had reached his level of cultivation would understand just how difficult it was to successfully cultivate the Death Halo.
But once the Death Halo was unleashed, how could any cultivator below the Saint King realm withstand it?
"No, even if I have to be punished by the Truth Divine Temple, I must save them."
The few who had entered the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground were the future hope of the Guanghan Realm. They absolutely could not die here.
Just as Su Jing was about to charge into the training ground, the enormous halo suddenly shattered, and a miserable scream rang out: "Sword Soul... you actually cultivated a Sword Soul..."
Inside the training ground.
Yi Wang clutched his head, his entire body convulsing in agony. He was in such pain that he could no longer control the sacred power within his body. As a result, the Death Halo shattered before it could fully manifest.
Just moments ago, Ling Feiyu had used the power of her Sword Soul to directly attack Yi Wang's sacred soul, severely wounding it.
For any living being, damage to the sacred soul was no trivial matter. At best, it would leave one listless and weak; at worst, it would cause mental derangement and split consciousness.
Yi Wang screamed in agony as sharp golden legs grew out from his body. Parts of his skin turned into hard shells. In moments, he had transformed into a strange half-human, half-insect creature.
Clearly, after suffering severe damage to his sacred soul, Yi Wang could no longer even maintain control over his physical form.
A cultivator from the Cloud Realm's insect race rushed to Yi Wang's side and asked, "Lord Yi Wang, what's wrong with you?"
"Retreat... retreat immediately... get out..."
Yi Wang knew the situation was hopeless. He controlled his pair of golden wings and fled toward the exit of the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground.
If he could escape the training ground, according to the rules of the Truth Divine Temple, Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu would not be allowed to kill him.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu knew that Yi Wang was a formidable enemy. There was no way they would let him leave alive. So, both of them used their fastest speed to pursue him.
The cultivators outside the training ground wore strange expressions, completely unaware of what had just happened.
The power of the Death Halo had only just begun to manifest—why had it suddenly shattered?
"Look, someone is about to escape from the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground. Who is that?" A spiritual power saint who had cultivated a Heavenly Eye shouted, pointing toward the stone staircase leading to the training ground.
Countless sacred eyes across heaven and earth all focused on that spot.
They saw a strange half-human, half-insect creature rushing out from the divine light emitted by the osmanthus tree, appearing in everyone's line of sight.
"That's Yi Wang of the Golden Winged Insect King Clan."
"It really is Yi Wang. He possesses powerful royal bloodline and has come to the Truth Heaven Domain many times to cultivate. He is one of the most outstanding talents of the Cloud Realm. He might very well become the next Great Saint of the Golden Winged Insect King Clan."
"When Yi Wang was at the Half-Step Saint King realm, his combat power was no less than Bai Ran's."
"Yi Wang reached the Saint King realm sixty years ago. With his powerful physique and talent, who knows how deep his cultivation has become by now?"
Outside the training ground, several cultivators from various major worlds who were quite familiar with the Cloud Realm began recounting some of Yi Wang's achievements.
But as the divine light around the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground grew dimmer, they finally saw clearly—Yi Wang was covered in blood, and he was... desperately fleeing, as if a great enemy was chasing him from behind.
"Am I seeing things? Yi Wang is actually injured?"
"Can the six cultivators from the Guanghan Realm force even Yi Wang to flee for his life? How is that possible? Yi Wang's strength is so great..."
They couldn't believe their eyes. This result was completely different from what they had predicted earlier.
"Could it be Zhang Ruochen?" Many people had this thought in their minds.
Su Jing stopped in his tracks, momentarily stunned, then a delighted smile spread across his face. Even Yi Wang had been severely wounded and forced to flee. It seemed that in the battle within the training ground, the Guanghan Realm definitely held the absolute upper hand.
Just as Yi Wang was about to rush out of the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground, a furious roar sounded from ahead of him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Zhang Ruochen used Spatial Displacement, leaping out from the void and appearing in front of Yi Wang. He swung the purple divine mountain, smashing it into Yi Wang, causing his head to bleed profusely as his massive body flew backward.
Right then, Ling Feiyu, who had caught up from behind, used Sword Dao Profound Gang, turning into a sword rainbow that pierced through Yi Wang's body.
"Boom."
Yi Wang's body crashed heavily to the ground, too injured to stand up again. He let out a roar: "Zhang Ruochen, I am the grandson of the Golden Winged Great Saint. If you kill me, my grandfather will surely avenge me and tear you into a thousand pieces."
To prevent Yi Wang from self-detonating his sacred source and taking them down with him, Zhang Ruochen acted decisively. He unleashed a Space Rift, slashing it across Yi Wang's body and killing him.
The cultivators gathered outside the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground all witnessed this scene. They stood frozen like stone statues, dumbfounded.
Zhang Ruochen had killed a Four-Step Saint King level powerhouse, and that powerhouse was the grandson of a powerful Great Saint.
The dozen or so surviving Cloud Realm cultivators had just rushed out when they saw Zhang Ruochen kill Yi Wang. Their faces turned pale with fear, and they immediately stopped in their tracks, not daring to take another step forward.
Zhang Ruochen had drunk the Dragon Spirit Mad Cow Wine, and the killing intent within him surged. He swept his gaze over them and roared: "Anyone who dared to break into the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground must die. None of you will escape."
"Damn it, Zhang Ruochen has gone berserk. There's no way he'll let us go. Everyone, fight him with everything we've got!"
A bald insect race cultivator roared, unleashing a forbidden technique. The sacred blood within him burned fiercely, and the power fluctuations emanating from his body rose steadily.
The Cloud Realm cultivators all began using forbidden techniques that consumed their lifespan, forcibly boosting their combat power.
"Zhang Ruochen, you're forcing us into a corner. You'll have to bear the consequences."
"You're leaving us no way out. We'll have to die together."
Some of the Cloud Realm cultivators, with the determination to die, prepared to find an opportunity to self-detonate their sacred sources and take Zhang Ruochen down with them, eliminating a great enemy for the Cloud Realm.
Watching the dozen or so Cloud Realm cultivators charge at him madly.
Zhang Ruochen stood at the bottom of the stone steps without retreating. Instead, he took out a Heavenly Gang Purple Fire Talisman, activated the inscriptions on the talisman, and unleashed it.
Then, he used the purple divine mountain as a shield, holding it in front of himself.
"Boom."
Violent energy swept across most of the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground. Purple flames spread across the ground, turning the soil in many places into golden liquid droplets.
When Zhang Ruochen moved the purple divine mountain aside, the Cloud Realm cultivators had all been reduced to broken bones and remains scattered on the ground, burning like a bonfire with crackling sounds.
"What a waste. Another talisman used up," Zhang Ruochen said.
Outside the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground, a large crowd of cultivators had gathered. They had been buzzing with discussion, but now, they fell into a deathly silence.
Only the sound of wind flowed and moved through the crowd.
Perhaps because they had been holding their breath for too long, after a long while, sounds of sharp intakes of breath could be heard.
"So bloody, so ruthless, so merciless."
A young man with a sinister mark on his forehead cursed loudly: "Who was it earlier that said Zhang Ruochen's number one spot on the Sacred Merit Ranking was undeserved? You almost got me killed. Thank goodness Yi Wang and the Cloud Realm cultivators tested Zhang Ruochen's true strength. If I had foolishly gone to challenge him, with his vicious methods, wouldn't I have been beaten to death?"
The young man was far from the only one who had planned to challenge Zhang Ruochen.
But after seeing Zhang Ruochen so fierce, so ruthless, so bloody, who would still dare to challenge him? Clearly, Zhang Ruochen was a murderous demon king.
Another cultivator said, "I've seen the battlefield recordings of Zhang Ruochen's campaigns in the Ancestral Spirit Realm. He single-handedly routed the Rakshasa army, making them flee like frightened dogs. And you people actually dared to provoke him? Do you have a death wish?"
About one hundred and twenty miles away from the Mirror Fragrance Cliff training ground, on an open plain, stood a man and a woman. They wore light blue sacred robes, and on the collars of their robes were embroidered the words "Truth."
On the sleeves of their sacred robes was embroidered a white crane.
Wearing the Crane Blue Sky Robe meant they were divine transmission disciples of the Truth Divine Temple. They had significant backing and could patrol the Truth Heaven Domain, wielding enormous authority that ordinary third-class, second-class, or first-class disciples could never match.
The man looked about twenty years old, quite young. He smiled and said, "Zhang Ruochen has created such a bloodbath as soon as he arrived in the Truth Heaven Domain. Clearly, he wants to establish his authority and make everyone fear him."
"Expected."
The woman wore a white veil on her face, exuding an ethereal and transcendent aura, like the moon in the clouds, a flower in the mirror, mysterious and unfathomable.
After a pause, she added, "Perhaps this is just the beginning of a storm of blood and violence."
The man nodded and said, "The Guanghan Realm has been bullied for a hundred thousand years. The resentment they've accumulated is like the water in the sea—impossible to fully express. It has to be vented somehow. Zhang Ruochen's appearance as the Heir of Time and Space will surely be the beginning of upheaval in the Truth Heaven Domain."
"What does the Divine Teacher think?"
The woman's voice was soft, like a clear spring flowing over stones.
The man said, "The Divine Teacher said this is a continuation of the conflict from a hundred thousand years ago. The Truth Divine Temple finds it inconvenient to intervene. As long as the situation remains within control, as long as they don't cross the rules set by the Truth Divine Temple, we only need to be observers."
"The representative of that side is Shang Zihong. Can Zhang Ruochen defeat him?" The woman asked without any emotion.
The man was silent for a moment, then smiled again and said, "Didn't Shang Zihong already lose a round a few days ago? Zhang Ruochen is, after all, the heir of Xumi Saint Monk and the master of both Time and Space, two eternal paths. Perhaps he can carve out a path of light amidst all the darkness."
"Besides, Zhang Ruochen doesn't have only enemies in the Heavenly Court Realm. I've carefully studied the records from a hundred thousand years ago and analyzed them. The heir of the Daoist lineage might come into contact with him. The Buddhist lineage once received considerable grace from Xumi Saint Monk. As for the attitudes of the Time Divine Temple and the Space Divine Temple, they are harder to guess."
The woman said, "When great paths clash, there will surely be mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Since the flames of hatred have been ignited, only the blood of the dead can extinguish them."
The wind blew.
The figures of the man and woman grew fainter and fainter, eventually disappearing into the plain.