Chapter 1654: Blood All Over the Ground
Mu Lingxi transmitted her voice to Zhang Ruochen, saying, "How strange. The cultivators of the Heavenly Realm seem to have split into two groups."
"Not every cultivator dares to move freely in this forbidden zone. They should be one group following the footprints on the ground and the scent in the air, chasing after Xiang Chunan and the Spiritual Sacred Fungus. The other group, not daring to venture recklessly, is staying behind at the cave entrance," Zhang Ruochen said.
Mu Lingxi said, "Then let's hurry up and catch up to help Brother Xiang."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, saying, "Chunan has clairvoyance, his vision far surpassing ours. In this forbidden zone, he holds a huge advantage. Those cultivators from the Heavenly Court probably haven't even found him yet before he discovers them first. So, there's no need to worry about him."
"Then what do we do next…"
Mu Lingxi felt the killing intent surging from Zhang Ruochen's body and immediately stopped speaking.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on the direction of the cave entrance, saying, "In this forbidden zone, it's not under the control of the Truth Divine Temple. Here, if we were surrounded by them, what do you think they would do?"
Mu Lingxi understood what Zhang Ruochen intended to do, gently twisting a strand of hair with her finger, and said, "But the cultivators staying behind at the cave entrance are not few in number, and every single one of them has reached the Saint King realm."
Zhang Ruochen said, "The enemy is in the open, and we are in the dark—that is an advantage."
"Alright, since you've made up your mind, I won't try to dissuade you. What do you need me to do?" Mu Lingxi lifted her fair, swan-like neck, gazing at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said, "No rush. Let me get closer first, probe their strength, and then strike."
A black-robed man skilled in formations set up a Mist Concealment Formation centered around the cave entrance.
"Hiss, hiss."
Black, cold mist rose from the ground, merging the area within ten zhang with the darkness of the forbidden zone completely.
"With the Mist Concealment Formation covering us, even if there really are ancient ferocious beasts in this forbidden zone, it will be hard for them to find us," the black-robed man said, holding a crystal formation ball in his hand as he sat down cross-legged.
Lance Bai took out a piece of crimson sacred jade and tossed it to the ground. With a *chi* sound, the sacred jade ignited, turning into a fireball.
"What are you doing? Trying to lure those ancient ferocious beasts here?" the gaunt, bat-like creature said coldly.
Lance Bai said leisurely, "What's there to be afraid of? With the Mist Concealment Formation blocking the light and heat, even if there really are ancient ferocious beasts in this forbidden zone, they won't be able to find us."
The gaunt, bat-like creature, shaped like a bat, had a cultivation level slightly higher than Lance Bai's. But since Lance Bai was a cultivator from the Heavenly Realm, it dared not offend him. So it said no more, closed its eyes, and used its ears to listen for movements in the darkness, maintaining a high level of caution.
The sacred jade burned, its firelight illuminating the darkness.
Feeling the heat of the flames, Lance Bai's fear was somewhat dispelled, and he asked, "You all always talk about ancient ferocious beasts. What do they actually look like? Could they be creatures that have lived from ancient times until now?"
The black-robed man holding the crystal formation ball shook his head, saying, "Not that exaggerated. It's said they are just some beings tainted with ancient yin energy… or perhaps undead creatures."
"If that's the case, what's there to fear?" Lance Bai said with a contemptuous smile.
"That ancient yin energy might very well be the culprit that destroyed the previous civilization of the Heavenly Realm. Even Great Saints are quite wary of it."
Suddenly, the gaunt, bat-like creature's ears twitched, and it made a silencing gesture, transmitting its voice to the other six Saint Kings: "There's unusual movement in the darkness."
The smile on Lance Bai's face vanished instantly, replaced by tension. He summoned a white sacred sword and held it in his hand.
The other several Saint Kings held their breath, tightening their spiritual awareness to the utmost, and all stared into the darkness. But they sensed nothing unusual.
Just as they frowned, wondering if the bat creature had misheard, the entire space shook violently.
"Boom!"
The space shattered and collapsed inward, destroying most of the formation they had set up on the periphery.
"Can those ancient ferocious beasts also wield spatial power?" Lance Bai was so frightened he involuntarily stepped back.
The bat creature roared, "Everyone, spread out quickly! Yin Jie Wang, hurry and activate the formation to block their second attack."
Yin Jie Wang, dressed in a black robe, pointed his ten withered fingers toward the crystal formation ball, about to activate the formation. But on the ground, a hissing sound arose as a layer of ice spread from afar, freezing the formation patterns in the ground, making them impossible to activate.
"Not good, it's the power of Extreme Yin Nether Ice! Everyone, get off the ground!"
The bat creature spread a pair of fleshy wings and flew several zhang above the ground, its face dark and gloomy. A vast, evil, and baleful aura surged from its body. Then, a ring-shaped Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact erupted with the power of Two Radiance Perfection, striking toward a direction in the darkness.
"Boom!"
The ring landed, causing the ground to sink and collapse, with violent energy scattering in all directions.
"Shua—"
A spatial rift flew from the darkness, striking the bat creature's abdomen. Sacred blood sprayed everywhere.
The bat creature let out a scream, falling from midair and landing on the icy surface. Immediately, strands of Extreme Yin Nether Ice energy seeped into the wound on its abdomen.
Gradually, the bat creature's cries faded as it was frozen to the ground.
The remaining six Saint Kings all changed expression drastically. Who would have thought this place was so dangerous? In just one exchange, one Saint King had fallen, and they still didn't even know what their opponent looked like.
"Shua, shua."
Suddenly, dozens of spatial rifts flew out from the darkness.
By the time they noticed the spatial rifts, they were already within ten zhang of them, leaving no time to dodge. Trying to block them was even more absurd.
"Sacred Light Talisman."
Lance Bai activated a talisman in his hand, and a layer of white sacred light emerged, enveloping the six Saint Kings.
The dozens of spatial rifts struck the white sacred light, like raindrops falling on a lake, only creating ripples without tearing it apart.
Lance Bai's lips curled upward, and he snorted coldly, "My Sacred Light Talisman is empowered by the power of light. How could a few mere spatial rifts tear it apart?"
The Way of Light is one of the Eternal Ways.
A talisman empowered by the power of light has immense power, capable of resisting all forces in the world, except that the power of darkness can counteract it.
If the spatial power is not strong enough, it cannot pierce through the power of light.
Yin Jie Wang, dressed in black robes, said coldly, "Our opponent should not be some ancient ferocious beast, but a spatial cultivator. Who exactly are you, and why are you attacking us?"
There was no response from the darkness.
The light emitted by the Sacred Light Talisman in Lance Bai's hand grew weaker and weaker, and small cracks began to appear on the talisman itself.
"The energy of the Sacred Light Talisman is about to run out. Everyone, think of something quickly," Lance Bai said, pained, as this precious Sacred Light Talisman was the only one he had.
"I have a Great Saint Sacred Mark Talisman."
A black-clothed woman who had reached the Second-Step Saint King realm quickly mobilized all her demonic qi, converging it at the center of her back.
On her exposed, snow-white jade-like back, a talisman imprint appeared, like strands of demonic pattern threads moving across her skin.
"Rumble."
The aura erupting from her body grew stronger and stronger, quickly breaking through the Second-Step Saint King, reaching the Third-Step, Fourth-Step, Fifth-Step Saint King…
In moments, her cultivation level surged to the Seventh-Step Saint King realm, her combat power increasing by who knows how many times.
That was no longer her own power, but the power of the Great Saint from her clan.
The black-clothed woman's vision sharpened dramatically, and she saw a graceful green-robed scholar standing on a broken piece of wood several dozen zhang away.
Their eyes met.
Immediately, the black-clothed woman formed her hands into claws and attacked the scholar.
She seemed possessed by a demon god, becoming immensely powerful. With a single claw strike from a distance, heaven and earth trembled slightly—that was undoubtedly a Seventh-Step Saint King level attack.
Facing this strike, the green-robed scholar remained calm and composed, simply taking a piece of white jade from his sleeve and throwing it forward.
From the white jade, five-colored streams of qi surged out, and then a mysterious and profound power spread through the area.
"Boom." The Sacred Mark Talisman on the black-clothed woman's back was suppressed by that power, exploding with a loud bang.
Losing the support of the Sacred Mark Talisman's power, the black-clothed woman deflated like a punctured ball, instantly returning to the Second-Step Saint King realm.
"How is this possible? Who exactly are you? How do you have a Merit Divine Seal?" Staring at the white jade floating in midair, the black-clothed woman was shocked to the extreme.
The green-robed scholar still said nothing—there was nothing to say to a dead person.
With one hand behind his back, he held a heavy sword in the other and swung it down.
"Pfft."
On the sword, Sword Dao Profound Gang appeared, slashing at the black-clothed woman. It shattered the layers of defensive light shields she had activated like a hot knife through butter, and finally, the heavy sword split her body.
Blood, like cinnabar, stained the black soil.
Beauty turned to white bones, a fair lady became a mutilated corpse—another Saint King had fallen.
In the distance, the remaining five Saint Kings showed expressions of shock. Lance Bai shook his head repeatedly, saying, "Impossible, absolutely impossible. How could that person have a Merit Divine Seal?"
The Merit Divine Seal is a treasure refined by the Merit Divine Temple. Using the merit qi within the seal, it can suppress and destroy the Sacred Mark Talismans within cultivators. Any artifact or external force that boosts combat power loses its effect in the presence of the Merit Divine Seal.
Back then, when Shang Zihong sent Wang Xu and others to kill Zhang Ruochen, he gave them a Merit Divine Seal. After the assassination failed, the Merit Divine Seal fell into Zhang Ruochen's hands.
The Sacred Light Talisman in Lance Bai's hand had completely dimmed, losing its defensive function. It shattered into pieces of paper butterflies, scattering on the ground.
Zhang Ruochen, in the guise of the green-robed scholar, once again used a Space Collapse technique, shattering the space where the five of them were. In an instant, two Saint Kings screamed as they were swallowed by the shattered space.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen used Spatial Displacement, appearing behind Yin Jie Wang, and with a single sword stroke, cut off his head.
Behind Zhang Ruochen, a sacred saber erupting with Perfection power slashed down, like a silver moon falling from the sky, containing endless killing might. It seemed about to kill Zhang Ruochen under the blade.
Without looking back, Zhang Ruochen casually waved his hand, sending out a three-foot-long spatial rift that severed the sacred saber in two.
"Pfft."
At the same time, the spatial rift cut the one-zhang-tall First-Step Saint King in half at the waist, his two body halves flying in different directions.
Zhang Ruochen first crushed Yin Jie Wang's flying head with a *bang*, then threw the heavy sword in his hand, piercing the head of the burly man who had just been cut in half.
In the blink of an eye, six of the seven Saint Kings had been killed, with corpses and blood everywhere.
In the firelight, Lance Bai stared at the somewhat blurry figure of the green-robed scholar in the distance, his legs trembling, almost collapsing to his knees.
"Tap, tap."
The green-robed scholar walked toward him, carrying the blood-dripping heavy sword.
Lance Bai finally saw the face of the green-robed scholar, shocked beyond words. Backing away, he stammered, "You… how can it be you? How are you proficient in the Way of Space?"