Chapter 1740: Divine Throne Planet and Purple Divine Mountain
Xiao Hei's face changed slightly, and he quickly said, "Hurry and remove the Equality of All Beings."
Ye Honglian's beautiful face lost color. How could she have expected that the blade-wielding man possessed such a terrifying trump card?
The demonic blade exuded an aura as if a demon god had descended, capable of obliterating all living beings in the world.
Even standing a hundred zhang away, she felt as if she were about to be torn apart by the blade qi.
However, Ye Honglian was, after all, a tyrant of the evil path and was not frightened into paralysis. She snapped out of it, immediately bowed deeply toward the center of the dojo, communicated with the remnant divine soul of the ancient god from the Kunlun Realm, and removed the Equality of All Beings.
Xiao Hei blocked in front of Ye Honglian, spreading his wings as scorching flames radiated from his body. Each feather turned into metallic blades and swords. The dense blade qi struck Xiao Hei, producing a clanging sound of metal colliding, "Bang, bang, bang."
Ye Honglian stared at Zhang Ruochen in the distance, watching as the enormous demonic blade was about to descend upon his head.
"Whoosh—"
Golden light burst forth from Zhang Ruochen's body.
A golden umbrella appeared in his hand. As it spun, it grew larger, like a golden mushroom propping open, colliding with the demonic blade.
"Roar."
From within the umbrella came a deafening dragon roar.
Eight golden dragons, each hundreds of zhang long, flew out from the umbrella, stirring up violent winds that sent stones, trees, and palace halls within the Tianluo Dojo flying into the air.
"Boom."
The two forces collided. The demonic blade and the eight dragons struggled for a moment before both shattered simultaneously.
Above the Eight Dragon Umbrella, Wang Xu was sent flying by a golden energy, his crown and robe ties shattered, his body like a kite with a broken string.
The Eight Dragon Umbrella rapidly contracted back to the size of a normal umbrella and appeared in Zhang Ruochen's left hand.
The ground beneath Zhang Ruochen's feet sank several zhang, as if forming a meteorite crater, yet his body stood straight and tall, like a white-robed emperor walking through the mortal world with an umbrella.
The destructive energy from the earlier clash killed all the severely wounded cultivators from the Ruiya Realm who had been lying on the ground.
The force of a Seven-Step Saint King-level confrontation at such close range was something they simply could not withstand.
Only the Five-Step Saint King survived, his face filled with terror as he fled the Tianluo Dojo, leaping across layers of snowy mountains, racing toward the horizon.
Zhang Ruochen retracted the Eight Dragon Umbrella, rapidly circulating his sacred qi and pouring it into the umbrella.
Instantly, dense golden inscriptions emerged on the umbrella, and the eight golden dragons flew out again, circling the umbrella's shaft.
"Whoosh."
The Eight Dragon Umbrella transformed into a golden light and shot forward, quickly catching up to the Five-Step Saint King, piercing through his protective sacred qi and his body.
The umbrella canopy spread open, spinning once, shredding the Five-Step Saint King's tough sacred body into flesh and blood. Sacred blood splattered across the white snowcap, like blooming flowers.
The Eight Dragon Umbrella, unstained by blood, arced beautifully through the air and returned to Zhang Ruochen's hand.
Wang Xu, protected by divine patterns, had only suffered minor injuries from the residual energy of the Eight Dragon Umbrella and the Blade Emperor Talisman's clash, nothing fatal.
"It seems Ziheng was right—you are a formidable enemy. I underestimated you before."
Wang Xu smiled bitterly. From childhood, he had been proud and arrogant, never taking any cultivator of the same generation seriously, but he had suffered a heavy blow at Zhang Ruochen's hands.
Zhang Ruochen stood opposite him and said, "Are you admitting defeat?"
"Admit defeat? No, even if it means mutual destruction, I, Wang Xu, will never admit defeat."
Wang Xu raised both hands, and a mysterious Divine Martial Mark appeared on his forehead, releasing a pillar of light that shot straight into the sky.
Could it be... he was about to self-destruct his sacred source?
Zhang Ruochen mobilized spatial power, waving his arm to slash out a spatial rift several zhang long.
Before the spatial rift could reach Wang Xu, it was shaken by a violent force, trembling and flying off to the side.
"This power..."
Zhang Ruochen's expression shifted.
A force capable of affecting spatial structure emanated from Wang Xu's qi sea, spreading over an increasingly wide area.
Soon, the snowy mountain where the Tianluo Dojo was located was cracked by that force into over a dozen fissures, the massive mountain body seeming ready to collapse.
Ye Honglian's face turned pale. "Should we activate the Equality of All Beings again?"
"Wait a moment. I don't believe this Four-Step Saint King brat can turn the world upside down." Xiao Hei stared intently at Wang Xu, the flames on his body burning more fiercely, as if turning into a volcano.
With Ye Honglian's Saint King-level cultivation, she felt her body about to melt from the flames radiating from Xiao Hei. She had to retreat all the way outside the Tianluo Dojo to barely withstand it.
By now, the Tianluo Dojo had become a killing ground. Cultivators below the Three-Step Saint King approaching it would be no different from seeking death.
"Boom."
With a loud sound, a spherical object thousands of zhang in diameter appeared above Wang Xu's head.
Half the sky was blocked by that sphere.
The sphere had flown out of Wang Xu's qi sea. It was actually a star, but its volume had been reduced by millions of times.
The aura emanating from the star was terrifyingly powerful. As it rotated, the force of its energy sent Zhang Ruochen and Xiao Hei stumbling backward, the ground beneath them continuously cracking and collapsing.
However, with Wang Xu's current cultivation, he clearly could not control this star.
As the star spun, his entire body trembled, blood beads oozing from his pores. He truly intended to achieve mutual destruction with Zhang Ruochen.
"This brat actually refined a Divine Throne Planet into his qi sea. Zhang Ruochen, what do we do now?" Xiao Hei began to panic, thinking about fleeing.
It was obviously too late to activate the Equality of All Beings again.
A Divine Throne Planet was a star manifested in the universe from a Star Soul Divine Throne when a living being cultivated to become a god, capable of reflecting heaven and earth. When Chi Yao became a god, thirty-three stars in the universe shone simultaneously, becoming her divine throne.
Fang Yi, the realm son of the Blade Prison Realm, had refined a Divine Throne Planet of an ancient god into his body.
However, his Divine Throne Planet had lost most of the god's star soul, limiting the power it could unleash. But Wang Xu's Divine Throne Planet still contained a faint trace of star soul.
With that trace of star soul, Wang Xu could control the Divine Throne Planet, unleashing power far beyond his cultivation level.
A strike from a Divine Throne Planet with a star soul was almost impossible for any being below the Great Saint to withstand; they would be instantly annihilated.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden flew over on a cloud of mist, shouting, "Stop!"
Wang Xu looked toward the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, a surprised expression on his face.
Both the Ruiya Realm and the Thousand Star Civilization were top-tier powerful realms, with much cooperation and interaction between them.
Thus, Wang Xu was one of the few cultivators who had seen the true face of the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden. Having seen her once, he was utterly captivated, and even the proud Wang Xu felt a desire to kneel at her feet.
In fact, Wang Xu had once pursued her but failed. It was then that he realized the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden was even more arrogant than he was, like an unclimbable, sacred iceberg.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said, "Wang Xu, are you insane? At your current cultivation level, even if you defeat Zhang Ruochen by using the Divine Throne Planet, you will die yourself."
"Is the Celestial Maiden... concerned about my safety?"
A warm current flowed through Wang Xu's heart.
Xiao Hei's eyes rolled, and he said, "What are you thinking? How could the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden care about your life or death? She's worried about Zhang Ruochen—after all, she and Zhang Ruochen have already pledged themselves to each other."
"Nonsense."
Wang Xu's gaze darkened. The Divine Throne Planet suspended above his head trembled violently, showing how greatly his emotions were stirred.
"Zhang Ruochen, take out the marriage contract and make him give up hope," Xiao Hei said.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said, "Zhang Ruochen, you promised me..."
Zhang Ruochen also noticed that Wang Xu seemed to care deeply about the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, so he smiled and said, "Don't worry, since I promised you, I naturally won't show the marriage contract to anyone else."
Wang Xu's face turned extremely ugly. Recalling the recent rumors about the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, he roared, "Zhang Ruochen, I'll kill you!"
Zhang Ruochen shouted back, "Who's afraid of who? Fight!"
"This poor Daoist's Purple Gold Bagua Mirror is enough to counter a Divine Throne Planet." The True Miao Little Daoist wanted to help Zhang Ruochen.
"No need."
Zhang Ruochen took out the purple divine stone he had seized from Lingquan Shaojun, continuously pouring sacred qi into it. Instantly, the purple divine stone emitted dazzling purple light, transforming into a purple divine mountain as large as the Divine Throne Planet.
According to Ling Xiu, this purple divine stone was very likely related to the Stone Clan, one of the Upper Three Clans of Hell.
Moreover, the purple divine stone had once been as massive as a star, suspended beside a black hole. It was clear that the power it contained was no weaker than a Divine Throne Planet.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen did not want to fight Wang Xu to the death; he needed to conserve strength for the battles ahead.
Therefore, he summoned the Sacred Flower of Devouring and the Bone Staff of Emperor Yi, using them together to activate the purple divine stone, colliding with the Divine Throne Planet Wang Xu had unleashed.
"Fall back quickly!"
Xiao Hei, the True Miao Little Daoist, Ye Honglian, and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden all flew into the distance, not daring to remain in the Tianluo Dojo.
"Boom."
Behind them, a fierce force erupted, shaking the air violently, as if heaven and earth were collapsing.
The snowy mountain where the Tianluo Dojo was located completely shattered and collapsed.
Wang Xu's skin burst all over, blood streaming down. Yet his battle intent remained fierce as he tried to control the Divine Throne Planet for a second strike. But he was powerless; his legs trembled violently, his arms could no longer support the Divine Throne Planet, and his body fell heavily to the ground.
As the Divine Throne Planet was about to fall and crush him to death, Zhang Ruochen used a spatial capture technique, grabbing Wang Xu's body from a distance and rapidly retreating.
"Boom."
The massive Divine Throne Planet crashed to the ground, raising thick dust.
The impact shook the region for thousands of miles, like a massive earthquake.
"I... lost... kill me..."
Wang Xu lay at Zhang Ruochen's feet, his eyes hollow and lifeless, as if he had lost his soul.
"You're still useful for now."
Zhang Ruochen sealed Wang Xu's qi sea and meridians, then walked toward the Space Teleportation Array. After inspecting it to confirm it was undamaged, he said, "Bring him along. We're going to the Xumi Dojo."
Before activating the Space Teleportation Array, Zhang Ruochen released a spiritual power doppelganger to collect the sacred corpses of the Ruiya Realm cultivators and all the treasures on them.
These cultivators all had extraordinary backgrounds. Even a single ornament on them was priceless, and any sacred artifact they carried was of extremely high grade.
Zhang Ruochen was in urgent need of sacred stones, so naturally, he stripped them clean.
Even Wang Xu's Divine Throne Planet was taken and stored into the Water Star Gourd.