Chapter 1743: Bloody Battle Erupts
"Why... why can't I activate Equality for All Beings... has even Saint Monk Xumi abandoned us..."
Gai Tianjiao's gaze was dazed, staring at the dim sky, coughing up blood from her mouth, filled with intense unwillingness.
At the same cultivation level, she had absolute confidence she could defeat these Heaven Realm powerhouses.
But her cultivation time was far shorter than theirs, her realm was a major step behind, and without being able to activate Equality for All Beings, she had no power to fight back.
That Angel Clan Saint King wanted Gai Tianjiao to sink into utter despair, so he deliberately said, "Your Kunlun Realm was abandoned a hundred thousand years ago. Only fools like you think the Kunlun Realm still has a chance to rise again. In fact, your ancestors were also foolish—a hundred thousand years ago, they exhausted all their strength to battle the Hell Realm, trying to cripple it and establish a new cosmic order..."
"Who are you calling foolish?"
An icy voice suddenly exploded in the air.
Zhang Ruochen stepped into the illusion array, his figure flickering as he appeared before that Angel Clan Saint King, his gaze cold and piercing.
That Angel Clan Saint King looked around, confirmed that Zhang Ruochen was not a Kunlun Realm cultivator but had broken in from outside, and then barked, "How dare you! Don't you know the kings of Heaven Realm are here? This is no place for you..."
"Whoosh—"
Zhang Ruochen couldn't be bothered to argue. He slashed his sword diagonally, dragging out a several-zhang-long Sword Dao Profound Gang.
Profound Gang was not sword qi; it had the power to pierce heaven and earth.
The Angel Clan Saint King's face changed drastically. He hurriedly pulled the long spear from Gai Tianjiao's abdomen, used it like a staff, and swung it horizontally to block Zhang Ruochen's strike.
"Pfft."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword cut through that Ten-Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact-level long spear like tofu, slicing the Angel Clan Saint King's head clean off.
That Angel Clan Saint King watched his own body drift farther and farther away, the terror in his eyes growing ever stronger.
He mobilized the sacred qi in his Qi Sea, controlled his head, and flew toward the center of the island, shouting, "A powerful enemy has broken... in..."
"Whoosh—"
From Zhang Ruochen's pupils, two pillars of Purifying Divine Flame shot out, striking that head.
The head exploded, turning into sparks.
Not far away, the three Elf Clan female Saint Kings who were suppressing Bu Qianfan were greatly shocked, cold light flashing in their beautiful eyes.
"The kings of Heaven Realm are conducting business here, yet someone dares to meddle."
"You two, go suppress him."
Two of the Elf Clan female Saint Kings, whose spiritual power had reached the peak of the fifty-sixth order, stopped suppressing Bu Qianfan. They raised their Sacred Jade Staves, chanted a spell, and used sacred arts to attack Zhang Ruochen.
Each of them was no weaker than a Fourth-Step Saint King.
One Elf Clan female Saint King summoned the wind, condensing a twenty-zhang-long Wind Sparrow Beast that carried a sky full of blades, pouncing toward Zhang Ruochen.
The other Elf Clan female Saint King summoned the power of flames, suspending over a thousand fireballs around her body, sending them out as a rain of fire.
Both the fireballs and wind blades had been refined and stacked thousands of times, extremely condensed, with the power to tear apart a Saint King's sacred body. In the mortal realm, a single fireball could destroy a city, and a single wind blade could level a mountain.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm, unfurling the Eight Dragon Umbrella.
From the umbrella's surface, eight golden dragons surged forth, smashing their sacred arts to pieces.
"Roar! Roar!"
The eight dragon shadows slammed into the two Elf Clan female Saint Kings, shattering their beautiful bodies. Besides two clouds of blood mist, only two skeletons were left, thrown into the air.
The Elf Clan female Saint King still suppressing Bu Qianfan was named Yan Ni, with a spiritual power level of the fifty-seventh order. Seeing this, she let out a sharp scream, withdrew her suppressing force, and glared at Zhang Ruochen.
Those two female Saint Kings with fifty-sixth-order spiritual power had extraordinary talent and had the potential to become Spiritual Power Great Saints. Their fall was a huge loss to the Elf Clan.
Yan Ni spread a pair of wings as thin as cicada wings on her back, radiating a dazzling blue light.
Instantly, the sacred qi of this region converged toward the sacred staff in her hand.
The light emitted by the sacred staff was blinding, and a destructive aura caused the lake water to churn violently. In the sky, sharp ice cones fell like rain.
Zhang Ruochen ignored Yan Ni, holding the Eight Dragon Umbrella as he walked to Gai Tianjiao's side.
The sharp ice cones hit the umbrella, making "thump thump" sounds.
"Senior Sister," Zhang Ruochen said.
Gai Tianjiao saw Zhang Ruochen's tall and imposing figure, a relieved expression on her face. She said weakly, "I knew... I knew... you would come... but I can no longer fight..."
"Don't say such disheartening things. The battle has just begun."
Zhang Ruochen took out a green lotus seed, channeled its green light, and infused it into Gai Tianjiao's body.
Yan Ni was furious—a fifty-seventh-order Spiritual Power Saint King being ignored. So she poured out all her spiritual power, pointing her sacred staff at Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom."
A lightning dragon as thick as a water barrel shot out from the staff.
Zhang Ruochen glanced sideways and said, "Don't kill her. I want her alive."
Xie Chengzi flew to Zhang Ruochen's front, pressed his palms forward, and activated a sacred art. Two clouds of evil qi surged from his palms. From the evil clouds, a black claw hundreds of meters long extended, shattering the lightning dragon and slamming into Yan Ni.
"Bang."
Yan Ni, as a fifty-seventh-order Spiritual Power Saint King, had fifty-four layers of light shields emerge on her graceful body surface, actually blocking Xie Chengzi's attack.
She only retreated dozens of zhang before stabilizing herself.
Xie Chengzi pursued, unleashing the Bloodthirsty Ring.
"Clatter."
The Bloodthirsty Ring spun rapidly, flying above Yan Ni, trapping her and her fifty-four layers of light shields. As the ring contracted, the protective light shields emitted "bang bang" sounds, shattering one after another.
Finally, all the light shields broke apart into specks of light.
The Bloodthirsty Ring wrapped around Yan Ni's body, rendering her completely immobile.
Under the healing power of the lotus seed, the injuries on Gai Tianjiao and Bu Qianfan healed almost instantly, and they became vigorous again.
Bu Qianfan stared coldly at Yan Ni and said, "She holds a high status in Heaven Realm. Capturing her gives us leverage to negotiate with Heaven Realm."
Xie Chengzi retrieved the Bloodthirsty Ring, and Bu Qianfan used a Saint-Binding Chain to restrain Yan Ni.
Gai Tianjiao said, "When we discovered the ambush, the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden used a divine temple to take in more than half of the Kunlun Realm cultivators. The Heaven Realm cultivators will surely make her their primary target. I don't know if she escaped."
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden indeed possessed a divine temple, belonging to the Life-Commanding Goddess "Xian Feizi." Zhang Ruochen had seen her use it once.
It was a true divine temple, once inhabited by an ancient god, with mysterious power left by that god. It could be used for defense or to trap opponents.
When fully manifested, the temple was enormous, comparable to a small planet.
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden had many trump cards, each incredibly heaven-defying—like Qing Mo's kitchen knife, Shengshu Cainü's Confucian Ancestor Sacred Book... The other Mysterious Maidens likely also possessed extraordinary treasures.
In terms of the grade and quantity of treasures, Zhang Ruochen was far inferior to the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden. Plus, with her ninefold cultivation speed, her current cultivation was not low.
Perhaps... she could hold out.
Once everyone was gathered, Zhang Ruochen waved his hand and said, "Let's go. Charge in."
The earlier battle had alerted the Heaven Realm cultivators on the island. They spotted Zhang Ruochen and the others and rushed over. Some flew in the sky; some ran on the ground; some tunneled underground.
Just the Saint Kings flying in the sky and running on the ground numbered nearly a hundred. The terrifying sacred might they emitted was as awe-inspiring as heavenly soldiers and divine generals descending.
"Who dares to rescue the Kunlun Realm? Do you want to be an enemy of Heaven Realm?" a giant at the peak of the Sixth-Step Saint King realm roared, wielding a war hammer the size of a palace.
His body was over 130 meters tall, his eyes as bright as the sun and moon in the sky, radiating explosive power.
This was a supreme powerhouse of the Giant Eye Calamity Race. Among the Heaven Realm kings besieging the Kunlun Realm cultivators, his strength ranked in the top ten.
Yan Ni couldn't even make the top twenty.
Another Sixth-Step Saint King who could rank in the top twenty was a Dragon Clan powerhouse with a dragon horn on his forehead. He had a human body but a pair of wide dragon wings on his back, and his appearance was quite handsome.
This Dragon Clan powerhouse was named Yu Tian.
Yu Tian saw the captured Yan Ni, a fierce light flashing in his eyes. His domineering voice echoed in the air: "With just you few, instead of fleeing immediately, you break in here. Are you seeking death? Release Yan Ni, and this king might consider sparing your lives."
Zhang Ruochen sent a voice transmission to Xiao Hei, Chi Wansui, Bu Qianfan, and Gai Tianjiao: "You go rescue the others. Leave these guys to me and Zhen Miao."
On this land, many Kunlun Realm cultivators lay in pools of blood, barely alive, or were suppressed under the blades and axes of Heaven Realm cultivators, forced to write down techniques and sacred arts.
They had to be saved first.
Xiao Hei quickly refused, "No way. Letting this emperor handle such trivial rescue work would be a waste of talent."
"You can control the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Bugs, killing those Heaven Realm cultivators unnoticed and rescuing the Kunlun Realm cultivators they've subdued. This job really only you can do."
Zhang Ruochen didn't bother arguing further with Xiao Hei. He took out the Nine-Step Dragon Chariot, activated the nine golden dragons, and charged toward the Heaven Realm kings with the chariot as a vanguard.
A bloody battle officially erupted.
"Bang."
Sitting on the chariot, Zhang Ruochen shot two pillars of Purifying Divine Flame from his pupils, striking an Elf Clan Saint King and piercing straight through his sacred body.
That Elf Clan Saint King screamed and fell from midair.