Chapter 1784: Powerful Enemy Approaches
(The previous two chapters had a plot hole that has already been corrected. Unfortunately, when returning to the Kunlun Realm storyline, I have to flip back frequently for every little detail, and some less important characters slip my mind. I hope all readers can understand. Moving forward, Xiao Yu will be more cautious, verifying thoroughly before writing.)
...
Within King Mountain, six dark shadows shot through the rugged peaks and ridges like beams of light.
The person at the front was named Yuan Che.
To be precise, Yuan Che was not human but a Golden Snow Sea Ape that had cultivated for over two thousand years, reaching the Nine-Step Saint King realm. He had nearly two-meter-long white hair, broad shoulders, and a head and eyes twice the size of an ordinary person. Even without emitting saintly might, he exuded immense pressure.
All of them were experts of the Nether God Hall, tracking Zhang Ruochen’s aura to this location.
An old woman with a spiritual power level of fifty-eight, a golden snake coiled around her wrist, followed closely behind Yuan Che. Gazing down at the mountains below, a strange look appeared in her eyes. “Lord Yuan Che, this mountain is no ordinary place. It might even be a piece of awakened sacred land. I’ve detected the aura of many sacred medicines.”
The old woman, named “Tian Lanzi,” was a beast-taming sacred master and held a very high status in the Nether God Hall.
The deeper they ventured into King Mountain, the denser the sacred qi of heaven and earth became.
Sacred medicines on the ground emitted radiant light, exuding temptation. The saint kings of the Nether God Hall all revealed greedy expressions.
Yuan Che said, “Everyone, don’t let the sacred medicines cloud your judgment. Capturing Zhang Ruochen is the real priority. Once we deal with that brat, won’t everything here belong to us?”
“That’s right, capture Zhang Ruochen and bring him back to Lord Nether God…”
A Seven-Step Saint King clad in blue sacred armor hadn’t finished speaking when a white light struck him, cutting his words short.
That white light was a white arrow.
“Pfft.”
The blue sacred armor, as if made of paper, was instantly torn apart by the white arrow.
The Seven-Step Saint King’s chest was pierced through. With a scream, a large amount of sacred blood spilled from his body as he plummeted straight down.
“Everyone be careful, Zhang Ruochen is nearby.”
Yuan Che roared, then reached out and grabbed the void. A white river of sacred qi surged from his palm, sweeping up the severely injured Seven-Step Saint King.
Moments later, the five experts of the Nether God Hall all landed on the ground.
Having weathered countless storms, Yuan Che was an extremely cautious being. The moment he landed, he immediately struck out four formation flags, planting them in four different directions.
The four formation flags grew with the wind, transforming into four towering bronze pillars hundreds of feet high. Lightning patterns interwove on the flags, condensing into the forms of four divine beasts.
Yuan Che examined the Seven-Step Saint King in his arms, only to find that all vitality within him had drained away, leaving behind a cold corpse.
Even the experienced Yuan Che was greatly startled.
“Everyone, beware of that white arrow. Do not let it strike you.”
Yuan Che tossed the corpse of the Seven-Step Saint King to the ground, then flew up to a height of several dozen feet, raising his voice: “Zhang Ruochen, you are the divine envoy of the Moon God, with a status comparable to a Great Saint. How can you stoop to sneak attacks?”
A laugh echoed through the mountains: “Your Nether God Hall attacked mortals just to force me out. Is that the method taught to you by the Nether God?”
Yuan Che’s eyes darkened as he used provocation: “Hiding and skulking—what kind of skill is that? Are you afraid of this old man, too scared to show yourself?”
With the enemy in the open and himself hidden, Zhang Ruochen naturally wouldn’t reveal himself easily.
An Eight-Step Saint King with a golden leopard head, clad in gleaming soft armor and wielding a flaming war halberd, cursed: “Zhang Ruochen, if you dare to step out, this king will split you in half with one hand.”
“Shua—”
The Daylight Arrow flew out from the dense mountains, shooting straight at the humanoid golden leopard.
“Boom.”
The Daylight Arrow struck the space between two formation flags, where a net of lightning appeared, blocking it.
Seeing this, the humanoid golden leopard laughed loudly: “Lord Yuan Che’s lightning formation flags have been refined for a thousand years. With your cultivation, even if you had a year, you couldn’t break through.”
“Then stay in there for a year,” Zhang Ruochen’s voice rang out.
Yuan Che and the humanoid golden leopard’s expressions both turned cold. They hadn’t expected Zhang Ruochen to be so patient, still refusing to show himself.
Yuan Che’s gaze shifted to Tian Lanzi: “Well?”
Tian Lanzi shook her head. “Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power is no weaker than mine. Using spiritual power, I cannot locate him.”
A glint flashed in Yuan Che’s eyes as he deliberately raised his voice: “Fine, since he wants to be a turtle hiding in its shell, we’ll go to the Yunwu Commandery capital and refine all the human cultivators there into blood pills.”
Tian Lanzi, the humanoid golden leopard, and the others all revealed sinister grins.
“Aren’t you afraid of being discovered by the patrol envoy?” Zhang Ruochen’s voice came from the forest.
Yuan Che was inwardly delighted, speculating that Zhang Ruochen was already unsettled and about to be forced out.
So, he continued in a cruel tone: “We’ve captured a saint king of the Undying Blood Clan. Even if we refine the entire human population of Yunwu Commandery, we can frame him for it.”
“Zhang Ruochen, you’re still too green. Our methods are more numerous than you can imagine.”
“Those fools in the Kunlun Realm think staying in the city will save their lives, but they don’t realize that so-called prohibition is nothing but a scrap of paper to us. Killing them is as easy as slaughtering pigs and dogs.”
...
From the mountains, Zhang Ruochen’s cold laugh rang out: “I can’t control the entire Kunlun Realm, but Yunwu Commandery is my territory. Anyone who comes here to throw their weight around will die.”
No sooner had he spoken than the sky changed.
Layers of dark clouds surged in, plunging the area within King Mountain into deep gloom.
Then, from above the clouds, a suffocatingly terrifying aura descended. A purple eight trigrams seal burst through the clouds, falling from the sky, pressing down toward the four formation flags below.
Before the eight trigrams seal, even the towering mountains seemed insignificant.
“Supreme power—it’s a Supreme Sacred Artifact…”
Yuan Che’s expression shifted violently. Four pillars of sacred light shot from his body, merging into the four formation flags. The flags fluttered, producing a flapping sound.
Four lightning divine beasts, each as large as a small mountain, surged out from the flags, charging at the eight trigrams seal.
“Bang, bang.”
A series of explosive sounds rang out.
The four lightning divine beasts were shattered by the supreme power, turning into bolts of lightning like heavenly blades, streaking across the sky.
“Fall back!” Yuan Che roared.
The cultivators of the Nether God Hall were all terrified. Gone was their earlier arrogance as they fled in all directions.
The eight trigrams seal clashed with the four formation flags. After barely a breath’s time, the flagpoles snapped.
“Boom.”
The eight trigrams seal struck the ground, flattening the mountains for a hundred miles and sinking the land over a hundred feet deep.
Two Seven-Step Saint Kings were crushed to death on the spot.
Tian Lanzi and the humanoid golden leopard were both injured. They looked back in terror, only to see dust and debris flying through the forest. Layers of supreme energy surged like a tidal wave, turning everything in its path—grass, trees, rocks—into powder. The destructive power was astonishing.
The humanoid golden leopard poured all his strength into his flaming war halberd, unleashing a five-glory perfected strike, barely managing to block the residual power of the Supreme Sacred Artifact.
“No wonder they say Zhang Ruochen is a ruthless character—he actually wields a Supreme Sacred Artifact. Regretful, I should have studied Zhang Ruochen’s information more carefully. I thought he was just a Five-Step Saint King, easy to handle.”
The humanoid golden leopard spat out a mouthful of blood. Just as he stood up, Zhang Ruochen’s voice reached his ears: “Even if I am at the Five-Step Saint King realm, I’m not so easy to handle, am I?”
From the dust, Zhang Ruochen emerged, leaning on his divine envoy wooden staff.
The humanoid golden leopard’s face changed. He wanted to flee immediately, but then remembered that activating a Supreme Sacred Artifact wasn’t easy and took time.
In that brief window, with his Eight-Step Saint King cultivation, couldn’t he kill a Five-Step Saint King?
The humanoid golden leopard burst into motion, turning into a golden streak of light. In the blink of an eye, he was within three zhang of Zhang Ruochen. The flaming war halberd in his hand erupted with massive flames, condensing into a sea of fire.
When an Eight-Step Saint King unleashed their full power, the resulting force was terrifying. The earth for hundreds of miles trembled.
This halberd strike carried the domineering might of a wildfire sweeping the plains.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes turned serious. He did not underestimate his opponent and shouted: “Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, Eleventh Palm—Dragon-Elephant Reaching Heaven.”
Both palms struck out, manifesting thirteen dragon souls and thirteen elephant souls simultaneously. Thousands of palm dao rules within his body converged toward his palms.
The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was supremely firm and fierce.
Zhang Ruochen’s body radiated ten thousand zhang of golden light, blinding even the humanoid golden leopard. At the same time, Zhang Ruochen activated truth rules, unleashing a sixfold attack power.
“Boom.”
The humanoid golden leopard’s arms were shaken until they ached and cracked. His body flew backward.
After landing, he stumbled back dozens of steps before stabilizing himself. He found that the fingers on both his hands had shattered, blood flowing freely.
“How can a mere Five-Step Saint King be this powerful?” The humanoid golden leopard’s mind reeled, unable to accept this reality.
Crossing three realms, the difference in power was immeasurable. How could he have been repelled?
Zhang Ruochen said, “Even the top geniuses from your Ruiya Realm who cultivated in the Truth Heaven Domain and possessed supreme perfected physiques—I could kill them across realms. What makes you think you, a being of mediocre talent, can compare? Besides, you haven’t cultivated the way of truth, so you can’t unleash multiple times the attack power.”
“Run.”
Knowing he was no match for Zhang Ruochen, the humanoid golden leopard turned and fled at top speed, heading out of King Mountain.
“Aren’t you an Eight-Step Saint King? Weren’t you going to suppress me with one hand? Why are you running?”
Zhang Ruochen pointed a finger toward the humanoid golden leopard’s location.
“Boom.”
At that spot, the space within a hundred zhang shattered like a mirror, swallowing him whole. His body was torn apart by the spatial power into fragments.
An Eight-Step Saint King-level expert was thus erased from this world by Zhang Ruochen, not even a bone left behind.