Chapter 1785: Battle Against a Nine-Step Saint King
The ground shook violently, and the air currents in the sky churned fiercely.
Yuan Che, having cultivated for over two thousand years as a Nine-Step Saint King, was not killed even by the power of the Supreme Ruler.
"Roar!"
He transformed into a twenty-plus-zhang-tall Diamond Snow Sea Ape, bursting out from beneath the earth. With golden fur and white hair, layers of Sacred Qi halos radiated outward, causing soil and rocks to fly for a hundred li in every direction.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression shifted. His legs sank downward, his upper body leaned forward, and he activated his script armor to envelop his entire body.
Even so, Zhang Ruochen was pushed back repeatedly by the force unleashed from the Sacred Qi halos. With each retreat, his feet shattered large swaths of the ground.
"Is this the power of a Nine-Step Saint King?"
Zhang Ruochen felt a tightness in his chest, his blood and Sacred Qi flowing sluggishly, and a sharp pain in his scalp, as if it were about to be torn apart by the terrifying Sacred Dao force.
The Diamond Snow Sea Ape bore three enormous wounds, each several zhang long, which only added to its ferocious appearance.
Tian Lanzi, radiating black light, hovered in midair not far from the Diamond Snow Sea Ape, and said, "How infuriating—four top-tier experts from the Dark God Hall have fallen here. Since the Dark God only wants Zhang Ruochen’s Sacred Soul, why don’t we skin him alive, break his bones, and scatter his ashes?"
"Exactly my thought."
From the Diamond Snow Sea Ape’s mouth came a voice like thunder.
Then, it exhaled a breath of cold air, forming a blue torrent.
Within the torrent were three Sacred Swords, each a Six-Yao Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact, unleashing their full power, causing the space for hundreds of li to tremble slightly.
Zhang Ruochen dared not clash head-on and instead used spatial displacement to dodge.
But the space shook violently, causing his displacement to go awry as a Sacred Sword shot straight toward him.
Zhang Ruochen quickly extended both palms to block.
"Sizzle, sizzle."
The Flame God Armor gauntlets scraped against the sword light of the Sacred Sword, sending sparks flying.
The force from the Sacred Sword sent Zhang Ruochen flying to the right, landing over ten li away. He braced himself with one hand on the ground to avoid falling.
However, his left hand ached terribly.
"Zhang Ruochen, I’ll lend you a hand!"
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren darted over, just as he was about to raise his Purple Gold Bagua Mirror, a golden streak shot out from nearby, charging straight at him.
"What the hell? Oh heavens, it’s a Golden Thread Dragon Snake!"
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren quickly swung the Purple Gold Bagua Mirror, slapping the Golden Thread Dragon Snake and sending it flying.
But the mirror hadn’t activated the Supreme Ruler’s power, so it failed to kill the snake. The Golden Thread Dragon Snake was incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, it darted back toward Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren.
This Golden Thread Dragon Snake was the same small serpent that had been coiled around Tian Lanzi’s wrist earlier.
Zhang Ruochen had heard of the Golden Thread Dragon Snake—a rare ninth-rank barbarian beast. Once mature, it became a Great Saint-level beast king. Its most terrifying feature was its venom; even a Great Saint bitten by it would struggle to refine it.
However, this particular Golden Thread Dragon Snake was clearly not yet mature.
It wanted to devour Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren to continue growing and gain greater power.
Zhang Ruochen fixed his gaze on Tian Lanzi, sensing she was using a secret technique to control the snake. He pulled out the Azure Sky Bow and the Daylight Arrow, intending to shoot her down.
"Zhang Ruochen, your opponent is me."
The Diamond Snow Sea Ape charged forward at full speed, shaking heaven and earth as it closed in on Zhang Ruochen.
The three Sacred Swords, like three radiant Sacred Rivers, slashed at Zhang Ruochen from three different directions. He tried to dodge, but his left leg was far too heavy, slowing his movement and making him sluggish.
Just as the three swords were about to strike him, Zhang Ruochen cursed inwardly, "What kind of broken leg is this? Is it really crippled?"
He stomped hard, and a burst of flame divine power surged from his left leg, scattering in all directions.
"Boom!"
The ground for dozens of li sank, forming a massive footprint pit like a celestial crater. The three Sacred Swords were blasted away by the flame divine power.
Zhang Ruochen stood at the bottom of the footprint pit, slightly dazed.
Was this the power of the Divine Left Leg?
Even the Diamond Snow Sea Ape was startled. How could Zhang Ruochen’s stomp be so terrifying? If that foot landed on it, it would likely be crushed into bloody mud.
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren, while clashing with the Golden Thread Dragon Snake, shouted, "That’s it! Crush it!"
Zhang Ruochen prepared to channel Sacred Qi to use the Divine Left Leg again, but found his Sacred Qi nearly empty, almost entirely consumed by that one stomp.
"Can you not be so unreliable?"
Zhang Ruochen slapped his left leg, almost crying from frustration.
Suddenly, his vision darkened as a massive shadow loomed above him.
The Diamond Snow Sea Ape, clearly alarmed by Zhang Ruochen’s earlier stomp, had expanded its body hundreds of times, becoming a giant ape with feet on the ground and head in the clouds. It swung a palm as vast as Five Finger Mountain, smashing it down onto Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom!"
On top of the dozens-of-li-long footprint, a palm print of similar size appeared.
Just as the Diamond Snow Sea Ape thought it had crushed Zhang Ruochen into bloody mud, a sharp pain shot through its palm.
"Pfft."
Its hand was pierced by a golden light, spilling Sacred Blood.
The golden light shot into the sky, transforming into eight golden dragons. At the center of the eight dragons floated a golden umbrella.
The golden umbrella opened in midair.
Beneath it, Zhang Ruochen and a black skeleton appeared.
The black skeleton held the umbrella for Zhang Ruochen as they slowly descended to the ground.
The black skeleton was formed from the Imperial Bone Staff of Yi. The evil aura emanating from it was not much weaker than that of the Diamond Snow Sea Ape.
After refining three percent of the soul mist from Qing Jin, the evil spirit within the Imperial Bone Staff had grown to rival a Nine-Step Saint King.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed a pill to quickly restore his Sacred Qi and said to the black skeleton, "Go."
The black skeleton raised the Blood Battle Temple’s Great Saint ancient artifact, the Blood Battle Wheel, releasing a surge of evil qi and blood mist that soon filled King Mountain, turning the area dark and terrifying.
"Bang, bang."
The Diamond Snow Sea Ape and the black skeleton clashed head-on, each blow shaking space and causing mountain ranges to collapse piece by piece, as if they were about to destroy the world.
A thousand li away, in Cloud Martial Royal City, the sky darkened, fierce winds howled, and the ground trembled continuously, toppling houses and towers.
The evil spirit within the black skeleton let out a piercing laugh, attacking ferociously. It was eager to kill the Diamond Snow Sea Ape, as absorbing its Sacred Soul would greatly boost the evil spirit’s power.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen seemingly unable to act, Tian Lanzi’s lips curled into a cruel smile. "Zhang Ruochen, opposing the Dark God Hall will bring you no good. Let me show you the agony of ten thousand insects gnawing your bones."
Tian Lanzi produced a bamboo basket, from which tens of thousands of black specks flew out.
Each speck was a sacred insect, forming a rain of insects heading toward Zhang Ruochen.
"Do you really think I’m helpless now?"
Zhang Ruochen took out a talisman and threw it.
"Bang!" The talisman exploded, turning into a cloud of Purifying Divine Flame. The sacred insects all turned into fireballs, falling to the ground, charred black.
After the battle at Xumi Dojo, Zhang Ruochen had seized many talismans from the kings of Paradise Realm.
Even without using martial arts or spiritual power, he could rely on his talismans to face Yuan Che and Tian Lanzi without fear. But since each talisman used was one fewer, he was reluctant to waste them.
Seeing her carefully nurtured sacred insects all dead, Tian Lanzi was heartbroken and hated Zhang Ruochen even more.
Zhang Ruochen’s Sacred Qi had recovered to twenty or thirty percent. He stood up abruptly, drew the Azure Sky Bow to a full moon, and said, "Courtesy demands reciprocity. Try taking an arrow from me."
"Twang."
The Daylight Arrow shot out, trailing a tens-of-zhang-long tail of sacred light.
Tian Lanzi’s expression changed. She quickly raised her bamboo basket, on which tens of thousands of inscriptions lit up, emitting a purple-golden glow.
"Boom!"
The Daylight Arrow struck the basket, sending Tian Lanzi flying backward.
Although the arrow was blocked, the time imprint on it landed on Tian Lanzi, cutting away nearly two hundred years of her lifespan.
Just as she was weakened, Zhang Ruochen used Great Space Teleportation to appear beside her. He retracted the Eight Dragon Umbrella and thrust it into her heart.
Tian Lanzi’s Sacred Heart shattered, and she died instantly.
At that moment, the Golden Thread Dragon Snake hesitated slightly.
"Bang."
Seizing the opportunity, Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren captured it and tossed it into a bronze ancient bottle.
Seeing Tian Lanzi dead, Yuan Che knew the tide had turned. He decisively reverted to human form and flew toward Cloud Martial Royal City.
Yuan Che understood that with Zhang Ruochen’s ability to teleport, escaping would be no easy task. Only by charging into Cloud Martial Royal City would Zhang Ruochen be constrained, unable to act recklessly for fear of collateral damage.
He only needed to wait for other experts from the Dark God Hall to arrive, and dealing with Zhang Ruochen would become manageable.
Just as he was about to break free from King Mountain and could already see the city’s grand outline, a triumphant smile appeared on Yuan Che’s face. But behind him, a roar rang out: "Where do you think you’re going? I’ll slay you today and shake the Kunlun Realm!"
Above Yuan Che’s head, a millstone-shaped purple cloud appeared.
A Bagua imprint shot out from the purple cloud, carrying the power of the Supreme Ruler, pressing down.
This time, the Supreme Ruler’s power from the Purple Gold Bagua Mirror was even stronger, as it was jointly activated by Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren, Zhang Ruochen, and the evil spirit.
"No..."
Yuan Che felt a hint of despair as he continuously threw out his Sacred Artifacts and talismans.
"Rumble."
The Bagua imprint pressed down, slamming Yuan Che hard beneath it, reverting him to his true form—a thousand-zhang-tall Diamond Snow Sea Ape, its body a bloody mess.
The residual force of the Bagua imprint surged outward, reaching Cloud Martial Royal City, cracking the tall city walls with dense fissures, as if they might collapse. Both warriors and commoners in the city were terrified.
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