Chapter 1793: Stone Kai
“Who is Stone Kai?”
Just as Zhang Ruochen was wondering, he saw a large mass of fiery stones flying from the horizon, like a meteor shower, tearing through the night sky with a rumbling sound, bombarding Luo City.
Not good.
If those fiery stones fell, the Saint realm cultivators in the city might be able to save their lives. But the common people would surely have no chance of escape.
The civilians and martial artists in Luo City were terrified, many kneeling on the ground.
“Doomsday… doomsday has come…”
“Please, Saint masters, save us! The entire city’s people will be eternally grateful.”
…
…
The Saint realm cultivators in the city wore grim expressions, only wanting to preserve their strength to deal with the Hell Realm enemies outside the city, with no intention of protecting the humans in Luo City.
Protecting mortals would only put themselves in danger.
“Whoosh—”
Zhang Ruochen waved his sleeve, and eighteen formation flags flew out, inserting themselves into eighteen positions around Luo City.
These were formation flags refined by Xiao Hei, called the “Heaven-Burning Earth-Melting Formation.” It was said to be a ninth-rank formation requiring one hundred and eight flags to unleash its full power.
But due to limited resources, only eighteen had been refined at the time.
Of course, whether this formation was truly called the Heaven-Burning Earth-Melting Formation was uncertain, since Xiao Hei always gave things grandiose names.
“Formation, rise!”
Zhang Ruochen roared, his long hair flying upward as rings of holy light surged from his body, enveloping the entire Luo City.
The holy energy within the holy light poured into the eighteen formation flags.
Instantly, the flagpoles transformed into iron pillars as thick as millstones, and the flags unfurled, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.
Countless fiery serpent flames surged from the battle flags, connecting to form a massive net that wrapped around the city below.
“Boom!”
“Bang!”
Tens of thousands of fiery stones crashed down, colliding with the Heaven-Burning Earth-Melting Formation.
This wave of attacks lasted for over ten breaths before ending, with all the fiery stones blocked by the formation net. The common people in the city breathed a long sigh of relief, while many elderly were so frightened they collapsed to the ground.
The Saint realm cultivators showed expressions of surprise.
Not just surprise that the cripple would save the mortals of Luo City, but also that he possessed such a formidable set of formation flags. This cripple was truly a remarkable figure.
Just as all the Saint realm cultivators were relaxing a little…
A deafening explosion erupted from the Void Saint Tower. A stone giant, even larger than the tower itself, burst out from underground, instantly tearing the twenty-zhang-tall Nanmu Drum Tower into fragments.
The stone giant’s hands grabbed Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird, pulling them down from midair.
“Not good, Stone Kai was hiding… in the city…”
Caught off guard, Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird tried to swing their holy swords to break free from Stone Kai’s grasp. But they found his hands covered in inscriptions, suppressing all their power.
“Forbidden Dao inscriptions carved by a Stone Clan Great Saint.” White Vermilion Bird’s face turned pale.
“You two bitches chased me for hundreds of thousands of miles. Today, I’ll make you wish you were dead!” the giant stone man roared furiously, flames blazing in his eyes.
“Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird are top-tier proud daughters of heaven, no weaker than that stone man, yet they were easily ambushed. Their combat experience is too lacking.” Zhang Ruochen shook his head silently.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen had to fully control the Heaven-Burning Earth-Melting Formation to defend against the stone men outside the city, unable to help them.
For some unknown reason, the stone man slammed Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird hard onto the ground, pounded them with dozens of punches until they were severely injured, then used two iron chains to lock their necks and dragged them toward the city outskirts.
The cocoon-like protective holy armor on Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird had already shattered, revealing breathtakingly beautiful faces that could make any male cultivator fall in love and feel pity.
But now, they were in a miserable state, clutching the iron chains around their necks, unable to break free.
“Release the two fairies!”
Some Saint realm cultivators rushed out to save the Black and White Beauties.
“Get lost!”
The stone man’s ten-zhang-long arm casually swung, creating a wave of holy energy that crushed them into clouds of blood mist.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
As the stone man walked, a series of shattered footprints were left on the stone pavement.
Just as he was about to leave Luo City, Zhang Ruochen unleashed his full power, pouring holy energy like a tidal wave.
The Heaven-Burning Earth-Melting Formation released a massive blaze, forming several-zhang-high waves of flame that surged outward, melting the tens of thousands of stone men outside the city into magma.
The stone man named Stone Kai suddenly turned around, fixing his gaze on Zhang Ruochen standing in the middle of the street, and laughed: “So there’s an expert here. Qi Xiaotian, he’s yours to deal with!”
Stone Kai walked against the flames from the formation flags, stopping beside one of the flagpoles and grabbing it with his stone arm.
“What?”
Zhang Ruochen was startled to find that the flames from the formation flags couldn’t harm Stone Kai. A web-like red inscription pattern appeared on his stone body, keeping the flames at bay.
Stone Kai pulled up the formation flag and hurled it at Zhang Ruochen.
Stone Kai’s cultivation was extremely formidable, likely at the peak of the Eight-Step Saint King realm. With his terrifying strength, Zhang Ruochen dared not clash with him head-on.
Zhang Ruochen dodged backward like lightning.
“Boom!”
The formation flag struck the spot where Zhang Ruochen had just stood, the millstone-thick flagpole sinking deep into the ground. The surrounding area bulged with rubble, collapsing many buildings.
Stone Kai ignored Zhang Ruochen, dragging Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird into the darkness.
“Why is it letting the humans in Luo City go?”
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled and wanted to chase after Stone Kai to rescue the two women, but suddenly, the dark clouds above were pierced by a blood-red light. A cauldron covered in countless intricate patterns floated within the blood light.
The blood-red cauldron, the size of a palace, was inscribed with ancient and mysterious markings.
Zhang Ruochen stopped abruptly, staring at the cauldron, which was filled with the blood of countless humans.
“Hiss.”
The cauldron’s light surged, emitting a strange power.
The humans in Luo City felt immense pain, all crying out in agony. The blood in their veins was uncontrollably surging, as if trying to burst out of their bodies.
“So this is the cursed thing that sucked the blood of those fishermen.” Zhang Ruochen activated the power of the Fire God Armor, his arms igniting.
The Butcher and the Simpleton swaggered out from the ruins.
The Butcher, with a burly frame and a fierce aura, said: “Little brother, you’re no match for Qi Xiaotian. Leave him to us, and go save those two beauties!”
“I don’t like playing the hero saving the damsel,” the Simpleton said with a smile, like a Maitreya Buddha.
The Butcher looked up at the blood-red cauldron in the sky and said: “We’ve been investigating who’s been stirring up trouble by the Luo River, so we… were… in… Luo City…”
“Thud.”
The Butcher fell backward, his head hitting a piece of rubble.
“Watch out!” Zhang Ruochen thought the Butcher had been ambushed, immediately activating his text armor and becoming alert.
The Simpleton, still smiling, waved his hand: “It’s fine, it’s fine. He’s afraid of blood!”
Zhang Ruochen was stunned.
Afraid of blood?
“Boom!”
The Simpleton’s aura suddenly changed, his entire body radiating dazzling golden light. The phantom of a golden pagoda surged from within him, enveloping his whole body.
His bare feet stomped hard on the ground, launching him upward like a cannonball.
“Bang!”
The golden pagoda shot into the sky, colliding with the blood-red cauldron.
The pagoda and cauldron flew above the clouds.
“Boom!” A powerful surge of holy energy erupted in the sky, shattering all the dark clouds within a thousand-mile radius.
That harmless, gluttonous Simpleton was actually a super powerhouse?
Zhang Ruochen was dumbfounded. He looked at the Butcher, who had fainted from fear of blood, and felt a bit bewildered.
Without overthinking, Zhang Ruochen hoisted the unconscious Butcher onto his back, activated a Great Space Teleportation, and instantly shot out of Luo City. With a wave of his sleeve, he retrieved the eighteen formation flags.
After chasing for about four hundred miles, Zhang Ruochen spotted Stone Kai in the distance and felt a surge of joy.
Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird were decent Saint realm cultivators who wouldn’t indiscriminately kill mortals in Kunlun Realm and were doing their best to fight Hell Realm cultivators. Zhang Ruochen didn’t want to see such two strong warriors fall.
Of course, he knew that in a direct confrontation, he was likely no match for Stone Kai.
So, this battle had to be won with wit, not brute force.
Seeing the cripple chasing behind them, Black Phoenix and White Vermilion Bird were overjoyed, like drowning people grabbing a lifeline.
Stone Kai glanced back, a smile forming on his stone face.
“Whoosh—”
A shower of blood rain suddenly flew out from the night sky.
It was a swarm of blood bats, each at least the size of a winnowing basket, with claws as sharp as swords. Some were as large as small hills, radiating powerful holy might.
Zhang Ruochen was surrounded by blood bats. After killing hundreds, he didn’t want to linger and prepared to use a spatial displacement to continue chasing Stone Kai.
Suddenly…
Zhang Ruochen saw a familiar slender figure on the back of one of the blood bats.
“It’s her. She’s still alive.” Zhang Ruochen was very surprised.
On the back of the blood bat stood a woman full of demonic charm. Her snow-white body was wrapped in blood-red mist, making her full chest, slender waist, and long legs appear faintly visible, exuding an irresistible allure.
This woman was Yinghuo, the Divine Maiden of the Undying Divine Temple.
After Chi Yao became a god, she killed the ten Blood Emperors of the Undying Blood Clan. Subsequently, the imperial army launched a large-scale invasion of the Northern Domain, wiping out the Undying Blood Clan’s forces in Kunlun Realm.
Who would have thought this demoness was still alive?
(End of Chapter)