Chapter 1889: Gate of Destiny
"It's not that easy to take something from me."
Zhang Ruochen raised both arms simultaneously, his bones and muscles emitting sounds like thunderclaps. Thirteen dragon souls and thirteen elephant souls emerged, spinning rapidly around his body to form a palm-force light shell dozens of zhang in diameter.
"Boom, rumble."
Mountain after mountain crashed down, colliding with the palm-force light shell and shattering into pieces upon impact.
Finally, the chain, thicker than a water bucket, lashed down, shattering the sacred light on the surface of the palm-force light shell. The thirteen dragon souls and thirteen elephant souls scattered in all directions.
The chain was about to land squarely on Zhang Ruochen.
"Haha, this chain of mine, forged from Abyss Cold Iron, is an eight-yao ten-thousand-pattern sacred artifact. I hope it doesn't turn you to ash in one blow—that would waste a vat of delicious blood," the Martial Realm Divine Son laughed.
"Don't be so arrogant. You're not that strong."
On Zhang Ruochen's arms, acupoints lit up with dazzling brilliance, surging with vast amounts of sacred qi that merged into the Fire God Fist Gloves and Fire God Arm Guards.
The gloves and arm guards ignited, revealing ancient patterns and erupting with powerful divine force.
Zhang Ruochen raised both palms. One hand turned into a blazing fire cloud, clashing violently with the chain.
The sound of metal colliding echoed across heaven and earth, piercingly sharp.
In an instant, the ground beneath Zhang Ruochen burst into flames, and even the air was filled with flying fireballs.
"Has he been shattered into pieces by the Martial Realm Divine Son's single strike?" the Long-Faced Divine Daughter asked, staring into the distance.
"Probably not that easy. The Heir of Time and Space wouldn't be so undeservedly famous."
"Maybe not, but the gap in cultivation is too vast. Even if Zhang Ruochen is a young god, he still has to die."
...
The Martial Realm Divine Son stood midair, his gaze fixed on the fiery domain below. His smile had long since faded, because he was the one directly fighting Zhang Ruochen and knew full well that his last strike had been blocked.
"Swoosh—"
From the sea of fire, a pillar of light shot out—a golden dragon, its roar deafening.
"Is this the mid-rank sacred art you've cultivated?"
The Martial Realm Divine Son was no fool. From their exchange, he already knew that the gloves and arm guards on Zhang Ruochen's arms were divine relics, containing divine power, not to be underestimated.
If combined with a mid-rank sacred art, the two forces stacking together—what level could they reach?
"Dragon Soaring the Nine Heavens."
Zhang Ruochen mobilized all his palm-path rules, merging them into his dragon claws, and struck out with a single claw.
On the other side, the Martial Realm Divine Son remained undaunted. The chain in his hand radiated astonishing cold energy. As it spun continuously, snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and thicker layers of ice crystals formed on the ground.
The cold-energy vortex created by the spinning chain clashed with the dragon claw.
"Boom."
A powerful storm of energy erupted, tearing the ground around them into fragments, causing immense destruction. The devastation extended to the ancient divine patterns left from the Middle Ages, where it was finally stopped by the broken patterns.
"He's got some skill. Fighting the Martial Realm Divine Son and still having the chance to attack," the Cloud Divine Son remarked.
A divine daughter sneered, "Do you know how a cat plays with a mouse? The Martial Realm Divine Son hasn't even used his real techniques yet. He's just toying with him. When the cat truly wants to eat the mouse, it will kill him in one strike."
Xia Wenxin said, "If the Martial Realm Divine Son really treats Zhang Ruochen as a mouse, then it's still uncertain who will end up as the mouse and who as the cat."
"What does Divine Son Xia mean?"
Xia Wenxin replied calmly, "Just keep watching, and you'll see."
The Martial Realm Divine Son swung his chain, continuously neutralizing Zhang Ruochen's palm strikes, and laughed, "If this is all you've got, then it's time to end this."
"Storm Annihilation Vortex."
Dense sacred-path rules surged from the Martial Realm Divine Son's body, merging with the eight-yao ten-thousand-pattern sacred artifact chain.
The chain spun rapidly, forming a nine-layer vortex. Within the vortex, wind-blade canyons capable of tearing heaven and earth flew about.
This was a mid-rank sacred art of no low grade!
The gap in cultivation was undeniable, so Zhang Ruochen naturally didn't take it lightly. He focused all his energy, continuously mobilizing truth rules and combining them with his palm techniques.
"Dragon-Elephant Reaching Heaven."
He struck out with both palms simultaneously, unleashing a sevenfold attack power.
"Boom."
The Storm Annihilation Vortex shattered, and even the clouds and air in the sky trembled violently from the palm force.
The skin on the Martial Realm Divine Son's arms split, pouring out large amounts of blood. His burly body flew backward like a cannonball.
Zhang Ruochen pressed his advantage, grabbing the chain with one hand and pulling the Martial Realm Divine Son toward him with all his strength.
The Martial Realm Divine Son flew toward him like a kite on a string.
But when he was still a hundred zhang away, a ferocious grin suddenly appeared on his face. He spread the wings on his back, and his speed increased severalfold.
"Not good. Was he not seriously injured? Was he deliberately luring me in?" Zhang Ruochen thought.
"In the Heavenly Court Realm, cultivators who have cultivated the Way of Truth to your level are rare. No wonder, with just the Eight-Step Saint King realm, you dare to fight me."
The wounds on the Martial Realm Divine Son's arms healed in an instant.
"But relying solely on the Way of Truth to unleash a few times the attack power is far from enough. The Way of Truth has a nemesis."
"Nemesis? Could it be..."
The blood light radiating from the Martial Realm Divine Son grew stronger, and he burst into laughter: "That's right, the nemesis of truth is fate. Gate of Destiny, emerge!"
Behind the Martial Realm Divine Son, fate rules coalesced into a faintly visible gate of light.
Under the influence of the gate's power, Zhang Ruochen felt his own strength rapidly declining. In just a few moments, it had dropped by four or five times.
Zhang Ruochen had heard from other cultivators before that the Heavenly Court had the Truth Divine Temple, where cultivating the Way of Truth allowed cultivators to unleash several times the attack power of their sacred arts.
Meanwhile, the Hell Realm had the Destiny Divine Temple.
Cultivating the Way of Fate allowed one to reduce an opponent's strength by several times.
"How can the Martial Realm Divine Son coalesce a Gate of Destiny behind him? With the Gate of Destiny, can't he continuously suppress my strength? Even truth rules can only unleash several times the attack power in the instant a sacred art is used. Moreover, mobilizing truth rules takes time—it can't be done instantly."
Zhang Ruochen realized the immense danger. "Is he a disciple of the Destiny Divine Temple?"
Only disciples of the Destiny Divine Temple could cultivate the Gate of Destiny, using its power to continuously suppress their opponents.
With the suppression of the Gate of Destiny, disciples of the Destiny Divine Temple could easily kill enemies above their own cultivation level.
Disciples of the Truth Divine Temple, on the other hand, could cultivate the "Truth Realm Form," something else cultivators in the Heavenly Court Realm couldn't achieve.
The Nine-Eyed Heavenly King shook his head with a smile: "Dealing with a Zhang Ruochen, the Martial Realm Divine Son even brought out the Gate of Destiny. Was that necessary?"
"He's showing off. After all, the Gate of Destiny isn't something just anyone can cultivate."
"I think he wants to capture Zhang Ruochen alive, which is why he used the Way of Fate. It seems Zhang Ruochen can't escape his grasp. Fate is inescapable."
As they spoke, the Martial Realm Divine Son, carrying the Gate of Destiny on his back, had already charged in front of Zhang Ruochen, his fist aimed at his chest.
The fist carried an overwhelming wind pressure, giving Zhang Ruochen an irresistible feeling—as if this punch were thrown by a Great Saint, capable of shattering this entire world.
"No, it's not that he's stronger—it's that I've become weaker."
Zhang Ruochen didn't bother mobilizing truth rules to clash head-on with the Martial Realm Divine Son, as there wasn't enough time.
By the time the truth rules gathered, the Martial Realm Divine Son's fist would have already landed on him.
"Boom."
The Martial Realm Divine Son's fist struck Zhang Ruochen, shattering him into pieces.
But there was no joy on the Martial Realm Divine Son's face. He immediately withdrew his fist, alertly scanning his surroundings, muttering to himself, "He's finally used space power."
Zhang Ruochen's shattered body dissipated in midair, turning into afterimages.
Zhang Ruochen appeared above the Martial Realm Divine Son's head, the Abyssal Ancient Sword in hand, thrusting downward.
The Martial Realm Divine Son had been on guard, so the moment Zhang Ruochen emerged from space, the chain wrapped around him automatically flew up, lashing horizontally.
The sword strike Zhang Ruochen executed was no ordinary sword technique—it was a time sword art.
The chain should have struck him, but as it approached, its speed slowed drastically, nearly coming to a complete halt.
"Not good."
Having experienced countless life-and-death battles, the Martial Realm Divine Son reacted in that split second, executing a mid-rank sacred art-level footwork to dodge swiftly.
"Swish."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword, which should have pierced his head, grazed his cheek.
The Hundred Saint Blood Armor on his cheek shattered.
The sword energy left a shallow bloody gash on his face.
"Damn it."
A surge of intense rage welled up in the Martial Realm Divine Son's heart.
An Eight-Step Saint King actually had the power to threaten his life—this was something that should never have happened.
What shocked the Martial Realm Divine Son even more was that if no one had warned him earlier that this human man was the Heir of Time and Space, Zhang Ruochen, he would definitely have been careless and not constantly guarded against the use of time and space power.
In that situation, could he have dodged that sword strike just now?
The Hundred Illusion Divine Son might indeed have died at Zhang Ruochen's hands.
The divine sons and divine daughters watching from afar all showed expressions of disbelief.
"How is this possible? He was already warned about the Martial Realm Divine Son. Did he still underestimate him and not anticipate Zhang Ruochen using space power?"
"With the Martial Realm Divine Son's rich combat experience, he shouldn't have made such a mistake."
"This isn't a mistake—it's nearly losing his life."
Xia Wenxin said, "Do you really think that knowing someone is the Heir of Time and Space means you automatically have a way to counter space and time? It only shows that the time and space cultivators you've encountered before weren't strong enough and hadn't mastered the use of their power."
"Does Divine Son Xia mean that the Martial Realm Divine Son didn't fail to anticipate Zhang Ruochen's attack, but anticipated it and still couldn't avoid it?" a divine daughter asked for guidance.
Xia Wenxin said, "You're half right."