Chapter 1916: Arrival at the Northern Domain
In the Northern Domain, an unnamed place.
A violent ripple spread across the void, then shattered, forming a massive spatial vortex that threatened to devour everything.
Zhang Ruochen, Ji Fanxin, and Xiang Chunan materialized, only to be caught by the spatial vortex.
"Not good."
Xiang Chunan's face changed drastically.
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen moved with incredible speed, grabbing Ji Fanxin and Xiang Chunan, one in each hand.
Caught within the spatial vortex, only he, as the Heir of Time and Space, could employ the necessary countermeasures.
After stabilizing his stance, Zhang Ruochen acted without hesitation, immediately executing a Spatial Displacement.
"Crack."
A spatial blade appeared abruptly, slashing at the spot where Zhang Ruochen and the others had just been.
Had they been even a moment slower, all three would have surely perished.
"Whoosh."
Ten zhang outside the spatial vortex, Zhang Ruochen's trio appeared out of thin air.
Constrained by the vortex's pull, managing to displace ten zhang was already the limit.
Without pausing, the three unleashed their utmost speed, distancing themselves from the vortex as much as possible to avoid further entanglement.
"What about Brother Luo Yi?"
Xiang Chunan's face showed anxiety.
The four of them had clearly been teleported together, so why wasn't Luo Yi's figure visible?
Just then, Luo Yi's form appeared.
Like them before, he too was caught in the spatial vortex.
"Big Brother, save Brother Luo Yi quickly!" Xiang Chunan called out urgently.
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen had already charged into the spatial vortex.
Zhang Ruochen appeared beside Luo Yi and grabbed him.
At this moment, the vortex's power was even stronger, making it difficult to displace easily.
Zhang Ruochen quickly retrieved the Space-Time Secret Scripture, stabilizing the space, and then, leveraging the scripture's power, he displaced out with Luo Yi just before the vortex collapsed.
"Phew."
Xiang Chunan watched Zhang Ruochen and Luo Yi descend from midair, letting out a deep breath of relief.
The situation had been perilous; they had nearly all failed to escape.
"The previous teleportations were stable. Why was this one so dangerous?" Ji Fanxin frowned slightly, asking.
They had started from the Sword Grave, undergoing six teleportations in total. This was the last one, expected to bring them near Xianji Mountain, but instead, they encountered a major problem, nearly wiping them out.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "I don't know the reason either. Perhaps there's an issue with this area. I sensed it earlier—the space here is very chaotic and extremely unstable."
"Whatever the reason, we're all alive, and that's enough. That nearly scared me to death."
Xiang Chunan patted his chest, a look of lingering fear on his face.
Zhang Ruochen smiled slightly. "With me here, no need to be afraid. Let's first scout the area and see where we've ended up."
Ji Fanxin transformed into a beam of white light, flew above the clouds, and released her spiritual power to probe. After a moment, she identified a direction.
"Follow me," she said.
"Let's go. The fairy's spiritual power is strong; she might have discovered something."
Zhang Ruochen took out the black altar and activated it.
Then, steering the altar, the three of them pursued Ji Fanxin.
On the altar, Luo Yi clasped his hands in a bow and smiled. "Brother Zhang, thank you for saving my life."
"No need for thanks," Zhang Ruochen replied.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was reluctant to speak more, Luo Yi didn't feel awkward. He flipped his hand and produced a dark green wine gourd. "I have some fine wine here, taken from a Nine-Step Saint King of the Hell Realm. Brother Zhang, would you like a taste?"
With that, he pulled out the stopper, tilted his head back, and took a large gulp.
Without waiting to see if Zhang Ruochen would drink, he tossed the gourd over.
Zhang Ruochen instinctively caught the gourd, giving Luo Yi a deep look. Seeing the other man just smile and nod at him, he said, "Alright, since Brother Luo has good wine, I'll give it a try."
He took a sip. "Indeed, it's fine wine," Zhang Ruochen said.
Suddenly, Luo Yi reached out and placed a hand on Zhang Ruochen's shoulder. "Brother Zhang, on this trip to the Northern Domain, where exactly are we going? Tell me first, so I can have some peace of mind."
"Xianji Mountain."
Zhang Ruochen felt a bit uncomfortable. He glanced at Luo Yi with a cold expression, clearly signaling him to remove his hand.
Whether Luo Yi was naturally uninhibited or not, he instead wrapped an arm around Zhang Ruochen's neck, acting like a close brother. "Xianji Mountain? What are we going there for? To join the merit battle?"
As a vast, eternal world, the Kunlun Realm had a sprawling territory. The divine war at the end of the Middle Ages had left many world fissures.
Each world fissure was a passage for the Hell Realm to invade the Kunlun Realm.
Xianji Mountain also had a large world fissure, on the other side of which lay the territory of the Death Clan of the Hell Realm. Facing the onslaught of the Death Clan army, the merit battlefield opened there was incredibly brutal.
In a very short time, that region had turned into a dead zone, shrouded in deathly energy, with all life extinguished.
"To retrieve something from Xianji Mountain. You'll know when we get there," Zhang Ruochen said, unwilling to reveal too much.
At that moment, Luo Yi was extremely close to Zhang Ruochen. Zhang Ruochen turned his head slightly, and their noses almost touched.
Luo Yi's face was very feminine, with delicate features, showing none of a man's ruggedness.
More importantly, Zhang Ruochen detected a faint, subtle fragrance from Luo Yi, very similar to a woman's.
Additionally, he noticed that Luo Yi's gaze at him was somewhat different, unlike how he looked at others.
They were too close.
Especially when their eyes met, time seemed to stand still.
The next moment, a wave of revulsion surged in Zhang Ruochen, and he wanted to slap Luo Yi flying.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen and Luo Yi with their arms around each other, looking very intimate, Xiang Chunan nodded repeatedly. "Good brothers, all good brothers."
"Take your hand off. Stay farther away from me," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Why?"
"Take it off."
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, his hands clenched into fists.
"Boring."
Luo Yi withdrew his arm, shook his head, and walked to the other side of the altar.
After flying continuously for an hour, Zhang Ruochen and the others finally stopped.
By now, the sky had darkened.
Ahead lay a city, majestic and vast, stretching for a hundred li, but it was severely damaged. Most of the city walls had collapsed, turning it into almost a ruin.
The city was shrouded in dense deathly energy, with no sign of life.
"Linyang City."
Zhang Ruochen fixed his gaze on the plaque above the city gate.
Seeing those three characters, he finally knew where they were.
Linyang City was the capital of Linyang Commandery, once prosperous with a population of over ten million. It was relatively close to Xianji Mountain, about one hundred and twenty thousand li away.
Because of this, when the seal at Xianji Mountain broke and a large number of Death Clan members invaded the Kunlun Realm, Linyang City suffered disaster, becoming what it was now.
Zhang Ruochen remembered this city well. The reason was that at the Merit General Relay Station, he had heard news that a few days ago, Pei Yutian had charged into Linyang City alone, sinking half of it with his attacks.
However, the Death Clan was too powerful. In the end, Pei Yutian escaped severely wounded and, while being pursued, fell off Life-and-Death Cliff.
Zhang Ruochen could sense that there were still many powerful auras in the city, with deathly evil energy extremely strong.
"What Pei Yutian couldn't finish, I'll do now." A fierce killing intent burst from Zhang Ruochen's eyes, radiating outward.
Thinking of the over ten million humans slaughtered in Linyang City, a blazing fury surged in Zhang Ruochen's heart, unbearable.
Zhang Ruochen soared into the air, flying directly above Linyang City.
He executed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm. A crimson divine dragon flew out, emitting a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering dragon roar, dispersing the deathly evil energy around the city's outskirts and surging inward.
"Boom."
The earth quaked. Linyang City, already mostly sunken, completely collapsed, sinking into the ground. Around the massive pit where the city had been, hundreds-of-li-long fissures stretched across the earth, a shocking sight.
"Roar."
With angry howls, five streams of deathly evil energy shot up from underground at incredible speed.
A large number of Death Clan cultivators had been entrenched in Linyang City, but with Zhang Ruochen's single palm strike, only these five survived.
The five surviving Death Clan experts were all powerful, at least at the Dao Domain level, with one reaching the Reaching Heaven realm.
The Reaching Heaven realm Death Clan expert spoke coldly, "Heavenly Court cultivators really don't know when to die. They still dare to come. This time, with this king stationed here, I'll make sure you never return."
The Death Clan in the city were the army he commanded.
A few days ago, Pei Yutian had attacked once, causing heavy casualties among his troops.
Now, another one had come today, even more ruthless than Pei Yutian, nearly wiping out his entire legion with a single move.
"Because I came specifically to kill you," Zhang Ruochen replied coldly.
"Seeking death."
The Reaching Heaven realm Death Clan expert roared, reaching out with a bone hand.
The bone hand grew massive in the wind, deathly evil energy condensing into gaseous bone dragons. The sky and earth darkened, and a terrifying, boundless force pressed down.
"Hmph."
Zhang Ruochen snorted, striking out with a palm.
He fully mobilized the Truth Rules, unleashing eight times the power in this strike.
The deathly evil energy scattered instantly, and the bone hand flew back.
"Crack."
The sound of bone breaking echoed as the bone hand shattered, breaking into pieces of sacred bone that streaked across the sky, flying in all directions.
"So strong. My bone hand is comparable to a Six-Yao Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact, yet it couldn't withstand his palm. Who the hell is this?"
The Reaching Heaven realm Death Clan expert retreated repeatedly, shocked to the core.
Then, he felt a powerful spiritual force envelop him, like countless shackles binding his body, rendering him completely immobile.
The spiritual force came from the clouds. A stunningly beautiful woman stood above the clouds, with countless petals of flower rain falling from the sky.
"There's another expert."
The Reaching Heaven realm Death Clan expert took a deep breath, broke free from the spiritual suppression, and then roared, "Attack together! Destroy them!"
As he gave the order, the four Dao Domain realm Death Clan experts struck together, unleashing various evil artifacts. A torrent of deathly evil energy instantly engulfed Zhang Ruochen.
"Whoosh."
However, the Reaching Heaven realm Death Clan expert himself decisively fled.