Chapter 2032: Ten Great Divine Artifacts?
"Bang, bang."
The grand formation trembled but remained extremely stable.
The natural laws and celestial forces within a radius of several thousand miles surged violently once again, but this time they flowed not toward Zuo Li, but into the Seven Star Heaven-Sealing Formation, making it even more stable and unshakable.
"Shift the stars, Seven Stars Slay the God."
Under Xiao Hei's control, the formation underwent a transformation.
Seven beams of brilliant starlight converged, condensing into a sharp star sword that released an awe-inspiring heavenly might.
"Whoosh."
The star sword descended through the air, slashing down at Zuo Li.
The momentum of this strike was earth-shattering, nearly tearing space itself apart.
The formation seemed to connect with the starry sky beyond the realm, as countless beams of starlight descended from the outer heavens, vying with the sun in brilliance, creating a breathtaking spectacle.
Zuo Li's eyes sharpened, and he hurriedly poured his demonic qi continuously into the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
The Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription initially awakened, releasing a powerful demonic aura. A phantom of a demonic tiger materialized, letting out furious roars that seemed capable of shattering the star river.
"Boom."
The star sword struck down, landing heavily on the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
Instantly, the demonic tiger phantom shattered into pieces, and the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription itself became dim and lusterless.
But this was not the end. After knocking the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription away, the star sword continued its killing strike toward Zuo Li.
Zuo Li's brow glowed, and a brown treasure seal flew out, instantly expanding to a hundred zhang in size, resembling a small mountain, as it met the star sword.
The star sword had already expended most of its power after striking the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
Now that Zuo Li had sent out the brown treasure seal, he finally managed to block it, preventing it from falling.
Xiao Hei paid no further attention to Zuo Li. Instead, it moved with incredible speed, striking out several formation seals to knock the now-dim Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription away.
With a flicker of movement, Xiao Hei appeared beside the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription, channeling the sacred qi within its body. A crimson glow surged forth, enveloping the stone inscription.
"Don't even think about it!"
Zuo Li roared, and a highly condensed black flood dragon flew out from his back, stretching thousands of zhang, charging straight at Xiao Hei.
This black flood dragon was not formed from demonic qi but was the manifestation of a powerful flood dragon soul.
This flood dragon soul had been extracted by Zuo Li from a Path-Approaching Realm black flood dragon, sealed within himself, and nurtured with Heavenly Demon qi. It had become one with him, capable of unleashing astonishing attack power.
"Once something falls into this emperor's hands, no one can take it away. A mere flood dragon soul dares to attack this emperor?" Xiao Hei's eyes were filled with disdain.
Seeing the flood dragon soul approaching, Xiao Hei did not dodge or evade, nor did it activate the formation. Instead, it simply stimulated its own Undying Bird bloodline, releasing a terrifying soul pressure.
Feeling the soul pressure of the Undying Bird, the flood dragon soul immediately began to tremble. Where was its former ferocity?
"This pressure..."
Zuo Li, whose mind was connected to the flood dragon soul, also changed expression.
Just as he was about to recall the flood dragon soul, Xiao Hei suddenly opened its mouth wide, like a giant whale sucking in water, and swallowed the flood dragon soul in one gulp.
In no time, Zuo Li felt his connection to the flood dragon soul severed.
"Pfft."
Zuo Li spat out a large mouthful of blood, his aura becoming extremely chaotic.
Losing the flood dragon soul, which had been nourished by his lifeblood, dealt a severe blow to Zuo Li.
In this state, Zuo Li's control over the treasure seal weakened significantly.
"Boom."
The treasure seal flipped away, and the star sword slashed down vertically.
"Pfft."
Although Zuo Li reacted quickly, he still had an arm severed, blood gushing out.
Despite such a golden opportunity, Xiao Hei did not press the attack. Instead, it withdrew the seven formation flags and quickly retreated backward, putting distance between itself and Zuo Li.
It knew that if it continued to strike, it might provoke Mo Sheng to intervene.
Since there was no chance to kill Zuo Li, it was not going to waste its energy.
After completely suppressing the Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram, Xiao Hei turned its gaze to the severely injured Zuo Li and chuckled, "Kid, you want to compete with this emperor? You're far from it. Even if you go back and cultivate for another thousand years, you'd never be a match for this emperor."
"Invincible... truly lonely."
Hearing this, Zuo Li spat out another large mouthful of blood, his aura even more chaotic and listless.
Whether he was willing to admit it or not, he had indeed lost this bet, forfeiting a piece of the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
"I actually lost..."
Zuo Li's eyes dimmed, appearing utterly dejected.
"Worthless."
Mo Sheng's gaze was icy cold, fury burning in his chest.
Losing two pieces of the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription in a row—how could he not be enraged?
Faced with such an outcome, Mo Sheng truly regretted agreeing to the bet with Zhang Ruochen. He had seriously underestimated the people around Zhang Ruochen.
One had cultivated a Heavenly Phoenix Dao Body, the other was a Formation Earth Master... Could it be that a mere fallen Kunlun Realm, producing just a single Zhang Ruochen, was about to become a force to be reckoned with?
No matter how strong a person's power and cultivation were, they could only walk alone. But with talented people all around and experts like clouds, Zhang Ruochen might one day become a king, a sovereign, ruling over a single realm, or even multiple realms.
Zuo Li retrieved his severed arm, lowered his head, and silently returned to the Black Demon Realm camp.
Having lost the bet, he had nothing more to say.
At this moment, no one in the Black Demon Realm camp spoke up, because anyone could see that it wasn't that Zuo Li was too weak, but that the owl was too strange. Anyone facing it would likely find it a headache.
Just the Seven Star Heaven-Sealing Formation alone was enough to leave people helpless. Even Zhuogu, the second-strongest below Great Saint in the Black Demon Realm, dared not claim he could definitely break it.
"How about it? With this emperor on the job, it's foolproof." Xiao Hei smugly flickered back.
The next moment, Xiao Hei tossed the Heavenly Demon Mad Flood Dragon Diagram to Zhang Ruochen while pocketing the seized Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram for itself. "This one's yours. The other is this emperor's spoils of war."
"You don't cultivate demonic arts. What do you want the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription for?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"What do you know? The Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription is not as simple as you think. Each piece is a powerful war artifact. If they could be assembled together, what would happen? Legend has it that it's connected to a divine artifact." Xiao Hei said.
"The Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription is connected to the Ten Great Divine Artifacts of the Kunlun Realm?" A strange light flickered in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
Xiao Hei rolled its eyes. "This emperor said it's a legend, not necessarily the truth. After all, since the ancient era, the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions have been scattered, held by many forces, with no chance of being assembled."
"Moreover, based on what this emperor knows, even if you could gather all the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, you'd need to master a special secret technique to fuse them together. And what that secret technique is, no one knows anymore."
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen fell into thought, quickly reviewing all the information he had about the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
The Ten Great Divine Artifacts of the Kunlun Realm were all legendary items. In the present age, it was impossible to confirm whether they truly existed.
Even the names of those Ten Great Divine Artifacts were rarely known.
Among those Zhang Ruochen had heard of were only a few, such as the Divine Dragon Sun Moon Chaos Tower, the Imperial Ruler's Divine Ruler, and the Dao Soul Platform, all of which did indeed exist.
The Divine Dragon Sun Moon Chaos Tower had an owner, held in the hands of a taboo figure.
As for the Imperial Ruler's Divine Ruler and the Dao Soul Platform, their circumstances were unclear.
Zhang Ruochen only knew that the Imperial Ruler's Divine Ruler was originally kept in the Inscription Guild, though few knew about it.
"Zhang Ruochen, in the first two bets, you sent out your people first. This time, it's my turn!"
Just as Zhang Ruochen was thinking, Mo Sheng's icy voice suddenly rang out.
Zhang Ruochen snapped back to reality and replied loudly, "No problem. Send whoever you want."
Hearing the response, the corners of Mo Sheng's mouth curled up slightly, forming a faint arc.
The Yin Fan Demoness nodded at Mo Sheng and immediately flashed out.
"Who from the Blood God Sect will fight?" The Yin Fan Demoness stood in midair, shouting across the distance.
Seeing the Yin Fan Demoness, Zhang Ruochen's expression changed slightly.
Not just him, but others also furrowed their brows.
The reason was the Yin Fan Demoness's cultivation level. She was not at the Dao Domain Realm or the Path-Approaching Realm, but at the Heaven-Connecting Realm in between.
On Zhang Ruochen's side, there was simply no one with a Heaven-Connecting Realm cultivation.
The cultivators watching from afar also showed surprise.
"It seems that after losing two rounds, Mo Sheng is getting anxious, coming up with this kind of tactic."
"Since it's a bet, the one who answers the challenge can only have a lower or equal cultivation level. Mo Sheng is clearly sending the Yin Fan Demoness on purpose, making it so Zhang Ruochen can't find anyone to oppose her."
"Not to mention the Heaven-Connecting Realm. Zhang Ruochen only has two Dao Domain Realm experts by his side, and one has already fought. Can the remaining one be a match for the Yin Fan Demoness?"
"Don't forget, Zhang Ruochen himself is a Dao Domain Realm expert. If he fights, his chances of winning should be very high. After all, in Saint Bright City, he personally killed several Path-Approaching Realm titans."
"Will Zhang Ruochen fight himself? I'm looking forward to that."
...
Many cultivators fixed their gazes on Zhang Ruochen from afar. In their view, if he wanted to win this bet, he would probably have to fight personally.
Unfortunately, they did not know that Zhang Ruochen and Mo Sheng had already agreed that there would be a bet between the two of them, so he simply could not fight in this round.
...
Everyone, who do you think will fight in the next battle?