Chapter 2092: A Blessing in Disguise
The moment the divine power vortex took shape, Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden involuntarily fell from midair. The brief disappearance of spatial suppression returned, now noticeably stronger than before.
"Boom, rumble."
The entire space shook violently as vast amounts of violent divine power surged from the vortex, transforming into surging tides and waves.
"Die."
A will of extreme brutality emerged, as if intent on destroying heaven and earth.
Earlier, the monster had regarded Zhang Ruochen, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, and the Dark Son as mere ants, paying them little heed. It believed that once they entered its belly, they could no longer cause any trouble.
But what it never expected was that these ants in its eyes had destroyed its source of power, inflicting considerable damage upon it. How could it not be furious?
Large areas of space shattered, endless darkness surged forth, the light of the Origin Divine Source flickered faintly, and a vast River of Time manifested. Strange phenomena unfolded one after another, as if the end of the world had arrived.
In that instant, the expressions of Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden turned extremely grave. They truly felt a massive threat, and every hair on their bodies stood on end.
"That despicable Dark Son! If I, the Celestial Maiden, can escape this place, I will never let him off," the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said.
The Dark Son had thoroughly enraged her this time. If she didn't give him a severe beating, her hatred would not subside.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruochen immediately channeled his Saint Qi continuously into the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror, doing his utmost to unleash the powerful force contained within it.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden bit the tip of her tongue and spat a mouthful of vital blood onto the Origin Divine Ring. The ring burst forth with brilliant divine light, and many strange patterns emerged from within it.
"Boom."
The vast, abyss-like divine power pressed down madly, instantly shattering the power released by the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror and the Origin Divine Ring, then sent both flying away. The disparity in power was simply not on the same level.
With perfect tacit understanding, Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden quickly formed hand seals, gathering all the rules they had cultivated from the Eternal Dao into a single, powerful river of rules that flowed within each other's bodies.
Instantly, a resilient protective holy light appeared around them, as if it could ward off all techniques.
"Crack."
The divine power, like raging waves, crashed against Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, shattering the resilient protective holy light. They were sent flying backward.
Although the protective holy light had absorbed most of the impact, the two were still seriously injured, spitting blood from their mouths.
"No good. With our current cultivation levels, we can't withstand this. This monster is too powerful, easily capable of killing an Undying Great Saint," the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said solemnly.
In the face of absolute power, no matter how many exquisite techniques they possessed, it was all useless.
Worse still, they were trapped inside the monster's body, with nowhere to flee. The situation was dire.
Zhang Ruochen's mind raced, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He thought to himself, "At this point, I have no choice but to use it."
Seeing all kinds of terrifying divine power surging toward them, Zhang Ruochen no longer hesitated. He waved his hand and sent an object flying out.
It was an ancient, broken stele, plain and unremarkable, its surface covered with many ancient characters from an unknown era.
This was none other than the God-Defying Stele that Zhang Ruochen had obtained back in Luo Water. It had an immense origin and unfathomable divine power, making it his strongest trump card.
Of course, this trump card could not be used lightly. If it were exposed, it might bring about a disaster of annihilation.
As soon as the God-Defying Stele appeared, the surging tide of divine power quickly receded—or rather, it dissipated on its own.
A look of surprise appeared in the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden's eyes. "What's going on? What did you do?"
Zhang Ruochen did not answer. He moved his body, following closely behind the God-Defying Stele while setting up layers of temporal and spatial barriers to prevent the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden from spying.
This was one of his greatest secrets, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
So far, only a handful of people knew of the God-Defying Stele's existence, and none of them knew what strange abilities it possessed.
In the blink of an eye, the God-Defying Stele had broken through layer after layer of obstacles and directly slammed into the newly repaired divine power vortex.
The divine power vortex shook violently and then began to collapse.
This was the monster's source of power and the dwelling place of its Sacred Soul.
The other monsters outside were merely clusters of ferocious will, but this monster possessed a powerful Sacred Soul, which was why it had intelligence.
Zhang Ruochen pressed one hand against the God-Defying Stele, channeling more of his own Sacred Dao rules into those ancient characters, trying to unleash the stele's greater power to completely crush the monster.
Tens of millions of Sacred Dao rules poured into the God-Defying Stele, causing the divine power vortex to collapse even faster.
The monster resisted fiercely, weaving countless rule chains into a net, trying to wrap around the God-Defying Stele.
But as soon as these rule chains approached the stele, their luster immediately dimmed, and the power they carried vanished without a trace.
"What a great opportunity."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes gleamed with light, locking onto those dimmed rule chains.
The surging Purifying Divine Flame rushed out from his body, transforming into a fire dragon that coiled around those dimmed rule chains, forcibly stripping them from the divine power vortex and pulling them into his body.
These rule chains were the foundation of the monster's power. If he could refine them, he would gain many benefits.
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to extract these rule chains. But with the God-Defying Stele suppressing the monster, it could not resist.
"Roar."
The monster let out furious roars, filled with rage and also a hint of panic.
A broken stone stele, devoid of any power fluctuations, was actually able to completely suppress its power and gradually dismantle it. If this continued, the situation would become extremely dire.
The monster possessed four types of divine power: time, space, darkness, and origin. Each was incredibly mysterious, but now it could not exert any of them.
"Human, stop immediately! I, the King, will let you out."
A low voice came from within the divine power vortex.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing to fully activate the God-Defying Stele while plundering the monster's rule chains as much as possible.
The monster roared again: "Human, stop! Do you want to perish together with me, the King?"
"Can you even do that?" Zhang Ruochen sneered.
With the God-Defying Stele suppressing it, he wasn't afraid of the monster causing any trouble.
As the saying goes, fortunes change. Earlier, the monster had toyed with them, slowly torturing them. Now it was his turn to make it pay a heavy price.
Some of the plundered rule chains dissipated directly, transforming into strange power that merged into his body. Others entered the Tongtian River, giving rise to powerful Sacred Dao rules.
Zhang Ruochen knew that the dissipated rule chains were formed from the Dao of Origin and the Dao of Darkness, which were not the paths he cultivated. Naturally, they could not increase his Sacred Dao rules.
As time passed, the monster's divine power vortex grew smaller and smaller, with most of its divine power dissipating. Its rule chains also suffered heavy losses, truly damaging its foundation.
By this point, the monster had genuinely begun to feel fear, sensing the approach of death.
"I can give you a chance. If you want to live, open your Sacred Soul and don't resist. Let me plant a slave mark," Zhang Ruochen said coldly.
Hearing this, the monster's emotions became extremely agitated, and it roared repeatedly: "I, the King, am the overlord of True Dragon Island! Human, you dare to try to enslave me? This is a delusion!"
"Is that so? Then die."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes were cold, devoid of any emotion.
He had thought of subduing the monster because of its immense strength, which could serve as a powerful ally. But since it was unwilling to submit, he didn't mind. Refining it completely would likely boost his cultivation and power significantly.
Gradually, the monster grew weaker and weaker, and its massive body even showed signs of collapse.
It had exhausted all its means and tried to fight desperately, but nothing worked. Its life was about to end.
"I submit! Don't kill me!"
Under the shadow of death, the monster's heart was filled with fear and despair, and it finally chose to submit.
Without any hesitation, the monster cooperatively revealed its Sacred Soul.
The form of its Sacred Soul was very peculiar. Its body resembled a demon wolf, but it had a huge dragon head, wings on its ribs, black scales covering its body, and four tails of different colors behind it.
This was presumably its true form.
Facing the God-Defying Stele, the monster's Sacred Soul trembled uncontrollably. It no longer resisted and obediently lowered its head.
"A wise choice."
Zhang Ruochen immediately formed hand seals, executing a secret technique of the Blood God Sect. He condensed a Blood God Curse Seal and pressed it directly onto the monster's Sacred Soul.
The monster did not resist, and the Blood God Curse Seal smoothly entered.
Thus, its life and death were now entirely in Zhang Ruochen's hands.
"Master."
The monster's Sacred Soul prostrated itself on the ground, showing great respect.
Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly, a satisfied smile appearing on his face. He waved his hand and put away the God-Defying Stele.
His gains this time were enormous. Refining the rule chains he had plundered from the monster gave him a much deeper understanding of the Way of Time and the Way of Space, as if he had been enlightened.
At the same time, his physical strength had greatly improved. The Tongtian River had further expanded, and the number of rules it contained had reached over forty-five million, an increase of ten million. All of these rules belonged to the domains of time and space, covering the Eternal Dao, Supreme Sacred Dao, Great Dao, and Small Dao. The benefits were even greater than when he had refined the Five Elements Imperial Emperor Flower.
Among these, the Time Rules and Space Rules had each increased by one hundred thousand, reaching three hundred and sixty thousand and four hundred and forty thousand respectively. In these two paths, he could be said to have truly entered the hall of mastery.
It was worth noting that cultivating the Eternal Dao was extremely difficult. Each rule required a considerable amount of time to cultivate.
The combined increase of two hundred thousand rules in two Eternal Dao paths was simply unimaginable.
In terms of Sacred Dao rules, Zhang Ruochen no longer had any weaknesses. If he wished, he could easily cultivate a large number of Small Dao rules in a short time.
Using Space Teleportation, Zhang Ruochen appeared beside the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden.
"What did you do? Why has the monster calmed down?" the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden asked curiously.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I just used a little trick to subdue the monster. Now we can go out and settle accounts with the Dark Son."
Hearing this, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden's heart stirred. She could tell that Zhang Ruochen didn't want to tell her everything, but that was normal. Everyone had their own secrets.
"That treacherous Dark Son dares to scheme against me, the Celestial Maiden. I will never let him off," the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said, her eyes flashing with cold light.
On the matter of dealing with the Dark Son, their positions were undoubtedly the same, as neither of them was willing to suffer a loss.
Just then, space twisted, and a spatial force enveloped Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden.
The next moment, the two had left the monster's body and appeared on top of its head.
The monster's body rose into the air, flying out from the dark abyss and entering the wide passage.
"Roar."
With a low roar from the monster, one divine power monster after another rushed out from various passages.
Struck by the God-Defying Stele, the monster had suffered severe damage, its strength greatly reduced, and its ferocity was far less than before. Yet it was still the absolute king among these divine power monsters.
Originally, Zhang Ruochen had planned to destroy all the divine power monsters and obtain their divine power crystals, but now he abandoned that idea.
With the monster king under his command, he could control these divine power monsters. They would undoubtedly be a very powerful force that could play a huge role on True Dragon Island.
After all, these divine power monsters all possessed strength comparable to Undying Great Saints. Although they lacked intelligence and their methods were not very sophisticated, they were nearly immortal. As long as their fundamental ferocious will was not extinguished, even if their bodies were shattered, they could be restored.
Using these divine power monsters to fight against the Hell Realm army would likely yield good results.
The monster king flapped its wings, carrying Zhang Ruochen and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden at great speed out of the dark pit.
"We're out!"
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden's emotions were quite complex.
In a short period, they had experienced too many things, repeatedly trapped in desperate situations. They had thought it was a certain death scenario, but in the end, they had managed to break out alive and see the light of day again. It felt like a dream.
Having gone through so much, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden's state of mind had undergone a great sublimation. There was no longer any cowardice in her heart, which would have a profound impact on her future cultivation.
Outside, there was still a large amount of divine power, sealing the space. But with the monster king present, leaving was not difficult.
Zhang Ruochen immediately released his spiritual power to probe the surroundings, but he found no trace of the Dark Son. Clearly, he had already left.
Standing atop the monster king's head, Zhang Ruochen's gaze was proud. He raised his head and roared: "Dark Son, come out and fight me to the death! If you hide, I will kill every Hell Realm cultivator I see. No one will leave True Dragon Island alive."
At this moment, his hair stood on end with rage, and his killing intent soared to the heavens, spreading for tens of thousands of miles, shaking the entire Dragon God Palace ruins.
He was usually a very calm person, but this time, the Dark Son had thoroughly provoked him.
All he could think about now was finding the Dark Son to take revenge. If he didn't vent this anger, his heart would not be at peace.
"No matter where you hide, I, the Celestial Maiden, will drag you out," the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said solemnly.
Immediately, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden quickly sent out several Message Light Talismans she had prepared. She was summoning all the experts of the Thousand Star Civilization, then joining forces with the Witch God Civilization and the Big Dipper Civilization. She didn't believe they couldn't find the Dark Son's trail.
After doing this, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden prepared to leave and rendezvous with the experts of the Thousand Star Civilization.
But suddenly, she thought of something, and a conflicted look appeared in her eyes. She seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
After hesitating for a long time, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden finally spoke: "Zhang Ruochen, I might know where the World Gate Key is."
Hearing the words "World Gate Key," the anger in Zhang Ruochen's heart subsided a lot, and he regained some rationality. "How would you know?"
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said, "Weren't you curious earlier about why I took the risk to follow you? Actually, the reason is simple. I discovered that the short, thin old man carried the aura of the Kunlun Realm's origin."
"You mean the World Gate Key is on that old fellow?" A strange light flashed in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden shook her head slightly. "I can't be sure about that. But even if he hasn't obtained the World Gate Key, he must have come into contact with it and holds important clues."
Her Origin Divine Eye could see through origins, but she couldn't completely see through the short, thin old man. There seemed to be a layer of mist shrouding him, perhaps related to his contact with the World Gate Key.
Originally, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden had no intention of revealing the matter of the World Gate Key, planning to seize it on her own.
But for some reason, thinking about how important the World Gate Key was to the Kunlun Realm and to Zhang Ruochen, she ultimately couldn't control her rationality and spoke out.