Chapter 2194: Physical Body Becomes Great Saint
Outside the imperial city, murderous aura soared to the heavens. The Hell Realm's sacred realm army launched fierce attacks wave after wave, pressing forward relentlessly. Those who wanted to kill Zhang Ruochen were extremely determined.
Zhang Ruochen took one bloodstained step after another. With each step forward, his injuries worsened by one degree. He was like a lone boat in the vast ocean, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.
Leaders from various clans were all extremely aggressive, eager to personally kill Zhang Ruochen immediately.
"Brother, are we just going to watch Zhang Ruochen be killed like this?" Xue Ningxiao frowned.
Xue Chen Heavenly Lord shook his head. "Killing Zhang Ruochen is the general trend of Hell Realm. At this moment, no one can stop it."
Unlike other leaders, Xue Chen Heavenly Lord did not participate in the siege against Zhang Ruochen. Instead, he led the cultivators of the Blood Heaven Tribe to hold their position, guarding against attacks from the Heavenly Court realm army.
In this way, although he did not contribute to killing Zhang Ruochen, no one could say anything about it.
There was no choice. Zhang Ruochen's identity was too special. Others could do as they pleased, but the people of the Blood Absolute Family absolutely could not get involved.
"I actually quite admire this cousin. For the sake of those he cares about, he can disregard everything, putting life and death aside. It's a pity that he has to oppose the entire Hell Realm, so he is destined to fail." Xue Ningxiao couldn't help but sigh.
Xue Chen Heavenly Lord said, "People with emotions will have weaknesses, but how many people can completely cut off their emotions?"
Even most gods have people or things they care about.
On the other side, Luo Sha also fixed her gaze on Zhang Ruochen.
Her feelings toward Zhang Ruochen had always been complicated. Although some big shot had once told her the prophecy about the person destined for her, in her interactions with Zhang Ruochen, she had not developed deep romantic feelings. Instead, she felt that Zhang Ruochen was like her nemesis.
In the past, everything she did was smooth sailing.
But from the moment she met Zhang Ruochen, she had suffered one setback after another, which was very frustrating. She found Zhang Ruochen extremely detestable.
But now, seeing Zhang Ruochen alone facing the Hell Realm army to save his daughter, moving forward fearlessly, willing to sacrifice his own life, this had a tremendous impact on Luo Sha. Her heart was deeply touched, and a subtle emotion arose within her.
Perhaps only someone like Zhang Ruochen could be called a true hero. Any woman should desire to meet a man who would treat her like this.
Luo Sha clenched her fists, biting her red lips. She really wanted to stop Zhang Ruochen from moving forward.
Somehow, seeing Zhang Ruochen so severely injured, she felt a sense of reluctance in her heart.
On the city wall of the imperial city, the Tianpeng Prince finally voiced his thoughts, discussing with the leaders of various Heavenly Court realms.
"Letting Zhang Ruochen fight alone outside the city while we just watch here and do nothing—others will think we are afraid of Hell Realm. It will surely become a joke." Tianpeng Prince said.
Wanzhan Sacred Lord nodded. "First, Yan Wushen secretly infiltrated the imperial city, then Hell Realm elites raided the Qinghong Pavilion. We of the Heavenly Court realm have already lost face. We can't continue to be so passive. Brother Gongsun, what do you think?"
Inevitably, the leaders all turned their gazes to a refined young man.
This man was 1.8 meters tall, with outstanding features, exuding an elegant and free-spirited temperament, like a banished immortal.
His name was Gongsun Yuanhao, the leader of the Pangu Great World. He was very low-key but gave off an unfathomable feeling.
"The Heavenly Court realm and Hell Realm have been stalemating for a long time. It's time for a good battle. Otherwise, what meaning is there in us coming to Kunlun Realm?" Gongsun Yuanhao said somewhat meaningfully.
"Now, Zhang Ruochen has single-handedly disrupted the Hell Realm's tens of millions of sacred realm troops. This is a great opportunity to strike. We might achieve huge results, even deal a heavy blow to Hell Realm, and boost the prestige of our Heavenly Court realm."
Hearing this, Tianpeng Prince and Wanzhan Sacred Lord both nodded slightly, obviously agreeing with Gongsun Yuanhao's opinion.
On the Kunlun Realm Merit Battlefield, the Heavenly Court realm had suffered consecutive defeats. They urgently needed a major victory to boost morale and reverse the overall decline.
Seeing that the leaders of the three major ruling worlds had reached a consensus, Zhou Yu became anxious.
If Zhang Ruochen was really rescued, would the Paradise Realm faction have any good days?
But no matter how anxious Zhou Yu was, it was useless. The elites of the Paradise Realm faction had all fallen in the Ziwei Palace. His weight was not enough to change the decision of the Heavenly Court realm side.
Although he was also the apparent leader of Paradise Realm, compared to Gongsun Yuanhao and others, he was far inferior.
After Gongsun Yuanhao and the other two gave the order, the Heavenly Court realm army quickly assembled.
Outside the imperial city, Zhang Ruochen advanced while fighting.
No matter how powerful the Hell Realm formation was, they could not stop his progress.
With every step forward, many Hell Realm cultivators fell.
Correspondingly, Zhang Ruochen's injuries worsened.
Even though Zhang Ruochen kept drinking the Spring of Life, he could not fully heal his wounds.
Hell Realm had changed its strategy, focusing on containment, wanting to exhaust Zhang Ruochen to death with minimal casualties.
Tens of thousands of Stone Clan elites, led by Shi Juexin, condensed an extremely towering death-gray stone mountain, like a planet, pressing down on Zhang Ruochen from above.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen swung the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler, slashing out a ten-thousand-zhang ruler light, splitting the stone mountain in two.
The bodies of many Stone Clan cultivators exploded, their sacred soul fluctuations disappearing, turning into a pile of silent rubble.
But at that moment, a large number of Bone Clan cultivators struck, condensing a pitch-black bone hand, entwined with massive amounts of dark power and death power. As soon as it formed, even the surrounding space was eroded.
The black bone hand solidly struck Zhang Ruochen's body, sending him flying.
Even though Zhang Ruochen wore the Flame God Armor and had divine patterns inscribed by the Moon God on his body, he could not withstand the power of the black bone hand. All his wounds turned black.
"Pfft—"
Zhang Ruochen used the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler as a staff, spitting out a torrent of sacred blood, his body swaying unsteadily.
"Zhang Ruochen, you are at the end of your rope. This day next year will be your death anniversary. But by then, no one will probably remember you." Ming Mo sneered.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was as sharp as a blade, looking at Ming Mo. Without any words, he silently swung the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler.
As long as he still had a breath left, he would never give up.
"Boom!"
The gates of the Central Imperial City swung open, and the vast Heavenly Court realm army charged out with overwhelming momentum.
Tianpeng Prince, Wanzhan Sacred Lord, Gongsun Yuanhao, and other leaders rushed at the forefront, displaying an invincible momentum.
"Stop them! Kill Zhang Ruochen as quickly as possible." A Hell Realm strongman ordered.
Immediately, the Hell Realm army turned direction to face the Heavenly Court realm army.
The Hell Realm army deployed to the imperial city were all battle-hardened veterans, able to remain calm in chaos.
Thus, although the Heavenly Court realm army's attack was somewhat sudden, the Hell Realm army did not appear too flustered, quickly adjusting their formation to engage.
At this moment, Xue Chen's foresight was evident. By holding his position, he seemed to have predicted that the sacred realm army of the Central Imperial City would attack, showing great wisdom.
But this also weakened the forces used against Zhang Ruochen.
For a time, Zhang Ruochen's advance accelerated, sweeping forward.
"Formation, rise!"
With a loud shout, an extremely grand killing formation was suddenly activated.
The killing formation covered a radius of a thousand li, enveloping Zhang Ruochen.
Array imprints as massive as mountains appeared, forcefully blasting Zhang Ruochen down from midair.
"Bang."
This killing formation was jointly arranged by hundreds of Hell Realm formation sacred masters, composed of hundreds of smaller killing formations, interlocking with exquisite precision.
It could be said that this formation represented the strongest formation power that the ten clans of Hell Realm could unleash below the Great Saint level. If someone could break this formation below the Great Saint level, it would mean that they might one day have the power to destroy the ten clans of Hell Realm single-handedly.
How could one person possibly oppose the entire Hell Realm?
Even the gods of the Heavenly Court Myriad Realms combined could not do it.
Trapped in the formation, not to mention a Saint King, even a Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint would only be killed.
The inevitable killing situation had been set.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes were cold and deep. He suddenly swung the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler, activating the powerful divine power stored within it.
The Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler had always been invincible, but this time it encountered resistance.
As soon as the divine power burst out, it was quickly dissipated into nothing by the killing formation, only stirring up a few subtle ripples.
"Rustle."
Countless array patterns interwove, and the various forces of earth, wind, water, and fire in heaven and earth were all activated, becoming extremely violent.
Strange and terrifying forces entwined toward Zhang Ruochen, both to prevent him from breaking free and to gradually refine him.
Zhang Ruochen swung the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler repeatedly, but could not break the killing formation or escape. Instead, under the impact of the formation's power, much of his vitality was refined away.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen trapped in the formation, many Hell Realm cultivators breathed a sigh of relief and then burst into laughter.
In their eyes, Zhang Ruochen was already a trapped beast, at their mercy, unable to stir up any more trouble.
"Zhang Ruochen, no matter how you struggle, it's futile. Today, you are destined to end up with divine form annihilation." Shi Juexin said cruelly.
Lan Xuezi sneered, "Invincible below the Great Saint? What a joke. Dare to disrupt Hell Realm's great plan, no matter who it is, they must pay a heavy price. In the past, the Ten Calamities Wen Tianjun, hailed as the number one of Kunlun Realm, still ended up dead and gone."
In the Heavenly Court realm army, Zhou Yu immediately sensed Zhang Ruochen's predicament. Unable to control his emotions, a thick joy appeared in his eyes.
"Zhang Ruochen, you are finally going to die. Everything is destined. No matter how stunning you are through the ages, you cannot defy heaven."
Zhou Yu was extremely pleased, no longer having any worries.
At this moment, he really wanted to rush over and personally stab Zhang Ruochen, to avenge the humiliation in the Blood God Sect and the earlier broken arm.
Luo Sha looked from afar, watching Zhang Ruochen trapped in the killing formation, rapidly being refined. Her eyes dimmed, and a stronger reluctance appeared in them.
But as a member of Hell Realm, she could not do anything at this moment.
"Has fate been broken?" Luo Sha murmured.
After all, if Zhang Ruochen died here, how could he be considered her destined person?
Inside the killing formation, Zhang Ruochen urged the Imperial Emperor Divine Ruler, desperately resisting the refining power of the formation.
"Kong Le, I will never let anything happen to you. I haven't taken you to Kong Le Mountain yet, to see the myriad lights of ten thousand homes."
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen's heart was filled with raging anger, but his eyes were miserable and sorrowful.
He had never thought that he could be so weak, so weak that he was about to shed tears.
To be precise, it was not weakness, but a kind of self-blame, blaming himself for being useless, unable to protect his own children. First, Chi Kunlun was taken away and not rescued for a long time, and now Chi Kong Le was taken away right before his eyes.
As a father, he was truly a failure.
Inevitably, Zhang Ruochen's mind was filled with memories of his time with Chi Kong Le, every image so clear.
He could not imagine what he would become if Chi Kong Le was possessed.
Perhaps he would be crushed.
Perhaps he would be guilty for life, in unbearable pain.
He had not truly accompanied Chi Kong Le, had not fulfilled his responsibility as a father. How could everything end like this?
If he could not even protect the people he cared about most, what meaning was there in cultivating to become stronger?
"No, I cannot fall yet. Kong Le is still waiting for me."
Zhang Ruochen shouted in his heart, his eyes suddenly becoming sharp.
"Whoosh."
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen's momentum surged violently.
On his scarred physical body, one hundred and forty-four brilliant sacred lights bloomed, covering his entire body. These were his one hundred and forty-four acupoints, each extremely vast, containing a sacred qi lake.
Now, Zhang Ruochen no longer had any concerns. Since the power of the Saint King realm was not enough to let him break through obstacles and rescue Chi Kong Le, he would break through to become a Great Saint.
His physical body had already been tempered to the extreme, so the breakthrough was a natural progression.
"Boom."
An overwhelming Great Saint pressure radiated from Zhang Ruochen's body.
The one hundred and forty-four acupoints expanded further, each capable of containing a planet inside. Heavenly and earthly sacred qi crazily poured in.
"This is... physical body becoming a Great Saint."
Seeing this change in Zhang Ruochen, many strongmen on the Hell Realm side changed color.
No one expected that Zhang Ruochen would cultivate his physical body to the Great Saint level at this moment.
Every martial sacred king wants their physical body to become a Great Saint. With just their physical body, they can oppose a Great Saint, giving them an inherent advantage.
But achieving this step is too difficult. Out of a hundred cultivators who have achieved physical sacredness, it is hard for even one to make their physical body a Great Saint.
Even someone as strong as Yan Liren failed in his attempt to achieve physical sacredness back then, nearly destroying his path and dying. It was only recently that he broke through the shackles, successfully making his physical body a Great Saint, and cultivating the extremely powerful Blood Silkworm Undying Body.
The opportunities Zhang Ruochen had obtained far exceeded Yan Liren's, and now he had finally reached this step.
...
There will be another chapter later.