Chapter 2279: Lanying Strikes
Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power had reached the sixty-second rank, placing him among the top tier of all cultivators attending the feast, surpassing many Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Saints. Yet, he could not detect even a trace of Lanying's aura, leaving him somewhat uneasy.
This was an unfathomable enemy.
Even if his target was not Zhang Ruochen at this moment, it was enough to send chills down one's spine.
The Yu Emperor, a master of both talisman and formation paths, possessed even greater spiritual power than Zhang Ruochen, having recently broken through to the sixty-fourth rank. She was undoubtedly among the top twenty in spiritual power intensity for this Heaven Hunting Battle.
However, even she could not find any sign of Lanying.
"Could he have already left? After all, everyone knows that no force can compete with the Yama Clan. There's no point wasting time here," the Yu Emperor said.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "The power of the Divine Illumination Lotus Pill Spirit far exceeds everyone's expectations, preventing Yan Huangtu from subduing it before the pill struggle battle began. Now that all factions have freed up their hands, if they launch a coordinated attack, no matter how strong the Yama Clan is, they won't be able to hold out."
"In other words, the Yama Clan has already missed the optimal moment to seize it. Right now, all factions are holding back only because the spiritual will of the Divine Illumination Lotus Pill Spirit has yet to be refined."
"The Yama Clan is so heavily on guard precisely because they are aware of this."
Yi Xuan Great Saint agreed with Zhang Ruochen's assessment. "Lanying's nature is extremely greedy. There's no way he would give up on an Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill. There's bound to be a good show today."
"If the situation descends into chaos, we might also have an opportunity." The Yu Emperor smiled, her gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen's sharply defined profile—deep eyes, a straight nose bridge.
She knew very well how important this Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill was to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen's brows were deeply furrowed, his mind occupied with another matter.
Since Lanying could hide without a trace at this moment, if he came to kill him in the future, wouldn't it be just as effortless?
Having such an enemy would make any cultivator unable to sleep or eat in peace.
"I need to break through to the Hundred-Shackle Realm as soon as possible."
Zhang Ruochen used Space Rules to observe the spatial structure and celestial body distribution of this star domain, calculating in his mind: if someone were to snatch the Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill from the Yama Clan, which direction would they break out from?
"Come, follow me."
Zhang Ruochen led the Yu Emperor and Yi Xuan Great Saint around to another direction, arriving at a vast, boundless cosmic dust and star river belt.
Tens of millions of fragmented rocks gathered together, flowing like a great river through the starry sky, emitting a dark purple-black light.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Yu Emperor, how long would it take you to set up a grand formation here?"
The Yu Emperor quickly surveyed the surroundings. "With my spiritual power, I can set up an eighth-rank formation in an instant. For a ninth-rank formation, the difficulty is greater, so it would take a bit more time."
"I'll use time power to assist you. Set up a ninth-rank formation as quickly as possible," Zhang Ruochen said.
The Yu Emperor frowned. "Is setting up a formation here useful? An ordinary ninth-rank formation can only deal with an Immortal Realm Great Saint. Against a Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection Great Saint, it can only cause some interference; they can break through and leave quickly, making it pointless. And a ninth-rank formation capable of dealing with a Thousand-Questions Realm Great Saint would require a lot of time to carve formation patterns—it can't be set up in a short while."
"Let's just give it a try. Even if it doesn't come in handy, we won't lose anything." Zhang Ruochen wasn't sure if any cultivator could snatch the Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill from the Yama Clan.
He couldn't even be certain that the pill-snatcher would break out from this direction.
Setting up the formation was just to have an extra contingency plan.
After spending a long time together, the Yu Emperor had come to trust Zhang Ruochen deeply. So, she split her spiritual power into a hundred thousand thought clones, which rapidly carved formation patterns across this star domain.
Zhang Ruochen, in turn, activated a large number of Time Imprints, slowing the flow of time to buy her more time.
In the distance.
As time passed, the radiance emitted by the Divine Illumination Lotus Pill Spirit grew dimmer and dimmer, like a star gradually aging and declining, losing its former blazing energy.
The pill spirit's spiritual will was nearly completely refined.
The various factions gathered on the periphery began to stir restlessly, slowly closing in.
The Yama Clan's nearly thousand Great Saints arranged themselves in a circular formation, each unleashing astonishing auras that caused the entire starry sky to tremble slightly.
Such saintly might would intimidate even a Supreme Realm Great Saint.
Suddenly, a patch of fiery red light emerged from the southern starry sky.
The cultivators looked closely and saw that it was a meteor shower composed of cosmic dust and star fragments, burning with flames and accelerating rapidly.
Flame boulders, flame mountains, flame shattered stars...
Countless in number.
If this were to fly toward some ruin realm or planet, it could bring about the apocalypse in an instant.
"Child's play. Focus on defense and block them."
With this shout, a Yama Clan Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Saint was the first to unleash a golden shield.
As the inscriptions on the shield emerged, it grew to eight hundred zhang wide and a thousand zhang tall, spinning through the air, smashing cosmic dust into powder.
"Boom, rumble."
The other Yama Clan Great Saints also acted, some unleashing sacred arts, others deploying sacred artifacts, clashing with the meteor shower.
Having finished setting up the formation, the Yu Emperor returned to Zhang Ruochen's side. "A meteor shower can't break through the Yama Clan's defenses. It's just a waste of effort."
"No! Although the meteor shower can't break through their defenses, it can achieve maximum harassment with minimal manpower, tying up the most Yama Clan Great Saints."
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the direction from which the meteor shower came, using his Truth Eye to spot the figure of "Hong Futu," the second-in-command of the Green Deer Divine Hall, in the distant starry sky.
Hong Futu had transformed into his true form, a pure-blood divine beast, his body over three hundred li long, turning the surrounding starry sky into a ten-thousand-li sea of blood.
With every breath, he could draw in tens of thousands of cosmic dust particles, continuously hurling them toward the Yama Clan.
"That's a Blood Zheng—should be Hong Futu. He's also reached the Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection. It seems that in this Heaven Hunting Grand Feast, the Green Deer Divine Hall is our Blood Heaven Tribe's greatest enemy," Yi Xuan Great Saint said.
Hong Futu, having broken through to the Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection, was a formidable opponent even for the Yu Emperor.
A pure-blood divine beast, upon reaching adulthood, was at least a False God level.
Hong Futu's combat power at the same cultivation level was undoubtedly extremely formidable.
"Since Hong Futu has made a move, your guess is correct—Lanying must be nearby as well," the Yu Emperor said solemnly.
Yi Xuan Great Saint exclaimed, "Look quickly! Wu Jiang and those top-tier Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Saints from the Underworld Clan have made their move, along with Xu and Yan Hong Great Saint..."
A large number of cultivators struck, attacking the Yama Clan.
Over a thousand Great Saints clashed, unleashing earth-shattering power fluctuations that spread over a hundred thousand li, forming a destructive energy tide.
Except for the Yama Clan Great Saints in the central area, who had formed a battle formation, cultivators from other factions at the Immortal Realm Great Saint level dared not join the battle, fearing injury. If severely wounded, they wouldn't recover within a hundred days, which would certainly affect their performance in the Heaven Hunting Battle.
Even the gods of the Hell Realm hadn't expected things to develop to this point.
The Heaven Hunting Battle had only just begun, and the top experts of the ten clans had already erupted into a chaotic melee.
Dan Shi showed a worried expression. A battle of this scale could easily lead to the fall of Great Saints.
Fu Lu Hei Pao Da Ji Si smiled at him. "The God Venerable just transmitted a divine decree to me, telling us not to forcefully intervene. Let them fight and see who has the greater skill to claim the Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill. Even if a hundred Great Saints fall, it doesn't matter."
Dan Shi smiled bitterly. "In the eyes of a powerhouse like Fu Lu God Venerable, a hundred ordinary Great Saints are not worth one heroic figure among Great Saints. Well then, let's wait and see how they each display their skills. Taking the Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill from the Yama Clan's hands is no easy task."
The Yama Clan's eleven Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection Great Saints, along with Yan Wushen, stood at twelve positions around the Divine Illumination Lotus Pill Spirit, all unleashing Hell Yama Qi, channeling it into the Ruyi-shaped Supreme Sacred Artifact.
The power unleashed by the Supreme Sacred Artifact turned a thousand-li radius into a forbidden zone. Immortal Realm Great Saints and Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Saints would be in mortal danger if they approached, their immortal sacred bodies ground to dust.
Just as they were about to extinguish the Divine Illumination Lotus Pill Spirit's will, a speck of light appeared out of thin air a hundred li behind a Yama Clan Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection powerhouse, displaying nine lights and eighteen colors.
The speck grew larger, transforming into a multicolored divine cloud.
The twelve top experts of the Yama Clan sensed it instantly, their twelve pairs of eyes blazing with sharp, murderous light.
"Dare to covet the Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill? Destroy him!"
Yan Huangtu channeled the power of the Supreme Sacred Artifact, releasing a formidable supreme force from the Ruyi, which soared a hundred li into the sky, condensing into a massive Ruyi phantom that struck toward the nine-colored divine cloud.
If struck by this blow, even a Thousand-Questions Realm initial-stage Great Saint would be severely wounded, possibly even killed.
The supreme might caused the stars to tremble violently.
"Shua!"
The nine-colored divine cloud moved with the speed of light, unstoppable even by the supreme force. In an instant, it rushed behind a Yama Clan Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection Great Saint, condensing into human form.
It was a child of eight or nine years old, his body carved from divine stone, radiant with light, yet exuding an overwhelming killing aura.
The killing aura was so intense that it materialized into a solid form, becoming a blood-red killing sword.
"Clatter!"
That Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection Great Saint, before he could even deploy a defensive technique, had his immortal sacred body severed in two by a single sword strike.
However, the sword did not contain the power to extinguish the sacred soul, life force, or spiritual will, so the Great Saint was only severely wounded, not killed.
Clearly, Lanying did not want to become a mortal enemy of the Yama Clan.
Though he was a spirit of slaughter, he was not merely a being of killing. He understood the bigger picture, knew how to plan and create momentum, and knew when to bide his time and seize opportunities.
From a distance, Zhang Ruochen, who had been watching closely, clearly saw this scene and sighed inwardly: "The Cosmic Divine Fetus truly lives up to its reputation. It possesses the power to kill a Hundred-Shackle Realm Great Perfection Great Saint in one strike, and what's more terrifying is that he is also very shrewd. This Heaven Hunting Battle will be my greatest trial and challenge, as well as a test of life and death."