Chapter 2290: Both Sides Suffer Losses
The Immovable Bright King Saintly Image had already merged with the will projection of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, possessing unmatched battle might. Now, simultaneously unleashed with the Thousand Questions-level high-rank sacred art, Divine Demon Prison Suppression, its power had reached a level that could make even Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Great Saints tremble.
"Boom!"
Two immensely powerful forces collided in midair.
Chaos light burst forth from both of them. However, Zhang Ruochen was wreathed in flames, like a Flame Demon Lord, causing the ghost clouds to burn fiercely.
Xu carried an intense cold aura, turning the ocean beneath his feet into ten thousand miles of glacial ice.
"How can he be this... strong..."
Xu gritted his teeth, his arms trembling.
"Crack!"
The tens-of-zhang-thick glacier shattered, then melted, then vaporized, turning the entire continent into a vast white expanse, a mist-shrouded world. Affected by the battle's aftermath, some areas became fiery domains, while others turned into yin-cold deep valleys.
For cultivators below the Saint realm, this continent had become a forbidden land—enter and die.
Xu's ninety-plus-zhang-tall Chaos Ghost Emperor Body was blasted over a hundred meters deep into the ground. The Chaos Ghost Emperor Body had long since shed its ethereal nature, becoming no different from human flesh and blood, extremely solid. Yet now, cracks appeared all over it.
The Chaos Ghost Emperor Body seemed on the verge of shattering.
Seizing this brief moment of suppressing Xu, Zhang Ruochen immediately released tens of millions of Time Rules and Space Rules, transforming them into a long river of time and a gravity space domain, pressing down on Xu.
Seize the opportunity, strike to kill.
"Abandon Heaven Ghost Patterns."
Xu roared, spewing a cloud of origin ghost qi from his mouth.
Around the Chaos Ghost Emperor Body, twenty-seven thousand Abandon Heaven Ghost Patterns condensed, flying through the heavens like talismans.
Thirteen thousand five hundred Abandon Heaven Ghost Patterns formed one set.
Using origin ghost qi, Xu condensed two sets of Abandon Heaven Ghost Patterns. Twenty-seven thousand ghost qi vortices arranged in a mysterious formation, stabilizing space and suppressing time.
The long river of time and the gravity space domain were blocked, unable to land on the Chaos Ghost Emperor Body.
"Zhang Ruochen, I've long planned how to counter your time and space powers. In this battle, you will surely lose!"
Xu laughed loudly, his gaze sharp and wild, his battle intent reaching its peak. He withdrew his arms that had been holding up the Sky Sea Seal and silently chanted, "Death Freeze Sacred Intent."
"Hiss."
The Chaos Ghost Emperor Body grew back to ninety-nine zhang tall. A cold aura surged from within him, and layers of ice formed.
The ghost qi on the planet froze, the air seemed to solidify, and the entire Ghost Clan home planet turned into an ice ball.
On other continents, Ghost Clan Great Saints protected ordinary Ghost Clan cultivators, holding back the effect.
At the center of the cold aura, Zhang Ruochen was covered in a layer of frost, a strong sense of crisis rising within him. He quickly released the Truth Realm Form, manifesting the vision of a boundless star sea, desperately activating the power of Truth.
"Faster! Faster! Faster!"
Xu could already combine his Sacred Intent with a Thousand Questions-level high-rank sacred art. If Zhang Ruochen couldn't unleash a tenfold attack power before Xu launched his strike, the consequences would be dire.
The Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Great Saints hiding on the continent were also enveloped by the cold aura, feeling the terrifying power fluctuations from Xu.
The White Jade Mad Lion trembled slightly, saying, "Even Hundred Shackles-level high-rank sacred arts need a long period of grinding and harmonizing before they can perfectly merge with Sacred Intent to unleash maximum power. Xu is so formidable that he can combine a Thousand Questions-level high-rank sacred art with Sacred Intent and use it in actual combat."
Yan Hong Great Saint ranked eighth on the Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Ranking, just below Xu. Yet even she could only succeed once or twice out of ten attempts at combining a Thousand Questions-level sacred art with Sacred Intent.
"Xu underwent a baptism with the Chaos Spring, giving him an advantage in sacred arts and Sacred Intent that ordinary people can't match. With this strike, Xu already has the strength to contend with Wujiang and Luo Shengtian," Yan Hong Great Saint said.
Although she also had other trump cards, she had to admit that defeating Xu was an extremely difficult task.
The higher the grade of Sacred Intent, the harder it was to combine with sacred arts. Therefore, Zhang Ruochen didn't attempt to combine his Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent with Divine Demon Prison Suppression. Instead, he activated the tenfold attack power of the Truth Path.
"Rumble."
After combining the Sky Sea Seal with the fourth-rank Death Freeze Sacred Intent, it pierced through the fire clouds above, broke the gravity space domain, tore apart the long river of time, and clashed with the Immovable Bright King Saintly Image.
"Divine Demon Prison Suppression."
From the boundless star sea realm form world, tens of thousands of starlight streams surged out, empowering Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen's left hand struck out with a palm, unleashing tenfold attack power, colliding with the Sky Sea Seal.
Beneath the Sky Sea Seal, Xu drew circles with both hands, and densely packed Fate Rules condensed into a gate of light, continuously wearing down the power of the Truth Path.
After a brief stalemate, the Immovable Bright King Saintly Image and the Sky Sea Seal shattered simultaneously.
"Pfft!"
Zhang Ruochen spat sacred blood, his body flying backward like a broken kite. Affected by the cold aura, his body was almost completely covered in ice, turning into an ice sculpture.
"Bang, bang."
The twelve Thousand Questions-level Ghost Emperor soul bodies all shattered, turning into twelve patches of ghost clouds.
Among the clouds, over three million of the twelve million ghost souls were directly annihilated—a heavy loss.
Xu plummeted toward the ground. The chest of his Chaos Ghost Emperor Body was shattered and pierced through by Zhang Ruochen's palm strike, turning into a mass of ghost qi.
"Boom."
The earth sank under Xu's impact, forming a bottomless pit.
Both sides suffered losses.
"Crack." The ice covering Zhang Ruochen's body shattered, and his ten golden wings once again bloomed with brilliant light. However, he was severely injured, especially in his internal organs—the weakest part of his demigod body—and his sacred soul.
His organs were damaged by the Sky Sea Seal, with cold ghost qi invading them.
His sacred soul was injured by the Death Freeze Sacred Intent, but protected by the will projection of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, the damage wasn't severe.
Xu flew out of the pit and landed heavily on the ground. His shattered chest slowly solidified, his expression cold as ice. This outcome wasn't what he wanted. Even if he defeated Zhang Ruochen or killed him, he would suffer serious injuries, affecting the Heaven Hunting Battle.
He hesitated, caught in a mental struggle.
To consider the bigger picture, he should immediately ask Yan Hong Great Saint and the others to join forces and surround Zhang Ruochen.
But to leave his name in history and shake the Hell Realm, he had to continue fighting alone and defeat Zhang Ruochen.
On the other side, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power detected an extremely bizarre scene.
The tens of thousands of miles long continent was cracked in many places. The largest crack ran through the continent from north to south, at its widest over forty miles, as if splitting the continent in two.
At first, Zhang Ruochen was puzzled why, despite such intense fighting, the Ghost Clan's home planet hadn't shattered, only showing surface cracks.
So he used his spiritual power to probe underground and unexpectedly discovered, ten thousand meters below the largest crack, a metallic structure.
The crack, stretching tens of thousands of miles, had metal beneath it.
And it wasn't ordinary metal, but one of the ten ultimate substances—the Metal Ultimate Substance. It seemed to cover the entire planet, deeply buried in the core.
Zhang Ruochen certainly didn't think this was naturally formed.
It must have been refined by gods.
"What is hidden inside the Ghost Clan's home planet? It seems the ten home planets are no ordinary planets. The gods of the Hell Realm must have a deeper purpose."
Zhang Ruochen wanted to go underground to investigate, but he knew he was in great danger. If the Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Great Saints hiding on this continent attacked, given his current state, he would have difficulty dealing with them and might fall into a death trap.
Therefore, in that moment of Xu's hesitation, Zhang Ruochen retracted the Thousand Rings Halo, spread his ten wings, and burst into extreme speed, flying east.
In moments, he left the continent and arrived above the ocean, where the yin wind howled.
As he flew, Zhang Ruochen activated healing sacred pills and the power of the Divine Wood Heart to recover from his injuries.
"Not good."
Xu understood Zhang Ruochen's intention—he was clearly heading to the other eight continents to attack the ordinary souls of the Ghost Clan.
If those eight continents were destroyed, how many points would the Ghost Clan lose?
It didn't take long for Zhang Ruochen to refine the cold ghost qi that had invaded his body. Then, he immediately activated all the king-level inscriptions in the Thousand Rings Halo, manifesting tens of millions of light-mark feathers.
"Whoosh—"
The massive Thousand Rings Halo flew out, striking the eastern continent.
"Rumble."
The Thousand Rings Halo crashed into the vast land, obliterating a ghost city that housed tens of millions of souls. The city was destroyed, and the land for a thousand miles around was left in ruins.
The six Great Saints guarding that ghost city knew they couldn't block the Thousand Rings Halo and fled at the first moment.
However, the residual force of the Thousand Rings Halo still struck them.
All six Ghost Clan Great Saints were injured, burning with fury.
One of them roared, "Maliciously attacking Hell Realm cultivators participating in the Heaven Hunting Banquet, I call upon the Myriad Realm Divine Eye to expel Zhang Ruochen."
The Ghost Clan Great Saints also had diamond-shaped mirror shards, on which they could see Zhang Ruochen's points.
Zhang Ruochen's points were still zero.
That meant Zhang Ruochen hadn't yet earned the right to attack other participating cultivators. If he attacked, his points would go negative, and he would be expelled from the battlefield.
But after a long wait, the Myriad Realm Divine Eye did not expel Zhang Ruochen.
The six Ghost Clan Great Saints looked at each other, confused.
Why was this happening?
Zhang Ruochen's strike was actually a test of his conjecture.
Earlier, Que's sudden appearance had already made him somewhat puzzled about the rules of the Heaven Hunting Banquet.
Later, when he, Yu Huang, and Yi Xuan Great Saint joined forces to attack Que and seize the emperor-grade sacred intent pill without being expelled, Zhang Ruochen became even more confused.
At that time, he had been thinking whether there might be hidden, unspoken rules on the Heaven Hunting Battlefield.
For example, everything related to Que might not be bound by the rules.
Since the gods of the Hell Realm intended to use him, Zhang Ruochen, as a blade, and forced him to hunt the Heavenly Slaves, pushing him to fully side with the Hell Realm, how could their regard for him be lower than for Que?
Since Que could be free from the rules, Zhang Ruochen might be the same.
That strike could both severely damage the Ghost Clan and test the hidden rules of the Heaven Hunting Battlefield. Even if the test failed and he was expelled, Zhang Ruochen would lose nothing—in fact, it would be a relief.
After all, he had already obtained nine Evolution Sacred Fruits and three quasi-emperor-grade sacred intent pills, a huge gain.
And with Yu Huang, Gu Chenzi, and Yi Xuan Great Saint—three Hundred Shackles Great Perfection powerhouses—the Blood Heaven Tribe's results would certainly not be bad.
Discovering that the Myriad Realm Divine Eye indeed did not expel him, a pleased smile appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face. Since that was the case, he could go all out and unleash a massacre.
"That strike just now annihilated over thirty-eight million ghost souls from the Ghost Clan, deducting over three hundred eighty thousand points from their total. Let's continue!"
Zhang Ruochen executed the Great Space Teleportation, space-hopping while flying, charging toward the second continent.
Although Xu's power was strong, his speed was far inferior to Zhang Ruochen's. No matter how he chased, he couldn't catch up. Seeing the destroyed ghost city, rage burned in his heart, and he roared, "Zhang Ruochen, I've changed my mind. I won't refine you into a ghost slave. I'll make you annihilate in both form and spirit, leaving no place for your corpse to rest!"
Xu pointed to the sky, and ghost qi and sacred dao rules continuously flew from his fingertips, surging into the supreme sacred artifact, Seven Star Ghost Lotus.
The seven stars above the Ghost Clan home planet transformed into seven giant lotuses, each a thousand miles in diameter.
From afar, it looked as if seven lotuses had bloomed on the planet.
Overwhelming supreme power turned into rivers of black ghost qi, flowing through the planet's space, shuttling between the seven ghost lotuses. The majestic, grand might suppressed all souls on the Ghost Clan home planet, forcing them to prostrate on the ground.
Even Great Saint-level experts found it hard to breathe.
Wing Ghost Emperor, Night Changzai, and Four-Eyed Ghost Emperor no longer hid. They flew out from three different directions, preparing to intercept and kill Zhang Ruochen.
The outcome between Xu and Zhang Ruochen no longer mattered.
If Zhang Ruochen wiped out the hundreds of millions of souls on the home planet, they would become the Ghost Clan's sinners.
Facing the supreme might, Zhang Ruochen had no choice but to stop and look up. In the sky, ghost qi rivers intertwined, forming tens of thousands of lightning bolts. The powerful pressure all converged on his head.
Surrounded by lightning and ghost qi on all sides, he was completely locked down, unable to escape.
Either wait for death or fight head-on with the supreme sacred artifact.
Standing ten thousand miles away, Xu, with disheveled hair and a furious glare, roared, "Zhang Ruochen, dying under a supreme sacred artifact, you should be content!"
Yan Hong Great Saint's exquisite figure stood atop the highest peak of the Ghost Clan home planet, gazing at the sea area where Zhang Ruochen was. She said to Man Jian Great Saint, who was pinned on the cliff, "Since the supreme sacred artifact has been activated, this day next year will be Zhang Ruochen's death anniversary. Watch carefully—it's because of you that he dies on this planet."
Yan Hong Great Saint reached out, grabbed Man Jian Great Saint, and flew above the peak.
"A Hundred Shackles Great Saint like you, if not for your deep connection with Zhang Ruochen, wouldn't even be worth my notice. But seeing the hatred, resentment, anger, and grief in your eyes inexplicably pleases me. Good, keep those negative emotions—I like them very much."
...
Conducting a survey: If we resume two chapters per day, how many readers would continue to support Eternal God Emperor and vote for it? Of course, two chapters per day doesn't mean 4000 words per chapter—it means 3000 words per chapter.
Mainly, Xiaoyu's physical condition isn't what it used to be. My neck, shoulders, and lower back hurt every day. I'm not sure if I can manage two chapters per day.
If the readers' response is strong, I might be willing to give it a try and see if I can increase the update pace.