Chapter 2309: Yu Huang Returns
Mo Yin sensed Zhang Ruochen's weakness and transmitted a message secretly: "Master, let me go and test him. You find an opportunity to leave first."
Mo Yin's current strength was not inferior to that of Xu and Yanhong Dacheng, enough to fight against a Thousand Questions Realm mid-stage Great Saint. However, Zuo Mu Shengjun was no ordinary Thousand Questions Realm mid-stage; if Mo Yin did not wield a Supreme Sacred Artifact, she would surely lose against him.
"If we leave, we leave together. But before that, there's one more thing to do."
Zhang Ruochen bit the tip of his tongue to stay a bit more alert, clasping his ten fingers into a spherical shape. Particles of Time Imprint light gathered between his hands.
One of them was the "Absolute Self Time Imprint."
"Still have the strength to fight?"
Standing on the purple meteor, Zuo Mu Shengjun showed a surprised expression, then chuckled lightly, activating spatial force to vanish from his spot.
"Whoosh—"
The next moment, the purple meteor appeared above Zhang Ruochen and Mo Yin.
The meteor plummeted violently, carrying a momentum that crushed heaven and earth, crashing down toward the two below.
Before the meteor's body even landed, the scattered gale and baleful aura had already enveloped Zhang Ruochen and Mo Yin. Every strand of airflow possessed the terrifying power to tear apart a Great Saint's indestructible sacred body.
"No wonder Huo Mei Yin Ji was knocked unconscious after just two collisions with the purple meteor. This Thousand Questions Realm Heavenly Slave's attack power is stronger than I imagined."
"And it's not just a simple collision; this strike contains spatial power. As it descends, the space in all directions compresses inward, leaving the targeted cultivator with no escape."
This thought flashed through Zhang Ruochen's mind as he looked toward Mo Yin.
Mo Yin nodded slightly, raising her snow-white jade hands. From her ten fingers, dense purple vines surged out.
The vines crackled with lightning and Purifying Divine Flame, forming a forest-like sea of electricity and fire.
"Boom, rumble."
Thousands of purple vines collided with the purple meteor. In an instant, over a hundred vines snapped and shattered, flying off into various parts of the starry sky.
However, the vines' supple force quickly neutralized the meteor's fierce and domineering impact.
Zuo Mu Shengjun let out a soft exclamation of surprise. How could he have expected that a mere Sacred Flower could withstand his attack?
Below, Zhang Ruochen raised both hands upward, sending out particles of Time Imprint light.
With his spiritual power sealed, Zuo Mu Shengjun didn't know what kind of attack those Time Imprints represented. He dared not touch them and immediately steered the purple meteor upward to flee.
Seeing that Absolute Self Time Imprint land on the purple meteor, a smile appeared at the corner of Zhang Ruochen's mouth. His voice was quite weak: "Let's go. We'll deal with him next time."
With the Absolute Self Time Imprint, no matter where Zuo Mu Shengjun fled, Zhang Ruochen could sense his location.
"Master, lend me the Purple Gold Gourd, and I can fight him," Mo Yin said.
Zhang Ruochen's face grew even paler, his aura rapidly weakening. He spoke with some difficulty: "Even if you can fight him, you can't kill him. Continuing the battle is pointless."
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen's condition was very bad, Mo Yin no longer lingered. She grabbed his wrist, released Space Rules, and executed a Great Space Teleportation.
As Zhang Ruochen's parasitic plant, Mo Yin had naturally also cultivated the Way of Space.
The purple meteor flew upward for over a thousand miles before stopping.
Standing on the meteor, Zuo Mu Shengjun gazed into the distance. He saw Mo Yin and Zhang Ruochen, after several spatial displacements, disappear from his sight.
Without spiritual power, he couldn't track which direction Mo Yin and Zhang Ruochen had fled, let alone find their location.
In a Great Saint-level battle, lacking spiritual power was like being blind.
"What a pity. If I could have seized the Supreme Sacred Artifact from Zhang Ruochen's hands, I wouldn't fear any cultivator on this Heaven Hunting Battlefield." Zuo Mu Shengjun sighed with regret.
For a Heavenly Slave, the only way to survive was to kill at least one participating Hell Realm cultivator.
That was the promise of the Destiny Temple.
Zuo Mu Shengjun's goal was to kill at least fifty Hell Realm Great Saints on the Merit Battlefield, to thoroughly humiliate the gods and test the limits of the Destiny Temple's promises. Seizing a Supreme Sacred Artifact was the most crucial part of his mad plan.
Zhang Ruochen's ten golden wings retracted into his body. His wounds numbered in the dozens, with three piercing through his chest and back. His five viscera and six organs were nearly all shattered.
Inside his body, ghostly qi, Shura battle qi, curse power, dark force... various different energies were rampaging, destroying the vitality of his indestructible sacred body.
Every time he fought a cultivator, their power would invade his body through the wounds.
If his injuries hadn't worsened so severely, with Zhang Ruochen's willpower, he would have continued fighting.
Mo Yin stared at the wound on his chest, finding it shocking.
Zhang Ruochen's flesh was like broken porcelain; a light touch with a finger would cause it to shatter into pieces.
"Master, should we return to the Undying Blood Clan's home planet to recover?" Mo Yin asked.
Zhang Ruochen didn't answer her, instead asking, "Can you set up a Space Teleportation Array?"
"I've never set one up before, but it shouldn't be a problem," Mo Yin said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Find a hidden planet nearby and set up a Space Teleportation Array first."
The Ghost Clan's home planet and the Undying Blood Clan's home planet were separated by an extremely vast distance, over a hundred million miles. Even at a Great Saint's speed, flying for ten days might not be enough to reach it.
Only a Space Teleportation Array could cross such a distance.
Two hours later, Mo Yin and Zhang Ruochen arrived at a reddish-brown planet with a diameter of five thousand miles. This planet had no atmosphere and floated inside a vast expanse of black star mist.
The star mist here was composed of various toxic gases, which cultivators below the Saint King Realm dared not approach.
Arriving on the planet, Zhang Ruochen used his spiritual power to investigate. He found no traces of Hell Realm cultivators or Heavenly Slaves. "This is the place."
"Thud!"
Mo Yin threw the unconscious Great Senluo Emperor to the ground. At the planet's south pole, she used the Sacred Jade and Divine Stone fragments obtained from Zhang Ruochen to set up a Space Teleportation Array.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged by a lava river, mobilizing Purifying Divine Flame to refine the chaotic forces within his body.
If he didn't refine the powers of Xu, Ye Changzai, Que Fei, and the others, Zhang Ruochen's injuries would only worsen, never healing.
Before long, Mo Yin finished setting up the Space Teleportation Array. Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was still refining, she didn't disturb him. Instead, she took out the Great Senluo Emperor's Ice Wood Divine Bow.
She began refining the bow's artifact spirit, planning to use it herself in the future.
A Three-Yuan Monarch Sacred Artifact was worth nearly a thousand Divine Stones. Used well, each arrow could kill a Great Saint, making it a great killing weapon.
Besides the bow, there were six arrows.
Each arrow was at the Monarch Sacred Artifact level, with different materials and forms.
One of them was semi-transparent, like a crystal. When Mo Yin infused sacred qi into it, the arrow disappeared, becoming formless and invisible, emitting no fluctuation.
This was a "Soul Arrow," forged from soul crystals, specifically used to shoot a cultivator's sacred soul. It was most lethal against Ghost Clan members, who were only soul bodies.
If combined with the Great Senluo Emperor's Dark Arrow Art, its power would be even more terrifying, allowing cross-realm kills.
After refining the Ice Wood Divine Bow and the six arrows, Mo Yin pressed her finger to the Great Senluo Emperor's head. Slender, needle-like tendrils extended out, piercing through his scalp and into his brain.
"Ah..."
The previously unconscious Great Senluo Emperor suddenly convulsed, flailing his limbs, letting out a miserable scream.
Mo Yin was performing a soul search, seizing the Great Senluo Emperor's memories to find the arrow dao cultivation technique.
After a while, the tendrils withdrew from the Great Senluo Emperor's skull and disappeared.
A moving smile appeared on Mo Yin's snow-white, jade-like face.
"Oh?"
Sensing a powerful fluctuation of sacred qi coming from the star mist above the planet, Mo Yin's face turned cold. She nocked a Divine Wood Arrow onto the Ice Wood Divine Bow and drew it back.
"Whoosh—"
Wrapped in a cloud of blood fiend qi, a stunningly beautiful woman broke through the star mist, revealing herself. She had ten silver wings on her back, a tall figure, hair like a waterfall, skin like mutton-fat jade, and a jade blood-colored flute hanging at her waist. She flew straight toward the south pole.
Mo Yin recognized her as Yu Huang of the Blood Heaven Tribe.
"Stop right there."
Mo Yin aimed the Divine Wood Arrow at Yu Huang. A chilling aura emanated from the arrowhead, freezing the lava at the south pole into an icy river.
Yu Huang landed on a crimson mountain peak. Seeing Zhang Ruochen sitting cross-legged on the ground, she furrowed her willow-leaf brows slightly. "What do you mean by this?"
Mo Yin pursed her red lips and smiled, "Master is healing. No one is allowed to approach."
"Not even me?"
Yu Huang was somewhat annoyed, blood light surging in her phoenix-like eyes.
"Of course not."
In Hell Realm, Zhang Ruochen trusted no one, and Mo Yin felt the same.
Moreover, Yu Huang had many suspicious points, making it even more necessary to keep her from getting close to Zhang Ruochen at this time.
For instance:
During the Ascension Banquet, when competing for the Blood Heaven Tribe's leadership, Yu Huang had been full of killing intent toward Zhang Ruochen.
This time, when they came to the Ghost Clan's home planet together, Yu Huang had promised Zhang Ruochen to break the Ghost Clan's formations. But at the critical moment, she had disappeared.
After the battle ended and Zhang Ruochen was severely injured, she showed up here.
Wasn't it too coincidental?
Yu Huang gritted her teeth in anger. Just a mere Sacred Flower, a pet raised by Zhang Ruochen, dared to point an arrow at her? How outrageous.
"Do you think you can stop me?"
Yu Huang's robes fluttered as she rode the wind, flying straight over.
"Twang!"
Mo Yin released her grip. The Divine Wood Arrow left the bow, trailing a light mark dozens of meters long.
At first, Yu Huang hadn't taken Mo Yin seriously. But the moment the Divine Wood Arrow flew out, a world-shaking cold erupted from the Ice Wood Divine Bow.
"Hiss, hiss."
In an instant, the planet's south pole turned into a glacier continent.
The Divine Wood Arrow was incredibly sharp, forcing Yu Huang to take out her Soul-Capturing Flute and clash with it. The impact sent her flying back, landing awkwardly on the glacier continent a hundred miles away. She stumbled back another ten miles before steadying herself.
Her right hand, holding the flute, was numb and aching from the shock.
"How can she be this strong? Even if the Ice Wood Divine Bow were in the Great Senluo Emperor's hands, it couldn't unleash such terrifying power."
Yu Huang was astonished.
She had cultivated a Third-Rank Sacred Intent and ranked eleventh on the Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Ranking. Given time, if she could cultivate a Thousand Questions Realm sacred art, combined with her formation and talisman mastery, her ranking might surpass Fen Hong Ku Lou and Xu, reaching seventh or even sixth.
Although she had been caught off guard due to underestimating her opponent, being so thoroughly embarrassed by a single arrow from Mo Yin was still a blow to her pride.
Did one of Zhang Ruochen's pets have strength rivaling the top ten of the Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Ranking?
"Again."
Yu Huang had a strong and stubborn personality. Provoked by Mo Yin, her battle intent flared. She prepared to get serious and have a good fight.
Mo Yin puffed out her ample chest, striking a pose, and laughed, "Hehe, think I'm afraid of you?"
"Stop fighting. Save your strength; there are still hard battles ahead."
Zhang Ruochen's voice, vast and boundless, spread across the entire south pole glacier continent.
The two women looked toward the source of the voice. Zhang Ruochen had already stood up, having refined the invading forces within his body. His external wounds had healed, and his bare upper body revealed clearly defined muscles, exuding a masculine charm that attracted female beings.
Yu Huang, proud and arrogant as she was, couldn't help but take a few extra glances.
"Let Yu Huang come over. She can be trusted," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Yes, Master."
Mo Yin flew to Zhang Ruochen's side with a grin, took out a blood-red robe, and draped it over him. "A peerless man like Master makes Mo Yin's heart flutter too. I only want to be with Master forever, not a single moment apart."
"Just a parasitic plant. If it were me, I would have refined you long ago. How could I allow you to have your own consciousness?"
Yu Huang flew over, landing on the ground, and looked Zhang Ruochen up and down. "Why are you so weak? Are you badly injured?"
Although his external wounds had disappeared, his internal injuries wouldn't heal so quickly.
"It's nothing. I've already refined the various forces that invaded my body. With the Divine Wood Heart, I'll be fully recovered in a day," Zhang Ruochen said calmly.
Yu Huang asked, "Was the Ghost Clan's home planet destroyed by you?"
"Did you go back and see?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Yu Huang nodded. "I ran into some trouble on my end and encountered a big problem. By the time I shook it off and returned, I found that the Ghost Clan's home planet had turned into a golden planet, wrapped in golden qi mist. No cultivator could break in."
"I thought you had died there, but on the way back to the Undying Blood Clan's home planet, I found the marks you left and tracked you here."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze turned serious. "Those marks were deliberately left for you. By the way, what big problem did you encounter?"
Yu Huang snorted coldly. "The Corpse Clan's number one powerhouse, Zi Shi. That guy was lurking near the Ghost Clan's home planet. Just as I was about to break the formation, he jumped out and attacked me. Fortunately, my spiritual power is strong, so I managed to escape."
"He ranks tenth on the Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Ranking, and I'm eleventh. Normally, I wouldn't fear him. But he wields the Corpse Clan's Supreme Sacred Artifact, so how could I be his match? I had to fight and flee. If I had a Supreme Sacred Artifact, why would I fear him?"
As she spoke, Yu Huang clenched her snow-white teeth tightly, a fierce killing intent flashing in her bright eyes.
Chased for three days and three nights, Yu Huang was filled with pent-up anger that she couldn't vent.
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands behind his back. "I do have an extra Supreme Sacred Artifact here. For now, I can entrust it to you. Of course, there's a condition: you have to come with me to fight a few hard battles. If luck is bad, you might die. If luck is good and you survive, that Supreme Sacred Artifact is yours. Think it over and decide."