Chapter 2336: Breaking the Formation
The Undying Indestructible Grand Formation of the Eight Life-Death Masters might indeed be formidable, but Zhang Ruochen was not alone. As long as he released Blade Prison Emperor, Wind Queen, Great Senluo Emperor, and Yue Tinghai from the Purple Gold Gourd, breaking the formation might not be impossible.
However, this was the home star of the Yama Clan. Not only were the Eight Life-Death Masters and the Xi present, but also Yan Huangtu, Yan Wushen, and a large number of Great Saints.
If he released Wind Queen and the others, the Yama Clan would surely regard him as their greatest enemy and would only mobilize even stronger forces to deal with them.
Zhang Ruochen transformed back to his true appearance and said, "Wu Wuji is still in my hands. Don't you care whether he lives or dies?"
"If Ruochen Great Saint kills Wu Wuji, then naturally a Wu clan strongman will avenge him."
As he spoke these words, the Xi's eyes emitted a dim, eerie light, and he softly uttered two words: "Soul Capture."
Instantly, Zhang Ruochen's vision darkened, and a drowsy, sluggish feeling washed over him.
Soul Capture was one of the most formidable techniques of the Witch Path. With the Xi's cultivation, if he so desired, he could control all living beings within ten thousand miles, driving them to do his bidding.
The Xi's spiritual power was among the top in the Yama Clan, reaching the sixty-fifth rank, not inferior to Zhang Ruochen's. That was how he could use witchcraft to affect Zhang Ruochen.
"Rustle!"
"Whoosh!"
...
The Eight Life-Death Masters, all having reached the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm, pressed their palms together, unleashing unparalleled sacred power from their bodies.
Four of them radiated white light, and four radiated black light.
The power of death and the power of life intertwined, and above each of the eight heads, a book manifested. These books also emitted white and black light, with countless mysterious characters leaping across their pages.
"The Undying Indestructible Grand Formation is about to take shape. Zhang Ruochen's defeat is sealed. I didn't expect it would be this easy to capture him," said the cultivator in the wide black cloak on the seventeenth-floor tower, his voice hoarse with laughter.
Yan Huangtu's tense nerves relaxed slightly. "With the Xi and the Eight Life-Death Masters joining forces, even I, who am very familiar with them, still find them daunting. Zhang Ruochen has never fought them before and lacks vigilance, so it's no wonder the Xi's sneak attack succeeded."
"Coming to the Yama Clan's stronghold, even Lan Ying and Que have to hide carefully. Zhang Ruochen exposed his trail, so today's death trap was inevitable," said the cultivator in the wide black cloak.
Yan Huangtu didn't fully relax. His tiger-like eyes remained fixed on the bowl-shaped light barrier of the formation in the distance.
The Xi chanted ancient incantations, and the black wooden staff in his hand emitted a gray, hazy glow.
He looked at the drowsy Zhang Ruochen, unable to suppress the upward curl of his lips.
Killing Zhang Ruochen was something many people wanted to do.
If Zhang Ruochen died at his hands, it would bring him endless benefits in the future.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen, who had seemed dazed, opened his eyes wide, unleashing a sharp, intimidating glare. The Xi's body trembled as if struck by lightning, and a sharp pain shot through his brain.
"Damn, it's a spiritual power attack! He's using spiritual power to attack me?"
How could the Xi have expected that Zhang Ruochen had long since split his sacred soul into six parts? Although the Soul Capture technique was powerful, it couldn't target all six sacred souls simultaneously. Thus, the effect on Zhang Ruochen was negligible.
His earlier drowsy appearance was merely a ruse, waiting for an opportunity.
The more the Xi wanted to kill Zhang Ruochen, the greater the flaw in his mental state, and the weaker his spiritual defense became.
Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Ruochen unleashed his full sixty-fifth-rank spiritual power, like thousands of needles shooting out, surging into the Xi's body. Even though the Xi realized the danger in time, he couldn't fully block it, and his spiritual power suffered significant damage.
The Xi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, and he staggered back several steps.
"Zhang Ruochen... Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power is no weaker than mine... How is this possible? It's impossible..." He was shocked to his core, quickly adjusting his mindset to heal his spiritual wounds.
The Xi cultivated the Great Witch Heavenly Dao and was far more skilled in using spiritual power than Zhang Ruochen.
The reason he was injured by Zhang Ruochen instead was mainly due to his eagerness to win.
The more he wanted to kill his opponent, the greater his own flaws became.
Zhang Ruochen didn't continue attacking the Xi. In his view, the greatest threat was still the Eight Life-Death Masters. Forming hand seals with both palms, he moved with lightning speed, striking at a Great Perfection Great Saint of the Hundred Shackles Realm directly in front of him.
Having severed thirty shackles, Zhang Ruochen's demigod body released a massive amount of divine power. With one palm strike, the air exploded instantly, producing a thunderous roar.
That Great Perfection Great Saint of the Hundred Shackles Realm remained calm and composed. The white Life Heavenly Book shadow floating above his head flipped rapidly, and he formed a seal with both hands to meet Zhang Ruochen's palm.
"Boom!"
The moment their palms clashed, the other seven Heavenly Book shadows each flew out dense clusters of characters, surging into the Life Heavenly Book shadow above that Great Perfection Great Saint's head.
The power of the Eight Life-Death Masters combined, with a certain degree of amplification.
Zhang Ruochen's hand felt as if it had struck an iron wall. His opponent remained unmoved, while he himself was sent flying backward.
The Great Perfection Great Saint behind Zhang Ruochen moved with the flow, stepping forward and forming a finger seal with his right hand, thrusting it toward Zhang Ruochen's back.
Both speed and power reached an astonishing level.
If that finger struck him, even with Zhang Ruochen's powerful physique, it would surely pierce through.
"Whoosh—"
Space twisted. The finger aimed at his back passed through his armpit instead.
Zhang Ruochen twisted his body in midair, using his arm as a sword, and slashed backhandedly at this Great Perfection Great Saint's neck, drawing a brilliant streak of light.
That Great Perfection Great Saint suddenly contracted his body, turning into a black light, and retreated to his original position.
Zhang Ruochen's sword strike hit nothing.
From another direction, another Great Perfection Great Saint seized the opportunity, forming a fist and unleashing a lightning pillar as thick as a water bucket.
The lightning pillar flew toward Zhang Ruochen but, influenced by his Space True Domain, circled around him and flew back, colliding with that Great Perfection Great Saint's fist.
"Rumble."
The previous exchange seemed like a series of moves and countermoves.
In reality, their speed was incredibly fast. Except for a few experts like Yan Huangtu, other cultivators could only see figures flickering, lightning flashing, and thunderous sounds echoing continuously.
The danger involved was understood only by true experts.
"Time Sound Bell."
Centered on Zhang Ruochen's body, a large bell slowly took shape, formed by countless Time Imprint light points, spinning rapidly.
"Return to positions."
Any cultivator understood the terror of time power. The Eight Life-Death Masters stopped attacking and returned to their respective positions. They fully unleashed the power within their bodies, driving the Death Heavenly Books and Life Heavenly Books above their heads.
"Buzz!"
The Time Sound Bell rang, shedding a large number of Time Imprint light points. Together with the sound waves, they surged outward like water waves.
The Death Heavenly Book shadows and Life Heavenly Book shadows clashed with the Time Imprint light points, quickly annihilating them.
"Buzz!"
The bell rang again.
From the Death Heavenly Books and Life Heavenly Books, dense ancient characters flew out, colliding with the Time Imprint light points. Both sides vanished into nothingness once more.
"Buzz!"
"Buzz!"
...
The bell rang incessantly, but the Time Imprint light points could never reach beyond thirty zhang.
The Xi's spiritual power recovered, and he stood at the edge of the formation, observing Zhang Ruochen within the Time Sound Bell. "It's useless. Once the Undying Indestructible Grand Formation is activated, no power can break it. With the Eight Life-Death Masters going all out, they can trap even a Great Saint of the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm for a short time, let alone you."
In the city, in a courtyard filled with seven-colored begonias, stood a child of eight or nine years old, his entire body radiating silver light.
It was the number one strongman of the Shura Clan, Lan Ying.
Lan Ying gazed in the direction of the battle fluctuations, revealing a sinister smile. "What a formidable Undying Indestructible Grand Formation. The Yama Clan's Eight Life-Death Masters are no pushovers!"
Hong Futu, four meters tall with exposed blood-red muscles, stood not far away, his fists larger than an ordinary person's head. He spoke in a deep, heavy tone, "That's only if they have the chance to form the formation and trap their opponent inside to unleash their full power."
Lan Ying nodded. "Que is more impressive than I thought, actually finding Zhang Ruochen to be his scapegoat."
Hong Futu said, "No matter how impressive he is, isn't he still being chased by us and forced to flee?"
Lan Ying shook his head. "If it weren't for the fact that he doesn't have a Supreme Sacred Artifact, even the two of us together might not be his match. Que is very strong. If I can devour him, I will surely reach an even higher level."
Hong Futu said, "Why not devour Zhang Ruochen first? It's said that Zhang Ruochen has cultivated a Second-Rank Sacred Intent. Devouring him would surely make you, Junior Brother, grow to be even stronger than Que."
"What you say makes sense. But Zhang Ruochen is trapped in the Undying Indestructible Grand Formation; he probably has no chance of survival. What a delicious dish, right before our eyes, yet we can only watch it be destroyed." Lan Ying shook his head and sighed.
Yan Huangtu's spiritual power had been covering the entire city. Even if Lan Ying wanted to attack the Eight Life-Death Masters to free Zhang Ruochen, his chances of success were extremely slim.
Within the Undying Indestructible Grand Formation, Zhang Ruochen stood upright, still calm and composed.
"Come out."
Zhang Ruochen opened his left hand, and above his palm appeared a drop of ink-black liquid. He muttered to himself, "I can only test your power."
The ink-black liquid was Dark Time-Space Substance.
"Bang!"
Zhang Ruochen's five fingers clenched, mobilizing Time Rules, Space Rules, and a small amount of Darkness Rules, striking the Dark Time-Space Substance. Instantly, the ink-black droplet shattered, releasing an intense dark light.
The entire world was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
At that moment, the entire home star of the Yama Clan was shrouded in a black light curtain, the star's outline becoming dark and blurry.
The city district where the Undying Indestructible Grand Formation was located fell into extreme darkness.
At the same time, space expanded violently in an instant, surging in all directions. A powerful spatial shockwave slammed into the Eight Life-Death Masters. Even with the Undying Indestructible Grand Formation's defense, they were still sent flying backward.
"Damn, this power..."
The Xi raised his black wooden staff above his head, forming a circular witch seal three zhang in diameter in front of him, but his body was still thrown into the ruins.
"The power unleashed by the Dark Time-Space Substance in an instant is this formidable. And with my current understanding of time, space, and darkness, I've only released less than a third of its power."
This thought flashed through Zhang Ruochen's mind as he transformed into a golden light, shooting upward.
Just as he was about to reach the formation's light barrier, his internal Space Rules surged out simultaneously, condensing into dozens of sword shadows that circled around his body.
"Space Sword Dance, break."
The dozens of sword shadows formed from spatial power merged into one, and he thrust forward with a single sword strike.
Where the sword tip passed, space shattered into pieces.
"Bang!" The space where the formation's light membrane was located was torn open by the sword energy, creating a massive hole.
Zhang Ruochen's figure followed the Space Sword, flying out.
The Space Sword Dance was a spatial technique Zhang Ruochen had cultivated inside the Dark Star, even harder to master than a Thousand-Questions High-Rank Sacred Art. Of course, this technique was supremely powerful and could break through anything.
After flying out of the formation, Zhang Ruochen vanished as if he had evaporated into thin air.
Yan Huangtu arrived at this city district in an instant. Beneath his feet was a vast expanse of ruins, filled with broken walls and rubble, the ground pitted and blackened.
Within the formation's coverage, all matter had been corroded by the dark power.
"What just happened? What power did Zhang Ruochen use?" Yan Huangtu roared, interrogating the Eight Life-Death Masters and the Xi present.
Although the Eight Life-Death Masters had been blasted away by the instant spatial shockwave, their defenses were strong, and they weren't seriously injured.
However, each of them appeared quite weakened, as if they had aged hundreds of years in an instant.
The Xi, with bloodstains at the corners of his mouth, crawled out of the ruins. "Darkness... Space... Time... It's... it's Dark Time-Space Substance. Zhang Ruochen found Dark Time-Space Substance, cough, cough."
Yan Huangtu flickered and appeared beside the Xi, pressing his palm against the Xi's back.
Divine Qi surged from Yan Huangtu's palm, helping the Xi refine the dark power that had invaded his body.
The hair at the Xi's temples turned white, and his face was as pale as a corpse's. "It was liquid Dark Time-Space Substance. Although it was just a single drop, it caused space to expand tens of millions of times in an instant. A space the size of a speck of dust could, at that moment, expand to the size of a palace, or even larger."
"Even if only a few zhang of space around Zhang Ruochen expanded, the spatial shockwave unleashed in that instant could kill a Great Perfection Great Saint of the Hundred Shackles Realm."
"Besides that, a large amount of time power and a small amount of dark power surged out. It should be because Zhang Ruochen's Dark Path is still at a very early stage, so he couldn't draw out much of the dark power within the Dark Time-Space Substance."
"That's also why I managed to survive."
Yan Huangtu's expression turned extremely grim. "If the Dark Time-Space Substance is this terrifying, then Zhang Ruochen is practically invincible. On the Heaven Hunting Battlefield, who can still stop him?"
The Xi shook his head. "It's not that simple. Although the Dark Time-Space Substance can unleash unparalleled power in an instant, that power is very difficult to control. Just now, the space was so narrow that Zhang Ruochen himself was within the attack range of the Dark Time-Space Substance."
"If I'm not mistaken, Zhang Ruochen must have been injured, and not lightly at that."