Chapter 2387: The Situation Changes Drastically
The white jade divine tree, over ten thousand miles tall, floated like rootless duckweed at the location where the Undying Blood Clan's home star once stood, its entire body radiating a soft, shimmering light. Surrounding the white jade divine tree were star fragments of varying sizes, remnants left behind after the home star's disintegration.
"Rumble."
A Great Saint-level melee erupted here.
Even on a Merit Battlefield, battles of this magnitude were rarely seen—truly earth-shattering and utterly shocking.
The Nine-Step Saint King cultivators of the Undying Blood Clan and their severely injured Great Saints had all withdrawn from the battlefield. Of course, many were forced to retreat by the Bone Clan Great Saints. Staying on the battlefield would not only render them useless but also make them a burden.
As for self-destructing their Sacred Sources…
Only a minority of cultivators possessed a death-defying resolve.
Apart from Zhang Ruochen, fewer than fifty Undying Blood Clan Great Saints remained on the battlefield. Pursued by hundreds of Bone Clan Great Saints, they could only hide within the white jade divine tree, using its complex internal environment to continue their guerrilla tactics.
Of course, capturing them all was only a matter of time.
On the other side, Zhang Ruochen, relying on his own strength, had forced all Eight Masters of Life and Death out of the Heaven Hunting Battlefield and destroyed the two formation centipedes conjured by the Yama Clan formation masters.
His achievements were astonishing.
However, when Zhang Ruochen struck the Eight Masters of Life and Death into the Void Space, he was ambushed by Yan Huangtu's Great Demon Shadow, who landed a punch on his back. Even with the defense of his ten golden wings, he was still severely injured, his face quite pale.
The Great Demon Shadow was a technique Yan Huangtu cultivated based on a secret art from one of the Yama Clan's Ten Great Heavenly Daos, the "Great Demon Heavenly Dao." It was condensed from the souls of millions of demonic cultivators, possessing immense combat power, reaching about seventy percent of the original's strength.
This was Yan Huangtu's greatest trump card, never publicly used before.
With this technique, Yan Huangtu was confident he could dominate this era.
Unfortunately, this era had spawned one freakishly strong cultivator after another, especially Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen, making him feel he might be surpassed.
Yan Huangtu's original body and the Great Demon Shadow stood side by side, gazing at the injured Zhang Ruochen from afar.
Yan Huangtu said, "The Undying Blood Clan's members will soon be completely annihilated; defeat is certain. Continuing to fight is meaningless. How about this: give me one Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill and one Quasi-Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pill each, and I promise to leave the second place in the Heaven Hunting Battle for the Undying Blood Clan."
Zhang Ruochen glanced toward the jade tree.
He saw hundreds of Bone Clan Great Saints surrounding the ten-thousand-mile-tall white jade divine tree, activating bone fire to refine and burn the Undying Blood Clan Great Saints who had fled inside.
Any Undying Blood Clan cultivator seeing this would likely gnash their teeth in anger.
Zhang Ruochen tried to keep himself calm and said, "The Bone Clan is attacking the Undying Blood Clan so fiercely—how many points will they lose? It doesn't seem to benefit them much, does it?"
"As long as they don't kill the Undying Blood Clan cultivators, they won't lose many points—at most one or two million. As for the Undying Blood Clan cultivators self-destructing, that has nothing to do with the Bone Clan; after all, they chose suicide," Yan Huangtu said while frantically absorbing the six-colored divine mist to recover his severely depleted sacred qi and injuries.
Zhang Ruochen found himself in a dilemma.
If he continued to go all out, it shouldn't take long to drive the severely injured Yan Huangtu out of the battlefield, eliminating this major threat once and for all.
But the Undying Blood Clan cultivators couldn't wait that long.
If he returned to the white jade divine tree to rescue them now, he would surely fall into a siege by hundreds of Bone Clan Great Saints. Even if he managed to break out, he would suffer severe injuries.
Fighting a group alone was no easy feat and would come at a cost.
"Anyway, I still have one clan member on me. As long as he doesn't die, the Undying Blood Clan still has a chance to hold the top spot among the ten clans."
Now, Zhang Ruochen could only hope that on the battlefield of the Seventh Dark Star, Dao Prison Emperor and Mo Yin would kill more Heavenly Slaves and gather more points, not letting him down.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes sharpened, and he was about to strike.
"Boom!"
From the direction of the white jade divine tree, a powerful spatial fluctuation appeared, and then over three hundred Great Saint Heavenly Slaves materialized.
As soon as these Great Saint Heavenly Slaves appeared, they immediately scattered in all directions, fleeing to different places.
"Finally left the Seventh Dark Star! Such rich energy—hurry up and absorb it to recover sacred qi."
"There's a large gathering of Bone Clan Great Saints here. Everyone, flee quickly, absorbing as you go."
…
The six-colored divine mist in the Heaven Hunting Battlefield was neither celestial sacred qi, celestial spiritual qi, nor blood fiend qi, evil qi, or other energy qi that Hell Realm cultivators breathed and refined.
The energy qi contained in the six-colored divine mist could be absorbed by cultivators of all clans.
However, it was quite impure and troublesome to refine within the body.
All energy qi in the world was actually interconnected, with the same essence but different attributes. Like a cup of water—it could be salty, bland, sweet, bitter, hot, or cold…
Zhang Ruochen shuddered, his expression changing repeatedly.
How could this be?
How could the Great Saint Heavenly Slaves from the Seventh Dark Star suddenly teleport here?
"Impossible, impossible… The dark star has an extremely strong pulling force; space teleportation arrays can't operate there, let alone teleport cultivators away. Unless…"
Zhang Ruochen inhaled a cold breath, and the figure of Yan Wushen appeared in his mind.
It must be Yan Wushen.
He must have set up a dark space teleportation array, mobilizing the vast dark force contained in the Seventh Dark Star to make the array function.
Only he had that ability.
Zhang Ruochen couldn't set up a dark space teleportation array.
Not because his spatial mastery was inferior to Yan Wushen's, but because his understanding of the Way of Darkness was still at a rudimentary level.
"So Yan Wushen's Way of Darkness is also highly accomplished. Yan Wushen, Yan Wushen, I underestimated you." Zhang Ruochen's face was grim, feeling his heart sinking to the bottom.
Yan Huangtu initially showed a surprised expression, but quickly figured out the reason. He nodded slightly, without any joy on his face.
The most excited were the Bone Clan Great Saints.
Over three hundred Great Saint Heavenly Slaves suddenly appeared before them, like a gift from heaven, and they were naturally thrilled.
A Bone Clan Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint was the first to withdraw his bone fire, waving his hand and saying, "Forget about those Undying Blood Clan cultivators for now. Follow me to hunt the Heavenly Slaves. With so many Great Saint Heavenly Slaves, if we kill them all, our Bone Clan might even enter the top five."
"Leave those Undying Blood Clan cultivators for the Yama Clan to deal with themselves."
Hundreds of Bone Clan Great Saints, excited, sped off to hunt the Great Saint Heavenly Slaves.
They all had war weapons for long-range attacks and weren't afraid of the Heavenly Slaves self-destructing their Sacred Sources.
"Whoosh!"
Moments later, Chi Di and over three hundred other Great Saint Heavenly Slaves teleported to the starry space near the white jade divine tree. Instead of scattering immediately, they quickly formed a formation.
Chi Di saw Zhang Ruochen's figure in the distance, a complex expression flashing in his eyes.
He raised his five-colored stone sword, pointing it at him, and said, "That human man with ten golden wings is the dog thief Zhang Ruochen. Let's go kill him first."
Chi Di secretly transmitted a message to a Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Great Saint among the Heavenly Slaves.
That Hundred Shackles Great Perfection Great Saint was a Purple Zha Beast from the Heavenly Court's Demon God Realm. Its upper body was human-like, while its lower body resembled an elephant's legs, towering and robust.
The Purple Zha Beast wielded a war hammer seized from a Hell Realm cultivator and led over three hundred Great Saint Heavenly Slaves charging toward Zhang Ruochen and Yan Huangtu.
Chi Di stayed behind, carefully examining the white jade divine tree before him.
With a flicker, he concealed himself on a branch. That branch was as thick as a river, translucent and jade-white.
After a short while, another spatial fluctuation occurred.
Led by Bore, Wujiang, and Yuanfei Great Saint, over a thousand Great Saints from the Upper Three Clans descended simultaneously, each like divine soldiers descending from heaven, their sacred might overwhelmingly powerful.
Yuanfei Great Saint scanned the entire starry sky and quickly gained a general understanding of the current situation.
He said, "Not good. Half of the Great Saint Heavenly Slaves have gone to kill Zhang Ruochen. How could they possibly be his match? They're just delivering points."
Wujiang's gaze locked firmly on Zhang Ruochen, and he said in a deep voice, "We absolutely cannot let Zhang Ruochen continue collecting points, or the Undying Blood Clan will secure the top spot among the ten clans."
Wujiang took out the Ten Thousand Curse Heavenly Bead, holding it in his right palm.
Beside him, Bore asked in confusion, "Where did Chi Di go?"
Yuanfei Great Saint and Wujiang's hearts both sank, sensing something was wrong.
"Whoosh!"
Above their heads, a dazzling five-colored radiance appeared, and an overwhelmingly powerful sword qi slashed down.
Chi Di stood on a branch of the jade tree, his five-colored stone sword now hundreds of miles long, like a five-colored sacred river, descending upon the formation of the Upper Three Clans' Great Saints.
Under normal circumstances, with the large number of Upper Three Clans Great Saints, even if Chi Di's cultivation was higher and the five-colored stone sword's power was stronger, they could easily neutralize it.
But at this moment, they had just teleported, their formation was unstable, and they hadn't expected to be ambushed by a Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm Great Saint, so they couldn't coordinate their defenses in time.
"Puff!"
"Puff!"
…
Dozens of Upper Three Clans Great Saints were shattered by the supreme power contained in the five-colored stone sword.
Nearly a hundred more Great Saints screamed and were sent flying, severely injured.
With just one sword strike achieving such impressive results, all the Upper Three Clans Great Saints were stunned by the combat power of this Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm Great Saint and quickly retreated.
"Careful! Chi Di is hiding in the tree."
Yuanfei Great Saint was alarmed and immediately, along with a dozen Death Clan Great Saints beside him, activated the Virtual-Real Scroll. The scroll unfurled, stretching for hundreds of miles, forming a layer of textual defensive light.
Wujiang's eyes were cold and stern as he channeled the power of the Ten Thousand Curse Heavenly Bead to cast a curse on Chi Di.
Chi Di let out a long laugh, his body blurring as he plunged deep into the jade tree's branches.
The white jade divine tree was the true divine body of Blood Shadow Divine Mother, with countless branches—over a hundred thousand—crisscrossing in a tangled mess. Once he hid inside, it was like a drop of water falling into the sea, making it nearly impossible to find him again.
The Upper Three Clans Great Saints dared not recklessly pursue him inside.
"What do we do now?"
Pairs of eyes turned toward Bore, Wujiang, Yuanfei Great Saint, and the others.
Bore's gaze fixed on the chaotically arranged jade tree branches. Though the branches seemed dense, the closest two were still over ten miles apart, and the farthest could be hundreds of miles.
The gaps between branches were quite wide.
She said, "I just used the Way of Fate to calculate. Inside the jade tree, there's not only Chi Di but also dozens of Undying Blood Clan cultivators. All the remaining Undying Blood Clan members are on them. If we kill those clan members, the Undying Blood Clan's points will be halved."
Then, Bore added, "Everyone should have seen the data on the diamond mirror surface. Chi Di's points have already increased to thirty million. As long as we kill him and the Undying Blood Clan members, whether it's the Underworld Clan or the Death Clan, we have a chance to seize the second place among the ten clans."
"I am willing to lead the Underworld Clan Great Saints to wipe out Chi Di and crush all Undying Blood Clan members."
"I am willing to lead the Death Clan Great Saints inside."
Wujiang and Yuanfei Great Saint spoke almost simultaneously.
Both showed surprised expressions and looked at each other.
Wujiang snorted coldly, "With just you, can you kill Chi Di?"
Yuanfei Great Saint smiled and said, "Isn't Ten Thousand Hands Great Saint going to kill Zhang Ruochen? Zhang Ruochen has Quasi-Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pills and Emperor-grade Sacred Intent Pills, as well as two Supreme Sacred Artifacts. If Ten Thousand Hands Great Saint uses the Way of Darkness to devour Zhang Ruochen, he might even have a chance to fuse a Second-Rank Sacred Intent."
Wujiang's expression shifted between overcast and clear.
Yuanfei Great Saint continued, "The Great Saint Heavenly Slaves going to kill Zhang Ruochen number over three hundred, and their total points must be at least twenty million."
After careful analysis, Wujiang finally made a decision and announced loudly, "Underworld Clan Great Saints, listen up! Move at top speed to hunt down that batch of Heavenly Slaves charging at Zhang Ruochen, and make sure to wipe them out cleanly."
"Whoosh!"
Before his words faded, Wujiang had already transformed into a bolt of lightning, flying over first.
A large number of Underworld Clan Great Saints followed closely behind.
Yuanfei Great Saint watched them go, a slight smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Those three hundred plus Great Saint Heavenly Slaves seemed easier to deal with than Chi Di. However, Yuanfei Great Saint knew they were handpicked by Chi Di, and most were determined to die.
The Underworld Clan Great Saints would pay a heavy price to encircle them.
As for finding and killing Chi Di, Yuanfei Great Saint had his own methods.
Yuanfei Great Saint turned his gaze to Bore, slightly cupping his hands, and said with a smile, "Your Highness, please use your Way of Fate to locate Chi Di and the Undying Blood Clan Great Saints. Our Death Clan will handle them."
"Very well!" Bore said.
Que, standing not far from Bore, showed a strange expression and glanced at Yuanfei Great Saint, curious about how this cultivator, whose combat power was far inferior to Wujiang's, dared to go after Chi Di.
Though curious, he didn't voice his question.
"Perhaps I'll have to step in after all," Que thought to himself.