Chapter 2475: Divine Talisman
Bai Qinger, wearing a thick, date-red robe, ascended the Star Observation Platform, facing the biting flying snow, and appeared before the crowd.
Her gentle and moving, delicate appearance was like a well-read maiden from a boudoir, pitifully charming, utterly without the aggressiveness of a cultivator or the worldly air of a woman from the Goddess Twelve Pavilions. Yet this very fragility, quietness, and elegance possessed an extreme allure, making her already breathtakingly beautiful face seem capable of stealing a man's soul.
Bai Qinger had always been very mysterious; this was the first time she revealed her true face before so many cultivators.
Even Zhang Ruochen, Yuan Qianmo, Zhuo Yunong, Ling, Yan Huangtu... these individuals, from different races, each having seen countless peerless beauties and possessing profound mental states, were all captivated by her gaze.
The moment she appeared, it was as if this place had become a land of peace, with all contradictions and conflicts vanishing.
"Is she Bai Qinger? The daughter of Empress Bai and the Desolate Heaven Great God? She's too ethereal. Just her appearance alone could be called a lethal weapon to steal hearts." Ling said with an appreciative gaze, sighing.
The Calamity Star said, "No wonder Wuma Jiuxing stood up for her and challenged Zhuo Yunong. Truly, a beautiful face brings calamity."
"In the past, Empress Bai was a woman who could rival the Moon God in beauty. Several gods pursued her in their youth. As her daughter, having such looks is nothing surprising." Yan Huangtu said.
...
...
Bai Qinger, holding a bamboo scroll, walked towards Zhang Ruochen, exuding a faint scent of books. "Young Master Ruochen, we meet again after our parting in the Fate Divine Domain."
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the bamboo scroll in her hand, his eyes sharply contracting.
The handwriting on the scroll was very familiar to him.
Zhang Ruochen composed himself and said, "Didn't we just meet not long ago at the Jifeng Saint Mansion? I nearly died at your hands, Miss Bai. Have you forgotten? Oh, right! In the Fate Divine Domain, you wanted to kill me to silence me. I only escaped by luck. So, to be honest, I have no desire to see you again."
Bai Qinger remained calm and composed, saying, "You and the Seven-Handed Old Man stole the top-grade Origin Divine Crystal from the Goddess Pavilion, making the Goddess Twelve Pavilions a target for everyone. I was merely trying to recover the top-grade Origin Divine Crystal."
Zhang Ruochen was very clear about this and said, "First, I am not familiar with the Seven-Handed Old Man at all. How could I have cooperated with him?"
"Second, the location where the five top-grade Origin Divine Crystals were stored was only known to the Goddess Pavilion and the seventeen major powers. Even if I wanted to steal them, I wouldn't have had the chance."
"Third, Miss Bai, your cultivation is superb, and you have a Space Jade Turtle with Supreme Realm cultivation by your side. It should have been much easier for you to steal the top-grade Origin Divine Crystal."
"A beautiful woman like you, why cry thief when you are the thief yourself?"
The cultivators present were all shrewd individuals. Hearing Zhang Ruochen's words, doubt arose in their hearts.
Did Bai Qinger really have a turtle proficient in the Way of Space by her side?
And it had reached the Supreme Realm?
Before Bai Qinger could speak, Zhang Ruochen added, "Everyone, don't be fooled by Miss Bai's beautiful appearance. Her cultivation is extremely powerful, and the Goddess Twelve Pavilions are full of experts. Some of the major powers here might not even compare to them."
Bai Qinger sighed lightly, "The Goddess Twelve Pavilions, one hundred and eighty towers. The location of every Goddess Pavilion is clearly known to the cultivators of the Hell Realm. How would the Goddess Pavilion dare to oppose the major powers?"
"Everyone knows that the Goddess Twelve Pavilions never participate in any conflicts, and it is even clearer that we lack the strength to compete for the Origin Divine Temple. So, we would not do such a foolish thing."
"Furthermore, when Tan Fei self-destructed his Saint Source, he nearly destroyed the entire Goddess Pavilion. For a phantom, possibly non-existent Origin Divine Temple, the Goddess Twelve Pavilions would not be so insane."
"However, Young Master Ruochen has done similarly insane things quite often."
It had to be said, Bai Qinger's words were very reasonable.
None of the cultivators present believed that the Goddess Twelve Pavilions had the audacity to oppose the seventeen major powers. If the matter were exposed, the wrath of the seventeen major powers would surely annihilate their one hundred and eighty towers.
Ultimately, it was because everyone did not take the Goddess Twelve Pavilions seriously.
What threat could a group of women relying on beauty pose?
Zhuo Yunong sat on his chair and said, "Zhang Ruochen, since you know so much, why didn't you speak up back in the Fate Divine Domain?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "I did see Bai Qinger and Cang Baizi kill the Seven-Handed Old Man and Xing Qian. However, my cultivation was low at the time, and I couldn't be sure that what I saw was the truth."
"What if a powerful cultivator had transformed into their likeness to deliberately mislead me?"
"Besides, the Adjudicator at the time was clearly targeting me. I strongly suspected that you and Miss Bai had some shady deal. Without powerful backing, how would the Goddess Twelve Pavilions dare to offend the seventeen major powers?"
Hearing this, Zhuo Yunong's gaze turned into two divine light swords, stabbing straight at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen pressed his palm down, manifesting the Fate Heavenly Token, which emitted a dazzling light of fate, blocking the two light swords.
Although Zhuo Yunong was furious, he did not dare to attack the Fate Heavenly Token. He quickly withdrew his gaze and said, "Since you hold the Fate Heavenly Token, you'd better not do anything to damage the reputation of the Destiny Temple. Otherwise, even the token won't save your life."
Zhang Ruochen said, "I have not damaged the Temple's reputation. I am merely suspicious of your Adjudication Department."
Zhang Ruochen's words were both a response to Zhuo Yunong and an indirect answer to Bai Qinger.
You claim the Goddess Twelve Pavilions dare not oppose the seventeen major powers?
But with the support of the Adjudication Department, what wouldn't you dare to do?
The Adjudication Department had been far too quick to capture Zhang Ruochen back then. The cultivators present must have had their suspicions. Zhang Ruochen was merely guiding them a little further.
Gu Yeshe looked at Zhang Ruochen with sparkling eyes, thinking to herself, "I didn't expect this guy to be so sharp-tongued. He's actually gaining the upper hand."
Bai Qinger said, "Someone told me earlier that you don't like playing chess, finding the game too tedious and its arrangements too taxing on the mind. Only those with deep schemes would study it. It seems that statement was somewhat inaccurate. I think you have quite a deep scheme yourself."
Zhang Ruochen remembered saying those words.
But very few people knew about it.
How did Bai Qinger know?
Connecting this to the handwriting on the bamboo scroll she held, Zhang Ruochen had his answer and couldn't help but clench his teeth. This demoness was truly unforgivable.
He had already killed Manjian Dacheng. Was he now going to watch his own teacher die in the Hell Realm?
As Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qinger locked eyes, Ling stepped forward and said, "Just now, Saint Ruochen said that Cang Baizi and Miss Bai joined forces to kill Xing Qian and the Seven-Handed Old Man. I am very curious. Cang Baizi is an elder of the Longevity Hall. How could he know Miss Bai?"
Zhang Ruochen was well aware that Bai Qinger was using Shangguan Que to threaten him into silence.
But Zhang Ruochen disliked being threatened, and he knew that as long as the Seven-Handed Old Man and the top-grade Origin Divine Crystal were on him, Bai Qinger would never kill Shangguan Que.
So, what was there to fear?
Today, he would expose all of Bai Qinger's secrets. Whether they believed him or not was one thing; just planting suspicion was enough.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It seems you don't know yet. Cang Baizi had long since fallen under Miss Bai's..."
He had only spoken halfway.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen's hair stood on end. His Truth Heart sensed an unprecedented crisis of death. He activated all his strength, instantly unleashing the Flame God Armor, War God Belt, Radiant Merit Armor, and Divine Blood Armor.
In an instant, four layers of defense were formed.
He was well aware of how dangerous this trip was, so he had put on all his defensive armor in advance.
"Boom!"
A crystal-clear arrow, coming from an unknown source, struck Zhang Ruochen's chest.
Zhang Ruochen's body flew out like a cannonball, smashing through the formation light barrier of the Star Observation Platform, flying dozens of miles further, colliding with the formation light barriers of every street in the Goddess City.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
After smashing through dozens of layers of formation light barriers, Zhang Ruochen crashed to the ground, his body buried in the ruins.
None of the cultivators had anticipated such a turn of events. They were all greatly alarmed, quickly activating their Dao Domains and Sacred Artifacts, fearing they would share Zhang Ruochen's fate.
An imperceptible smile flickered in Bai Qinger's eyes before she exclaimed in shock, "The Heavenly Dao Arrow! It's Fu Xiangnu's Heavenly Dao Arrow!"
Indeed, it was the Heavenly Dao Arrow.
All the cultivators' gazes turned towards Yan Huangtu.
What did the Yama Clan mean by this?
Killing Zhang Ruochen? Were they trying to monopolize the top-grade Origin Divine Crystal?
No one believed Zhang Ruochen could survive a Heavenly Dao Arrow; after all, not everyone was Wuma Jiuxing.
"Who? Who did this? I'll cut you down!"
Xiao Hei let out an ear-splitting roar, his body erupting with a monstrous wave of Saintly Might. Undying Divine Fire surged out, forming a vast sea of flames.
His owl-like body underwent a Sky-Cleansing Mutation, growing a crimson tail. His wings spread wide, with Rune Divine Patterns flowing over them, each feather transforming into divine fire colored glaze.
Xiao Hei was furious to the extreme and was about to fly towards where Zhang Ruochen had fallen.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Everyone, look at the sky!"
The crowd all looked up.
They saw, in the sky covered by blood clouds, a talisman over ten miles long breaking through the clouds and descending.
The talisman was dark purple, with streaks of Purple Heavenly Gang Thunder flashing across it.
At the center of the talisman, lightning intertwined into forms of divine temples, headless Buddhas, World Trees, Heavenly Halberds, Primordial Chaos Hammers... and other awe-inspiring shapes.
Yan Zhexian, wearing talisman robes and with her appearance disguised, was already pale with shock, exclaiming, "It's a Divine Talisman refined by a Talisman Heavenly Master! The Divine Punishment Heavenly Gang Talisman! Once this talisman is activated, even a False God must retreat. Everyone must join forces to have any chance of saving the Goddess City... no, to have any chance of surviving."
If this were elsewhere, with the cultivations of Zhuo Yunong, Yuan Qianmo, and others, they could easily escape.
But now, trapped within the Goddess City with layers of formations blocking them, even with their speed, they couldn't escape.